XXXV: A Black Day

Chapter XXXV: A Black Day

The Dark Mark was already fading over the treetops as Snape Apparated into the middle of the forest. To someone who had never seen the horrid skull, it would have looked like an oddly shaped, green-tinged cloud by now. But Snape knew better. He had seen the Dark Mark often enough to recognise even the faintest trace of its outline. And besides, there was magic hanging in the air: Dark Magic. He could sense it. It made his skin crawl and his stomach clench.

'And once again, you are one of the last to arrive, Severus,' Bella's scornful voice greeted him as he stepped out of the shadows of the trees and into the clearing. 'The others have already left.'

'Unlike those others, I do not have the luxury to drop everything and Disapparate from the spot,' Snape retorted, desperately trying to sound as if he had no idea why he had been called. But his heart was racing in his chest. He could make out the outlines of a body behind Bellatrix, but there was no way of telling if it was Charis or Jack, or someone else entirely. 'Was it you who cast the Mark, Bella?' he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Bellatrix's eyes glittered, and she nodded as eagerly as a five-year-old who had finished off all her peas. 'Yes,' she replied proudly, a tone of sheer insanity in her voice. 'I did it. I took care of the little problem. Those two Ravenclaws will never again stick their beaks into other people's business.'

Snape scowled at her. 'Are you telling me you killed two Hogwarts students?' It took him all his willpower to keep his voice steady. What he wanted to do was scream out the pain he was feeling in his heart. He had come too late. 'Do you have any idea how serious this is?'

'Oops.' Bella looked as innocent as a fawn for a few moments, but then she broke out into peals of tinkling laughter. 'Dear Severus, for a second there you had me fooled. You actually looked concerned. Do remember that facial expression when you tell Dumbledore.' She pouted and twirled a lock of hair around her wand in a characteristically girlish manner, a flirtatious twinkle in her eyes.

Snape resisted the urge to close his hands around her throat. 'What is your plan now, Bella?' he sneered. 'Bundle them up and send them to the Order of the Phoenix with a note saying, This is what happens if you mess with us?'

Again, Bellatrix laughed coquettishly. 'Oh, Severus, who would have thought that you had such a delightful sense of humour? But no, I had actually planned to let them rot here until someone finds them. But now I think YOU should take them to Dumbledore. You could tell him that you tried to save them, couldn't you? Snape, the hero teacher of Hogwarts.' She faked a wobbling lip but then rolled her eyes. 'The senile fool would actually believe you, would he not? And to think the Mudbloods count on him to protect them from the wrath of the Dark Lord. Ridiculous.'

She turned around and poked the body behind her with the tip of her boot. That was when Snape realised that it was Jack. Half of the boy's face had been turned into an unrecognisable, bloody pulp. But it was Jack, alright.

'Do whatever you want with them,' Bella said. 'The other one is somewhere...' She gestured towards the edge of the forest carelessly. '... over there. Just a filthy little Mudblood. Begged for her life, that one. Had no pride at all. This one here was brave at least.' Once more she kicked the lifeless body with her foot. 'It was almost a shame to kill him. Almost. Oh, well, one has to be consistent. Happy Easter, Severus.' And with that, Bellatrix blew Snape a kiss and giggled maniacally before turning and Disapparating on the spot.

The very second Bellatrix had gone, Snape broke into a run towards the edge of the forest. He had little hope for Jack. If the rest of the boy's body was in a similar condition to his face, he was most certainly dead. But maybe, just maybe, there was hope for Charis...

He found her straight away, sprawled on the moss and heather. He froze at the sight of her mangled body. Her face and chest looked as if she had been slashed with a sword. There was so much blood everywhere, and beneath, Charis' face was pale, so terribly pale.

Snape sank to his knees beside her and sent a silent prayer to every deity he knew as he checked her throat. Let there be a pulse. Please. Please let there be a pulse.

It was so faint that he at first doubted his fingers. But yes, there it was: a faint sign of life pulsating under his index finger. The girl was still alive!

Snape drew his wand and started tracing it over the wounds, willing his voice and hands not to shake. 'Vulnera sanantur. Vulnera sanantur. Vulnera...'

He knew this incantation well. He had invented it only weeks after he had invented Sectumsempra. He had shown the Dark spell to Mulciber, by practicing it on an innocent rabbit at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The desperate screams of the dying animal had made Snape feel so wretched that he had not rested until he had come up with the counter curse. And to this day, he never ate rabbit. Now he wished desperately that he had never invented the disgusting, brutal spell.

'Vulnera sanantur. Vulnera sanantur.' The flow of blood eased, and the wounds seemed to be knitting.

With shaking fingers, Snape wiped the residue from Charis' face. Yes, the wounds on her face had closed already. Obviously, Charis' face had not been Bellatrix's main target.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Snape's lips curled into a tiny smile as he focused on Charis' torso to charm away what was left of her shirt. Trust the little Ravenclaw to be wearing a top that carried more stars than the night sky.

The smile froze on Snape's lips as he examined the girl's torso, however. Many things could be said about Bellatrix Lestrange, but she certainly knew her Dark spells. The cuts were so deep that the rib bones were exposed in some places. But still, they were so well placed that none of them were lethal on their own. What would have killed the girl was blood loss. A slow, cruel and painful death.

Once more, Snape repeated his incantation. There would be scarring, even if he applied dittany right there and then. But most probably, hopefully, the girl would survive.

He brought his hand to his face to rub his eyes, smearing blood all over his brow in the process. Charis needed medical attention, Essence of Dittany, Ceramite, and Blood-Replenishing Potion, and she needed them right away. But he could not Apparate with her under one arm and Jack under the other. Should he Apparate to St. Mungo's with Charis first and then come back later to retrieve Jack's body?

A loud crack disturbed Snape's thoughts and made him spin around instinctively, his wand raised in front of him.

'Please, do not hex Silvy, Master Snape,' the elf squeaked and cowered.

'Silvy! What are you doing here?'

'Miss Morgana has sent Silvy,' the elf explained. 'Miss Morgana said Master Snape might need help.'

She has no idea just how much help we need, Snape thought bitterly.

'I need you to take the body of the boy back to Hogwarts,' he instructed the elf. 'Straight to the hospital wing. Tell the nurse that the boy's name is Jack.'

Silvy scurried at once towards Jack, and Snape gingerly scooped up Charis' limp body into his arms. Her head lolled against his shoulder, and Snape felt a stab in his heart. What if she had died without him having told her how sorry he was for the way he had treated her?

'Master Snape,' Silvy suddenly piped up. 'This is no body, sir. Master Jack is still breathing.'

Snape gave a sigh of relief. 'To the hospital wing,' he repeated. 'Quickly!'

Maybe, Jack and Charis would be better cared for at St. Mungo's. But with Poppy, he could be sure that she would act first and ask questions later. And there was no time for questions.

With a loud crack, Silvy Disapparated with Jack, and Snape tightened his grip around Charis to make sure he would not let go of her during Apparition. He thought he saw her eyelids twitch slightly, and as she moaned, he breathed a gentle, consoling kiss on her forehead.

'Everything will be alright,' he whispered. 'I promise.'

* * *

Poppy was already busy tending to Jack as Snape arrived at the hospital wing. Just as he had predicted, the mediwitch had immediately sprung to action. Certainly, she would ask later how the boy had ended up in such a state. But for now, she would make sure he would survive.

He carefully placed Charis onto an empty bed and scrambled towards the Potions cupboard. Poppy was busy, and the girl's wounds had been caused by his curse. He would treat her himself until Poppy could take over.

He propped some pillows behind Charis' back and held a phial of Blood Replenishing Potion to her lips. 'Come on, Charis,' he muttered. 'Swallow.'

She coughed as the potion went down, and Snape gingerly patted her back before he opened a second phial. When he was about to administer the third, he heard Poppy approach.

'I sent the boy to St. Mungo's,' she said sadly.

'Will he survive?'

'I don't know, Severus. You saw how he was.'

The boy was indeed in a terrible state, but Snape had no room in his head to think about him now. All he could think of was Charis, lying there and fighting for her life, from a curse of his own invention. Had he not hurt her enough? First he had broken her heart, and now his spell had broken her body, and may yet take her life. What could she and her housemate have possibly done to incur such wrath from Bellatrix Lestrange? She was so pure, so sweet of heart...

Snape's musings were interrupted by Poppy bustling over with armfuls of bandages, and he quickly made space for the mediwitch at Charis' bedside and retreated behind the curtains as she started to peel off the girl's bloody clothes to treat her wounds. It was not appropriate for him to watch.

'Who did this, Severus?' he heard Poppy ask.

'Death Eaters,' he answered curtly. Poppy didn't need to know more.

'You did a good job closing the wounds, Severus,' Poppy commented. 'Some dittany and there will barely be any scars left. How many phials of Blood Replenisher have you given her?'

'Three,' Snape answered. He had now taken to pacing the ward. If there was one thing he hated, it was the feeling of being useless. He wanted to do something. Anything!

'Good. I will give her one more every half hour until her blood pressure is stable.'

Snape heard Poppy move about behind the curtain. Most probably, she was applying bandages to the girl now. When she emerged some fifteen minutes later, she looked tired but confident.

'I will not ask you how you found the children, Severus,' she said in a low voice, 'but I am glad you did. For Jack, it was just in time. You saved their lives.'

Snape's jaw tightened. He should not have had to save their lives. He should have taken Bella's threat seriously and made sure that she never got her dirty hands on the children in the first place. He should have protected them.

'I assume you will inform Dumbledore,' Poppy continued.

Snape nodded, and his eyes darted towards the curtains behind which he knew Charis was lying. He did not want to leave her alone.

'Go, Severus,' Poppy urged him. 'You have done what you could. I will take care of the girl.'

Of course she would, Snape knew that. Poppy was the most capable mediwitch in the country. Still, he was reluctant to leave.

'Go now, Severus,' Poppy repeated in a kind but firm voice. 'Dumbledore will want to know what happened.'

'I will be back shortly.' Resisting the urge to open the curtains and make sure Charis was indeed breathing, Snape turned on his heel and stomped out of the ward, using Scourgify to get Charis' blood off his robes as he walked. The last thing he needed was to bump into Umbridge and having to explain why he looked as if he has stabbed someone.

Outside in the corridor stood Morgana, who was as pale as a ghost and fiddled nervously with her necklace.

'Bumping into you is starting to get annoying,' Snape snarled but regretted his harsh tone at once as he saw the fear in Morgana's eyes. 'Why are you here?' he asked in a somewhat softer voice.

'Silvy told me you had returned.'

'Of course, she did.' Snape saw the girl's eyes dart between him and the door he had closed behind him. Morgana seemed tense, and he wondered how much Silvy had told her. 'It was a wise move to send the elf, Miss Belakane,' he started. 'Five points to Slytherin for quick thinking.'

'Is Charis alright?' Morgana asked, not even noticing the House points she had been awarded. There was an urgency to her voice that suggested that she wanted nothing more than see her friend. She had no idea what state Charis was in. Silvy had been too upset to give a proper report.

'Miss Byrne will be alright, Miss Belakane,' Snape assured her. 'Ask Madam Pomfrey nicely and you might be allowed to see your friend for a while. Prepare yourself, however; Miss Byrne has been through a terrible ordeal today. You may find her appearance shocking. And I must ask you not to say a word to anybody about what happened this afternoon. Is that quite clear?'

'Yes, sir. Crystal clear.'

'Good.' He held open the door for her and saw Poppy direct her to Charis' bed. Obviously, the mediwitch thought it was alright for Charis to have some company.

For some moments, Snape watched the girls. He must be imagining things, he told himself, but it almost looked as if Charis' body relaxed the second Morgana took her friend's hand into hers. What a bond those two shared, Snape thought and wondered if any power in the world was strong enough to drive a wedge between those girls. They were sisters, indeed.

With a sigh, Snape turned and made his way down the stairs. He would report to Dumbledore and then hurry back. He knew that it was silly, but he had come so close to losing those girls so many times now that he, for the time being, wanted to be close to them. He felt responsible for each of the horrid things they had been subjected to lately. Tonight, at least, he would not let either girl out of his sight.

* * *

Snape arrived at Grimmauld Place in just ten minutes. As he had expected, the place was deserted. It was the Easter holidays, after all. Normal people, even Order members, had family and friends to be with.

He strode through the long, narrow hallway, casting a cursory glance into the kitchen as he walked towards the back of the house. The lounge door was ajar; through it came the tinkling of a tea set and the unmistakable voices of Albus Dumbledore, who was using the Order headquarters as a temporary hide-out, and his host, Sirius Black.

Snape's nostrils flared. Black was a useless, overbearing idiot at the best of times. He could only just tolerate his presence when it came to Order business, but this was different. This was Hogwarts business, and indeed, private business. He had no desire for the filthy hound to start slobbering over a matter which was no concern of his. He would therefore have to dispatch him as quickly as possible.

He gave a curt rap on the door and pushed it open, pulling himself up to his full height as he stood in the door frame. He noticed Black's face turn from an expectant smile to a sour glare. Dumbledore, meanwhile, shifted in his seat and peered over his glasses with a twinkle in his blue eyes and the crease of a smile in his beard.

'Severus, what a pleasant surprise. I'd rather thought you'd be out hunting for Easter eggs with the rest of the faculty on such a clement day.'

The corner of Snape's mouth twitched in irritation as Sirius let out a scoffing bark of a laugh.

'Would you care for some tea?' Dumbledore extended his hand and an extra fine-bone china cup and saucer appeared on the coffee table in front of him.

'I am here regarding some emergency Hogwarts business. Some private, emergency Hogwarts business.' At this, Snape arched a sinister eyebrow at Black, who glowered back up at him.

'Run out of quills, have we, Severus?' Black asked, his eyes glinting cruelly. 'Or maybe you need some new test tubes for your chemistry set?'

Snape felt the red mist of pure anger welling up inside him. Black had no idea what he had witnessed that afternoon, and no idea of the burdens he was carrying around on a daily basis, or what he had sacrificed. He gripped the handle of his wand inside his robes tightly, employing every scrap of his Occlumency not to hex the wretched cur in front of him into a thousand pieces, just like he should have done when he had first found him in the Shrieking Shack.

'What I am here for is none of your concern, Black,' he managed to grind out through gritted teeth.

It was Dumbledore who stepped in quickly to stop the already frosty atmosphere from dropping to sub-arctic levels.

'Well, then, Severus, I am sure you would not have left Hogwarts without good reason,' the old man said mildly. 'Sirius, would you mind giving us a few moments?'

'As you wish, Albus,' Black replied, sounding just like a petulant teenager as he placed his cup and saucer on to the table. On his way out, Snape heard him whisper 'Snivellus' under his breath before closing the door a little too loudly behind him.

Once they were alone, Dumbledore folded his hands across his stomach and smiled up serenely at the dark Potions master. 'Why don't you have a seat and tell me about your news, Severus?'

Snape remained standing. This was not a social call. He wanted to tell Dumbledore what had happened and then return to Hogwarts as soon as possible. If he sat down, he would surely go out of his mind.

'Two students have been attacked by Death Eaters today,' he announced, his voice cold and emotionless. Dumbledore did not need to know how much the whole ordeal had shaken him.

Dumbledore's face fell, and his eyes crinkled as he placed his teacup on the table. 'Who? And where?' For once, the otherwise so eloquent wizard seemed to be unable to form a coherent sentence.

'Miss Bryne and Mister Morrissey,' Snape reported. 'I found them in Epping Forest.'

'Are they alive?'

'Barely.' Snape started pacing, as he so often did when he felt helpless. 'Poppy sent Mr Morrissey straight to St. Mungo's. He was in such a state when I arrived I doubted that he was still alive. Miss Byrne is at the hospital wing. She has lost a lot of blood but Poppy seems confident.'

'Sweet Merlin,' Dumbledore murmured, shaking his head in disbelief.

'They are lucky to be alive,' Snape continued. 'Normally, Bellatrix makes sure she finishes what she has started.'

'Bellatrix.' Dumbledore sighed and poured himself another cup of tea. 'I should have known.'

Snape spun around to face the Headmaster. 'What do you mean, you should have known? How could you have known?'

Once more, Dumbledore gestured towards the chair opposite him. 'I really think you ought to take a seat, Severus.'

Snape crossed his arms in front of his chest. He would not sit down.

Dumbledore shrugged. 'As you wish.' He took a deep breath and pushed his spectacles up his Roman nose with his index finger. 'Severus, Charis Byrne is not Muggle-born. Charis Byrne is a Black, a descendant from Marius Black, a Squib who was blasted off the family tree.'

The colour of Snape's cheeks went from pale to chalky. 'A BLACK?' This could not be! That sweet girl could not be related to some of the most despicable wizards in Britain. 'These Blacks?' he asked, pointing towards the door through which Sirius Black had left the room mere minutes ago. 'And you knew?'

Dumbledore raised his hands in a calming gesture. 'Of course, I knew, Severus,' he replied serenely. 'The Ministry monitors Squibs and their offspring. And when a magical child is born into that linage, the information appears in our files at Hogwarts.'

Snape stared at the old man in front of him in disbelief. 'And you have not deemed it necessary to inform anyone about Miss Byrne's family secret?'

'It was not mine to tell, Severus. But I expected Charis to find out sooner or later.' He sipped at his tea and then smiled. 'She has not been sorted into Ravenclaw House without reason. And when she and Jack started to look into her ancestry, I let them.'

If looks could kill, then the glare Snape shot Dumbledore would have been more effective than the Killing Curse. 'People have doubted your sanity for decades, Dumbledore, and I start to think they are right. How could you let Miss Byrne and Mr Morrissey conduct research into the House of Black? You know how protective pureblood families are of their reputation, especially the Blacks!'

'I did not think anyone would know. Information about most Wizard families can be obtained at the Hogwarts library...'

'Did you not even consider the possibility that someone might notice what they were doing? Another descendant from the House of Black?' Snape took to pace the room again. The twinkly-eyed old fool! What had he done?

'You mean Draco Malfoy?' Dumbledore asked. Still, his voice was annoyingly calm.

'Of course I mean Draco Malfoy,' Snape snapped. 'You and I both know that he has never liked Miss Byrne. He has been bullying her for the better part of this school year, for reasons that are beyond me. If he found out that she and Mr Morrissey were doing research... And Lucius! Lucius spent a whole evening with Miss Byrne. I know he visited Ravenclaw Tower...'

Of course, Lucius knew. And Bella knew. For the love of Merlin! The realisation hit Snape like a Bludger to the gut, and he let himself fall onto the nearest chair, suddenly doubting that his legs would support him any longer. 'I could have prevented this.'

Dumbledore looked at his Potions master with his eyes narrowed. 'Severus, this is not your fault!'

Snape, however, did not seem to hear him. 'Bella made a remark at the Manor a few days ago about me not knowing what my students were up to. I should have understood what she meant...'

'Severus, please!'

'My spell, Dumbledore!' The look in Snape's eyes was wild, almost demented. 'Bellatrix used MY spell on MY students! Sectumsempra. She could have killed them!'

'But she did not kill them, Severus.' Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair, trying to catch Snape's eyes. 'You found them. You saved them.'

'I did nothing, Dumbledore. NOTHING! If Bella had not wanted to celebrate, if she had not cast the spell that activated my Mark, I would not even have known that she had captured them. They would have died. They would have bled to death on the forest ground.' Snape buried his face in his hands. He wanted to rant and scream, but he lacked the energy. 'I am doomed to failure, aren't I, Dumbledore?' he muttered instead. 'I just cannot protect them. Miss Belakane was ripped into pieces by Lucius right in front of my eyes. And Miss Byrne had fallen victim to Bellatrix because I did not take her threats seriously. I failed them, both of them.'

Dumbledore rose from his chair and approached his Potions master. 'Listen carefully to me now, Severus. You have not failed them! You saved them. I have seen the respect Morgana gives you and the way she looks at you. You were the only thing she had left after Lucius lost control. And Charis... who would have saved her, if not you? She might have been wounded by your curse, but it was also your counter curse that healed her.' He extended his hand but withdrew quickly as Snape flinched. 'You have given more to those girls than you will ever know, Severus.'

Snape shot up from his chair as if hit by a hex. 'They should not need to be saved, Dumbledore! They should be chasing boys and worrying about their NEWTs.' He drew himself up to his full height and glared down his nose at Dumbledore. 'Why? Why are you doing this to those girls, Dumbledore? You fed Morgana to Lucius without batting an eyelid. And by letting Charis discover her heritage herself, you let her walk right into a minefield. WHY?'

'Morgana was already in too deep with Lucius from the end of her sixth year,' Dumbledore replied, careful to keep his voice calm as he folded his hands behind his back. 'The very day she became of age, she was in danger. I had to make sure her involvement with Lucius did not benefit Voldemort. It might seem callous to you, but the by-product of that was also to protect Hogwarts and give the Order more time. I hoped things would have run more smoothly, but alas, they didn't.'

Snape's lips twitched in disgust. He had hated Dumbledore's plan from the very start. He had seen Morgana suffer, had seen one of the cockiest witches in the castle turn into a mere shadow of herself and experience things no seventeen-year-old should have to go through.

'As for Charis, she had every right to find out everything about her lineage,' Dumbledore continued. 'I had hoped she would find everything she was looking for and then come to me for advice. Unfortunately, my plans were thwarted.'

'What is next, then?' Snape spat. 'Will you ask them to join the Order?'

Dumbledore cocked his head to one side and his mouth twitched in his beard. 'I am planning to, as it happens, yes, Severus.'

Dumbledore's benign smile made Snape's bile rise. 'You must be joking!'

'I am afraid I am quite serious.'

'No, Dumbledore. NO!' Snape bellowed. 'Over my dead body!'

'That should not be necessary, Severus.' Dumbledore absentmindedly stroked his beard. 'Morgana has shown that she, although continually surrounded by Dark, has what it takes to fight for the light. She has sacrificed much already. She will want justification. And Charis is as brave as any Gryffindor. Now that she has seen what Death Eaters mean to do to good, innocent people such as herself, she will want to fight back. Don't you agree, Severus?'

'They are too young, Dumbledore.' Snape was desperately looking for arguments to change Dumbledore's mind. He did not want his girls to be involved in this war. 'And as you have said yourself, they have both been through enough already.'

'They are of age, Severus,' Dumbledore countered once more in his maddeningly calm voice. 'Once they leave Hogwarts in a few months' time, they will be able to make that decision for themselves.'

'We will see about that.' Snape shot Dumbledore a last furious look and turned on his heel to leave. He had heard enough. But Dumbledore called him back.

'Dolores Umbridge cannot hear of what has happened to Jack and Charis today,' the Headmaster declared in a grave tone. 'No one must know, not even their parents. We cannot risk anything upsetting the plans in motion for the Ministry, nor my return to Hogwarts.'

Once more, Snape stared at Dumbledore as if the latter had declared that he was about to join the Dark Lord. 'You want me to act as if nothing happened?'

'No one is to know, except you, myself and Poppy,' Dumbledore repeated.

'Miss Belakane knows,' Snape pointed out. 'She sent an elf to my help and waited outside the hospital wing.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'They are like twins, those two. If one is tickled, I am sure the other laughs. Charis will need Morgana by her side now, just as Morgana needs Charis by hers.' Then his smile disappeared. 'As for Bella, Severus, you will need to use your discretion, as always. You must let her think that she did enough to scare Jack and Charis, and that they do not know the truth.'

Snape sighed. 'I will come up with an excuse on why I saved them. But Bella will not be happy.'

'She will have more pressing engagements soon. Distract her with talk of the prophecy,' Dumbledore recommended. 'We know she would do anything to be Voldemort's favourite, even if it means snatching away the glory from Lucius.'

'I will be sure to make the suggestion,' Snape replied caustically. 'Make sure the Order is ready, Dumbledore. If Lucius and Bella are not in Azkaban by the end of June, I will not be held responsible for my actions.'

The older wizard looked hard at the younger wizard, his blue eyes serious over the half-moon of his spectacles. 'The Order will be ready, Severus. They will be.'

Snape turned to leave, but once more, Dumbledore called out for him before he had reached the door.

'Thank you, Severus.'

Dumbledore never knew if the Potions master had heard him, because his voice had been drowned by the sound of the slamming door.

* * *

'Status, Poppy?'

'You should not startle an old woman like that, Severus,' the nurse pointed out as Snape burst into her office.

Snape, however, was not in the mood to be lectured. 'How are the students?' he demanded to know.

'Mr Morrissey's condition is still critical, but he is being taken care of by the best Healers at St. Mungo's.'

'And Miss Byrne?'

'She has been given two more doses of Blood-Replenisher. Her wounds are healing as we speak, but she had not yet regained consciousness.' Poppy smiled. 'But her condition is stable, and if I did not know better, I'd say her body relaxed once her friend arrived.'

Snape scowled. 'I assume Miss Belakane is still here?'

Poppy nodded. 'I made up a bed for her. I did not have the heart to send her away.'

There wasn't a sound to be heard as Snape re-entered the ward, and for a moment he considered retiring to the dungeons. He was so endlessly tired. But he could not just leave. He needed to see with his own eyes that Charis was still alive and that Morgana was by her side.

He found Charis tightly tucked in, still propped up by several pillows. He was pleased to see that some colour had returned to her cheeks. Morgana was lying on her stomach on a bed beside her friend, but immediately scrambled up into a sitting position as she became aware of her Head of House.

'Why is it that you are never asleep when I find you here, Miss Belakane?' Snape growled.

Morgana gave him a shy smile. 'Would you sleep if your best friend were lying here?' she asked, nodding towards Charis.

'Of course not,' he answered roughly. His best friend had been dead and buried for over a decade, however. But the girl was not to know that.

He pulled up a chair between the two beds and sat down, now noticing that every muscle in his body was aching. He longed for a hot bath and his bed, but once he had settled on the chair, he doubted if he had the strength to get up again. And he could not make himself leave the girls alone, not even in Poppy's care.

'What are you reading?' he asked, pointing at the book that lay on Morgana's pillow.

'Just some drivel,' she replied and handed him the same copy of Beedle the Bard that Snape had threatened to read to her just a few short weeks ago.

'Great Odin's raven!' Snape exclaimed. 'That is drivel indeed.'

A tiny laugh escaped Morgana's throat. 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart is one of Charis' favourite stories,' she explained. 'I thought she might like it if I read it to her.'

'Trust a Ravenclaw to have a favourite story like this.' Snape gave the book back to Morgana. 'But by all means, do read your friend a bedtime story.'

Morgana frowned. Somehow, she had the feeling that the story she was about to read was not only Charis' favourite. But she chose to keep silent about it. She doubted Snape would tell her anyway.

She fluffed Charis' pillows and then settled on her stomach once more. 'There was once a handsome, rich and talented young warlock, who observed that his friends grew foolish when they fell in love ...'

Morgana knew the story by heart and did not really need to keep her eyes on the book, so she did not miss the furtive looks Severus Snape gave Charis and herself as she spoke. But she kept silent about that, too.