𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄 || Severus Snape x OC ||

1 . THROUGH THE WALL

Once upon not so long ago, on a gloomy and clouded morning, a girl ran for her life.

Her lips were the color of ripe cherries, her skin as soft as new-fallen snow, her hair as dark as the raven and wavy as the ocean.

A small crystal hung from a thin leather cord draped around her neck, that faintly reflected the light that pierced through the glass roof of King's Cross Station with its tall glass panels arched above her, held up by curved steel beams. All around, thick stone and brick pillars evolved into huge archways no smaller than fifty feet high. Trains screeched, some pulling into their platforms, whilst others signaled their departure, picking up speed.

A taste of blood bathed her every breath as the air scratched her lungs, and she panted with each running step taking her as far away as she never had been. Her mind emptied of all thoughts but one: escape. She rushed through men, women, and children carrying suitcases and coats, glaring startled at the girl's anguish to flee. She couldn't recall how long she'd been running, nor how far she'd gone.

Policemen could be seen every few meters, and she rushed through the crowd as quickly as she could before they joined the chase after her tail.

"𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱!" one of them shouted at her, whistling loudly a second later, summoning the attention of the other policemen around. Her eyes widened and she bolted, jumping over suitcases and a tiny dog that curled up to its leash as she leaped right over it. Her breaths were shallow and quickened as she struggled to avoid bumping into the people that had gathered in the station like bees in a hive.

"On platform 9! Stop that girl!" She heard the voices behind her getting closer and she turned breathlessly to glance at them over her shoulder, as they were pushing their way through the crowd. Her steps quickened and rushed, like a doe galloping away from her predators that were closing in more and more; a fox, chased by howling hounds, feeling the adrenaline race through her veins. But just before her eyes turned to face ahead of her again, she tripped over a trolley that stood lonesome near the brick wall.

Losing her balance and falling forward, she barely saw the brick wall coming closer just before she instinctively shut her eyes a second before what would be a lethal impact. She did not see the smirk on the face of a scrawny figure that stood by the wall between the platforms, now pulling back the treacherous trolley, nor did she hear the swishing sound when instead of crushing hard into the wall, she went right through it.

*.·:·.☽ ✧ ☾.·:·.*

Darkness.

The raven-haired girl blinked as her eyesight fought the blur and darkness that deprived her of seeing anything at all.

Hard concrete surface beneath her palms and knees, smoothed by the steps of hundreds of steps before her. Her senses took over for her eyesight which still fought to be regained. Whistles, iron, and little wheels rolling onto the ground, voices of children and adults, all muffled and merged into an indistinct brassy noise of human voices and large machines.

The blurriness faded with each passing second, and it felt like the strongest sound in her head was now that of her own breathing, irregular and rushed by her angst to flee and her fear of getting caught.

With her sight coming back, she evaluated hastily her condition against her racing heart. Having fallen to her knees and hands, still panting from the chase, she raised her head and stood up finding herself on a platform she couldn't recognize. Her eyebrows furrowed in perplexity and anxious confusion. She turned and saw the solid brick wall behind her; muddling, scattered thoughts strived to make sense of what had happened. How did she get here?

She was still in a train station, but it beared no resemblance to the one she recalled from moments ago; high ceilings and small golden lights seemed to fill the air around her, mismatching the former modernity of King's Cross station.