An American Professor

Snape smiled down into her eyes, the first true smile of the day. "Because you already do believe me, you're whispering, aren't you? I think it may be your turn."

"For what?"

"To yell something."

"Oh," she whispered and thought for a moment or two. "Snape, you greasy, nasty, piece of shit, get your filthy hands off my breast!"

She could see that he was trying not to laugh. "Very believable."

"Thanks, keep talking. I'm still not completely sure that I believe your story."

Snape sighed. "I can't say that I blame you, it's a pretty crazy story. Malfoy was feeding information about you to Voldemort that he acquired from his son. At first Voldemort thought you'd be an easy way to get to Dumbledore as he seemed to be rather attached to you. Malfoy was giving him so much information that he began to wonder why I wasn't supplying any information. So, I was getting pressured to find out information about you-"

"Which was why you were following me."

"Yes, and I had to make sure the Malfoy boy saw me watching you."

"Which is why you were so nasty to me, especially in public," she asserted, and he nodded, it was all starting to fall into its twisted place. Changing the subject, she added, " It's your turn."

"Hold still, bitch, you know you like it."

Erin stifled a laugh, and thought it was very odd that she could feel the urge to laugh at a time like this. "That was really very lame. Go on."

"Well, I wasn't privy to the reasoning behind their thirst for information about you. I found out that they wanted to kidnap you just before the unfortunate broom accident. It was at that time that I found out that they had jinxed a broom in hopes that a student would have an accident at Hogwarts, which in turn would cause enough of a distraction for them to kidnap you. When I saw you flying with Potter, I had a bad feeling about it. Luckily, I got there in time."

"Take your hands off of those buttons, asshole!"

"What? Oh, right. Anyway, Voldemort found out through Malfoy's son that we'd spent the night in the Hospital wing together. He figured I had more information than I was letting on."

"So, you told him about my childhood?"

"Yes, I'm sorry."

Erin thought about it for a moment and looked deep into his eyes, trying to gage whether or not he was telling her the truth. "Don't be, I understand."

"Wench, just hold still, dammit!"

"Are you sure I'm his daughter?"

"No. But he'll do a test in order to be sure."

"I can't possibly be his daughter. I mean, if I am it sure is an excellent argument for the nurture theory instead of the nature theory in biology and genetics." Snape was looking at her rather puzzled, so she pushed the thought out of her head, and pressed on. "Ok, so how do I get the hell out of here?"

"This place is the old Riddle Mansion. I don't know where it is exactly as it isn't plotable on any map. The Death Eaters are only able to Apparate in and out. I think that there must be some type of barrier against Muggles and good Witches and Wizards from coming in on their own."

"Get away from me with that thing! It's huge!" Snape looked at her in surprise. "What? I was just trying to boost your image."

He shook off her comment and asked, "Do you still have your map from Flitwick?"

"I put it in my boot before I left the school."

"Good, when you get outside say Hogwarts. The map should draw a line to the school, and you'll be able to tell which direction you are from Hogwarts. Then use the direction charm on your wand and go. Run like hell. Put as much distance as you can between yourself and this place."

"Ok," Erin whispered quietly. She was becoming distinctly aware that Snape was still lying on top of her. She wondered if she should mention it to him.

"You like that, bitch?" he swore loudly.

"Do you have any idea how long it will take?"

"No, I don't have any idea, sorry."

"Ok." They sat silently for quite a while. Both seemed to be so deep in thought that they couldn't seem to continue the whispered conversation. Erin again noticed the weight of Snape on her, and shifted slightly so that she was more comfortable in this compromising position.

Snape still didn't seem to realize that he was still lying on top of her when he suddenly broke into her thought, as he pulled something from his robes. "Here's your wand. I stole it back from the Death Eater who took it from you. He doesn't know it's missing."

"I didn't know it was missing," she said glumly.

"There was a lot going on, Erin. Are you ok?" he asked touching her cheek gently.

His touch made her cheek sting and she fought to keep from wincing. "I'm fine, does it look bad?"

"Yeah," he answered honestly. "You've got to believe it was all I could do not to throw Malfoy into the wall when I saw him hit you." His voice had a husky quality in it, and even hitched a little as he looked into her eyes. The sorrow she saw in his eyes made her feel guilty for not believing him at once.

He seemed to finally notice that he was still on top of her, and moved to lie beside her on the bed instead of on top of her. Erin took a full deep breath without his crushing weight stifling her.

"I know that now," she said uncomfortably and then changed the subject back to what she felt was a less personal matter and asked, "Should we start banging the bed into the wall?"

"No, I have a feeling that might just be over the top."

"Aren't you done yet?" she asked loudly.

"I'm done when I say I am," he answered just as loudly.

"So, how do I get outside?"

"I don't know."

"That's what I was afraid you'd say. Ok, let's see, what floor are we on."

"Second."

"Ok, so a jump out the window won't kill me."

"Well, no, but it could injure your already sensitive ankle further, and keep you from running. Besides the window is sealed and they'd know instantly that you were gone if you broke it. You need to try to sneak out."

"Ok, so the window has a Wizard burglar alarm on it, so that eliminates that option. Hmm, well, you're the Slytherin, aren't they the crafty people at Hogwarts, you should come up with the plan."

"You know damn good and well you should have been a Slytherin, with your malicious tongue and conniving nature."

"Conniving? Puh-lease. You make me sound like a bitch, which last I checked was not a prerequisite to getting oneself out of sticky situations. Besides, I was stupid enough to let myself get into this mess."

"Well, when you've finished with your pity party, let me know, so we can come up with an actual workable plan to get you out of here."

Erin glared at him, even though she knew he was right. "Ok, ok, let's see. Can you get me some black robes with a hood like you and the other goons are wearing? I think I can transfigure my boots."

"I can get you some robes, but you'll have to wait until you get outside to transfigure your boots. Voldemort has sensors up so that he can detect anyone doing magic, and remember you aren't supposed to even have your wand."

"Right, ok, so I'll transfigure them into running shoes once I get outside. OK, hmm." She rose to her elbows and began looking around the room.

"What are you looking for?"

"My boots have a distinctive click-clack sound when I walk. I'm looking for something to attach to the heels to muffle the sound. At least to get me outside without making too much unnecessary noise."

"Here," he said pulling off his socks, "try putting these over the heels and tuck them in at the top."

She did what he suggested and stood up and tried walking a bit, and it seemed to work. "Good idea. Ok, so now all that I need is the black robes and an opportune time to leave."

"Right. Well, tonight you're being guarded by about five Death Eaters including myself."

"So, basically what you're saying is tonight is a bad time. Oh, yeah, that reminds me, should we be making any more noise?"

"Nah, they probably lost interest."

Realizing that she hadn't heard any noises coming from the door in quite some time, Erin walked to the window. She stared out into the blackness that seemed to envelope the castle. Erin feared if she didn't escape from here quickly that same darkness may envelope her very being. It was difficult not to be depressed in a place like this, even without taking into consideration her personal situation. Surveying the area again, she tried to distinguish anything but blackness, but sighed deeply when she was unable to do so. "Alright, so at least that's a tentative plan, and all we're waiting on is for a time when I'm not being so heavily guarded, which could be any number of days. Ok, so is that everything?"

"I think so, except…"

Erin turned to look at him, he was sitting on the bed with his head bowed and his shoulders slumped over. "What is it?"

"I'm so sorry that I got you into all of this."

She walked quickly to where he was sitting and took his chin in her hand and forced him to look into her eyes. "You had nothing to do with this. You absolutely had no choice in the matter."

"Erin, you don't understand, I had everything to do with it. If I hadn't provided him with the information about your parentage…"

Dropping her hand from his chin, she sat down on the bed. "Severus, how can you say that? You were forced to give him information. He already was getting information from Malfoy, if you didn't supplement that information they would have known that you were working for the other side. Besides, you said so yourself, they were planning on kidnapping me anyway to get to Dumbledore. This was basically inevitable in a lot of ways. I hope you'll believe that I certainly don't blame you, so please don't blame yourself. It's just a terrible set of unfortunate circumstances." She waited for him to give her answer, but he just nodded reluctantly while looking down. Ugh, men! "Well, I guess we should try to get some sleep. I feel like we've got a long road ahead of us, and being rested up is going to give us an advantage."

Snape looked at her and said, "Yes, you're right. I'll take the floor."

Erin pulled the covers from the bed and lay down on one side of it. "Don't be ridiculous, we're both adults, we can each take a side of the bed. It's pretty obvious by now that I can trust you, completely."

Snape's mouth dropped open and he stared at her for several long moments before standing up abruptly. "No, I should-"

"No, I shouldn't trust you?"

"No, that's not-"

"Fine then, drop it. Stop trying to be chivalrous, Severus, you know it isn't in your Slytherin nature, and get in this bed." She patted the bed beside her. He joined her reluctantly, and lay down stiffly. Erin rolled onto her side facing away from him, and he did the same.

After what felt like quite a while, she heard his breathing even out. Rolling onto her other side, she pressed her forehead on his back, while putting her hand gently on his waist. She felt him stiffen and realized with panic that he was still awake.

"Erin, what are you doing?"

"Um, I was a little cold."

"Liar," he said softly and rolled onto his back to look at her.

"I really was cold, I swear."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm sorry for acting like a big baby. I guess I'm just kind of scared. I mean, it's a lot to take in all at once. Being slapped around, told you're possibly a murderous, psychopath's daughter. Not to mention that to escape you're going to have to run around the countryside trying to find your way back to a place that didn't keep you safe from all of this in the first place, when you've never even so much as camped a single day of your life!" Her voice was nearing hysterical. She looked at Snape searchingly, but he just looked at her calmly.

"Are you done?"

Sniffling loudly, she answered, "I think so."

"Ok, I'm glad you got that out. Now, shush, and come here." He opened his arms to her, and she moved into them. He wrapped them tightly around her, and held her very close. She could hear his heart beating steadily, and sighing deeply, her body relaxed instantly. Only a few minutes later, Erin fell fast asleep. She didn't feel him smooth back her hair and kiss her forehead gently.