Chapter Six

~ Chapter Six ~

Narcissa was uncharacteristically silent until they reached the study, which had been largely returned to its previous state. "With Severus out of immediate danger, we're going to give him his space and return to the dormitory."

They found Lucius and Severus surrounded by a pile of books. Hermione fleetingly thought that she'd never seen anything quite so alluring as Severus sitting against his headboard with a book in his hand. With that idea in mind, she caught her breath when he nudged aside a stack of books and patted a spot on the bed. Walking around the bed, she toed off her shoes and tried to find the most ladylike way to scoot up beside him.

As she reached for a book, his hand stayed hers. "No, the magic in these texts may harm you in your current state. You may look but not touch."

Hermione glanced at Narcissa, sitting primly on the arm of Lucius' chair, and the older witch gave her a wicked wink. She was severely tempted to turn her hand and entwine her fingers in his but instead returned her hands to her lap. "Find anything?"

"It is difficult to know exactly what we're looking for. I'd need to see--could I review your memories of the battle?"

"If you think it will help. Do you want to see the ones of... at Malfoy Manor, too?"

"We'll try the most recent first."

"Are you going to use Legilimency?"

"No, that would be far too intrusive, and it would involve casting a spell on you. We'll remove the memories and view them in the Pensieve. Rilly!"

The elf popped into sight and curtseyed so lowly that Hermione thought her nose almost touched the ground. "How may I serve Master Headmaster?"

"Go to the Headmistress' office and retrieve my Pensieve, please."

"Yes, sir!"

When the elf was gone, Severus explained. "She's still having a hard time with the concept that the office is Minerva's now."

"It doesn't have to be, you know." Lucius looked up from his book to support his assertion. "The board can be persuaded."

"Stop, Lucius. Minerva wants the position. She was born to it, and she should have it for many years. Goodness knows it's going to be a full-time headache this term. I'll have time to be headmaster when I'm in my eighties with nothing better to do."

"No ambition. And you call yourself a Slytherin."

"Perhaps my ambitions are simply--"

A pop interrupted his sentence, and he summoned his lap desk to set the Pensieve on.

"Thank you, Rilly," Hermione chimed in, causing Lucius to delicately turn up his nose.

She watched Severus gently swirl his wand in the silvery liquid until an image of a young girl and boy rose to the top. Apparently satisfied that they were his, he turned to Hermione. "Did you see these?"

"Yes. Harry only showed them to Ron and me. Do you want to be alone whilst you--"

"No." He reached around her with his free arm and pulled her against him. She wasn't sure if it was meant to be a comfort or to draw strength, but she relaxed against him. He whispered into her hair, "Thank you for staying."

The room was silent as Severus restored his memories. When he had regained the last one, he set his wand down and buried his face in Hermione's hair, which had dried into wild ringlets in the sun. She heard his breath catch a couple of times as he tried to compose himself after the onslaught of emotions. His first sentence was somewhat muffled by her hair. "You washed out the narcissus."

She looked up into his eyes, trying to see if there was a difference. "Madam Pomfrey said no potions or charms, and that was both."

"Alright, my clever girl, let's see if we can't find out who did this to you."

The sound of Lucius clearing his throat reminded Hermione that she and Severus were not alone. "If they survived the battle, we can remedy that for you."

"Lucius!" Narcissa gave him a delicate smack. "Talk like that will land you back in Azkaban."

"I was talking about hunting down a Death Eater. Isn't that allowed?"

"If the two of you don't mind, I'm about to perform some delicate magic."

Hermione's face reddened, and Narcissa rose. "Then we should probably give you two a moment alone."

Hermione didn't look up to see the looks that passed between the three Slytherins but decided that ignorance in this case was surely bliss. One arm still holding her securely to him, she met his gentle smile with one of her own.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then close your eyes for me. It will help you to focus and remind me not to accidentally attempt Legilimency. Do you remember being hit by anything?"

"No."

"Go back to the first time you were near any dueling."

After a moment, Hermione whispered, "Okay."

She felt a slight tingling coolness touch her temple, then shivered as he removed the memory.

It took several long minutes before Severus was satisfied that he'd gotten all he needed. "Good, now open your eyes. How do you feel?"

She yawned and snuggled into his shoulder as she had in a dream.

"Hermione?"

"Sorry. I know you used as little magic as possible, but it's worn me out."

"If you don't feel up to viewing the memories with me, I can ask Lucius to do it."

"Maybe you'd better. I don't think Madam Pomfrey would like it if I exerted myself that way--but wait! You might have gotten, at the beginning of one of the memories, I think you might see... my first kiss with Ron, but it's not anything."

"We can talk about that later, okay?"

"Okay." She closed her eyes, and before she drifted off to sleep, she heard Severus call for Lucius.

The next thing she knew, Severus was gently shaking her awake. "Hermione, wake up."

"Did you see anything?"

"We think we figured it out. Bellatrix sent something at you that seemed to hit your shield charm, but instead of just being absorbed, it seemed to travel back through your, or rather, her wand."

"So it was the wand!"

"Not exactly," Lucius answered. "I think I've read about a curse that fits the description, but I've never seen a curse actually work the way she did it. She probably altered it to work specifically against her own wand as a form of revenge."

"What now, then?"

"Now I'm going back to the manor to see if I can locate the books she must have used."

Severus reluctantly set her up and released her. "Whilst you were sleeping, Minerva arranged for escort."

"Did she see me?"

"Perhaps if you do not wish to be seen in a gentleman's bed, you should not fall asleep there."

Hermione decided that was the last innuendo she could take from Lucius and gingerly stood up.

"Careful," he said solicitously with a hand on her arm.

This time, she didn't miss the glare that Severus sent in his friend's direction. "Perhaps you will be so good as to help her to the armchair so she can put her shoes on and get her memories back."

"Do you have to? My dreams were so much calmer without them."

"I think you know that I have to." This time, Lucius responded to the glare by leaving the room while Hermione reluctantly replaced her shoes. Then Severus continued. "If you're worried about nightmares, why don't you go back to the Weasleys' for a few days?"

"I don't want to. I'd much rather stay here."

"I did see that kiss. It looked like true love's first kiss to me."

"How could you say that? It's was just the moment, the tension. We're all wrong for each other. Narcissa explained it to me this afternoon, and I know she's right."

"I vaguely remember having this conversation with you before."

"I vaguely remember how it ended." Hermione was frustrated by the sudden physical and emotional distance. Moving to stand beside the tall bed, she was almost at eye-level with him. "Perhaps you should refresh my memory."

"I'm rather sure I shouldn't. At least not yet. How about we compromise? You go take a nap, and I'll keep the Pensieve here, but then you have to come back for them. Next time you enter this room, you're getting those memories back."

Hermione realized that he had her pretty well sewn up with that deal. She didn't want the nightmares, but her desire to be near him was stronger than ever.

After her nap, she went to the Great Hall for dinner. She was delighted to see Harry and Ron there.

Sitting between them was joy after the agonizing day. She was happy to hear from Harry that her parents' home was intact. They surprised her by informing her that they'd gone with Lucius to find the books.

"Why are you so surprised?" Ron asked. "You know we'd do anything for you."

The twinge of guilt she felt for doubting Ron went away shortly after dessert when he nudged her into an alcove and she felt the chill of a Disillusionment Charm. "No! Take it off, quick! Ron, please!"

"Take what off, Hermione?"

"The charm, you idiot, I can't--" She felt herself falling, heard yelling, felt herself being lifted.

Then she was warm, waking up in Severus' arms. "I know I didn't fall asleep here this time. How did I get here?"

"I knew. I felt somehow that you were in distress. Lucius and Narcissa were dining here. I sent him after you. He said you were right where I said you you'd be; I don't know how. They took you to your room, but you wouldn't stop convulsing. Narcissa used a Muggle pain-relief cream that Mr. Potter had procured, and that helped a little, but you were still shaking and moaning. She had Lucius bring you here, and as soon as I touched you, you stilled. I held you until your breathing returned to normal, and then you fell asleep."

"Do you still think I'd be better off with him?"

"This is a temporary situation. We will find a cure, and you can go on with your life. You don't have to be a casualty of this war."

"You don't know how accurate that statement is." Hermione didn't look up to confirm it was Lucius' voice.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked. She could feel his heart rate increase.

"This curse won't just drain her magic. If it is allowed to continue, it will kill her."

Narcissa helped Hermione to Severus' bathroom so she could use the facilities and have a hot bath. She couldn't even be in the room whilst they were administering Severus' next dose of the potion. Once she had dried off and dressed in warm pajamas, Narcissa administered the Muggle remedy again. The smell reminded Hermione of when she was a little girl and her mother used to use it on her father when he came home from pick-up footie games in the park.

She returned to the bedroom to see that a single bed had been placed near Severus' and her things were on a small vanity in the corner. "It is only a temporary measure," Pomfrey emphasized, but Hermione was just glad she could be near him. She was dying. Lucius said that something was eating at her like a cancer and she may not even live long enough to take her N.E.W.T.s much less 'get on with her life.'

Madam Pomfrey left a nightlight and gave Severus a death glare before leaving the room, the door ajar. Severus flicked his wand at the door, which shut quietly so as not to alert those in the study of the situation. "Our chaperone will eventually return, but I think we have a few minutes."

Hermione lightly rose from her bed and climbed up beside Severus. He drew her across his lap and stroked her hair. "I don't think I've ever been more afraid," she whispered. "Even at the manor, I was resolved, I was brave. I was tortured, but I was never afraid I was going to die."

"You aren't going to die. I'm not going to let you out of my sight until we find a solution, and then we're going to help you." He pressed his lips to her temple. "How have you bewitched me already? Last night you were a dream in my arms, and now you're here."

She met his intense gaze. "You needed me, and now I need you."

He answered her with a kiss. It was like the dream but better, and it went on far longer, until she was gasping for breath.

"Now go," he whispered, "before those busybodies come back in here and find us like this."

She returned to the smaller bed and fell asleep listening to him breathe. She dreamed of him but knew it wasn't really him with her. There were bad dreams but no nightmares. And she awoke with no residual pain from the previous evening.

In the morning, Narcissa hustled her out of the room so Severus could receive his potion. It was his third dose. It had only been twenty-four hours since he'd woken up. How odd time was when suddenly she felt she was running out of it.

Severus insisted on restoring her memories before breakfast, almost causing her to lose her appetite completely, but when she emerged from the bathroom, the sight of Severus eating in the study braced her. It was comforting to know that he felt well enough to walk around a bit.

Also comforting was the owl post. Harry and Ginny had co-authored a note of concern. Ron's letter was profusely apologetic.

In the end, it was Narcissa's cajoling that convinced Severus to release Hermione to her chaperonage. "You'll either have to let them see her here, or you'll have to let her out of your sight. You can't have your secret and eat your cake, too."

Though Hermione had the disconcerting feeling that Narcissa had mangled that particular Muggle axiom on purpose, she was grateful when the fastest Malfoy eagle owl was dispatched with an invitation for Hermione's friends to join her for an alfresco midmorning tea.

Hermione couldn't quite resent Narcissa's observation from under the protection of a wide-brimmed hat. She felt that Ron was less likely to physically assault her in any way under such stern chaperonage. Hermione was amused to see the woman she'd found a friend in act the part of the Slytherin Ice Witch.

When the two couples were granted permission to walk by the lake, Hermione knew this was the moment. She tried to ease Ron into the topic by discussing N.E.W.T.s and the future. She hoped desperately that he'd notice she had no desire to spend her life connected with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

He stopped talking long enough to place his hands on her face and draw her face up to his, but she flinched away. "I'm sorry, Ron."

"What's the matter?"

"Last time you tried this, you almost killed me."

"I didn't know about that."

"You might not have known the extent, but you knew that I wasn't allowed to have any magic performed on me, that it caused me pain."

"I'm sorry. It was just habit."

"Just habit? I wonder where those habits came from. We haven't been together long enough to establish habits like that."

"And whose idea was that?"

"You agreed!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

Hermione took a step back. "I thought our relationship was more than physical."

"It is, but can't it be physical, too?"

"Not anymore."

"You've been brainwashed."

"I won't deny that I've been influenced, but I'm also dying. It puts a different perspective on things. If I make it out of this, I want to do more. I want to study, maybe try for Unspeakable."

"I didn't know that's what you wanted."

"I didn't either. I'm finally not defined by my place in some war, and I'm learning new things about myself every day. We can always be friends."

"I guess I should be used to that by now."

Hermione threw her arms around him and sobbed. Thus the relationship with her school sweetheart was formed and broken within a week.

After she said goodbye to her friends, Narcissa said, "You did what had to be done, and you were splendid. However, I do not ever want to hear you say you're dying again."

Draco having been granted permission to visit the Parkinsons for the duration, it was just Severus and Lucius in the study when they returned. Lucius immediately swept Narcissa from the room, leaving Hermione standing at the table.

"I've been sitting in this straight-backed chair too long. Let us retire to the settee."

Severus stood, then walked to the settee, carefully placing himself against an armrest with Hermione curled against him. "Were you crying?" he asked her.

"Mmm hmm. I broke up with Ron."

"I would think that cause for celebration."

"Now don't you go being a prat to replace him. I knew it had to be done. I didn't want him anymore, didn't need him now if I ever had. But it's a chapter of my life closed."

"A short one."

"You are so mean, and no it wasn't, not really. But it suited me when I was a child. It doesn't suit me now."

"What suits Hermione Granger, the woman?"

"Intelligent, sarcastic, loyal, protective Potions masters. Well, just one Potions master with whom I feel safe and cared for." She wanted to say loved, and that startled her a bit. "I don't know what this is between us exactly, but I know it's powerful."

"Ah, you only want me because you want to become the next Perenelle Flamel."

"I'd much rather become the next Hermione Snape."

Severus turned her toward him. "You don't mean that."

She lowered her voice. "I do. Maybe not right away, but if I'm going to keep sleeping in your bedroom, eventually I'm going to want the appropriate title."

"And to perform the appropriate function?"

"I don't think I'd take very much persuasion."

Severus "persuaded" her with kisses until he declared her on the verge of spontaneous magic and put a stop to it. "Actually, we have more than one reason to protect your virtue at this time."

"And those reasons are?"

"In no particular order, the already mentioned spontaneous magic--"

"I thought you were teasing about that."

"Your N.E.W.T.s and unicorn blood."

"Passing over my N.E.W.T.s for the moment, unicorn blood?"

Holding both of her hands, Severus took a deep breath. "Lucius and Narcissa are, at this moment, trying to gain from McGonagall the permission to use dark magic to save your life."

"Dark magic? Severus!"

"Listen to me. We found references to the curse. No one has ever been known to survive it. It is dark magic, and only dark magic can counter it."

"But how?"

"The curse is attacking you through your magic. It is not only feeding on your magic but on the energy of your physical and spiritual self."

"How can you stop it?"

"We'll starve it by convincing it that there isn't anything there to feed on."

"Wouldn't you have to kill me?"

"Worse than that, we'd have to separate your body, spirit, and magic from one another. There is a chance that you may come out of it alive but without your magic."

"But I'd be alive. Severus, could you still love me if I hadn't any magic?"

"Of course, I--" He cocked his head and glared. "Was that a trick?"

"No, I promise. It just came out, but I need to know. Would I be better off dead than without magic or you in my life?"

"Oh, Hermione." His voice was tinged with awe. "If we come to love each other some day, death itself would not be able to stop it."

AN: This was originally two chapters, but I decided that they were too short and y'all have waited long enough.

Thanks to SouthernWitch for the initial read-through and to Lauren for helping with flow and saving me from embarrassing spelling errors.