Author's note: If there is a Crebert Hotel, I've never heard of it and I'm sure it is nothing like the one described here. The descriptions of the suburb it resides in are completely fiction. I haven't been there before so I'm exercising my artistic licence.

Chapter 6

Severus Snape cursed every deity that he knew the name of as he lugged his heavy suitcase and travelling pack out of the busy airport. His leg muscles protested at the sudden exertion after spending so many hours on the plane, then standing around waiting for strange men in uniforms to poke him with strange devices, looking for merlin only knows what!

He was tired, sore, and absolutely starving. He felt as if he could eat a hippogriff right now. A mental image of a roasted hippogriff with an apple in its beak on a large platter emerged from his subconscious. He shuddered at the thought. No, maybe not that hungry, he mused.

He hurried out of the airport and out into the fresh air. He breathed deeply when he had finally made it out of the building and then proceeded to cough violently. About ten cars were parked outside the building with the sign "taxi" on the top of them. Though they were stationary, they were still running, and causing a black cloud of exhaust to flood the entire entrance to the building.

Severus cursed again under his breath as he lugged his suitcase over the one of the cars. The driver watched him with an amused grin as he tried to push the heavy luggage into the back of the car.

He finally managed to hoist the damn suitcase into the back and slammed the door closed, grumbling under his breath as he opened the front door and slid into the passenger seat.

The driver looked at him expectantly.

He fumbled around in the pocket of his too tight jeans. Gods how he missed his robes!

Finally, he managed to grip onto the piece of paper that Minerva had given him just before he boarded his flight, which had details of the hotel he was to be staying at.

"The Crebert Hotel in Kings Cross please." He said curtly.

The driver grinned at him and winked before starting off. Severus frowned in confusion, but decided that this driver was merely a harmless lunatic and shouldn't be worried over. He settled back in his seat for the rest of the ride.

After about half an hour, he became bored.

"How much further?" He asked.

"Short way. Maybe 15." The driver replied.

Severus scowled. He hadn't thought it should take this long to get to the hotel. Maybe Minerva had mixed it up or something. He frowned. Maybe the driver was just trying to run up the bill.

He sighed, deciding not to worry about it for the time being. He looked out the window at the streets that they were passing by. Nothing much of interest.

10 minutes went by, then 15. Severus was starting to get apprehensive.

The streets were much more crowded here than they had been before. Severus had not seen anything like it. He was used to the society of wizards and rarely ever ventured out into the muggle world anymore, but here it was in all its glory and splendour.

Girls of various ages stood on the sides of the streets, wearing nothing but scraps of cloth held together with strategic bits of string. Boys pranced around in dark make-up with heavy eyeliner and see through shirts. Old haggard looking women leaned against buildings with skirts that were too tight, too short and too shiny. He grimaced as the car came to a halt.

"Where are we?" He asked.

" Crebert Hotel sir." The driver said, giving him another wink. "That will be $78.45."

"I don't see a hotel." Severus said, frowning again.

"Right there!" The driver said, pointing to a small, decrepit building with 3 car spaces out the front.

Severus sat there, dumbfounded until the driver began impatiently tapping his hand on the steering wheel.

Severus shook himself and paid the man with some of the money that Minerva had left him. He quickly took out his bags and placed them on the pavement. The driver drove off quickly and he was alone.

He looked up once again at the building. There was a creaking sign that said "Crebert Reception". He walked over to it and knocked on the door. The door opened slightly and a man poked his head out.

"What do you want?" He asked gruffly, eyeing the stranger who stood in his doorway.

"I have a reservation. My name is Severus Snape." Severus replied.

The man eyed him suspiciously before closing the door on him. Severus blinked. The man opened the door once again and handed him a key.

"Room 4. If you break anything, it will come out of your deposit." He informed him, before closing the door on him again. Severus heard a click, indicating that the man had locked the door.

He looked down at the place where he had seen the carspaces. In front of the carspaces were rooms with numbers.

He lugged his bags over to them and followed the numbers until he reached number 4. There was no car space in front of this room, but that didn't really bother him as he didn't suppose he would require one. He turned the key in the lock and gingerly opened the door.

The room was dark. He couldn't see anything in front of him. He felt around for the light switch and the room brightened a fraction. Enough for him to see its contents anyway.

There was a small, double bed in the centre of the room. A chest of drawers next to it. There was a small, dirty looking armchair and a table off to the side. There was a door at the other side of the room which he assumed was a bathroom.

He sighed as he put his bags down, viewing the quarters with distaste. He would bear it for now, but he contented himself with the knowledge that he would kill Minerva when he got back to England.