Well... the journey so far has been quite emotional and trying... but it's not over just yet; Severus will need to stay strong just a little longer. Now Severus and his 'assistant' are about to enter number four. What will any of the occupants have to say about the greasy, dark, terse man turning up in the dead of night on their doorstep?
Eternal thanks for those who have reviewed and alerted this fic. I'd love to hear from you again. And those who have only read... do say hello and tell me what you think. This addiction is not going away... only getting stronger. (Gimme more... more, I say!)
Please enjoy the fruits of my creativity... or is that the depravation of my fantasies...? Er... same, same...
Go... wallow in the (probably incorrect) grammar...
:D
Chapter 5 – Dudders and Dursleys
Severus was flagging once more and answered Sarah's infernal questioning with his usual irritation. "Just because!" he snapped bluntly, wholly unprepared and unwilling to explain the entire ruddy mess to Sarah right now. "Come," he added before attempting to push to his feet. He ignored her indignant reaction.
He hurt quite a bit and in the end he had to concede and accept assistance from Sarah to straighten entirely; gasping, groaning and hissing breaths of discomfort despite his attempts to remain stoic. No matter how much he wanted to he could not succumb to the injury and hide until help came – but Merlin it was testing his limits.
In the soft glow of the streetlamps he could see the dark, gory stains of what he assumed must be his own blood soaked into the front of Sarah's light coloured garments. A quick feel of the fabric covering his own chest confirmed the theory; the material was saturated with a cool, wet, sticky substance.
"Wait," he said, fumbling up his sleeve for his wand. He soon directed the instrument at his chest and quietly chanted, "Teregeo."
The wand siphoned off a great deal of the fluid, but it seemed that in one patch in particular the barely visible, but discernable stain blossomed slowly back again. He did not attempt the charm again, the exercise was likely fruitless; he was evidently still bleeding quite heavily. Severus swallowed, immediately contemplating how long it would take before the loss negated the brew he had consumed at the rate the wound was currently weeping.
Severus then aimed the wand toward Sarah. She stiffened visibly and gasped softly.
"Be still," he commanded, "this will not harm you."
He again intoned the charm and divested the woman's clothes of the evidence of his crisis. He couldn't very well enter Petunia Dursley's abode with himself and his companion covered from top to toe in bright red blood! From what he remembered of the fussy woman it was highly probable she would have a fit over daring to soil her home.
Wand still in hand, he and Sarah headed toward the house two doors down the street, but not before Severus noticed the lower floor curtains of number six twitching tellingly in the low light. However, he decided it was rather unlikely that he and Sarah would go completely unnoticed considering the commotion he had made upon their abrupt arrival. It was unfortunate, but he was just glad to have arrived whole and hollering, rather than the very grim alternative.
He grimaced, a supporting arm wrapped around his middle, as he took short, tentative steps with Sarah keeping cautiously close to his side until they reached the garden path that led to Potter's front door. Severus paused a moment, leaning against the gate post for support. He swiftly waved off Sarah's sudden concern to conjure his patronus; instantly feeling the uplifting awe he always did when invoking the very personal, sentimental silvery doe. He hastily imbibed the shining creature with a message to Dumbledore informing of the Dark Lord's imminent attempt to break through Potter's wards, accompanied by a request for assistance at the boy's home to evacuate, and sent it on its way with a further wave of his wand.
Beside him Sarah was gaping in awe. It took her a few moments to close her mouth and find her voice.
"I take it that this is 'Potter's' home. And that you are the spy… Snape? … from the… well, what those other two were saying," she confirmed, indicating with a quick gesture toward the house and then back up the street in the direction they had come. "And this," she added, patting the pocket of her jeans where she'd stored the third phial, "it's the potion you were supposed to supply, isn't it?"
Severus looked at her, pleasantly surprised at her astuteness. He hadn't realised she'd actually been listening through her fear whilst they were back in the car.
He nodded, "Yes."
"So… what's a Muggle?" she asked, her tone suggesting she already suspected the answer but was confirming the notion.
Severus huffed. He was loathe to linger on the street any longer so he began moving toward the door again as he answered. He gestured for Sarah to follow him.
"Those without magic… you," he enlightened concisely.
"Oh," she said, the response subdued with disheartened comprehension. She remained silent until he had reached the door and rapped sharply upon it with his knuckles.
"Stay behind me… and remain silent," he ordered Sarah as a precaution. He did not see her irate, questioning frown behind his back.
He had no idea what the actual time was, but suspected somewhere close to midnight; as he needed to rap forcefully two more times before he heard movement from within. A light just inside the door was abruptly switched on before the door was yanked open and Severus was confronted by a very irate, whale of man.
"What the bleeding hell do you want at this time of night!" the man snapped, a deep scowl set on his fat face that was turning a darker shade of purple by the second.
Severus raised an eyebrow and sneered at the irony.
"Dursley, I presume," he drawled. He'd never actually had the (dubious) pleasure of meeting the man previously.
The Muggle squinted and took a good look at the visitor on his doorstep. An alarmed expression of realisation swept across his features before he once again scowled deeply and opened his mouth to protest.
Severus cut him off before he could begin. He raised his wand sharply and held it in the fat man's face; sneering menacingly himself.
"It would be to your and your family's ultimate benefit to keep your mouth shut and listen intently," he advised in a low, intimidating tone.
The man flinched violently at appearance of the wand shoved into his face and took a cautious step backwards. Severus found it intriguing that the man was so wary of the instrument.
'What has the boy been up to during his summers since beginning at Hogwarts?' he wondered before filing away his curiosity for another time.
Behind him, Sarah too gasped at the aggressive employ of the wand.
"Move aside," he ordered Potter's uncle, and once the man had retreated a few more paces he led Sarah over the threshold into the house. Severus noticed the man make a face of revulsion as they moved into the better light.
Sarah pushed the door closed most of the way behind her to keep the cold from invading the warmer house. They both moved to the wall opposite the staircase where Severus could take advantage of the support; Sarah tucked herself against his side. He discreetly leaned against the smooth surface with a silent sigh of relief. Even his legs felt weakened now and he had to brace himself to remain standing. He again wrapped his arm around his paining middle.
Feeling as dreadful as he did Severus decided immediately that he would only explain his presence once.
"Call down Potter and the rest of your family," he insisted firmly.
"I'll get the boy, but I think we can leave my wife out of this," Dursley dared to suggest. "She gets most upset when you lot force yourselves into our lives," he added scornfully.
"Of that I have no doubt," Severus countered quickly, "however today neither you nor your wife has the option. Call them all down or I'll fetch them myself," he threatened, rolling his wand in his hand in a suggestively menacing manner.
Dursley got the message instantly, reluctantly and somewhat hesitantly turning his back on his intruders to holler up the stairs.
"Harry! Petunia! You need to come downstairs!"
Severus waited quite impatiently for several moments, trying to get a fix on what was missing from or wrong with the man's summons while he almost perceptibly felt his own strength fading. Sarah moved slightly against him where he felt rather than saw her lower her hand down to her abdomen and make a small sound of discomfort. Her action reminded him that he was not the only one with an injury that required urgent attention.
Lily sister was the first to arrive at the top of the landing wrapped in a flowery dressing gown.
"What is it? What's wrong… is it Duddykins? Tell me, Vernon," she demanded in the shrill voice Severus could hardly forget. She'd not grown out of it apparently. The woman raced down the stairs barely aware of their 'guests' until she reached the bottom. She looked up and finally noticed the pair against the opposite wall. Her gaze raked judgementally over the strange woman, huddled close to her companion, before her eyes passed over to survey Severus. Recognition came within moments and the result was brutal on her features.
"You!" she snarled bitterly, her loathing deeply evident in her tone. "What are you doing in my house?"
Vernon instantly shot his regard to his spouse, startled at his wife's apparent familiarity with the intruders.
"A pleasure as always, Mrs Dursley," Severus drawled disdainfully, his own abhorrence for his childhood antagonist bristling instantly.
Petunia barely paused to listen to Severus reply. "And what on earth are you both covered in?" she screeched out, her disgust for the 'filth' besmirching her pristine home unmistakable.
Severus looked down upon himself quickly and only now discovered the true extent of the mess his loss had made upon his skin. Sarah was mimicking his action next to him. Both their hands were coated with blood in various stages of drying, extending up the sleeves of their clothes, and with a quick glance at his Muggle companion Severus noticed the large smear of brownish red smudged across her cheek and neck; the areas Severus had missed with his siphoning charm.
"Oh God," Sarah remarked, a little appalled herself. She had not realised the both of them looked so wretched. She turned to Severus, an expression of worried dismay shaping her features.
Harry Potter, dressed in overly large, ratty pyjamas, chose that moment to trot quickly down the stairs. When he spotted the visitors he stopped abruptly; shock and inquisitiveness warred for precedence upon his face.
"Professor Snape… w-what are you doing here?" he asked a little hesitantly, blinking oddly as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Sarah glanced back at him quickly, surprise and curiosity moulding her features.
"Potter, fetch your belongings – the essential ones only – the wards upon this home are about to be breached by the Dark Lord. You are to evacuate," he ordered. "You two as well," he added nodding in the Dursley pairs directions. As much as it would amuse and satisfy him to leave Petunia to the mercy of the Death Eaters, Dumbledore would have his head if he did.
"What!" the teenager exclaimed in alarm. "How?"
"Never mind that now; do as you are asked!" Severus demanded tersely, his patience wearing infinitely thin.
Potter's expression morphed gradually into one of mistrust; clearly his feelings for the man in front of him finally out-shadowed the astonishment of one of his Hogwarts professors turning up on his doorstep in the middle of summer.
"I don't think I should just go with you-"
"You should and you will… I am in no mood to play games with you, Potter. This residence is no longer safe and I have not the luxury of time to provide the evidence to convince you! But if you should desire to ask them when they come…?" Severus snapped curtly, his eyes narrowing to pinpoints in his frustration.
The teenager, after wavering for a moment and gauging the seriousness of the intimidating wizard in front of him, finally heeded his Professor's tone and scooted quickly back up the stairs; presumably to his bedroom.
"Now see here-" Vernon Dursley began.
Severus audibly growled, thrusting the wand back in the man's face.
"But you can't just evict us from our home!" the fat Muggle persisted, although wary of the rod now directed between his eyes.
"Didn't you hear me?" Severus bit out, getting supremely frustrated with the ungrateful imbecile in front of him. "You will be lucky to walk out of here with your lives when they come, let alone this house!" he growled pointedly.
He faltered a little as the exertion of his frustration aggravated his injury. His wand hand began to shake with visible tremors and his breathing became shallow and laboured. Sweat droplets had formed on his brow and the first of them had finally swelled enough to trickle quickly down his temple.
Sarah clutched at him, offering him physical support and bracing encouragement. But Merlin it was hard work keeping his knees from buckling beneath him.
And neither of the two Dursleys had moved an inch to follow his directions.
Severus could see Petunia's husband observing him shrewdly; and if he hadn't yet worked out how weakened the wizard in front of him was, and therefore how much of an advantage he could seize, he soon would. Severus decided he ought to spur the pair into action before the oaf made a move. He gathered his remaining strength and pushed Sarah smoothly away from himself; advancing on the arrogant, ignorant Muggles.
He came to within two feet of Vernon Dursley, leaned in and hissed menacingly in his face. "You have no idea what I am capable of… and I am rapidly coming to the end of my patience," he threatened ominously in his infamous, low, waspish tone. Petunia rapidly moved behind her husband, fearfully cringing in dreaded anticipation – for she was well versed on what wizards were capable of, unlike her husband.
"Severus," Sarah said quietly, stepping up to him again and trying to calm him; feeling very apprehensive about the whole scene playing out in front of her.
Dursley raised his chin a little in defiance, evidently not as intimidated as Severus had hoped he would be. Instantly infuriated and frustrated, Severus promptly lost his temper and ultimately his usual tight control.
"MOVE!" he shouted, jabbing his wand into the man's fat neck and finally the arrogant Muggle responded with the appropriate fear; his eyes opening wide in alarm.
Suddenly behind him the front door was flung violently open and a large body careered through it and crashed into Sarah, knocking her flying for the second time this evening where she collided harshly with the wall behind her. She crumpled to the ground with a yelp, cradling her head where it had impacted with the hard surface, moaning in distress.
Severus had spun immediately to face their attacker, but his injury had affected his usual lightning reflexes. He was unable to halt the intruder before he had barged through and shouldered his female, Muggle companion brutally out of the way. With a supreme effort Severus only managed to fire off a non-verbal stunner in time to protect himself; causing the fat body to be blasted backwards and dropped in a heap to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
In the mean time, however, Petunia had started shrieking ear-piercingly and screeching nonsense hysterically behind him. Something about 'dudders' Severus had thought he'd heard amongst the din.
And just after that he was grabbed roughly by the shoulder, swung back around and punched viciously in the stomach by the very beefy Vernon Dursley, dropping him smartly to his knees where he doubled over in absolute agony.
The holler that tore from his throat was unearthly. The pain exploded keenly at the impact site and then blossomed intensely across his belly and up his chest. He could barely breathe or think and before he knew it he was retching violently onto the floor in front of him exacerbating the excruciating ordeal.
The intense commotion around him, consisting of shrieking, yelling and crying, was but background noise once he finished vomiting and he fell slowly to his side and curled on the floor, both arms clutched desperately around his stinging and throbbing middle, groaning wretchedly.
Although he barely registered the fact, his eyes identified the Dursley couple huddled upon the stairs with his young, male attacker smothered in their embrace. Somewhere in the back of his mind he become conscious of the detail that this fat, male teen was the missing part of the equation he'd sought to identify when Potter's uncle had called down his family: he was the ghastly couple's son, Potter's cousin.
Potter himself was now standing just to Severus' right, wand in hand and looking down upon the lot of them, having returned from his task of retrieving his belongings; shock and disbelief plastered across his features. He appeared to not know who to help or what to do first. After a moment he took a step toward the fallen wizard and knelt next to him.
Severus groaned deeply as he abruptly felt himself yanked suddenly backwards several inches and the Muggle woman swiftly clamoured over his hips, brazenly shoving the young wizard away with one hand.
"NO!" Severus heard her snarl, the sound echoing in his head, before she situated herself protectively between him and the boy.
'She's fierce,' he noted vaguely, dragging in a painful, ragged breath. The odd thought seemed not to fit neatly with the rest of his awareness, so he let it pass after a slow blink.
His eyes all of a sudden felt oddly heavy and his head began to spin thickly until the world was an indistinct, messy blur… before he rapidly descended into blackness.
Sarah leaned immediately over Severus; sweeping the black hair that had fallen into his face back with her hand.
"Severus?" she said, sobbing heaving breaths.
"I just want to help," the teenage boy tried to convince her gently beside her. "I won't hurt him," he insisted, but she did not let him come any nearer.
Getting no response from the injured man Sarah began to panic and she suddenly couldn't take any more upheaval tonight.
Her body shook and her heart was beating almost out of her chest. Her head pounded and her abdomen was aching constantly now. She didn't know where she was, what she was really even here for or what to do now her companion, whom she hardly knew anyway, was incapacitated with apparently hostile individuals surrounding them; who all incidentally seemed quite aware and comfortable with the notion of magic and wands!
She began to cry in earnest, unable to stem the stream of fear, insecurity and misery that flooded out of her with her tears. She hunched further forward over Severus, hiding her face in the space between his neck and shoulder, consumed with her misery. Things had unexpectedly gone from bad to very much worse… and these were the people Sarah had learned the now unconscious man had been trying to warn of impending danger!
What in the world had she gotten herself mixed up with?
Harry sat dumbstruck behind the woman, watching this reasonably attractive, possibly Muggle lady cry buckets over his greasy, ugly, terse, unreasonable and all round arse wipe of a Potions Master.
'To what planet have I accidently Apparated myself!' he wondered disbelievingly.
After a moment, realising that this woman was actually too distraught to actually do anything for the unconscious and evidently unwell wizard (and knowing the man was an Order member and suspecting Dumbledore would be rather upset with him if he didn't at least try) Harry slipped his wand into his rear pocket and attempted again to get the disturbed woman's permission to help.
"I won't hurt him, I promise… he's my teacher," he assured her. Harry deliberately did not mention that he wasn't a very well liked teacher, for obvious reasons. The information seemed to make a difference as he observed that the woman, despite her weeping, appeared to take on board the knowledge.
"Move over a bit," he suggested, giving her a small nudge on her side with his elbow. This time she did as instructed and raised her head enough to shuffle down Snape's body a couple of feet, still sobbing heartily.
Once she had moved Harry could see the small blossoming puddle of bright red blood pooling slowly on the floor immediately below the dark man's stomach.
"What the…?" he began, aghast; moving forward and touching the liquid lightly with his fingers to ascertain that it was in fact blood.
"What's this?" he asked the woman, forgetting momentarily that he was unlikely to get a response.
Without waiting for an answer he turned to his Uncle still sitting upon the staircase with his wife and son; indignant fury over his son's assault building in the man as time passed.
"Uncle Vernon… you didn't use a knife, did you?" he asked incredulously.
"What!" the beefy man snapped, "Of course bleeding not… where would I have gotten one from, you ruddy twit?"
"Well, it's just that Professor Snape is… well, bleeding; and a lot by the looks. Why's he bleeding?"
"How the bloody hell should I know? He must have already been like that… you'll not be blaming me for that… the stuff's all over him," Vernon snapped, demonstrating the point by holding up his own fist that still bore a gruesome red stain. Uncle Vernon began to rub at it, mildly repulsed.
"It's typical of your lot to dump more problems on our doorstep," Harry's fat uncle proceeded to gripe further in an annoyed mutter.
Harry decided to stop questioning his Uncle in case the man suddenly decided that everything was suddenly specifically Harry's fault – as he'd done many times before when things hadn't gone to plan, and instead he turned back to the strange woman who had now quieted some.
"Do you know how this happened?" he asked
She nodded. Harry blinked, waiting for her to go on… but she didn't. She looked terrified and unsure, but something about her demeanour suggested she knew more than was first apparent.
"Who are you?" he asked. "And why are you with Snape? You are a Muggle, right?"
Sarah sniffed loudly, trying to pull herself together. She nodded again. "Yes… I think so… I mean, I can't do magic. Is that what you're asking?"
Harry nodded in confirmation. She nodded also and continued.
"I'm nobody… well, no-one you would know anyway. Even he doesn't know me. Severus kind of collected me up along the way," she explained. "We sort of accidentally collided with one another… and then soon after that he was hit with some red streak of… of… I don't know what it was. I didn't have any choice but escape with him," she admitted, knowing the explanation hardly explained much at all. The tears that Sarah had so recently had pulled to a halt threatened to resume; she took a shuddering breath.
Harry listened closely as the woman carried on.
"He's hurt severely… he's cut open all down his chest and stomach," she said, gesturing as example to her own front, "… it's really bad; it has been bleeding a lot. I tried to help… he needs a doctor, but he insisted we come here first."
She paused and Harry frowned with puzzlement and his questioning expression virtually implored her to continue.
"Like he said to you, I heard him say that this… this… Lord person was coming here. He made this… silver, shining deer… uh, it was a doe, actually," Sarah corrected herself quite needlessly, "… and he made it appear with his wand, then he seemed to send her off somewhere with a message for help."
Harry was practically gaping at her; incredulous that, according to this woman's testament, this man, his teacher, who had proven repeatedly over the years just how vehemently he hated him, would risk his life to come and warn Harry of impending danger; and especially when he was already evidently injured quite badly.
He shook his head in disbelief and turned his attention back to the prone, insentient wizard. After another moment of stunned staring, Harry leaned closer to the man; reaching a nervous hand toward the wizard's shoulder.
"Sir?" he asked timidly, giving the shoulder a small shake. To Harry it was like poking a sleeping tiger, and he was extremely reluctant to be more forceful. The man did not respond at all, and Harry watched him closely for a while; thinking for a moment about what he should do.
"Well, he's breathing at least," he stated aloud, for his own sake along with his teacher's Muggle companion's. "He doesn't look good though."
Harry suddenly remembered why the surly wizard was here and glanced up at the still open front door. He leapt to his feet, and after a quick glimpse outside into the blessedly vacant street, he swiftly closed the barrier and flicked the lock across. He knew he'd only created the illusion of safety for Wizards generally had no problem breaking into a house locked only by Muggle methods. But still, they would have to take a moment to achieve it, and that moment could make all the difference between getting hurt or caught as opposed to making an escape.
It made a world of difference to how he felt and therefore how well he could think.
He turned back toward Snape and noticed the Muggle woman take up the dark Professor's fallen wand. He looked around at all the people gathered in the small hallway and realised that this situation was practically as dire as before Snape had arrived; the only difference now being that Harry knew it was so.
Without the adult Wizard conscious, there was not a lot that could be achieved. Harry was still underage and even he could admit woefully lacking in sufficient Wizarding skills and knowledge to get all of them to safety. He needed help… but he virtually had no instant way to request it from the Order or his friends.
He was just considering trying to reach Hermione on the telephone when he recalled that Snape had apparently sent off his patronus to someone for help. Well, the woman had described a silvery, shining doe that remarkably fit the description of Harry's own patronus, Prongs, anyway.
'Curious?' he thought, before dismissing the examination of the detail for a more appropriate time.
He scrambled to the woman's side. "Er… what's your name?" he asked, realising the detail would be handy to know.
"Sarah," she answered.
"Sarah… um, you said Snape sent off a message to someone. Who was it, can you remember?"
The woman was silent for a few moments, evidently trying to recall what she had heard. "Um… Dumble… er, Dumbla… something like that, I think," she offered.
"Dumbledore?" Harry confirmed.
"Yeah… that's it,' Sarah replied, nodding.
Harry nodded and then went quiet and thoughtful; wondering if he ought to just sit pretty and wait for more help to arrive. What else could he do, anyway… there were just too many Muggles to evacuate for one young wizard who was barely proficient enough to Apparate himself with confidence he wouldn't splinch himself, let alone licenced and skilful enough to 'side-along'.
He almost laughed out loud when he considered whether his decidedly magic hating Aunt, Uncle and Cousin would even let him attempt it with them as metaphorical guinea pigs.
'Is it even possible with Muggles?' Harry wondered further…
"You're one like him, aren't you?" a female voice cut into his musings.
Harry was initially perplexed by Sarah's question, but soon realised she was asking if he too was a Wizard like Snape.
"Um, yeah," he responded softly, idly curious as to how much the Muggle woman had learned from the apparent short amount of time since colliding with the dark, intimidating Potions Master.
"But I'm underage… I'm not supposed to do magic outside of school," he offered automatically, not really sure afterwards whether he ought to have.
"Oh," she said back, surprise and a smidge of disappointment in her tone. "But they're not," she added in a whisper, indicating with a slight tilt of her toward the Dursleys, still molly-coddling their son upon the staircase.
Harry shook his head, "Uh, uh," he confirmed in a hushed tone in return.
Two things suddenly happened simultaneously, throwing the house back into panicked chaos.
From down the road outside on the street a succession of loud banging noises, like cars backfiring, disrupted the evening silence. Sarah immediately took notice, scrambling in panic back over Snape's hip and shaking him roughly and calling his name trying to wake him. Harry immediately whipped his wand from his pocket and stood facing the door; intensely alert.
And, out of the blue a large barn owl rapidly swished into the hallway from the back of the house and dropped an official looking envelope made from thick parchment onto the floor at Harry's feet, causing Petunia to both screech in disgust and dismay and then scream in terror as the startled bird flapped in alarm over her head before locating the way back out of the frightening house. Sarah too reeled back with a squeak or fear at the bizarre behaviour of the animal when it swooped low past her.
Harry ignored the Ministry letter - no doubt it was another erroneous advice regarding the illegal use of magic in front of a Muggle by an underage wizard - and began to step back from the door. He joined Sarah at Snape's head just as the man groaned; hopefully regaining consciousness.
The woman leaned back over him. "Open your eyes… wake up," she pleaded to the injured wizard. Harry added to her plea with a silent wish of his own that he not be left to deal with this on his own.
A small noise not far outside the door had both Sarah and Harry draw in a sharp breath.
"Severus… they're here!" Sarah cried, her voice quiet, yet overwrought; the panic in her tone overwhelming and unnervingly infectious to everyone present in the crowded, small hallway.