When the Black Prince reappeared in the Entrance Hall ten minutes later, Erin was standing gazing up at the visored helmet of one of the suits of armour. She had walked around the high-ceilinged, stone floored hall in a pair of too large tartan slippers that Minerva had lent her earlier.

She had forgotten that she only had slippers on-obviously, so had Minerva. And neither Geppetto nor Prince Severus had noticed either. Not surprising really-everyone had much more important things on their minds than footwear. She would have to tell Snape; there must be something he could do. She couldn't go traipsing around London with slippers on.

But she could walk around the Entrance Hall and check out the artefacts, the strangest feature of which were four giant hour glasses, the bottom of each filled with what looked like different coloured gemstones. They couldn't be real gemstones, surely. But Erin now knew better than to wipe that possibility from her mind totally. This castle was magical after all. If they were real, the hourglasses contained, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and yellow topaz-one colour for each. She shook her head in wonder at this incongruous sight. They really did not fit in with the other ancient artefacts.

Apart from the suits of armour and the hourglasses which were each mounted on a marble plinth, the only other free standing items were two huge, narrow necked, brass vases that were situated behind the curved base of the marble banisters, well out of the way of scurrying school children.

After having studied the hourglasses and a couple of ancient, battered shields that adorned the walls, Erin stood in front of the suits of armour, one after the other. They were shined to within an inch of their lives and they had to be at least seven feet tall. Both their visors were closed and as she stood in front of the second one, she had the overwhelming desire to speak to it, to see if it would answer.

"If you are ready Miss Hanson, we can now leave."

Erin had just reached up a tentative hand to see if she could open the visor when the distinctive dark, smoky voice spoke from behind her, giving her such a shock, she partly lost her balance and knocked into the metal suit, which, though it wobbled dangerously on it's pointy metal feet, it thankfully did not fall.

"Watch what you're doing, clumsy!"

The angry, tinny voice issuing from behind the closed visor made Erin yelp in shock again and jump back so quickly, she bumped into Severus, who, unprepared for the impact, automatically grabbed her shoulders in a punishing grip to steady her, and pulled her with him when he staggered backwards a couple of steps.

 Erin didn't have to fight to get free. As soon as he had regained his balance, and made sure that she was steady on her feet, Severus had let her go and stepped back a couple of paces.

Erin spun around, her face crimson with embarrassment. What had she been thinking? In her curiosity to see whether the armour would speak to her, she had failed to hear the return of the Prince. How embarrassing? He had nearly caught her in the act of talking to what should have been an inanimate object, and he had frightened her so much, she had turned into a bungling fool and nearly dislodged the armour and then practically knocked him on  his bum!

That little pas de deux must have looked like something out of ‘Some Mothers Do Have Em'.

"I'm so sorry! I...I was just seeing if..." she broke off, too embarrassed to go on. Severus raised an eyebrow in question.

"Surely not seeing if there was a body in there," he mocked scornfully.

"No!" flared Erin. "I wanted to see if it would talk. Minerva said they do..." she trailed off again, feeling utterly stupid.

Severus just looked at her out of those heavy lidded black eyes. "Perhaps you should have taken Minerva's word. If the suits of armour do decide to talk, they are invariably in a nasty mood."

"Oh," said Erin. "So it's not just black robed wizards who are invariably in a nasty mood within the walls of Hogwarts?"

"Severus's lip curled and he leaned towards her a little. All the better to intimidate, Erin thought. "No, it is not. But the black robed wizard is the one you have to beware of."

Erin bit her lip and even if she had felt up to parrying his last sinister statement, she thought better of it. After all, he had just shot her own acerbic observation down in flames. Never let it be said that she didn't know when to button her lip.

"Now perhaps if you have finished playing with the artefacts," drawled the Prince, "we might set out."

It was as he strode past her that Erin realised that the Prince was no longer actually garbed in black robes. She stared at his back in amazement. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans. Colour mounted her cheeks when she realised that she was focused on the two faded patches of denim that covered his backside. As incredible as it seemed, it looked as though Prince Severus wore the ubiquitous Muggle jeans rather frequently to have caused that degree of fading.

Accomplished wizard or not, Erin was sure that even the Prince would not have thought to fade his jeans in those strategic spots if he had used magic to do it. Dragging her eyes away from the Prince's posterior, Erin hurried after her companion (read babysitter). He had already crossed the stone landing and was now descending the steps, obviously trusting that she was trotting in his wake like a subservient little woman.

His legs were a good deal longer than hers and it was really amazing that she got all the way down the steps and about a third of the way along the wide gravel drive before she twisted her ankle.

Severus had not bothered to slow his footsteps at all. It was a way of working off his anger and frustration at having this most unwelcome task foisted on him by Albus. He could hear the blasted woman crunching over the gravel behind him. Her footsteps were a good deal faster than his. He smiled to himself.

Good!

That would teach her to be flippant with him. His moment of levity left him as quickly as it had come. Why wasn't he in his lab right now doing what he was paid to do? He would even rather be making Wolfsbane for that mangy werewolf than going on this excursion. Now this was something that Lupin would be good at. He was good at playing the white knight. He had practised as late as last night after all.

God, what have I done to deserve this?

"OWW! Oww, oww!" Severus spun around. The damn woman was hopping around on one foot and every three hops, she was putting the other foot down but pulling it straight back up, obviously unable to put weight on it. Her face was white and set and she had her fingers pressed hard against her mouth to stifle any further cries of pain.

Severus put his head back and closed his eyes in a mixture of anger and exasperation. They hadn't even left the grounds and already this excursion was turning into a circus.

Erin fought down a surge of nausea as pain thrummed viciously through her already swelling ankle. Oh, why hadn't she thought to ask misery guts Snape to do something about Minerva's too big slippers before she had ventured outside? Because he had made her so angry, the subject of the slippers had totally slipped her mind. And now she had sprained her ankle.

"Miss Hanson!" Prince was striding back to her, his face a mask of fury.

Erin made an effort to stand still but it was hard. The sight of the furious wizard made her want to do several things at once. The most pressing of these was to hop over to the grass verge and try to lower herself onto her butt without causing herself any more pain. The second thing was to vomit because her recent meal was having a great deal of trouble staying down-and as she saw the furious wizard bearing down on her where she stood impersonating a stork-the third thing was to run away. This last was not an option though because she couldn't run anywhere.

As Severus bore down on her, he bent and picked up the ridiculous tartan slipper that made a splodge of colour on the white gravel, hardly breaking stride as he did so. Because it had been too big, the slipper had flipped sideways as Erin hurried after Snape and she had come down on the side of her foot.

"What in the name of Merlin were you thinking to be wearing such ridiculous footwear? Do you make a habit of going out in public wearing slippers?" He sounded just as infuriated as he looked.

"They're not mine!" she bit back and just then, she put her foot down for balance. She closed her eyes and gasped, paling even more as the pain ripped through her.

"Oh, for God's sake!" Severus drew his wand from an invisible pocket in the leg of his jeans (Erin had wondered fleetingly where he had it hidden) and with a flourish and a whispered spell, a chair appeared, spinning in midair before it settled next to her. He took Erin's elbow roughly and thrust her none-to-gently onto the chair.

"You really have the art of being a gentleman down pat, don't you?" Erin said angrily, breathing deeply in an effort to make the pain bearable. She looked down. Her ankle was so swollen, the hem of her jeans was becoming tight.

"I never professed to being a gentleman, Miss Hanson. And now that we have established that, perhaps you could tell me what in the bloody hell you were doing wearing these?" He shook the hideous slipper in her face.

"Minerva lent them to me," she said slightly belligerently. "You might not remember, but I arrived last night in this hitherto unknown world with bare feet!"

"Then why did you not mention them earlier and I would have been able to prevent this accident." Severus was now squatting down examining her foot. He had it propped up on his knee and was gently palpating the swelling. Erin drew in a hissing breath.

Severus glanced up impatiently and Erin clamped her lips together, determined not to make another sound. She held her bottom lip between her teeth and watched as Severus moved his wand in a complicated series of movements over the painfully tight ankle.

She felt a slight tingling start deep within the joint. It intensified to the point where it was worse than the pain of the sprain. Erin bit down on her lip so hard, she tasted blood. Her efforts were to no avail though because a grunt of pain still escaped. She shut her eyes and let her head fall back, taking more deep breaths.

After about fifteen seconds when she thought she might pass out, the pain began to ease. It lessened by slow degrees and after a minute, all Erin could feel was Severus's touch as he palpated the ankle again. It was completely pain free. She lowered her head, fixing her eyes on the Prince's black head. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail and was tied with a black leather thong. The hair was so black, it had a blue sheen. Her fingers twitched. She had an almost overwhelming desire to touch it, to see whether it was as silky smooth as it looked. And then Severus looked up and Erin felt her face flood with colour.

What's the matter with me?

 The pain must have made her delirious. Severus lowered her foot back to the gravel but before he stood, he lifted her other foot and removed the slipper that was still in place. He held them both in one hand and tapped each with his wand. They changed into a pair of white plimsolls which Severus then handed to her.

"Not the height of fashion, but they will suffice. At least they'll stay on your feet." He turned and moved away a few paces. Erin glared at his back. Arrogant so and so. He was so sure of his own expertise with a wand, he had not felt it necessary to ask her if she had any residual pain.

With a little huff of annoyance, she bent down to put the plimsolls on. She hadn't worn a pair since before she had left for Australia. But he was right. They would stay on her feet and she supposed that that had been his objective rather than providing her with what she would prefer to wear. She wondered if Minerva would want her slippers back. She had said they were an old pair and that Erin could keep them for as long as she needed them. Could the plimsolls be made back into a pair of tartan slippers?

But as soon as she slipped her size six feet into the shoes, she knew that they probably wouldn't stay on her feet. They were the same size as the slippers had been and even though they laced up, her feet would slip around in them. She had better say something to the bad-tempered, miserable...

She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Professor Snape, but the slippers were too big for me. That's why one of them slipped off." Severus turned and looked at her as if he had just unearthed her from beneath a rock. She would have bitten her lip but it was still hurting from before. He made her feel like a recalcitrant pupil.

"Do up the laces."

"Pardon."

"Do up the laces." Erin glared for a moment but then she bent down and did as he asked.

"Stand up."

"Do you even know how to say please?" Erin demanded springing to her feet.

One eyebrow rose in a perfect arc and he crossed his arms, his wand dangling from his fingers. "Do you know how to say thank you?"

If Erin thought she had blushed before, it was nothing to the heat she could feel in her face now. She really did feel like a recalcitrant pupil now. Had she not thanked him for fixing her ankle? She had meant to.

Arrrgh. The man made her want to pull her hair out. "I'm sorry," she said as calmly as she could. "Thank you for fixing my ankle."

It seemed the Prince really was incapable of being polite. He didn't acknowledge her words at all. Instead, he said, "Tell me when they feel comfortable," and he pointed his wand at her feet. Erin felt the plimsolls shrink slowly.

After a few seconds she held up her hand. ‘That feels fine thank you." Severus moved his wand so that it was pointing at the chair and it faded into nothingness.

"Now perhaps we can continue. This expedition is for your benefit, after all."

‘Actually, it's for my parents' benefit," she contradicted, hurrying to catch up with him.

"And of course your peace of mind has nothing to do with anything?"

Erin clamped her lips together, determined not to give him more fodder to nourish his poisonous tongue.

The driveway must have been a quarter of a mile long and she was more than a little out of breath by the time she joined Severus at the magnificent golden gates where a thick chain had unravelled itself and one of the gates was swinging open. Once they were through, it shut again with a resonant clang and the chain was snaking back up, tying the two gates together.

"How are we getting to London?" asked Erin, having regained her breath.

"By bus," was the succinct reply and Severus flung his right arm out, his wand pointing straight ahead.

8888

Erin had thought the Prince had been joking when he had said they would be travelling by bus. Forty minutes later, she sincerely wished that he had been joking. This monstrosity wasn't a bus. It was a torture chamber. Erin doubted that re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on the Space Shuttle would be as rough. But of course, those lucky astronauts were strapped tightly into their seats, weren't they?

After the Prince had flung out his arm, Erin had heard a loud bang which had made her jump and there had been a slight disturbance in the air-like a sudden gust of wind, only the trees in the nearby forest were perfectly still. Severus had taken her arm and had told her to step where he did. Amazingly, he had looked like he was going up some steps and though she had been utterly confused, she had tried to copy him. After bumping her shin on an invisible step however, she had been a lot more attentive. Once inside, she had been able to see the Knight Bus in all it's garish glory, from the plush armchairs to the chandeliers hanging from the high purple ceiling. She tried not to gawk but it was very difficult. The thing had three levels!

Hapless travellers on this magical conveyance would need to be treated for minor injuries when they reached their destinations. Luckily, there were not many passengers at the moment. But those that there were, were thrown around with impunity as the bus jumped magically from one place to another with all the finesse of a car crash.

Erin watched sympathetically as a small, squat, untidy wizard repositioned his hat on his head and with a groan, turned onto his knees so that he could drag himself back into the chair from which he had just been thrown for the fifth time.

Erin was able to watch him from an upright position as she had managed to maintain her seat. That happy circumstance was thanks entirely to the Prince. Left to her own devices she was sure that she would have been checking the floor for grime as well, but after she had nearly been flung out of her seat the first time, the Prince had stepped in. He had been sitting across from her, looking entirely disdainful of the bus, it's driver, conductor and passengers. He had informed her that he could help her maintain her seat but it would require him casting a charm on her. The Prince had eschewed armchairs which admittedly looked very unstable, for a couple of regular, if old fashioned, bus seats.

Erin had panicked for a moment, but Severus had rolled his eyes and informed her that he had performed the same charm on himself and it was not in the least dangerous; indeed, it was highly advantageous when one was forced to travel on the Knight Bus.

When the bus had taken off again and she had been thrown back in her seat so violently she had nearly slipped sideways onto the floor, Erin had repositioned herself and nodded, not anxious to join her fellow travellers on the dirty floor.

Severus had pointed his wand at her jean clad bottom. She didn't feel anything but embarrassed, but all of a sudden, she could not move off the seat. Her bottom was stuck and throughout the rest of the journey, even though her upper body was flung around roughly, she remained attached to the seat. The solution was not perfect-she would probably end up with whiplash-but it was an improvement. Without the spell, she could have completed the journey on her hands and knees on the less than pristine floor.

The Prince kept his eyes averted from the antics of his fellow travellers by gazing out of the window after he had stuck Erin to her seat. She wondered why others didn't employ the same charm to avoid the ignominy of their too frequent upheavals. She asked the Prince. He continued to glare out of the grimy window for a few seconds more and Erin thought how incongruous he looked in the company of the more contemporarily dressed passengers. Although amazingly, now that she had gotten over her shock (How many of those had she had in the last eighteen odd hours) she thought Prince Severus looked quite at home in his faded jeans and the light-weight collared grey jumper.

When she thought he was not going to answer her and after the little wizard had picked himself off the floor once again, Severus cast him a disdainful look and then fastened his eyes on his companion. "When a wizard has a journey to make, he generally Apparates, Miss Hanson. It is almost instantaneous and though not exactly the most comfortable sensation in the world, it is quickly over. There are two significant drawbacks to Apparition however. Number one is that one has to know exactly where one wishes to Apparate to-that is, one generally has to have been there before, or at least know exactly where their destination is located.

"Number two, is that Apparition is a difficult thing to learn and many wizards and witches never actually manage to master the art. There can be disastrous consequences when Apparition is not performed correctly. The Knight Bus is an alternative form of travel that...shall I say...more mediocre wizards employ.

"If they have not been able to learn Apparition-and this is by no means the only reason one travels on the Knight Bus-then they are often mediocre in every other way and a sticking charm would probably be above many of them."

"Then the reason we're on the Knight Bus is because I'm with you."

Severus nodded once.

"But you can Apparate with a...a Muggle..." Erin found it difficult referring to herself as a Muggle. "Remus Apparated to Hogwarts with me last night."

"Lupin did just that, and as a result, he was nearly killed." Erin paled and looked exceedingly guilty. To his credit, Severus did not let her stew for long. "If he had left you, you would definitely have been killed. Lupin obviously thought your life was important enough to risk the danger.

"Apparition with a Muggle is much more difficult and is very draining magically speaking for the wizard or witch. You were unconscious, so that exacerbates the drain.

"That is not the reason I chose not to Apparate today, however. It is not a pleasant sensation for the witch or wizard, as I have said, but it is even worse for the Muggle."

"Oh," said Erin softly. Poor Remus, she thought. He had fought those Death Eaters before Apparating with her. No wonder he had been so unwell last night. No wonder the Prince had given him the same sleeping potion that he had Harry. He had needed to recover from physical wounds as well as magical exhaustion. She looked at Severus who was obviously aware of her guilty feelings. But it wasn't only guilt she was feeling. There was curiosity too. She was, in fact wondering whether the Prince would have risked his life to save hers last night.

Severus turned back to the widow and stared blindly out. He too was wondering whether he would have risked himself for Erin Hanson.  

8888

"The Leaky Cauldron."

Erin, who had just been wrenched forward in her seat again for the umpteenth time heard the broad Cockney accent of the conductor calling out another destination. She didn't take any notice until Severus said, "This is where we alight."

He had already reversed the sticking charm on himself as he was standing and his wand was now pointing at her tail end again, unsticking her. She felt decidedly wobbly as she rose to her feet and Severus actually took her by the arm to lead her towards the back of the bus and down the steps. Thank goodness they hadn't been on one of the upper levels as Erin was sure her legs wouldn't have supported her all the way down.

Once on the street, Erin presumed the bus disappeared because there was another loud bang (which the scurrying pedestrians did not seem to hear because no-one looked around to see the source of the noise). Severus, who was still holding her arm, let her go when he thought she had regained the full use of her legs.

Erin saw that they were on Charring Cross Road. Severus stepped off the curb to cross the road and Erin hurried to catch up. She came abreast of him, having decided that she was not going to follow in his wake like a dutiful little woman any longer. "Where are we going?"

Severus inclined his head towards a shop front. "In there."

They regained the pavement on the other side of the road and Erin found herself standing in front of a large book store. She looked at Severus. "You need to buy a book?"

"No, I do not need to buy a book, and if I did, I would not be shopping in there." And once again, he took her arm and walked towards the other end of the large plate-glass window towards a music store.

"Close your eyes," ordered Severus. He did not sound in the mood for argument and so Erin closed her eyes. She heard a door open and when Severus told her there was a small step, she lifted her foot, following his movement. The light became dimmer-she could detect that through her closed eyelids-and the air became cooler. She could smell the distinct aroma of spirits and ale and hear the muted chatter of hushed voices. Were they in a pub.

"You may open your eyes now."

They were indeed in a pub. But a pub unlike any Erin had ever been in before. It was old... very old, and dark and dingy. The most prominent feature of the room wasn't the gleaming bar, but the most enormous fireplace she had ever seen in her life. She imagined it to be like a fireplace in the Great Hall of an ancient castle where once whole deer would have been roasted on a spit.

At the moment, the grate was empty, but as she stared, there was a loud whoosh and a huge pillar of emerald flame appeared. A stooped, old  woman-Erin presumed she was a witch-wearing a grubby brown cloak and a pointed hat and carrying what looked remarkably like a cauldron, stepped out of the flames. She crossed the room with little shuffling footsteps and placed her cauldron on one of the tables, before walking to the bar where the bartender must only have been able to see the top half of her hat. She was the epitome of a wicked witch from a children's fairytale.

"Please shut your mouth Miss Hanson. You are drawing attention to yourself." Erin felt like laughing a little hysterically. She was drawing attention to herself. She, a British woman in the middle of London in the year, 1996, wearing a perfectly acceptable, modern ensemble of jeans and a summer-weight jumper...not to mention a pair of pristine white plimsolls was attracting attention, when a woman wearing a pointed hat and wrapped in a brown cloak that looked as if it was made of hessian and who was carrying a cauldron around, blended in with the scenery.

The world had certainly turned on it's axis since last night.

Expecting her to follow, the Prince strode across the floor. Erin did follow, because now that her eyes had adjusted to the smoky darkness, she could see other...people?...sitting at tables and a couple more standing at the bar. The witch who had stepped out of the flames was human (at least Erin assumed she was), as were a couple of men...wizards, presumably, sitting at a table in intense conversation with their heads close together. But there was another...thing, totally draped with gauzy looking wraps sitting alone at a table nursing a smoking drink, and a high pitched cackle-a shiver ran down Erin's spine-came from a woman with long, grey hair sitting with a younger version of herself with long black hair. They could have been witches but they both had decidedly green complexions. The older of the two was smoking a pipe and her small, beady eyes were fixed greedily on Erin.

Erin hurried faster and bumped into Severus's back. He looked down at her and seeing her fearful gaze dart back to the table where the two females were sitting, he too looked at them. Erin didn't see, but Severus's eyes narrowed threateningly and he glared unblinkingly at the bold eyed hag and it was mere seconds before she looked away.

"Are they human?" Erin whispered, as quietly as she could. Now that they had both turned away to continue to weave their way amongst the tables and chairs, Erin could feel those eyes on her again, and she tried to suppress another shudder.

"They are hags," Severus answered indifferently.

"Oh, of course," Erin croaked weakly.

"Professor Snape!" it was the wizened old barman-obviously human but very old, bald and wrinkled.  He looked like a walnut. "Can I get you and the pretty lady a drink?"

"Thank you, no." And with no polite word of regret, the Prince took her elbow again and virtually dragged her the length of the bar and through a thick wooden door into a small, weed riddled courtyard where two large, overflowing rubbish bins took up pride of place. The area looked to be about six feet square and was surrounded on three sides by very high brick walls.

"Why," said Erin, "did you drag me into a pub that I could not see from the outside, only to traverse the length of the room and end up in a claustrophobic courtyard where it appears the only thing we can do is keep the rubbish bins company?

"Severus, who was drawing his wand said, "Please cease your inane prattle Madam. I rarely do anything that is pointless. All you have to do is do as you are told."

Erin clamped her lips together angrily. He was looking at her with that upwardly mobile eyebrow in the raised position again. She supposed it would be a threatening prop for him to use to cow his students but all it did for her was make her want to smack the supercilious look off his superior face.

"Like a good little Muggle woman?" she bit out angrily.

"Precisely," he drawled. "Now I am about to cast a charm on you that will make you virtually invisible."

"I beg your pardon," she said with a certain degree of trepidation. She was positive that he would not hurt her, but still, she had had enough magic cast on her to last a lifetime, thank you very much. She wasn't magical, after all. What if magic sometimes reacted differently on Muggles. Making her invisible just seemed to be a lot more significant than sticking her to a chair or bed, or silencing her.

Could the Prince make her invisible and then not be able to reverse the charm? She asked him.

"Miss Hanson, Without blowing my own trumpet, I can assure you that I am a more than adept wizard who has been casting Disillusionment Charms since I was eighteen years old. I have never failed to reverse one."

"On a Muggle?" she asked worriedly, trying to back even further into the brick wall behind her.

"It is easy for a wizard to cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself. It requires a bit more effort to cast one on a fellow wizard or witch..." Severus reached forward and tapped her sharply on the top of her head with his wand. "It is as easy to cast the charm on a Muggle as it is to cast it on oneself, because you have no magic that will instinctively try to battle my spell."

Erin felt a weird sensation, like some kind of thick, cold liquid-perhaps melted ice cream-was trickling down from the top of her head to encompass her whole body. When she got up the nerve to looked down, she couldn't see anything...not until she moved that is, and then she saw a shimmer, something like a heat haze and he could see the merest outline of her hand taking on the features of the brick wall behind her raised limb.

"Now as I cannot see you easily, Miss Hanson, it is imperative that you stay close to me-very close. If someone stops and addresses me, you will remain absolutely still and quiet directly behind me. I would prefer that no one knows of your presence whilst we are in Diagon Alley."

"What is Diagon Alley and why are we going there?" asked Erin, heartily sick and tired of being bossed around by this man who seemed to be the very definition of a male chauvinist pig. Or perhaps he hated all Muggles, be they male or female.

The Prince didn't answer straight away. He was now taping his wand-seemingly randomly-against a series of bricks in the wall directly opposite the door leading back into the pub. When the bricks started to wriggle and reposition themselves so that they formed a perfect archway, Erin's mouth didn't even drop open. Her eyes might have widened a little, but on the whole, she thought that she was definitely becoming acclimatised to magic.

"This is Diagon Alley," he answered and he stepped through the archway with Erin directly on his heels. "It is a wholly magical shopping and business precinct hidden right in the heart of London.

Severus was pleased to see that the Alley wasn't too crowded today. No one even glanced at him as he strode towards the shiny, white façade of Gringotts Bank in the distance. He could hear the soft slaps of her rubber-soled shoes on the cobblestones as she hurried to keep up with him. He sincerely hoped that she didn't see any non-human magical beings that might frighten her into crying out. He had only thought to put Erin under a concealment charm at the last moment, after the hag inside the pub had stared at her covetously. He was glad that he had. There was no point in taking chances and he should have done it before entering the Leaky Cauldron.

He also hoped that he did not meet any of his fellow Death Eaters. Few of them felt the need to hide away as none but family and fellow followers of the Dark Lord knew of their link with the madman.

Of course, the ranks had now been thinned with the capture of Lucius and the other fools who had been bested by Potter and his little band of followers before the Order had turned up at the Ministry. So the senior Malfoy and McNair, Crabbe and Avery who had always remained well in view despite the rumours that had cropped up every now and then as to their true affiliation, would not be walking around Diagon Alley for the foreseeable future because they were enjoying the five star comfort of individual cells in Azkaban.

Severus smirked. Serves them right, he thought. They were all ruthless killers who would have snuffed out the lives of five of those teens without batting an eyelid. They would have then dragged Potter before the Dark Lord who would have revelled in the boys capture by keeping him alive as long as possible whilst torturing him into insanity before delivering the coup de grace. Last night had been a very close run thing. If Dumbledore had not had such a close connection with the boy, ‘the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord' would even now be in the Dark Lord's clutches.

"Can you please slow down." Severus heard the angry hiss from close behind him. At least she was doing as she had been told. He slowed his pace fractionally and when he came to the curved expanse of the white steps leading up to the ornate bronze doors leading into the bank, he followed their curve off to the side where the foot traffic was virtually non existent.

He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets, looking as casual as if he was just waiting for someone. He felt Erin lean against the wall next to him. "I need to go into the bank. It would be best if you wait right here..." His eyes scanned the Alley constantly.

"You need to go to the bank right now?"  Erin asked in a voice that registered her disbelief. "And you want to leave me here, by myself. What if someone else decides they want to lean against the wall?"

"No one will want to lean against the wall. Just do..."

"As I'm told. Yes, I know what to do, having been subjected to your repetitive litany several times already today. Tell me Professor Snape, what did your last slave die of?"

Severus ignored her and pushed away from the wall. Erin grasped his sleeve in a convulsive grip. "Please, can't I come in with you? I don't want to stay out here by myself." Her grip tightened even more. "What are they?" she whispered.

Severus looked around; three goblins were walking along with their typical short-legged rolling gait, their heads close together as they no doubt discussed the galleons and the treasures that had passed through their hands that day. With their big heads and their large pointed ears, their long noses and pointed teeth and flat, cruel eyes, Severus could understand why someone who had never seen them before would be frightened. Goblins were more than a little intimidating.

"They're goblins, Miss Hanson. They are the guardians of the fortunes within Gringotts Bank. You will encounter many more within it's walls and they are quite amazingly astute when it comes to sensing subterfuge."

Severus heard Erin swallow and then she was backing away from him. "Please don't be too long," she said in an almost inaudible voice.

Severus stared at where he assumed Erin was standing. For the first time since she had ended up at Hogwarts last night, the young woman was not projecting anger or false confidence. She was sounding much as he would have expected her to sound well before now...frightened.

He would have answered but a mother and her three rowdy offspring were passing close by. Clenching his jaw, he spun on his heel and climbed the stairs from the side, taking them two at a time.

He had felt seething anger at being forced to take the Muggle woman on this excursion. Now added to that anger was guilt. He was playing this whole thing by ear, making it up as he went along. They would need Muggle money so that Erin could ring her parents. That was why he had come to Diagon Alley first, to exchange galleons for pounds.

Severus supposed that they could have walked into Hogsmeade and gone to the local Gringotts' branch there. But he had not thought of that because he had allowed his anger to override his good sense. All he had wanted was to get away from the school because the sooner this trip had started, the sooner it would be over. That is what he had thought at the time, with the result that he had placed his companion under a Concealment Charm because he was not sure how much of her the Death Eaters had seen last night. Death Eaters had long memories and they did not like to lose their quarry. If they had seen enough, they would be on the lookout for a young red haired female who had been spirited away by the werewolf, Lupin.

 The phone call to Australia was the first priority. The woman did need to let her parents know before they saw any news reports. But then again, did a gas explosion that had wiped out practically the whole of a suburban street and killed most of it's residents warrant international coverage?

He supposed if it was a slow news day, it might.

They needed money to make an international phone call and as Erin could not access her money without some serious sleight-of-hand, accessing his own money was the only option. Dumbledore had obviously also been too pre-occupied with the recent happenings and Potter's near escape to have thought of giving him any Muggle money. Severus knew Dumbledore kept a moderate amount of Muggle money at Hogwarts for emergencies. Even genius could have a bad day it seemed.

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Erin watched the Prince stride up the white marble steps two at a time and then enter the bank, acknowledging with a very slight inclination of his head the bearded goblin who was acting as a door...well, a door goblin she supposed.

She shook her head as though to clear it. Witches, wizards, elves, hags and now goblins. If this reality she was in was a dream, she hoped she woke up soon. It was becoming more and more weird by the second. A wholly magical street hidden in the middle of London that non-magical folk knew nothing about, a triple-decker violently purple bus that moved noisily and with monumental ignorance of the road rules throughout the countryside, a magnificent castle somewhere in the north that showed itself as an unstable ruin if you looked at it from outside the gates...all of these things were tangibly solid once she was inside them but she could not see them from the outside.

She shook her head and rubbed her Disillusioned arms upon which goosebumps had erupted. At least up to now, she had only encountered humans (she hadn't seen any elves, she had just been told of their existence), but here, in this street...this alley, and in the pub, she had seen some seriously weird beings, some that were quite frightening. She still could not understand why that hag had looked at her as if she wanted to eat her. Did hags eat young women, or could she sense that Erin was a Muggle and maybe they ate Muggles. She shuddered. Either scenario was revolting.

And right now, one of those things that was draped with gauzy wraps was hurrying past. He...she, no...it didn't look like a storybook mummy, because the gauzy coverings weren't wrapped tightly around it's body. They were much more loosely draped. She should have asked Severus what it was when she had asked about the hags.

Severus had been right though. No-one came near her wall. She slid down until she was sitting on the cobbled ground. From her low vantage point, she watched the comings and goings of the various magical beings as they moved up and down the twisting, shop lined alley-many of them window shopping, others going into the old-fashioned, bow fronted shops or businesses, some ascending the steps to the bank, others coming out and some hefting small bags of what looked like heavy coins.

Erin didn't know how long she sat there, becoming more and more nervous as Severus failed to return within what she considered to be a reasonable amount of time to transact a bank deposit or withdrawal...whatever it was that Severus had felt the need to do when she should be contacting her parents. Though nobody felt the need to lean against her wall, many passed close by and Erin was becoming seriously worried when she saw the Prince exit the bank and begin to descend the steps, angling off to the side where he had left her.

Letting out a little shuddering sigh of relief, she quickly regained her feet. She wanted to rush across the intervening space to meet him but she restrained herself, knowing he wouldn't be too pleased if she left her place. Severus was folding what looked like some paper money and pushing it into the front pocket of his jeans.

"Severus Snape!" Severus froze as he was hailed from behind. Erin saw him close his eyes and arrange his face into it's coldest and haughtiest lines. For the few seconds that he had been concentrating on the money and putting it in his pocket, he had not looked as if he was trying to keep the world out...his expression had been thoughtful and somehow freer. Now, as Severus turned towards the tall wizard with the short grey hair and pretentious, pointy beard, which he was stroking with long fingers, his mask was back in place. Erin noticed that the grey-haired wizard looked very pale and there was a light sheen of perspiration covering his face. There was also a definite tremor in his hands.

"Selwyn," acknowledged Severus in a bored, drawling voice. "I would have thought after your little excursion into the Muggle world last night that you might be recovering today...especially as our master was far from pleased with the less than satisfactory results."

Erin could hear the conversation quite clearly and when she heard the reference to the excursion into the Muggle world, she slowed her breathing, not wanting to miss a word. Severus Snape was a not a pleasant person to be around; he exuded frostiness and remoteness, but though he annoyed her intensely, Erin was not frightened of him. This man Selwyn did frighten her though. She was extremely glad that she was all but invisible because, though overall his visage was more pleasant than the Princes, he exuded raw evil. His voice was tinged with bitterness when he spoke.

"I see you have recovered well, though. No residual tremors for the gifted Potions Master. I knew you were good Snape, but I did not know that there were any potions that could entirely eradicate the effects of Cruciatus in such a short time."

"Put it down to a healthy constitution and a pure heart," drawled Severus. Selwyn snorted then dragged a small bottle of crimson coloured liquid from a hidden pocket within his robes and held it up in front of Severus eyes.

"This is why I have had to venture out today when I should be at home resting. As our Lord does not think it necessary to share your brilliance with the rest of us, I had to venture into Knockturn Alley to purchase this dubious concoction. To your trained eye, does it look as if it would do the job?"

Severus removed the bottle from the other man's palsied fingers and removing the stopper, he raised it to his nose and sniffed. His expression didn't change when he handed the bottle back. "It is the best you will purchase here. You will have gotten over the worst of the residual pain and tremors in about three days."

Selwyn snorted with disgust and moved closer to Snape, lowering his voice. "I don't suppose you would give me some of your own brew, Snape?" Severus raised his eyebrow and looked colder than ever. "I will make it worth your while. You know I am well placed. You will benefit greatly while you supply me with any potions I may need."

"You mean...go behind our master's back. Selwyn, I am surprised at you. Our master would surely realise that you have recovered a little too quickly from his punishment. He would surely ask you where you came by such a miraculous potion."

"I would not implicate you Snape. I could say..."

"The Dark Lord would know that you lie and you would be lucky to escape with your life and I would be violently punished again for assisting you without his permission. Put up with your indisposition, Selwyn. It will pass."

"You Snape, are a bastard!" hissed the angry wizard. Severus looked supremely indifferent to the man's insults. "For God sake, you too were punished last night. How can you not want to defy him in certain things.

"My desire is to stay alive and serve our master to the best of my ability. It seems our goals are quite dissimilar. I wonder if he knows?" Selwyn blushed an ugly plum colour and suddenly looked a little frightened. "And I can assure you, my mother was definitely married to my Muggle father."

"Ah, yes, your Muggle father," hissed Selwyn. It is as well that our master considers your genius more important than your half-blood beginnings, is it not? Is it your Muggle father's influence that encourages you to roam around the wizarding world in those ridiculous clothes?"

"No.  It is the need for comfort and the application of common sense. I have to venture into Muggle London, Selwyn, on an errand for Dumbledore. Do you not think I would draw attention to myself if I dressed traditionally?"

"An errand for Dumbledore! You are nothing but his lackey, Snape. I do not see the point of your continued presence at that school. You offer nothing in the way of information as far as I can see."

"Perhaps you should point that out to our Lord," responded Severus coldly. Selwyn blushed again but it seemed that he was just stupid enough and arrogant enough to continue on in the same vein.

"Well as you are so very close to that Muggle loving old fool, has he given you any news on the boy's whereabouts? Or does he not trust you as much as you would like."

Severus looked down his nose at his interrogator. "I report to our master, Selwyn, not to the likes of you. Now, if you will excuse me..." Severus resumed his descent of the steps.

"And what of the girl, Snape?" Selwyn called to his back. "Who was the girl whisked away by the werewolf? You must have heard of that as I am sure your other master would have called a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix by now."

Severus turned back to face Selwyn. "I have no idea what you are talking about. I have not seen Lupin at all, a circumstance I am most grateful for, I assure you."

"There was a girl, Snape. In Potter's room in that Muggle monstrosity called a house. She was unconscious and the werewolf did all he could to protect her. Then when he got the chance he Apparated away with her." He grinned evilly. "Perhaps the effort might have done him in. He was wounded before he Apparated away. I saw to that.

"How very clever of you, Selwyn. Tell me, was he injured during your duel, or when he bent down to pick up this supposedly unconscious female?"

Selwyn was shaking with rage. "You're smart mouth will be the undoing of you Snape, mark my words."

"I am only trying to clarify the salient facts. Remus Lupin is a formidable opponent Selwyn..." Selwyn snorted, and the corner of Severus's mouth quirked up in an unpleasant sneer. "Oh, yes...do not think that just because he is a werewolf he is only dangerous at the full moon. If in fact it was Lupin you were fighting, and if indeed, he was protecting an unconscious woman, then it is the luckier for you, because I do not think you would have had to worry about being punished by our master for a botched job..."

Selwyn's face was twisted into a mask of hatred and his hand actually moved towards a pocket where Severus was sure his wand was hidden. Severus's eyes narrowed and suddenly, he had his wand drawn, though he held it at his side. "My advice would be, don't," he said in his deadliest voice.

And with a face contorted with fury, the Death Eater twisted on the spot and Disapparated.

Severus stood primed for battle for several seconds more before relaxing by degrees and stowing his wand again. It had been an unpleasant scene and one that he could have done without, especially today. Magnus Selwyn was a blow hard who was one of the few who attacked Severus's half-blood status despite the fact that the Dark Lord overlooked it and despite the fact that Severus was one of the inner circle and he, Selwyn was not. It was a fact that rankled and he never ceased to make a point of it.

Checking surreptitiously that no one was taken undue notice of him, including the goblin bowing clients into the bank, Severus continued his descent of the steps. He walked a short way along the street and stopped in front of the nearest shop and casually looked around again.

He had not felt it would be wise to rejoin Erin immediately after his meeting with Selwyn. And he was fairly certain the dratted woman would have followed him anyway. He stood staring blindly at the window display; a wonderful collection of cauldrons made of many different metals and ranging in size from a cup, to large enough to poach a human adult in. At least he had stopped in front of a shop that Severus Snape would conceivably be interested in, the shop that Severus actually preferred to buy his cauldrons from.

After another casual look around, Severus said in a loud whisper, "Are you nearby, Miss Hanson?" There was no reply and after a slightly louder query that still elicited no response, he had to conclude that the girl, for once in her life, had actually done as she had been ordered. Cursing her belated descent into obedience, Severus wended his casual way back towards the bank and the wall he had left Erin propping up. Perhaps she had dropped off to sleep. He hoped that that might be the case because that way, there was every possibility that she might have missed the exchange between himself and Selwyn.

When he neared the wall, he moved more carefully, wishing to avoid standing on her. "Miss Hanson?" he whispered again, and still there was no reply. But he could hear her breathing. Surely that was the woman breathing.

"Miss Hanson...Erin. I would appreciate a response. I know you're here."

Still there was no response, and becoming more and more irate, and making sure that no one was watching him, Severus moved his right foot in an arc...felt nothing...sidled further towards the steps feeling an utter fool,  and repeated the manoeuvre. God, when he got hold of her...

Severus's foot brushed up against something, but almost simultaneously, he pulled it back and only just managed to bite back a yelp of pain as a clenched fist connected hard with his thigh. What the hell...

There was a scrabbling sound from his right and then hurrying footsteps but before the disillusioned woman could move past him, he grabbed what turned out to be a handful of knobbly knit fabric which he twisted around his hand at the same time as Erin hissed furiously, "let me go!" Severus dragged out his wand and waved it in a wide arc around their two struggling bodies, incanting in a hissing breath, two separate spells: Protego Totalum and Muffliato. By the time he had finished, he was panting with the exertion of holding his struggling quarry whom he had pulled back against his chest, the better to hold her still.

"Let me go you bastard!" she hissed again, her voice breaking with the effort to try and not yell at him hysterically. Obviously, she had heard the conversation between himself and Selwyn, and obviously, she had gotten the wrong end of the wand.

Now that he did not have to worry about them being noticed, he twisted her in his arms and shook her hard. "Stop it, you foolish woman."

She continued to struggle. "You're one of them. You're one of those murdering scum that tried to kill Harry and then went on to destroy Privet Drive."

"Cast your mind back woman. Who was it who saved Potter? And Albus Dumbledore will attest that I was at Hogwarts when the attack on Privet Drive took place." 

Erin struggled against Severus's hold, trying to wrench free  ‘I know what I heard," she panted.

"If you do not stop struggling, I will have to petrify you again." Erin did stop sstruggling but she remained rigid with fury and indignation.

"Now, you will follow me back down to the Leaky Cauldron and once we are back in Charring Cross Rd, I will reverse the Disillusionment charm. "It was only at the last moment I thought to Disillusion you and it is as well that I did. I was afraid that we might meet someone of Mr Selwyn's ilk."

"Someone of your ilk, you mean!" spat Erin

"If I was of Selwyn's ilk, Miss Hanson, I would have handed you to him. Now come!" With an angry swish of his wand, Severus broke the charms surrounding them and stalked off, listening carefully for the sound of her rubber-soled feet on the cobble-stones. He did not realise how worried he was that she would not comply until he heard her hurrying along behind him.