Disclaimer: Remus, Severus and Harry are not mine, of course, but J.K. Rowling's invention.
A/N: Hope you all like this. Next Tuesday I'll see PoA, so I wrote this without having seen the film Remus. I am quite excited and can hardly wait to see how Remus and Sirius will be. If you are wondering now, how I could restrain myself from going on the first day or even to the midnight preview, for one, I didn't want to come to work next day sleepy, having to admit that it was because of Harry Potter. But it's mostly because I am quite mad at these cinema people. As it is the custom in Germany, and as some of you will no, films are usually dubbed, meaning they are not showing it in the original version, so I won't be able to hear Alan Rickman's voice (this is cruel, isn't it?). Well, the German version is usually quite good, but nothing compared to the original with all the accents of the different characters. And if I am forced to watch it in German, I want to have the satisfaction to do it on a 'cheap cinema Tuesday'. Well, they will show it in English at some point later, but I cannot wait that long (but it's a good excuse to watch it several times, anyway).
Thank you for keeping reviewing.
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How fitting. That was the first thought which crossed Severus mind after he had come out of a somewhat dazed state. He examined his nose, which had started to bleed, carefully. He did it absentmindedly, though, because his attention was drawn to the door he had battled against so desperately a minute ago.
It was definitely open. He couldn't believe it. Maybe it was due to hallucinations because of his condition, fever, lack of water or desperation, whatever. He stretched his arm out to touch the door. No, it was true. He was lying in the open doorway, the door had opened to the opposite wall. There was no mistake. But how could that have happened? It had been locked. When they had tried to open it the night before by Remus' feeble magical attempts it had definitely been locked. Although, it was possible that somebody had been here in the meantime to unlock the door, possibly when they both had been unconscious, but when Severus had run and thrown himself against it he had also gripped the handle and nothing had moved. Up to now.
He sat up and turned around to see if Remus had noticed what had been going on in the last minutes. He wasn't moving, probably unconscious again. Severus decided against telling him the news. As long as he wouldn't be able to offer him any better help, it would be unkind to try to wake him up, and Severus was still in doubt about the situation he suddenly had found himself in. On top of it, the vertigo was coming back followed by the strange colours which were blurring his vision again.
After a minute or two this uncomfortable sensation receded. Severus now believed that it had to do with his lycanthropy infection. He also knew that he had not much time left to do something to bring them both out of this situation. If he would become much weaker they wouldn't have much of a chance, and that after the bloody door had finally opened. He pulled himself together, stood up and walked over to the stairs they had come down the night before.
His legs felt as if they were filled with lead. He was cold and shivering and very thirsty. The hope of finding some water in the house drove him upstairs. As expected, he didn't meet anybody on his way. There was a kitchen which looked as if it hadn't been used for years, the only proof that somebody had been here a few hours before, were some empty pizza and crisps wrappings. The place reeked of beer, and indeed, in the sink Severus found some empty cans.
When he tried to work the tab, he experienced a disappointment. Of course, in a house which wasn't lived in, the water supply would have been cut off, as well as electricity or telephone. Sighing, he turned around. This had been a farm, maybe he could find a well or at least something where rainwater was collected or a brook. After all, the place was named after one. In his state he didn't really care if it would be drinkable or not. On his way out he saw the telephone. Although he didn't expect it to be working he picked the receiver up. Dead.
Then he thought he couldn't believe his eyes. There, next to the door was a sixpack of water bottles of which only one had been opened. The rest of them was full and unused. Severus dropped to his knees, grabbed one of the bottles and tried to open it feverishly. This proved to be difficult as his hands were shaking so much. In the end, he managed it and was rewarded with a gush of the refreshing liquid down his parched throat. He closed his eyes and emptied the whole bottle in one go. Severus was sure he had never felt so grateful before.
The water gave him some of his lacking energy back. As there would be enough water for the two of them for the moment, he used some of it to wash his face and to get the blood off his hands.
He even felt strong enough to go outside to have a look at the surroundings and to gather some information that could help them to get away from this place. So before he went to go down into the cellar again, he left the house carefully.
The first thing which crossed his mind, was to look for Remus' wand. To find it, he had to go back to the spot near the corner where they had been sitting before they were caught. He needn't have been careful. The surroundings of the house were as deserted as the building itself. As he had suspected the night before, the people must have left the place shortly after they had locked him and Remus in the cellar. Otherwise they would have noticed at least something about what had been going on in the basement.
It took him only a minute to find the magic device. It was lying in the trampled uncut grass, smeared with blood and broken. So even if Remus had have more magical power last night, it would have been no use to try to accio it. Although it wouldn't be of any use anymore, Severus picked it up. Sure, it was devoid of all magic, felt dead.
Wait a minute. He stopped in his track of thinking. How could he have felt such a thing? Well, you could easily see that it was broken, but the feeling that the magic in the object was clearly missing was another thing. Then, there was this door which had finally opened for no apparent reason … These colour mist he had seen several times during the last hour. … Now he remembered. It had been like that at St Mungo's during the process when they had removed the dark mark. He had seen colours in a similar way. And afterwards, his magic had left him. Could it be … Was there a chance that it was the other way round now? Could it have been … magic?
There was no other way to find out than to make a test. He dropped the wand in front of him, looked at it for some time, focused really hard, extended his right hand in direction of the broken object and whispered "accio wand".
His heart made a leap when the wand rose from the grass and flew, slowly, towards him so that he could grab it.
Magic.
He stared at the wand in his hand as if he had never seen such a thing in his life. His heart was beating madly.
This experience, although he still had been hoping for it for the last three years, was so unexpected that he didn't know if he was happy. This was quite real, and no dream, but to be absolutely sure he would need to do more tests and exercises. After all, he hadn't done any magic for at least three years. But there was no time for that. They needed to get out of here and, what was more, to get under medical care, especially Remus, but he himself as well. Although the water and the knowledge that there was the possibilty that he would get his magical abilities back, had helped him to recover a bit, he didn't feel very well. He didn't know yet what was exactly awaiting him, concerning the lycanthropy infection, although he was quite sure that it must be a very unpleasant process.
Therefore Severus didn't hesitate any longer, pocketed the wand and went back into the house to bring Remus some water. But on his way back something else caught his eye. There was another car the muggles had left on the premises. He hadn't noticed when they had reached the place that there was a second vehicle. Maybe that could be of some use to them. An idea began to form vaguely in his mind.
He passed by the kitchen and took two of the water bottles before he went to the cellar. Back down there in the twilight of the room he found Remus half conscious and shivering.
'Remus? Look here, I've found some water.' He touched him lightly, to get some reaction out of him without startling him.
When Remus didn't move, he shook him a bit at the shoulder.
'Remus, come on. Water. That'll help. And I've also got an idea how to get away from here.'
Finally, he opened his eyes and sighed.
'Water? … How?… Severus, … that'll be … probably … hallucinations.' He closed his eyes again. 'After a bite, … you'll develop a fever which is often … accompanied by hallucinations.'
'Maybe. But the water is still real. Come on. Have a go.'
Severus didn't wait for another reaction but kneeled down behind Remus and lifted him into a sitting position as gently as he could. Then he hold the bottle to Remus' mouth.
'Drink.'
Remus, feeling the liquid on his lips, started to swallow automatically. Once he realized that he was actually drinking water, he began to drink with deep gulps and couldn't get enough.
'Easy Remus. There's plenty of it. You can have as much as you want.'
Remus needed several minutes before his thirst was quenched. He was so exhausted that he had to pause a few times during the process. Severus waited patiently for his companion to finish and only saw to it that Remus was properly covered with his coat, as he was still shivering. Severus was very cold now himself, especially as he had to sit still. But he distracted his mind by thinking of the prospect of getting away from this miserable place. And there was also the exciting fact of his magic having come back, hopefully permanent. Therefore he had somewhat wandered off with his thoughts and was a bit startled when Remus suddenly spoke.
'Where did you get that water from, Severus?' Judging from the way he was speaking, the water dad helped him to recovered a great deal.
'Huh? Oh, never mind. I opened the door - don't ask me how. It … well, it might have been magic. I was even able to do some magic outside, in front of the house, but that's not important now. The water was in the kitchen. But the house was deserted long ago. So there is no telephone working and no running water. We'll have to see for ourselves to get out of here. I've got a rough idea, but for that, I'll have to get you out of the house. I assume, you cannot walk, Remus?'
'No, I don't think so. You did magic? And you say it's not important? That could help a great deal …' his face had considerably brightened at the information of the former Potions master having at least some of his magical ability back.
'No, forget about that. I'm not strong enough to apparate the two of us, and I haven't done any magic for years. Spare your breath now, Remus. I hope that I will have enough strength left to get you upstairs. Do you think you could hold on while I carry you on my back? How's your leg?'
'I don't feel much of it anymore. That's not a very good sign, I guess.'
'No, I suppose not, but If we can make it to St. Mungo's they'll be able to deal with it. Are you ready?'
'Yes.'
'Then hold on and try to take the coat with you.'
Remus put his arms around Severus shoulders, who had turned around and was kneeling. It was quite an effort for Severus to pull Remus up and hold his legs, and even harder to walk up the stairs with the extra weight. His knees were nearly giving way when they reached the car. Severus let Remus down on the grass carefully and covered him again with the coat.
'A car?' Remus asked amazed.
'Yes, at least that's what the muggles generally call them.' Severus gasped exhausted.
'I didn't know you could drive.'
'I don't. I mean, I did have some lessons at my integration classes, but I didn't take the test for the licence. I didn't see a reason why I should have a car in London, with all the public transport, and frankly, I found the idea quite frightening. All the traffic, you know. I have no idea how the muggles cope with it. I think before we try anything, I should go back into the kitchen and get the other water bottles.'
Severus stood up and walked towards the house to do that. The short way was straining enough already. He really had to hurry if they wanted to leave in time. He felt as if a collapse wasn't very far away.
'There you are. Have some more water.' He handed Remus one of the two bottles he had collected from the kitchen, and drank from the other one himself. Strangely enough, Remus was able to hold the bottle and drink without help now. The water he had before really had helped to recover him. Well, he hadn't had to carry somebody on his back …
Severus walked around the car to the driver's side. The door wasn't locked, so he didn't have to break it or try another spell, which could have proved to be a difficulty. The more pressing problem at the moment was, without doubt, to get the car going. The muggles hadn't left a key in the ingition. Well, Severus, be a bit inventive, he told himself. He had seen something about that in the countless films on television and in the cinema. If this worked, all the hours watching this stuff would now prove to be good for something after all.
Before he did anything with the car, he had to get Remus inside, so he walked back around the vehicle. It was quite an ordeal to lift Remus, as he didn't want to hurt him, and the other werewolf was hardly any help. Severus had to lift and push him inside. To be on the safe side, he even fastened the seatbelt. That would secure him, lest he should become unconscious again, which was very likely.
Then Severus went back to his former task. He was lucky to find a toolbox behind the driver's seat with a screwdriver in it. He used it to rip off the cover under the steering column to get at the wires. He had no idea which was which but had a go at some of them. At the third attempt he caused the desired short circuit which finally started the engine.
Not to lose any more time and to prevent the motor from stopping again, he sat in the driver's seat, taking a deep breath to concentrate and to recollect how he was to get the car moving. To his amazement, he managed to work the clutch properly and was able to change the gears in the right way. Slowly, they rolled off the premises and onto the road.
Severus had thought that Remus had fainted again, but when he dared to look aside for a moment, he saw that he was watching him with an expression on his face which was showing great awe. Remus was clearly impressed.
'You said, you couldn't drive, Severus,' he whispered. 'You know, if our situation wasn't so serious, I think I would enjoy this as an exciting venture.'
'Thank you very much,' Severus answered sarcastically. 'That's Gryffindor recklessness, I assume. I assure you, if I had a choice, I wouldn't be doing this. Don't expect me to drive us through London. I will try to find a telephone box and do that phone call on the Ministry emergency line. Maybe we can even get Harry himself to help us. That would be best, as it would avoid uncomfortable questions. And … remember, Remus. Stick to our story as I said. There were two werewolves and you did take the wolfsbane potion.'
'Right. As you wish.' Remus didn't sound very convinced of Severus' plan.
He drove on for some minutes. The surroundings were quite rural, only a farm and a few houses here and there. They were lucky that there wasn't much traffic and they only met a few cars, which was good, because Severus only had a rough idea about traffic rules. Handling the steering wheel wasn't much of a problem and he managed to turn around road bends smoothly.
The next problem now was to find a telephone box. They normally weren't to be found on the open road but rather in villages or at least in the vicinity of houses. They would have to be careful if they didn't want to draw the muggles' attraction towards them. Severus wanted to avoid to have to deal with muggle officials, such as police. But that would happen, when muggles would find them in their present state, injured and with a car which wasn't their own. Even worse, probably the car of criminals or even stolen by them.
He needn't have worried too much. After a few more miles, he spotted the desired object. He pulled up near it and got out of the car. Fortunately, the next house near was half a mile away. He went into the box, picked the receiver up and dialed the number. As with muggle emergency numbers, you didn't need a coin to get a connection.
A man's voice answered.
'Helpline, good morning. My name is Warwick, how can I help you?'
The person on the other end of the line hadn't said anything about being part of the Ministry of Magic. This was a precaution, just in case muggles used it by mistake, but Severus new the number by heart and was sure he had got it right.
'This is Severus Snape speaking. Registered squib number 512. I and another wizard are in need of some help and medical attention. We are northwest of London. What other information do you need to trace back our location?'
'It would be easiest, if you told me the number of the phone, it's supposed to be written somewhere near the apparatus itself,' the voice demanded.
Severus told him the number. 'Would it also be possible to contact Auror Potter to come to our rescue as well?' Severus asked hopefully.
'I'll see what I can do for you. We are doing our best, it shouldn't be a problem to send some wizards and a healer to you in a few minutes. I cannot make any promises about Potter, though, but I'll try to contact him. I must ask you to stay near the phone box, just in case I need to call you back.'
'Yes, sure.'
'All right then. Try to stay calm, they'll be there in a minute.'
'Thank you.'
Severus hung up and opened the door to leave the phone box. As being told, he didn't go away from it, but stayed and leaned against it. In fact, he wasn't able to move any further. All the stress, which had kept him going so far, was leaving him rapidly. Finally, his knees gave way. Sliding down onto the grass, he thought, that he had never felt calmer. The nightmare was at an end. Only a few more minutes and they would be safe. Well, there was still the problem with Remus to be solved and in four weeks time … No, he didn't want to think about it now. He was too tired.
Just as he felt he couldn't fight against the exhaustion and would faint any minute, a four wizards and a witch popped out of thin air. To his great relief, he recognized one of the wizards as Harry. The latter strode over to him immediately while the others went in direction of the car. That was fortunate as they would have time to have a word in private without witnesses.
'What happened?' Harry asked, kneeling down next to Severus.
'The official version will be, that we were after some muggle suspects and were not able to come back in time for Remus to report to the Ministry dungeons.' Severus whispered. Speaking was beginning to become difficult. 'When the moon rose, we were confronted with another werewolf. Remus tried to defend me, but I was bitten in the course of action. Remus himself was shot by muggles who were attracted by the racket we made in the wood, but we could flee and in the morning, we found the car and I managed to get it working …'
'What do you mean by 'official version', Severus?'
'Never mind that now. The important thing is, … if you want to help Remus, make sure it looks as if he had taken the wolfsbane potion … and signed in for it in the Ministry … yesterday morning.' He felt so weak by now that he could hardly whisper the last sentences. His vision began to blurr distincly and the strange colours were coming back.
'As if? What is that supposed to mean? Hang on, he didn't take … oh shit!' Harry's mouth dropped open and he was staring at Severus with wide eyes as truth began to dawn on him.
The shocked expression on Harry's face was the last thing Severus saw before he became unconscious.