Wandering

The air was growing cooler, and Hermione knew their time in the daylight was almost behind them. A small embankment lay not far from their location that would serve as adequate shelter for the night, shielding them from whatever creature may come along. Severus still lay against her, though his eyes were now open. He drew measured breaths, and listened to the steady rhythm of Hermione’s heart against his ear. She occasionally ran her hand delicately over his raven hair and it soothed him; He took solace in her touch without her knowing it. He, too, had sensed the time drawing near that they must move, and rested against her as he collected his resolve.

She felt his chest rise swiftly and his words hot on her hand. “We must find shelter.” His voice was rough and breathy. He straightened his back and pushed his palms into the ground, pulling away from her warmth and steadying himself while the world spun. He listened to her shuffling her feet behind him and then felt her hand on his shoulder.

“Okay, I know a place not far from here. It’s ten minutes’ journey, and then you can rest for the night.”

She pulled him to his feet and walked at his side, catching his arm in hers when he stumbled over twigs and roots of the great trees. He scowled and pulled away, opting for the trunks of trees to break his fall instead. How weak he had become, to rely on a woman’s strength? “What age are you now Miss Granger? How many of these cursed summers have you laid witness to?” he asked as he wrapped his arm around his middle, stumbling on beside her half bent. She watched him from the corner of her eye. His hair, dirty as it may currently be, shone almost blue in the light of the sun.

“Twenty-six of them, professor,” she answered softly.

Merlin had it been that long? Severus wondered to himself. To think Albus was so sure the war would end before the golden trio’s final year. Perhaps it was age that got the better of him. The man was wise beyond wise, but for some reason - perhaps it was his blind faith in Potter - he had been so terribly wrong. His death was the floodgate for Voldemort\'s strong return. Potter had done his best, that was certain, but it was not enough. The Order began to second-guess its members, and the Horcruxes proved very difficult to obtain, and harder still to destroy.

“Here,” Hermione said as they began to move upwards. The forest floor inclined, and a few feet above them was an overhang, pitted deep into the shallow hill that looked suitable for shelter. He fell heavily against the wall, glad for the rest as his body screamed at him. He watched through heavily lidded eyes as Hermione advanced him and slowly kneeled so that their knees were touching. Her face was very dirty and scracted in a few places her hair wild with bits of leaves and twig wrapped in the springy brown coils. She still wore her robes, which, for the most part,were in good repair save for a slight fraying at the hem.

He watched as she extended a hand towards him, palm out, and closed his eyes as it pressed gently to his forehead. “Your fever broke. Thank Merlin,” she finished in an almost inaudible whisper, slowly dropping her eyes from his. Severus let his backside rest on the ground and put his knees in front of him, carefully resting his arms over them and tilting his head against the earthen wall. He fixed her with a cool stare.

“Tell me, Miss Granger, how you came to find me.”

Hermione hesitated, picking the side of her thumb with her nail. She met his dark eyes before answering.

“It is a hard thing to tell. May I show you?”

Severus pulled in a sharp breath and looked away from her, shaking his head as he did so. “No Miss Granger, my mind’s eye is for my mind alone now. I am afraid you will have to tell me yourself.”

She took a deep breath and began the tale, continuing to pick at her thumb and look everywhere but at him. “It was not long after our last letter…Harry found the cup at the orphanage, and we destroyed it. I believe I told you that Ron lost a finger in the endeavor. Minerva sent a Patronous all the way from Hogwarts in the middle of the night. What a terrible night it was. The castle lay under siege and she was calling for help. We arrived shortly after receiving her summons for help. Death Eaters were everywhere…” She trailed off as the images flooded her mind: the rain pouring down in relentless sheets, the mixture of lights from the storm and the hexes, Harry screaming orders as he stood soaked to the bone between Ron and herself, Ginny darting away from the group to grab a small first year out of the path of an angry red bolt of light.

“Do continue Miss Granger,” Severus urged. His strength was failing him and he closed his eyes as she continued.

“So many of the students were killed, swift and without regard to who they were. I don’t believe any children of the Death Eaters were there that night. Harry, Ron and I made for the main entrance when we saw V…Voldemort. Harry crashed to the ground in agony…His scar…His scar actually opened…It was horrible. Ron snapped. He bolted for Voldemort, wand raised and then…He flew behind Harry again. He…I don’t know if he died or not. It was enough to get Harry up. I tried to flank him, fending off Death Eaters to his sides. I don’t know what he thought would happen. The Horcrux is still intact, the last one. They battled, professor. They battled for what seemed days, though it could have only been minutes. Then Voldemort rounded on me, and I was sure it was the end. I braced for the green light, but…but it never came. Only a white one, brilliant as the sun, enveloping me and yanking me back…Harry was screaming my name…” She raised her eyes to his before she finished, “That was it. That was weeks ago and I cannot get back. Any time I try to Apparate home, or to Harry, or anywhere familiar, I am pulled to anther spot, equally as foreign as the last. I had yet to see another living soul, save for the Death Eaters, before I stumbled across you.”

Silence hung between them as Severus processed her information. Her eyes were wide, lost, and hopeless, and it troubled him to see this normally bright woman so desolate. She shivered against a cool wind that whipped suddenly through their shelter.

“You were foolish to save me Miss Granger. You’ve no idea what they would have done to you had they discovered your presence.” There was no ridicule in his tone, no sharp point to his voice as there usually was. He averted his eyes and raised an arm, inviting her to sit beside him.

She hesitated, hastening the relentless picking at her thumb, before another wind bit through the darkness and chilled her. She swung her legs around so that her back was to the wall and her bent knees were almost touching his. She could feel his body heat through her traveling cloak and could sense his subtle movements without looking at him. She shivered again; her clothing was not warm enough without the traveling cloak, and her heart skipped a beat as his arm swiftly found its way around her shoulders and gently, as if asking permission, pulled her close to his chest.

It was her undoing. The willing touch of another person, the warm embrace of a man, and she let her head fall against his heart; listening to the comforting melody of its beating, and the slow, if not crackling, breaths he drew. She shook with grief and sorrow and the tears found their way past her lids without her consent. Had she not been so upset, it would have surprised her when his thin fingers softly ran over her temple. Somewhere between her tears and his heartbeat, she found sleep.

Severus grimaced at the ever-present pain in his chest, and fought to keep himself still when a twinge shot through his back. He did not want to move lest he disturb her. It had been such a long time since he felt a woman’s weight on his chest and this one…Well, this woman had surpassed his highest expectations. Try as he did to stay awake, his body simply could not, and he slipped from the shelter into the darkness.

There she was. It had been so long since he last saw her, standing in her black flowing dress adorned with glittering stars. Her eyes shone in their onyx brilliance, and her dazzling smile beckoned him to her. The long raven locks danced around her in the wind, and the fragrant sea air washed over him as the waves clipped the shore. He was almost to her this time, if he could only reach out his hand father…

It was too late; his ‘brothers’ had arrived to relieve him of his burden.

“MOYRA!” he screamed, though it was no use. She crumpled to the sand in agony as the others laughed. Severus looked wildly around him; there was no way out of this. Then he felt the cold, strong fingers of the Dark Lord wrap around his shoulder and whisper in his ear, “My chosen one, thank you for this gift. My servants will no doubt enjoy her thoroughly.”

Severus turned just in time to see one of the vile men straddle his wife, who was still in the throws of the curse, and his heart broke. He lifted his wand and caught her eye, a subtle exchange of love between husband and wife, before he sent the green light to release her. Severus sank to his knees in the sand and covered his face. The others enjoyed his wife despite her still form and he could do no more. That was the day that broke Severus Snape…It would be that night that he would go to Dumbledore and risk everything to bring the Dark Lord down.

Crunching leaves pulled Hermione violently from her rest. She squinted and raised her hand to shield her eyes against the bring morning sun. Severus woke with a start and tightened his grip on her. They strained their ears as the sound grew louder, voices joined with the crunching foliage. “This way, they canna be far now.”

Hermione drew her wand and tried to push Severus behind her, fearful that whoever came their way would harm him again. Her heart beat a frantic rhythm as the men grew so close she could hear their clothing whisper over the leaves. There was silence just as the men neared the enclosure, and Severus put a hand on Hermione’s shoulder, carefully trying to pull her behind him. Just as he bent to whisper the request for her wand, light flashed in the shelter and Severus fell hard on the ground, Hermione landing beside him with the look of pure terror in her eyes.

“Righ’ then, Severus. Never really though’ you’d ge’ away did yeah?” The two laughing men languidly strolled into their haven with devious smiles on their faces. One even licked his lips as he gazed on Hermione…