A Different Kind of Magic--UNDERGOING EDIT

Chapter 47- Liberation


His father wasn’t leaving. Draco fidgeted with the elder Malfoy’s cane, spinning it around absently between his palms. Lucius had twelve sets of robes strewn around the luxurious Shacklebolt master bedroom.

“I can’t decide which one to wear, Draco. They all seem drab.”

“They all look the same to me, Father. You’ll look fine in any of them.”

“Appearances are everything, my boy. Negotiations require an infinite amount of skill and delicacy. If your presentation is off, it can and will upset the proverbial apple cart.”

Draco had spent a small fortune procuring the rare ingredient his father needed for the secret potion he was brewing. He was glad he had found an excuse to get his father out of the house to the supposed negotiations for the coveted goods. Now if he would just leave before the plan blew up in his face!

“I suppose these will do. Tell your mother I will require three new sets of robes. These old rags will no longer suffice.”

Draco rolled his eyes as his father turned his back to him. It was ridiculous, the galleons his father spent on clothing. His father spent more on clothing in one year than any other wizard in a lifetime.

“Inform Yaxley to prepare Severus for my return. I want him sufficiently cowed prior to my arrival.”

“Yes, Father.”

Lucius retrieved his cane and Apparated from the estate.

Finally!

Draco stepped quietly into the lower level of the dwelling, careful not to wake the rest of the household. Yaxley was sleeping on the job.

“Wake up!” Draco barked, shoving him with a toe.

“What? Oh, it’s only you.”

The insolent bastard; the second his father was gone, Yaxley showed him no respect.

“Father wants the prisoner to prepare the laundry for service. We’ve contracted a company to hire it out. Father thinks it is a waste of our servant’s talents to do it himself.”

Yaxley rubbed his stubble suspiciously. “How come this is the first I is hearing about it, blood brat?”

“My word is as good as my father’s in his absence. He has gone away on important business for the night.”

“Alright, I s’pose. Don’t blame me if he don’t get nuttin done fer the rest of the day tomorrow. Ye can hardly expect’em to work if ye don’t let’em sleep.”

“Since when is the prisoner’s comfort any of your concern?” Draco asked in his best haughty manner.

“You simply want to be left in peace to lounge about on my father’s coin. Get to work and do as you’re told.”

Draco stepped back as the trap door swung open. The two prone forms at the bottom of the pit didn’t even stir. “Up, you great wretch! The Master says it’s time for you work!”

“Bring the boy up, too,” Draco added, holding his breath.

“Whatcha want with the boy?” Yaxley eyed him up and down. “My Lord was quite clear no one was to take the boy out of the prison except for him, even you, Draco.”

Draco had his wand out and a “Petrificus Totalus!” issued from his mouth before the surprised servant could react.

Draco leaned over the pit and lowered the ladder to the floor below. “Snape, you and the boy get up here now!” he hissed.
The Professor painfully creaked his way up the ladder. Even Teddy’s healing wasn’t able to fully restore him from the accumulated damage that had culminated the previous day. Snape’s tough body had not had enough time to fully recover his stamina. He felt like a broken man.

He tottered over the lip of the enclosure and collapsed at Draco’s feet. The frightened little boy followed close behind. Severus didn’t care what they were going to do to them. He didn’t have the strength to fight back anymore.

“Get into this bag and listen to me,” the blond boy whispered hurriedly. “I am going to put you in here with my father’s laundry. A pick-up service will be here in minutes. I am going to load you and the boy onto the truck. Once you are inside, get out of the bag. I will tie it loosely so you can break free. When the truck stops, take the boy and jump out the back. Do not hesitate and don’t look out the back until the truck stops. No questions. Now go!”

The two were quickly loaded into the burlap sacks and tied off with length of twine. Two sharp beeps cut through the steady rain. Draco sucked in his breath and lifted one bag over each shoulder, staggering under the weight. He burst through a hidden passage in the opposite room to an opening at the far end of the Estate. On schedule, Mrs. Dee’s laundry was parked, lights off with the back of the empty truck opened for its cargo.

Draco deposited the two sacks inside. Right before shutting the door Snape heard him say, “I owed you one for saving my life on the Astronomy tower. The debt is repaid.”

The doors clicked shut. A rumble of the van’s engine came to life as they were driven away from horror and delivered to hope.


--


“It’s half past three, I don’t see anything,” came the harsh whisper of Rabastan to Arthur from across the lane.

“We’ll give it until four until we leave,” he affirmed.

The four wizards were soaked to the bone. It was the second time in one day they had ventured out in the unseasonably wretched weather. Spells did little to dispel the bone-chilling ache that settled into the bones once you’d been out in it for too long. Arthur tried to huddle into himself even further, rubbing his hands briskly and blowing on his knuckles.

A set of headlights turned up the lane from where Harry and Neville were hidden. It came to an abrupt stop. Two bundles fell out the back of the van. The vehicle roared down past them and took the corner at such a speed the entire thing looked ready to roll from the sharpness of it.

Arthur caught the red lettering of ‘Mrs. Dee’s Laundry’ on the side before it sped from sight.

Harry and Neville were already stood beside the two bundles the van had deposited, wands drawn.

A hunched figure shed itself of the bag and unsteadily rose to its feet. The smaller bag moved of its own accord. A little figure broke free of that one, a tiny white hand reaching for the impossibly skinny tall one.

“It’s them!” Harry dared to shout in a low tone. Arthur and Rabastan were already halfway there.

“Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter, for giving away our position,” muttered Severus Snape before feinting dead away into Neville’s shaking arms.

Teddy saw Arthur and ran to him as fast as his little legs could bring him. He leaped into his arms, fresh tears breaking free from the older man’s face. “I knew you’d save us, Uncle!” his little face cried.

Arthur held him out for a moment to look him up and down. “Are you alright, my boy?”

The lad nodded a huge smile on his face.

“Well, you do look a bit beat up but none the worse for wear, I suppose.”

Harry and Neville had already deposited the prone form of Snape into the old lady’s car.

“Arthur,” Rabastan warned, motioning to the hidden flying car, “it’s not wise to linger. Save the touching reunion for later. This is not a safe area.”

Rabastan followed the other car back to the safety of the Burrow, their precious cargo safely stowed amongst friends.
Harry glanced back at Snape. He looked like death warmed over. If the git had passed out, he must be in really bad shape. “Hold on, Neville.” He put the pedal to the medal, forcing Neville to grip the seat in fright. Time was of the essence, and it didn’t look like it was on the side of the unconscious bat in the back seat.

--

“Well, that was tense, but rather anti-climatic don’t you think?” Neville mused on the drive back.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, “it was. It was almost too easy.” He tried to shake off a sense of foreboding he got from the whole thing. It didn’t add up, but there didn’t seem to be anything to it. They weren’t being followed and nothing nasty had jumped out at them.

The wards of the Burrow estate enveloped them like passing through magic glass, slightly unreal until the familiar lighted windows and smoke curling form the chimney caressed them.

Arthur took the sleeping, drenched Teddy and ran into the house with him. “It’s really pissing down, Molly, get something to dry off Severus and as many healing potions as you can find, I think he’s been hurt pretty badly.”

The dozing mother hen jumped to her feet, anxiously peering into her husband’s arms at the nose of the rescued child. “Oh thank the Goddess! Our little Teddy is back safe!”

“Get a move on woman, we need your help!” Arthur barked at his wife, quite uncharacteristically.

Molly would have hexed him if she wasn’t so preoccupied with getting what he had requested for their other rescuee. A huge stack of fluffy towels were conjured, fresh sheets spelled onto his bed and warm blankets and clothing pulled from his trunk. Molly rushed down to the kitchen to start some broth and dig for any healing remedies they had in the cupboard. She internally chided herself for not taking stock the past month when she had gone to Diagon Alley.

Not a moment after the kettle was on, the front door banged open again. Harry, Neville and Rabastan gingerly dragged mud, water and the still form of Severus Snape into her pristine kitchen, looking to her for direction. Her frown at the mess indicated them up the stairs with a nod. In unison, they maneuvered his body into the cleaned bedroom. Harry and Neville set to work stripping him of the few rags that clung to his hips.

Harry hissed, seeing freshly healed burn marks, barely healed bruises and a few odd lumps covering his body in a pattern that contrasted grotesquely with the lighter scars from the Dark Lord. Large, grossly scarred letters of ‘L.M.’ were burned into his palms, soles of his feet, across one of his thighs and along the side of his face. “What the sodding hell happened to you!” Harry said under his breath, speaking more to himself than to anyone.

Neville’s face was whiter than the sheets Snape lie upon as they worked quickly. As the grime and stench was cleaned from his body they continued to be appalled at the horrendous physical damage that had been inflicted on the man. Harry felt bile rise into his throat at the traitorous thoughts he had had regarding Snape. He would never doubt the man’s loyalties again. It would appear, without needing an explanation, that he had taken the brunt of the torture in Teddy’s place. The little boy, other than looking a bit rough around the edges, had appeared quite well when he had run to Arthur.

“L.M.,” Harry continued to muse as they worked, “oh shite, that’s probably Lucius Malfoy. Merlin’s rancid balls, Neville, that monster practically killed the poor sod!”

Neville nodded dumbly, staring at Snape’s pallid color and the shallow, mechanical rise and fall of his breast. Molly Weasley burst into the room with her arms overloaded with packages and potion phials. “Where the hell is Hermione when I need her? Here Harry! This is everything I have in the house. What do you think he needs?”

Harry ran a rudimentary charm over Snape’s body. “I’m afraid I’m no Madam Pomfrey,” he admitted ruefully, “but I’m a fair hand at diagnosing. As far as I can tell there are several breaks that have healed badly. Here, here, here, and here,” he indicated with his index finger, pointing to a knee, two ribs and an upper arm. “He’s also in very poor dietary health. I can’t imagine he’s had much to eat where he’s been. The worst of it seems to be exhaustion. There’s almost no fat on his body. I suspect his body has consumed a lot of his lean muscle mass as well. I don’t understand how this guy keeps taking this kind of abuse and keeps on pulling out of it. He must have a contract with the devil or something,” Harry tried to joke, but it was not taken with a laugh. The other two people stared at him with solemn faces.

Molly gave a great sigh, digging through the concoctions she had hastily dumped on a chair. “Here is a general Healing potion, my last one. I’ll run straight away to Diagon Alley when it opens if someone can stay and watch the twins. Here is an old one that is meant to revive; we’ll save that for later. Here’s a sleeping potion, a Blood Replenishing Potion and a generic supplement to put some vitamins back into his body. Give him the supplement, Blood Replenishing and Healing ones for now, Harry. Get him covered with something warm. Neville, can you sit with him until Hermione gets back?”

The big lad nodded, still unable to speak. He looked like he was turning green but dutifully kept from sicking up on the bed. Neville was definitely not Healer material.

It was a difficult task to get all three potions down the Professor’s throat. After ten harrowing minutes of trying not to choke him, they managed to lay him back down and cover him with blankets. Harry made sure Neville was comfortable and took off down the hall to check on Arthur. The red-haired patriarch and his wife were just closing the door to Teddy’s room. “He’s fine,” Arthur reassured Harry.

“Thank God,” Harry whispered as they headed downstairs to rejoin Rabastan who had taken over the mundane duty of serving up the hot tea.

“He’s none the worse for wear. It’s amazing. The only marks on his body are a giant bruise on his back from a stick or a cane, bruises on his ankles and a large burn with the letters L.M.,” Arthur puzzled out loud. “I thought for sure he’d be in worse shape.”

“Lucius Malfoy. L.M.” Harry enlightened them.

Rabastan screwed his face into a reviled sneer. “Malfoy. That doesn’t surprise me one bit. He was always the worst of the lot. He was always jealous of Severus for being the Dark Lord’s favorite. Sick bastard, he was. He even managed to sicken Bellatrix Lestrange, and that’s saying something. There isn’t much that turned her stomach and I’ve seen her do some pretty vile stuff.”

“Severus saved him,” Harry told them. “The damage to Snape’s body was incredible. He’s skin and bones. I mean, he was skinny before from the Manor but god, now he looks like the living dead. All the scars, broken bones, burn marks.” He shuddered. “I don’t even want to imagine what Malfoy did to him.”

“It must have taken a great act of courage for Draco to help them behind his father’s back,” Rabastan observed. “There is no way Lucius would allow his precious prisoners to be let free like that. I guarantee you someone is going to die horribly for allowing the escape. I don’t envy the poor bastard Draco likely framed for it.”

It was nearly five in the morning and they were all beyond exhausted. Molly and Arthur turned in to catch a few hours of sleep before their babies woke up. The other two Weasley children were tending their shop as it was the weekend. Harry disappeared into another guest room, too tired to Apparate home. Neville did his best not to nod off in a chair so he paced back and forth to stay awake, praying every other minute for someone to relieve him of Snape duty.

Hermione was nowhere to be found.