Severus Meets Zelda

Severus Meets Zelda

Zelda inhaled the fresh dawn air and felt a deep sense of joy. "I must be the only human for five squares miles. Finally I can breathe," she pronounced happily to herself. She locked her old blue van, pulled up her socks and started hiking up the trail to the scenic overlook, glancing at the time as she went. "It's 5:20 AM. I'd reckon an hour up to the top; no need to rush. I'll hang out as long as I want, twenty minutes back to the car, and a hearty breakfast whenever I want it. Goddess, I don't know why, but today feels perfect!"

She stopped and turned around just in time to see a doe and twin fawns trot across the road below her. Then she began to climb the trail again. As she hiked she was silent, feeling the forest engulf her. The trees on the slope were enormous, and she thought gratefully that she should have a ceremony to celebrate walking through the last virgin pine forest in this region. To the right of the trail, the hillside dropped away sharply in a spectacular fall of boulders, and she could see Lake Superior's steely water sparkling in the distance. She used her hands to negotiate a particularly steep bit of trail. There was a small stream on her left as she climbed. At times it was almost invisible; then it would fall dramatically for two or three meters, forming a pool where insects buzzed and birds fluttered and sang. The sun had just risen, and the trees cast long shadows across the forest floor. It was dazzlingly beautiful; she spied a comfortable looking fallen tree a few meters above her and decided to stop and sit there for a while.

Her chosen seat was a short way from the little stream and was surrounded by straggly shrubs. No sooner did she sit down than she heard a rustling and an odd snuffling sound. A black bear was poking his nose into a clump of thimbleberry plants with huge leaves. Zelda froze as he looked up at her. She was thinking frantically but knew better than to turn and flee. 'Do I look into his eyes, or will he think I'm challenging him?' she asked herself.

She watched closely as he stayed where he was, wondering if the bear was finding berries on the plants, when something caught her eye. "Oh," she whispered. "I don't believe it." It was unmistakable: a mud-encrusted human foot protruded from the shrubs. A human body, dumped in the woods, was about to be devoured before her eyes.

"No... " She moaned. She inhaled a lungful of fresh air and realized there was no smell of death in the air. That was good... or much worse, she realized in horror, if a living person lay there. In her imagination she saw a young woman, raped and left to die, terrified and alone. She thought of her daughter, and before she could feel fear, she stood up on her fallen tree, as tall as her 5 feet 4 inches would allow. "Go away, Bear," she said shakily. "There's nothing for you here."

The bear raised his head and stared up at her. He didn't look starved, she noted hopefully, and she spoke again, louder this time. "Go home!" She clapped her hands loudly and then drew a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs.

The bear looked shocked, and backed uncertainly away and then stopped. She drew another breath and gave words to her screams, feeling incredibly stupid. "Go away! Go away! Go! I don't know what the hell I'm going to do, but we'll all be sorry if I have to do something so get away! Now! Go!"

Her voice echoed insanely over the hillside. The bear shook his head comically and then splashed through the stream and started to run. Zelda jumped down from the log, shaking badly after her ridiculous performance. She waded into the leafy thicket and stared, thunderstruck. A man's naked body was curled deep into the dead leaves. His skin was gray-white, and she thought he must be dead. She drew back at first, feeling panicky, but managed to kneel at his head. His skin was icy cold, but she felt a pulse, and she could see fresh blood oozing sluggishly from a wound on his arm. His face was cut, and there were bruises forming all over his white skin. "Well, this is a fine, freakin' kettle of fish," she said aloud. "There's no one for miles except a bear who could come back any minute. Goddess, help me!" As if on cue, the almost-dead man opened his eyes and looked up at her.

Severus's head hurt, and someone was screaming something about a bear and going away. He thought he'd gladly oblige but realized that he couldn't move. He was delightfully warm, and his foggy brain told him to go back to sleep. A shaky hand touched his neck, and it felt warm. He began to drift back to sleep, when a woman's voice penetrated the fog. Her accent was strange, and her words made no sense. Was she speaking to him? It was so odd that he forced his eyes open and stared into shocked blue eyes, looking at him with such concern that he couldn't look any more, so he closed his eyes again.

Zelda did a quick mental inventory. There was nothing. No help. She had no food, no water, only the clothes on her back and a wounded, naked man suffering from hypothermia and goddess knew what else. Possibly he was insane or an escaped criminal, and now that she thought about it, no one knew where she was. If she left him he'd probably die, and if she helped him he might still die. Her car was a kilometer away, down the trail, with a bottle of water in it. There was a large and excellent hospital in the city two hours away. She sighed resignedly and took off her windbreaker and then the oversized sweater she had put on against the early chill in the air. She thought a moment; then she took off her T-shirt. If she met anyone she'd be embarrassed in her exercise bra, but that was unlikely, and her new charge needed all the coverage she could give him. She put her face close to his, and said, "Can you hear me? I'll get you out of here, but you must help me."

The man muttered incoherently and hugged himself tighter. She thought a moment and then picked up her sweater and bunched up the sleeve as she had done when her babies were tiny. She stroked his right arm and then picked up his arm and inserted it into the sleeve. She moved to his head, lifted it carefully and slid the sweater quickly over it. He groaned, but subsided as she supported his head back to the ground. Then the hardest part: she pushed his right shoulder to get him onto his back. He fought her with surprising strength, but she pushed harder, and he turned completely onto his other side and curled up tight again. She eased the other sleeve over his bleeding forearm and pulled the sweater down over his back and chest. This wasn't working. If he wanted to survive, he had to cooperate.

"Let's try again," she said firmly to his closed eyes and slack face. "My name's Zelda. What's your name?"

"Severus," he muttered obediently. He opened one eye briefly and then closed it.

"Okay, Severus, you need to help me," she said sternly. "I can't carry you, can I?"

"I suppose not," he responded faintly, eyes still closed but sounding slightly lucid. "But I can't hold onto the simplest idea... She kicked my brain loose, I think."

A brief pause followed while Zelda considered that remarkable statement. She said firmly, "You need to stand, and I'll help you over to that log. Then we're going to walk down the trail; it'll be quite difficult. Can you stand up?"

In answer he forced his eyes open and, shivering violently, struggled onto his hands and knees. She knelt in front of him, he put shaking hands on her shoulders, and they staggered to their feet together, her hands supporting his torso. He was taller than she'd thought, almost a head taller than she was. Zelda helped him to lean on a tree and then tied her shirt and her jacket around his waist to cover him. Only then did she see him realize he'd been naked, and he closed his eyes in horror and began collapsing back to the ground. She groaned. Yes, all right, it was awful, but why didn't men have the slightest grasp of priorities? Something snapped in her, possibly her limited supply of womanly compassion, she thought wryly, as she put her hands firmly on the injured man's shoulders.

"No, you don't!" Zelda snarled and pressed him gently back against the tree, enunciating carefully through gritted teeth. "I'm saving your freakin' life, mister, whether you want it or not. You can die of humiliation on your own time. Now, see that log over there? Go there immediately."

"Yes, ma'am," he muttered sullenly, eyes open and fixed firmly on the ground. He looked so defeated, hobbling on bare feet and leaning heavily on her, that her exasperation dissipated. Zelda sat down next to him and took off her boots and then her socks. She then put her boots back on and knelt in front of him.

He was startled enough to look directly into her eyes, and she stared intently back into his. "It's hard to tell with black eyes if you have concussion, but your pupils are seriously mismatched. Try not to move your head too much."

While he considered this, she picked up and examined his numb foot. He noticed that she had curly, bright blond hair, and she was wearing jeans, like many Hogwarts students did. Only a strange-looking undergarment covered her breasts, and he couldn't look away from them. She put a thick, sweaty, white sock on his foot and repeated the action on his other foot. She smiled kindly at him, while he guiltily raised his own eyes and glanced nervously back at her. "I hope this helps a bit," she said gently.

"We're going to walk now." She held out her hands to him and braced herself; he allowed her to pull him to his feet, and they began the hike down the trail.

Severus walked with his eyes closed because the sunlight hurt them. His head was throbbing. The level stretches were fine, as long as he leaned on this strange woman who kept dragging him forward when he'd rather go to sleep. But the steep bit was too much for him to manage, so Zelda helped him to sit down on the edge and then jumped down before him and held up her hands. His confused brain recalled his mother's smiling image, holding her arms up and saying, "Jump to me, Sevvie!" He slid into her waiting arms, and she bore his weight completely for a moment before easing him gently to the ground. His head was spinning, and since he was already leaning against her, it was most natural to put his arms around her and cling tightly to her warm body. He felt her heart pounding against his chest, and her hair smelled faintly of lavender. He sighed as he buried his nose in the bright curls and slid into unconsciousness.

Warm air was blowing on Severus, but he was shivering uncontrollably when he next woke. He was sitting upright in bright morning sunshine and wrapped snugly in several faded blankets. He was seated in an odd sort of Muggle car, and when he looked cautiously around, he saw a blond woman sitting in the next seat, buttoning her faded shirt. She saw him watching her and raised one eyebrow quizzically. When he didn't speak, she smiled slightly and walked to the rear the vehicle and began rummaging around. He must have drifted off again because suddenly she was standing next to him in the open door of the car. She felt his forehead and then the side of his neck. She poured some water into a plastic cup and offered it to him. His hands were shaking, so she held the cup to his lips while he drank thirstily.

"You need something hot, but this is all I have with me," she told him. "When we get to the hospital, they can help you more than I can, but we're two hours from the city."

The word "hospital" penetrated the fog in his brain, causing him to jerk upright. "No hospital!" he croaked. He was breathless with fear. He knocked the empty cup away and clumsily grasped her hand in both of his shaking ones. "Please." He fumbled in his memory, found her name (at least he hoped it was hers) and said in a low voice, "Zelda. I'm extremely grateful to you, but since I didn't die last night, I must ask more of you. Please, help me. Take me with you."

His brief panic left him drained, but he held onto her hand and stared intently at her, not having really seen her before. Severus saw a small, slightly plump woman with riotous bright blond curls and serious blue eyes. She had a straight nose a bit too large for her face and a wide, determined mouth. He knew she was not young, but he was not accustomed to judging the age of a woman. Around her eyes there were laugh lines a bit like Dumbledore's, and the crease between her brows was deepened by her worried expression.

"I need to know more before I decide, Severus, but if we talk now, you're so addled you'll forget it." Her free hand moved to gently release his grip on her hand. "I can't promise anything, except to think it over. Poor man, you're bruised, bleeding, concussed, and your core body temperature is extremely low. Right now we're driving to the nearest hot drink to try to warm you up."

His strength was gone, but he forced himself to grasp her hand again and whispered, "Please... please."

She looked intently at him, and gradually her expression softened in response to his obvious desperation. She leaned down into the car and pushed his filthy hair back, gazing into his eyes. He didn't look away this time, knowing that if she were a Legilimens, she'd see what he was, she'd know everything... but he was beyond caring any longer. She looked for a long time, and then shockingly, she gave a tiny chuckle and lightly kissed the tip of his nose. She removed her hand from his as she did, saying, "Chin up, Severus, it'll be all right. Close your eyes and rest." She stepped back, seeming anxious to be on the way, and closed the door so quickly that she didn't see the tears that filled his eyes.