Certain Dark Things || Book Three

viii. by the sea

By this point in her life, Harriet was no stranger to trouble and dire circumstances.

She'd lived through Professor Quirrell's kidnapping. She'd escaped a wizard intruding into her tent. She'd even survived an encounter with a Basilisk—and yet, none of those happenings had the same fervor she encountered at this moment with Snape's hand welding a bruise into the skin of her arm. His harried movements dragged Harriet and Elara both through the entirety Grimmauld Place and didn't stop until they reached the kitchen.

"Your father has escaped from Azkaban."

Harriet didn't know much about Elara's father. She knew he'd been imprisoned for all of Elara's life and that he'd committed a crime violent enough to ensure a permanent life sentence. He was the Head of the Black family and Harriet had a nebulous understanding of what that meant, more so in what responsibilities it gave Elara as the family's proxy. She'd always thought of him in the abstract—that he existed, or had existed, and was now beyond their reach and rightfully so.

Hearing Snape tell Elara her father had escaped prison was like having him turn to Harriet and say her dad had just popped out of his grave.

"Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office!"

The Potions Master threw Harriet and Elara into the green fire headfirst, Harriet sucking in a mouthful of ash, choking, her cheek scraping the inside of the hearth. By pure luck did she manage to hold onto Livi as the Floo activated and the horrid, crushing pressure yanked them away. Harriet slammed her eyes shut and held her breath, waiting for it to end, the spiraling seeming to go on and on until—

She slowed and blinked, gasping at the sudden burst of fresh air smacking into her face. Harriet yelped as something hard knocked into her ankles and she fell with a thud.

When her ears stopped ringing and her head stopped spinning, Harriet heard retching, followed by a wet splat.

"Wonderful, Black."

Snape's drawl emanated from somewhere above and Harriet felt the hem of his robes brush her legs as he came out of the fire and stepped over them. She peeled her stinging cheek off the floor and grabbed her glasses, almost putting her hand in the puddle sick as she sat up. Cloth rustled and Professor Dumbledore appeared in her line of sight, the older wizard frowning at Snape as he waved his hand to vanish the mess and helped a nauseous Elara to her feet.

The exhaustion of traveling by magical means from London to the highlands settled on Harriet's already tired shoulders and she slumped forward, shaking her head to rid herself of the sudden spots blooming in her vision.

"Potter!" Snape snapped, much to her irritation, and when Harriet glanced up, she found his arm extended toward her. For one mad second, she thought he meant to help her upright. "Get these off of me."

"Ssss...."

"Kevin bitesss!"

"Bitesss the rude one!"

In the mad rush from the house, Snape had managed to snag hold of Kevin and Rick—who had, in turn, sank their tiny teeth into his flesh in several places, his wand still clenched tight in his fist. Harriet lurched forward to detangle them—all while Snape glared at the top of her head like he wanted to set her on fire and Livi made aggressive hissing noises at the wizard. Meanwhile, Professor Dumbledore settled Elara in one of his visitor chairs, pressing a cup of tea into her shaking grasp.

"Let go, Kevin," she told the green snake, coaxing him free. It was then that Harriet noticed a curious scar on Snape's hand; it looped around his palm and part of his knuckles, disappearing into his sleeve. It couldn't be wider than a hair, white in color, and almost shiny. She'd never spotted it from a distance before and thought it odd-looking. Snape seemed to realize where her attention had gone and hurried to pry Rick loose, shoving him into her hands before stepping away.