My love, my love, take shelter in these trees...

[babylonmods]

The grove of Dreaming Trees is unusually clear of mist today, and strangely warm, too. The broken Arch glows with a ghostly sheen, and the trees themselves gleam bone white under the light of the near-full moon

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[bestunrevealed]

This wizard hears only the reedy, struggling breath he fights to take, one after the other. He had

Re: tags likely to be mediocre until sinus headache lessens.

[bestunrevealed]

She's evading; he doesn't know why. This makes him worry; does she know who he is? What magics he has at disposal? With her refusal to meet his gaze, he turns suspicious for entirely the wrong reasons.

"Where are we not, then?" he asks, his eyes on the area now. The boy is noted; that's a muggle kid. "Who is he?"

[onewomanrave]

Eye contact evasion became habit very quickly once a wizard developed magical powers in Molly's world. Soulgazes were something to be avoided whenever possible, and Molly was pretty sure that Snape's soul would have some pretty dark parts balancing the good ones. She didn't want to have a clear immediate memory of it forever, or to show him hers. "The boy is just an ordinary muggle boy, from Japan," Molly told him, addressing the easiest question first.

She continued somewhat reluctantly, "And we're not in Chicago, not at Hogwarts, not in Tokyo. Which were apparently our respective locations before we wound up wherever here is." She grimaced. "I have suspicions about where we are and are not, but you would either not believe them or determine that I was insane."

[bestunrevealed]

"Muggle boy from where?"

That took him aback. How in the world did the American witch, the muggle boy, and himself all end up in the same place? That just didn't add up?

"I think you best tell me anyway," he says sharply, trying to push himself upright, and still failing, "So I can make that decision for myself."

[onewomanrave]

Molly grinned a little at Snape's surprise. "Tokyo, Japan. He told me where he came from right down to the name of his elementary school."

"Well," she said, "I suppose if you insist. You're most likely not going to listen, though." She took a deep breath and tried very hard to sound more convincing than crazy when next she spoke. "There's another world existing parallel to Earth, an entirely magical one, populated by powerful beings I'd rather have absolutely nothing to do with. I'm reasonably certain we're not in the world you or I know at all."

[bestunrevealed]

Giving up on getting upright, Snape listened. He did not wear the 'you're bloody daft' look, but he did listen. He had to think on that.

With everything he'd seen with Voldemort, though he did not speak his name, he knew stranger things could be real. Stranger things could be true. Voldemort had existed between worlds, between flesh and death, so --

Why not a paralell world.

"If what you say is true, then I would imagine that the Dark Lord knows of it. We are not safe here." Especially not in Snape's presence. "You should take the boy. Look for escape. Now."

[onewomanrave]

Molly looked at him seriously for a moment, just shy of his eyes and studying his expression as he listened. And at the lack of disdain and disbelief she found there, a small sigh and smile of relief escaped her.

As for his next statement, though, Molly would have to disagree. "Of course we're not safe here. If it would really make you feel better, I'll throw a veil over us and make us all invisible; I'm no combat wizard, but I'm excellent at distractions and concealment." Though she'd sounded casual when she began speaking, as if her words were just offhand comments, Molly's face and voice hardened with resolve as she continued, "I don't abandon people."

[bestunrevealed]

"It's not abandonment, you daft child!" Snape snarled. "I am dead weight for you and the boy. "Take your 'veils' and take the boy and find your way out. I will not have your death on my hands, since you dawdled about and refused to listen to sense."

Now, he's trying to get up again. Rage is a wonderful anesthetic to the aches and pains, but it still doesn't handle paralysis. But he's getting farther then the last time. At least now he's getting into a sitting position, if laboring to do so.

[onewomanrave]

"If you're dead weight, you can't very well protect yourself, either. I'm staying. I'll veil him now." Once she had, only Molly knew where he was located. The spell might feel a little weird to Genta, but it would not impair his vision, and the little boy was now completely invisible. "As for you and me, I'll save my energy for now, but I'll extend spells to us as soon as I think it's necessary."

The stubborn frown on Molly's face made it pretty clear that she would not be convinced otherwise on this front. "I don't want your death on my hands either. What'd be the point of having saved you in the first place?"