Chapter One Hundred-Eleven: An Accident Foretold

Chapter One Hundred-Eleven: An Accident Foretold

Tuesday, 6 April 1999

"Excellent, Severus!" Filius exclaimed, cheerfully picking himself up from the floor and dusting himself off. Severus's wandless block had not only stopped Filius's Percido, but it rebounded the spell, knocking Filius to his arse. "Much better."

One corner of Severus's mouth turned up. This was his fourth successful block of the morning. Only one of Filius's attacks had made it through, raising a welt across Severus's cheek. He barely felt its sting now, though. It seemed he had finally overcome whatever it was that had kept him from effectively blocking, and now that he had done it, he knew he could continue to, and that he could begin to increase the power behind his blocks.

The two wizards exchanged several more volleys of spells, attacks, blocks, and counterattacks, until Filius's Flagrante set Severus's jacket sleeve afire.

"Bugger!" It hadn't been his favourite jacket, but it was one of his better ones. Severus beat at the flickering blue flames that danced up his arm.

A jet of icy water from the end of Filius's wand left Severus's jacket sodden but still well scorched. Severus grimaced at the odour of wet burnt wool.

"I'm sorry about that, Severus, truly I am," Filius said, coming closer and peering at the jacket. "Perhaps a Reparo?"

"Hmph," Severus grunted. He pulled off the spell-damaged jacket and shook his head. "You may try, but I think it's beyond hope."

The Reparo was ineffective, as was the Texare that Filius tried next. "Perhaps your house-elf could do something with it," Filius said, looking downcast. "Or a Transfiguration might work..."

"Never mind," Severus said shortly, shivering slightly in the chilly dungeon. He tossed the jacket onto a stool that sat in the corner of the otherwise bare dungeon chamber, then he drew his wand and cast a drying spell over his shirt and waistcoat. He was glad he hadn't worn one of his teaching robes that morning.

"Would you like to take a break for a bit? Perhaps go to your suite for a jacket, have something warm to drink?"

Severus shook his head. "No. I wish to continue." He was on a roll, he felt, and it would be a mistake to stop just then.

"All right." Filius nodded and crossed back over to his side of the room. "I am sorry about your jacket."

Severus shrugged. The flames hadn't done any damage to himself. "I shall have to work on defences against fire curses."

"It would be wise," Filius agreed. "Albus is quite talented with fire magic. His wandless control of flame spells and fireballs is very impressive."

"I may have a few tricks up my sleeve," Severus said.

"Yes, you did say you had a few new offensive spells you wished to try."

"A few, but one in particular ... I'm unsure how well it will work in practice and whether a simpler version might not be better." His new spell was a clever one, Severus thought, and had been inspired by his recent trip to the secure ward at St. Mungo's and his talk with Poppy afterwards. It did, however, take a certain finesse and concentration, not to mention magical power, and it might not be practical in a duel unless it was used early on during the first exchange of spells. If it worked then, though, it could rack up a lot of points even if it didn't end the duel. He would try the simpler novel spells first.

After warming up with a few of his wandless variations of standard spells...a Stinging hex, an ankle-binding curse similar to Locomotor Mortis, and a light Depalmare slap across Filius's face, which startled him when it got through...that was an opportune moment, Severus thought, to try one of his new jinxes. He called it "One Thousand Spiders" because it should...theoretically...cause the victim to feel as though one thousand spiders were crawling all over his skin.

Severus cast quickly, flicking all ten fingers, and Filius was slow to respond.

"Aaaa!" Filius twitched and shook. He dropped his wand and batted at his limbs and torso. "Eeerrrrr! Oooo! Severus...make it stop!" he shouted, combing one hand through his hair, trying to rid himself of nonexistent spiders.

Severus gave a laugh, pulled out his wand, and cast a Finite. Filius shuddered again.

"That was awful! What was it? I felt as though there were thousands of tiny things all over me. Brrr!"

"My thousand-spiders jinx," Severus said. "Harmless, but effective, I'd say."

"Very." Filius gave another shudder. "It did feel exactly as though thousands of tiny spider legs were tickling my skin all over my body. Dreadful! No one, not even Albus, could concentrate through that!"

"If it hits him and he doesn't block it," Severus pointed out.

"That's where our work with strategy will help. Now that your blocks are so vastly improved, we can begin to work on that, perhaps after you return from your holiday."

Severus nodded.

"Shall we continue? You cast, I block. We'll see whether there are any of these spells that can get through a normal Protego, and then we'll try them against the Parlakkalkan. That's one of Albus's favourite defensive spells, and it's stronger than a Protego."

Severus cast a few more light jinxes, and each of them bounced off of Filius's Protego. Determined to hit Filius with one more spell, Severus cast faster. He could feel the sweat trickle down the centre of his back from the exertion. Finally, a sudden colour-change charm made it through, and Filius's hair turned electric blue. Not precisely a damaging spell, and not one that would slow an opponent, but worth a point or two in a competitive duel.

Filius gave no sign of wanting to stop and fix his hair, so Severus continued to cast, wondering whether Filius would switch to the Parlakkalkan without notice. Best to try his experimental spell against a Protego before trying it against the stronger Parlakkalkan.

The first cast was blocked with a booming explosion, leaving Filius looking puzzled about the unfamiliar spell. One more Depalmere, which was a simple and fast spell to cast and which Filius blocked easily, and then Severus tried his new spell again, slipping it in before Filius could adjust to cast a new Protego.

This time, Severus breathed the spell, only the slightest whisper, as he cast, trying to put greater focus, more intensity, behind it. "Agravitas!"

With a yelp of pain, Filius was lifted into the air with a suddenness that astounded even Severus, shooting toward the ceiling and hitting it with a loud thump. More alarming than that, pinpricks of blood oozed from a web of broken blood vessels covering his rigid face, and his mouth was open in a ghastly silent scream.

"Finite! Finite!" Severus rushed forward and caught the little wizard as he fell back toward the floor. "Filius? Filius!" The Charms master was unresponsive, his eyes closed, and Severus felt for his pulse. It was there, rapid, rushing and palpitating beneath his fingers, but the wizard didn't seem to be breathing. Severus took a quick breath himself, then said, "Renervate!"

Filius's eyes didn't even flutter, though Severus thought he now detected a soft breath of air coming from the wizard's slack mouth. Severus knelt and groped for his wand while still supporting Filius with his left arm. "Renervate!" Not a twitch came from the unconscious wizard.

"Oh, gods, Filius! I didn't mean to..." Had he killed him? Poppy was gone. Almost no one was in the castle. Even Albus and Minerva, who might have been able to help, were away for the Easter holiday.

Severus stood and ran. He ran from the chamber, down the low, dark corridor, Filius held close to his chest. He'd never make it for help. He had killed Filius with a stupid wandless spell. A clever spell, he'd thought it, create a bubble of zero gravity around his opponent. Flip him around a bit, he'd imagined, remembering seeing films as a boy of Apollo astronauts happily floating in their capsules. He hadn't considered the force of sudden complete lack of gravity, the impact on an unprepared human body, one with no pressurised spacesuit. The impact with the ceiling alone had been enough to knock even the hardiest wizard senseless.

Severus's heart pounded in his chest and panic began to fill him as he reached the first staircase. This wouldn't work, running through the castle. Stop. Think.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then he looked down into Filius's face and felt again for his pulse. The wizard was still alive, still breathing. Dum spiro, spero.

"Twiskett!"

His emotion must have placed a note of urgency into his summons, for Twiskett was there in the blink of an eye, before Severus even had a moment to think what to ask of him.

"Twiskett, get another elf...no, two...to bring us to the infirmary, then go immediately to St. Giles or St. Mungo's and fetch Madam..." Bloody hell! What was that blasted witch's name? "Madam Fuller! And Melina, if she's there. If not, find her. Send Fuller on ahead with her Portkey. Tell her it's an extreme emergency."

Twiskett nodded, eyes large. "Twiskett goes now." And he did with a hollow pop.

Severus sat heavily on the steps, holding Flitwick in his arms. "Filius! Filius! Wake up, old friend." But Filius didn't move, a dead weight in Severus's arms. Severus felt for his pulse again; this time it felt stronger and more regular. He shook his head. Was this the accident that Aine had predicted a few days before? She had said that all would be well, but Flitwick looked to be at death's door.

A moment later, two house-elves appeared with two almost simultaneous cracks of Apparition, an old grizzled elf and a younger, rather large elf with rusty tufts of hair and snowy white skin, a brilliant blue bit of cloth wrapped about his waist and cast up over one shoulder. The older elf, Tchampon, whom Severus now recognised as Twiskett's grandfather, immediately reached out and took Flitwick from Severus's arms. He held the wizard in his hands as lightly as if he'd been a copy of the Daily Prophet. A combination of magic and raw strength, Severus thought.

Before Severus could give the wizened house-elf any instructions, he had snapped away.

"I be Blessen," the younger elf said in a lilting voice. "Twiskett's brother."

Severus didn't even wonder at the fact that he'd never seen this elf before, who was now grasping his wrist with one hand and snapping the fingers of his other hand.

Severus landed with a thump on the floor of the infirmary. Flitwick was lying on a nearby bed, and Tchampon was hovering beside him, an unreadable expression on his wrinkled face. Severus scrambled to his feet and turned to the ivory-coloured elf.

"Fetch . . ." Who was in the castle? Carter wasn't due back until that afternoon. The Mannings had returned. "David and Laura Manning. Have them Floo directly here.

Blessen's golden eyes blinked, then he shook his head. "I know them not."

"I go," Tchampon said, vanishing a moment later with a thundering crack. Filius didn't stir.

Blessen looked up at Snape apologetically. "I be a St. Bridget's house-elf."

Severus hadn't the faintest idea what the elf meant by that, and he didn't care. He stepped up to the bed where Flitwick lay. One more try, he thought, drawing his wand. Putting all of his will into the spell and enunciating it as clearly and powerfully as he could, Severus pointed his wand at the little wizard and cast. "Renervate!"

Still nothing. Severus gripped his wand tightly in frustration, the fingernails of both hands biting into his palms. Raging would do no good, but he wanted to blast something into oblivion. He tried to remember Aine's reassurance that all would be well if he acted quickly. He hoped he had.

There was a noise behind him as if something had fallen over in Poppy's office, and he turned to see the office door open and a mediwitch in St. Giles' robes and a starched white, winged cap step through.

"What's happened?" she asked, wasting no time on introductions, but immediately stepping up to Flitwick's bed and taking hold of his wrist as she drew her wand.

"We were practising duelling. He's a duelling master. One of my spells slipped through. I ... it hit him hard. I have tried what I could, but I can't rouse him. He seems..."

"In the name of Apollo, what did you do to him?" the mediwitch exclaimed as she cast a diagnostic.

"It was a ... a weightlessness spell," Severus said. "He hit the ceiling hard."

"It's more than that. Flitwick has the bends...bubbles in his blood...but that's the least of his problems. I don't know...I've never seen anything like this."

Severus felt his heart seize up. The idiot woman wouldn't be able to help. Flitwick would die. Why was Poppy not here?

"No stroke," the witch continued. "We're fortunate there. But his blood ... all out of kilter. His lungs are affected. If he were awake, he'd be in pain. Just as well he's unconscious...was he unconscious before or after he hit the ceiling?" she asked, turning to Severus.

"I don't know. He yelled, but he rose so fast. I don't know." Severus felt helpless, and he didn't like the disapproval in the witch's eyes.

"I'll try this." The mediwitch cast, waving her wand to the right, then slowly making a gentle circle before thrusting her wand forward. A pale flash emitted from the tip of her wand, and Filius was surrounded by a glittering bubble. "And now ..." Another complicated wand movement and the bubble appeared to expand slightly.

"That elf you sent said he was going for Healer O'Donald. When she's here, she can do more. This will have to do for now."

What the hell kind of mediwitch was this woman, anyway? This will have to do for now? She was here; she had to do more. Poppy would have done more. "There must be more you can do," Severus insisted. "Potions, other spells..."

"I could if I wished to risk more damage. There's no point to it when Healer O'Donald will be here shortly."

"But if she's not..."

"There is one other adjustment I can make to speed things along." The witch focussed on Flitwick, his still little form seeming even tinier inside his bubble, then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, opening her eyes, muttering spells, and passing her wand over the bubble.

Flitwick seemed to relax, and Severus thought his colour was better, though his skin was still mottled, and his hair was still bright blue from the earlier jinx.

"Can't you do anything about his skin, the broken blood vessels?"

"Indeed. I am sure that Poppy has a potion on hand that would treat it, but it is minor, and I don't wish to disrupt his oxygen field to apply it." She turned toward him and added coolly, "Unless, of course, in your opinion, his current superficial appearance is more important than whether he recovers fully."

"Of course not," Severus snapped.

Before he could say anything further or Madam Fuller could respond, the fireplace at the far end of the ward flared green, and Laura Walker Manning stepped out.

"Filius!" The witch ran across the room to the other side of Flitwick's bed. "What happened?" she asked, looking from the mediwitch to Severus.

"A duelling accident," Severus said.

"A carelessly cast spell," Fuller said.

"Oh dear! He'll be all right, won't he?" Laura looked down at her godfather. "Should I contact Pomona and have her come home?"

"Wait," Fuller advised. "Wait until you have more to tell her."

"He looks dreadful." Unable to reach through the bubble to touch Filius, Laura laid her hand on the edge of the bed.

Severus grimaced. "It was unanticipated."

"Obviously!" Laura cried. "You would never have done this on purpose."

Severus shot Fuller a glance, wondering if she were going to say anything snide, but the mediwitch was casting a diagnostic spell. At least Walker Manning knew he wouldn't have cast the spell had he known what it could do. It was just the sort of thing he should have learned long ago never to do, though. He could have simply cast a wandless Levicorpus, but he'd had to be clever with an untested new spell. This one should never have been used in a friendly duel. The memory of the astronauts swimming about in their capsule flashed through his mind again. It would be funny, if he weren't afraid that Filius might be in serious danger.

A moment later, Twiskett popped in. Severus turned to him questioningly.

"Healer O'Donald comes. She arrives at the gate soon."

"I fetch her," said Blessen, and with a snap of his fingers, the white elf Disapparated.

"Thank you, Twiskett."

Twiskett nodded. "May Twiskett serve?"

"Fetch Perlie and Stanga," Laura directed, asking for the infirmary house-elves. "They should be here to help."

After Twiskett left, Severus said, "I called Twiskett out of habit."

"Naturally, that was sensible, and he's a fine and loyal elf. Everyone knows Twiskett. Who was the funny-looking red-haired elf who just went to fetch Melina?"

"Twiskett's brother, Blessen."

"Ah."

Perlie and Stanga arrived, followed shortly thereafter by Blessen with Melina in tow.

Madam Fuller told Melina what treatments she had provided so far, and Melina nodded in approval. She cast a spell, bouncing it off the bubble.

"We can improve on this. I'm going to increase the oxygen content in the bubble, bring it up to one hundred percent, and slowly bring up the atmospheric pressure, as well. Then we need to do something about his injuries from hitting the ceiling."

Severus and Laura went across the long ward to a pair of chairs and sat down, watching Healer O'Donald at work. At one point, Perlie fetched her some potions from the potions cupboard. It didn't look to Severus as though Madam Fuller was doing much, but now that Melina was there, he didn't feel as antagonistic toward the other witch.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Laura said.

Severus nodded.

"He's been enjoying his duelling practice with you. He spoke of it just last week."

"I don't think we'll be carrying on with it after this."

"Why not? Accidents happen in duelling; you're both aware of that. I'm sure he'll want to continue."

"People will talk," Severus said.

"I don't know about that. People might talk if you suddenly dropped out of the duelling matches, though. And besides, as I said, accidents happen." She looked him up and down, taking in his shirtsleeves and waistcoat, which were wrinkled and damp. His left sleeve had some light flecks of blood on it. "You look like you could use a change of clothes. Why don't you go do that and I'll send one of the house-elves for you if Filius wakes up before you get back."

"I'd rather stay and speak with Healer O'Donald when she's finished."

They subsided into silence. Melina cast a few spells to undress Flitwick within his hyperbaric bubble. Melina left the little wizard in his underpants, however, and pulled a sheet up over his short but muscular legs. Severus watched with interest as Melina used a spell to transfer some potion from its jar to Flitwick's skin, spreading the creamy yellow concoction over his face, shoulders, and torso with a few quick flicks of her wand. One more pass of her wand, and the potion seemed to vanish, leaving the little wizard's skin fresh and unmarked. A quick succession of flicks, and his hair was returned to its usual white.

Severus relaxed, somehow reassured by Flitwick's now near-normal appearance.

"Where is Professor Manning?"

"He went into Hogsmeade earlier. He'll be back for lunch."

Severus nodded.

"Thank you for calling me, Professor. I appreciate it."

There had been few staff members on hand to call, Severus thought. However, she was probably referring to her relationship with Flitwick, which he hadn't thought of until that moment. "I thought you might wish to be here."

Melina walked over to them, smiling and followed by Madam Fuller. Severus stood and nodded in greeting.

"So, you and Professor Flitwick have been having some fun, I see," Melina said as she reached them. Behind her, Madam Fuller frowned.

"We were trying some new spells. The one I used had unintended effects," Severus said, very relieved by the Healer's smile.

"Well, it looked worse than it was, I'm sure, though it is good that you called for Madam Fuller as quickly as you did. He would have recovered even without any attention, but it would have been a long...and rather painful...recovery. Flitwick is quite resilient. He doesn't remember exactly what happened though, and I'm sure that he'll want to hear all about your new spell when he's up and about."

"He's awake?" Laura exclaimed, standing.

"Yes, but he's drowsy. I've lowered the bubble air to eighty-two percent oxygen, but before I leave, he'll be breathing normal room air again," Melina replied. "He'll be fine."

"May I see him?" the librarian asked.

"Of course," Melina said with a smile.

Laura quickly crossed over to where Filius lay dozing beneath his iridescent bubble.

"He really will be all right?" Severus asked in a low voice.

"Oh, yes," Melina said. "He'll be up and about in time for lunch, though I'd advise him to rest today. And he really would have been all right even if you'd just put him to bed, though I wouldn't have recommended that. Now, if you'd cast this on someone less robust, and without Flitwick's somewhat peculiar constitution, treatment would have been absolutely necessary, I've no doubt about that, so you did the right thing calling for help. And he will have a quick, pain-free recovery with this treatment."

"Thank Merlin," Severus said softly, gazing across the room to where Laura was bent over Filius, saying something to him.

"Hmph. Merlin had nothing to do with it," Madam Fuller said. "I will need the name of this spell for the report, what its intended effects were, why you chose to use it in friendly duelling practice, and I will need to perform the Prior Incantato on your wand to verify your account."

"That won't be necessary, Madam Fuller," Melina said gently. "I will complete the report. I think that simply noting a minor Charms accident will be sufficient."

"I was first here, and I'm locum for Hogwarts whilst Madam Pomfrey is on holiday," Madam Fuller protested.

"Indeed you are, and if Madam Pomfrey were here, there would be no report at all. She would merely make a notation in Professor Flitwick's chart."

"But..."

"You did an excellent job with his treatment before I got here, Madam Fuller, and I will be sure to let the Headmistress and Madam Pomfrey know how efficient and efficacious your treatment was," Melina said, "but there is no need to create a lengthy record of the incident."

Madam Fuller frowned and opened her mouth, then closed it, aware that she would not make any headway with Healer O'Donald, who vastly outranked her at St. Giles.

"Why don't you go see how Professor Flitwick is doing, whether he needs anything," Melina suggested.

The mediwitch nodded and turned. Before she'd taken more than two steps, Melina had drawn her wand.

"Obliviate!"

Severus stared in astonishment as Melina cast the spell, stopping Fuller in her tracks. The mediwitch had a dazed, blank look on her face.

Melina pointed her wand at the dazed witch. "You Portkeyed to Hogwarts when Professor Snape summoned you after he discovered that Professor Flitwick had suffered a Charms accident. I followed and approved your treatment. Professor Flitwick will be fine. He has no memory of what he was doing when he had his accident. We don't know what caused it, but he took a tumble. You did a fine job." Melina swiped her wand through the air.

The mediwitch blinked and turned to them with a smile on her face. "Do you think Professor Flitwick would like something to drink?"

"I am sure he would," Melina replied. "I think that Stanga or Perlie would be happy to fetch something for him...you could ask them to get us all some tea, in fact. Set it up over in Madam Pomfrey's office for us, won't you?"

"Of course!" The mediwitch bustled over to Stanga and Perlie, who had been watching the proceedings with interest from the far corner of the large ward.

"I can't believe you did that," Severus whispered.

"Shh. Later. She's quite a good mediwitch, but also a bit rigid about protocol," Melina replied quietly.

"Still..."

"Why don't you go over and see how Professor Flitwick is feeling," Melina suggested.

"The last person you suggested that to ..." Severus smirked.

Melina laughed and nodded, turning and heading over to Flitwick's bed herself, Severus following.