Slowly everyone came to a halt, all looking at each other. Harry was the first to turn and run to look at the clock on the wall where his and Hermione's pictures had been added. "Shite." Harry mumbled. Molly didn't even scold him as she stepped in place behind him to look at the clock face as well. Hermione's picture pointed at mortal danger.

...

CHAPTER EIGHT – CAPTURED

"Oh no!" Bellatrix cackled, "I don't like the looks of this! The mudblood is following master Snapey around!"

Hermione strained against the body bind curse even though she knew it was pointless. Bellatrix dipped down and grabbed Hermione's wand.

"You won't be needing this ever again!" She said cheerily then whirled around to face Snape, also lying on the ground. "And you! The Dark Lord's right-hand man," she drawled sarcastically, "You can't really tell me you haven't noticed the little speck of dirt following you around. She's practically salivating over you, Snapey."

Bellatrix appeared back in Hermione's line of sight and waggled her eyebrows. "Stunning everyone but the man who killed Dumbledore? That is suspicious indeed!"

Hermione felt herself being levitated; the the cold boney fingers of Bellatrix grab her arm so tightly it hurt. She felt the tug of apparition, an even worse experience when brought through in a body bind curse. A she opened her eyes all that she could see from her peripherals were a bleak sky and no surroundings. She groaned.

"What was that, mudblood? Don't like your new home? Too bad! I chose it just for you!"

Hermione was dropped unceremoniously to the ground and judging by a sound somewhere near her, so had something else heavy. Snape? She heard Bellatrix muttering something and supposed she must have been taking down wards. Hermione was levitated again and dropped just as graceless on a hard, wooden floor, she grunted. She heard more muttering and then the body bind spell evaporated from her body. She jumped to her feet and noticed Snape do the same, only ten times more gratefully.

"What are you doing, Bellatrix? You have the brains of the trio; take her to the Dark Lord."

"No, no, no, no! I brought you here because she didn't hex you! She aimed at every one of us there today except you! We were in robes and masks, Snapey, how would she recognize you unless she really knew you!"

Snape sighed heavily. "That's ridiculous. Clearly she was after us all."

"Lies! The mudblood tried to grab you! Not hex you." Her eyes flashed to Hermione. "Tell me, were you trying to reunite with master Snape here? He's on your side, isn't he!"

"He killed Dumbledore." Hermione said flatly, shooting Snape was she hoped was a convincing glare.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes and her head followed. "Which might cement you as a true follower in the eyes of the Dark Lord—"

"Shouldn't that be good enough for you, Bella?"

The mad woman gave pause, looking properly ashamed for a moment. Then she started her ramblings again. "I will tell the Dark Lord what I saw! He will believe me! And I won't let either of you leave before I get the truth!"

Bellatrix spun on her heel and left, slamming the door like a teen having a tantrum. Hermione made a face at the shut door. Suddenly she realized she was all alone with Snape and after her efforts to follow him three times now, she didn't know what to say or do. She walked across the floor and reached for the door handle which burned when she touched it. She withdrew her hand and turned towards Snape.

"Any ideas, sir?"

Despite being caught in what looked like a long-abandoned house, Snape looked perfectly at ease. "Being trapped here is more your problem than mine." He sneered.

She walked towards him, away from the offensive door. "I doubt that." She muttered, looking around.

They were standing in the living room of the house. The windows were mostly boarded up, but a grey light pushed through the gaps in the wood and the dusty glass to shed some light. There were three extremely uncomfortable looking spindly chairs standing haphazardly around the room. They looked worse than the one Snape had in his office. The floor was dusty, and Hermione self-consciously wiped the dirt from her jeans. Behind Snape was a staircase with what once had been a white railing. To the other side of the stairs Hermione could see a kitchen. The appliances looked old and Hermione wondered if they even worked. There was one table off to the side in what could have been a dining room but there were no chairs.

"Miss Granger!" Snape barked.

Hermione realized he had asked her a question, "Erm sorry sir, what?"

He heaved a heavy sigh, his lips pinching together. "Why would you doubt me?"

"I think you're on our side."

"I killed your beloved headmaster."

Hermione cocked an eyebrow. "I find there's usually more to a situation than meets the eye."

He only narrowed his own at her. Hermione walked past him, up the stairs. There were three doorways in the small hall. Hermione opened the first one, a linen closet with one blanket in it. She continued to the next doorway which was open. She assumed it was a bedroom but there was absolutely nothing in it. She was more surprised than she felt she should have been to note that there was no door attached to the hinges. She turned to face the room that was directly behind her. This too was a bedroom, but unlike the other there was a bed, a chest, and a mirror. The bed had sheets and blankets on it. Hermione wrinkled her nose, only able to guess how dusty those would be. There was no door on the hinges of this room either. There was a door in the corner and Hermione approached it and opened it, a bathroom. Curious, she stepped in and flushed the toilet. It worked. Well that was a bonus. Hermione shut the bathroom door and stared at the bed. Really? Only one bathroom and it was inside a bedroom?

"Poor design." She muttered.

"I'm taking the bed." Snape interrupted/

Hermione jumped a little and turned to face Snape. "What a gentleman." She mumbled.

"I never claimed to be one."

"Nor could you be mistaken for one." She bit back.

Hermione reached forward and grabbed a pillow, exhaling sharply in relief when no dust flew off of it. Snape cocked an eyebrow at her.

"If I'm sleeping on the floor, I get a pillow."

He said nothing, and she retreated out of the room, aware of how much smaller the space was with the tall man in it. His cloak brushed against her as she edged around him to get out the door. She went to the linen closet and took out the single blanket and shook it out. It wasn't as dusty as she expected but it was thin and wherever they were was starting to chill as the sun got lower. She was glad she had packed warm clothes in her beaded bag… Her bag! Hermione's hand flew to her hip and sighed when she felt the tell-tale lump in her pocket. She took the pillow and blanket to the empty room and grabbed her bag from her pocket. Hermione groaned. She had no wand to return the bag to its regular size.

"Bollocks."

"Language, Miss Granger."

She resisted glaring at him, deciding she had been daringly rude enough to Snape for one day. "I could use your help, sir."

"I think you can lay out a blanket by yourself."

She clenched her jaw. "Not with that. Do you have any way to restore something? Or partially restore it?"

"Trying to make a mattress out of dust?"

"Oh for the love of—" She thrust the tiny beaded bag in his face. "We need to get inside this."

He seemed unmoved.

"It has food and potions inside."

She could see the gears turning in his head, reflections bouncing out of his eyes. "Undetectable extension charm?"

She nodded.

He sneered. "Bellatrix must've missed it."

"Well?"

"I might have something."

"What is it sir?"

"On one condition," Whatever dangerous, snarky tone he had used before, he was suddenly reverting into the tone he used in the classroom. "I get two thirds of the food."

"Half."

"Two thirds."

"There are two of us, fifty-fifty."

"I require more sustenance."

"I'm sleeping on the bloody floor."

Snape cocked an eyebrow at her. She had the briefest feeling he would snatch the beaded bag from her and let her starve. "Deal."

Hermione approached him slowly as he reached into his robes and felt along the pockets, finding what he was looking for; he pulled a small phial out. It looked tiny, and she wondered if he had shrunk it. He appraised the bag for a moment and then put out his hand for it. After a fraction of a second of hesitation, Hermione placed it in his palm. Snape took the stopper out of the phial with his teeth, surprised Snape could be so casual with a potion, the act that mesmerized Hermione for a moment. Very carefully, he poured only a single drop onto the smaller than mouse-sized bag.

"Restorative potion." He commented. "Hopefully it will only undo your shrinking charm and not the extension charm."

"Hopefully?"

Snape gave her withering look. "Generally, the potion is used on people, and if used on things, its generally only to counteract one spell."

She was tempted to tell him she knew that but was more concerned about what would happen to the things inside the bag if the extension charm got reversed. In a breath, the bag grew to its original size and Snape held it out with a smug expression. Hermione took the bag and routed around in it until she found the food, taking it and spreading it out on the blanket she had put on the floor, dividing it into nutritional group, then each group into half. She stood with an armful and held it out towards Snape who eyed her a moment before bending forward and scooping the armful against himself. He nodded once at her and turned back into the bedroom across the hall. She heard the creak of the chest opening and Snape putting the things inside. Hermione rolled her eyes and put her half back in the bag and slung the strap over her shoulder.

At that moment she realized how much it must have pained Snape not to use magic to take the items from her arms and send them where he wanted them. Instead he had actually had to bend over and pluck them from the cradle she had made, his arms tangling and bumping with hers. She couldn't imagine him being alright with touching her. As far as Hermione remembered, they had never touched her six years at Hogwarts. It was strange. Sighing, she headed down the stairs to the main part of the house to see if any of the appliances worked.

SHSHSH

Severus was surprised by Miss Granger's sharp tongue. He had known she could be bossy – how else did the idiot boys make it through life? – but he didn't know she had such wit. It was amusing. However, at the same time it was infuriating that here in this space, she no longer feared him. She was comfortable participating in sarcastic banter with him. He huffed as he heard her walk down the stairs. From where he stood, posted by the foot of the bed in front of the chest, he could see the majority of the room across the hall. From here he could not see where she had laid out the blanket in the far corner. That was best, it would be inappropriate if they could see each other sleep.

It had been a strange sensation to manually take the food items from her arms. He hadn't realized the proportions of her to himself; she looked more delicate than he had thought before, although slightly taller. Rubbing his hands over his face, he followed her down the stairs.