Chapter 6: Fritz's Blood Thinner

CHAPTER 6: FRITZ'S BLOOD THINNER

She woke, expecting to find herself on the filthy floor outside of Snape's flat. Instead, she was settled deeply into the lumpy cushions of his green couch with a thin blanket thrown over her. Hermione blinked at the weak sunlight filtering through the grimy window across the room. Her chest hurt, the dull pain clouding her brain, making it difficult to sort through the events of the previous night. She found that she had been massaging her breastbone with her fingertips.

Sitting upright, she nearly swooned. The potion. She had forgotten to take her potion last night before she fell asleep.

"Oh, Merlin..." Hermione muttered under her breath, fishing in the pocket of her jeans for the small phial she carried with her for emergencies. She fumbled the stopper out of it and immediately gulped the foul liquid down her throat. Within a few seconds, she felt the dull pain dissipate, allowing her to breathe easily again.

"What was that?"

Hermione jumped at his low voice. She had been so confused after awakening that she had not seen him sitting in the chair across from her.

"Just vitamins," she lied, placing the phial on the couch beside her, trying to appear nonchalant and comfortable. "How did I get here?"

"I found you asleep on my doorstep again. I carried you inside shortly before midnight."

"Oh."

He raised a brow at her. "I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from sleeping there. The neighbors may begin wagging their tongues about my odd guests."

"I wanted to apologize. For last night."

He waved away her apology. "You were not thinking. I understand."

"I just... I wish you'd come back to the wizarding world with me," she whispered, pulling the blanket around her. The room wasn't cold, but she needed the comfort.

Snape shook his head, a wry smile edging the corners of his lips up. "I'm a former Death Eater with no friends or relatives. What good would my coming back do?"

"It would make me happy," she answered simply.

"And why, exactly, would that make you happy?"

"Our time together lately has made me happy," Hermione insisted. "It makes me very happy, but I feel like you are denying a part of yourself when you insist on living life as a Muggle." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Harry has ensured that your name was cleared in the aftermath. Everyone knows what you did. We all know the war would have been lost had it not been for you." She paused again and shifted her eyes away, peering out the window at the dull, gray clouds in the sky. Finally, she looked at him and said, "And we're friends... of a sort, I suppose. I mean, I want to be your friend, if you're agreeable to that."

He looked back at her with solemn, gentle eyes. Had he been anyone else, she would have said he was on the verge of tears. But Severus Snape didn't cry, did he? Her mind returned to the memories. Of course he did. He had cried more than his fair share of tears.

"Tell me what you just drank, Hermione," he finally said in a kind, yet firm, voice.

She stood up and folded the blanket he had covered her with the previous night. "I told you; it was a potion of vitamins. I thought I might be coming down with something, so I've been taking them the past few days."

Snape tilted his head. "Why are you lying to me?"

"I...I'm not." In a fit of panic, she threw the blanket on the arm of the couch, grabbed her handbag, and ran out.

He watched the door click shut behind her retreating form before looking down to see his wand roll lazily across the floor. It must have fallen out of her sleeve in her rush to the door. It slowed to a crawl before stopping, its tip pointed at the couch. He looked up and saw the light refractions glint through the thick glass of the phial she had also forgotten.

---------------------------------------------------

After going home for a shower and change of clothes, Hermione found she was late for work. She stayed later than she had been to make up for her tardiness. A few minutes after seven o'clock, she stepped into the café, relieved to find Snape reading a novel at his usual table. The daily newspaper was folded up beneath the book.

"I'm sorry I left so quickly. I was late for work," she said, sitting down across from him.

Snape lifted his gaze from the novel to watch her. There was something in his eyes she couldn't place, something she didn't think she had seen in him before. Marking his page, he closed the book and rested his hands on top of it.

His odd behavior made her nervous. "I'm just going to go get a cup of coffee." Hermione placed her hands on the tabletop to push herself out of the chair. Before she could completely stand, Snape locked a long-fingered hand around her wrist. His grip was firm, but not painful.

"We need to talk," he said.

"What's wrong?"

"This," Snape replied, producing one of her empty phials from his pocket. He sat it down on the table beside her hand. Hermione sank back into her seat, staring at the phial.

"I...I told you...I told you it's just vitamins."

"Is that what you tell Potter and Weasley?"

"Yes, because it is the truth."

"Don't think I'm as moronic as those two, Hermione. The phial contained a powerful blood-thinning potion. Alfred Fritz's mixture, to be exact. It was developed over three hundred years ago by a prominent Potions master. Because of its potency, it is rarely used." He paused and let go of her wrist. "I would like to know why you are taking it."

"I have heart problems."

"Don't lie, Hermione. Heart problems can be solved with a much less potent and less expensive brew. What is wrong with your blood?"

She frowned, floundering for an acceptable excuse. "Wait," she said, narrowing her eyes at the man across from her. "How do you know what was in the phial? You'd need to perform a test with your wand to..."

Hermione trailed off when she saw him lift his sleeve to reveal his wand. "You left it this morning in your rush to get out of my flat. I put it to good use."

"I thought you didn't want it back."

"I plan on returning it to you as soon as you begin telling me the truth. What is wrong with you?"

"Only four people at St. Mungo's know," she said, dropping her chin to her chest.

"Then I'll make the fifth."

Hermione sighed and willed the waterworks out of her eyes. "Promise you won't repeat this."

"Who would I repeat it to? You're the only one I've spoken to since... the battle."

She laced her fingers together on the tabletop. "It was a curse. Just before we saw you in the Shrieking Shack, we encountered several Death Eaters in the halls of Hogwarts. One of them...I don't know who...threw the curse at me. It missed and bounced off a piece of armor lying in the hall. The remaining curse glanced off my leg." Hermione bent over and lifted the leg of her jeans just enough for Snape to see the starburst of angry red on her outer calf.

"It hurt for a moment, but afterward I felt no different. It wasn't until the next day that I began having chest pains. Harry and Ron were busy cleaning up the mess at Hogwarts, so I went to St. Mungo's on my own."

"Cruento Profundus." Snape looked sick, his face paler than usual.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Yes, that was the curse. How did you know?"

"It was a favorite among the Death Eaters. Within a minute, it coagulates the victim's blood until their heart cannot pump it without serious damage to the tissue."

She nodded. "That's what the Healers surmised as well. Nothing they gave me worked but Fritz's Blood Thinner. I was put on the lowest dosage possible, and it worked well for three months. When I started having chest pains and shortness of breath again, they raised the dosage. Every three to five months, they increase the dosage because my body and the curse have adjusted to the old dosage."

"This was an extremely high dosage," Snape said, gesturing to the phial on the table.

"I know. I've been taking it for two months. There are only two levels left."

"And then?"

She shrugged. "There is nothing else that can be done. Healer Gnecco has researched the curse and condition extensively. He can find nothing to permanently solve my problem."

Snape was silent, staring at her with a blank face and tumultuous eyes. "You're dying." His voice was flat and unemotional.

"Aren't we all?" Hermione replied with a soft smile.

Her flippancy seemed to anger him. "Don't play coy with me, Hermione. This is a serious matter."

"Don't worry about me, Professor. I'll be fine."

He scowled and slammed a hand down on the book in front of him. "Stop calling me 'professor,' Hermione."

His outburst made her jump back in her seat. All eyes in the café turned to regard the arguing pair. "What shall I call you, then?"

"Snape. Snape is fine. I would like to talk to this Healer at St. Mungo's, the one treating you."

She lifted her brows. "Of course, but don't you think it would be rather odd since you're supposed to be dead?"

Snape crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, obviously irritated. "I'll write him a missive, which you will deliver to him. He obviously isn't trying hard enough if he cannot cure your affliction."

His concern touched her, even if his volatile mood made her somewhat uncomfortable. She looked down to see his fingers clenched so tightly around the book that his knuckles were white and small blue veins were standing out on the back of his hand.

"Can we talk about something else?" she asked, watching him closely.

He looked up at her, his face paler than usual and his blank expression looking quite strained. "I'm not in the mood. I shall see you tomorrow."

Hermione watched as he gathered the book and newspaper and swept out the front door onto the sidewalk outside. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She felt like crying, but couldn't manage to conjure the tears.

--------------------------------------------------

"Dad said he saw you in Misuse of Muggle Artifacts last week," Ron said, sucking his noodles off awkwardly held chopsticks.

"We confiscated a Muggle radio modified to pick up wizarding stations," she explained, pushing the remains of her dinner toward Ron so he could finish it for her. She smiled when Harry did the same. Ron liked to eat for three.

"Did you ever see the man in the café?" Harry asked.

Hermione's eyes widened. "What man?"

"The Snape look-alike. Did you see him again?"

She felt her stomach flip-flop and thought her food might come crawling back up her esophagus. "Oh, that. No, I was probably just seeing things that night. You know how it goes. Poor fellow most likely thought I was crazy." She tried to force a smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

"Crazy is one of your more endearing qualities, 'Mione," Ron said with a half-full mouth of food.

Sensing a safe path of conversation, Hermione looked at Harry. "I don't know why I ever broke up with Ron, here. He's just so well-mannered."

Harry laughed and clapped Ron on the back. "You hear her, mate? You'll never get a steady girl if you don't learn how to eat with your mouth closed."

Ron swallowed the food and snorted. "Who says I want a steady girl?"

Harry and Hermione laughed. Hermione's mirth was mainly due to her escape from the close call with Harry. She had promised Snape that she would not tell anyone about his whereabouts, nor admit to anyone that she knew he was alive. It was difficult to lie to her two best friends, but she did not intend to ever bring Snape's confidence in her into doubt.

It had been four days since the evening when he had discovered her secret. They had not discussed her condition since, and any time Hermione brought it up, Snape dismissed it with a terse word or two. Things were different between them. He seemed much more distant and preoccupied. They no longer sipped coffee and made quiet conversation over poetry or current events. Everything seemed so forced and uncomfortable. She desperately wanted things to go back to the way they had been before.

She watched Ron shove the last of her rice into his mouth. He mumbled something around the rice about cleaning up. Grabbing all of the Chinese take-out containers, he carried them into the kitchen. She turned her head to see Harry watching her with his soft, green eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Sure."

"You just seem... worried."

"It's nothing. Probably stress from work."

"Hey!" Ron called from the kitchen. He stepped back into the living room where Hermione and Harry were sitting on the floor around the coffee table. "I've got a hot date tomorrow. I'm going to take some of Hermione's vitamins for, you know, stamina." He smiled, wagging his eyebrows, and waved the phial filled with bright orange potion in the air.

"Ron, no!" Hermione yelled, jumping up from her spot on the floor.

"Lay off, 'Mione. It's just vitamins." Ron pulled the stopper out and poured the contents down his throat in one go.

Hermione stumbled forward and knocked the phial of out his hand, but it was too late. He had already drunk the entire thing.

"Harry, we need to get him to St. Mungo's," she said, trying to suppress the hysteria in her voice.

Harry stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Hermione, it was just your vitamins. He's fine."

"Actually, I'm feeling a bit dizzy," Ron admitted, placing a hand on the wall to stabilize himself.

"It's not vitamins; it's blood thinner. He could die," she said, grabbing Ron's arm and looking at Harry. "I'll meet you at St. Mungo's." She pulled her Ron closer to her and Disapparated with a crack.

Hermione stumbled into the Apparition room of St. Mungo's with Ron leaning heavily on her. Harry appeared a moment later, taking his friend's other arm and helping Hermione lead him into the admittance area.

A mediwitch rushed over when she saw Ron hanging between Hermione and Harry. "What's happened?"

"He's accidentally taken a blood thinner." Hermione fumbled in her pocket and produced a phial of her potion. "This," she said, shoving it into the mediwitch's hands.

Within moments, a Healer was called, and Ron was taken to a room. Hermione tried to still her shaking hands as she sat down on an uncomfortable wooden chair in the waiting room.

"What are you doing with blood thinner?"

Hermione looked up into Harry's face and started crying. She felt Harry's arms wrap around her and heard him whisper soothing words in her ear.

After she calmed herself, Hermione sniffed and pulled away to look at her friend. She knew she had to tell him the entire story, but she dreaded it.

By the time they were called back to Ron's room to see him, Hermione had confessed everything to Harry. She sat in the corner of the hospital room and listened to Harry repeat the tale to Ron, who seemed to be nearly back to good health.

She wanted to crawl under a rock when they both turned to her with expressions of betrayal and worry.

Author's Notes: I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I hope to have the remaining two chapters up soon. I'd offer an explanation of why I'm so late, but it really doesn't matter. Suffice it to say that health problems in my family and my SO's family have eaten up my time. Thank you to moonrevel and JenF for being wonderful people and betas!