Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Confinement	By : Lucreace Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 14059 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I dont make money from this.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
As soon as she stepped into the passage, the noticed the abrupt drop in temperature. Although she was wearing only her pyjama’s, the cold cut through her and made her shiver. She’d been absolutely fine while they were in the rest of the house, “Are you cold too?” she asked Severus, who was walking just in front of her. He gave a brief nod before motioning for her to be quiet. Hermione rolled her eyes but saw the logic behind his action. He didn’t want anyone knowing that they had crept into the tunnel and give them away.
Her breath lingered in the air before her, puffs of white air hanging in the gloom as they walked. She wrapped her arms around her and padded along behind him. She tried to keep her breathing calm and shallow, tried to keep her heart from pounding in her chest and willed her palms to stop sweating. She wouldn’t be in any state to help the children if she reached them and she was beside herself with fear.
Then the wailing started.
Severus picked up his pace and she followed, breaking into a run. The low keening rose to a crescendo before abruptly stopping, only to start over again. Running down the dark corridor, with only their wand lights to guide them and she found that she had to keep her feet up in case she tripped over something on the floor.
The further they ventured into the tunnel, the damper and fustier the air became. The house may well have a basement but it smelled as though it wasn’t used all that much anymore and had been left to decay. She coughed as she ran, trying to keep the sound muffled in her hand. Finally, they reached an opening. Severus waved his hand and gestured for her to wait behind him. All the while, the wailing continued. Faintly, he could hear the clattering voices of the children, nattering on and on about something she couldn’t quite make out. At least they sounded alright. In fact, wasn’t that laughter?
                She exchanged a confused look with Severus, whose frown deepened. She placed her hand on his shoulder to steady her legs and took another, measured breath. “We should get moving.” Her voice was a mere whisper and even to her, sounded shaky.
                “I don’t know what we’re going to find down there,” he said as he straightened up.
                “No,” she said.
                “You know what to do,” She gave a nod, was it her or did his voice sound gravelly rather than the usual silky smooth tone he used. Could it be that he was as nervous as she was? Surely not. He’d been a double agent for more years than she had been alive, something like this wouldn’t faze him surely. She made sure her wand was ready and gave a nod.
                When she strode through the opening and down the fragile looking wooden stairs, she was half a beat behind him. There was no way she was going to let those children be harmed while they were under her protection. Somehow, she knew he felt the same way. The ghost of an idea formed in her mind. She acknowledged it before tucking it away to look at later on, when she had a bit more time. At the bottom of the flight of stairs was a battered looking door. One of the panels had been broken and it was barely on its hinges.
                Severus reached out a hand and pulled it open. What was behind the door surprised her more than anything. It was a wine cellar; there was nothing overtly fancy about it. A few dilapidated shelves and some dusty bottles lined the walls. Several ancient, dry kegs riddled with woodworm were lying abandoned on the floor. None of this was overly shocking. What drew Hermione’s gaze was the clear damage to the far wall. The floor was covered in dust, old webs hung from the ceiling and there, clear as the day, were four sets of prints leading to the dark whole in the wall. Four sets.
                “Lara said only three of them went in search of something. Harrison, Jack and Sasha.” Hermione said. Severus nodded. “So who do those others belong to?”
                “I have no idea,” he replied.
                There didn’t seem to be anything sinister about the room so they stepped into it. The stench of decay and fustiness seemed to triple as they followed the footprints. Hermione clamped her hand over her mouth and kept her breath light. She didn’t want to end up coughing and spluttering because she’d inhaled too much dust. There was little doubt in her mind that she’d be sneezing if she wasn’t careful and a sidelong glance showed her Severus had done the same.
                Slowly, they walked through the opening and back into the gloom. The sound of their footsteps was drowned out by a renewed wailing. Hermione frowned, she could here giggling underneath the wail. Something wasn’t right. Those miscreants were sounding less injured and more playful by the minute. She swallowed hard and strode forward. There was a soft glow coming from the end of this particular tunnel and she raised her wand. She ground her teeth together and snorted. She placed a hand on Severus’ arm and he turned to face her.
                “I get the feeling we’ve been taken for a ride,” she said in a hushed voice.
                “My thoughts exactly,” he nodded. His eyes had darkened visibly and the line between his brows had deepened. The tight lines around his mouth gave away exactly the amount of ire he was feeling, a look she could remember easily from class when Neville blew up another cauldron or when he caught Harry doing something stupid. She raised a hand to stop him but then thought better of it. This was his house after all and what they were doing was trespassing. They’d been told to not go snooping around where they weren’t wanted and if he wanted to yell at them, she wasn’t going to stop him. She intended to do a fair bit of that herself when he was finished.
                Before she could stop him, he strode forward. Swallowing, she scampered along behind him, feeling more of a naughty student herself rather than a professor in charge of the miscreants just down the tunnel. When she saw them, the three were huddled around a cauldron, giggling over something inane. Her eyes narrowed but when Severus spoke beside her, she instinctively straightened.
                “What do you think you are doing in here?” he said. He didn’t raise his voice but the tone was clear. The cold hiss cut through what the children were going and they all jumped, looked round and had the decency to have horrified expressions on their faces. “Well?” he demanded.
                The three children glanced at each other, not one of them willing to break the silence that descended between them.
                “It was Sasha’s idea!” Jack barked after a moment
                “No it wasn’t!”
                “Yeah it was, you said you found something cool and that we shoul-“
                “No I never,” the girl retorted.
                “Yeah you did,” Harrison chimed in.
                “Enough!” Severus snapped. They quietened instantly. “You will explain what is going on and you will do so now.” Hermione took a step out from behind him and gave her best disapproving look at them.
                “Professor Granger!” Jack said, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her.
                “I think you’d better answer Mr Snape’s question. I’m also curious to know why you think it is acceptable to snoop around his house after you were specifically told not to.” She kept her tone carefully measured to be terse. She was rewarded by the boy’s face paling a little.
                “Sasha said that she’d found something interesting in the lounge and that we needed to see it.” Jack said. Sasha gave him a look that would have killed a lesser boy but the fear of Severus’ wrath won out and he continued, “So, we waited until no one was awake and snuck out.”
                “And what, pray tell, is so exciting that you would sneak out to find it.” Severus asked. Hermione noticed the slight narrowing of his eyes. It was a tell he had from his school days, it said that he was, in fact, incredibly angry.
                “It was this,” Sasha said indicating the cauldron that was now behind them.
                Severus strode forward and picked it up. A slight wail issued. Hermione looked around, unable to locate the source of the sound. “What was that?” Harrison asked.
                “That is the guardian of this house.” Severus snapped. “Are you deaf as well as stupid? Or have you been elsewhere for the entire evening?” The children exchanged a blank look but the wail continued to rise. The temperature in the room plummeted; Hermione shivered and wrapped her arms around her chest. Sasha flicked her eyes around her. Harrison pulled out his wand, Jack did the same. “What do you think you’re going to be able to do with that?” Severus quipped.
                “I don’t know, better than just standing here though,” Harrison barked back. Hermione gave a silent nod of approval. The young lad had courage at lease and was prepared to face up to the consequence of his actions. She raised her own wand and steeled her expression. It was time to see what this revenant looked like.
                It was not what any of them expected. If it had been a large, looming monstrosity, Hermione would have been better prepared for what happened next. Instead of a hulking, vile form, the white essence of a young girl slide through the wall. She had a serene expression on her face and appeared to be wearing a lace nightdress reminiscent of something worn by a Georgian child. Tiny white lace gloved covered her hand and tiny white booties covered her delicate feet. There was certainly a lot of fabric involved. Her gaze looked over them benignly and she began moving among them.
Hermione found that she was unable to tear her gaze from the lovely looking creature. She drifted around them, taking them in with her soft, white eyes. She found that her heart was beating softly and that although she had been angry about something, the emotion had drained from her. The only thing that mattered was looking at the beauty in front of her. She was filled with warmth and a deep sense of devotion flooded through her, love even.
When the revenant turned away from her, pain laced through her chest as though she had been hit. Her hands clutched her chest against the deep ache and she found she was able to move again. She took a tentative step towards the ghost, wanting to catch her attention once more, wanting that focus all to herself.
A hand caught her and she frowned, who dared to stop her? Who dared interfere with her plan of following the creature and returning her stare and that feeling of completion? “Hermione,” Severus whispered. She swallowed, a deep frown crossing her face. All of a sudden, the creature whirled around. The sound of his voice attracting the attention of the being, everything changed. A scowl contorted that beautiful face and a guttural wail escaped the perfect lips.
Next thing she knew, she was being thrown forwards, towards the children. A hiss of dust trickled from the ceiling. All the light escaped and they were plunged into the deepest darkness she’d ever encountered. A deep cracking sounded and the air filled with dirt and filth. She coughed. A sharp pain erupted from the back of her neck and everything faded away.
- 15
- 16
- 17
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Confinement