Capítulo 16: Rescued
This is not how Frank expected his first assignment to be.
He expected action, dark wizards felled by legions, glory and a whole lot of complex spells. Let's just keep aside the fact he is not capable of that many complex spells.
Either way, it most definitely did not involve a field where all the action already happened and left no traces, two children who are being left to die with out a single finger being lifted to save them. He expected aurors to be more courageous.
He said as much to his superior.
For his valiant efforts, he got laughed in the face by every other auror save Alice White, who could not more than would not, seing as she's his junior. But in the end, he did get the control of the field situation. Even if it sounded more like clean up the space and pack our bags.
"We just can not abandon them like this." he said determinedly.
There's no way Frank Longbottom is failing on his very first field assignment. Plus, if he did get this to be successful, he is going to become a legend. You see, Auror trainees are not to be brought on to field. He and Alice are perhaps the first auror trainees to step on field in their first year.
"What do you have in mind?" Alice asked.
They had clear orders not to breach the border to the thicket. It seems entire green hag thicket is dangerous and reeks an paralytic that can be absorbed topically.
Frank stared at the darkness in front of him.
"Before we do any thing, we need light." he told Alice.
"But we can not light a fire in the thicket. It's supposed to be so suffused with moisture, even oil fire is said to be put out as soon as it enters that thicket." Alice answered.
"It is said to be. We will have to try some thing different then."
If the fire light can't enter it, at least the sunlight should.
That's the first thing Frank decided.
It is just as well too, as sunlight is the only known antidote to paralytic that's permeating green hag's habitat.
So, They both got a mugglestyle canon shooter, fired lit fire balls in to the thicket. As every one said, the fire did put out real fast once it entered thicket. But if they kept shooting at the same place, they seemed to be making a little headway, almost at about a foot.
They tried their best to make as much inroad as possible, but it's still pathetically small. Either way, time to try their first method.
"Do you have the potion?" Frank Asked Alice.
While Frank transfigured their canons & shooters, it was decided Alice will go back to aurors and bring liquid sunlight. It's an expensive potion, they most probably might get fired for filching it with out authorization, but they are not going to leave two kids to die with out trying their best.
Alice nodded and gave him the bottle.
"I hope you are good at archery." Frank said handing her a bow and arrow, with what looked like a very easily breakable head in place of arrow head.
Alice looked at him in askance.
"we fill arrow head with potion, when we shoot, the head breaks inside clearing, filling it with light. Hopefully, we can see the kids. If we see them, I can perhaps make hook or something, then we can pull them out."
Alice smiled at him. She is impressed that he is able to think of this, she is even more impressed he had the forethought to not rush in to the clearing as every other gryffindor is wont to do. May be she will just accept his invitation to dinner.
"Aye Captain." she said with an exaggerated flair, took the bow from him.
She is fairly good at archery. White family has a long tradition of teaching their children at least one muggle fighting art, so that they can blend and protect them selves from muggles the muggle way if need be. Nevermind that the era has changed, and bow and arrows made her standout more than blend.
I digress.
Frank decided he will shoot after Alice, but after she hit each and every hole he made with fire unerringly, he decided not to. He just focused on searching for the kids.
But all they were able to find is from whence the kids are dragged in, as the branches are all broke on that path.
He indicated to Alice she should keep shooting that way.
So, she shot two more arrows that way.
Just more branches.
Frank sighed dejectedly.
"Don't give up now. You did come up with a brilliant idea. Don't give up now." she said as she shot the third arrow in to the clearing.
"That is the last of potion." Frank informed her.
They both sighed in unison, sat down on the nearest rock to gather their wits.
Mean while, in the clearing, one Severus Snape twitched and opened his eyes. The sunlight hit his little finger, literally, broke the poison.
There is a heavy weight on him.
After some groping around, he decided it is Marriet. With some effort, he moved her off him.
He got up, looked around. He seemed to have fallen on the floor. It must be morning, he concluded. After all, all dark creature's powers waned in the morning, he did not understand who Marriet got him through the night, but it seemed she did.
There seemed to be an arrow in a tree trunk. Did some one come back to help them out? Is some one still hunting them?
He pulled out the Arrow. For few moments, the clearing is filled with sunlight. He saw the sticky substance that he is covered with is blood, not mud as he assumed first. Marriet lay in a heap on the ground, with her shirt all bloodied.
He checked her pulse next. It's very weak, but it's there. He sighed. It's going to be task to get her out of here.
Then he examined the arrow that he had in his hand.
The tip seemed to be glowing. Is that sunlight potion? He did not think aurors would waste some thing that precious on two orphans. Nevertheless, this is for the best. He concluded, as he waved his wand, the glow transformed in to some thing akin to a torchlight.
He conjured a stretcher for Marriet, started walking towards the place where branches are broken. That must be the way they came in.
Crack!
Alice and Frank both perked up almost instantly at the sound. It is coming from the forest.
They both took few steps back and waited. After all, it could be the creature that's living in the forest.
When it happened for a second time, Alice pocketed her wand, took up her bow and arrow again, shot a lit up arrow in to one of the holes.
They could see some one walking toward them from the clearing, but could not make out the features.
Hope blossomed in their hearts.
"Frank, it could be the kids." Alice told him excitedly, as she took few steps forward.
Frank took out his wand, kept it at the ready.
"Kids! Hey Kids!" Alice shouted jumping up and down, waving her arms with bow and arrow wildly.
Severus's path is lit up with a subtle red glow. He thought he saw some one in the clearing out side for a moment.
Then he heard the high pitched shouting.
"Kids! Hey Kids!" some one's shouting.
He cringed at being called a kid, but then, he is surprised there is some one out there at all.
He hoped it's not another hostile party because it would be walking from fire on to pan.
Still a hot pan is better than fire, he conjectured philosophically.
He would have to move Marriet in to the safe position as soon as he got out and engage when he got out of the clearing. That's all he decided on next course of action when he stepped out of clearing.
It took a moment for him to notice the girl wildly jumping around. Another to conclude she is not hostile party.
"Frank, Look! They are out." Alice shouted to Frank, who seemed to be lowering the wand.
"Are you okay?" Frank asked coming to a stop in front of Severus.
Severus looked at him like he has lost his mind.
"Sorry! Had to ask that one." Alice informed him glibly, walking over to where Marriet is.
"She seems to have lost lot of blood. You need to call Saint Mungos. I will continue the field investigation." she informed Frank.
"No, wait for me. It's hardly fair for the kid to repeat his story for both of us. Give him some thing to eat." he told Alice, apparated out.
"I can cast a cleaning charm." she told Severus.
Severus shook his head in no.
"Let's go to the lake." he told her.
She nodded, floated Marriet's stretcher behind her.
Severus cleaned him self up in the lake as best as he can while Alice turned the other way. He dried him self up as soon as he got out. The clothes dried stiff and matted as they do when they are drenched with blood.
"Do you have any antiseptic potions?" he asked her.
Alice nodded and shew him her potion set. She has three antiseptics, a bottle of dittany, one general antivenin and a strengthening potion.
Severus nodded at her, conjured a bowl, filled it with clean water from lake. He cast strongest heating charm he can, followed by a cooling charm. The water boiled over in the bowl, cooled. Alice watched him interestedly.
He conjured a scissors, started cutting away at Marriet's shirt.
"What are you doing?" Alice stopped him.
"cleaning her wounds." he answered in his usual monotone that stopped his students from further arguments.
Alice is not his student.
"She's a girl." she told him indignantly.
"That doesnt stop the wounds from getting infected." he informed her.
He stopped after a second.
"Do you want to do it?" he asked her.
Alice just nodded, took the scissors from his hand.
"Turn around." she told him.
When she informed him he can turn back, Marriet's shirt and undergarments are removed, she is covered in what looked like a brown rectangle cloth on her chest with strings attached to her neck and waist.
He nodded at her.
Alice silently handed him a white cloth. Severus can tell it is the first time she is seeing wounds made by animals.
He washed wound with water and cleaning solution, applied dittany. As he expected, the wound did not seem to close. He just nodded at it, dressed it in gauze. He turned her over and did the same to the wound on her back.
Frank returned at that moment with an medic in tow.
The medic took over immediately, transferred Marriet to .
"So, Can you explained what happened last night?" Frank asked. Alice turned to him and stared at him expectantly.
Thus he sat down and explained away the most action filled night since his return.
It is as he explained that he realized with horror, he owed a life debt to Marriet now. He could feel it's bindings in his magic.
In retrospect, Severus should have expected some kind of press for his misadventure.
Afterall, it's not every day a poor half blood's witch mother kills his father, before he can murder said wizard's half sister(He had no idea where that came from), commits suicide only to send them straight in to werewolf jaws, which they miraculously escaped only to fall in to a green hog's thicket, then even more miraculously escape the said thicket due to idiocy and utter dismissal of rules by two gryffindor rookie aurors who are not even supposed to be there.
Yep, there's no bloody way a news paper is staying off that juicy news. So, with in days, he became a hero, Marriet his dear sister whom he almost saved at the cost of his life. He bet it would have become more hazard for him self that that, if not for his emancipation papers, which allowed him to do magic.
Aurors, coming off a series of unfortunate incidents where they were able to do nothing, spun this more in their favor less in Severus's name after a day.
If Severus was in the life before, he would have clambered for this glory at this point. This time around, he just needed to stay out of limelight. There are way too many suspicious points about his life. He just did not want to draw attention of wrong parties any more than he did already.
Thus, he nodded, finished his one interview or two making sure to sound like he escaped just because he is lucky. Thankfully, almost every one bought it.
The problem, how ever, the two most important ones, namely, Alastor moody and Bellatrix Black, did not buy it. Bellatrix did not confront him. She got all her information from Marriet, in Marriet's words, is asking too many questions about him. Some time during Marriet's hospital stay, Bellatrix recovered her as her retainer.
After the debacle, Alastor moody took him in for questioning. The biggest problem was the fire he created is called angel's fury, as opposed to fiend fyre, it burned and destroyed literally every thing with in it's confines. Not that fiend fyre did not, it's harder to create and even harder to sustain.
One would think Angel's fury is a light spell, but it's not. Not many people can cast it, being able to cast it at all, is mark of a very powerful wizard. Which he shouldn't be, at almost seventeen. Severus firmly maintained what he cast is bluebell flames, not angel's fury. Angel's fury's priori incantatem looked exactly like a simple incendio. Not even the most experienced can tell difference.
Moody looked like he wanted to take him under custody and force-feed him verita serum to make him talk, but the problem remained it is Aurors who sent them there. Too much pressing would bring the charge on to Aurors for not being thorough enough in their search. So, he let it off.
Severus got a room at hog's head, started his renovation to the cabin given by Dumbledore. It's a simple bungalow, with a stove. Nothing inside it or outside it save for wooden walls.
He would have lived there, if not for this is winter and there's not even a fireplace around. He was glad to hear from Mulciber that all the surrounding grounds, which are considerable, even if they are nothing but wasteland are part of the deed. The place still would have cost nothing more than peanuts, but at this point, all Severus needed was an escape. This place provided a perfect one.
So, he polished the walls, cleaned floor, installed a fireplace and a bathroom, shovelled whole lot of snow. On the third or fourth day, he had a surprising visitor in the form of Hagrid.
"Hi ya, Severus" he said, almost filling the door with with his bulk.
"Hello, Hagrid." Severus said evenly, wondering if Dumbledore sent Hagrid to spy on him. He hoped not, he liked Hagrid even in his student days. One time just after christmus Holidays, marauders left him out side in the snow. Hagrid found him and brought him back to his hut, let him sleep for the night there. Severus slept surprisingly soundly that night, even with the storm.
"Heard you're staying at Hog's. Thought I'd bring you a tree." he told him pointing at the big green branch behind him. It's almost as tall as Hagrid.
Severus relaxed. This is a touching gesture regardless of who sent Hagrid up here.
"Thanks Hagrid. Do bring it in." he said, moving backwards, allowing Hagrid to enter with the tree.
He is glad he installed the fireplace. He put some logs in the fireplace, lit the fire.
With some help from Hagrid, he was able to install the tree besides fireplace.
He just conjured simple wooden chairs for both of them. If it was any of the other professors, they would have wondered a his skill, which is equivalent of a seventh year. Hagrid just sat down with a thanks.
"Want a cuppa?" he questioned Hagrid.
They were silent for few minutes as Severus prepared tea things.
Hagrid took his tea, sighed in to his cup, looking around the place with longing once more.
"This place is the first I came to when I stopped going to school, you know?" Hagrid told him.
Severus raised his eyebrows in surprise. He did not know Hagrid knew this place before.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Thought this place as more of home than Hogwarts that year. Now, I come here some times to check on it. Clean the place a bit and all. Though, you did a better job." Hagrid said, looking around the walls.
Severus really did not know this. Did Dumbledore leave this place to Hagrid upon death in future? He most definitely did not hear about this from any one after all. It doesn't matter now.
"You are always welcome in this house Hagrid. Come by any time you want." he told Hagrid sincerely. There will always be times when this ground keeper will be of help.
"Thanks Severus."
Hagrid looked around the place oncemore.
"I used to sleep over there. " he said pointing to a corner.
"A an iron box with coals just around bed, so I can keep warm. A book shelf in four feet, Not that I liked to read." hagrid continued.
"I wonder if we can still bring that shelf out. Come on." Hagrid said, moving towards where he pointed before.
Severus followed curiously. He did not think there's much to this property other than four walls and a roof.
Hagrid touched the wall at low height, kept going till he found a nook in the wall. Severus looked at it interestingly. He polished all the walls using magic.
Hagrid pushed at the button. A book shelf formed on the wall, coming forward.
It's filled with books about magical construction. A single book lay about in place of honor. Right underneath it, a bunch of scrolls.
Severus took the book in the place of honor, inspected it. It seemed to be the House's manual of sorts. He place, is just called the inn. The plans for a grand inn, with many rooms. However, the construction seemed to have stopped just at laying foundations, stopped there.
Hagrid seemed to be waiting silently for Severus.
"What's that say?" he asked genially.
"a manual of sorts for construction of this house. They did not seem to continue after foundation though." he told Hagrid.
"Ah, This house is supposed to go to old Abbie. A grand present from Dumbledore." Hagrid told him.
"you mean the owner of Hog's head?" Severus asked.
"yeah. He is Dumbledore's brother. I don't know much, but this house is supposed to be for him." Hagrid told him.
Severus almost felt sorry for taking the house from Dumbledore. Did he stop the re-union of the brothers? He dismissed the thought after some time though. Perhaps, something happened between them that removed all chances of reconciliation, that might be why Dumbledore gave him this place instead of the others.
Hagrid stayed over for some more time, discussing bringing in more decorations for the house, such as holly and mistletoe(non enchanted one ofcourse), perhaps some scented wood too, for the fire place. Severus let him. After all, it seemed like Hagrid missed the place, severus just did not feel evil enough to take that away from Hagrid.
After putting away tea things, Severus him self settled at the fire, reading over the book about house's plans. It seemed basement is supposed to become a cellar.
Seven stories of basement. That would be great for storing potions ingredients Or to serve as a crypt.
Some thing about that thought seemed to waken him from this little piece of dream he has built for him self.
He can put his parents in a crypt. Some how, that thought never entered his mind. He is still receiving condolences from his friends. When his mother died last time, she did not even have a proper burial.
He left the place before his morbid thoughts can turn in to melancholy. There was no solution for his parents other than death. He could only hope their lives before they both succumbed to the curse were at least little bit happy.
He arrived at the hog's head to receive a plethora of mail, great deal of which is from fans. Severus snorted at that thought. That's some thing he expected for Harry Potter, not him self. Now that the is receiving them though, he can see how pesky the entire business is.
There's a letter from Marriet, asking if she can stay over for Christmus. Severus wondered not for the first time what went on in her head. He replied back saying she is welcome to visit, but not to stay, as he him self did not have a home. Few more of his Slytherin friends have written, conveying condolences, to let them know when the funeral is. Severus wrote back thanking them, informing them he will contact them shortly.
Severus glared at the book in his hands. He has a funeral to plan. This time around, he will send his mother off with respect she deserved.
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