Everything I Do, I Do It For You

Chapter 38:- Severus, Hermione and the Assassin

Severus recognized the red robes immediately. Even before the brown-haired wizard had time to react, Severus grabbed Hermione around the waist and pulled her off the settee. He aimed his wand and fired off a quick hex at the wizard who stood before him.

Hermione gave off an undignified screech as she was yanked over the top of the settee and pushed down, underneath the Potions Master, and covered with his own rigid and quite heavy body.

“Get off,” she managed to say, in between trying to push him off her and trying to catch her breath. She was winded by the whole experience and was startled when Snape had picked her up.

“Shut up and stay down, you impossible girl,” Severus pushed her back down while growling at her, his voice sounding dangerous. Hermione complied immediately.

Robert Finn turned around to see the new occupant of the room. As his eyes fell on the wizard in the blood-red robes, his heart leapt up into his throat. To say he was stunned would have been a complete understatement. He found that his legs would not act in accordance with his brain, which was telling him to get the hell out of there. So he sat immobile on the settee, as if glued to the spot, watching the events unfold.

The Minister’s scroll had told the assassin to capture the girl, bring her to his manor, and kill anyone in the way. He looked at the man sitting on the settee in front of him. He ascertained that he was no threat, taking in the man’s taut body. He had seen many a wizard, witch and Muggle in shock before. They would just freeze and not move, and it gave him the advantage of taking them out quite quickly. In fact it made his job all the more easier.

As the Stinging Hex hit the brown-haired wizard he was a little stunned, as no one had ever gotten the better of him. He let out a small gasp, more in annoyance than pain.

Severus had heard of “The Assassins,” but had never seen one up close. He knew they were highly skilled in their line of work; he didn’t doubt for a minute that he was truly lucky to have diverted the assassin’s attention with the Stinging Hex before he was able to get Miss Granger over the settee. He had no reservation that it was Miss Granger that the assassin wanted, but he would fight to the death for the annoying chit and he would be damned if anyone would harm or take her. After all, wasn’t he responsible for her safety? He would be glad to get rid of her once he made it back to Hogwarts, if, he told himself, they both made it out of this situation alive.

Miss Granger was lying very still underneath him, but he had no doubt she was alive, as she was still breathing, and quite loudly at that.

‘Bloody Gryffindors.’ He scowled, as he lifted his head slightly and looked for a back way out. When he came up with no possible way of walking out, besides going past the assassin, he sighed. He would have to face the assassin on his own, as he didn’t believe that Miss Granger had her powers back, if she would regain them back at all.

The Potions Master blindly reached over the lounge with his wand and muttered, “Stupefy,” not knowing whether his spell hit its mark or not.

The assassin was narrowly missed by the spell that whirled past him. Now he was way beyond pissed. He had never let a target get the better of him, even if there were unforseen circumstances in the way this time. He wasn’t about to make excuses for that. Besides, how difficult could one wizard, a Muggle and a witch with no powers be?

He breathed in deeply as he channelled all his energies towards his goal.

Bypassing the Muggle on the lounge, he strode straight up the right-hand side of the room until he was face to face with the Potions Master.

Severus, hearing his foot falls on the tiled floor, had the briefest of moments to register that his spell had not hit its objective. He sent up a modified ‘Protego’ spell of his own invention that encompassed Miss Granger and himself.

The assassin aimed his wand arm with a steady hand from years of practise. Whilst moving it, he muttered the Cruciatus Curse at Severus. It bounced back on him from the dark-haired wizard’s Shielding Spell, missing him by mere millimetres. He cursed out loud.

Severus stood with all the grace afforded to him as he faced down his opponent. He had switched onto automatic pilot from his days as a double agent. He took a defensive position, stepping over Miss Granger and guarding her. She was still flat on her stomach on the floor, and he realised she must be in shock.

His Shielding Spell wasn’t going to last much longer. He knew that he had to get Miss Granger to safety before the assassin had time to collect himself for the next round of hexes, curses and spells.

Severus held the assassin’s gaze as both men sized up their adversary.

As Severus’ Shielding Spell wore off he quickly fired a hex, which was countered perfectly by the assassin. A Slicing Hex was thrown back at the Potions Master, grazing his left shoulder.

Severus hissed out in pain as he threw another hex at the brown-haired wizard. That too was countered. He didn’t notice Miss Granger standing up behind him, he was that focused on taking out the assassin, until she spoke.

“Stop it, both of you!” she gasped out in a strangled voice.

Both wizards, distracted for a millisecond, looked at Hermione, who had her wand pointed in the direction of the hired assassin. Her hand was shaking slightly, but she held her wand tightly and it never deviated from the red-robed wizard before her.

The assassin let out a bark of laughter as he took in the scene before him. If this little girl thought that she would get the better of him, she was sorely mistaken. He was the best the business and had yet to sustain any life-threatening injuries during battle.

Severus turned back to look at the assassin as he laughed at Miss Granger. He shot off another curse, which was countered by a lazy flick of the brown-haired wizard’s wand.

‘Damn it,’ Severus thought to himself, ‘if it were just me, I could beat him in a fair duel, but protecting Miss Granger and trying to protect myself at the same time is proving to be most difficult.’

“Best to come peacefully,” the assassin stated, looking directly at Hermione. “My orders are to take you as unharmed as I can manage.”

“Over my dead body,” Severus growled out; his full attention was once more on the assassin. He narrowed his eyes, shooting daggers at the tall, brown-haired wizard in front of him.

“That too can be arranged,” the assassin said, before he pointed his wand at the Potions Master and spoke the Unforgivable Curse.

‘Avada Keda…’ was all he managed to say. There was a piercing scream, and a flash of bright red light shot forth from the scar on Hermione’s forehead.

The assassin and the Potions Master fell to their knees, dropping their wands and covering their ears in opposition to the noise that was emanating from Hermione’s now open mouth. Both wizards held their eyes squeezed tightly shut against the blinding red light.

Severus was about to surrender to the blackness that was threatening to take him, as he recalled the ring that Tolmie had given to him. In a desperate, blind panic, he used his remaining powers to stay lucid and fumbled with the invisible ring. Taking it from his finger, he threw it over his right shoulder. He heard it hit the tiled floor before bouncing a couple of times and coming to rest somewhere behind him. He immediately felt, rather than heard, the presence of someone else in the room.

There was a slight pop as Tolmie Crobobin appeared in the exact spot that Severus had tossed the ring. He was over in the right-hand side of a large room standing by a refrigerator. He held his wand out in his right hand and immediately took in the sight before him.

Severus and a wizard in blood-red robes were on their knees with their hands over their ears and their eyes closed tightly shut. Their wands lay to the side of each of the combatants as a young lady, Miss Granger if he had to guess, stood slightly behind Severus in some kind of trance, screaming whilst emanating a red light from the scar that graced her forehead.

He had only once seen such control in a room, and that was in the presence of Lord Voldemort when he had killed his family. Tolmie had been a young man, barely fourteen, when his father had told him to hide in a cupboard and not make a sound. He watched his mother and father being tortured and eventually slaughtered by the madman. The older man was in awe of the young Miss Granger’s influence, as he watched her radiate her powers onto the two wizards in the room.

These powers did not affect Tolmie, because he wasn’t the one that she was channelling her efforts towards. Although he was quite certain that she did not mean to hurt Severus, he had obviously been caught in the crossfire.

Hermione felt like her head would split in two. Her throat was red raw from screaming, though she couldn’t stop, even if she had wanted to. It was like an out-of-body experience; she was no longer in control of her body and was no more responsible for its actions. She was, however, marginally in command of her mind, and she willed her self to stop whatever it was she was doing; she could see the effects it was having on Professor Snape and the other red-robed wizard.

Using ever ounce of her will power, she commanded herself to stop, and silently floated into the abyss of obscurity.

Tolmie saw Miss Granger collapse into a heap on the floor. He couldn’t worry about her now. Although he knew she was very important to Severus, his first priority was to protect his friend.

Tolmie strode forward and placed a reassuring hand on the dark-haired wizard’s shoulder. Severus flinched away from the weight he felt on his person, but then a familiar voice sounded from behind him. He had no doubt in his mind that it was Tolmie Crobobin, his ally.

“It’s me, Severus,” Tolmie said, his voice soothing his ears. Severus gave out a sigh, and for a couple of seconds, he forgot where he was.

“The assassin?” Severus asked, in a sudden panic. He opened his eyes, but couldn’t see anything except for dark shadows in his line of sight.

“I will take care of him,” the older man said. “Can you stand?” he asked, the concern lingering in his voice.

“I think so,” Severus replied as he stood up, with some help from Tolmie, on his shaking legs.

The assassin, who was the main recipient of Hermione’s strange new powers, was still on the floor clutching his now-bleeding ears and eyes.

Tolmie, who never took his eyes off the assassin, spoke once more to Severus. “You have to take Miss Granger back to Hogwarts now. It is not safe for her in the Muggle world. I will be in contact with you as soon as it is safe to do so,” he said, grinning at the Potions Master, although his eyes never left the assassin on the floor.

“Where is she?” Severus asked, as he tried to look for her. Without his vision, he couldn’t hope of finding her without some assistance from his partner.

Tolmie took two steps backwards, still glaring at the assassin, and stood in front of Miss Granger. Bending down, he scooped her up into his arms and passed her to the now blinded Potions Master.

“Take care,” he whispered, and Severus could feel that he knew of his affliction, but he wisely chose to keep it to himself instead of broadcasting the obvious to the intensely proud Potions Master.

Severus just nodded his head before Apparating away.

Severus found himself on the outskirts of Hogwarts. Years of travelling the same well-worn path on his way back from Lord Voldemort in much worse state than he was now, saved him the embarrassment of stumbling around blindly.

He marched out into the darkness with all the pride he could muster, Miss Granger held firmly against his chest. He prayed he wasn’t too late to save her and although he could feel her breathing in his arms, she did not rouse when he called out her name.

Making his way to the double doors that opened into Hogwarts, Severus strode into the Great Hall, still cradling Miss Granger in his arms.

Professors and students were all present in the Great Hall having supper. The general buzz of the students’ chatter was interrupted as the Potions Master kicked in the heavy oak doors. Holding his head high, his usual scowl on his face, he made his way up to the head table.

The students were shocked into silence; only the older students dared to start whispering. All of the sixth years and up recognised the Potions Master carrying Hermione Granger’s supine form in his arms. There had been some speculation that she had died in the Final Battle; however, that had all been hearsay, as they had never been able to find a body. Her name had been added to the memorial stone set up to honour the fallen, just in front of the lake where Voldemort, Harry and Ronald had breathed their last breaths. Her name was right underneath Harry Potter’s and Ronald Weasley’s.

Severus could not make out what they were saying as he made his way to the head table because his usually acute sense of hearing was somewhat diminished by Miss Granger’s piercing screams from earlier that evening. His legs felt weak and he was feeling himself slip away into the peaceful blackness that had surrounded him once more. If only he could do that, he would be happy. Instead, he forced himself to make the last few steps up to the head table.

Headmaster Dumbledore stood up, quickly motioning for Healer Jensey to join him as he made his way around the table and rushed down to the Potion Master’s side.

A gasp could be heard from the head table as Minerva McGonagall stood too.

Albus made it just in time as Severus, holding onto Miss Granger, collapsed to the floor.

***

A/N: Does anyone even read my notes? By the looks of it, not really. Oh well, I guess than I can rant and rave as much as I want to.

Please read and review; actually, you don’t have to read just review.

As always, a big kiss goes out to my beta, LariLee.

Disclaimer: The usual. Why do I even bother?