Chapter Text
An ominous neon red-orange light shone in through the small gaps in the horizontal blinds.
Ordinarily, the sign off the take-away next-door carried only the normal amount of foreboding expected of a 24-hour kebabs-and-dry cleaning, but the thick fog added a certain je ne sais quoi to it.
Severus recognized it as magic, familiar magic at that, and he peered through the slats, hairs on his arms raised as he waited for the Disillusioned stranger to make themselves known. Leaning against the grimy wall of the flat, wand gripped tightly in his hand, he did his best to ignore the witch beside him who was practically buzzing with anxiety as they watched the street below.
"Can you...stop shaking so much?" he whispered. "It's distracting."
"I'm sorry, but how am I supposed to keep still when he's—" She made a sharp motion with her hands to accompany her words, but he sternly stopped her.
"Quiet! Do you want to get caught? To draw attention‽" he groused, but there was no menace behind his words, before he swiftly changed his position; the figure was seemingly in motion, and he wasn't going to let them disappear.
Not this time.
Severus was light on his feet as he gave the hand signal for his partner to follow him.
Hermione clutched the borrowed Invisibility Cloak, throwing it over them before grabbing Severus’ arm as he Apparated them to a shadowy spot across the street. Her silent Muffilato was cast around them before the splash of the small puddle they landed in hit the pavement in the alley once more; their routine was as well-practised as a dance by now.
Not two paces ahead of them, the splash of water from the disillusioned footfall of their suspect alerted them to their exact coordinates, and after a shared look they surged forward.
Severus was quick with his disarming spell, grabbing their quarry's wand mid-air as his partner was ready with her stunner. There was a sickening wet thump as their target landed in the puddle, unconscious but still Disillusioned.
Severus glanced at Hermione, still hidden next to him beneath the cloak in the too-small space, and said, “At last, the easy part is done.”
"Severus," Hermione hissed, blinking quickly. Her attention had not left the wand he had plucked from the air. "That's not his."
Severus pocketed the offending wand and scanned the area, searching for telltale signs. The fog around them felt thick with dark magic that seemed to be emanating from the stunned figure on the ground.
"It's a trap!" Hermione yelled as the world titled and Severus lost consciousness.
He woke to hushed but angry voices.
His head was throbbing, and he needed a few moments to regain his senses, but he remembered her hands gripping him, his head never getting the chance to meet the ground. With his eyes still closed, he growled, “Stop fussing over me!”
Hermione’s gentle hands—he wondered briefly why he knew they were hers—ceased their movements, and he found himself relieved when she did not withdraw entirely. Instead, she moved her hand up along his jaw, under his hair, and pressed the end of an Extendable Ear to his own, gesturing to the shadowed area the voices seemed to be coming from with her eyes.
"...the prophecy!" one of the voices snapped at the end of their sentence, tone filled with frustration.
Hermione dropped her hand to turn around, looking confused she asked, “Did they say something about a prophecy?”
“Shh," he hissed, as he struggled to sit upright and regain his bearings.
"...matter if she finds out you were bloody followed!" a second voice snarled.
Hermione’s eyes widened and as the blood drained from her face, she whispered, “Is that Malfoy?”
“I said keep quiet. Do you want them to know you’ve been eavesdropping?” Severus gently grabbed her arm and sighed. Even with the Extendable Ears they were only picking up dribs and drabs of the conversation, but he was almost certain he recognised the voices of both Lucius and Antonin Dolohov.
"...why she trusted...ever..."—Either the charm on the device was going or they were using a muffling charm of their own—"...absolute cock-up!"
Severus pulled his feet under himself and pulled the toy out of his ear.
He looked to his partner. From her shudder, he could tell she knew that Dolohov was nearby. He wasn't going to let her suffer at Dolohov's hand again, not while he drew breath.
They had no wands, but Severus knew that most Purebloods had a tendency to forget that magic was not the only means one had to inflict damage.
He looked again to find the signs that gave away someone hiding using magic; the weather was very helpful and he spotted their forms when he knew where to look.
Hermione stared at Severus for a long moment and he wondered what she was thinking, before she asked, “What’s our plan, Severus?”
"Same as always: watch my back and be prepared to stun them while I grab their attention," his voice was quiet as he slipped his wand into its sheath.
"Severus, that's not your wand, " Hermione whispered, jabbing a finger at the wand in his sheath—the one which he had taken off the now-unarmed figure earlier.
"Take it then. Use it, cover me," he handed her the wand and then stepped out of their cover, advancing on the hidden pair.
Hermione was startled by the gesture and almost dropped the wand. Hands shaking, she followed Severus.
Ignoring the knot forming in his gut, Severus lunged towards the silhouettes outlined by the rain, catching them unawares. His shoulder slammed into Dolohov's ribs and a rush of air escaped as Severus followed through, driving the man to the ground with his momentum.
From behind, he heard Hermione cast a stunning spell with the confiscated wand, followed by a wet thud as Lucius’ body hit the ground beside him.
Severus patted them down with a quick efficiency and found his and Hermione's wands, as well as Dolohov's.
But Dolohov was laughing—a manic, unsettling sort of laugh which never preceded anything good or easy—as he pulled up the sleeve on his right arm, revealing a mark and what was sure to be a Portkey tied around his wrist.
Before either Severus or Hermione could react, Dolohov tore the object from his wrist and was immediately ripped through the vortex, leaving them fixed in place with the stunned body of Lucius at their feet. He turned his gaze to his partner, and from the perplexed frown on her face, she was about as clued in as he was, with even more questions raised by the events that had transpired that evening.