Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The Order had assembled in the Great Hall. They were grouped into fours, each with a house-elf in the center. Dumbledore placed his wand tip to his neck so he could be heard over the chatter of last minute preparations.

"Attention, everyone!" he cried.

The room quieted immediately and everyone turned their eyes to Dumbledore.

"As you all know, our mission tonight is two-fold. Please concentrate only on your assigned mission. There are plenty of us here to do our respective jobs, and we are counting on each and every one of you to accomplish your specific task to make this attack succeed. Remember, this is the only chance we'll get to take down Lucius Malfoy and rescue Hermione Granger. On the count of three, we will Apparate together to our destinations. Good luck to you all."

Everyone nodded to one another and prepared themselves. Hands were placed upon each other and each house-elf and the house-elves each grabbed at least one wrist in their hands.

Dumbledore began the countdown. "Three... two... one." Each house-elf spun with their charges. In a mass of pops, everyone disappeared.

Dumbledore, Minerva, Flitwick, Percy Weasley, and their house-elf, Polywog Apparated directly to the second floor with wands extended. Two guards who were posted at a door farther down the hall immediately began shooting spells at them. The four wizards began to fight back, causing such a stir that the guards did not notice the small house-elf dart between Percy's legs and run at them. He jumped on the closest one and began tearing at his hair. The guard started shouting, batting at Polywog, but he could not dislodge the small creature from his head. Unfortunately, the commotion alerted five other guards, who raced from the stairwell, wands held forward. The ensuing battle was fierce. Polywog fought valiantly and through his unique form of distraction, made it possible for the wizards to fell two of their enemy. Percy turned to ensure their safety just in time to catch another guard shooting a hex straight for Minerva. He shielded her, but was sent flying by a hex from the group in front of them. Minerva turned and took care of the guard behind them, then rushed over to Percy, constantly shooting spells at their attackers as she did. She felt for a pulse. He was all right. She looked up to see Albus envelop one of the guards with a mass of rope. Flitwick had chosen to use Polywog's strategy. He was hanging from a guard's back, shooting spells at the others near him. Two men fell from his wand work. Finally, the last man dropped. All eyes turned to Percy, who by now was sitting up, shaking his head to clear it.

"You're all right, Percy?" Flitwick asked as he rushed over to him. Percy nodded and got to his feet.

"Good," Dumbledore remarked. "Lead us to the Malfoy bedroom."

Percy, being familiar with the manor, took the lead. He stopped before a set of double-doors. Counting off from three on his fingers, he gently grasped the door handle. On one, he threw the door open, and they rushed inside.

---

Harry's group met immediate fire when they arrived in the drawing room. All four of the men had hexes flying from their wands upon appearing. Their surprise attack brought down three guards, but there were still six more to deal with. They all started shooting hexes rapidly. Harry turned to Severus.

"Go, now!"

As the great chandelier crashed to the ground, Severus nodded and grabbed the hand of their house-elf, Drury. He rushed for the hallway to the stairs, shooting hexes behind him. He failed to see the man standing in the stairwell until it was too late. Luckily, Drury had been facing forward and had spied him as they entered the hallway. Drury lifted his hands and made a shoving move with them. The guard flew backwards and tumbled down the stairwell without even casting a hex.

Severus looked to his small companion as they raced down the hall.

"Thank you," he said quickly as they turned into the stairwell.

"I did what I could, sir," Drury responded.

They raced down the stairs, Severus with his wand extended, ready for anything. Strangely enough, there was only one guard at the door, and he'd been distracted by the other guard that had tumbled down the stairs. Severus took one shot at him, and the man crumpled to the ground.

Severus looked down at the two unconscious men. "Pity Dumbledore forbade us to use Unforgivables," he muttered as he sneered at Hermione's captors. He cast an incarcerous and they were soon bound in ropes. Quickly pointing his wand at the door, Severus chanted, "Alohomora." The door swung open revealing a darkened room. With another wave of his wand, the room was illuminated, and Severus saw a sight that stilled his heart. Hermione, beaten and bruised, hung from chains against the wall. She was slumped down, and her eyes were closed. With his heart in his throat, he approached her and felt for a pulse. It beat strongly beneath his fingers. He sighed in relief as Hermione moaned slightly.

He flicked his wand, and the chains disappeared. Hermione fell forward and Severus caught her gently. He took a second to look down into her face. She cracked her eyes open.

"Severus?" she croaked weakly. "I'd hoped you would come," she whispered before her head fell back, and she was unconscious again.

His mission was fulfilled; his only responsibility to get Hermione and get out. He looked over at Drury and nodded.

"Let's get out of here."

Drury bounded up to him and grabbed his robes. They spun and disappeared, leaving the battle behind them. Severus hoped everyone else would be as successful as he'd been.

Appearing in the infirmary, he saw that Poppy was ready for him.

"Place her on the bed over there," she directed. Her wand already out, as she casted diagnostic spells.

Severus gently laid her down as if she'd break. She opened her eyes again as he did so.

"Severus?" she whispered. Her hand reached out to him. It was one of the areas on her body that was not bruised black and blue. He took it in his two hands.

"You're safe, Hermione. You're in the hospital wing. Poppy will fix you."

"Thank you," she murmured, barely able to form the words. Her breathing was ragged, and Severus suspected she may have broken ribs. He looked to Poppy and arched an eyebrow, demanding an update.

"All her ribs are broken, and her left lung is punctured," Poppy reported. "What happened to her wrists and ankles?"

"She was hung by chains from a wall."

Poppy's frown grew. "Actually that probably saved her from having broken legs, although both wrists are broken. She's got massive internal bleeding."

"Severus," Hermione mumbled. "Everything's going dark." Her voice was getting weaker with every word.

Severus froze. She couldn't die. Not after all this. She'd survived being beaten; she'd have to survive being healed.

"Stay with me, Hermione," he pleaded.

"You... said my... name."

He scowled. "Of course I said your name, what did you expect me to say?"

"First... name."

Poppy leaned over her. "Hermione, I need you to take this potion. It will make you unconscious while I mend your bones and heal the rest of you. You'll be all right, okay?"

Severus gingerly lifted her head while Poppy administered the potion. He laid her back down gently, caressing her hair absently before removing his hand. He studied her features as her eyes closed, and her face went slack from the potion. Looking to Poppy, he frowned.

"Will she be all right, Poppy?"

Poppy's eyebrows knit together. "If I can get her ribs and lungs fixed within the next ten minutes she'll be fine."

"And if you don't?"

Poppy met Severus' gaze. "She'll die from asphyxiation."

She'll die. She'll die. She'll die. She'll die.

The room got fuzzy and Poppy's words reverberated in his head. He closed his eyes, willing himself to stay focused. Willing himself to not lose control. Hoping beyond hope that she'd live, he slowly brought himself back together. He would not fall apart in front of Poppy. He'd never shown his weakness before, he would not start now.

Be strong. Be strong. Be strong.

He wasn't sure if he was chanting that to himself or to Hermione, but it had its affect on him. Slowly he calmed. When he opened his eyes, he noted that Poppy was waving her wand furiously over Hermione's chest.

"What can I do?" Severus asked.

"Rub that paste on her chest. Don't press too hard!"

"I figured that," he snarked. Ah, yes, back to myself then.

He carefully took a large dab of the paste and began rubbing it onto Hermione's chest. He was so absorbed in trying to help her, it didn't dawn on him that her shirt had been stripped away. He tried not to concentrate on her black-lace bra as he gently rubbed the salve into her skin. It was definitely easier said than done. He concentrated on healing her and was soon able to place his wayward thoughts into the back of his mind where he was sure he'd examine them in detail later.

Poppy glanced up at him. "I think that's sufficient, Severus."

He pulled his hands away as if they were on fire.

"What else can I do?" he asked, noting that his voice sounded a bit raspy.

"I could use help with the internal bleeding. This spell works better when two people perform it. Are you familiar with the Sanguinea spell?"

He nodded curtly. " What about the wound cleaning potion I developed for healing? It may work for internal injuries."

"It can't hurt," Poppy said with a nod of her head. "There's some in the cupboard over there."

Severus raced to the cupboard and brought out two vials. Poppy and he poured some of the potion onto her abdomen and chest and worked it into her skin. Poppy checked the potions work. She shook her head.

"It helped some, but we still need to do the spell. Would you do the lower wand movements, please? I'll say the spell and do the upper movements."

He nodded again and extended his wand over Hermione's torso. Poppy began waving her wand above his as he did an intricate waving pattern directly over her stomach.

Poppy chanted "Sanguinea" as she continued waving. Bright blue, healing light shot from both their wands and directly into Hermione's stomach. Poppy checked their work. She nodded with approval.

"The bleeding's stopped," she informed Severus.

She worked for another twenty minutes at least, applying more of Severus' potion to her visible wounds. She had to keep going back to Hermione's lungs and doing more spells. She asked Severus to reapply the paste to her chest again. When he gave her a curious look she explained.

"Her injuries need multiple applications. It's normal to do this, Severus. She's responding well to the treatment. I think she's safe now."

Severus heaved a great sigh of relief as he reapplied the paste. His eyes shot to Hermione's face when she moaned.

"I thought you gave her a sedative."

"I did. She won't wake up for a while."

They continued their work for a bit longer. Finally, Poppy stepped back and examined Hermione once again. Her face, which had been purple and swollen, was now restored to its natural state. All the other bruises and blood had been cleared away too.

"I've healed her wrists completely. Her ribs are mended, but will take a few days to heal fully. Those were all the broken bones, except for her nose, which you can see is fixed. Everything else is healed." She looked over at Severus. "She'll be fine in a day or two. Thank you for your help, Severus."

The forgotten house-elf was fidgeting at the base of the bed. "May I return to the battle, sir?" he asked.

Severus nodded, but his eyes never left Hermione. He pulled up a chair and settled into it.

"I'm exhausted, Severus. I'll be in my office. Please alert me when any wounded come in."

He nodded, but still his eyes never left Hermione's face. Poppy left as he continued to stare at her. He memorized every little bit of her face, from her curved eyebrows to the way her noise came to a cute point at the end. Relief flooded him that she would recover. He sat marveling at her for a while before the hospital doors burst open. Harry and Ron rushed in.

"Is she all right?" Ron cried.

"Did she get hurt?" Harry asked.

Severus looked up at the two men. "She was beaten badly. We only finished mending her about twenty minutes ago. Poppy assures me she'll be fine."

"Why isn't she awake?" Harry asked.

"Poppy gave her a strong sedative so she could set her bones before healing them." He studied the two men before him, who both looked a bit mussed up. "What of the battle?"

Harry looked over at Severus. "We won. Dumbledore's group had the hardest go of it.

They were all injured. Dumbledore is in pretty bad shape. He took the brunt of the curses. The Aurors are doing some quick patch-up work before they bring them all back here. They were accosted in the hallway and then again when they entered Malfoy's bedroom. He and Narcissa were surrounded by bodyguards. They fought bitterly. Both Narcissa and Lucius are dead. Draco is in custody. The other raids on the Undersecretary's home and his cabinet were all successful. They weren't suspecting anything. They've all been taken to the Ministry and into custody."

Severus sighed in relief. "It looks like there is a government to rebuild, and wounded to take care of. I will inform Poppy that there will be new charges soon." He strode to her office and tapped the door. She was out in a flash.

"They will be coming shortly," Severus advised. "Potter said that Dumbledore is in bad shape."

Poppy rushed over to Harry and began getting first hand information. As she began to gather what she'd need, the house-elves began Apparating in with the wounded. Severus helped Poppy get everyone to beds, and he did some diagnostics as Poppy took care of the worst-off.

It took several hours to get everyone taken care of. Albus had been the hardest-hit, although he had no visible wounds. But he'd been unconscious and paralyzed when he'd been carried in by the Aurors. Poppy had worked valiantly to free him from the multiple curses and hexes that had hit him, placing him in the state he was in. Once she'd stabilized him and assured all the onlookers that he would be fine in a matter of days, she continued on to the others. Both Severus and she never took a break as they mended bones, healed cuts, and administered rejuvenating potions for those weakened by hexes.

Finally, the last patient was sent on his way, completely healed. Severus looked around the infirmary. Only Dumbledore and Hermione remained in beds. All the others had been healed and sent home. Truly they'd been lucky to have so few serious injuries.

Poppy staggered over to him, resembling death warmed over. "I'm going to bed," she told him in an exhausted voice. "These two will be fine until morning."

"I'll stay," Severus volunteered.

Poppy shook her head. "No, Severus, you are as exhausted as I. Get some rest."

"All right. I'll just check on Miss Granger before retiring."

Poppy smiled knowingly at him. He huffed and shoo'd her away. Moving over to Hermione's bed, he grasped her hand. She looked peaceful as she slept. A sudden urge to run his hand through her hair came over him. He didn't bother stopping himself. Poppy had gone, and Granger should sleep through the night. His fingers sunk into her curls. He sat down in the chair next to her bed as he caressed her hair. She's turned me into a sap. It's so good to see her alive, though. I want to rejoice in that, even if it's just for tonight.

His fingers released her curly locks, and he took a finger and traced her jaw line.

"So beautiful," he murmured.

Rising to leave, he stooped low and placed a kiss on her forehead. He pushed back her hair and looked into her face. The face of an angel.

"I know you will never care for me, Hermione, but I will always care for you."

With that, he kissed her forehead again, straightened, and headed to his room. He didn't see Hermione's eyes crack open and follow his retreat.

---

Hermione moaned as her eyes opened and were accosted by bright light. She shielded her eyes and tried to open them again, this time a bit slower. The familiar ceiling of the infirmary greeted her before Poppy Pomfrey's face came into her vision.

"I'm alive," Hermione murmured.

Poppy smiled. "Yes, you'll be keeping us all on our toes for a lot longer, Miss Granger."

"I ache all over."

Poppy nodded. "When Severus brought you in, you had been beaten badly."

Hermione gazed around the infirmary. She noted Albus Dumbledore two beds over.

"I hope that didn't happen while trying to rescue me," she said while motioning to Albus.

"Well, not exactly. When the Order found out you'd been abducted, they just decided to take Lucius out and mount a rescue mission at the same time."

Hermione snorted, which made her wince in pain afterward. "You make it sound so simple."

Poppy smiled also. "No, it definitely wasn't simple, but both objectives were achieved."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. "Lucius has been captured?"

Leaning in, Poppy gave her a conspiratorial look. "Actually, he's dead. The result of four simultaneous hexes and a house-elf curse on top."

"House-elf curse?"

Poppy explained everything. Hermione nodded in all the right places. Truly, the use of house-elves had been ingenious. She was sorry she'd not thought of it. But her mind kept wandering. She was anxious to hear about one person, and one person only.

"Was Severus injured?"

"No, dear. He's just fine. He's exhausted and probably will sleep until tomorrow."

"May I leave?" Hermione asked.

Poppy gave her an exasperated look. "What do you think?"

Hermione had the decency to look chastised. "I had to ask."

"You may leave tomorrow morning if there are no complications. Did they cast any hexes or Cruciatus curses on you?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Surprising... but good, though. You should be fine." Poppy turned and retreated back to her office.

Hermione rested her head back on her pillow. Her entire body ached, and she found she was getting sleepy. She tried to remember what happened before she awoke in the Infirmary, but her mind couldn't recall anything after she'd passed out from the beating she'd received.

Just then Jacob came into the infirmary and rushed to her bed. "I wanted to see how you were doing this morning," he told her. "You were unconscious last night."

Hermione smiled at him. "Were you hurt yesterday?"

"Just a gash on my arm. I managed to dodge all the spells that were thrown at Harry and me."

She craned her head to look at his arm. Of course, there was no sign of the previous wound. Jacob sat on the side of the bed and slowly moved Hermione's head back against the pillow.

"You need to stay still so you can heal."

Hermione made a face at him. "Turning my head is not going to set back my recovery," she retorted.

"Nonetheless."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Hermione's eyes seemed to be drooping, and she looked like she would fall asleep. Jacob touched her arm.

"I guess I should be going. You need to rest."

Her eyes flew open. "Oh, no. I'm fine," she protested.

He squeezed her arm. "You rest. I'm glad you're ok, Hermione." He awkwardly kissed her on the forehead and made a hasty getaway out of the infirmary.

Hermione sighed. Things seemed to be ok with him, but there was still some awkwardness as they had conversed. She hoped that would eventually disappear and that she hadn't lost her friend.

She let her mind wander again, her thoughts turning to her memory potion.

"What should I do with it? It has so much potential, but in the wrong hands, it could cause disastrous results. Maybe I should just let it be," she thought.

She shook her head then. Harry had been very positive about the new potion, and felt it had great promise for apprehending evil doers. Perhaps developing it secretly for the Ministry alone was the answer she was looking for.

"It works, and it's accurate. I shouldn't just let it die. It can help a great deal for the Aurors," she thought to herself. Coming to a decision to develop it for the Ministry alone, she let exhaustion overcome her, and soon fell into a deep, healing sleep.