Lucy Snape and the Tale of the Knights (Book One)

6: King's Cross

Chapter 6: King's Cross

Snape awoke up with a start.

Something had made him leave his peaceful sleep and enter the reality of life. He looked around then smoothed down his hair. He knew something was missing: something wasn't right.

Had someone broke into his house? It was the first thought he could fathom but it seemed absurd, he surely wasn't thinking straight. Yes that was the problem he wasn't thinking straight. Snape rose to his full height and then it came to him.

Lucy.

Snape swept from the living room in his usual manner and stepped up the stairs until he reached the landing, then faced Lucy's door. He pressed his ear against it listening for signs of life. But nothing came.

Snape frowned and listened harder trying to block out the sounds of the wind which were getting rather annoying. Even so, he still couldn't hear anything from the other side of the wood. It was time to investigate.

He placed his hand on the door handle and pushed it down slightly, giving her warning that she was about to be greeted with company. Then came the freak of the door and it was wide open for him to explore.

Everything was still. Perhaps a little too still. Snape walked over to Lucy's bed with caution then drew back the covers. To his astonishment Lucy wasn't there.

He took a step back and stared as if she was going to suddenly appear but his feet was quicker than his thoughts were and he was already heading back downstairs. He had to check the rest of the house.

The living room was bare. So was the kitchen. The entire ground floor was devoid of life and so was the upstairs.

"Where is she?" Snape muttured to himself. "She can't of run off."

But what if she had? What would have made her leave after he'd offered up his hospitality? After all Snape had given her she was gone.

He grabbed his cloak in a fit of rage and slammed the front door on the way out.

He had to find her. She could be in terrible danger.

*  *  *

A month had come and gone. The slow but sure signs of autumn were beginning to creep in at the turn of the month and soon summer was merely a forgotten memory. Lucy was very accustomed to these changes and shivering under a thin blanket was the norm for her.

She didn't mind though. She'd done it for years! But the warmth and comfort of the bed that Snape had provided had been tempting to her many times and yet she'd resisted. She knew what he really thought of her.

Despite his opinion, Lucy had still been counting down the days until she'd have to make her way to King's Cross and eventually Hogwarts.

Since her departure from Snape's house she'd managed to find a map and had slowly but surely made her way into London. Today, she stretched her arms and sat up and quickly folded up her threadbare blanket before throwing it in her trunk and leaving the alley way right next to King's Cross.

Lucy couldn't bare the thought of being late and had decided quickly that sleeping next to the train station would be the easiest option. Sure she'd had to dodge police and unfriendly types but she had no other choice. Besides, no one was going to stop her from embarking on the first day of the rest of her life.