Slightly longer chapter as I am going into the exam period and me and my editor will be busy – so we aren't quite sure when the next post will be. But reviews do distract me from revision somewhat, .:Grins:.
Severus jumped up. Now was his time to go! He tip-toed over to the door, grinning like a mad man. He opened it and was about to slip out when he heard a shout.
"Levicorpus!"
The next thing Snape knew he was suspended upside down by his ankle.
Harry got up from behind the sofa to see Snape slowly rotating in the air.
"Don't even try getting away," Harry sneered.
He took his eyes off Snape and stared at the owl which had flown through the window, knocking him behind the sofa. It was hopping around on the kitchen table, flapping a letter in Harry's direction.
Harry turned back to Snape, who was now turning slightly purple in the face, still suspended upside down.
"I'll take you back to the Order in a second and you will be questioned there. Don't move."
"Not like you gave me a choice, is it Potter?" Snape snarled. You could see the venom dripping from his lips.
"Yeah...well...whatever." Harry replied lamely.
Snape did something that could be described as a hiss but was probably a snarl and Harry turned back to the hyperactive owl.
He took the letter and the owl immediately flapped its wings and took off, looping-the-loop and somersaulting in mid air until Harry could no longer see it.
Harry looked at the scribbled address on the letter.
There wasn't one. That was odd.
Harry opened the letter. It was in Hermione's curly writing, but it was messy. It had obviously been written in a hurry.
Dear Harry,
I have to hurry, the Order has had to evacuate Grimmauld Place. The remaining Death Eaters have found us, after the betrayal of our new secret keeper, Nymphadora Tonks. They are out looking for revenge, Harry. They no longer care if they live or die. After you killed Voldemort, you stripped them of everything they had and left them with one place to go – Azkaban. It doesn't matter to them any more if they die trying because they are sentenced to a life time in Azkaban no matter what they do. This makes them all the more dangerous, they will do anything to see you dead, Harry.
You may have noticed I didn't put an address on the letter. That is just in case it got intercepted. I am not enclosing the Order's current position either, partly for the same reason, but mostly because I care about you, Harry. They have the same Inferis. I don't want a repeat of what happened, Harry, I can't bear to see you closed off again. Stay where you are, do not even try and make contact - no owl will find us. Stay put, no–one will find you there, I will make further contact as soon as I can.
Lastly the Order has recently received information that one Severus Snape is alive. Apparently he never went back to Voldemort after killing Dumbledore. Keep an eye out Harry, his position is un-known. We think he may have lost his nerve and fled or gone mad. The latter is the option we believe to be true at the moment…
Take care of yourself, Harry, stay safe.
Love, Hermione.
Tonks had betrayed them?! Harry scrunched his hand into a fist and hit the wall, but all he got was painful knuckles.
Tonks and he had been so close. He had saved her life twice, she had saved his sanity and taken care of him when he most needed her. Now he thought about it, she had become a sort of mother figure, someone he could go to when things were going badly, someone who would care for him and love him no matter what he did.
It was like a pet he had always loved had suddenly grown fangs and turned savage.
Harry felt a tear slide down his cheek, but remembering Snape, he quickly wiped it away on the pretext of running his hand through his hair.
Wait a second, SNAPE!
Harry looked up to see a beetroot Snape still dangling upside down, breathing heavily and still rotating.
Harry let him down and he hit the floor with a sickening crunch.
Harry closed the front door and levitated the groaning Snape onto the sofa.
Harry sat on the sofa opposite Snape, and waited for Snape to come round properly.
As he waited, he brooded. So Snape hadn't gone back to the Shit Eaters and Voldemort? Where had he gone then? Had he come straight to the Muggle ski resort? If so, why?
Too many questions, no answers. Harry's head was beginning to pound like an angry, drunken Filch had been assaulting him with a fanged Frisbee and women's hair products.
But the question that bugged Harry the most was, why did Snape not choose a side to go back to – had he really wimped out? Harry had always hated Snape but he had never doubted that Snape would choose a side.
The real Snape just then began to stir. He groaned and clutched his head.
Maybe Harry shouldn't have dropped him so hard.
Snape sat up slowly clutching his head like it might fall off and groaning like there was no tomorrow. He brought his head up and glared at Harry.
"Fucking inconsiderate brat, why did you fucking drop me so hard on my head? Are you trying to fucking kill me? You don't even know what's fucking going on, you fucking ..." Harry switched off about that point and let Snape rant to himself for a bit, "...are you even fucking listening to me?" Harry snapped out of his reverie.
"No," Harry replied truthfully,
Snape seemed to become even madder, but only for a second. His Slytherin mask was soon back on and his face was back to his usual Snapeish self.
"You are just as insolent as you were when you were at school, Potter," sneered Snape. His voice also was back to its silky, smarmy, Slytherin self, cool and collected but also sleek and slippery.
"Now is not the time to look down on me, Snape," Harry spat, trying but failing to match Snape's sneer. Harry was too angry for calm degrading sarcasm.
"I am afraid, Potter, I find it quite hard not to look down on you, but I would have to say that is not my fault but yours,"
Harry couldn't think of a comeback to that one, so he changed the subject.
"Why are you here, Snape?"
"Because you convinced some French people I was a rapist and I was knocked out with a baguette and you uncouthly dragged me here,"
Harry didn't much appreciate this answer, and tried to death glare, but only receive a more expert one back.
"You know what I mean, Snape, why are you in this Muggle ski resort? Why did you kill Dumbledore and then not return to Voldemort? I don't know why I am wasting my breath; you can probably guess what I want to know,"
"Yet again, Potter, you display an uncanny knack for being very ignorant and expecting to get what you want, but I can assure you I am not against you,"
"Then why won't you tell me what is going on?"
"Because, Potter," Snape spat, green venom oozing from his pores, "You are determined to hate me, and if I tell you what is going on, you will hate me anyway and still insist I am sent to Azkaban, even if you can't find a reason for it, just because you hate me, always have, always will. You are determined to believe that I am the bad guy in this equation, and if I tell you my story now, I won't have another chance to tell it in court because you will have already convinced the judge, having already heard my story and having had time to think of a good counter argument, that what I say is a lie and I am not worth listening to. And to break it down for a brain such as yours, Potter, the reason is: you are determined to believe what you want to – in this case you are determined to hate me." Snape hadn't breathed through his whole speech and he had practically spat the whole thing at Harry, who was still having trouble comprehending what Snape had said.
Harry was just about to tell Snape that he wasn't and to stop calling him stupid, that Snape was the stupid one for not telling him what was going on, when there was a knock at the door.
"Go get it," Harry snarled.
Snape got up and made for the door, Harry pointing his wand at the traitor's back all the time.
Snape opened the door, "I should have known you wouldn't go anywhere without your little entourage, Potter," Snape stepped aside to reveal Hermione standing in the door way.
"And I am sure that Miss Granger will have her wand trained on my back right now, so you can put yours away now, Potter, if I am hexed into next week I wish it to be done by someone with brains," the muggle Hermione took her glasses from her pocket and stared at Snape's back like he was a lunatic – well it must have seemed like it to her.
Harry did the only thing he could think of, fake ignorance "Hexed, wands? What are you talking about Snape?"
"You know perfectly well, Potter, you attended my Potion classes for five years, now if you don't stop acting like an idiot, Miss Granger will think you have gone insane and send you to Azkaban with me,"
Behind Snape's back Hermione was looking thoroughly confused and miming asking Harry if the man was mad.
"Harry, I was wondering if you want to come next door for a drink, haven't you got rid of this guy yet?"
"This guy? You know perfectly well who I am, Granger, don't play dumb, your brain power far exceeds the IQ you are currently achieving."
"I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue who you are." Hermione said somewhat unsteadily.
"Of course you do!" snapped Snape whirling around "Not." he added hastily seeing that this girl was not the magic Hermione, there were a few subtle differences. Snape kept his face straight and turned around to swoop back to the sofa. Even though he was not showing emotion, Harry was sure he saw a slight pink tinge against Snape's ghost white cheeks.
"So do you want to come?" Hermione persisted, "and why haven't you got rid of this guy?"
"I need to wait for a while; my lawyer hasn't got the message yet,"
"Oh, he can come round too then? You obviously can't leave him here, he might do a runner,"
"Oh damn, I forgot, I didn't do the shopping today. I'll have no tea or breakfast. Better go before the shop closes."
There, Harry thought, that will get rid of her – now I can stay here and interrogate Snape without seeming rude!
"Good idea, I will go with you! I need to get some stuff too, just let me go get my shopping bag," Hermione smiled and dashed off.
"You weren't really going shopping were you, Potter?" asked Snape, standing up.
"And you accuse me of having no brains," Harry retorted tartly.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Harry stood in front of the French milk wondering, out of all 13 brands which one was the nicest semi-skimmed?
Hermione was stood in the pasta isle conversing in fluent (if slightly hesitant) French with Snape.
Was there anything that man couldn't do? Except for be nice of course.
He was an expert potion maker, amazing at DADA and a master at duelling, and now Harry found out he was a pro snowboarder and a fluent French speaker.
Hermione came up behind Harry with Snape.
"Harry, are you sure your friend is a murderer?" she asked, "He is really pleasant and polite – he is helping me practice my French,"
Harry decided not to dignify that question with an answer and instead settled for asking which the best quality half fat milk was.
Hermione picked a bottle with a blue cap off the shelf and dropped it in Harry's basket.
"Why do you call him Snape anyway, Harry? His name is Severus,"
"Snape is his last name," Harry replied, not really answering the question, but Hermione dropped it and moved on.
"Why don't you let him do the shopping? He speaks fluent French, he could get it done a lot faster,"
Harry wondered how best to answer this question without giving the real answer: 'I don't want him to poison my food,' which would have sounded even weirder than Snape accusing Hermione of having a wand trained on his back.
"I want to practice my French," Harry lied.
Hermione smiled at him , "It's good to see you appreciate culture properly," Harry was just about to pin her to the toilet paper rack behind her and accuse her of following him and being the real Hermione, when she spoke again.
"I'll go back to the flat and put all this stuff away and get our drinks for you. Come round after you have dropped the shopping off in your apartment," she grinned like a lunatic and practically skipped off.
"Looks like we are going for drinks, Potter," Snape sneered behind him, "You will have to wait even longer to get the truth out of me."
"Oh just shut up," Harry retorted and stalked off into the tinned vegetable isle, Snape following in his wake, his face twisted into what looked like a leer, but was actually a triumphant smile. He loved it that Harry couldn't speak French, he didn't know what Snape had gotten him in for. Snape was immensely looking forward to tomorrow.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Harry knocked on the door to A2, though he doubted that they could hear him inside, the music was playing so loud.
He waited for a few minutes, Snape standing beside him, arms folded, looking moody. Harry knocked again.
This time the door opened revealing a mad looking Hermione, hair sticking up in various directions, cheeks a deep shade of red with her fists clenched, "Come on in, Harry, Severus," she nodded curtly , and ushered them inside.
They made their way along the short corridor and into the living room where the music was loudest. Inside the room was the culprit CD player whirring happily in the corner. On one of the sofas was Hermione's dorm mate, yet again dressed in jeans, bra and nothing else. She was jumping up and down on one of the sofas, doing the air guitar and singing (although you couldn't hear her, the music was so loud) into a hairbrush.
Harry and Snape stood in the door and shot the other one a look that told the other one that they were thinking the same thing ("Help!").
Meanwhile Hermione had stormed into the room, flung a shirt at the other girl and was now tugging the hair brush out of her dorm mate's vice like grip.
Harry watched in amusement, as the argument progressed. The girls were opening and closing their mouths, but due to the loud music it was impossible to hear any sound that might be being emitted from their jabbering lips. A completely mute argument.
Eventually the other girl shrugged and Hermione ran over to the CD player and turned it off.
Harry was just marvelling at how the girls had managed to hear each other over the music when Hermione started talking.
"Aren't you supposed to be out with Pierre?"
"God no, dumped him," replied the other girl simply.
"Then who is the date with?"
"Cherie, which reminds me, I had better go," and with that she grabbed up the shirt Hermione had thrown at her, put it on and dashed out waving to Harry and Severus on the way out.
"I swear she has no conscience," grumbled Hermione fondly, "Drink? We have water, milk, juice..."
"Do you have whiskey?" Snape interrupted
"Knowing her," Hermione rammed her thumb in the general direction of the window through which you could now see her dorm mate with a French man wrapped around her and kissing her fiercely, " We have any alcoholic drink you want," Hermione walked over to the window she had just been pointing at and shut the curtains.
She then came over to Harry and bent down to a cupboard at his feet, "If you want to have a rummage through here and pick out a drink," she said straightening up, "Harry, what do you want?"
"Just water is great," Harry replied.
Hermione sat him down on the sofa with his respective drink and turned back to Snape, who had bent down in the most elegant way possible and was now rummaging through the alcohol cabinet, "How much does this girl drink?"
"I don't know, but I have never seen her with a hang over," said Hermione.
Harry heard Snape mutter something that sounded a lot like 'Lucky bugger' and he brought his hand out of the cabinet clutching a large bottle.
Hermione passed him a glass and he poured a generous measure before, replacing the bottle and sitting as far away from Harry as he possible could. Hermione sat between them smiling and looking as though this drinks idea wasn't such a good one.
About an hour and a lot of idle chat and awkward silence later.
"Can I use your bathroom?" asked Snape trying to take the sneer out of his voice but failing miserably. He needed to practice taking that sneer out, but he had had it for too long now.
"No," said Hermione and burst out laughing. Harry and Snape looked at her like she was mad. Eventually her laughter died down to a snort, "Course, through that door and then it's through the only door in there,"
Snape put his glass on the coffee tae and glided (there was no other word for it) out of the room.
"Don't worry," said Hermione, "He can't get out of there, there is only one way out of that room and that is through the window, which is 13 ft or so off the ground above a load of really sharp rocks."
Harry let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.
"Severus said that you two could come skiing tomorrow," Harry backwashed about a gallon of his water and began choking.
"He's not told you then?" asked Hermione.
"When did you sort this out?" spluttered Harry.
"In the shop, when we were talking in French,"
"Don't you and your friend have to work?" Harry asked, trying to get out of it. He didn't want to look like an idiot in front of everyone.
"No, we both have the morning off,"
"I can't ski very well,"
"Never mind,"
"But I have to..." Harry got no further as Snape had come out of the bath room and cut across him,
"No point making excuses, Potter, we are going,"
"Why do you care so much?" Harry gave Snape an accusing stare, as Snape lifted his eyebrows.
"Well that's settled," said Hermione cheerfully, "We will meet at 7 tomorrow then?"
"7! ARE YOU MAD?" Harry demanded.
"I assumed you were a morning person seeing as you were up at 6 this morning," Harry yet again had no answer.
"Better get to bed," she continued, "If we want to get up early enough tomorrow," and with that she took their glasses from them and bundled them unceremoniously out the door.
Once back in 3A Harry rounded on Snape, "I can't believe you! You know I will get the truth out of you! Tonight!" The last word Harry finished with a yawn, "Tomorrow morning then," Harry said decisively. Snape cocked an eyebrow,
"Please amaze me, Potter, how are you to manage that when we are to meet at 7?"
Harry growled, "Tomorrow night then," and with that he pushed Snape down onto the sofa, cast a binding spell on him so he had no chance of escape, and stalked into his bedroom.
Right, feeling very unloved due to lack of reviews (I know some of you review) but I know that many of you don't, I am on more alert lists than I have reviews! (That really make me feel good, she says voice dripping with sarcasm) Thanks to the people who did review but to the people who didn't I excepted better of Snarry fans. Come on people .:waves encouraging flag:.
Also if you have noticed there are quite a few mysteries that I haven't solved yet (well I have but I haven't told you yet) such as what happened to Harry that screwed him up and of course where Snape went and why (there are a few more subtle mysteries), blah blah blah, please don't ask me to answer those questions in reviews – I am not going to tell you. Why would I write this fic if I was going to tell you what was going to happen in answers to reviews? Sorry had to get that out of my system XD.
Anyway, sorry for the Tonks thing to those who worship her, someone had to go bad, but you will hear more about that later.
So review, but don't ask stupid questions that I am not going to answer. Thanks to frizz for editing this one (me editor is currently drowning in work and couldn't make it for this one).