This chapter is dedicated to Mozes & The Lil' Squirt's HP Fan-club and the troops in Iraq.
Chapter Fifteen, Year Two: The Portkey
Severus Snape was not having a good day. Seeing the teenage form of your, apparently not-so-dead master can do that to a person. He half expected the mark on his arm to begin burning. He was glad it didn't; he wasn't really looking forward to tea and biscuits with the Dark Lord.
He sighed, irritated, as he remembered the Dark Lord's favorite pastime. He didn't so much as blink as the house next door blew up. In his opinion, the bloody torso that fell through the roof didn't really warrant the full out hysterics it garnered.
Severus felt his left eye twitch. It was a maddening feeling, really. He'd never had a twitch before he'd joined the Death Eaters. He would've seriously considered suing for unsafe working conditions, poor pay and no health insurance, if the Dark Lord was sane and Severus was sure that he wouldn't be killed, have his soul sucked out of him, or tortured.
"Wow, I never knew that humans exploded that well," Salazar said dryly. The crackling of fire was the only sound that broke the silence. Remus and Draco stared at Harry with a mix of incredulity and worry.
"Er, Potter, are you alright?" Draco asked, backing away from the obviously insane hero.
"Yeeessss," Salazar responded slowly, "why wouldn't I be?"
"You do realize that you just said that humans exploded well, don't you?" Draco asked desperately, looking shell-shocked.
"Yeeesss."
Draco just gaped at Salazar. Salazar raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Er…right. Severus, are you alright?" Remus asked, staring at him with concern. The Potion's Master was just standing there, slouching and looking as if Dumbledore had propositioned him or Filch had told him he has wet dreams about him.
Severus jerked himself out of his stupor. "We should leave, the aurors are going to checking the houses as soon as they've obliviated the Muggles out there. Everyone, start packing."
Draco sighed and looked at Salazar. "I'm already packed, you?"
"Never unpacked."
"Oh."
There was relative silence until, "So, how are we going to leave? The Floo system is going to be monitored, the aurors have anti-apparition wards up, and they're also going to be scanning the skies for brooms…"
Salazar stared fixedly at a wall, wondering whether or notto tell everyone that he had a semi-illegal port key on him. "Surely Professor Snape or Remus has a portkey, I mean, Dumbledore wouldn't let them go without giving them one, not with Tom Riddle on the loose…"
"Dumbledore does a lot of stupid things, Potter…"
"Well, yeah, he's only human. Are you trying to say that Snape doesn't have a portkey?"
"…yes."
"Oh."
Draco raised an eyebrow at this. "What, you're not going to go ballistic, claim that Dumbledore is a manipulative old coot, turn dark and become the next Dark Lord?"
Salazar smirked. "No, but I'm flattered you think so highly of me. I mean really, the next Dark Lord? Gosh, you better be careful, that was almost a compliment. What would your fan-club say!" he said, placing a hand on his forehead and pretending to swoon.
Draco did not look amused. "Hmph, don't be so smug about it. Half the Ministry seriously thinks that you're going to become the next Dark Lord."
Salazar sat up straight at this revelation. "What? Why!"
"It's because of Dumbledore's theory about your scar," he sighed. "Apparently, it links the two of you together. It's causing some people to think that you might be a very powerful wizard with an inclination toward the dark."
Salazar cursed softly under his breath. 'Damn that manipulating bastard. He wants me to be completely dependent on him! Either I side completely with him, or he cries wolf on me and gets everyone to think I'm housing Tom's soul!'
Draco watched Salazar's eyes narrow in fury with a small amount of trepidation. He cleared his throat. "So, um, how are we going to get out of here?"
"Portkey."
"I thought we covered that already!"
Salazar glared at him, and Draco gulped. He really did have a fair imitation of Severus' glare. Draco supposed it had to do with having it directed at him every day during Potion's class.
"We've noted that Snape and Remus didn't have one. No one said anything about me not having one," Salazar said gruffly. Draco was gaping at him in astonishment. "I'm going upstairs to tell the others."
Remus chuckled, amused, as he watched Severus hurriedly pack his caldron and ingredients away. He was cursing up a storm, and ranting.
"And you!" Severus whirled around to glare at the smirking Remus. "You can't even get off your fat arse and help! You just sit there, chuckling like the imbecilic moron you are! I swear…" and he was off again.
There was a knock at the door, and Salazar poked his head in. Severus didn't stop storming around the room ranting and cursing.
Salazar glanced at Severus incredulously. "Um, I think I have a way of getting out of here before the aurors start storming the houses," he said staring at the little spot over Remus' right ear. It really was a very interesting spot…Salazar figured that it could be blood. Or maybe spaghetti…
"Oh, and how is that?" Severus demanded, harshly, looking up from his shrunk luggage.
"I, um, have a portkey…"
"You have a portkey? Why?" Remus asked, staring at Salazar oddly.
"Is it legal?" Severus asked sharply, turning around and looking at Salazar suspiciously
"…I have one because Mr. Weasley gave me one after I got off the Hogwarts Express this summer, and it's legal…I think."
"It's about time that someone took charge of your safety," Severus said gruffly, obviously referring to Dumbledore. He started walking out the room.
"Where are you going?" Remus called.
Severus looked at Remus oddly. "To get Draco of course," he said before he continued on his way to the basement.
Their arrival in the Burrow was met with two gaping and shocked faces.
Ron choked and coughed, spraying food everywhere. "Bloody hell!" he gasped and fell backwards as his chair tipped back.
Draco sneered, Severus crossed his arms and stared at them like they were all morons, Salazar was trying to wipe the stew off his sneaker, and Remus was grinning and waving at the Weasley family like a maniac.
Maybe Mr. Weasley shouldn't have set the coordinates for his kitchen table. Or perhaps, he shouldn't have allowed an incompetent Ministry employee to set the coordinates.
Mr. Weasley snapped out his shock. "Harry! What happened!" he yelled, pushing back his chair so violently that it tipped over. Ron let out a startled squeak as it crashed to the floor near his ear.
"Well, it's a rather long story…" Salazar began.
"Starting with his birth," Draco cut in.
Ron hauled himself to his feet. "Shut up, Malfoy," he spat.
"Only if you do so first," Draco taunted, sounding like a two year old. Salazar glared at the two, reached over and cuffed Draco on the head. Draco yelped.
"As I was saying," Salazar continued as if nothing had happened, "Voldemort decided to drop in to say hi, destroy some of our very odd, new neighbors, a house and a portion of the street. Then the aurors came to crash the party, and we had to escape before the questioning started."
Mr. Weasley was bewildered. "Why did you run?"
"Because that would mean that we knew about the Dark Lord before hand and didn't tell anyone, and that would also mean that we were the ones to kidnap Mr. Potter," Severus explained blandly. It was almost as if he were talking about the weather, although cloud formations usually didn't try to kill people.
"That's right!" Ron said, glaring. "You kidnapped Harry without his permission!"
"Quite on the contrary, Potter came happily and willfully with us," Draco objected.
"Yeah! Well that's because…" Ron didn't get to finish because Salazar cuffed him hard on the head.
Ron gaped at him as Salazar pulled out a chair say down in it and told him to shut up. Draco smirked at Ron and also pulled out a chair.
"Shh, Weasley," he hissed with a smirk, "the grown ups are speaking." He then proceeded to stare at the conversing adults like they were a most fascinating sort of insect.
Ron growled in annoyance.
A/N: I've been meaning to post this chapter for the longest period of time, actually, it could've been up on Sunday, but I've been waiting for my beta to beta it. I'm sorry, if I was really good at grammar, I would've done it on my own. As it is, I did beta it on my own, so I know there'll be grammar mistakes…
Reviews:
Mozes: Wow. I'm honored, I really am. Completely floored, honestly. I read you review a few days after I finished this chapter, and I have it in my binder. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. As for the war, I felt that we needed to retaliate in some way, but war was a bit extreme. I will be patriotic and support the soldiers, but I was against the war (I think it's a bit too late to be against the war now). I hope that you and the rest of your troops get some time away to spend with their families. Oh, and have a virtual box of cookies.
andy-may: Ah, it's alright. I forgive you…here, have a cookie. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy this one as well.
like whoa: I've never seen my name either, which is probably my reason for trying to mention everyone's names. But hey, I'm not being paid to analyze my reasons, so I'm not going to start. Well, actually, they were based off of me and a friend. Granted, it was a more exaggerated version of how we deal with stuff. The hummer refers to the truck, the Hummer. A kid was screaming that he saw one, and Draco didn't know what a Hummer was.
SunStar Kitsune: I have to agree, I am weird when I'm feeling anti-social. Oh, and I'm planning on dying sometime in the next chapter.
NephyRiddle: Er, sorry, I wasn't able to update soon. Don't kill me! Here, have a cookie!
Nic'sim87: Yes, sadly the antics that go on in that neighborhood is almost as bad as what goes on in our school…ex: Someone's stuck a shoe-lace in an outlet. Said person realizes that nothing is happing, and dares another to lick it.
Ambrosius Emrys: I have to agree
Heiress-To-The-Dark-Throne: Thanks. The poll was to decide if Salazar and Draco should be a couple. And I'm glad you enjoyed the twist. I love making things twisted. I don't know why. I guess it's a hobby.
Lyfe.exe: Well, I'm thinking of leaning in that direction too.
dark-artemis89: Well, it your trying to give up the word 'anyways', I'll have to try to give up my little '…' things. Draco was trying to deny that Riddle is really Voldie, because that would mean the Dark Lord is back, and that's just something people like to deny.
At any rate, you have no idea how flattered I am to have this story be compared to Abandon and Reclaim. I LOVE those stories, and they're so well written, I could never write like that…anyway, thanks, and I hope you like this chapter.
Inu-Angel Z: I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I'm happy to reply. At any rate, I'm leaning more toward a friendship between Salazar and Draco. I'm thinking that having one would take too much effort to write. .;; I'm getting lazy.
SlytherinSnake-Goddess: Oh, very soon. Well, at least in this school year.
To everyone else who read, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
