Round Robin: The Basement **COMPLETE **
Running in the dark was a stupid thing to do, though Lily didn't realize it until she'd made it to her bedroom. What was it her mum said about not leaving her schoolbag in the middle of the floor? She tripped over the bloody thing, letting out an involuntary scream as she fell. She heard a loud, sickening crack, crying out in pain this time as she clutched her broken leg.
"Petunia! Severus!"
Shouting for them was pointless. There was no way they could hear her from up here, and even if they could, what could they possibly do to help her? She couldn't even get to the phone unless she attempted to drag herself down the stairs, something she wasn't willing to do in pitch darkness. Knowing her luck, she'd tumble all the way down and injure herself even further. She had no choice but to stay where she was, sobbing helplessly as she searched for something, anything, to relieve the pain. She tried propping her leg up on a pillow, laying her head on her schoolbag…
Her schoolbag.
She jerked it open, tossing books and rolls of parchment aside until she found what she was looking for. Uncapping the vial, she lifted it to her lips, struggling to remember what Slughorn had said.
"A wonderful remedy for headaches, but be sure not to take more than one mouthful. Anything more than that will put you right to sleep."
Lily did as instructed, filling her mouth and gulping it down. Too late, she remembered that Slughorn had told her to take a drop, not a mouthful, the vial slipping from her fingers as she drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.
"... why hasn't she come back?" Severus asked. He was starting to grow antsy while the two of them waited for Lily to return with the hand mirror.
"She's probably stumbling in the dark," Petunia said, trying to sound dismissive but failing. "She doesn't have a torch, so...."
"How long has she been gone?"
Petunia shone the torch up at the clock on the wall. "Twenty minutes."
"We would've heard something!" Severus had started to pace back and forth as he thought of all the reasons Lily could be taking so long. "She must've gone to get help."
"In this weather? Don't be ridiculous."
"She's the sort to do something like that," Severus retorted. "If she's out there... that bloody Gryffindor...." He grabbed the crowbar once more and hurried up the steps, wedging it in and beginning to push on the bar.
"I thought we established how pitifully weak you are," Petunia said.
"Shut up," Severus spat back. He adjusted his stance and leaned forward with as much body weight as he possibly could, but the crowbar lost its purchase, causing him to lurch forward, hit his face on the wall, and fall down the staircase.
Petunia didn't have time to move out of the way, screeching as Snape's body hurtled down the stairs. He slammed into her with a surprising amount of force, catching her in the face with a bony elbow as he knocked her flat on her ass.
"Get… off!"
Snape didn't respond, lying sprawled on top of her as he struggled to catch his breath. Finally, he managed to turn his head, something warm and wet dripping onto her face.
"Ew, you're bleeding! Get off me, you nasty…"
"I think I broke my nose."
"Who cares, just… MOVE!"
It took him a couple attempts, though he finally managed to lift his weight of her body. She could tell that he'd rolled onto his side, the sound of his harsh breathing still too close to her ear.
"Where is it?"
"What?" she snapped.
"The light."
"Over there. You knocked it out of my hand when you threw yourself at me."
"I didn't throw…" He trailed off, letting out a string of curses as he dragged himself across the floor. Suddenly, the torch was pointed directly at her, followed by a sharp intake of breath.
"Oh, please. It can't be that bad."
"Yeah? See for yourself."
She pushed herself into a sitting position, snatching the pot lid he'd grabbed off the shelf. Holding it up to her face, she tried not to gasp, staring at her bloodied lip and swiftly blackening eye. She had a lump just above her eyebrow, not to mention numerous scrapes on her arms and legs.
"Fine. Let's see what you look like."
Immediately, she regretted it, if for no other reason than she almost felt sorry for him. His face looked even worse than hers, blood still gushing from his nose as he tried to staunch it with the hem of his shirt. He had not just one, but two black eyes, grimacing as he spit out a broken tooth.
"That's disgusting!"
"What do you want me to do, swallow it? Just be glad I didn't spit it in your face."
Petunia bit back a sharp retort, noticing an alarming looking gash on his arm. It was also pouring blood, though he hadn't noticed, snatching the pot lid back so he could study his own reflection.
"Your arm…"
"What about it?" he said, frowning as he dabbed at his broken nose.
Petunia pointed at Snape's arm, and Snape looked down at it. "How did--" He noticed the crowbar, which was suspiciously glistening. "... ah."
"What do you mean, 'ah'?!"
Snape glanced around before looking back down at his arm. He took the sleeve of his bad arm and ripped it from his shirt, trying to tie it around the site of the wound (as if he didn't realize he needed two hands).
"Oh, give me that!" Petunia snatched it from Snape's hand and began tying it around the wound.
"I didn't realize you cared so much," Snape said sarcastically, but he winced as Petunia violently pulled the cloth tight.
"I don't want you leaving stains in the basement and making it look like we murder our guests," Petunia hissed back. She shone the light to make sure she'd secured it when she stopped. There were a few silver lines on Snape's arms, along with a few small, circular indentations. She must've been imagining things, because it looked as though something had burned--
Snape pulled his arm out of her grasp and tucked it behind his back. "The bleeding's stopped. No need to worry about your precious basement." He continued looking at his reflection in the pot lid before taking hold of his nose, inhaling and exhaling a few times, before suddenly snapping it back into place. He grimaced and let out a pained hiss, setting the pot lid down and holding it with both hands. He eventually took hold of his shirt and held it up to his nose to stop the fresh blood.
Miraculously, Severus's nose stopped bleeding after a few minutes. He could still see blood seeping through the makeshift bandage on his arm, but even that had slowed down, making it clear he had nothing to worry about aside from another scar. If only he had some dittany, pain relief potions, or maybe a bit of bruise paste… he was sore all over, frustrated by his inability to treat himself properly.
"What's that?" he asked Petunia. She'd pulled a white plastic box off the shelf, marked with a bright red symbol that looked like a plus sign.
"First aid kit. I'd forgotten it was down here."
"First aid?" He frowned. "What does that mean?"
"You really are thick, aren't you? Here, look."
Petunia opened the box, shining the light on its contents. He saw bottles with brightly colored labels, rolls of some gauze like material, tiny boxes that said stuff like "Band-Aid" and "Dulcolax". Most of it was foreign to him, though he did recognize the clear bottle full of tiny white tablets. He'd seen his dad take them on multiple occasions, complaining that he had a headache.
"Aspirin," Petunia said, shaking out two of the tablets into her hand. She grabbed a can of pop from the shelf, opening it with a loud crack.
"Can I have one of those?"
"Aspirin?"
He shook his head. "Pop."
Part of him expected her to say no, but then she nodded, muttering something about freeloaders. He ignored her, cracking open the sweet, fizzy drink as he eyed a bag of crisps. Not only was he thirsty, but hungry, too. Would she let him have some? Maybe, though he decided not to ask just yet.
"So that's Muggle medicine?" he said, turning back to her. "What does the other stuff do?"
"Don't touch any of it," Petunia said quickly. She picked out the Dulcolax and said, "These are laxatives. And this," she said, picking up the box of Band-Aids, "is to put on cuts and scratches." She set her can of pop down and opened one of the packs from the box and placed it on her bloodied knee. "You've honestly never heard of a first aid kit?"
Severus didn't want to answer, so he took a sip of pop and immediately regretted it as fizzy drink made contact with what remained of his broken tooth. He suppressed a groan as he set the can down.
"Why are you making that face?" Petunia said. "You asked to have some."
"... tooth," Severus grumbled.
"Here," Petunia said, taking out a couple more aspirin and holding out her hand.
Severus took the white tablets and washed them down with the drink, careful not to touch his bad tooth. It would probably take some time before the pain subsided (Muggle medicine seemed to be inferior), but it was better than nothing. He took another careful sip before asking, "Are the crisps for emergencies?"
"Oh, for God's sake," Petunia said, snatching a bag from the shelf, opening it, and setting it down between them. "There!"
Severus took one and ate it; it was a bit salty, but he liked the flavor. There was a bit of thunder outside, but distant enough not to startle either of them as they ate in silence. The next time Petunia shone the torch at the clock, it showed it was just past three. Lily still wasn't back.
"Do you think she's hurt?" Severus asked quietly. "If she went to get help, it shouldn't take this long."
"She's not hurt. Probably just wandered off and found something better to do."
"Something better? She wouldn't just leave us…"
Petunia laughed, a high-pitched, unpleasant sound. "Trust me," she said, "my sister is way less concerned about us than you are about her."
Severus wasn't so sure about that, remembering how alarmed Lily had sounded when she'd realized they were locked in. Besides, the power was out, and he knew she wouldn't risk casting Lumos. What could she possibly be doing in the dark that would've distracted her this long?
As if on cue, there was a strange, humming noise, one he soon recognized as electricity. The lights came back on, followed by a cheer from Petunia. He felt like cheering, too, though he managed to restrain himself, glad he could see where he was going as he crept back up the stairs.
"Lily?" he shouted through the door. "Lily!"
Why wasn't she answering? Severus spent at least the next 10 minutes calling for her, pausing every now and again to take a sip of pop and soothe his sore throat. He was angrier than ever that he'd left his wand at home… at this point, he would've blasted the door off its hinges, underage statute or not.
"Why can't she hear me? It's not even thundering anymore!"
"I'll bet she's got the telly on," Petunia said. "They're showing Love Story this afternoon."
He didn't know who "they" were, nor what love story Petunia was talking about. All he knew was that Lily wasn't half as selfish as her sister thought she was.
"Something's wrong," he insisted, turning back to the door. "LILY!"
"Oh, give it up!" Petunia said after several more minutes of silence. "She's obviously not coming."
Severus shut his mouth and pressed his ear to the door. If Lily was using the telly (he knew it was some sort of Muggle box that showed pictures and blared sound), then he should be able to hear something.
"What are you doing?" Petunia asked.
"Quiet," Severus shot back. "I'm trying to listen."
Petunia scoffed and got down beside Severus, putting her head next to his, probably to follow suit. "I don't hear anything," she said dismissively.
"Exactly," Severus said. "No telly."
"She probably has it on a lower volume," Petunia said.
"Then she would have heard us," Severus retorted. "And now that the lights are back on, she doesn't have to look for a mirror to shine the light at the keyhole. She would've come back by now if she was still inside."
Petunia turned to Severus, looking as though she wanted to say something, but she remained silent. She got up from her position and sat down on the stairs, her brow knit.
Severus sat up as well, looking around the room to see if there was anything that could help. They'd already cracked open the first aid kit, two cans of pop, and some crisps. They'd tried, and failed, to use a crowbar to open the door, and the torch was redundant now that the lights were back on. He looked back at the door, cursing the fact that the door couldn't be unlocked from the inside. He'd break the handle off he if was strong enough....
Severus froze as he stared at the screws that held the door handle to the door. "Petunia," he said carefully, "do we have a screwdriver down here?"
"A screwdriver? For what?"
"What do you think?" Severus said, gesturing at the screws. He tried to hold back his excitement, realizing he could be reunited with Lily in a matter of minutes.
"Oh, right, like you even know how to take those out." Petunia rolled her eyes. "You'd probably end up stabbing yourself in the leg or something."
"Just bring me a bloody screwdriver, will you?"
"Fine," she said, sighing dramatically as she stomped back down the stairs. She rooted around in a couple of boxes, returning a couple minutes later holding a screwdriver with a bright yellow handle.
"Move."
"What?" he said.
"Move! I'll do it."
He shook his head. "I'm stronger. Give it to me."
She ignored him, shoving him aside before she pressed the tip of the screwdriver into one of the small metal heads. Grunting aloud, she twisted, throwing all her weight against it as beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
"It's supposed to be counterclockwise," he said. "You're turning it the wrong way!"
"I… am… not… OOF!"
The tip of the screwdriver skidded across the metal, Petunia's arms flailing as she lost her balance. Instinctively, Severus reached out to catch her, managing to brace himself against the wall as she slammed into him. That saved them both from toppling down the stairs for a second time, though that didn't mean he was okay. He glanced down at himself, his eyes widening as he spotted the object that was now protruding from his thigh.
"You… you stabbed me!"
Petunia's eyes widened, her mouth agape. "I-I didn't... you were in the way--"
"I caught you from falling!" Severus shot back, his heart racing. He'd never been stabbed before. His leg muscles had started to tighten instinctively around the foreign object. He knew he wasn't supposed to pull it out, but moving around with something like this protruding from him would be painful. Hell, standing in place was starting to hurt. "... I need to sit down," he finally said.
Petunia backed away from him as Severus carefully lowered himself down onto the steps. "What...." Petunia had turned pale. She rushed to the first aid kit, bringing the whole box up and rummaging through it for something, eventually pulling out some gauze.
"... well," Severus said blankly, looking at his torn sleeve, "at least you'll be working with something suitable this time."
"Y... you need to put pressure on your leg when I pull it out," Petunia said, covering her mouth as she unraveled a good amount of gauze. Her hands were shaking, and she almost looked nauseous.
"I'll do it." Before Petunia could respond, Severus grabbed the handle of the screwdriver, took a sharp breath in and out, and quickly pulled it out. The foreign sensation caught him off-guard, and he let out a yelp before pressing down hard on his leg. "Well, go on, then!"
