"Here," he said, unfolding the map again, "White Cottage, just outside of Torquay."
Granger nodded again, raised her elbow a little so he could grasp her arm and he held it rather tightly before she closed her eyes and he closed his eyes and he felt the almost unfamiliar tug on the navel and was spun away.
47. Logical Consequences
The general fact, that certain claims follow logically from others, is the central concern of a theory of logical consequence. Logical consequence is just the relation that connects a given claim or set of claims with those things that follow logically from it; to say that B is a logical consequence of A is simply to say that B follows logically from A. All of ordinary reasoning turns on the recognition of this relation. When one notices, for example, that a certain prediction follows from a given theory, that a particular view is a consequence of some initial commitments, that a collection of premises entails a given conclusion, and so on, one is engaged in reasoning about logical consequence.
(Blanchette in Goble, 2001)
The long and the short of it was that White Cottage just outside Torquay was not only empty but a ruin. No wonder if was still in possession of the Blacks, Hermione thought. There weren't even four walls anymore, only three. And Aideen, was nowhere to be seen, there weren't even wards around it and she expected that much at least. She hoped, at least, that wherever Aideen had been hidden, wards had been erected. She could undo them and could be useful. Even though Snape probably wouldn't want her to be.
If they found Aideen — it was still possible, she thought, that she hadn't been kidnapped by Andromeda Black, that she was in the hands of some raping Muggle, some raping, killing, insane Muggle. Those things happened and Aideen was a beautiful woman. She was young and she had been on her own, everything could have happened.
She hoped though that Aideen had been taken by Andromeda. It would definitely simplify their search, there were, after all, only three more places she could be hidden, if she had been taken by Mrs Tonks.
But — this wasn't it. She looked at Snape who seemed to grumble a little, then pulled the map from the back pocket of her jeans. "Where to next?" she asked softly.
He still grumbled, then took the map from her hands and studied it intently. A long, slender finger with neatly cut nails pointed at another point they had marked, somewhere in Southern Wales. She closed her eyes and remembered the picture she had looked at in the book and after a moment, she nodded a little and raised her elbow as she had done before. His grasp was firm but his hand warm on her bare elbow and as soon as she noticed him having a tight, but not hurting grip, she pictured the old mansion in her head and apparated away — a second later, she landed and felt herself pushed back.
Wards.
They — her and Snape — landed in a heap on the grassy ground. He was actually half on her, one of his legs rather unseemly between hers and one of his hands on her stomach just beneath her right breast. She blushed — and immediately scrambled away from underneath him. Couldn't think now what this short, albeit rather, well, intimate, contact had done to her body and to her spine and the bottom of her stomach. She could think about that tingling and that deep, longing feeling later. Not now. And now that blush had to go as well. She tried to take a deep breath and that came out a bit, well, oddly, and got in a bit, well, oddly and her lungs weren't filled with air at all. His leg between hers and his flat hand on her stomach and...no.
Not thinking about it and her face still was so very hot and probably the brightest possible red ever. She didn't dare to look at him. It was her fault, after all, that she hadn't thought about wards and had wanted to apparate straight in front of the building. She shut her eyes tightly for a moment, then decided to just pretend that those things happened and straightened and looked straight into his eyes.
"Sorry," she said quickly with half a shrug and the blush seemed to retreat, the hotness of her face going all the way back to her stomach and other parts of her body. Snape was still only crouching and so she could look down at him, and she wasn't sure whether that was a good idea since she had a perfect view of the tip of his left ear, the hair tucked behind it, and that tip of that ear was bright red as well, when the rest of his face was just as pale as always.
"But wards are a good sign, right?" she said in a light tone, forcing the hot feeling in her body away, just as she had forced the blush back. Seriously, she wasn't some teenager anymore (well, technically, she still was but those few days...who counted anyway) who blushed and felt hot and bothered just because someone touched her accidentally. And not even on those places that were usually, well, considered, well, intimate. Just close to them but, well, the blush threatened to return and inwardly, she scowled at it. It wouldn't do. They had a job to do now. Indecent thoughts — well — she could have those later. Or ignore them.
He merely harrumphed as an answer, then got up from the grass and straightened to his full height. He looked long at her and his eyes were rather hard, she thought.
"You stay back," he said sternly.
"But..." she began, then calmed herself and counted to ten. It wouldn't work to blurt out an argument. She had to think, then speak slowly. That was the only way she could get through to him. She counted to ten again, then took a deep breath which actually transported air in her lungs, some much needed air. "Don't you think there are more wards?" she asked slowly.
He grumbled as he had done before, then shook his head. "You stay back," Snape said, with more force this time, then began walking towards the house she only noticed now. It was much less impressive than it had been on the picture. It wasn't particularly large, not particularly well-kept. Ivy grew all over the place and the house was completely covered by it. But who would ward a place like this? She only stepped through the anti-apparition wards, and slowly followed him. He couldn't possibly think that she would let him go there alone, without a wand to back him up. He looked over his shoulder, suddenly and she stopped in her tracks — but too late and he scowled at her, then just kept on walking.
She followed, her wand at the ready, keeping her eyes on him. Not thinking about that thigh that had touched hers. She wouldn't. Not now. Now as more important and she couldn't go all weird just because they had fallen on a heap.
She filled her lungs with air once more, then freed her mind from the memory of his body on hers, and walked after him.
.
That idiotic girl. Had messed up her apparition of course. Couldn't even remember that one was catapulted back from apparition wards and he had been the one to suffer from it. Landing on her. And yes, for heaven's sake, his leg had landed between hers and his hand had landed somewhere just south of her breast and oh well, it had clearly been a woman's body. But she had been so utterly embarrassed, and had then caught herself and had apologised. Not that he liked that, well, that it had happened in the first place but as far as he could see, at least all of his body parts were still there and probably even intact.
And the insolence. She was following him even though he had told her to stay put. It had been a soft body though. The skin on her stomach warm through her t-shirt and her thighs were...no.
Not thinking about that.
Aideen. The number of wards he felt, and passed through, and oddly enough, they registered in his brain — anti-apparition, anti-muggle, anti-intruder. That should have technically gone off the moment he had passed through — but maybe...maybe it was his squib-status, or maybe it was because it had been weakly cast.
It was odd really, but before he could help himself, he looked over his shoulder once more and made a signal with his hand. It was like he was describing a half-circle and she stopped immediately, stopped and waved her wand around and smiled at him.
He could only scowl and tried not to remember the feeling of his hand on her stomach. He didn't like her. He didn't like her at all but she had felt like a woman underneath him. And the way she had wriggled to get up had felt like...no. He would wring her neck for having them fall on a heap. But when had been the last time he had a woman underneath him? A decade? A little less? A little more? Who knew exactly?
Oh well, he did but he did not want to think about it — and much less he wanted to think about it now. Now he had someone to rescue, now he had Aideen to find. He had to think about Aideen, not about a woman writhing, well, wriggling, underneath him. It had been a silly incident, nothing that either him nor her had done on purpose. It had just happened and it had been a coincidence they had landed the way they had. It hadn't been anything. And he didn't care that it had been Granger. Firm thighs.
He shook his head and walked on, passing a Notice-me-not-charm which didn't work because they knew about the house already and had almost reached the front door when he looked over his shoulder again and she was still busy undoing all the wards.
He had to give this to her, she had left the anti-apparition and the anti-Muggle wards. Usually, the removal of one or two in a myriad of wards went unnoticed.
Honestly speaking, she had behaved herself almost alright. She had obeyed and she had brought, once more, reasonable arguments. It seemed, almost, as if she was learning from spending time around him. Not a lot of time, mind, but that much had seemed enough. She wasn't blurting out her opinion but she waited a moment and expressed it carefully. Quite admirable, for someone like her.
And her skin had been...
No. Didn't matter. He turned to the front door and pulled the pepper-spray from his pocket and raised it slightly. He didn't knock either but merely tried to open the door and it did, miraculously. It just opened. Creaked a bit too.
Oh, it had been a while since he had done something like this and he could almost feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins, through his bloodstream. He took a deep but silent breath. Silence was important. He knew where Andromeda Tonks was hiding or if she was there, if anyone was there. But the excitement alone, the excitement of entering a strange house for a special purpose was uplifting. It was something so familiar and so wonderful and so...his hand automatically grasped his wand but of course it wasn't there and he just switched the can of pepper-spray from his left hand to his right, holding onto it. He took another deep breath and then pressed himself tightly against a wall and listened.
There was absolutely no sound at first. There was nothing, and then, in the dim light in that dark hall with elf-heads lining the walls (well, the Blacks had strange taste), there was a loud scream.
Severus could feel his eyes widening but waited a moment, pressed underneath of the head of Dinky the Obsolete Elf. More screams, or the same scream held for a long time. Not a word, just a scream. It was agonising, it was painful. He gripped the pepper-spray more tightly and on silent soles, followed the scream.
.
He had just vanished inside of the house. He had just turned the handle and had walked inside. Nothing to keep him back, nothing to stop him there.
Hermione couldn't tell if she was worried or curious or anything else, maybe it was a mixture of all of those feelings, and maybe she just wanted to be in the midst of all of this as well. Hell, she was quick with her wand and she was apt with her curses and spells. She could fight, she had proven that time and time again and he obviously still saw her as the little girl that had to be protected.
Her eyesbrows shot up at that thought. Oh yes, it was a very Snape-like thing to do, protecting others in putting himself in the line of danger. How often had he done that without any of them noticing? Without any of them caring? Not this time. This time, she cared. This time, she didn't want to be protected — or she did want to be protected — but she wanted to acknowledge it as well. She wanted to tell him, wanted to let him know that she knew what he was doing. That he still put himself into danger while she was bored outside.
No. She couldn't let this happen and gingerly stepped into the house as well. It smelled like mouldy, dead meat inside and when her eyes got used to the darkness, she saw the lines of house elf heads. She felt the bile rising in her throat, then bravely swallowed it. It wasn't, after all, the first time she had seen such things. She pressed herself against the wall, listening.
Not a sound to be heard but she knew better than to cry for anyone, to shout. For a moment, she just listened. For a moment, she heard nothing and then...
Rapid footsteps on a stair. A stair behind her. She pressed herself even tighter against the wall, tried to blend into the darkness.
Her eyes had adjusted to the dark and it took her only a moment to see the figure on the stairs. The figure was Snape — with something in his arms. She gasped softly, then rushed towards him, her wand raised.
"Granger!" she spat. "Didn't I tell you...?"
Her eyes were drawn to the person in his arms. It was Aideen, clinging to him, one arm hanging limply down as if it didn't belong to her body, broken openly, a bit of bone stuck through the skin and it made Hermione gasp again.
"Is that..." she whispered and he sent her a glare.
"Outside," he said stiffly and carried Aideen in his arms, her friend with her head buried in Snape's neck and one of her arms around the neck as well, trembling, or shivering, or maybe just out in shock but whimpering softly.
"Calm, Aideen," Snape said softly in her ear and Hermione only heard because she followed hot on his heels. Not thinking about how he sounded. Not thinking how gently he carried her. Now was really not the moment. "It's alright. We got you out," he told her then and as soon as they were out in front of the house, he sat down on the steps, Aideen in his lap, cradling her head to him and stroking her back gently before he turned his eyes on her.
"You will take her to the hospital. The Muggle hospital and the closest one around here," he said, "and then you will bring me Veritaserum."
"I..."
"Do not interrupt me, Granger," he hissed. "I don't care where you get it but you'd do well to bring it fast. I will be waiting here."
Hermione stood stockstill and stared at him.
"Are you waiting for Father Christmas to show up?" he snarled. "I think it's safe to put a Featherlight Charm on her. Go. Now."
