Published 28th of November, 2020
Severus took the spell off the large wooden door for a brief moment, but cast a Homenum revelio before opening it. He wanted to know how many people were behind them and more or less where. But to his surprise, no reflection appeared. As if there was no one at all.
He was relieved in the first second, but then was immediately overwhelmed by anxiety for Hermione. If everyone had left and was somewhere outside, they might have run into her. He only hoped that the girl had thought of renewing the protection spells from the moment he had moved away from her as Caster. It wasn't obvious at all and she might not even have thought about it! Not in her condition! You should have told her to do it.
Just in case, as soon as they entered, he cast Cave Inimicum. At least he would know when they came. I
t was dark in the corridor, but somewhere to the left there was a light. Besides, there was a dead silence, broken only by the whining of the wind in the chimney or other crevices. Darkness, silence ... it all reminded him vividly of the fresh nightmare of Azkaban and involuntarily chills ran down his spine.
"Go to the lab" he ordered.
Peterson was reluctant to move, so Severus cursed under his breath, grabbed his jacket by the nape of his neck and pushed him forward. He was really in a rush and it wasn't just because of Potter and Ginevra Weasley.
They walked quickly down the narrow corridor, Peterson turned into the lighted room, Severus burst in behind him and stopped dead.
The lab was... practically empty. There were crushed debris of ingredients and shattered glass beneath the bare walls, the shelves on the walls were stripped of ingredients, there were gaping holes in open cabinets and a broken crystal bottle lay in a wet stain right under his feet.
Not yet comprehending what he sees, Severus shifted his horrified gaze to the table in the center. Between the glass shards and some rubbish there was only one twisted tripod. On which no cauldron will ever be placed again...
No sign of the Moon Water bottles anywhere, no sign of the antidote vials...
There was only a delicate, familiar scent still hanging in the air.
Impossible! Merlin, it's impossible !
He had to touch it! He had to touch it to believe it!
He ran his hand over the cool wooden countertop, groped for flecks of glass, reached for a few dry leaves and looked at them. He couldn't see his own hand, they looked like they were floating in the air.
Screechsnaps leaves. Antidote.
He clenched his fist and as he relaxed it, the crushed leaves slipped through his trembling fingers and fell on the table. Though Severus had the feeling that the whole world had just collapsed from his hands.
Everything swung violently and he held on tightly to the table.
"I don't understand... are they gone?" He heard Peterson's squeaky voice and he composed himself.
"Do you have a storeroom here, another place where you keep ingredients and elixirs?
"No, no, it's just – just here."
It took a moment for him to understand. It was obvious. Peterson was supposed to be brewing here. And since he was gone, the murderer took it to his place and now brewed...
What if he wasn't brewing in his lab but hiding somewhere else?
The very thought made his pulse quicken, but he shook himself immediately.
Merlin, get a grip. You still have some time. Few hours. Nothing is lost. Yet.
He felt as if he had just climbed the longed-for peak and now he had fallen to the very bottom and had to start again. He had no strength left, but he had no choice either. Just like five years ago.
Suddenly, an invisible but tangible wave came from the corridor and penetrated his body. They are coming!
"Hide in the corner" he hissed hastily at Peterson. "Somebody is coming."
Peterson whined loudly, so to be sure Severus cast Muffliato at both of them again. He didn't know what exactly to expect and preferred to prepare for the worst.
He heard neither the door click nor the footsteps. At least not right away. Only after a moment he heard a vague rustle. Then there was silence. No words were spoken.
Severus squeezed his wand and froze. Then two men emerged from the darkness. And what he saw was worse than his worst nightmare.
.,.,.
Another furious gust of wind tugged everything around again and a branch stung Hermione's cheek and blocked the view of the dungeon entrance. The impatient girl pushed it away from her and fixed her burning gaze at the violently swinging door. She could see it, but with all her soul, heart and mind, she was already far behind it, down there, with Severus. In her mind she searched the shelves again, but this time they were cluttered with stands with vials full of pearly liquid, she could see black bottles all around, she put them in her pockets hastily, grabbed bottles and ran upstairs, outside...
But no one was after her, so she would come back and everything would start all over again!
There was another dull thud as the door slammed in some familiar, desired way and Hermione held her breath. Merlin, let it be him!
With all her body she felt him approach. She felt his presence. Clearly, almost as if he had touched her. His gaze passed down her back... But...
"Sssev...?" Slowly, afraid of what she would see, she turned and looked at that thing... this someone... the emptiness? right in front of her.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
In one second she stiffened like a stone, lasted a moment and then she collapsed heavily to the ground.
.,.,.
Gratus didn't hear the sound of a fall in the howl of the wind, but he could clearly see the grass and a nearby bush bend. He immediately reached over there and found someone's body. Judging by the shape, this someone was lying on his side, face down.
"Well, well, well... who do we have here...?"
He felt his elbow and back, then reached for his head and tapped it with his wand, removing the Disillusionment Charm. The grass turned gray, blackened and turned into dark trousers, a jacket and... a man completely strangers to him.
Homenum Revelio clearly brought a reflection of one person, but just in case Gratus repeated it a few more times, in different directions. But nothing happened.
So where is this piece of filth? This guy couldn't get through the Barrier alone!
With a strong kick in the stomach, he knocked the stranger onto his back, took the charm off himself as well and only when he became visible, he leaned towards him and pull his wand out of his clenched fingers. He could have done it before, but it was so much fun to look into his victim's eyes when the victim saw him.
.,.,.
Hermione would cringe in pain, but she couldn't even flinch. Everything in her was petrified and she could only move her eyes and breathe. And feel. Sharp pain erupted where something suddenly hit her so hard that it rolled her onto her back and spread out in waves in all directions of her body.
Besides, she felt her heart pound within her; it pounded like mad, as if it wanted to break free from her breasts and get as far away as possible.
Moments later, the dark trees in front of her took shape and the silhouette of a tall, bearded man appeared. Not Tylor, not Bryant ... Oh my God ...
Gratus took her wand and held his to her throat.
"Interesting place to walk, huh?"
Within seconds, he cast Immobilus, unpetrified her, conjured a rope and twisted her hands back with his wand, tied them and tightened the knot with a sharp tug.
"Where is he?"
"Who?"
Gratus pressed his wand to her throat immediately.
"I'll just ask you one more time and then I'll start cutting everything off for you. Where should I start?" He stuck the tip of the wand into the hollow next to her ear. "Maybe here?"
A wild panic erupted in Hermione and she almost lost her senses. Impossible! He won't! Merlin, he won't! CANNOT!
"Who?!"
Gratus jerked up his wand and excruciating pain tore Hermione's head apart, her whole body twisted in agony. And through her own howl, she heard something snap and bbreak and searing heat flooded her.
"Where is he?!"
"I do not know! He escaped!"
"Next is the eye!"
"IN THE FOREST! He went to the forest!"
"For what?!" He stabbed her hard.
Another pain hit the other half of her face, inflamed everything and another sticky heat obscured the world. Blinded, she kicked her legs and jerked her head to the side until she almost broke her neck.
"FOR A WAND! HE LOST...! WAND!
"And he went looking for her? In which direction?"
"TO THE GATE! Far away from Severus!
"Right eye or left?" He jerked her head towards him.
"TOTHEGATE! She howled and continued screaming until she lost her breath.
GOD! GOD! GOD! DO SOMETHING!
.,.,.
Gratus pinned the squirming man with his knee and looked around. It was quite possible. Peterson had to ran away while he was playing with the girl and he probably ran straight to the gate and lost his wand somewhere along the way. And now he's back looking for it. But why was this guy standing by the door then?
"Are you sure he didn't come in?"
"NO! NO...!"
"Let's find out. And if I find someone there..." in a flash he put his wand to his crotch and cast a crushing spell. "I'll start from there."
He heard piercing whine that almost immediately turned into a howl, so he got the man to his feet with a spell, grabbed the rope behind him and pushed him forward.
"Go ahead of me."
.,.,.
Hermione stumbled to the side, but immediately her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground. Gratus jerked her up and ordered her to move, so, staggering, bent in half, she took a step forward on trembling legs. And then the second.
And so they headed for the door. Gratus was guided her because Hermione couldn't. She couldn't see anything with her right eye, she could only feel tearing pain and heat running down her cheek, her left side was in terrible, stabbing pain, her stomach and perineum were on fire and if it hadn't been for the brutal grip she would have fallen down on her knees and she would have stayed that way.
Despite of the throbbing, pulsing buzz in her head, she tried to think of something with some remnant of consciousness, but she couldn't focus. The dazed, maddened brain could not keep up with the thoughts that flashed through her head, leaving no traces behind. She only managed to keep one completely pointless thought and now she played it frantically in her ming.
George. His ear was broken off. They didn't succeed to recreate it with magic. It was a black magic spell. Was THIS also black magic ?
But it didn't matter. It was going to be even worse in a moment.
As they entered, Gratus summoned a torch and lit it. The flame illuminated the first uneven stairs with an orange-bloody light, but the next ones plunged into even deeper darkness. The man led Hermione to the very edge, put his wand between the ties and twisted it with a sharp tug. The rope immediately dug into her body and blood ran down her wrists.
"Go" he growled hoarsely.
The girl moved slowly, blindly, searching for the next steps with her foot and sliding lower and lower. There was some paradox in that. She was in a rush and at the same time she desperately wanted to slow down. The slower she walked, the longer it took, the more time she gave Severus. To find an antidote and Moon Water. And escape.
At the same time, Harry and Ginny had less chances.
She didn't know who to choose anymore. Who of all of them was the most important at the moment. Maybe Harry was right, maybe if Severus survived, he could save the others?
And at the same time as she made this longer, she also delayed what was to come.
But every road has an end.
When they reached the bottom, the bearded man opened the grid, mumbling some spell, pushed her into the corridor and slammed the grid behind him.
.,.,.
There was nobody downstairs. Gratus pursed his lips, part surprise and part disappointment. With every step he took, he grew more certain that the story of the finding of the wand was untrue and that the stranger was watching the door because Peterson was trying to get in.
Whether with or without a wand, he couldn't get any farther, so Gratus cast Homenum Revelio halfway up the stairs, but the spell detected nobody.
"Looks like you told the truth."
At first he felt an unpleasant twinge of disappointment, but almost immediately it occurred to him that all was not lost yet. He would have to question him yet.
Tapping his wand on the grid he whispered a spell and kicked it open.
"Come in and wait for me."
The stranger had gone too far for his liking, so he held him with a strong tug on the bonds.
"Stop, piece of shit" he hissed.
He carefully closed the grid, put a spell on it and pushed the man towards the passage to the corridor.
.,.,.
Walking ton the other side of the grid was like... entering another world. The pain was still there and so was the terror, but the feelings seemed to be far away. As if something had come between them and the girl. As if she was standing to the side and seeing herself through the glass wall. Through her Shield.
The Shield muffled everything, calmed down and allowed her to straighten up, go ahead and start thinking.
So she walked and tried to see anything with her left eye.
The ceiling was very low and the flames of torche licked it in rhythm of their footsteps. The searing white of flames in the darkness around was blinding, revealing some bright, irregular patches on the ground and black streaks on the ceiling. Sometimes a chip of stone glistened for a second to immediately sink into the darkness all around. And these irregular flashes of light were measuring the time that was running out.
Hermione forced herself to walk forward obediently. She hoped this would lull Gratus' vigilance and when the time cames she could do what had to be done.
It was the only reasonable solution, the only reasonable decision. He would kill her anyway, so let someone else save at the cost of her life.
She didn't know what that monster would do to her; it did and did not matter. It did because she was terribly afraid. But there was nothing she could do about it. It will come anyway. All she could do was hope Severus would succeed. Right now all hope was in him.
Do not think about it. Just act like it's not there. Or as if it was a book you've finished reading. Just a book. Nothing more. You'll just close it.
Never before has the road seemed so long and so short at the same time.
Suddenly a door emerged from the darkness. There was supposed to be a door and there is. Hermione felt as if...
It is now. The End.
He stopped her with a sharp tug on the bonds, which made the rope even tighter into her body and something warm ran down her hands. He tossed the torch aside and took off the spells.
Few seconds more. Let him open the door. Just a few seconds more.
"Silencio!"
The spell took her voice away. Hermione immediately lunged at Gratus, or so she thought, but the man was much faster. In a fraction of second he jumped back, immobilized her with a spell and levitated her so that she would not fall to the ground and make a noise.
Floating in the air, completely dumb, the girl could only watch as the killer silently cracked open the door and cast Homenum Revelio.
She didn't feel what he felt, but she saw when it happened. For a brief moment his face was marked with astonishment, almost immediately obscured by a manic, almost animal smile.
Without saying a word, he positioned her in front of him, put his arm around her and plunged his wand into her throat as he moved forward.
.,.,.
At the sight of the first of them, a slim, young blonde Severus' heart leapt to his throat and almost immediately was pushed somewhere down his stomach by the horror that flooded his mind, took his breath away and squeezed his stomach so tightly that he felt that he was going to vomit.
Gasping in short, spasmodic gulps, the man tilted his head desperately to avoid the wand from digging into his throat. He flexed it so much that he almost looked like a rag doll. A rag, dirty doll, stained with blood, floating limp in the air, completely at the mercy of its master.
The left half of his face was covered with blood that was still flowing down his neck, the right eye was not visible under the bloody swelling, crimson tears ran down his cheeks and sobs shook his chest. Severus squeezed his eyes shut for a second, but that didn't help. He still have horrible view in front of his eyes, vivid as if he were still looking at it. All he could do was thank Merlin that it wasn't Hermione he saw. And that he doesn't hear her moans and screams.
Gratus paused in the doorway so that Hermione covered him almost completely with her body.
"I'm counting to three. If you don't give up on three, I'll cut his right arm off." He twisted his wand and Hermione jerked violently. "Then it will be the turn of the left. Once..."
Panic flooded Severus's brain. He knew Gratus would do it! He knew he could! He has seen it more than once! Just at the memory of scenes from the past, his blood turned to ice.
Merlin, he couldn't allow it, for anything in the world!
He couldn't believe how much he changed. If five years ago the Dark Lord had ordered him to bring a girl and kill her - he would have done so. If he had ordered someone else to do it, or had he tortured her, he would have stood and watched as he stood and watched the deaths of other people he did not care about.
But now everything was different. The sight of her massacred face made him feel as if his heart had broken. It was torn to pieces. At one point, Gratus had to take off Silencio, because he suddenly realized he could hear her soft sobs that pierced his whole body. Her pain ached him and at the same time he wished he would feel it all, instead of her!
Something broke inside him and he took off Muffliato without hesitation.
"Two."
"Stop!" He cried and did not recognize that foreign voice at all. "Wait!"
His hand was shaking so badly that he barely managed to get a second wand from a hidden pocket and insert his own.
"WAIT!"
Quickly he removed Disillusionment Charm and without waiting for it to reveal itself completely, placed his wand on the table and pushed it towards Gratus.
"There's Peterson, somewhere against the wall, but he has no wand."
Then he carefully covered the hidden wand with his left hand in the side pocket and slowly lowered it along the body.
The giant man looked at him carefully, as if thoughtfully, then brutally pushed Hermione to the ground and tossed her wand on the table. The piece of wood rolled away and stopped short of his wand. Gratus scanned the empty space in front of him.
"You'll just flinch and I'll kill you both" he said to Severus and waved his hand invitingly toward the wall. "Come here, Peterson. Come to me, because if I come to you, I'll play with you before I kill you."
In almost complete silence, broken only by Hermione's moaning, they heard hurried gasp and a rustle. From where he was standing, Severus couldn't see what was happening, but Gratus burst out with laugh and aimed his wand at the corner to the left.
"You're a moron, Peterson! To become invisible and to piss with fear!"
There was a louder rustle, a scrape of glass and a few seconds later, a dark trickle appeared on the ground on the other side of the table and disappeared in the opposite corner.
Gratus laughed again and pushed his wand there.
"Will you be running like this for a long time? You probably shit yourself, fat ass!"
Clearly amused, he waited a few more moments and raised his wand.
"If you don't want to come to me... Petrificus Totalus!"
Something sighed briefly, there was a rustle of clothing across the rough wall and a moment later they heard a loud, heavy thump.
Gratus grinned happily and nodded at Severus.
"Now you. Turn around, hands behind you."
.,.,.
Severus barely had time to fold his hands behind his back when a sharp rope twisted into them, wrapped several times and wrapped him around the ribs. Gratus squeezed the rope even tighter, tearing off his skin in a few places, but that didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was that he couldn't find the hidden wand by searching him now.
With another jerk, Gratus pushed him to the ground, bound his legs and only then did he take care of Peterson.
Severus was not paying attention to the sounds coming from the corner, but he was looking at Hermione. The girl paled, gasped for air in short, painful gulps, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking all over, but was still alive. There was a red stain on the left side of her head, shimmering white in places and it looked like that son of a bitch had done something to her ear. He broke it off or tore it up. The tears were still streaming from her eye, smudging the blood on her cheek.
He didn't look up until Gratus took a piece of parchment from his pocket, unfolded it and tapped it with his wand. After a short while he smiled, folded it and stuffed it into his pocket.
Magic parchment.
Yeah. It was the most obvious way to communicate. All you had to do was pronounce Scribere, think what you wanted to write and tap it with your wand. The words immediately appeared on both pages. After a while, there was an answer.
It was not necessary to know the whereabouts of the other person and the message was sent immediately.
Perfect. For them. Not for him. He still didn't know WHO was the killer and WHERE he was.
"Let me heal... him" he said, looking at Hermione again.
"For in the hell?" Gratus shrugged. "You better worry about yourself."
"He's going to bleed to dead."
"He might die. I don't need anyone but our friend Peterson." The fat man beside him groaned squeakily and curled as much as he could on the ground.
"It may turn out you need us, too."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You think we're here by chance? We just walked by and thought it would be good to pay you a visit?"
Gratus leaned against the wall with his bent knee.
"It doesn't matter what you're looking for."
"I don't think Tylor would agree with you."
Gratus's eyes widened immediately and he froze for a long moment. And Severus could clearly see the thoughts raging in his head.
He got him. Now he just had to convince him that Hermione was important, too.
"Next scholars?" Gratus snorted after a moment. "One is enough to mess with this shit."
"After your answer, I conclude that you are completely ignorant of it. But I'm sure Tylor will want to talk to Us" - Severus stressed a little bit the word "Us".
"US?" Gratus laughed. "With Peterson, yes. He will be more than happy to talk to him. From this morning, he's just DYING to see him!"
"No, nonono!" Peterson sobbed and twitched his bound legs. "Please, please, no! I…I don't... I..." Severus shot him a mocking look and, without changing his expression, turned to Gratus.
"Peterson doesn't interest me. I'm talking about both of us." He nodded at Hermione.
"And who are you, you BOTH?"
"Someone who has discovered your master's secret and would like to talk to him about it."
Gratus twitched and frowned.
"First, not "Master".I don't have a Master, you idiot, Second, I see too much crowd here. Peterson was brewing alone and now suddenly Tylon needs BOTH of you? What's wrong with you? You only have half your brains?" He burst out laughing.
Severus tensed involuntarily and the rope gripped even tighter in his hands.
You are close. Now let him understand that, but DO NOT SAY IT.
"I only see one idiot here. Well, maybe two." He glanced meaningfully at Peterson.
In response to the insult, Gratus laughed again.
"Something tells me we're gonna be friends. Though maybe it won't be a very long friendship."
"Now that you've got this, let me heal him."
"This guy must be very valuable to you" Gratus grimaced. "But you can't find the other half of the brain everywhere."
He leaned over Hermione and began to slide his wand over the side of her head and mumble spells under his breath. Probably to stop the bleeding, maybe to close the wounds, but Severus couldn't hear the individual words at all, only a monotonous murmur.
After a moment, Gratus got up, turned and immediately the smile slipped from his face and he became shocked. What the hell...?
"Ssnape?!" His eyes widened. "Oh, fucking..."
Oh Merlin... !
Severus couldn't look at his hands, but he shook his head slightly and out of the corner of his eye he saw black strands of hair spilling over his shoulders.
"Is that really you?" The huge man gasped.
"Do you have any other stupid questions?"
Gratus stared at him for a moment, not responding to the taunt, as if unsure what to do, but finally smiled.
"If I had any doubts if it was you, I would just get rid of them. Long time no see" he approached him, but did not dare to kick him or even stand too close. "And that friend of yours? Now I really wonder who this guy is."
Severus felt both relief and panic. Relief because the fact that SNAPE needed someone could only help Hermione and panic, because since he returned to his form, Hermione didn't have much time left.
He had to do something, whatever, before it will happen!
Gratus crouched a bit further against the wall.
"Why doesn't he change?"
"Guess."
"You fucked up the potion?"
Severus forced himself to look extremely weary while he was thinking frantically what to do. If it were true, what would you do? How would you behave BEFORE? IN THE PAST ?
"Or maybe you are FAKE Potions Master?" Gratus continued. "Voldemort helped you to have a snitch at Hogwarts, but in fact you don't know shit about it? And that's why you have a sidekick?"
Only silence answered him.
"You're not denying it, so you clearly agree with me."
"It's just that your stupidity made me speechless" Severus blew a strand of hair from in front of his eyes.
Gratus narrowed his eyes, but then a smile appeared on his face again.
"I definitely liked your 'Yes, my lord'. You know, it sounded better. And that bow..." he grinned. "It looks like you are a better actor than a cook."
Severus gritted his teeth but didn't react. Shut up or that son of a bitch will takes it out on Hermione. You told him everything he needed to know.
Instead, he closed his eyes and prayed to Merlin and all the gods that SOMETHING would happen. As soon as possible. Before it's too late.
Another Dimension - Alex's lab
A few moments earlier
Delicate steam rose in a fine spiral from the cauldron as Alex stirred the completely colorless brew one last time and set the glass spoon aside.
She didn't like the color. She didn't like the smell. She didn't like the texture. She didn't like NOTHING!
How could she know if this trash hadn't misled her on purpose? Maybe he became suspicious and decided to take revenge on her after his dead? Any little detail was enough, just stirring in the wrong direction, one leaflet of Screechsnaps more or less and the antidote will not work!
She did not assume in her plans that this coward would run away.
But who said that if he had brewed it now, seeing what was going on, would have brewed it correctly? After all, he could change something that would not be obvious, but the potion would not heal!
You can do it. You've learned so much, you've done so much that you'll succeed. Just one more step, Alex.
Something moved on her hip and Alex screamed softly and jumped away from the table. And it took her a second later to realize it was just magic parchment!
Merlin, how lucky you haven't added any ingredients or stirred!
She took out the rolled-up ball, stretched it out and at the sight of the first words her heart pounded.
Peterson! He caught Peterson! Oh Merlin...!
You will force him to brew. You will look at his hands, keep an eye on him...
Or even better ! Poison him and tell him about it! Then you will be sure that he will brew a real antidote !
Alex straightened up with a triumphant smile and took a deep breath. It was so simple ... How could she panic so much that it didn't occur to her immediately?!
She made Gratus wait as quickly as possible and in case he wrote anything else, she put the parchment on the corner of the table. She had to deal with the brewing. Those idiots could wait a while!
With a still slightly trembling finger, she ran over the notes and marked what she had already done. The next step was to add nectar from the figwort. She should do this in exactly three minutes and stir it seven times clockwise. And immediately after stirring the ingredients, cast a static spell. It was too late now.
Not wanting to take any chances, Alex just summoned the polyjuice bottle, set it aside and began measuring out six drops of nectar. The first tiny air bubbles began to slowly detach from the bottom. Another minute... half... fifteen seconds... She tilted the spoon as gently as possible and the first drop fell inside just as the large air bubble broke from the bottom and drifted towards the surface.
Perfect.
She stirred the brew which turned a lilac color, tapped the glass spoon as gently as possible against the glass cauldron and whispered Sistere solutio and Sad Infer.
The flame dimmed and was barely visible. In this form, the brew could easily wait for her to come back with the piece of trash.
Fortunately, she didn't have to go back to the office, neither for Tylor's clothes, nor for an envelope with his hair, she had everything at hand. There was no danger that she would run into her father that way. Especially today it was strongly inadvisable.
With a flick of her wand, she changed from her work clothes to Tylor's trousers and jacket and took a good sip of polyjuice.
Long, thick, black hair shortened and became bland and disheveled, the smooth skin on the face stretched and sagged in several places and elsewhere it slumped and covered with a wrinkles, the feminine shape disappeared and a moment later instead of a beautiful woman stood a hunched man with drooping shoulders and bony elbows and knees.
She had no idea how Tylor could move in that state. At least she was barely coping with it.
"Aut ne tenraris aut prfice, Porta ostium nunc Corridor in Howden Dam."
She waited for the Passage to open, stepped into the dark corridor leading to the dungeons and putting a stern, furious expression on her face she closed it and pounded on the door.
As always, that idiot Gratus couldn't hurry! She raised her hand to bang it once more as the door swung open and Gratus looked at her with a particularly happy expression.
"I hope you have a reason to be so happy" she snorted.
"You can't even imagine The Reason, Sir!"
Alex pushed him away, walked by and entered the lab. And instantly two things struck her. The first was surprise that it is so empty here.
But the other one made everything else lost any meaning. It was the the bound figure sitting against the wall.
The man it all started with.
In one second everything she felt exploded within her and literally flooded her from head to toe. "Severus Snape" she heard Tylor's completely changed voice. HER voice.
Howden Dam
A few moments earlier
The next five minutes were torture. Time slowed down and flied at the same time. Severus wished it would stop, even step back! For hours, until there was anything else he could do. Keep her home. Make her wait on the other side of the Barrier. Stay somewhere else, not where Gratus was passing by! Anything! As long as IT doesn't happen!
And now he could only sit and look at the tortured girl lying nearby, knowing that it would be even worse in a moment.
How long after him did she drink the polyjuice? How many minutes does she have left?
At the same time, everything in him trembled in anticipation of what was to come.
Hermione stopped shaking and he didn't know if it was good or bad. He couldn't even go to her and see what was happening. And help her somehow.
Merlin, he wanted to howl! He has never felt like this before!
Gratus was talking crazy, but luckily since the polyjuice stopped working, he had lost all interest in Hermione. And Peterson, who cried and groaned from time to time and faltered trying to say something.
He wasn't listening to him, just trying hard to concentrate on finding any way out.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. In an instant, Gratus got up from his crouch, rubbed his legs and disappeared into the dark corridor.
Severus waited a moment and spoke in an insistent whisper.
"Can you hear me? Hermione!"
The girl shook her head slightly.
"Do not be surprised at anything I will say. I'll try to get us out of here."
Another nod of the head and a choked groan that was lost to the sound of approaching footsteps. "Hold on" he whispered hastily and as soon as he made his face unreadable and turned his head towards the entrance.
Tylor... Someone who looked like Tylor walked in and stopped dead. His eyes, usually small and deeply slumped a tangle of wrinkles, almost popped out and he opened his mouth, but was silent for a moment. Finally he choked out in a hoarse, weak voice:
"Severus Snape."
Severus gave him a calm look.
"Stefan Tylor. I'd say "Nice to see you", but given the circumstances…"
The other one did not seem to understand that he said something. Slowly, incredibly tensed he walked over to him and looked at him closely.
"Why didn't you tell me you caught Snape!" he asked Gratus without taking his eyes off Severus.
"Because he changed only after I wrote to you" the bearded man hurried up to explain.
"Was he tied up already?"
"Yes, of course! So it must be him, Mr. Tylor!"
"Shut up."
The man stopped right in front of Severus and ran a finger down his cheek.
"So you survived."
"I didn't know I should die" he replied, tilting his head back. He just had the best proof it wasn't Tylor. Who are you, son of a bitch. Who the hell are you!
"That was the plan."
"Nice to find out, even if it's too late."
Again he had the impression that the man had completely missed what he had said. He stared at him closely, then his gaze shifted to Peterson and finally to Hermione. Who still looked like a man.
"Who is this one?" He asked, pointing to her.
"Someone I came to talk to you with."
Gratus laughed.
"This is a sidekick of our dear Potions Master. It seems that he owes his fame in the field of potions to someone else."
Severus turned his head towards him and twisted his mouth in a contemptuous smile.
"You are very brave, Gratus. I wonder if you'll be the same when I'm not bound and have a wand in my hand."
Gratus laughed coarsely.
"Not in this life, Snape!"
„I can manage this."
"Stop!" Tylor growled and looked at Severus. "What did you want to talk about?"
"THIS I'll tell you when we're alone. Unless you want to discuss your little… project publicly with everybody."
Tylor cast a brief glance at Hermione again and his expression suddenly changed. A green light flashed and something in Severus screamed in panic. Not Hermione !
He was afraid to open his eyes. He didn't even know when he closed them. A hint of a sigh reached him. And in silent horror, Severus dared to open his eyes and looked straight ahead.
Hermione was still on the ground. She was still a man. He looked down at her chest... which was rising in shallow breath. This made him dizzy with overwhelming relief.
Oh Merlin.
Peterson tilted slowly to one side and fell to the ground.
"No... I thought you... needed him?" Gratus was surprised.
Tylor cut Severus' bonds at his feet with spells and lifted him upright.
"Not any more. I have someone else" he replied, looking him straight in the eyes and pressed his wand to his throat. "Anyway, it is the end."
Gratus froze.
"Dispose Peterson" Tylor added. "And watch the other one. I'll be back soon and tell you what to do with him."
He nodded to Severus to go ahead.
Panicked Severus looked for any idea to take Hermione with him. NO, NO, NO and NO ! You can't get out of here alone ! NO!
Do something. Anything. DON'T LEAVE FROM HERE WITHOUT HER !
But he had no other choice. He gave Hermione one last, painful look and Tylor pushed him down the hall. Why did he feel like it was goodbye ?!
The darkness immediately reminded him of Azkaban, but it didn't matter now.
He thought NOTHING matter, but he was wrong. Something else completely shocked his consciousness. The words he heard.
They cut through the darkness like lightning.
And suddenly everything became clear.
"Aut ne tenraris aut prfice. Porta ostium nunc."
Gratus continued to stare blankly into the darkness of the corridor long aften the slam of the door. And he tried to understand what he just heard.
"Anyway, it's the end."
The end?
THE END?
When the meaning of the word finally hit him, he felt as if someone tug at his stomach and tried to tear it out through his throat.
Until now, he thought that the end is still far away! Peterson was supposed to keep brewing his stupid potions, Tylor should have him put them in various places and even after the stupid scholar disappeared, there was still a lot to do...! Tylor was just going to move elsewhere and...
And what...?
Was that why he had ordered him to destroy Everything? Or because he didn't need anything anymore?
The end?!
And he was involved in this so much!
His hair almost stood on end as he realized that this was the first time he had ever been so strongly involved with something! He has always stood aside until now. He made a contract with someone, fulfilled his part, collected his payment and disappeared. But he has never been a PART of the task before!
Now he lived with guarded people. Plans kept changing. Tylor kept giving him new tasks, even telling him to come up with solutions to the problem... And today he even revealed his apparently great secret by letting him walk through some kind of magical corridor to his laboratory.
In this situation, he did not quite imagine that he would be able to just walk away. End the case and disappear.
Merlin, and Snape got into it! And his memories of Snape were rather bad.
He had to admit that Snape was acting on a much higher level.
His imagination immediately showed him a scene of one of the meetings with the Death Eaters in which he participated as a Mercenary. And where Voldemort appeared. And it made him shiver. He could only see him for a moment and from a distance, but at the sight of his white, stretched face, red eyes and his ABNORMALITY clearly visible from where he was, he almost went crazy with fear. He wanted to run away screaming and weeks later he still woke up in sweat at the memory of that evening. The idea that Snape could endure much closer contact, for many years and not go mad, filled him with reluctant admiration. Especially from the moment it all turned out to be a game. Masquerade.
A soft moan snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked at the unfamiliar man lying on the floor, but immediately looked at Peterson. And he returned to the interrupted topic.
The End.
You won't get out of this. Tylor won't let you go. He killed Harris, Bryant and Peterson. Don't even try to hope he lets you go free. He will get along with Snape, maybe they are getting along even right now! And he will come back to kill you!
He couldn't allow it! He just had to ...
Run off.
As soon as this idea dawned in his head, his old energy returned to him. Now that he had decided that he was on the run, he had to take out his things and the gold he had found in Bryant's room.
Ignoring the dead Peterson and the young man, he walked quickly to his room and began packing. He slipped the key to the Gringotts into his pocket, draped a gold locket around his neck, tucked behind his jacket two large books with offensive and defensive charms and tried to stuff the rest of his belongings into his arms. Two gold watches he stole from Grimmauld Place, a bottle of muscle stimulating oil, a pouch of galleons...
As he tried to add a bundle of the Comets of Passion, the bottle and purse slipped out and fell onto the bed.
"Shit!"
He snorted loudly, threw the newspapers aside, but at the same time remembered Bryant's gold. He had no choice but to come back for it. He could do without newspapers but certainly not without the gold!
To keep his hand free, he placed the bottle carefully on the purse, pinned with his chin and stopping breathing slowly pointed his want at the door and mumbled the spell. He didn't say it very clearly but luckily it worked and the door opened. With one more flick, he lit the torches, put his wand in his teeth, then grabbed the bottle in his hand and hurried down the corridor.
He did the same with the grid and went out into the woods where there was already large pile of stolen items.
Rustling noises, knocks, a thick voice and the sound of footsteps barely pierced the overwhelming, throbbing pain that spilled all over the head, tore Hermione's eye and burned with living fire across the left half of her face.
Someone walked, danced, laughed and cried and spoke in many voices... Since the darkness covered the world, everything had come and gone and with the little remnant of consciousness she was noticing something was happening.
Some moments attracted more attention, were more important than others. As if she was leaning out of the water for a moment and the sound came stronger then, it was closer... and then it fell again, she fell under the surface and everything became muffled, dark and had a metallic, salty taste.
She remembered Severus' voice telling her to hold on and she tried her best. She promised him she would do it. She focused as much as she could to grasp the edge and not lean beyond it.
Someone has come. The voice sounded strangely familiar, as if she'd heard it quite recently, but it was missing a face. They talked, spoke about him... or about her... There was silence for a moment, and then... something fell. And there was the End.
Suddenly she felt a strange, unreal touch, as if a brush of air brushed her body and vanished. And there was an overwhelming emptiness. She was left alone.
But she still held on.
Then she heard shuffling, some vague noises... and footsteps receding.
And there was silence.
Wake up. Do something. You can do it. Just try.
Hermione took a deep breath and shook her head. The pain, that eased a bit, exploded with redoubled force, but at the same time reality returned. With a slow motion, she rolled over to the side and dared to open her eyes.
At first, the eyelids did not twitch. She made another effort and reluctantly, her left eyelid peeled off and lifted a little. And through the pain she felt that the right one had also opened and she saw a blind brightness through it. But she saw with the left one.
Suddenly, there was a rustle behind her, there were footsteps and panic exploded in Hermione. Should she lie down? Pretend to be unconscious? Get up?
She didn't have time to make any decisions, she just held her breath and froze...
There was a shuffle of approaching feet… the steps came closer... but there were different. Careful. Unsure... It's someone else.
The girl dared to look in that direction and some... woman stood in the dark rectangle of the door. She froze for a moment when she saw Hermione.
"Oh, Merlin..."
Hermione wanted to groan exactly the same. For a moment, even the pain was obscured by the shock.
The woman was battered, swollen, and covered in blood. At the sight of her bruised face, Hermione gasped in horror and barely noted the torn clothing with which she was trying to cover herself.
„Is... where..."
"Help me" Hermione croaked, rolling more to her side, showing her tied hands.
The first Diffindo brought nothing but hot pain. Hermione just groaned and pulled the ties even tighter so the woman could cut them more easily.
A few more jerks and the pressure eased and suddenly it was completely gone!
„It's... HE caught you? Yes?" The woman muttered with difficulty through the swollen and lacerated mouth.
HE?
One look at her torn clothes was enough for the girl to remember Severus' words and understand who was HE.
"Where is he?" She nodded. "Help me up!"
"He's gone. I saw him!"
"Help me! We have to run away!"
"I came... to my husband. Is he here somewhere?" The woman protested, looking around the room once more.
Husband...? Merlin... So she is...
Bryant wasn't there yet, and luckily!
"No. Let's run before he comes back!"
She tried to sit up, but everything whirled in her head and she would have fallen if the woman hadn't held her down. But in the end, with her help, Hermione managed to lift her up and stand on her feet. The world swayed again, so Hermione clung to the table tightly and then she saw the wand. Her wand!
With a groan of relief, she reached for it and at that moment the woman gasped and jumped back violently. He's back ?!
„What..."
Her fingers thinned, her hands became small and delicate and she felt the weight of the hair on her back clearly. She was returning to her own form! She had to run away!
Her clothes immediately became too big, so she quickly reduced it with a spell.
"Mr... you..."
"Let's run!"
"You are..."
"NOW!"
Hermione stumbled slightly, took a step towards the corridor and... heard someone's hurried footsteps. The same ones she heard coming here!
"HE IS BACK !"
Trapped, in panic, she did not know whether to hide in the same room or run off into the darkness somewhere to hide, but before she could decide, the footsteps came even closer and suddenly, in a bright spot of light on the wall, a huge man appeared .
.,.,.
Gratus burst into the corridor and was rushing to his room when he caught a glimpse of a silhouette out of the corner of his eye. He had not yet blinked an eye when another one appeared. In the first one he recognized immediately Bryant's wife and his brain screamed SHE LIVES ? !, but he did not recognize the other at all. The blood on the face, the swollen eye looked familiar, but the rest did not match. She was much smaller than the man he had left on the floor...
What the hell this...
At that moment, Mia pointed him with her wand and, to his horror, a golden ray hit him and searing pain spilled over his chest.
.,.,.
When the spell flashed towards Gratus, something in Hermione woke up and something else died. She stopped feeling the pain, nothing was getting through to her and she quickly raised her wand.
"Stupefy! Expelliarmus!"
Her spell didn't tire out his wand and he managed to conjure his Shield, but he slumped against the wall.
"Mollis!" Hermione's next spell softened the wall and the woman next to herm sent a cloud of dust at him.
He must have choked on it, because his Expulso flew between the two of them and hit the table, which banged against the wall with a terrible thud and shattered to pieces.
She barely had time to turn her head when the floor in front of them exploded and pieces of stone and mortar flew in all directions. The blast threw them both to the ground, but Hermione conjured her Shield in the last moment and sheltered them. The woman beside her conjured up a bluish glass wall at the same time, which a second later broke with a crunch and for a moment they both stopped seeing anything in front of them as the glass was covered with millions of cracks.
Before it fell on them, Hermione turned it into a curtain of water and splashed it into Gratus with the force of a waterfall. He must have inhaled in that exact moment, because a second later they heard his cough.
The girl tried to get up quickly.
"Stand up!" Hermione screamed at the woman, but she was already pulling her up.
There was a deafening hiss in the air and suddenly a terrible, almost animal fear engulfed Hermione. Her hair rose her head and neck, her heart stopped beating and an icy fist clenched with all its force on her chest.
Summon the Patronus!
"Expecto..." that was all she managed to say.
The corridor flared up with a whole series of colorful spells, some two jets of blue light collided, exploded and blue sparks sprang from everywhere, but the fear vanished as rapidly as it had appeared!
„Expecto Patronum!"
Instead of the Otter, only a shred of mist shot out of the wand, which shattered to pieces and suddenly thousands of thin cuts appeared on her clothes. Cutting spell !
The woman next to her did not have time to conjure her Shield, she cried and all her torn clothes and naked body protruding from under it were covered with a mass of thin red lines.
"Bombarda Maxima" Hermione shouted.
Gratus blocked it, but a blue light hit him and he screamed and clutched his throat. Does he…? Breathing heavily, she hurriedly picked up her wand and attacked again...
She no longer knew whose spells she was fending off, who was casting them and whom she was hitting. Perhaps both girls accidentally tossed his spells between themselves and fought their owns. And despite they were two against him, they were clearly weaker and gradually their initial attack faded and turned into a defense. Her momentary burst of energy had apparently ended, because instead of flicking her wand, she was just waving it, she ceased to recognize his curses by the very movement of his wand, by the color of the lights and her counter-spells were no longer as perfect as they used once to be.
In addition, at some point something changed. His spells turned to curses. He stopped wanting to defeat them and catch them. He just wanted to kill them. Instead of colored lights, green ones flew towards them, against which there was no spell, no Shield! He had missed, but only because they were throwing at him whatever they could, but Hermione knew with terrifying clarity that one of next Avada Kedavra would hit one of them at any moment! And then the end will come to the other one as well.
Merlin, it had to be stopped. Now! But she didn't know HOW.
Suddenly, Gratus screamed again and grabbed his right leg, which turned to jelly and just floated to the ground. The woman next to her conjured up a huge vortex, which, making holes in the ground, began to move at him. Gratus jumped back against the wall and moved down the corridor.
„Terrae Motus!" Hermione shouted, pointing to the ground beneath his feet.
Gratus lunged backwards with a roar, the ground around him shook and he fell on all fours and pushing his left leg backward, began to back away from them!
Hundreds of knives flashed at them out of the darkness, but they both conjured Shield and Hermione stopped the earthquake. Let him run away!
The woman next to her cast Impedimento at him, but Hermione immediately took it off.
"Leave him! Let him run away!"
"I want to catch him!"
"We won't make it! LET HIM RUN!"
"WE WILL! PAUL will kill him!"
"NO!"
Gratus apparently managed to get up as he opened the door and jumped into the hall. And they heard his burst of laughter.
"Did you like it, bitch?! Admit it, I was better than your husband?!"
"Bastard!" The woman screamed. "Son of a bitch! Paul will kill you!"
"I buried him recently, slut!"
The woman yelled terribly and Gratus screamed after her.
"He's dead! You too! Incendio Maxima! INCENDIO MAXIMA !"
Suddenly, the dimly lit corridor glowed brightly and immediately a pillar of fire burst into it and heat surrounded them from all sides. White flames licked the ceiling and walls and spilled out wide with a crash.
Hermione quickly cast Repulso, hoping she would push the fire to the exit, but at the same moment the woman next to her screamed "DEFODIO" and through the crackle of the flames, she heard something fall down.
„Oh, Merlin..."
The flames rippled and drifted away towards Gratus and a second later a terrifying scream broke the air that turned into an agonizing scream and went on and on and on...
"OH MY GOD..."
But a moment later the fiery blast flew in again towards them and the heat burst into their lungs and began to burn.
"Aqua eructo !" She shouted, covering her already aching face with her sleeve.
The water gushed out of her want, the flames weakened for a moment, but then it exploded even more and the moisture in the air just started burning everywhere. The woman next to her tried Aquamenti, but the thin stream of water from the wand evaporated instantly with a hiss.
Hermione tried to take another gulp of the scalding air and her lungs began to burn from within. But despite she choked more and more, she felt as if she wasn't breathing at all!
"Frigeo!" the temperature dropped immediately near them, but it was not enough! Nothing was enough!
Exit! Another way out ! They needed another way out !
Thick smoke gathered from the ceiling, rolled over their heads and Hermione felt a tug on her hand. Not knowing what she was doing anymore, she stumbled back and let herself be dragged out of the corridor.
"Other! Exit!" She coughed hoarsely.
The other woman slammed the door behind them and the roar of the fire faded a little.
"There is no exit!"
"DOOR! WINDOW! Anything!"
"Come!"
The woman tugged at her and Hermione plunged into the dark room after her. The other girl turned on the light and pointed her at a small hole in the ceiling. It was dark and terribly narrow. TOO NARROW! "What is there?!"
"The chimney?!"
"Stand back!"
Without waiting for her to jump back, Hermione whipped her wand upwards.
"CONFRINGO! CONFRINGO !"
A chunk of the ceiling and debris tumbled down and immediately the dust obscured everything. It broke into her already wounded throat, her face exploded with pain again and for a moment she stopped seeing anything and she could not even speak!
"Tergeo! "The other woman croaked. "Tergeo! Tergeo! Tergeo!"
Dust swirled and vanished, but they didn't see absolutely anything in the darkness. It doesn't work! Don't waste time! WINDOW!
"WINDOW ?! Any window ? !"
The woman rushed to the lab. Hermione followed her and almost immediately saw the clearance. Almost under ceiling, a hand's wide, not more! And terribly long. Only somewhere at the end there was a bright spot.
Merlin, this wall is so thick ?! God, it won't work !
Hermione was throwing Confringo and Defodio alternately, debris and rocks were tumbling down the wall, which she was hastily pushing aside, but only the wall crumbled around and a terrifyingly long, narrow gap widened too slowly! Much too slow !
Hermione lunged to the previous room. She cast Confringo again, a chunk of the ceiling collapsed, almost straight at her and at the same time the door to the corridor fell down with a thud. Flames erupted inside and an instant a wave of heat and black tarry smoke burst through. The woman yelled something and Hermione suddenly realized that it would not work! Too late!
No! Don't give up! Try again ! Where?! Here or there?!
She had only one option left. One choice.
She rushed to the lab, the woman ran after her and closed the door with a bang. It was a completely illusory attempt to save them and only prolonged the horror by a dozen, or several dozen seconds, not more.
"Try it !" Hermione gasped as she coughed, so she just gestured toward the gap.
She began to look around in panic; across the walls, across the ceiling, across the floor, looking for anything open that could be useful to them.
Thick smoke poured through the crack under the door, the air thickened and started to burn and she realized that instead of breathing, she was just choking.
"Dissendium!" She tried again to see if there were any hidden doors or flaps in the floor, but there wasn't.
She tried to disapparate but only turned on her heel and dropped to the table, leaving bloody streaks on it.
Table!
The last of her maddened mind focused on Spinner's End and screamed:
"Factisunt mobilis!" A bluish, flickering haze passed over the table. "PORTUS!" She grabbed the edge of the table but nothing happened!
From here no one could neither disapparate nor use the Portkey! Nothing could be done!
The clearance only widened a little but in the same time the door just burst into flames, the heat surrounded them and and inflamed the lungs and bodies. Everything!
Trapped, maddened, Hermione threw herself against the wall in a blind panic and began to press into it, push herself and dig her nails into.
"NO! HELP! HELP! PLEASE!"
But her howl died in the roar of the fire.