So damned tired. He watched her crestfallen features from behind his invisibility. Too damned tired. Couldn't think. Not even a decent Obliviate left. Hell, couldn't even shove the cat off his legs.

He leaned his head back. Think, dammit, think. Before... He had planned to wait, regain his strength, disappear. Spinner's End was already disenchanted and sold. Arrangements had been made. Later... a house deep in the Canadian mountains, perhaps. Or in Cathay, Nippon, Indochina... The world had been open to him.

But now... He was faced with a girl and her cat.

He dropped his invisibility. Useless now, anyway.

~ ~ ~ ~
He looked ghastly. It was her first reaction and though she was ecstatic to see him, the evaluation was correct. His features were haggard. His clothing had been pulled back; Nagini's bite showed horribly dark and ragged against pale skin. She bit her lip. She'd come so close to losing him. Her fingers twitched but she left them in place. She couldn't afford to lose her control now.

After a single, ragged breath, she turned to her cat. "Crooks, fetch Bubo for me, would you?" A yowled opinion, a glare, and Crookshanks leapt off of Snape, vanishing through the doorway.

~ ~ ~ ~
Still vaguely stunned, Severus gazed at the room around him. There was, apparently, quite a bit about Miss Granger that nobody knew. For instance, the fact that she possessed an owl, an ordinary-looking thing called 'Bubo.' Or the fact that she owned- owned!- a two-story cottage on the east coast of Scotland.

She'd brought him here. A place nobody had ever seen or even known of. And he still didn't know why.

If she'd wanted him alive, she'd have taken him to the Order. If she'd wanted him dead... that would have been even easier. So why bring him here?

~ ~ ~ ~
Hermione watched him in her kitchen mirror as she boiled water for two instant soups. Too damned tired to make anything else. She was afraid to take any potions; she only vaguely remembered what she'd been on the receiving end of- rather not think about it whatsoever, actually- and didn't want to chance an adverse reaction. It was the same reason she'd not yet given Sever- Proffe- Snape anything either. Not that he'd take it, anyway.

Well, then, instant soup would just have to do for now. She hefted the tray and made her way upstairs, Crookshanks leading the way.

~ ~ ~ ~
He blinked at the white plastic bowls.

"It's got calories." Hermione shrugged. "We both need something."

"Something," he drawled, poking it dubiously with his spoon, "is precisely what it is."

She sighed, leaning back into the chair she'd pulled up to the bed. He watched her curiously. "You're exhausted," he commented.

"Oh, excellent observation," she replied dryly. "Being tortured by a madwoman and then fighting for your life will do that to a person, you know."

"I do."

She glanced at him. "We're both in damned sorry states, aren't we?"

He rather thought she wasn't just talking about the physical.


9/19/07
(A/N:Cookies to those who recognize the origin of the owl's name.)