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When the Magic's Gone	By : Avrild Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 4155 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter Seven — If Wishes Were Horses--

It’s all Rowling’s, except what you don’t recognize.

‘You DUNDERHEAD!’

‘Severus, please let him go.’

‘I can’t believe Albus trusted a young idiot like you. What is this damned mystique of yours, Potter?’

‘Right, and what about you? Pretty fast on the uptake with Hermione, weren’t you? Did you even follow your orders, or did you just ditch everything to rescue her?’

‘That’s it, you puppy,’ Snape hauled back his bandaged hand ready to inflict a nasty injury to them both.

‘Severus, stop it. Harry’s my friend -- control yourself.’ Hermione put her body between the two men. Snape looked at her and the tension slowly eased from his body. He let go of Harry who quickly moved to the other side of the kitchen.

Snape sat at the kitchen table and rested his head on his arms. ‘I can’t believe Albus didn’t trust me with this.’

‘Actually, there was no time,’ said Harry. ‘You had already left on your mission when Sybil Trelawney went into her trance. I wasn’t even in the room when it happened -- just Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were there.’

‘And he believed Trelawney?’ asked Snape with some bitterness.

‘She’s been right twice before,’ said Harry, on the defensive.

‘I need a drink, no, something much stronger than tea, Hermione.’

Hermione came round to the back of Snape’s chair and protectively wrapped her arms around him. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to lean back into her. Harry watched the two of them.

Snape had never looked so human, thought Harry. However, in spite of the visual improvements, he was still only a mangy, old cur that had finally found a home. And Hermione, well just one look at her choice of a familiar and her craziness about down trodden house elves and you knew she had found herself the love of her life in Snape. They made a strange couple, but in another way, their being together made complete sense. It was a shame really that it all had to end.

Just then the phone rang. All three startled. Hermione gingerly took the kitchen phone and listened before handing it to Snape with a look of disgust.

‘Who is it?’ Harry whispered.

‘The other woman!’ Hermione whispered back.

‘He works fast -- maybe I should get my teeth fixed?’

‘Hullo, Rachel. I’m sorry about last night.’

‘Oh no, Russ, I should be the one apologizing. It was my first day on a new allergy med. It was supposed to be a non-drowsy formula and safe to take with wine, but obviously not for me. Come over tonight and I’ll make it up to you. I might sneeze a bit, but what the hell?’

‘Umm... Rachel?’

Hermione rolled her eyes.

‘Look Russ, I understand that tennis might not be your game. But what about some naked volleyball or,’ her voice dropped suggestively, ‘some tonsil hockey? Even better, I know the direction you were heading last night, so why not soixante-neuf?’

Snape was confused. He knew she was coming on to him but what was this muggle term? ‘Soixante-neuf?’ He said out loud.

Hermione and Harry exchanged glances and then Hermione stamped hard on Snape’s foot.

‘Ooof. Hermione!’

‘Oh, is she there? Be a dear and put her on.’

Snape shoved the phone at Hermione. She shook her head. Snape, smiling, put the phone down and crossed his arms. ‘She asked to speak to you.’

Hermione made a face and picked up the phone. ‘Hullo, Rachel?’

‘Yes, love. My nephew is coming in from York next weekend and we were planning to go caving, you know, spelunking? He’s a professional guide. Do you think you and Russ would like to join us?’

‘You’re kidding, aren’t you?’ Both Severus and Harry were going ‘what’ at Hermione.

‘Not at all. Lewis is certified. We can take the van. It would be lovely.’

‘Unfortunately, we’ve made other plans,’ said Hermione nervously.

‘Oh, too bad. Well, I guess it will just be Lewis and me, then. Could you put Russ back on?’

‘Sure. Oh no, he’s left the room. Shall I have him ring you back?’

‘It’s alright.’ Rachel said sadly.

Hermione hung up. She looked at Snape. Snape kept his face impassive.

The temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees.

‘Say,’ said Harry, ‘I’ve got Jaffa cakes.’

‘Oooh, give it over.’ Hermione said. Sugary things were strictly verboten in the Granger house.

‘Now, now children, isn’t it nearly lunchtime?’ Snape drawled. ‘We wouldn’t want to be spoiling our appetites? Save ‘em for dessert.’ Snape was actually profoundly grateful for the distraction from the phone call and finally remembered to breathe.

‘We’ll get take out,’ announced Hermione. ‘Right, who wants curry?’

&&&

The three of them stared at the device.

‘So that’s it? The Doomsday Watch? It doesn’t look like much, except that it has 14 numbers instead of 12, and no minute hand,’ sneered Snape.

‘Well, it’s a proto-type and quite different from a time-turner in many ways,’ said Harry, feeling the heat.

‘Explain,’ barked Snape.

‘Well, instead of hours and minutes, it goes by days, but it’s only good for up to a fortnight in travel. Also, the problem with accidentally running into yourself has been solved; your consciousness actually enters your old body and the original timeline is destroyed. Unless you do a Substantia spell, you would lose your memories of the old timeline as well. It’s been specifically invented to change events in the past, unlike the time-turner where you deliberately attempt to not change anything. You can bring objects back in time with you, but you have to use the Substantia spell again on the object.’

‘And what do you mean two weeks? It’s already been, Gods, we are almost out of time if we are to go back and defeat Voldemort. What were you thinking?’

‘It took me a while to realize that part of the prophecy was not only that I had to run away from the battle, but that I’d need an associate to help fix things. That’s when I thought of Hermione. She’s always been good at figuring things out.’

Hermione took the parchment from Harry. She stared at it, chewing on her bottom lip lost in thought. ‘Damn.’ She looked very upset.

‘Hermione, what is it?’ said Snape.

‘It actually refers to Severus. Right here.’ She pointed to a line. ‘It wasn’t me you needed to find at all.’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Harry.

‘It’s pretty clear. By itself, the poison you administered wasn’t enough to kill Voldemort, but when he came in contact with an additional toxin, something the army used, the combination did the trick. It’s all right here clear as day.’

‘Hermione, that’s amazing,’ said Harry, much relieved. ‘I’ve reviewed the news accounts and there was mention of a gas grenade being lobbed at Voldemort. And there were ‘copters all over, spraying additional gas.’

‘Potter, can you find out which gases were used?’

‘No, that information was restricted.’

‘Ah, I have an idea. Follow me.’ Snape took the other two into the study. He pointed to Peter Granger’s computer. ‘I saw this cine thing with Bruce Wallace.’

‘Willis’ said Hermione and Harry simultaneously.

‘Quite. Well in the movie, he hacked the net. We can hack the net and find out the information we need!’

Harry’s shoulders slumped. ‘Nice idea, professor. Only we don’t have that sort of expertise.’

Hermione brightened. ‘We don’t -- but my cousin Matt does. I’ll ring him.’

Hermione ran out.

Harry booted the computer. As it warmed up, Snape and Harry studiously ignored each other. It was a tense 5 minutes and 43 seconds before Hermione walked back in.

‘We’re in luck. He’s between jobs. He says he can download the possible chemical formulas and he’ll be driving right over.’

‘Just like that?’ Harry was more than a bit surprised.

‘He’s a munitions aficionado. He loves blowing things up, so he knows the various databases, which happens to also include formulas for the various gasses the Royal Army uses. Plus, he’s dying to meet both of you.’

Both Snape and Harry looked at her with dismay. ‘Why?’ asked Harry.

‘Oh, I used to talk a lot about the school during the holidays, but I never told him I was a witch or that I was at a place for learning magic. Now that he knows -- well, he wants to have his picture taken with us. He’s bringing his digital camera. It seems there’s a whole Internet group devoted to wizard liberation and he wants bragging rights.’

‘I don’t like the sound of this,’ growled Snape.

‘It’s all right; he’s my cousin.’ The front door rang and Hermione went out. She returned with a handsome young man in his twenties who had bushier hair than Hermione on her worst bad hair day.

‘Oh, I can’t believe this.’ He looked wide-eyed at Harry and then at Snape. He wiped off a sweaty palm and reached out to shake hands. ‘So can you really do magic?’

Snape was about to come out with a biting remark when Harry said, ‘Sure. What would you like?’

‘Um, oh my God. Change me into something! I know, a cat, no wait, a bat. Right. I could fly around and—’

‘Oh yes, Matt.’ Snape stepped up quickly and put his arm around the young man’s shoulders, directing him away from Harry. His voice took on the low dangerous velvet tone that he normally reserved for students about to receive two weeks of detention. ‘I have just the potion. You take it, rub it all over you, while naked, of course, in the middle of a field during the full moon, and you’ll be flying.’ He gave the young man a predatory smile that made Harry wince. ‘I don’t have any on me right now, don’t you know, they’ve confiscated those things, but should you help me get my wand back...’

Harry stared. Hermione glowered. Matt practically fell all over himself to get to Peter’s computer. All three ex-Hogwarts members watched in awe as Peter went from computer screen to screen with incredible speed. ‘It’s a good thing Uncle Peter let me upgrade his computer. Smooth as silk. Hmm. You know, Hermione, I could use a snack. Your parents still doing that low-carb thing or--?’

‘We have some Jaffa cakes.’

‘Great stuff. Okay, here we are. Magical implements. They moved them out of the army’s protection and they are now being stored in a research room at the British Museum. Can you imagine? They are being considered as no more than cultural artifacts! Minimal security! That’s my pal, Ferdinand’s site. He’s kept track of it all.’ He printed a map quest of how to get there and also a map of the British Museum. ‘So how soon can I expect my potion?’

Snape smiled. ‘Oh, I imagine within a week or so.’

Matt’s eyes lit up. ‘That’s great. Matt the Bat. Oh, this is so wizard. Say, do you need someone to drive you there?’

&&&

‘He’s my cousin! I can’t believe you are taking advantage of him like this.’

‘Then you should not have offered to call him, Hermione. I do like him.’ Snape said smoothly and with as much innocence as he could muster.

‘And I could have turned him into a bat, easily,’ said Harry.

‘Yes, of course. But then what if he had managed to get out of this house? He could fly into a high voltage electrical line or some other potentially lethal hazard. I can give him a mild hallucinogenic potion which when used in the middle of a field will lead to little chance of him doing himself an injury. In addition, if you transformed him now, there would be little-to-no incentive for him to continue helping us. This way, if things do not go as planned, he will still want to help us. It sounds like there is a possible underground resistance forming, albeit led by muggles, but still it could be useful in time.’

Hermione did not look pleased. ‘And when are we going to do this raid?’

‘Not we. You’re staying here. ‘Matt the Bat’, Harry and I will go together tonight. Harry and I will apparate into the building while under his invisibility cloak.’

‘Professor, we’ll splinch.’

‘Apparition is quite simple and safe for a short hop across a doorway. With a few hours practice, we’ll be ready for tonight.’

‘Severus, why am I not going?’

‘It’s too dangerous, Hermione.’ Snape got up and put his arms around her. ‘I owe it to your parents to keep you safe.’

‘What about heading back in time?’ She pulled away from him. Hermione already knew the answer; it was in the prophecy. But she had to hear it.

Harry shook his head. ‘The Doomsday watch will only take two people. One of us will have to stay here. If we are successful, this time line will end and everything will be as it was.’

‘And you are both mentioned in the prophecy, so I’m staying behind?’ She choked back her tears. ‘You sodding bastards!’ Hermione left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Snape sighed. ‘Come along, Potter.’

‘Where?’

‘As you so nicely demonstrated your skill at ‘alohomora’ this morning, I shall probably need your assistance in gaining access to Hermione’s room so I can talk to her. I don’t feel like physically breaking in the door.’

‘Oooh, not a good idea, professor. This is Hermione!’

‘Why does everyone act that way about her?’ Snape wondered out loud.

A/N: I’m sorry. No citron until the next chapter.

My wonderful husband feels that my use of a time travel device is less than cricket. However, I merely follow the Goddess Rowling’s example. I hope that I have not committed a flammable offense and people will keep reading in spite of its use. There are still some surprises (and at least one lemon) ahead.

If anyone would like to do a good imitation Trelawney prophesy, I’d be very interested to see it. I looked at the one in POA and was quite uninspired to do my own.

‘Jaffa Cake: The light combination of sponge, dark chocolate and tangy orange that forms the unique Jaffa Cake was introduced over 60 years ago. Over 750 million are eaten every year.’
http://www.britishdelights.com/jacobs.htm
YUM!

A special thanks to the people who gave their comments and support: Tegan, Giova, Halo, Islandgirl, and Leftywrite.

Please R&R ‘ I’ve had a wonderful time writing this and I am very sad about coming to the final chapters.
- 6
- 7
- 8
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When the Magic's Gone