Everything I Do, I Do It For You

Chapter 42: The Traitor and the Friend

Tolmie spent the rest of the day with Severus and Miss Granger, explaining what had happened to the assassin and Mr Robert Finn. As he clarified the details of his empathic powers, Hermione just listened. Her mind was reeling from the implications of Tolmie’s powers, and she was thankful that he was on their side because if Voldemort had gotten a hold of him, she could just picture the mass destruction he would have caused to the side of light.

They had eaten lunch and dinner in the infirmary and were just mulling over there thoughts when Healer Jensen came in and told them all that they were expected in the Headmaster’s office.

Severus just nodded his head at the Healer as he made to stand. He had been waiting for this moment to arrive and, to be quite honest, was bored with all the sitting around he had had to endure.

They had changed into their usual attire earlier in the day when a couple of house-elves had brought Severus and Hermione some clothes to wear instead of the hospital gowns. Hermione was grateful for this as she had thought she had seen enough of those plain, white clothes to last a lifetime, and she crinkled up her nose at the sudden thought of it. She had came to the decision never to wear white again.

So it was late in the evening when Severus, Hermione and Tolmie made their way out of the infirmary. Healer Jensen was glad to get rid of her difficult patients and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the back of them.

It was quite a long walk from the infirmary to the Headmaster’s office as they made their way in silence. Severus was out in front, his purposeful long strides leading the way as Tolmie hurried up to catch him.

Placing a hand on Severus’ arm, he gasped out, “Where’s the emergency?” whilst trying his best to catch his breath.

The Potion Master stopped dead in his tracks. He was not used to having to guide anyone, it was only him for as long as he could remember and he had moved like he had a purpose for most of his life, not that there wasn’t usually good reason to do so.

He breathed in deeply before exhaling, making a show of his impatience.

“I, unlike you, Tolmie, would like to get there some time tonight,” he paused before continuing in a whisper, “and the fact that I don’t want to be seen doing it might move your feet a little quicker.” He gave Tolmie a sly grin.

Tolmie’s eyes lit up as he nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Hermione was struggling to keep up. ‘What is with that man and his need to be everywhere first?’ she sighed mentally.

Severus noticed Miss Granger striding up to them; she held her chin firmly in the air, a look of determination in her eyes and it almost worked. If she hadn’t been holding onto her side, Severus would have believed her show. He couldn’t resist baiting her.

“Miss Granger,” he said with an air of indifference, “sometime today would be nice,” he finished as the tiniest of grins showed on his features. He hid this from Miss Granger, by turning around.

Hermione had just about had enough of this snarky, sadistic man. Who was he to be ordering her around anyway? How dare he? She wasn’t about to rise to him and chose not to dignify what he’d just said with a response, so she pushed her way past him while showing her disproval with a snort. She raised her chin higher into the air as she continued on to the Headmaster’s office.

Severus watched her go. It was clearly past curfew so there were no students milling around, much to Severus’ relief. He was about to follow her when he saw her stop dead in her tracks. She was only about fifteen feet from him, and he was about to go after her, when he too heard what had stopped her so compliantly.

Severus turned his head to the side and listened intently. There… he heard the sound of footsteps which were approaching quickly. They sounded somewhat staggered as he stood there as if transfixed, listening to the reverberation that the said footsteps were making on the flagstone floor of the castle.

The Potions Master made up his mind quickly as he went to his inner robes to reach for his wand; realising it was not there, he cursed Albus for not foreseeing this moment. He had to protect Miss Granger and as he ran to her, he saw the shadow of someone or something descending the stairs.

Severus reached for Miss Granger and pushed her up against the cold, hard wall. She gave off a little squeak in protest but didn’t push him away from her as he covered her body in a protective manner with his own.

Tolmie wasn’t far behind Severus, wand out at the ready for whatever menace they would be facing. As he reached the Potions Master, he flung one of the assassin’s wands at him, which he caught with the amazing agility afforded to him from his years as a spy.

Together they were a formidable pair, two great warriors ready to do battle. Severus eyes were narrowed slightly; every one of his senses were on high alert as he waited with baited breath for the assailant to turn the corner.

***

Sybill Trelawney was drunk. Not that that was so unusual for her seeing as she was underappreciated and made fun of by the other staff members and most of the students alike. So she preferred to wallow in her own self-pity and rarely made an appearance out of her tower.

Tonight was different somehow. Oh she was still drunk, but she suddenly had a feeling of being needed elsewhere, it was as if her Inner Eye were screaming into her head that fact, and who was she to argue with her Inner Eye?

So she let her feet take her where they wanted to, the still half-full bottle of sherry clutched firmly in her hand as she staggered out of her tower.

As she made her way down the many steps, to god only knew where, her addled mind told her that she should be tripping over her own feet, but thankfully that never happened. For this fact, she was truly thankful as she adjusted her think lens glasses onto her face and continued her descent into the unknown.

***

Tolmie and Severus stood side by side as they waited. Hermione’s view was obscured as she was half pinned up against the wall by the Potion Master’s body. He was protecting her, she realised, and she didn’t dare move a muscle.

As the perpetrator came around the corner, both Severus’ and Tolmie’s wands were raised, ready to do battle.

“You, what…” Professor Trelawney’s voice came out in an accusatory state that was lost as she slurred her words and faltered slightly on her feet. Her eyes opened wide, which made them look even larger behind her bulky bifocals, as she took in the two wizards standing before her with their wands drawn.

She swallowed and trying once more, “What… are you doing here?” she asked, while pointing a shaky finger at Severus’ chest.

Severus lowered his wand; a disgusted look crossed his features as he sneered at the witch. He took in the half-empty bottle of sherry in her hand and the slightly glazed look in her eyes.

“I could ask you the same,” Severus retorted, as he lowered his wand even more. He was eyeing Sybill with a look of revulsion on his face and he clearly made no show to hide this fact from the witch.

Tolmie had lowered his wand as he noticed a middle-aged witch who was having trouble standing up, let alone stringing a sentence together. He looked at the Potions Master out of the corner of his eye and noticed the sneer that had formed on his face. Clearly he knew this witch and, by the look on his face, he didn’t particularly like her either.

Hermione had relaxed somewhat behind the dark robes of the Potions Master. She let out a breath that she wasn’t even aware, up until that point in time, that she had been holding. Her heart was beating quite rapidly in her chest as she took a cautious step out from behind Professor Snape.

She was relieved to see it was only Professor Trelawney, the fraud, and she took another step from behind the Potion Master to stand next to him.

It was as if fate were waiting for this moment; as Sybill took a step forward, she tripped and Severus caught her before she fell to the floor. Helping her up, she laid a hand on Hermione’s shoulder as Severus still clutched her arm. It all happened in the blink of an eye; she dropped the half-empty bottle of sherry and it smashed onto the flag stone floor. As her head rolled forward, her eyes rolled back into her head and her jaw went slack. She went into a trance and when she spoke next, it was not in her usual annoying voice.

“Rival houses must unite: the Serpent and the Lion.

The new friend you must seek; the traitor you must trust.

These four must stand united as one.

To fight the uprising of a new Dark Lord; Dark Magic must be used to bind him.”

As quickly as this change had been brought forth in Sybill, it ended. Severus had no doubt it was a prophecy, like the one he had heard almost twenty years ago from the same woman who he was still grasping onto.

Sybill collapsed to the floor as Hermione took a step backwards. Uncertainty was written all over her face as she stared down at her once Divination professor.

Tolmie was looking on in wonder, as he glanced back and forth between Severus and Miss Granger.

Severus laid Trelawney’s prone figure up against the wall with more care than he would have shown her normally. ‘What did she mean?’ he thought hesitantly to himself. As he stood up, he faced both Tolmie and Miss Granger. Miss Granger seemed to have gone into some sort of shock as she stared at Professor Trelawney, her eyes were unmoving and she didn’t blink once.

“Miss Granger,” Severus started, “we have to see the Headmaster.”

Hermione looked up into the Potion Master’s face as understanding dawned on her. She nodded her head.

“What about her?” Tolmie said, pointing to the prone figure of Trelawney even as he Banished the broken glass from the floor.

“Let the house-elves find her,” Severus stated. “I’m sure they’re used to it by now.”

With that, they ran the rest of the way to the Headmaster’s office. Severus’ long strides easily left the others behind so he was the first to stand before the stone gargoyle. As he waiting impatiently for the gargoyle to move, he heard the others approaching.

Hermione held her hand to her side; she had a stitch but she didn’t care about that now as the words of Professor Trelawney’s prophecy were racing around in her head.

As the stone gargoyle moved as though it were expecting them, all three raced up the moving spiral staircase, one behind the other. Severus burst through the Headmaster’s door first and was greeted with the worried face of his mentor and friend, Albus Dumbledore.

As he raised his head from the paperwork, the elderly wizard said, “So glad that you three could join me.”

Severus blurted out the first thing that came to his foggy mind, “Albus, I think we have a problem.”

***

A/N: Well there you have it… Another plot twist added in. Trelawney really wanted to make an appearance.

If you read it, please review it. Thanks goes out to all of my regular reviewers. You guys rock.

Kisses to my beta, LariLee, who beta’ed this chapter for me.

Happy Easter to all, and I hope you have a great break and that the Easter bunny comes your way.

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognise belongs to J.K. Characters and situations that you don’t, belong to yours truly.