Making a Move

A/N: This chapter contains implied (non-graphic) violence/torture.

Chapter 8: Making a Move

The day of the Hogsmeade visit dawned clear, but much chillier than the previous weekend. Hermione found herself anxious as she dressed for the outing in one of Mrs. Weasley's Christmas offerings. She really would rather not go at all, but as Snape had predicted, Dumbledore would not be swayed on the question of her attendance.

Percy had, indeed, owled her to ask if she would have lunch with him at the Three Broomsticks; she had politely thanked him and declined by return owl, saying she and her friends had already planned to have lunch together. In his reply, he had indicated he was disappointed, but not deterred, as he would simply plan to join the entire group. Ron had groaned and rolled his eyes when she informed her friends of his plan. "Couldn't you have told him you were sick or something?" Ron asked, and Ginny had smacked him.

"He's still our brother, Ron," she had said sharply. "It won't be that bad. Besides, it's only for lunch. We have the whole rest of the day without him, don't we?"

"Yeah, if he doesn't decide to horn in on that, too," Ron had grumbled.

"Just promise not to leave me alone with him," Hermione had said. "I don't want to have to turn him down too harshly if he takes it in his head to try to kiss me or something."

"Eww," was Ron's response, but Harry and Ginny had both laughed and promised.

Now, pulling a comb through her still-wet hair, Hermione fastened the Portkey barrette in much the same style as she had worn to the Burrow the day Professor Snape had given it to her. Thinking of him now, she smiled at her reflection in her Muggle mirror. Knowing that he was concerned enough about her to give her a Portkey to his chambers gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling that she was sure would make him roll his eyes if he knew of it.

Ready to go at last, she grabbed her beaded bag and headed for the Great Hall, where she and her friends were meeting for breakfast. They would leave straight from there to go to Hogsmeade. They had had a long discussion last night, and Hermione was reasonably confident that they understood how important it was to stay with her at all times.

After an enjoyable morning wandering through several shops, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna were walking into the Three Broomsticks when Percy hailed them. He kissed his sister's cheek and shook hands with Ron, Harry, and Neville, then greeted Luna politely before turning to Hermione. "Thank you for inviting me to join you," he said, managing to sound stuffy and self-important and sycophantic all at once.

Hermione resisted the urge to point out that he had, in fact, invited himself, but Ron had no such scruples. He snorted and said, "She didn't. You invited yourself." Percy ignored him.

As they sat down and looked at their menus, Percy dominated the conversation. Hermione mostly tuned him out, but she tried to respond enough that he wouldn't notice. Despite herself, she couldn't avoid learning that he had recently moved over to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He seemed to feel that this was an upward move, as he was now the assistant to the Deputy Chief Liaison for Merpeople.

Hermione occupied herself wondering how he was planning to get her alone and kidnap her as he droned on about how helpful his prior experience with the Department of International Magical Cooperation was in his new position. "It's fortunate that the Ministry has seen fit to place someone with my extensive international experience in this position. After all," he continued pompously, "merpeople exist throughout the world, though they vary in appearance as much as humans."

Just as Hermione was thinking she might die of boredom and save Percy the trouble of kidnapping her, a commotion by the door caught her attention. Several masked figures swept through the door, firing hexes in all directions. She palmed her wand to join her friends in defense of the restaurant and its patrons, but then she felt someone grab her around the waist. As she felt herself pulled into a Side-along Apparition, she thought, So that's how he planned to do it ...

They landed in an unfamiliar area, and Hermione was disappointed but not particularly surprised to find herself quickly disarmed and to hear the cracks of Death Eaters Apparating into the clearing. She looked at Percy and said disgustedly, "Your parents are going to be so disappointed." She didn't bother looking for the Dark Lord, though she knew he must be here somewhere.

Percy sneered importantly, "What do they know? They've deluded themselves into thinking that a mere boy can defeat the most powerful wizard in history. At least one of the Weasleys will be on the victorious side."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Regardless of who wins or loses, Percy, your parents are on the right side, and you're just ... wrong."

Hearing more and more Death Eaters arriving, Hermione decided she'd better not wait any longer. The last thing she heard before her Portkey tugged her away was Percy's outraged shout.

Severus was walking through his sitting room, about to leave his quarters to respond to a summons from the Dark Lord, when Hermione landed awkwardly a few feet in front of him. He instinctively reached out to steady her, and a small amount of tension left him as he acknowledged to himself that he had suspected the summons meant that they had grabbed Hermione. He had feared they might have discovered her Portkey before she had a chance to activate it.

When she had regained her balance, he looked her over carefully and, seeing no sign that she was injured, asked, "Are you all right?"

She nodded, then said, "Death Eaters attacked the Three Broomsticks, and Percy grabbed me and Apparated. He took my wand."

"You were supposed to avoid Percy," he snapped.

Hermione didn't take offense, apparently recognizing the concern his irritation signaled. She soothed, "I couldn't completely avoid him, with none of my friends knowing we suspected him, and I wasn't alone with him. He must have tipped them off to where and when we were meeting. Anyway, your Portkey worked perfectly, as I knew it would, so I'm fine."

Snape nodded, forcing himself to calm down. It wouldn't do to be upset in the Dark Lord's presence. "All right. I have to go – I'm being summoned. Wait here, please, until I come back. I doubt it will be long. They probably wanted an audience for what they were planning to do to you, and now they'll want to quietly pretend it never happened."

Hermione nodded. "All right." As he reached the door, she cried, "Wait!"

He paused, turning to give her an impatient look. "What is it?"

"Did you take the potion? Just in case?" Their tests in the past week of the Prophylactic Pain Potion had met with resounding success – even Hagrid was pleased when his creatures gave no sign of noticing when they were hit with Cruciatus – and Snape had promised he would use it whenever he was summoned from then on. He had suffered that particular Unforgivable enough times that he was certain he could mimic the effects well enough to fool anyone, even the Dark Lord.

"Yes," he said simply, and gave her a small smile. "See you soon. Feel free to read anything you find, except what's on the top shelf. Some of those books aren't safe."

"Thanks," she said. "Be safe."

Although he wasn't sure he could promise that, he said, "I'll do my best."

Hermione found that, despite her best intentions and efforts, she was too keyed up to settle down and read. She was not looking forward to telling her friends that Percy had delivered her to a Death Eater gathering, with the apparent intention that she should be tortured or worse. More than that, though, she was worried that somehow Snape would be blamed for her escape from their custody. She shuddered to think what might happen to him if this blew his cover.

So, because she couldn't focus long enough to choose a book, much less read one, she paced. She quickly discovered that she could comfortably take nine steps before turning around. She was so distracted with worry that she barely noticed the merpeople who occasionally frolicked in the lake, which was just visible through a magical window on one wall. She had started counting steps after the first few minutes, and by the time Snape came back, she had counted all the way to one thousand, nine hundred and twelve.

When the door opened, she froze, turning anxiously to see if he was all right. She gave him a quick once-over with her eyes and, seeing no injury, she asked, "You're all right?"

He nodded, and she had to force herself not to throw herself across the room and into his arms. He said wryly, "You could have sat down, you know."

Feeling herself flush, she said, "I was too keyed up. I couldn't settle down. I was ... worried," she admitted. "What happened?"

Snape sighed. "The Dark Lord was extremely displeased with Weasley and not much happier with those people who were already there when you activated the Portkey."

"Is Percy ..." Hermione stopped without finishing her question, wondering why she even cared if Percy was dead.

"I don't know," Snape admitted. "I didn't wait to find out. He was in bad shape, though. I expect that, if he was still alive, someone will have taken him to St. Mungo's." After a moment, he changed the subject. "I couldn't get your wand back. I'm sorry."

Hermione smiled at that. "I didn't expect you could. How would you explain it, after all?" She shrugged, trying to convince herself it didn't matter. "I suppose I'll have to contact Mr. Ollivander."

He said, "I'm sure something can be arranged. I have to go brief the Headmaster, and I imagine your friends are most concerned about you. Shall I walk you to Gryffindor Tower?"

"All right," Hermione said. He gestured for her to precede him. As they walked, she asked, "Did anyone suspect you?"

"No," Snape replied. "The general opinion seemed to be that the Headmaster had somehow got wind of Weasley's true loyalties, or perhaps had just been generally concerned about you as Potter's confidant, and had provided the emergency Portkey himself. They assumed that it took you directly to the Headmaster's office."

Hermione nodded. After a few moments, she asked, "Why do you suppose Percy never outed you to the Dark Lord?"

Snape shrugged. "I can only assume he is mistaken about where my loyalties lie. He's not actually in the Order, after all, so he probably doesn't know that I am. Even if he were, most of the Order has doubts about whether I'm trustworthy, so ..."

"Right," Hermione said pensively. "Well, I suppose that's best, although I hate the idea that people don't trust you as you deserve."

He smirked. "It's best they don't, really. If the entire Order trusted me implicitly, the Dark Lord might begin to wonder if their belief in me was well-founded. If I'm trustworthy to one side, then by definition, I'm untrustworthy to the other side."

"True," Hermione said. "But I still hate it."

"It's not forever," he replied, sounding unconcerned.

"No," Hermione agreed, "it's not." They arrived at Gryffindor Tower, and Hermione glanced around quickly to ensure they were alone, then whispered, "Thank you for saving me." She reached out and squeezed his hand once, then quickly whispered the password and slipped away before he could respond.

Quote from FB: "Merpeople exist throughout the world, though they vary in appearance as much as humans."

A/N: In this revision, I finally figured out a way to work in the merpeople, as the challenge required. Yay!