Everything I Do, I Do It For You

Chapter 37:- Cornelius’ Surprise

Head Orderly Robert Finn received the Minister’s reply in the early hours of the morning. When Calan Park was quiet, he went back down to the boiler room to find Fydles perched on the back of his chair, looking at him expectantly.

He went over to the owl, stroked his feathers, and fished around in his drawer for an owl treat. Upon finding one, he gave it to Fydles, and untied the scroll attached to the bird’s leg. A stone fell out of the parchment when he unravelled it.

Bending over to pick up and exam the oddly-coloured stone, he placed it on his desk next to his pen and read the scroll.

Mr Finn,

Do nothing when Miss Hermione Granger comes back to see you about her medication; instead, take her to a quiet room where no one will observe you. Have the stone that is in this scroll on you, and rub it when you are situated, until it starts to warm up. I will do the rest.

If you can do this for me, I will see to it that you get the position that you always wanted within the Ministry.

Do not fail me on this, as it is very important if the next stage is going to work.

Sincerely,

Cornelius Fudge
Minister of Magic

As the scroll caught alight, a wide grin spread across Robert’s face.

’At last,’ he thought as he dropped the burning parchment on the ground and watched the flames eat it until there was nothing left.

Robert was in a much better mood when his shift ended at six in the morning.

***

Hermione made a hasty retreat down the stairs, not once looking back at her stunned Potions Master.

Wearing a smirk on her lips, she thought to herself, ’That sure shut him up.’

Although her memories were coming back in snippets, she still didn’t know the full story of her life, as right now it was a jumbled mess. So she decided to go to Calan Park to sort it all out, and possibly get some answers as to who was putting the potions into her medication.

Severus followed Hermione down the street, his long strides easily catching up to her smaller ones.

“And where do you think you’re going?” he drawled, standing in front of her to stop her progress. He had obviously gotten over the shock of her kissing him and was now fuming, though one could never tell from looking at his controlled features. The deep frown gave only a hint of the anger he felt bubbling inside.

Hermione rolled her eyes and placed both hands on her hips.

“Why is it any of your concern?” Hermione spat at him, “You found me, so what now?” Her temper rose up to meet his own. “I am grateful, but I really don’t need your help, as I have survived on my own for almost a year now.”

“Survived?” Severus retorted, “I would claim that you merely existed, and besides,” he continued although Hermione shot him a disbelieving look, “who gave you those potion-laced tablets?”

“That isn’t your concern,” Hermione replied.

“Oh, I think it is, Miss Granger,” the Potions Master sneered, looking down his nose at her. “I have sacrificed everything to find you and will not let you go off now that I have, only to get yourself killed.”

“And who are you to say that will happen? Are you a Seer?” Hermione asked, her tone barely above a harsh whisper. “You yourself said I am a witch,” she continued, pulling out her wand from her pocket, “so I guess now I find out how good I really am.”

Severus took a step forward and pushed Hermione’s wand hand down, “Miss Granger, put that away,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” she warned, taking a step backwards.

“Or you’ll do what, exactly?” Severus asked whilst taking a small step forward to close the gap between them.

When Hermione didn’t answer him, he continued, “You’ll do what, Miss Granger? Kiss me again?” His eyes narrowed dangerously.

Hermione was shaking now, but she managed to pull herself together and reply in a dangerous whisper that told Severus that she wasn’t lying, “I’ll scream rape.”

’That seemed to shut him up,’ Hermione thought victoriously as he jumped backwards.

Shaking himself from his temporary state of shock, he narrowed his eyes and replied, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“You want to try me?” Hermione asked, raising both eyebrows. “Then by all means continue … No … I didn’t think so,” she said as Severus took another step backwards.

“You see, I may not have all of my memories back yet, but I think they still frown on that,” she said with a hint of triumph in her voice.

Raising an eyebrow, Severus replied, “You are an ungrateful child who doesn’t …”

He was cut off by Hermione, who raised her hand as if to slap him, but thought better of it. Putting her wand into her jean pocket, she continued.

“Why don’t you go back to your bat cave, Batman,” she said angrily.

Severus, perplexed at this, just stared at her. He was wearing his famous sneer now, and if Hermione hadn’t been so annoyed at him, she would have laughed at the whole situation.

Hermione motioned with her hands as if swatting at a fly, or trying to fly, Severus couldn’t tell which.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Fly, fly fly.” She shot him a reproachful look before walking around him and continuing on her way down the street.

Severus could have screamed at the chit. She was so infuriating; he was sure that she had raised his blood-pressure levels to an all-time high.

Spinning around, he caught up with her and walked beside her for a few steps. He was careful not to touch her lest she scream rape. That was not what Severus needed right now.

Hermione huffed, but continued to ignore the irritating man walking next to her as she sped up her pace.

They made their way to Calan Park, both ignoring the other’s presence. Hermione came to an abrupt stop outside of the sliding glass door and turned to meet the Potions Master’s gaze.

“Now I want you to hold that razor tongue of yours and let me do the talking,” she said with fervour.

Severus glared at her. The same look that used to intimidate her was now almost quite comical, and if the series of events that had led up to the here and now weren’t so foreboding, she would have found his glare to be downright absurd.

When he continued to maintain his silence, she nodded her head at him, and turned around to walk through the glass doors.

Severus felt, rather than saw, the magic in the building when he walked through the doors. He was quite taken aback by it, as it was pulsating through the very air around him, bouncing off the structure and disappearing through the walls.

The Potions Master, however, didn’t have time to ponder this as he broke from his thoughts. He looked up and saw Miss Granger walking calmly up to the back of the spacious room, towards a desk which housed a rather dumpy-looking woman in a white dress. She was having quite an animated conversation with a tall and stocky-looking man who was casually leaning onto the desk.

“Um,” Hermione cleared her throat to get the attention of Robert Finn, who was talking to the nurse, Miss Morgan, from last night.

Robert looked over towards the interruption and was greeted with the face of Hermione, who was standing at the other side of the desk. He smiled broadly at her; however, she did not look impressed by his friendly welcome.

“Ah, Hermione,” he said, sidestepping her abrupt greeting. It was at this precise moment he noticed, standing rather close to her left shoulder, a tall man dressed completely in black. The look on his face was one of pure loathing, and he was glaring at Robert.

Robert’s features faltered for a brief second, as he swallowed nervously and gestured over to the door.

This display did not go unnoticed by the perceptive Potions Master, and he narrowed his eyes even further. He was pleased indeed to have had such an impact on the man, but he schooled his features to remain devoid of emotion.

Hermione nodded her head and waited patiently for Orderly Finn to make his way to the door.

Robert’s mind was whirling; who could that menacing man be? He looked quite dangerous and Robert didn’t think he could take him on by himself. He hoped that whatever the Minister had planned, he would make it out alive from the confrontation that he was sure was about to take place. His hand went instinctively to the stone that was held in his trouser pocket and, as he wrapped his hand around it, he prayed that it would be enough.

Stepping outside the door which held the admissions desk behind it, Robert motioned down the hall with his hand, not even trusting his own voice to speak. Nervously avoiding the gaze of the dark man with the piercing eyes standing behind Hermione, he hurried down the hall.

They all made their way to a door which Robert quickly unlocked and opened, ushering them inside.

Severus took a quick inventory of everything that the room held. It was quite large, with a pair of settees in the middle of it and a coffee table in between, various magazines littering its top. There was a bookcase in the corner of room and a kitchen with various eating implements in the sink. He took in the refrigerator and cupboards, and the clock over the far wall.

Severus noticed then that the other man was shaking slightly; he could sense the fear radiating off his body. His hand was in his robe pocket, tightly wound around his wand. He chanced a brief look at Miss Granger, who made her way over to one of the settees and sat down rigidly with her hands in her lap.

Hermione held no fear, Robert realized. ’She must not have gotten her memories back yet,’ he thought as he placed himself across from Hermione so that he was facing her.

Severus chose to stand behind the settee that Miss Granger was currently occupying, and returned to glaring at Robert once more.

“So who’s your friend?” Robert asked Hermione, motioning with his eyes at the deeply disturbing man standing behind her.

“Oh sorry, how rude of me,” Hermione replied. “Orderly Finn this is, or rather was, my Potions professor, Professor Snape.” She said this almost casually, waving her hand over her head in the Potions Master’s general direction.

Robert swallowed quite hard before standing and extending his hand to the surly-looking man, his eyes going wide in the acknowledgment that he was actually standing in the presence of an ex-Death Eater.

Severus looked down at the man’s hand before glaring into his eyes and sneering.

Robert returned his hand to his side when he realized that the dark-haired man would not be shaking it. He went and took his place back on the settee.

He looked up nervously at Hermione who, realizing this, replied, “Oh, don’t worry about him - he doesn’t bite. Although there were rumours at Hogwarts that he was a vampire, I now see that they were truly unfounded.” Hermione gave out a little laugh at her own joke.

Robert was not listening to Hermione’s speech as his mind was reeling. ’She does have her memories back.’ Robert panicked as his hand went into his pocket and started rubbing the stone held there at a maddening pace.

This gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Severus. He had his wand out in a flash and was now pointing it at the hapless Robert, who looked like he would rather be anywhere but here right now.

That’s when it happened.

There was a flash of blinding white light, at which all three inhabitants of the room shielded their eyes.

When the light dissipated, there standing before the only exit was a wizard with long brown hair wearing robes of blood red, his wand firmly held in his outstretched hand.

***

A/N:- (Ducks behind desk, wand at the ready) Sorry to leave you on such a cliff hanger, I am evil and I know it!

If you read it, PLEASE leave a review as this is my first ever fan fic, well actually my first ever writing experience, and let me know what you think so far. I am not above begging! Constructive criticism and RAVE reviews are welcome.

Thanks goes out to my wonderful beta, LariLee, you’re the best…

Disclaimer:- Do I still have to do this? Fine. I am not J.K. nor do I wish to be J.K. so I am not making any money from my little story. J.K. owns all the characters you recognize and the ones you don’t, belong to yours truly.