At the sound of the midnight hour the next day, Hermione and Snape started from the inn to go to the pawnshop again, as they had previously discussed. He had taken a long time tinkering with his bags and his potions, like an old man- as pointed out by Hermione- and she was making her frustration known by stomping down the stairs and tossing her now blonde hair behind her.
When she had gone down for lunch that day, Madam Hestia had teased her by asking why she and Snape needed to sneak out at night since she had given them the best room to do their business *wink-wink*, but she guessed they were still just shy. And Hermione had no answer for her. So now, she didn't even bother being stealthy about it as they went out, since she figured the surprisingly perceptive elderly inn-keeper would be privy of it anyway.
Snape and Hermione retraced their steps back to the dingy old shop, without any issue on the way and were greeted by the same little goblin. But he was expecting them this time, so he looked a little less sour. They had dropped their cover right before entry and marched up to the high chair, expecting good news. The other goblin looked up from his paperwork, "Ah, yes," he grunted as he got up and proceeded to climb down from his seat. "The Dominus is waiting for you." He looked like he was reluctant to go about it but since he had taken the payment, he was obligated to do his part, as he said, "Through here," and he put up his palm on an ordinary patch of wall behind the counter, which slowly started to transform. Right before their eyes, the curved wood spread on the concrete to reveal a passageway that leads to the back room.
As soon as the door was opened, the tenuous chords of Beethoven floated in and they followed the music to take tentative steps towards another door. As they went past that door, suddenly they were thrown into the midst of blackness, permeated by nothing but glittering stars. It was like they had traveled outside the earth and were now standing in open space. The walls of the room had been enchanted to look like the night sky decorated with tiny specks of shimmering dust and Hermione's eyes took a minute to adjust to the sudden lack of light.
The faint music playing from somewhere was encompassing them from all directions and the ambiance that had been created was one of eternal peace and quiet- it was almost hypnotic.
"Dominus," Snape had spotted his friend seated there somewhere in the dark, "It was good of you to come."
But she felt him halt beside her, as the man slowly turned his head in their general direction. The enchanting glow was making the mysterious man somewhat visible and Hermione gasped inaudibly as he raised his eyes and she saw his sightless, muddied irises staring blankly at them.
"S-severus...is that you?" His voice and manner seemed like they belonged to a man a hundred years older than him as he beckoned them closer, gesturing vaguely through the emptiness.
"Dom...your eyes...!" Snape exclaimed.
"Ah, yes... I wish that was the only thing they took...so much for me being the eyes and ears of the wizarding world..."
As they approached nearer, they noticed the flaps of his ears were also non-existent, a festering and grotesque scar present where his ears should have been, the skin pulled back and darkened like it had been burnt- no doubt with dark magic. He could see nothing and could hear very little, and his voice was broken, cracked, like it was coming out with some difficulty and they wondered where else he was hurt. He sat there hunch-backed, crippled, and looked like he had no connections with the outside world.
"Who did this to you?" Snape inquired, a slight note of anger and astonishment in his voice, since he didn't think that he could be attacked like this. It was illicit to cause any harm to the king's messenger- the same unspoken rule applied to the Dominus. His dominion was on no man's land.
"You can count the stars behind you, but you won't be able to count my enemies," he replied, waving a hand at the conjured sky. He gave a wry smile which made his eyes look glossy, reflecting the thousands of galaxies that he would never get to see. "And most of them are not hiding behind Death-eater masks but behind smiling faces. They were waiting for the war to happen, so that they could take a bite out of me, claiming to be avenging their side for the secrets I had given out."
Hermione noticed there was a little white rat crawling on him and wondered whether he was aware of it. Snape was looking intently at his old pal, seemingly too concerned about his condition.
"How did you know it was me?" he asked, "Did the goblins tell you?"
Hermione doubted whether that voice could be mistaken for anybody else but the Dominus gathered up the little creature in his hand and nestled it in his palms- it seemed to be his pet rat after all, and brought it close to the hole that was his ear now. He seemed to be hearing it whisper in his ear as he said somewhat maniacally, "Hermes...no more, you are Mercury no more! They said as they plucked my feathers...but alas they forget, I have a hoard of knowledge right here," he pointed at his head, "Lores and wisdom collected from years of tidings with both darkness and light. They couldn't touch that... it's rusty, yes, but it's there."
Hermione shifted closer to Snape, watching him verging into madness. "But I have my ways...still.." He let the rat go from one palm to another, scurrying up his shoulder to the other arm, carefully manipulating its movements like a graceful air bender. Suddenly he dropped his crazed manner to say, "A little bird told me, you were here for some more of that, weren't you, Severus?"
As if on cue, a flock of three or four sparrows suddenly magically appeared out of nowhere and started circling over his head, twittering. "Do you require my services one last time?"
"Please, if I may, sir," Hermione cleared her throat to speak, making him jerk his head up in her direction, "We were wondering if you could tell us where we can find one Abraham Townsend?"
"Who- who's that?" he inquired, confused, his vacant eyes searching in dismay.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," she said, flustered, "It's Hermione, sir. Hermione Granger."
"Ah, Ms. Granger...what an honour," he exclaimed reaching across to take her hand. She placed her palm in his and he covered it with his other hand, lingering in his greeting, as if he was trying to memorize her touch. "It truly is an honour to have you grace these halls. It's a pity to have no vision in the presence of such beauty..."
"You flatter me..." she said, "Though, I am so sorry for your loss."
"As am I," he remarked, "for your's."
She watched him expectantly as he sat back and started thinking. "Townsend...Townsend...If I remember correctly, he worked for the Ministry of magic." Snape and Hermione confirmed that and told him of his connections with the cases that have been happening. They just needed to know if they could get a hold of him somewhere outside, where he wasn't flanked by Ministry police on both sides.
"Yes," If his eyes had any colour it would surely have lit up as realization struck, "He frequents a gentleman's club in Paddington in the west end. It's a night club and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want anyone to know what he's up to in there, so he leaves his guards outside. Sometimes even lets them have a sickle or two to enjoy lapdances and strip shows. I believe you're bound to cross paths with him if you wait there. But uh, I forget the name...and I dunno if he still goes there...Christ, is this what I've come to?"
"Don't worry about it, this is plenty," Hermione supplied, "Thank you, so much."
"Another thing," Snape suddenly said, when she thought they were ready to leave, "I don't suppose..." He produced a torn envelope from inside the pocket of his robes. He didn't want to say it was useless to show the Dominus a piece of parchment and expect him to make anything of it, but he was willing to try. "What can you tell me about this?"
The Dominus took the paper from his hand and felt around it, screwing up his face in thought. Hermione recognized it to be the envelope that Ron had received from Snape; she was surprised he had kept it all this time, after she had confronted him about it the first time she came over to his house. Perhaps he wanted to know who had sent it to him. That could be a valuable clue as to who was behind all this.
He brought the parchment to his nose, smelt it and mumbled something like "Cheap stationary...little traces of sewer water...wax seal, no...candlewax...", brushed his fingers over the inscription on top and his brows furrowed, probably because he didn't think they should be there since Snape had written those himself and then he summoned his pet rat to give it a sniff and then brought it close to his ear again, as if the rat could reveal its secrets. A grin spread across his face once he was able to identify it correctly. "The rats have seen a few of these during their times underground. My birds have spotted them from far up high. The contents of them I cannot tell but the bearer of this message certainly does not bring good news. I'm surprised one of them ended up in your possession, though you've never been quite blessed with luck, have you?"
"Can you tell me who the message bearer is?"
"Could be anybody," he said, "He has an army working for him...hundreds."
"An army?! Under his command?" Hermione asked, stunned.
"Not under his command. They have joined him willingly. The Mad King, they call him. They treat him like one too."
Hermione and Snape looked at each other, their faces mirroring the fearful anticipation and confusion regarding this piece of information and they got up to leave, thanking him all the same. However, he suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Hermione's wrist, which was the closest thing he could reach.
"Be warned," he said in the same hysterical tone, making Hermione's heart race as she grabbed onto Snape's arm, taken by surprise, "Remember, he is not the threat you need to be wary of. The real enemy is out there...where the rats can't dig and the birds can't see. You are not the first ones who came seeking my knowledge. Another came...his voice I could not quite place, but he bore a piece of parchment that belonged to the same set- the one you just showed. He knows about you."
Then as suddenly as he began, he assumed silence again; he dropped her hand and went back to staring vacantly at the enchanted sky, giving no impression that he was speaking like a man possessed, just a second ago.
"Are you okay?" Snape asked, after they had come out of the shop and were walking back to the inn.
Honestly, she wasn't sure, what's with the recent revelations, but she said, "I'm fine," while massaging her wrist. "Can you make any sense of what he said? I've got so many questions...but I didn't want to stay there any longer. He was so creepy..."
"I'm still trying to put all the pieces together..."
"Why was he speaking in such a sinister fashion? Who was he talking about? Who is this Mad King? And apparently, he has an army?! What is his plan? And why did he wait till the end to tell us about him?"
"And apparently he is not the 'real enemy'," said Snape, his face deep in thought, "So the question is- then who?"
"Could it be our biker dude?" she asked.
"Unlikely," he said, "Though I can't rule out the possibility. But I think, he's not a real player... more of an observer."
"And this new guy...he was searching for the sender of that letter too. Is he a friend or a foe?"
"I don't know...but the other guy, he doesn't strike me as someone who is entirely without fault, either. He has an underground network but he sends out his soldiers to do his job, or gather intel. They hide in plain sight...that's how he has been getting things done. One of them has to be the one who is orchestrating the whole thing."
Hermione thought, this Mad King was the one who brought about Ron's death, perhaps he wanted to kill Snape instead, but he certainly sent the letter that started everything, but the other guy definitely played a part in all this too- otherwise, how could he have the letter that was most likely taken from Ron's corpse. Perhaps she was thinking too much, but the Dominus's words had seemed ominous.
"I have another question," she continued, as they neared the street where the inn was, "Do all your friends have this weird manner of talking, trying to sound all mysterious and pausing for dramatic effect, just like you?"
He gave her that sideways glance of annoyance that she had come to find amusing, and put all serious thoughts on hold as he joined in. "As opposed to talking unrestrained for hours on end, like you?"
"Oh come on, I know you secretly loved it when I answered your questions in class, without getting called on."
"Then you and I have very different memories of Hogwarts, Ms. Granger."
"I know for a fact that it gave you an excuse to make your snide remarks and take away house points," she said, laughing, as they reached the foyer of the inn. "And, are you ever going to stop calling me 'Ms. Granger'? It's getting ridic- "
At first she had forgotten to make sure Madam Hestia was still sleeping at the desk where they had last seen her, but as her eyes fell on the counter and she couldn't spot her torso peeping behind the desk, she knew there was something wrong. She could sense Snape stiffening up next to her as well. Her smile disappeared and in the split second it took for her to realize, she heard a voice from behind them.
"Ms. Granger...we have been waiting for you."
In a moment, Snape was beside her, wand drawn and she had hers out as well, taking a defensive stance. The place was otherwise empty, or they had cleared the premises so that they could spring on them unnoticed and Hermione and Snape were now facing three men and a woman, who had been lying in wait in the lobby. They didn't look like Ministry guards or detectives, who were generally sharply dressed; their faces were imperturbable, clothes ordinary and seemingly old and unkempt and one of them even had dirt and grime on their hands. But most importantly, they had been waiting here for them, and there were four of them, which only meant they could be a threat and they were here to get what they want. Hermione's eyes roved around for an escape route and she spotted a portion of Madam Hestia's hand sticking out from behind the reception desk, her glasses lying askance on the floor.
"Who are you? What do you want? And what have you done to Madam Hestia?" she demanded.
"I assure you she's fine," said the man who had spoken first. He spoke in a reassuring tone, but he made a movement with his eyes to his teammates and they began to subtly spread apart, trying to surround them. "We don't want to cause a scene." Snape and Hermione stood together strong, although they slowly started to back away. The exit door was being blocked by one of the men.
"There's no need to worry, we just wanna talk." said the woman, who was not much older than Hermione. Even though they said such things, they produced their wands from their pockets and their eyes betrayed the fact that they expected resistance.
This made it even more clear that they needed to get out of there.
"I don't have anything to say, except that you leave us alone," Hermione said as she tried to take a chance at apparating but found an intense force blocking her. They had probably incantated the place to prevent apparition. She saw Snape look at her and convey that he had failed too. She could see the wheels in his head turning.
"Do you want money?" he said while scaling up the four of them, judging who was going to attack first, "You wanna claim the prize money by handing us over, is that it?"
"Don't try to debase us!" One of the men shouted and was halfway through spitting out a hex when the woman stopped him with an urgent expression, saying, "No!"
"We just want her." The grimy man looked at Hermione with downright hunger and desperation in his eyes.
"You work for the Ministry?" Snape coaxed again, while inching his way towards the stairs, "What is it? A lumpsum amount for Hermione Granger and Serverus Snape dead or alive?"
The previously indignant man grew even more impatient. "I told you we needed to get rid of him." he told his colleague.
This outraged Hermione so that she almost didn't hear the supposed leader say, "The Mad King wants to see you."
"Well you can tell him to go fuck himself!" With this Hermione shot a hex at him and simultaneously the three of the others shot curses, not at her, but Snape. Fortunately, he was able to fend them off by reversing their spells and the two of them ran for the stairs taking the opportunity of their attackers being enfeebled temporarily.
They almost made it to the landing when one of them grabbed Hermione by the ankle and she nearly fell on her face, but she was hurled out of balance. "You're. Coming. With. Us." the man pronounced as he dragged her downwards, while Snape was trying to pull her up. He couldn't perform apparition as there was a chance Hermione could get splinched. So he aimed his wand at him and blasted him off of her.
In that time one of his buddies caught up with them and shot a curse directly over their heads so that half of the roof was blown off and it landed on them making the whole staircase crash down. Snape put up a shield to protect them from the wooden splinters and bricks and took most of the brunt of the fall himself. Hermione scrambled to find her wand.
"Are you crazy?" said the woman, who looked at them astonished, when they came out of the rubble with nothing more serious than minor cuts and injuries. She behaved as if all this violence was needless, "We said we don't want to cause you harm."
"You shouldn't have tried to hurt Severus, then." Hermione's eyes were glowing with rage and she hexed the parapet to collapse on top of them and the walls to cave in on them. There was an amazed look on Snape's eyes as she helped him up, right before she burst a window off it's hinges and they jumped through it, turning in midair and apparating out of sight.
*****************************
"Did you know, you made a hairbreadth's escape that day?"
Graham Gore's question made Hermione feel like she had been midair till now, just like when she and Snape had jumped out of that window and for a few seconds were hovering in nothing but air, till they apparated, and now she felt like she landed sharply on a hard and cold surface. She remembered she was sitting at the desk in the Ministry's isolation facilities talking to the Senior Directorate of magical law enforcement for God only knew how long.
"The Ministry police missed you by a couple of seconds. Your buddies also scattered soon after and we had to deal with the mess you all left behind," Gore said in a chastising tone, "The innkeeper, Madam Hestia was given immediate medical attention but she was mostly unhurt and five or six people who were still there were rescued."
Hermione didn't reply but she was glad everyone was okay. She had read the news on the papers that the Ministry had claimed the incident to be another gallant effort of theirs to catch Hermione and Snape, saying that the police had found them out and tried to politely ask them to surrender but they had attacked and escaped, causing a lot of property damage and endangering the lives of the residents.
Graham looked at her with curiosity. "So who was it that gave you away?"
She thought of it for a while, then extraordinarily a smirk appeared at the corner of her mouth. She had learned how to build up suspense from a certain someone. "It's suffice to say, I didn't know whom to trust anymore. There were literally eyes and ears all around us."
"You sound like this story has a lot of betrayals coming up..."
Hermione felt like swinging one leg over the other, like they do in movies, give a scoff, take a long drag from a cigarette, take her time to release the smoke and say, "You ain't seen nothing yet, my friend."
[AN: Hey guys! If you're liking this story please keep voting and give comments. It would give me some much needed encouragement. Thank you 💗 Much appreciated]