A Life of Hiding
Author: Leta McGotor
Disclaimer: I own nothing because JKR does and I'm not her.
Chapter 5
Severus came hurried into the cottage. He was soaked from head to toe and he felt as if even his bones were soaked. It was raining badly outside and he had been nearly one mile away when it had started. Fast he had disapperated but in this terrain you couldn't get nearer to the cottage than half a mile. Therefore he had to walk or run the remaining of the way, up the stony hill. Surely it was easy for him, because he had gone this way for years and years now, but the wet stones were slippery and a few times he had lost balance and fell into the mud. So you can imagine how he looked like when he entered the living area of the cottage.
Rescued from the rain Severus used a cleaning spell on his clothes and dried them simultaneous. Afterwards he let himself fell into an old armchair. Which was standing in front of the fire place. Surely it was summer but here in the hills it was often colder than somewhere else and the rain didn't help to warm up the day. Therfore there was a roaring fire, which served as a light source, too. Absent-minded Severus stared into the flames. How he had loved it to sit at the fire with Minerva and to play chess. They allways had played in her rooms for Minerva thought it definatedly too cold in his chambers, because Severus refused to use the fire place.
Minerva was sitting under a tree and waited that the rain would calm down. She was already soaked with water and surely would hatch a bad cold if she stayed this way. Minerva looked at the sky. Dark clouds were to be seen all over it and nowhere seemed to be an end of that grey mass. She sighed and hoped that the rest of the way would not become too difficult because her leg hurt badly although there was no blood anymore for the rain had it washed away.
Minerva had apparated to this point, the nearest she could reach to the cottage. She knew that it was difficult to apparate somewhere further up the hill for there were many ravines and precipices, not to count the uncountable stones, which seemed only to be there to prevent the hill from conquerer. In the last half an hour she had cursed those stones and the hill uncountable times. To her dismay the hill didn't do her the favour to simply become flat land and she had to recognize that there was no other way to the cottage than to climb up the stones.
Her leg hurt again as if it wanted to remember her that it was not an eays task. Minerva looked again at the sky but nothing had changed and it continued to rain. Had it become stronger? Minerva shook her haed. It was useless to sit here and wait for a sunny day, she reminded herself. Therfore she pulled herself to her feet (her leg hurt more badly at this movement), sized her transfigured walking stick and started making her way up the hill.
The hours came and went while Severus was sitting in the armchair and stared at the flames. When the magical clock of his parents told him that it was time to prepare dinner, Severus stood up and went to one of the windows. The rain had become less and less and now it had stopped comletely. He sighed. It was time for him to make his evening route around the cottage. He sized his cloak and left the small house.
On his way he watched a few animals, which were coming out of their hidings from the rain or from the day, while others went to sleep. He had watched this progress every evening now and a bit of him found it amazing that the animals didn't need a clock to know, when it was time for them. Slowly Severus made his way down the hill, looking and listening to all noises around him. The stones were slippery but he managed it not to lose his balance again.
Suddenly a prickle run down his back and he felt uncomfortable. He was sure that he had heard something and he knew that this thing, whatever it might be, was not an animal of this hill and forest around him. What was it? Somebody from the Dark Lord, who is looking for him? Or people from the Ministry also looking for him? The noise stopped and all around him was quiet.
Slowly Severus took his wand out. Attacking was the best defence. Carefully he went to the group of trees where he had heard the noise coming from. He stopped and stood still. He could sense the presence of someone behind those trees. Suddenly Severus made his point. He jumped forward, sized the person by the arm and pushed him or her to the ground with his wand at the ready. Nobody could knew what was coming next. When he looked in the face of the person he was shocked. From under the mud he had thrown this person into, his beloved Minerva stared back at him.
"Minerva?", he gaped at her. She was the last one he had awaited, but nevertheless she was here. "How…? And what…?" Severus stopped. Minerva had twisted her face in pain for he touched her hurt leg. Severus pushed himself to his feet and looked down at Minerva and at the red line along her leg. He bent down and observed it.
"What happened? Tell me."
"Nothing. I… it was an accident." She whispered through gritted teeth.
"Accident?" He looked up and saw in her face. He could see the lines of exhaustion, her tired eyes, even the lines of her tears she had cried. All because of him? Slowly he lifted her up and carried her up the last part of the hill until he reached the small cottage. Carefully he put her down on the bed and sat next to her.
"Why are you here, Minerva? What brought you here?"
"What do you think brought me here? The weather, the nature? Can't you see that I'm here because of you?"
"Do you want to kill me, to give me to the Ministry for killing Albus?"
"No."
"No? Why not? I'm a murderer, the murderer of your best friend. What do you want from me?"
"I want nothing from you but only you.", she answered. Severus was lost for words. Surely he had hoped but never expected her to still love him after all he had done.
"Minerva…"
"No, stop. I don't want to hear your 'but's and 'if's and all that. I don't want my job, my reputation any longer, not without you. What is my life without you? I can't live with you far away from me. I simply can't. And nobody has the right to take you away from me, you don't, either. I want to stand by your side, want to see you every day and every night, want to feel you, to touch you, to simply love you. Can't you see that, can you? Why not?"
Minerva had said this all very fast and all her breath had gone now. She let herself sink back on the bed and closed her eyes for she was dizzy. Suddenly she felt another weight on the bed and a hand caress her cheek, but her eyes stayed closed.
"If you stay with me, you will never be able to return, Minerva. They will search you as well as me. The flight will be dangerous and I don't want you to be in danger, especially not because of me."
"I know. But I don't let you go, Severus, I don't", she whispered. Surely she understood what he meant but it did't matter to her. She knew the dangers and she knew that she had to surrender her whole life but she would stay with him and that was the only thing, that mattered. Severus only sat next to her and watched her. How he had missed his Minerva. Never had he expected to see her again and never had he hoped for this reaction. But this woman was not an all-day-woman, this woman was Minerva McGonagall and he should have known. So he simply sighed before he laid next to her, closed his eyes as well and drifted off to sleep.
"…Ministry has the opinion that the murder was planned from the beginning on. It all was so obvious. Severus Snape never could murder Professor Albus Dumbledore alone and the Ministry long looked for his companion, now found in the Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, who is missed for two weeks already. "Of course, we thought it had to be someone of the teachers, maybe even someone from the Heads of Houses, but never did we really expect Dumbledore's Deputy. They allways seemed to be friends to the Ministry and to the rest of the world. Quite understandable that she was able to flee…"
"I told you they would write something like that, Minerva."
"I know." She grinned at him. " Do you know how I feel?"
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever heard of a couple…mmhhh… let me think, named Bonnie and Clyde? What was the line? 'They're young … they're in love … and they kill people'"
"Minerva, is there something you wanted to tell me? Kill people?"
"Of course. V-Voldemort will really get a problem with us, don't you think?"
"I belive Bonnie and Clyde had other things in their mind."
"Yes, but we are not them but the line matches, nevertheless."
"We're young… we're in love … and we will kill bad people"
Okay, this is the last chapter and it is not the same I had in my mind when I started this. I hope you will not be too angry with me, because of the things about Bonnie and Clyde. I never planned to have them in this story and especially not to bring Minerva to such an idea. But I hope you will tell me what you think about it, nevertheless.
A big thank-you goes to Slim Shady, kate, Digital Damita and nlifs (I haven't seen it before with the hat and the hut – thank you for telling me) for reviewing.
