Paying the Price

A/N: First off, a very happy new year to you all! I hope that this year is a hum dinger for all of you. You know, I've been writing for about three years now, I think, and it still amazes me that I write this story and then total strangers take time out of their busy days and read it. Thank you for that, thank you for reading. And big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave me a review. I'm a little behind in responding, but I'll do my best to get caught up.

Now for the alert reader notices...there were no alert reader notices for last chapter! :D My betas were far too clever for you! However, as always, if you notice an oopsie please feel free to email me at plaidpooka@yahoo.com, so that I can get it tidied up. I love my alert readers!

I can't let this New Year pass without taking the time for a special thank you to my fantabulous betas, Vaughn and WolfMoonshadow. Editing is a difficult job that folks normally get paid for, yet these women beta read for me out of the kindness of their hearts. Heaven knows that I couldn't afford to pay them! They are fabulous, kind, intelligent women who have very busy lives of their own, yet they continually make the time to give me a hand. You ladies mean the world to me, and I can't thank you enough. You rock!

Disclaimer: They are not mine; I only take them out to play.

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"Madness takes its toll."

-Richard O'Brien 1942-

Eventually, Severus stood up and retrieved the scroll that he'd thrown to the ground. Giving it an almost comically exaggerated scowl, he replaced it on the table and proceeded to ignore it. Turning his attention to the other objects on the table, he touched each one in turn before picking up two of the small vials. Returning to Albus' body, he opened the dead man's mouth and tipped the contents of both vials between the pale lips.

"Will that work?" Ron asked, his voice a nervous whisper. "A dead man can't swallow a potion, can he?"

"Potions can be spelled to absorb automatically," Hermione whispered back. "That's what they do for unconscious patients...so that they won't choke."

The group outside the ward lapsed back into stunned silence as they watched Severus continue. The first two vials were closely followed by two larger bottles, the dead wizard making no protest as the contents were poured into his slack mouth.

Once again, Severus seemed pitifully confused. Ignoring the small crowd outside of the shimmering ward, he paced back and forth fitfully. As he paced, he muttered softly to himself. Try as she might, Hermione couldn't understand a word. Every time he turned in her general direction, Hermione tried to catch his eye. Indeed, she stared at him so intently that she was surprised he couldn't feel the weight of it. She would be happy to help him, if he would only let her. Unfortunately, he didn't seem aware that she was even present. He ignored all of them as if they didn't exist.

The muttering and pacing stopped, and Severus returned to the table. Once again he picked up the scroll that had angered him before, and then tossed it disdainfully back onto the table. Peering intently at the objects remaining on the table, Severus hesitantly reached towards the large basin. As if making a sudden decision, he snatched the basin from the table and then took up the large jug in his other hand. Returning to Albus' body, he juggled the objects for an awkward moment. Severus set the jug on the ground near his feet with a melodramatic sigh. Now that he had a free hand, he set the basin near Albus' side. Severus raised Albus' withered, black hand and placed it into the basin.

Retrieving the jug, Severus unstopped it, and slowly began to pour a glistening, gold-flecked liquid over Albus' ruined hand. When the jug was empty, Severus threw it negligently over his shoulder, where it fell to the ground, breaking into pieces with a loud crackle of sound. Severus never even flinched. He had eyes only for the basin and for the next twenty minutes, he stared into it intensely. In fact, Severus stared into the basin for so long a time that Hermione feared he had lost track of what he was trying to do. He didn't move, he didn't speak, he simply gazed into the basin.

Hermione was distracted for a moment by a sudden tingling in her hands. At first, she was worried that the ward was causing her some harm. Chagrined, she realized that she had been leaning so hard against the ward that her hands had begun to fall asleep. Shaking her hands to try to stem the unpleasant pins-and-needles feeling, she looked back at Severus.

He had moved at last. The basin that Severus had been staring into was now abandoned on the ground. Once again Severus stood at the table, glaring fiercely at the scroll. Picking the scroll up, he crumpled it in a clenched fist and began to pace fretfully. After what seemed to Hermione like another small eternity of pacing, Severus strode back to the table which held Dumbledore's body, the parchment still gripped in a white-knuckled hand.

Placing the rumpled scroll on Albus' unmoving chest, Severus painstakingly smoothed the wrinkled parchment. When it had achieved some semblance of flatness, Severus stood reading it for a long time, his features furrowed in concentration. At last he seemed satisfied, and Severus climbed up onto the table with Albus' body. On his hands and knees, straddling Dumbledore's body like some strange parody of a lover, Severus lowered his head until it was only a few inches away from the parchment on Albus' chest and began to read aloud.

The sounds that poured from Severus' mouth were familiar to Hermione, even if the language was not. The similarity between the spell that Bill had used to help destroy the cup and the one that Severus now intoned was too close to miss, even by a listener like Hermione, who spoke no Gobbledegook. Turning her attention to Bill, Hermione silently questioned him with her eyes. His nod of the head let her know that she was not mistaken. Severus was using goblin soul magic to try to raise Albus from the dead.

This spell took far longer than Bill's had, and Severus paused again and again in his reading. Still frustrated by her helplessness, Hermione could do nothing to aid Severus except pray for his success. The crowd that stood watching outside the shimmering ward was unnaturally silent. No one whispered. No one moved. They were so still that an observer might have thought they'd all been magically immobilized.

The silence was broken by a muted gasp when a green light began to seep from Severus' body. It clung to him, surrounding his form in writhing bright green as he continued to read the spell. The light seemed reluctant to leave him, and Severus' voice grew louder and harsher as he read. Despite her lack of understanding, it seemed to Hermione that the last few phrases of the spell bespoke a command, so fierce was Severus' tone of voice.

Suddenly, the quiet group outside the ward all flinched as the green light was sucked abruptly into Albus' body. There was a loud concussion of sound, and Severus was bodily thrown from the table. He landed hard on the ground, still on his hands and knees. Visibly shaking, Severus collapsed. He used the last of his failing strength to roll slowly onto his back.

Indeed, Severus looked so lifeless, lying limp on the ground, that Hermione feared he'd given up his own life to try saving another's. Pressing against the ward, Hermione called his name while she fruitlessly beat her fists against the barrier that separated her from her love. When she finally caught sight of his chest moving, it calmed her. His breathing seemed shallow and irregular, but he was still breathing, and that was a comfort.

A movement from the table dragged Hermione's eyes from Severus--Albus was sitting on the table. Looking at what had once been his withered hand, Albus opened and closed his fingers and then waggled them happily as he laughed like a child on Christmas morning. This provoked a murmur of astonishment from the small crowd gathered outside the ward, and Albus began to turn his head towards the sound. It was then that he saw Severus lying on the ground. Taking no more notice of the onlookers than Severus had, Albus swung his legs off of the table and hopped nimbly to the ground. Barefoot, and still clad in the simple white tunic, Albus fairly ran to where Severus lay. His face full of concern, Albus sat next to Severus, and bodily dragged Severus' head and shoulders into his lap.

Fondly stroking Severus' hair and face, Albus called to him. "Severus? Severus, my dear boy. Wake up, Severus...wake up! You've done it, my boy! I don't know how you managed it, but you have!"

Opening his eyes slowly, Severus gazed up at Albus' smiling face as he struggled to speak. When he spoke, his voice was soft and hoarse, but it carried clearly in the quiet night. "Albus," he croaked, "I'm sick to death of being your whore."

"Now, Severus," Albus said, still smiling fondly at the wizard in his lap, "you've said that before, and I'll tell you the same thing now as I did then. You are not that, dear boy...you were never that. But look at you! You've managed the impossible and you look it. Too thin by half, and completely exhausted by the look of you. You need rest and food...and Poppy too, I think."

When Severus muttered that he needed no such thing and tried to get up, Albus was able to hold him in place with one hand.

"Now, dear boy, no protests!" Albus said, leaning down to rest his wrinkled cheek against the top of Severus' head. "You've taken care of me all these many weeks...it's high time that I took care of you for a change. You're weak as a kitten! I'm not about to let you exert yourself further."

Raising his head, Albus looked around himself for the first time since he had awakened. What he saw was a small group of gobsmacked people who stared at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

"Why, hello!" he said cheerfully. "What luck! Hagrid, you are just who I wanted to see. Severus is in a sad state, I'm afraid. We need to get him up to see Poppy. Would you be so kind as to carry him up to the castle?"

Hagrid had to wipe a hand roughly over his tear-filled eyes before he could manage a syllable. "Of course, Professor Dumbledore, sir. I'd be happy ta help Sev'rus. But there's this barrier..." His voice trailed off, and Hagrid pushed against the ward in demonstration.

A negligent wave of Albus' hand and the ward vanished. Hagrid wasn't the only one who stumbled forward as the barrier that he'd been pushing against abruptly disappeared. The whole group took a few stumbling steps forward. Hermione had been leaning against the ward so hard that she fell to her knees. Hands reached out to help her back to her feet, and Hermione looked up to see happy grins on both Harry and Ron's faces.

"I can't believe he's alive," Harry murmured. "There he is, right before my eyes, and I just can't believe it."

"Well, all's well that ends well," Ron said. "Now that Albus is back among the living, Severus should be safe enough."

"But he's hurt," Hermione said, gesturing towards the people gathered around Albus. Hagrid was lifting Severus into his strong arms while Remus and Bill helped Albus to his feet. Dangling limply in Hagrid's arms, Severus looked like he had again lost consciousness.

"I think that he's just exhausted, Hermione," Harry reassured her. "I'm certain that he'll be fine. Why don't you go with Hagrid and check on him, if you're worried."

At that point, the three friends were distracted by Minerva. Walking up to Albus, Minerva first slapped the startled man in the face and then shouted at him.

"You horrible, cruel man! How could you treat me so carelessly? Why didn't you tell me..." Her shouting stopped as she suddenly burst into noisy tears.

Wrapping Minerva tightly in his arms, Albus acted as though the slap had never happened as he spoke to her in gentle tones. "Now, my dear, it was very dicey...what we were trying to do. I didn't want to get your hopes up. And I really couldn't tell a soul, dearest, not even you. If even one person had failed to behave as they should at my death, Severus wouldn't have stood a chance. He'd have been killed, love, and then we both would have been lost. Now, now, dear," he said, kissing Minerva's hair, "I would have told you if I could...you must know that. Why don't we all go up to my...I beg your pardon, love, your office, and I'll tell you whatever you wish to know."

As the group began to make its slow way towards the door to the castle, Hermione looked ahead to see Hagrid with his burden just disappearing through the door.

"Go on, Hermione!" Ron said. "You won't rest until you've seen him. We'll go to Minerva's office and you can catch up with us there."

After a brief nod of agreement, Hermione left the slow-moving group to hurry across the lawn. On entering the castle, she went immediately to the staircase and climbed to the third floor. When she reached the third floor landing, she heard a commotion coming from the infirmary. Running as fast as she could, she burst into the Hospital Wing.

As she tried to catch her panting breath, a quick look around the wing told Hermione all she needed to know. Severus lay on a cot near the door. It seemed that he was still unconscious. Hagrid had placed himself in between Severus and Poppy. The school nurse didn't look at all like the placid woman that Hermione was used to. Wand drawn, the normally kind woman had a look of angry ferocity on her face as she spoke to Hagrid.

"I will not have that traitorous murderer stinking up my infirmary! Now stand aside, Hagrid, so I can bind him. We'll see how sick the bastard feels when the Aurors get here!"

"Now, Madam Pomfrey," Hagrid began, raising his hands as if to ward off the angry witch, "I told yeh tha yeh didn' understan' the situation. I'm not about to let yeh hurt the lad, so yeh might as well calm yerself."

"And exactly how do you plan to stop me," Poppy hissed. "You don't even have a wand!"

"Luckily, I do," Hermione managed to squeak as she panted for breath. Thanking Merlin for nonverbal magic, Hermione easily disarmed the furious witch.

"Why, Hermione Granger," Poppy exclaimed in astonishment. "Why have you taken my wand? Don't you see who Hagrid's brought here? Don't you understand?"

"It's you who doesn't understand, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione said, having finally caught her breath. "And you wouldn't believe me if I tried to tell you. Go fire-call Minerva's office. That will be an eye-opener, to say the least."

"You bet your life that I'll fire-call the headmistress," Poppy hissed. "She won't stand for the likes of him being at Hogwarts!" Turning on her heel, Poppy stomped off to her office.

"Are you all right, Hagrid?" Hermione asked worriedly. "She didn't hex you or anything, did she?"

"Nah. She were too busy shoutin' ter do me any harm. As if she could," he finished with a chuckle.

"And Severus? She didn't hurt Severus, did she?" As Hermione spoke, she crossed quickly to Severus' cot. Leaning over him, she fondly brushed his untidy hair off of his face.

"Now don't you worry yourself none, Hermione. Poppy didn' hurt him. Wand or no, I wasn' about ter let her even try. She'd a had ta go through me first, and I make a pretty fair wall."

"That you do, Hagrid," Hermione agreed, looking up to give the huge man a fond smile. "But I wish that woman would hurry back. Severus doesn't seem like he's in any immediate danger, but his breathing is awfully shallow."

"Yer fond of Sev'rus, aren't yeh?"

"Yes, Hagrid. Very much."

Hagrid made no reply to that other than to nod his head as if that fact was perfectly understandable. That made Hermione recall that Hagrid considered Severus a friend. The adults at Hogwarts had always seemed to hold Severus in far higher regard than the students did. When Dumbledore had been thrown from the tower, most of the students had no trouble accepting that Professor Snape had been responsible. The adults, on the other hand, had been frankly incredulous. Only Harry's eye witness testimony had reluctantly convinced them.

Rushing back into the ward even more quickly than she had left it, Poppy had tears in her eyes as she approached the cot where Severus lay. "I'm so sorry! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. The poor boy!" When she reached Severus, Poppy bent over him to check his pulse and his breathing. Nodding in a satisfied way, she turned to Hermione. "I'll need my wand, Miss Granger."

"Yes, of course," Hermione said. Though she handed the nurse back her wand readily enough, Hermione kept her own wand in her hand.

"You needn't worry, dear. I'm not about to hurt the poor boy. Albus said that he's been through hell since he left Hogwarts. Just imagine! Killing a man to save his life! I still can't believe it!"

Poppy's wand was busy as she prattled away. It didn't take long for her to make a diagnosis.

"Well, there isn't much wrong with him, thank Merlin for that. He has a sprained ankle...that's easy enough to fix. Other than that, he's malnourished and completely exhausted. I'm going to give him a sleeping draught...he needs rest more than anything else. I have a salve for his ankle and while he's sleeping I'll mix some nutritional potions for him. A few days of rest and some proper food and he'll be himself again."

Hermione was astonished to find her eyes filling with relieved tears. Blushing in embarrassment, she wiped furtively at her eyes. Relieved or not, she didn't want to make a spectacle of herself in front of Severus' peers. Despite Hermione's best effort to put a brave face on, Poppy had been a school nurse for many years and was the very best of that breed. Leaving her patient for the moment, Poppy went to Hermione and put a hand gently on her arm.

"He'll be just fine, Hermione," she said kindly. "Don't fret now...he's going to be absolutely fine."

The nurse's kind words completely crumbled Hermione's attempt to be brave about it all, and she suddenly found herself wrapped tightly in Poppy's arms as she cried brokenly.

"There, there, child," Poppy said softly, rubbing a hand up and down Hermione's back comfortingly. "You just let it out. I imagine that you're rather like me, saving up your tears when there's work to be done and no time for crying, and then finding that they just burst right out of you once all is well."

"Yes," Hermione managed, leaning away from the kind woman's embrace and giving her a hesitant smile. "Severus has been living with us at Harry's house for some time, and I've been terribly worried about him. Are you certain he'll be all right?"

"Positively," Poppy said with a firm nod of her head. "A little rest and care and he'll be right as rain."

"Is there anything that I can do to help? I'd be happy to."

"That's quite all right, dear," Poppy replied. "Hagrid can help me keep an eye on him tonight. Albus told me to send you up to Minerva's office once I had looked Severus over. He said that they'd all be waiting to see how Severus was doing. You run along, and then you'd best get some rest yourself, young lady. You look nearly as done in as poor Severus."

Though Hermione hated to leave Severus, she did want to hear what Professor Dumbledore had to say. Torn, she shifted nervously from foot to foot as she hesitated.

"Run along, dear," Poppy said. "Come back in the morning if it will make you feel better. I'm giving him a strong sleeping draught, so he wouldn't know you were here, even if you stayed."

Her decision made, Hermione paused only long enough to go to Severus and brush her fingers softly through his hair. Though she desperately wanted to lean down and give him a kiss on the forehead, she did her best to content herself with that one brief caress. Anything further would have shown more of her feelings than she wanted to display in front of Hagrid and Poppy. They were curious enough already.

"I'll be back soon," she whispered. Turning reluctantly from Severus, Hermione gave Poppy and Hagrid a brief smile before she hurried from the room to head down to Minerva's office.