Chapter Fifty-Eight: Snape’s Flight
There was a dim light and there were soft voices. Lottie was vaguely aware of her own breath, rattling in and out. She couldn’t be dead”because if she were, she wouldn’t be able to breathe, or hear things, or notice the light filtering through her eyelids. What had happened?
“Lottie?” said a familiar voice, low and hushed. “Lottie, are you awake?”
Lottie couldn’t move; she couldn’t open her eyes. The light was pulsating against them, and would definitely blind her. She couldn’t speak; her jaw felt heavy and immobile. “Mmm,” she groaned in response to the question. There was an excruciating pain growing in her chest. All she wanted was for it to end.
“Are you okay, Lottie?”
Lottie was able to place the voice; it was Andrea’s. Andrea”that meant she was alive too. This realization brought comfort, but no relief as the pain in her chest continued. Each breath was like a sharp stab between her ribs, but her body was crying for more oxygen. Lottie struggled, and finally managed to say, “No.”
“Wait right here”I’ll get Professor Waterman.”
Lottie lay on her back, still not opening her eyes, still not moving. If Professor Waterman was there, that meant she was at Alsemore”that meant that it was over.
“Oh, dear.” It was Waterman’s voice this time. “That was a nasty curse you got hit with. Here, this may help.” Lottie felt a bottle being pressed to her lips and drank its contents with little regard for what was in it. Instantly, it gave her enough strength to open her eyes and prop herself up on her elbows.
She was in the hospital wing, with a concerned Andrea sitting on the bed beside her. Andrea’s cuts and bruises had already been healed. Lottie glanced around and saw that the rest of the wing was almost filled. Students lay, resting on all of the other beds, conscious or otherwise.
Lottie pushed herself up further so she sat against the bed’s headboard. She gulped down all of the potions that Waterman handed her, and the pain roaring inside of her lessened slightly. “There are only temporary,” Waterman explained. “It will take a week or two before you are finally healed.”
Lottie nodded blankly and watched as Waterman bustled off to attend to the other students. “What”what happened?” she asked, turning to Andrea. “How did we”how are we””
“After you got hit, the fighting went on,” Andrea said softly. “Maelioric pulled me aside and hid me behind the bar. The Dark Lord was about to turn his wand on Maelioric, and then suddenly everything went black.”
“What?” Lottie said. “What happened?”
“It was Palmyitor,” Andrea said. “Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. She had gone back to school and got reinforcements. In the confusion, we were able to Apparate back. Palmyitor grabbed you and took you right here.”
Lottie sat in silence. Her mind was teeming with questions, but she couldn’t decide where to even begin. The whole affair seemed so strange. They had been under the Fidelius Charm, so how had they been found? With a pang, Lottie remembered. Snape had been the Secret Keeper.
“Snape was the one who hit you,” Andrea said as though she had followed Lottie’s train of thought. “But he didn’t kill you which is even more puzzling. We can’t figure out why. We tried asking him””
“What?”
“Oh”sorry”yeah. We caught him. He was trying to leave, but Maelioric grabbed him and brought him here. He’s locked up upstairs. And like I said, we tried to ask him why he didn’t kill you, but it’s no good. He’s too good at Occlumency.”
“I could find out,” Lottie said. “I could ask him.”
“Well that was the plan,” Andrea said with a weak smile. “We’re just waiting for you to recover.”
Lottie lapsed into silence again. This whole thing could have been avoided if Palmyitor hadn’t put her trust in Snape. She could have gotten anyone else… Or was it better now that they knew his true allegiance? “Did anyone get killed?” Lottie asked, scanning the rows of beds for familiar faces.
“Only the barman”Aberforth Dumbledore. The Dark Lord killed him himself.”
Lottie glanced at Andrea. It seemed so normal now”just like before, they were sitting and talking. It was almost easy to forget the past year. It seemed outrageous now that she thought about it. Andrea was her only friend; how had they gone a whole year without talking?
“Look, Andrea”” Lottie glanced down at her sheets and over to the opposite wall “”I’m sorry”for the whole year, I mean. I just””
“It’s okay,” Andrea said gently. “You more than made up for it at the Hog’s Head. You saved my life. The Dark Lord would’ve killed me”and you knocked me out of the way.”
Lottie’s memory took her back to the dim pub. The Dark Lord had stopped the whole battle”just to kill Andrea? How did he even know who she was? He had recognized her from Grimmauld Place, but then why hadn’t he recognized Lottie? And he thought that Andrea was Palmyitor’s favorite”that was just wrong. Snape had told him that, he said. Why?
“I don’t get it,” Lottie finally said.
“None of us do.” Laughing weakly, Andrea shrugged. “We just have to wait until we can question Snape”maybe he’ll be able toe explain it all.”
Lottie’s recovery was slow. She had to take six rounds of potions every day, and was forced to sleep at least ten hours every night. Whatever curse Snape had hit her with was designed to keep her off her feet for a while. She wanted to question Snape as soon a she was strong enough to walk, but Palmyitor insisted that they wait. It was better, she said, to catch him off guard with a full-force attack.
It wasn’t until July that she was back to normal. Lottie’s birthday had already passed when she sat in Palmyitor’s office, going over the plan.
“Now you’re sure you’re going to be able to get through his Occlumency?” Palmyitor asked for the thousandth time.
“Yes.” Lottie was sure. “I’ve done it before.”
Palmyitor only cast her a moment’s glance before breaking eye contact. She almost never looked Lottie in the eyes anymore”now that she knew what Lottie could do. She didn’t want her mind invaded, Lottie guessed with a smug air of superiority.
“It’s just going to be you in there,” Palmyitor said. “We will all be right outside, but I don’t want to break your concentration.”
“Okay.” Lottie felt hollow. Knowing what she had to do, she emptied her mind completely, voided herself of all emotions.
“He is dangerous,” Palmyitor went on. “He is chained and unarmed, but he is still quite a skilled wizard. You should be wary.”
“I understand.”
“Are you ready then?”
Lottie nodded once and got to her feet. She wanted to uncover this mystery. More than anything, she wanted to figure it out. Why had Snape spared her? Exactly how much had he told the Dark Lord? Did the Dark Lord know who she was related to? She climbed the steps to the highest tower, with all three heads trailing behind her.
At the top of the winding stairs, she stopped and turned to the three heads. Palmyitor gave her a curt nod, and Lottie pulled out her wand. With a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and pushed open the door.
The room was deserted.
Lottie’s first thought was that Snape was hiding, but the room was completely bare, except for a thin, rickety chair. There was nobody there. Lottie’s heart thudded a little harder in her chest. There was nobody there. Chains lay harmless and docile on the ground. They had been blasted apart. The edges of the metal were dark and jagged. A tiny window stood open, letting in the dry, summer wind.
Panic rose in Lottie like a snake. Snape was gone. He had escaped”how? She reached for the door and wrenched it open. The three heads stood there expectantly. Palmyitor looked at her with wide, anxious eyes.
“He’s gone.”
“What?” Maelioric rushed past her into the room and roared with frustration.
Clynalmoy followed him cautiously. Palmyitor just stood there, her expression completely vacant. “I don’t understand,” she finally said. “How did he do it? Those chains were charmed”they stopped all of his magic while he wore them.”
Lottie only shrugged. She could really think of no answer. All she knew was that he was definitely not in that room. Bitterly, she thought of mentioning that she should have done this earlier after all”shouldn’t have waited so long to question him, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to upset Palmyitor even more.
“Somebody helped him,” Clynlamoy said, appearing in the doorframe. “There is no way he could have escaped on his own. Somebody cursed the chains off.” He walked past Lottie to meet Palmyitor on the stairs. He rested a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “Naesa?”
“How?” was all Palmyitor could croak.
Standing on the landing above them, Lottie felt like she was witnessing something uncomfortably intimate. In order to divert her attention, she crept back into the room where Maelioric stood, gazing out the window.
“It had to be a student,” he said when he heard her enter.
Lottie frowned. “Why?”
“The castle is protected by a Fidelius Charm. No Death Eater could get in. It must have been a student.
Lottie leaned against the wall. Her mind traveled back four years”back to the traitors discovered in her second year. They had found a way to lead a double life”it was more than possible that it could happen again. “Could it have been a professor?” Lottie asked.
Maelioric turned to her with a glare so fierce that it caught her off guard. “Each professor is hand picked. They are trustworthy.”
Lottie considered mentioning Dewitt and Snape, but in the present situation decided against it. “What about a former student?” she suggested weakly.
“We would have seen them enter the grounds.” Maelioric turned his gaze back out the window and glared into the deep, red sunset sky. “We’re going to have to check”every single student,” he said. “Whoever it was is a better Occlumens than Naesa is a Legilimens.”
“I can help,” Lottie said, knowing full well that this might mean learning some uncomfortable secrets about friends. There was no other way to find out.
Lottie rubbed her eyes wearily. She sat in the Legilimency classroom, behind the desk that used to be Snape’s. The three heads and her had spent all morning inspecting every single member of the student body, and now, at six in the evening, Lottie was exhausted. She was inspecting all of the upper-classmen Palmyitors for any evidence of helping Snape.
Thankfully, she only had one more person to go. Unfortunately, that person was Andrea. Lottie knew that there was absolutely no way that it was Andrea who helped Snape”there was no way that Andrea would have done that. But it was a technicality. And since Lottie was the best Legilimens at Alsemore, she had to inspect all of those who had the most Occlumency training.
The door creaked open and Andrea poked her head inside. “Hey,” she said as she shut the door and crossed over to Lottie.
Lottie smiled grimly. “Hi.”
“How’s it been going?”
“Dull.” Lottie shrugged. “Sifting through everyone’s insecure memories about school work and boys. We’re not even close to finding anyone.” She surveyed Andrea’s anxious eyes and knew precisely what she was thinking. “Look, I know this is annoying, but we should just get it over with.”
“You have to search everyone?” Andrea asked. “Even me? I mean”come on”it’s me.”
“I know”I agree”it’s stupid,” Lottie said carefully. She knew disagreeing would be a bad idea. After a year of not talking, she wasn’t going to test the limits of their fragile friendship. “Palmyitor will kill me if she found out I was playing favorites.”
“She plays favorites all the time,” Andrea said bitterly.
“I know.” Lottie laughed, more to appease Andrea than anything. “She’s just mad. Come on, you’re the last person I have to do”let’s just get it over with.”
Andrea sighed and sat down in the chair opposite of the desk. Lottie could see her fists straining with tension. She wondered if Andrea would even attempt Occlumency. Lottie turned her focus inward and mustered up the necessary concentration. In an instant, she had broken into Andrea’s mind.
She skimmed lightly through recent memories. Nothing seemed dark or evil at all, but strong emotions leapt out like red rays of sunlight against a darkening sky. Lottie selected one at random, and immediately, the cold, bubbling nausea of jealousy filled her. Lottie watched the scene unfold.
She was watching herself, but with a frigid sweep of loneliness. She was sitting at the Maelioric table with Com, and Andrea sat alone at the Palmyitor table. Lottie shook off the memory and picked another one.
Again, she saw herself standing, shouting in the Palmyitor common room. Andrea was shouting too. Anger was roaring inside of her, and completely exploded. Lottie watched Andrea pound down the stairs and collapse into bed. Her misery was palpable. Lottie hadn’t felt such a strong emotion in years.
Lottie had seen enough. She removed herself from Andrea’s memory, and felt herself receding back into her own, cold mind. Andrea still sat across from her, but wasn’t making eye contact. Lottie pursed her lips and stood up. “Come on,” she said, “let’s go to dinner.”
She decided not to mention what she had just seen, and hoped that Andrea wouldn’t either. It had been easy enough to patch things up with Andrea, but Colm was coming back to Alsemore the next week, and Lottie wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to do.
Andrea got to her feet silently and followed Lottie out of the classroom. Lottie wondered if Andrea, like her, was counting down the days to Colm’s return. But Andrea, unlike her, was probably dreading it.
Lottie’s mind traveled to the heads, who were probably still inspecting the younger students. She wondered if they were any closer to finding the traitor than she was. No matter what Maelioric said, Lottie had a feeling that whoever had helped Snape could not have been a student. But then who could it have been?
Halfway to Infinity by Eponine
Chapter Notes: Thank you, coolh5000, for beta'ing! This chapter is dedicated to Alan Rickman. Just 'cause.