Snape/Tonks for Sam
May. 1st, 2006 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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I got a bit carried away and here is the first part. It takes place after the events in Half Blood Prince. There is no foul language, very little violence, and no smut. But it is still a bit on the dar side.
It was too dark for Snape to see anything, never mind where he was or the way out. One moment he had been in terrible pain, bleeding, and writhing on a green and silver carpet and the next he was standing upright in the dark. He could feel cold, curved stone walls if he stretched out both arms, some sort of tunnel he deduced. It smelled like a sewer and probably was--there was clammy muck that squelched each time he lifted his bare feet. He'd been limping forwards, or what he thought of as forwards, for a very long time without food or drink. His wand had been snapped by Voldemort in the Morning room of the now unplottable Riddle house, perhaps four, perhaps twenty hours ago.
Snape felt and thought only one thing--that he would die in this place full of excrement and that he deserved it. He could hear his father's voice telling him that he was an evil child, that his magic would lead him to a sticky end. Well, here it was sticky and putrid smelling.
Apparating out was impossible. He could think of nowhere safe to go and his nerves were so frayed he was worried he would splinch himself. Snape did not believe the Ministry would aid a splinched Death Eater, unless it was to take him to Azkaban. He'd much rather die intact in a sewer, than with his bits and bobs hundreds of miles apart, or worse surrounded by Dementors.
His head thrummed from the hexes that the Death Eaters had thrown at him, en masse, right before he disappeared--vanished. He should not have been able to disapparate from there, there were too many safe guards. It had felt like the accidental magic he had done as a child, it moved through him violently and his knees shook after. That feeling was the only thing that kept him from believing he was actually dead.
He continued to move because sitting down and dying would be giving in to his father, would please his father, who has been dead for many, many years. He dared not think of his mother.
The tunnel was full of the sound of water dripping, his feet shuffling through the mud and puddles--all resounded. Underneath that though he began to imagine someone singing. He shook his head thinking it would clear his ears. But that only made him so dizzy that he had to stop and lean against the wall. The song grew louder and clearer. Someone was singing the Hogwarts School Song.
"Hoggy-hoggy-hoggywart..." and it echoed on and on, "hoggy-oggy-oggy-oggy..."
Snape crouched down. He had no way of defending himself other than physically attacking whomever was coming up on him. His heart thudded loudly in his chest and his entire body was covered with a film of cold sweat. But he was ready to claw and bite any attacker. The footsteps slowed nearby and the singing ceased.
Light erupted into Snape's face. He flew at the wizard and bit into what he though was an arm.
"Geroff!"
He was flung face down into a foul smelling puddle, some of which he inhaled. He choked and then vomited fetid water and bile. He could not see anything. The wand light was gone.
"Right, done being sick?" The voice asking was decidedly female and tinged with Cockney around the edges.
"Nymphadora?"
"Wotcher, Snape." She lit her wand with a gentle light and peered down at Snape. "You've had a nasty run in with some Death Eaters, eh? You're head is all covered with dried blood. Sit up and lean against the wall. I'll clean you up, all right? "
She helped him sit up and touched her wand to the wound on his temple. It was warm at first and then cool. She waved the dried blood away with another spell. She inspected his arms, and back. There were numerous cuts and bruises which she healed methodically, working from right to left and then downwards.
"You're one lucky bloke. You've got three broken ribs, which I mended. But apparently you're lungs weren't skewered. Anything else banged up? How are your legs?"
Snape could not speak. His throat was raw from the sewer water and the vomit, and muted by a mixture of exhaustion and fear. Nymphadora Tonks was an Auror. She was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Since she hadn't killed him on sight, she must be preparing to move him to Azkaban. He was not going to help her.
"Snape? Can you hear me? Any more injuries?"
He closed his eyes and pretended not to hear.
"OK, well I've got to get you out of here." She stripped off her gloves and Snape watched her, worried that she was going to bind him up, transfigure her gloves into ropes and tie his hands and legs. But she lifted his right foot and cleaned it with a scourgify spell. She held her glove to the sole of his foot and transfigured it into a boot. She did the same with his left foot. "There you go. You can't walk through this barefoot. C'mon. You can walk. You're all right."
She stood up and waited. She held out her hand to help him up. He continued to ignore her. She'd have to drag him out by his hair if she wanted to move him.
"Right then. Mobilicorpus."
Or she could levitate him. Snape closed his eyes and waited for it to all be over. Nymphadora maneuvered him along the tunnel without smacking him into anything. He would not have been so careful if their positions were reversed. He heard the sound of Nymphadora's feet scrape on metal and then there was a burst of cool fresh air that shocked him into opening his eyes. Nymphadora set him on his feet. The air was fresher than the sewer, and yet, it was close and strangely sweet.
"If you're going to kill me, kill me now." His voice was thin and raspy.
"Kill you? If I were going to kill you, you'd be dead already." She smiled and that made Snape more nervous than anything else she'd done so far.
"Who are you?" Snape backed up against a stack of crates. The floor was stone--a cellar, and the air smelled sweet, it was so familiar.
"What do you mean, who am I? Nymphadora Tonks, you tried to fail me in potions two years running for cheek, but Dumbledore wouldn't have it. Member of the Order of the Phoenix, Auror, Order of Merlin, second class." She stepped forward and held out her wand.
"Its a trick. A Portkey that will take me to Azkaban." Snape's nose had begun to run.
"Goodness, you are paranoid. I'm not surprised after all you've been through, but if it was a Portkey I'd already've been sent somewhere. And who ever heard of a Portkey to Azkaban?" She stepped closer to Snape. "Take it. You can't hex me with it but you can test for illusion spells and if I've Polyjuiced myself it will soon wear off."
Snape grabbed the wand. "Finite Incantatem."
Nothing happened. Her hair remained short and blonde, her nose aquiline. It was the Black family nose. She looked like a friendly, female version of Draco Malfoy.
Snape tried several other spells and then handed Nymphadora back her wand.
"Want a Chocolate Frog?" Nymphadora reached into a box and pulled out several.
Snape took one. He hadn't had a Chocolate Frog in years. He bit its rear legs off. Warmth flooded his arms and legs.
"We're in Honeydukes?"
"Yeah. The sewer runs under Hogsmeade." Nymphadora bit the head off her second frog. "I'm starving. But we can get some real food when we get up to the castle.
"Hogwarts? How can we get inside?" Snape let go of his second frog and it jumped behind a large box of acid pops. "Hogwarts has been sealed up, magically sealed up. Lucius Malfoy told the Dark Lord--"
"It has been shut up. But we can get in." She pulled up a trap door that blended cunningly with the stone floor. "Come along."
She turned her back to Snape and bent her head as she went down the steps, through the trap door. Snape followed.
"Lumos." Nymphadora held her wand out and Snape followed close behind her. She was dressed all in black. She'd done a nice job on transfiguring her gloves into boots, they were sturdy and warm, but he was merely appreciating a well-done spell, he was not ready to trust her. They walked for some time, in silence.
Snape stumbled once and sneered when Nymphadora suggested they take a break. "Nymphadora, we can certainly take a rest if you need to." He sat down on a tree root. His hands were shaking--he crossed his arms to hide it.
"Snape, why do you call me Nymphadora?" She was leaning against the wall of the passage, holding her wand straight up so that it lit up the space around them like a small lamp.
"Because it is your name." His head was aching and he just wanted to get to the end of the tunnel where they would likely not be able to get into the castle.
"But you know I hate to be called Nymphadora." She closed her eyes and turned her hair pink, then added black streaks.
"I didn't name you. Be angry with your parents."
"Look, I just saved your life. The least you could do is call me a name that doesn't make me want to toss you back into the sewer." She whipped her wand around and started back off down the passage.
Snape tried to stand up too fast and stumbled onto all fours. Nymphadora didn't notice, and didn't stop. He stood up more slowly and followed after her. They finally reached the end of the passage.
"It won't work. We will not be able to get through." Snape watched Nymphadora climb up the stone chute and tap the back of the stone witch that blocked the passage. To his surprise, and also relief, an opening appeared. He hurried up the chute so as not to be left behind and scrambled through after Nymphadora.
They were standing in the third-floor corridor. The air was musty, thick with dust and very still. But it smelled like home to Snape. The stone, the old wood, the almost oily smell of magic.
"Where are we going?" Snape tried to keep his voice even. It was still raspy and cracking, and sounded almost pitiful--emotional. Emotion was a weakness he could not afford, except for anger. Anger was strong, anger gave one power and strength, Snape thought.
"Headmaster's Office." Nymphadora walked off towards the main staircase.
Again Snape was left to tag along behind her. He was tired, hungry, and puzzled. And as if reading his mind Nymphadora said they could eat once they got there. She gave the password, which was sherbet lemon and the gargoyle sprang aside.
Riding up to the Headmaster's office Snape's heart began to pound. Was Dumbledore still alive? Was his ghost haunting Hogwarts? Was the entire Order of the Phoenix waiting for him, to punish him? Well, what of that? They could not do worse than the Death Eaters. He still did not have any idea how he had managed to escape the Dark Lord. Fatigue and hunger pushed everything else out of their way, except for fear.
Dumbledore's office was unchanged, except that there was now a portrait of Dumbledore on the wall. He sat with his arms folded, "Welcome, Severus. Please sit down and have something to eat."
Nymphadora sat down at a small table and pointed to an empty chair opposite her. Snape sat down and looked up at Dumbledore's portrait, but it was empty. That both alarmed and relieved Snape. Before he could sort out his thoughts, Dumbledore reappeared and tureens, plates, and bowls popped into place on the table.
"Have some onion soup." He sniffed delicately. "I wish I could have some. Being two-dimensional has some deplorable drawbacks. Once you've both eaten I'll explain how you got here and then you can sleep. You look terrible, Severus. Your old rooms have been made ready for you."
"Nympha--, Tonks, is there any wine, or perhaps whiskey?" She was ladling soup into her bowl. She looked up at Dumbledore who nodded and disappeared again. He returned a moment later and a bottle of wine, and a goblet appeared in front of him.
"Thank you, Headmaster." Snape could not look at Dumbledore's portrait as he said this. He filled his own bowl with steaming soup, cut bread and cheese and ate. Everything else would have to wait. The wine was deep and bright. It eased his heart, his body, and his mind.
When they were through, Tonks went behind Dumbledore's desk and motioned to Snape to stand beside her. On the desk was Dumbledore's Pensieve. Tonks prodded the surface of it with her wand and waited. Then she grabbed Snape's arm and they tumbled into one of Dumbledore's memories.