ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Serpentine, ch. 17

PART FIVE:

THE BATTLE

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Harmony followed swiftly behind Snape, closing the gap, and then finally tugged on the back of his cloak. He decreased his pace and waited until they were at the back of the group. When their privacy could be guaranteed, Snape laid a hand on her shoulder and pushed her aside into a nearby doorway.

"What do we do?" she hissed up at him.

He glanced at the retreating group, and then looked down at her saying, "You continue to do what you're supposed to. You follow orders."

Harmony frowned up at him as if he were insane. "Even now? But I thought we were spies?"

"Not today, we aren't," he said. "Today you must do everything the Dark Lord tells you." He paused. His voice faltered when he added, "Even if that means taking a life."

"I don't understand why we're here if we don't do anything to help the Ministry," Harmony protested. "How can you just stand by and watch?"

"Because our time has not yet come," he replied firmly. "We cannot afford to reveal our identities so soon. This mission is only the beginning of a much greater plan. We need to wait until right before the end of it all to make our move. Do you understand?"

Harmony glowered at him. She refused to give up in the face of defeat. "Before the end? The end of what? I feel like we're letting a dire opportunity slip by. This is a chance to take down the Death Eaters while they're away from their headquarters. I can't imagine a better time to contact the Ministry and capture them than while they're right where we want them."

"And the Dark Lord?" Snape asked with a raised eyebrow. "You forgot to mention his capture as well."

"Yes, of course," she added quietly and bit her lip beneath the concealment of her scarf.

"What is it, Miss Hangleton?" Snape asked in a mocking tone. "Feeling sentimental?"

"Of course not," Harmony huffed testily.

"Indeed," he scoffed, and then looked around. "I do not think we should linger here long. The Dark Lord will notice our absence."

Harmony regarded her Potions Professor. "Listen to you. So worried about what the Dark Lord thinks." She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "I don't know what to make of you."

He cast his eyes back down at her. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" he asked darkly. His posture became threatening as he towered over her much smaller frame.

"I mean should I be questioning exactly where your loyalties lie," she answered bitterly.

Snape hunched down so they were nose-to-nose and glared right into her face. He looked as though he would like nothing better than to grab her by the arms and give her a good shake. When he spoke, his foul breath was warm on her face.

"If you have lost your trust in me—me, your only connection back to Hogwarts, your friends, your home, and everything else you hold dear—then you are far worse off than I could have imagined," he said. "You must trust me if you wish to get out of here alive."

Harmony backed away from him, casting her eyes down in shame. He's right. I need someone close to Dumbledore. To not trust Snape would make me more alone than ever. 

"We'd better hurry, before we are missed," he retorted. He pulled her out of the doorway and rushed with her down the hall. They headed out one of the back doors to the mansion.

"What're we retrieving that's so important to him?" Harmony asked as she jogged behind him.

"You mean your Master hasn't told you?" Snape scoffed over his shoulder. "How strange."

"Is it?" she snapped irritably. "How about you just tell me?"

"Perhaps there is a reason he has not told you," Snape speculated. "I think I should leave the explaining to the Dark Lord."

"Really!?" Harmony huffed but said nothing more. She had caught sight of the scenery that opened up before her. They were headed toward the large forest, and the setting sun cast the trees' shadows on the snow-covered grass. Some of the frozen stalks still wavered in the blowing wind. She paused to take it in. It was surprising to find something quite beautiful as this in such a dark place.

Snape kept going, but froze when he realized she was no longer following. "Excuse me, Miss Hangleton. Taking a butterbeer break, are we?"

"Are we planning on using a portkey?"

"Not this time. We will have to Apparate."

Harmony stared at him.

Snape sighed. "That's right, I forgot. This is the year you're supposed to learn Apparition."

"Yes. If you haven't noticed, I've been a bit absent from school lately," she grumbled.

Snape stepped closer and grabbed her arm. "Well, you'll have to learn. But now is obviously not the time. We're in a hurry. Now, I've never performed side-Apparition before, so this might hurt."

A couple seconds went by, and then Harmony's whole world suddenly went topsy-turvy. Her body stretched out like a string of spaghetti as a black hole sucked her in. Every puff of air was vacuumed from her mouth, and her head spun round. She saw bursts of bright light. Then, piece by piece, parts of her returned like tiny bits of metal attracted to one large magnet.

When her world stopped spinning and her surroundings were pieced together again, Harmony got her first look at Knockturn Alley. Everything was damp and covered in grime. Muddy puddles and garbage littered the gutter. It was cold. An ominous fog settled in between the narrow alleys.

The place made her feel lost in the middle of a concrete maze. Every few yards a shop sign poked out above their heads, and Harmony read some of them as they passed: Vampire Café: Tea, A+, B-, Etc. and Damian's Spell Books. A little further on, she saw Dragon's Butcher Shop.

In one of the shop windows was something that looked dead and rotting, but when she passed, it wiggled violently. She swallowed hard and her body trembled with a quiver of dread. She decided it would be best to avoid eye-contact with any more windows.

The people who passed them in the street were just as ghastly. Black and rancid grey was the color-scheme of everyone's clothes, which hung in tatters around their lurking bodies. Some people who passed her sneered, but mostly they kept to themselves huddled in their warm clothes.

Though she was confident her black clothes allowed her to easily blend in, the fear and uncertainty in her eyes made her stick out. She glanced over at Snape. He appeared right at home in these surroundings.

"Stay close behind me," Snape instructed before he took off down one of the streets. He then quickly turned down an alley. Harmony stayed so close that the hem of Snape's cloak grazed the tops of her boots. She kept her eyes glued to the back of his greasy head, and they made turn after dizzying turn before she ran into his back when he suddenly stopped.

She watched as Snape placed a hand, fingers splayed, on the door of a tiny shop with black windows and a blank sign. His hand was just below the knocker. He muttered a spell under his breath. She heard small clicks within the door, and when he dropped his hand she heard a small boom, and the door opened a crack. Snape slipped inside like a shadow and Harmony followed close behind.