Amour

RENDEZVOUS

After robbing Gringotts off of the chalice of Helga Hufflepuff, the trio made their escape on the back of the dragon. It flew far off into the countryside, finally flying lower over a mountainous lake. They decided to jump off into the lake, and make their way, bruised, burned, and battered, to the shore, the cup safely in their grasp. But while they were still in the shallows, Hermione had another vision of Voldemort. She recollected it to her friends:
Voldemort stepped over the bodies of the goblins strewn across the black marble floor of the recently capsized bank. His followers, Snape,Bellatrix and the Malfoys amongst them, spread out after him and prodded whoever were left, to see if anyone of them were alive. Suddenly Voldemort saw one momentarily stirring and he swooped over him and charmed him up to make him hang in the air, right before his face. "What happened here?" he asked. The goblin looked demented, having endured a gigantic mythic creature ripping through their vaults, but he was more intimidated by the presence of the Dark Lord. "Hufflepuff's cup was stolen from Madam Lestrange's vault."he croaked. Bellatrix gave out a gasp and a nervous whimer, Snape looked from one to the other trying to decipher the kinesthetics while Voldemort suffocated his scream of fury to ask through gritted teeth, the answer of which he anticipated but dreaded, "Tell me who it was." The goblin was injured but he managed to blurt out,"Granger. Hermione Granger. And her accomplices." Now Voldemort went on a tirade, throwing the imp away with all his strength so that he was hurled out of view. He let out a bemoaning wail and started flinging curses left and right. All the death eaters squealed and dived out of his way, some disapparated on the spot while few dropped dead. Snape also jumped aside and tripped over a body. Cowered on the floor, he saw that it was Griphook who had broken his fall; but he lay there dead, the sword of Griffindor clutched loosely in his lifeless fist. When Snape tried to reach across for it, the sword disappeared. Voldemort, meanwhile came back to his senses- he conjectured that Hermione may have already acquired the ring,locket and tiara; cursing himself for ignoring the pain he had felt when one part of his soul was destroyed when they destroyed the locket. He inferred that they were definitely on a quest of searching for his horcruxes. "Nagini!" He called and as the python slithered close to him, the two of them disapparated together. He made a mental note of checking whether the other horcruxes were secure.

Hermione relayed all this information to her friends. "He believes Dumbledore has found some way to hint us about him making and hiding the horcruxes. I got a glimpse of all the places where he had put one. The next one is a tiara, most likely belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw and I think it's at Hogwarts." "We need to hurry, it won't take him long to find out that the other ones are gone."Harry said. "He would check it last since he believes it to be residing in the safest of places to his knowledge- Hogwarts." Hermione told them. Ron smilingly observed, "Wow. This is like a homecoming.".................
My journey is you
My destination as well
It's arduous living without you,O heart!
You are my Almighty
You are my prayer
It's arduous living without you, O heart!
Your absence tries me
You are cardinal in my completion
Becoming worthy of you is my passion
It's arduous living without you, O heart!
My soul, my body belongs to you more than me
Even if I have received only pain from you,
I have accepted it as a reward from you
My sky searches your ground
You are cardinal in my completion
If not the earth, Come, meet me in the sky
It's arduous living without you, O heart!
My life is void of you
My heart does not know how to live without you
Stay ignorant of my pain,if you so desire
My odyssey is devoid of an end But the journey is more genial than the destination
You are cardinal in my completion
Even though incomplete,
My love has come to fruition
It's arduous living without you, O heart!
O heart.O heart.H h heart.H h hrrr.hurt hurt.hrt hrt....
Snape banged on the tape player when the cassette got stuck. He realised he had worn the tape out having listened to the song over and over again. He managed to open the slot and saw the spool had broken and the reel had spilled out. He sat there with the destroyed mixtape that Hermione had given him. The Smiths' Asleep, John Lennon's Imagine, Adele's Someone like you and some of the other songs that she liked and hoped that he would like, she had put it on the tape. Snape again turned impotent in retaining another thing that had a little bit of Hermione in it. Her smell had long since evaporated off her cardigan. And now this too. Maybe she doesn't belong with me...But there's no time for that now, is there? The Dark lord is onto them. How long would it take for him to realise the other horcruxes are gone? And Hermione, what will she do now? He was rewinding the tape when there was a knock on his door and before he could answer it, the Carrows barged in, dragging along Neville. Snape saw the apprehension in his face but there was also a defiance. "Caught this one sneaking back into the school from Hogsmead. Earlier this evening, Granger ,Potter and Weasley were rumoured to have arrived there. He might have plotted some way of getting them into the castle, Snape." Alecto Carrow informed. Neville looked pale with fear but he gave a crooked smile to Snape only he could see. Snape had a lot of questions but he couldn't do that in front of the Carrows. So he quitely slipped into Neville's mind. The amateurish boy hadn't done this before and he jerked as he felt someone else's presence in his mind. But they couldn't converse non-verbally for a long while, without making it look suspicious. So they carried out talking alternatively in their minds and for real, so that the conversation was a little jarred.
*What is going on?*
"Mr.Longbottom,explain yourself."
*She's here, Professor!*
"A-a I was just out wondering by the lake, and- and l-lost track of time."
*What, Hermione? In the castle? Where are they now?*
"How very typical of you, Longbottom. But you were by yourself?"
*They are at the Room of Requirement. They have an urgent business. She refused to give us any specifics but they need to find something.*
" O'course. Who would wanna hang out with me? I was just brooding, enjoying the weather..."
* She thinks that she can do this on her own but she's going to need all the help she can get. You alert the others while I'll think of some way to get rid of these two, if I can...*
"But you do realise that you just broke a school rule? You will receive a detention for staying out of bed after hours. Get back to your dormitory right now."
* What is this about, sir?*
*Don't say anything more, just look frightened and scuttle.*
"R-right. Sorry, sir.It won't happen again." Neville turned for the door and broke into a run as soon as he was out. Snape tried to make his brain work faster. Hermione's here. She needs something. Is it about the Sword of Griffindor? Maybe she thinks it's in the school. If that is the case, she'll be very disappointed. I had my chance and I couldn't keep it safe for her. Well, I'm not a Griffindor...
But what if it's about a horcrux? Is one of those hidden somewhere in here? How do I help her without these two buggers butting in? And if she's here, could the Dark lord be far behind? Lord have mercy, will the war break out tonight itself? How am I to protect all the students? And what about the others? Surely the Order will not sit back...
"Severus, you're not taking the matter as seriously as you should."Amycus said, watching the retreating figure of Neville. "Am I not?" Snape asked absent-mindedly, still trying to hatch out a plan. "We're talking about Granger here. What if this boy did what we suspect and had found a way to bring them inside? There are tonnes of secret passagewaysinto the castle ,I bet." Alecto said. Amycus added, "And think how the Lord will reward us if we were the ones who could hand the mudblood over to him in person!" "He'll be equally wrathful if we summon him for no apparent reason at all. Or have you not considered that?" Snape snapped. The Carrows zipped their mouths at that. But only for a while. "I bet the other Griffindors would know something. Atleast more than this dunderhead. They were with her in that Dumbledore's army thing they cooked up." Alecto recalled. Snape gave a snort, "Do you expect me to knock on every dormitory door and ask whether they have seen her? And do you think they'll politely tell us even if they know something?" "No, but, let's get all the students out in the hall and question them. Threats, punishments, whatever works. If they don't budge nicely, we'll torture them into telling the truth. Let's smoke 'em out." Amycus suggested. Snape stared at him. That's the last thing I'm gonna do. But then he thought, if he cleared all the students out and have everyone together at the Great hall, then Hermione and her friends could have the rest of the castle as their playground. They could go anywhere they want, take whatever they needed and escape. He believed she could use the invisibility cloak for the time. She's smart enough to know what to do. "Send the message through Filch. I want everyone in the Great Hall in ten minutes. The staff members too." Snape said in his clipped tone and as they left to carry out his orders, he bolted the door. There was something else he needed to do first...............................................
Everyone gathered in the Great Hall, whispering and chatting, confused about this sudden late-hour summons from the headmaster himself. The teachers stood at a side of the podium, questioning each other about whether anyone knew what was going on. McGonagall stood with her lips pressed together, anxious about what was coming next. Snape entered and all the chatter died down as he walked down the aisle through the middle, his robes billowing behind him. He reached the podium and made a sharp turn, facing the students, scanning all the faces. He was relieved that the trio were not stupid enough to openly stand there. He made his voice as dangerous as it often was and began, "It has come to my attention that earlier this evening, Ms.Hermione Granger was spotted in Hogsmead." There was another murmur amongst students and teachers alike, which was instantly quelled by the look Snape gave. He came down from the podium again and strolled through the students, who parted in the middle to let him pass. In fact, they shirked right out of his way. "If any of you have any information regarding the matter, step forward...now." he drawled. He could see the other houses genuinely had no idea about anything but the Griffindors exchanged knowing looks and deliberately avoided meeting his gaze. He dared any of them to rat out on Hermione, but thankfully noone did. "Speak up now or you'll be facing the vengeance of the Dark Lord himself!" threatened Alecto, getting impatient of the muteness. Utterances of 'We don't know anything' and 'Leave us alone' were heard but noone could point out who were saying it. Amycus drew himself to his full height in a threatening position from over the podium, "Maybe I shall summon the dark lord and blame it on the lot of you. He'll satisfy his rage by killing a few of you-" "You'll do no such thing!"McGonagall charged forward angrily, before Snape could say anything, "I would'nt let you harm any of them." "Let me? You'll let me, you bitch?!" Amycus's malevolence was so much, his face puffed up and he spat at McGonagall's face. Everyone gasped as McGonagall jerked back, shocked and slandered. Surprising everyone even further, Hermione stepped out, throwing the invisibility cloak off herself. She blasted Amycus clean off his feet and he smashed to a wall, falling unconscious. Getting the opportunity, Ginny attacked Alecto but he ducked to the ground and touched his wand to his dark mark. All the other students tried to flee while Snape was about to bring out his own wand but in the mad scramble, he was shoved at and he lost grip of his wand. As Neville, Luna and Ginny held the Carrow twins (one still unconscious and the other cowering weaponless) at wandpoint, the giant oak front doors of the hall were pushed open by Harry and Ron to reveal, the whole of the Weasley family and the other Order members, all wands at the ready. Snape breathed laboriously as he watched Hermione slowly turn her wand towards him, pointing it at his chest. Both reflected contrasting emotions; he was apprehensive, uncertain and acquiescent as he half-raised his hands in defence, while she was obstinate, undaunted yet contrite. Then, as everyone looked on, she gripped her wand more resolutely and said in a voice dripping with contempt, "Sectusempra!"