The Tune Of Time

Chapter 18

It had been late and the boys hadn't returned. Lily would have been worried if she had not been asleep and Hermione thanked her wit to offer her the dreamless potion. It would not have been good for either Lily or Harry for her to stress. She was around twenty one weeks pregnant now and needed to take proper rest. However , Hermione wasn't pregnant and so couldn't stop herself from worrying. She knew that the boys were more than capable but they had considered Peter as their friend for a very long time and were very emotionally invested in him. He could trick them easily and could cause some serious harm to any of them. She was chewing her fingernails when the monitoring charm on the wards of her home alerted her of the arrival of the boys.

Thank god. They are back. She thought as she ran to the door. It wasn't that anyone else could come into her wards apart from those she allowed but still she had added the monitoring charm so that she would know who came into her house in her absence. She had added that after Peter's spying earlier. It made anything inside the wards invisible to others.

"What took you so long, we have been…" she was saying as she opened the door but the person in front of it shocked her. Standing in front of her was none other than one Severus Snape. Although the condition he was in was far from the condition she would have liked him in. His hair was sticked to his forehead with sweat, his eyes looked heavy with exhaustion. It looked like he would faint any moment now. He was clutching his arm tightly as she looked him over, his black robes were darker in certain place and she could bet it was because he was bleeding.

He was about to trip over but Hermione caught him. She threw his hand over her shoulder and supported his weight over her shoulder as she held his waist and ushered him inside.

"Sev , What happened to you?" she said , her voice void of emotion as she saw the trail of blood that she left behind as he walked.

She placed him gently on the couch.

"Dark Lord." He croaked through a soar throat. Clearly he had screamed a lot.

" You are bleeding." She rushed to the cupboard and grabbed some towels from it. "Let me see." She said as she tried to help him out of his robes. He stopped her hand with his and removed it.

"I don't need your help." He said.

"Then why are you here?" she asked him angrily. "If you don't cooperate here Severus Snape, I will be forced to use other methods which you won't like."

Severus stared at her. He didn't know what brought him here at her door. It wasn't like they were friends. He had in fact met the witch only twice. He only knew he was dying and had no friends to go to. And no matter what Severus Snape said , he was scared to die. He didn't want to die. And at that moment when he was left dying on the ground as their meeting was dismissed , Severus thought of the one person he couldn't get rid of from his head since yesterday. The witch who had taken him to her house , knowing very well of his status as a Death Eater. Who had promised him she had no alterior intention apart from helping him. He had heard the truth in her voice. And so apparated knowing it could be a huge risk. But at that time, he had no other choice.

The witch, Hermione had took him in and when he saw the worry and pain in her eyes, he knew he had done the right thing. She had brought him into her house and sat him on the sofa. The way she was scolding her as she helped him out of his robes , he felt that she had known him long and was well aware of his reservations since she paid no heed to his jeers or declarations of not needing her help.