Chapter 7: In Miserable Company
{A/N Here's Another Chapter...}
My Thanks to all My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy S.S.
The Master Bedroom, The Sinclair Residence, Unknown World...
Silence was the only sound left in the bedroom following both Hermione and Lupin's flare for the dramatic exits. The task of enduring the Enchantresses little game proved to be more if a challenge than he initially believed.
He would have to gather as much information about this Sidney Sinclair as possible without alerting the family. For the time being he opted to use his well noted Slytherin tact to give himself on advantage over these Gryffindors whom had no clue of their own house flaws.
Getting to his feet, Snape decided the first course of action would be to smooth things over with the sobbing woman with whom he shared a bed.
It still unnerved him that Sidney Sinclair chose to share what passed for a life with Hermione Granger of all people.
He had not gotten far in efforts to locate his apparent better half when Eileen stood before the door with a stern expression on her face.
"You made Mummy cry Daddy." said the girl in a rather accusatory tone.
She narrowed her eyes at the stunned wizard who seemed at a loss for words in the wake of an innocent child's sensibilities.
"It was not my intention to upset her." said Snape meeting the gaze of his apparent daughter.
"Then why was she crying?" asked Eileen with an arched brow not so unlike her father's.
"I forgot about a promise I made to her some time ago." He admitted.
"What promise?" she asked quite interested in the answer.
"It is a promise between the two of us." replied Snape rather guarded.
He didn't truly know the extent of what she wished if him and was in no means willing to allow the child to know how out of place he was in this rather strange world.
Eileen looked at him for what seemed like the longest time. Her dark eyes looming as if she were attempting to read him in some manner.
"You don't look so well Daddy." she said her young voice full of concern.
Before Snape could assure her that she had been well off in her assumptions he felt himself become quite dizzy and moved back toward the bed before he lost his footing.
Gasping for breath during the onset of a sudden and quite painful headache, the out of place wizard struggled to keep his vision from blurring.
"DADDY!" shouted Eileen highly upset and riddled with confusion as to what would become of her father.
The child's apparent distress seemed to have alerted the closest adult in the vicinity as Harry Potter came rushing up the stairs to investigate.
"Dad!" he said rushing into the room once he had taken note of the ailing man. "Dad what's happening?"
Snape had little time to offer protest of Harry Potter's concern before he lost consciousness and only the muffled voices in the background could be heard. Before his vision faded out he saw a glimpse of a terrified and highly concerned Hermione Granger before him.
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Sometime Later...
The moment his eyes opened, Snape had believed this twisted game of the enchantress' had been long over but the all too familiar bedroom he shared with his wife in this strange world had been in clear view. As if that had not been annoying enough, she was sitting beside him her face stained with tears and her hand gripping his own as he came around.
"Sidney." she said stroking his rather clammy cheek.
"I..." he began unsure he liked the sound of dryness coming from within his throat. "W-Water..."
Hermione nodded pouring him a glass from the pitcher sitting on the end-table beside the bed.
Snape found it difficult to drink at first until he received the welcome assistance from his young wife as she continued to fuss over him.
"What's going on with you Sidney?" she asked finally breaking the silence that had fallen between them since his initial request for water.
"I...I'm fine." Snape replied out of habit due to no one but the likes of Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey or The Malfoys taking any interest in his well-being.
"You obviously are not fine." replied Hermione with a stern expression. "You're forgetting things and having fainting spells...Eileen said you were in a good deal of pain when you fell...Harry has mentioned your nose bleeding."
"It's nothing to be concerned about." said Snape still rather defensive about his apparent status of health.
"Like hell it is." said Hermione meeting his eyes. "Something is going on with you and it isn't good, now I would like to know what is making you ill and I will call Remus if I have to."
The very mention of the doctor seemed to infuriate Snape as much as a suggestion that one would inquire about his health via Madam Pomfrey.
"I told you that I..." he began.
"You are far from fine." said Hermione making it clear that she wasn't in the mood for accepting any of his excuses.
"Hermione..." he began once again only to find himself interrupted by Remus Lupin coming through the bedroom door.
"Is he awake?" asked the sheepish doctor as he entered barely noting the tension between the married couple before him.
"He's awake and making excuses aplenty." replied Hermione narrowing her amber eyes at her visibly annoyed husband.
"He is rather ill, what say you let this slide until we have more information." said Lupin in defense of his old friend.
Snape rolled his eyes not in the least attempting to pretend he had been alright with the sheepish looking man being in his presence. Despite being confined to the life of a rather clueless muggle, The Potions Master had not forgotten just whom Remus Lupin had been in his world nor the attempts the poorly concealed werewolf made on his life in the process.
"I didn't ask for your assistance." hissed Snape bitterly.
"Sidney?" said Hermione once more confused as to why her husband saw fit to treat his friend with indifference. "Remus is only trying to look after you."
"As I said...I did not ask for his assistance." replied Snape narrowing his gaze upon the doctor.
"Sid I did not mean to give you cause for being upset." admitted Lupin. "The last thing you need as of now is stress."
"And yet you remain here to cause it." grumbled Snape. "Look I don't have the slightest idea why I passed out but it happened I'm not intentionally keeping anything from either of you that I don't rightly recall."
The stern expression on Hermione's face disappeared when she noted the shock and absolute sorrow that filed across Lupin's.
"Sidney we need to get you to the office...you must have a full examination." he said in a tone that suggested that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione in confusion.
"Hermione I didn't initially want to alarm everyone due to the holiday but there is a chance Sidney is experiencing issues with his memory." said Lupin. "It's could be a result of his fall or..."
"Or what?" asked Hermione looking back at her husband with her eyes full of concern.
"Or it's..." began Lupin only to be cut off by Snape himself.
It was clear whatever was going on with Sidney Sinclair he had not wanted his wife to know about it and as if on instinct he spoke up to delay the inevitable.
"It's most likely the result of the fall." continued Snape. "A concussion might be the least of my worries."
"Still you need an proper examination." insisted Lupin. "I'll bring my car around...have him ready in a few moments if you wish to know the extent of the damage."
Snape rolled his eyes once more much to his wife's chagrin.
"If you think I am riding anywhere..." he began.
"You're going." she said in a stern tone. "Consider this your way of atoning for getting those keys...I don't know how you did it but given that Remus is convinced your memories are in a state of imbalance due to your head injury the least you could do is get checked out."
Snape knew it was useless to protest, she had been every bit as stubborn as McGonagall when she wanted to be.
"If that is what you wish..." he said getting out of bed a bit too quickly for Hermione's taste but stood on his own two feet none the less. "Let's get this over with."
Satisfied in her little victory, Hermione nodded in agreement as they headed out the door. It seemed Sidney Sinclair was indeed keeping something from his wife and children and it was only a matter of time before Snape found out what it was.
