Drained

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Many hugs of thanks must go to Sequana for beta-ing this chapter for me.

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Chapter 8: Drained

White was the first thing that he saw when he came to. It was always the same thing he saw each time he awoke after blacking out. Severus groaned softly, realizing that he was, in fact, in the hospital wing. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, noting that a privacy curtain had been drawn around his bed so that he would remain undisturbed as usual. He wondered for a moment if he should call for Poppy but thought better of it. She would likely rush over, make the biggest fuss of him and wave her silly wand about before stuffing, in his opinion, unnecessary potions and the like down his throat.

That was the last thing he needed when he was feeling so tired.

His body, while not being overly affected, was feeling sore and strained. It was as though he had been strapped to a Muggle medieval torture device and had his body stretched from his shoulders down to his feet. Tentatively, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and carefully lowered himself to his feet to test if he was capable of standing on his own. His knees buckled slightly on his first attempt, and he found himself grabbing for the bed and the nearby trolley for support. Eventually though, his legs found the strength and became used to the standing position, so he let go.

He smirked, pleased with his own progress, little though this achievement was. And then a thought struck him. What on earth was he doing in the hospital wing to begin with? Feeling more than a little dazed at the oddness of his situation, he slowly took steps towards the curtain to seek out Poppy. Almost too late, he realized he was wearing a pair of his black silk pajamas, and he grabbed for his thick black bathrobe that was nearby and threw it on, stuffing his feet into slippers.

'Poppy!' he called, walking around the curtained-off area and making his way down the infirmary towards her office.

A moment later, he saw Poppy Pomfrey stick her head out from her office before her whole body emerged and she bustled towards him. 'Severus! How long have you been awake?' she demanded in a rush. 'Why did you not call me? And what on earth are you doing out of bed in your condition?'

He almost smiled at her mothering. 'I am quite well enough to walk, Poppy, as you can see,' he stated blandly. 'Now, would you mind telling me exactly what happened and why it is that I am here?'

Poppy gasped softly, covering her mouth before reaching her hand out and taking one of his. 'Come with me to my office,' she said simply, tugging him in that general direction. 'I am afraid we will have to bring Albus in to explain a few things to you.'

Severus allowed himself to be pushed into her office chair, as his body was feeling weak still, and watched idly as Poppy Flooed Albus, and soon the old man had joined them in the office to talk. Albus conjured up two extra chairs for both himself and Poppy, and then they seated themselves across from him.

'What on earth is the meaning of all this, Albus?' he demanded tiredly.

Albus hesitated, opening his mouth and then closing it again. 'I am unsure how to explain this to you, Severus,' he said softly, looking at the younger, dark-haired wizard seriously. 'The simple truth of the matter, however, is that you left the castle on Saturday afternoon with Hermione, and after that, the two of you were not seen for a long while. Filius came back up to the castle looking frantic at around six in the evening with you levitated alongside him. You were very badly hurt. It appeared that you had muscle cramping hexes applied all over your body, which explains the soreness, and you had a cut above your left eyebrow and bruises.'

Severus nodded mutely. Well, it certainly explained what had happened to him, but it did not reveal at all who had committed the crime in question. 'What of Hermione?' he asked, fear bubbling up in his chest at the thought of harm coming to her.

'Filius did not find Hermione with you,' Albus answered, and on seeing the younger man's eyes blaze, he sought to calm him. 'We searched the entire area for two hours after you were found and even tried to follow the magical trail that your attacker left behind, but it was useless. In the end, we found Hermione unconscious and bleeding back in front of the gates after three hours of searching.'

'We brought her back and healed her,' Poppy said before Severus could speak. 'Her body is fine, but I dosed her up well with Dreamless Sleep so that she could rest after her ordeal.'

Severus nodded stiffly. He had failed her. She had been taken away from him and injured, and he had not been able to save her. He was a fool. 'And are you certain that it is, in fact, Hermione that is out there? Not just a Polyjuiced fake?' he asked with a voice that was roughened by emotion.

'A Polyjuice Potion would have worn off a long time ago,' Poppy said, reaching a hand over and patting his nearest hand gently. 'But even so, Albus and I both ran exams to ensure that she is indeed Hermione, and we are certain that she is.'

He heaved a sigh of relief, feeling tired enough to pass out in the chair. 'I have a feeling that a memory of mine has been erased, for I can remember nothing beyond blacking out at the gates now,' he said softly. 'It feels as though something is missing.'

Albus nodded. 'For now, we will get you back to bed and give you some Dreamless Sleep also,' he said softly, helping Poppy to coax him out of the chair. 'We will deal with the memory situation when you are back to one hundred percent, Severus. Hopefully the next time you wake up, Hermione will have woken from her sleep and may be able to provide us with more details.'

Severus nodded and allowed them to lead him back to the bed. He felt ill, tired, and so angry with himself. If he had had enough energy to do normal daily things, he might have hung his head in shame, but he would not for fear of being unable to lift his head again afterwards. He slumped down onto the bed, and he felt his legs being lifted up and covers drawn over him as his head hit the pillow behind him. He vaguely recalled swallowing and choking a little on what must have been the Dreamless Sleep Potion before he dozed off.

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Light filtered through the hospital wing, casting a white glow on the beds and their occupants. One in particular was bothered by the brightness of the light and immediately began to stir from sleep. Blinking rapidly, Hermione woke, her arms instantly stretching up above her. She opened her eyes fully and stared above her at a white ceiling before looking from side to side and seeing that there was a curtain drawn around her bed. She sat up abruptly, realizing that she was not in her bedroom but in the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

She felt a little disconcerted for a moment before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. Her body didn't feel too bad, and apart from a slight ache around her left hip area, she was fine. She puzzled over what could have brought her there and sighed when nothing came to her. Stuffing her cold feet into slippers that were beside her bed, she walked past the curtain and felt someone running into her. Pulling back, she saw that it was Poppy Pomfrey.

'Oh, Poppy – good morning, I suppose,' she said with a small smile. 'I'm having a bit of trouble remembering why I am here instead of in my rooms, so I was wondering if you could lend me the use of a Remembrall.'

Poppy's eyes widened further in surprise. 'Hermione, my dear, are you feeling ill? Is there any leftover tiredness?' she asked almost frantically.

'Well, my hip is a little sore, but other than that, I just really need a Remembrall so I can sort out my jumbled thoughts,' she answered insistently, positive that the answer to all of her questions rested with the small, round, magical object.

'Very well, if you are sure...' Poppy said softly, leading Hermione in the direction of her office.

On arriving there, the nurse opened a drawer and pulled out an intricately designed glowing glass ball, passing it directly to the questioning hands of Hermione. Poppy stood back to observe and watched as the young witch paced, rolled the ball around between her hands and muttered to herself. After about twenty minutes of the same, the young woman stopped dead in her tracks and spun around to look at Poppy with wide, horrified brown eyes.

'What day is it? Is Severus safe?' she demanded, her voice taking on a higher pitch than usual.

'It is Monday, and he is safe and asleep in the last bed down the aisle,' Poppy told her calmly. 'I dosed him with Dreamless Sleep after he woke up a little frantic at around midnight last night. He was very worried about you.'

'He was worried about me?' she asked faintly. 'I was so worried about him – how he was knocked out was awful, and what they did to him... He must have been injured terribly. And it was my fault... If only I'd stayed away...'

'There was nothing you could have done to prevent it, Hermione dear,' Poppy soothed, hugging her close and rubbing her back. 'Can you... do you know who did this to you both?'

Hermione sobbed softly then and shook her head. 'They blindfolded me as soon as the man Apparated me to some dark house,' she said as tears began to flow down her cheeks. She felt so useless again. It had been a long time since she had felt weak and defenceless, since her first year at Hogwarts, to be exact. 'He was wearing Death Eater robes and a mask when he stunned me and hit Severus with a c-curse I didn't recognize. I was so foolish...'

'Hush, now,' Poppy soothed, rubbing her back comfortingly. 'You are no fool, Hermione Granger, so stop chastising yourself. Severus has been doing it enough for the both of you in all the years since you parted.'

Hermione nodded but continued to cry and take comfort from Poppy, who continued to offer it. They had come so close to dying, and she had been so scared. The man had tied her down in a chair blindfolded and hardly spoken a word. Then a woman, with a voice she did not recognize, taunted her for a while before reading all of the letters that had ever been sent to her by them out loud, followed by utter silence for two hours. After that, she had felt them harvesting and tugging at her hair before she was sent back to the Hogwarts gates, where she had passed out cold.

'I want to s-see Severus,' she choked out, sniffing a bit and pulling back from Poppy so that she could wipe her face with her flannel pyjama sleeves.

'Of course, dear,' Poppy said tenderly, leading Hermione out of her office, walking with her down to the end and parting the curtains for her to enter Severus' enclosed area. 'But if you feel at all tired, go back and lay down.'

Hermione nodded in understanding. She pulled a chair over manually to Severus' side and sat down before taking his hand in her own. His skin was cool to the touch, and she lovingly traced the veins on the back of that hand. He was pale, to be sure, and he had a couple of bruises visible on his neck, but he otherwise simply looked like himself in his sleep. The lines of age always seemed to disappear when he was sleeping peacefully. She missed waking up to that face.

'I love you, Severus,' she murmured softly, bringing his hand to her lips and kissing his knuckles gently. 'We won't fail a second time...'

She turned her head a little and looked out the window that was beside his bed, an advantage of getting the end bed. The sky was white and pale grey from the clouds, and a fresh snow was falling yet again. No doubt the students would be outside that afternoon frolicking. Hermione shook her head with a small smile, looking back at the man she had loved for nearly half a lifetime. She was going to have a happy ending after all of the problems were sorted.

'Hermione...' Severus mumbled, and she looked up at his face to see if he had actually woken up.

She smiled softly at him. He was still asleep, but his mouth was curved up in a slight smile too.

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A/N – Please review! Tell me what you think!