Chapter Text
Your muscles were aching, you could hear your feet pounding against stone as you ran, and feel the blood in your shoes. But that didn't stop you from running. Running, through the woods and now through a neighborhood you knew were somewhere in Cokeworth, England. Spells blasted at you every few minutes as you tried to outrun the four grown men in death eater masks as they were chasing you.
You were running past old abandoned houses, and broken street lamps and you had run past an old murky river. Every bone in your body felt like it was about to break, but the adrenaline kept you running. You didn't even have an idea where to go, you just hoped you could find somewhere to hide until they passed you.
You had been in a cabin in the woods, about seven miles away from Cokeworth, you had retreated there some years ago when you were only twenty years old. You had been a target for the Death Eaters for a while now, for you had some information they needed, you were also in the order, which made them want you more. You thought you would have been safe in the woods. But the earlier sundown proved wrong. You had heard the gate swing open. No one has ever bothered you here, always you seeking them out, not the other way around. Only a selected few knew where you were located. You had slowly gotten up from the couch where you were reading and peeked out the small vertical window that the front door.
Four grown men dressed in those disgusting masks were striding up your front walkway. Your body immediately went into flight or flight mode and you grabbed your sneakers and tried to put them on as fast as you could. As soon as you tied up the last lace, you heard the front door fly open and people rush in. You immediately raced out the backdoor and hopped the wooden picket fence into the wood behind you. You thought maybe you slipped out just in time but about half a mile in did you hear spells hitting the trees around you.
Now, as you were running for your life down an alleyway, you had to lean against the wall to take a breath. Your chest heaved as your throat begged for water. Sweat was dripping down your forehead and arms as you prepared to run again, two hands pulled you back as someone grabbed you. They had one hand wrapped around your mouth so you couldn't scream, but as you turned around, your eyes widened in fear, you saw who snatched you.
Severus Snape.
You were about to tell him off when he raised his finger to his mouth and motioned for you to follow him. You were skeptical since you knew he was technically a death eater, but Dumbledore had assured you many times that he could be trusted. He had also shown up to numerous order meetings, stating his mind and, in your opinion, good suggestions. He moved stealthily through the alleyway and paused at the end. Looking both ways, he saw the coast was clear and grabbed your wrist and led you into the front door of one of the houses. His, you assumed.
As soon as you stepped into his house, an immediate throbbing graced your head. Snape retook your hand and led you to the living room. “Sit,” he pointed at the small sofa. You sat down as he moved towards what you guessed was the kitchen. Your feet were stinging with wounds and rocks and twigs had gotten into your shoes as you ran. You couldn't feel them until now.
As you carefully slipped off your shoes, hissing as you pulled them off. Your socks were pretty much soaked in blood, rocks had embedded themselves in your feet. You slowly peeled the sticky socks from your feet, tears brimming your eyes at the pain. You rolled up your socks and stuffed them inside your shoes as you lifted your feet onto the sofa.
You were inspecting your feet when you heard a throat clear from behind you. You jolted and smacked your feet down onto the floor, which made you slightly yelp and immediately retract them. Snape was standing there with a mug of tea, and a bottle full of some sort of blue liquid.
He strode over to the living area and set the tea on the coffee table. He then handed you the potion. You took it from his hands and looked up at him with a wary look. “For the aching.” he stated. You still hesitated for a moment before popping the cork and downing it one go. Surprisingly it didn't taste too bad.
You thanked him for it, but his eyes were fixated on your feet. He then turned away and marched up the stairwell. You turned your attention to the unlit fireplace. Only then did you realize you had left your wand back at your cabin. You would have lit it if you had it.
As you sipped on the tea, you heard rummaging through drawers upstairs. After a few minutes you heard heavy steps coming back down. Snape then appeared in front of you with a bottle of vodka, tweezers, cloth, and what seemed to gauze.
Your eyes widened as you already felt the pain in your feet start up, just thinking about having to get the stones out. You knew you had to, otherwise the skin would close up around them. You just hoped he would be gentle. “If you would allow me, I shall clean your feet.” he spoke. You nodded and closed your eyes as he sat on the other end of the couch. When he had unbottled the alcohol, he lightly touched your calf as an indication to lift it up. You did so as your foot settled in his lap. Snape lightly soaked the rag with the vodka, and you braced yourself.
He lightly touched one of the wounds with the cloth and you hissed and winced.
“Haa..” you breathed out, as he pushed a bit harder with the rag. He murmured an apology and lightly started to brush over your wounds. As he got to the ones near the sole of your foot you yelled out, which caused him to halt his movements. “I’m fine, I’m fine, just keep going.” you spoke barely above a whisper. He continued until he finished both of your feet. Now wrapping the gauze around them both. “Why are you helping me?” you softly said out loud. Snape looked up at you and stared at you for a few seconds before returning his gaze to your feet. “If Dumbledore found out I knew you were out here and just left you here, I'd suffer severely.”
You were a bit disappointed that he hadn't done it for your sake but for his. He finished wrapping your feet, then lifted them off his lap so your knees bent up to your chest a little. He then stood up and asked you, “are you hungry?” You nodded. He then strode back into the kitchen and closed the door behind him. You sat there on the sofa and leant backward on the armrest.
You were exhausted. Running over seven miles with no breaks was not on your agenda today. Your heart burned, you had sweat and dirt all over your body, your hair was a mess. The stress from today made tears spill over your eyes. Not because you were sad, but because you were frustrated that your hiding spot hasn't worked. You had thought you were okay in the middle of England, near an old town that was almost abandoned.
How had they found you? Did someone tell them? The only people who knew were you, Dumbledore, and a few people in the order. All these questions circling in your mind made your body even more exhausted.
You slowly slid down the expansion of the couch and your eyes fluttered closed. You fell into a sleep that was well needed.
…
You awoke to a hand on your shoulder. You slowly blinked as you sat up and turned around and found Snape standing there. “There's some food made. In the kitchen, if you would like it.” you nodded and carefully stood up. Your feet still stung but they felt better without all the stones and sticks in them. You made your way over to the kitchen, following behind him.
It was rather small, but big enough to have all the necessities and fit a small wooden table for two people. Two bowls of a sort of stew were placed on the table with a spoon placed by each one. You both sat down and began eating in silence. It wasn't awkward, just comfortable silence.
You were almost done with your bowl then he spoke. “Why were you running?” you looked up from your stew and replied, “I had four death eaters trailing me.” He looked at you somewhat confused. “I have some information, about the order, that they apparently need,’ you explained, “was hiding out in the woods not far from here. But they found me, I bolted out of there as fast as I could.”
He asked why they were chasing after you, and not the person who told you such information.
“It was my father, he was sort of the only person who really knew it,” you replied, “they were after him, but he passed away about 3 years ago, they had known he had told it to me, but as soon as my father passed Dumbledore hid me away in a cabin.” He stared at you, seeming to be processing what you said. The bowls of stew forgotten, he told you that he knew your father, he had just assumed he was in hiding with you.
You sighed as you remembered your father. You loved him, you really did. But the last few years prior to his death, he had turned into a completely different person. It seemed as if he had gone mad. When he died, you felt guilty for not feeling as sad as you should have been. But the man who had died was not your father. He died many years before that.
You relayed that back to Snape and he apologized for your loss. “Dont worry about it, I'm all good now,” you looked down at yourself, “Well not anymore, I just blew my only place to stay.”
He replied back quicker than he would've liked. “You may stay here, if you like.” you looked at him nonplussed. “Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude, I’m sure I have family somewhere-”
He cut you off. “It's alright, not a problem, but if you're going to be sleeping in one of my beds you'll need a shower.” You shook your head in agreement, he got up and cleared your bowls before he showed you the way to the bathroom.
…
As you stepped into the steaming hot shower, you felt your muscles relax. The feeling made you physically sigh in relief. The hot water streaming down your head onto your face and body felt like the best thing in the world at the moment. You looked down at your wrapped feet and knew you would have to change the bandages before you fell asleep.
Picking up the shampoo bottle, you poured some into your hair and scrubbed your scalp. It felt so good getting clean. After finishing with your hair, you moved onto your body. You scrubbed and scrubbed as all the dirt and dried blood washed down the drain. Once you finished you wrapped your body with a black towel that was hanging off the wall. You strode over to the mirror and wiped the steam off. You looked at your reflection, matted hair, which you needed to brush, a few cuts on your face from branches you couldn't swipe out of your way, and exhaustion.
You were contemplating on what to do for clothes when Snape knocked on the door. “I have some things you may need, where should I put them?” he inquired. “Just by the door should be fine. Thank you!” you called out. You heard a grunt and footsteps fading away.
You unclicked the door and found a fresh pair of clothes, with a comb and more gauze lay atop of them. You smiled and bent down to pick up the items. Since they were his clothes, they were a bit bigger on you, but they were fine. You immediately got dressed and picked up the comb. What usually sat at waist length was up to your chest with matts. You absolutely hated combing matted hair, but if you didn't want it to get worse you would have to.
After finishing with your hair, you sat on top of the closed toilet seat, gauze in hand. You slowly and cautiously unwrapped the bandages on your feet, and saw they had looked much better than they had when you had taken your shoes off on the sofa. They still hurt like hell though.
You wrapped the gauze around your foot carefully, making sure you didn't hurt yourself too much.
You had finished up in the bathroom, walking out and wondering where Snape was. Was he upstairs with me? You called out to him, and he emerged from a room on the other side of the hallway. “I was getting your room ready, are you alright?” You thanked him and told him you were fine, you just didn't know where he was.
He nodded and motioned you to follow him. He turned back around and into the room. When you got in there was a single bed, a rug, a nightstand, and a painting on one of the walls. There was a sleeping draught on the nightstand, and socks on the bed. “I'm sorry it isn't much-” you cut him off. “It's absolutely fine, thank you.” you smiled at him. He gave you a single nod. “I'll leave you to it. Holler out if you need anything.
“I will, thank you again, you didn't have to let me stay.” he shook his head and walked back out of the room. Shutting the door behind him, you immediately got into bed, exhaustion so strong in your body you didn't need the draught. As you fell in and out of sleep, you softly smiled at Snape's kindness. He didn't have to take care of you and let you stay, but he did. And with that you fell into a deep slumber, feeling clean and cared for.