Chapter Two: Exploding Girl
Chapter 2 of 4
potionmastersmistressSnape is alive – only he doesn't believe it. He lays in a deep coma at St. Mungo's, his mind locked in an afterlife of his own making. Occlumency shields prevented the best mind healers from intervening. He's considered a hopeless case – but there's this irritating know-it-all with a crazy shaman trance plan and a boy-who-just-won't-bugger-off.
Disclaimer: I got bored with my dollies and decided to play with J.K.'s. I promise to put them back... eventually.
Many, many thanks to my fantastic beta! You know who you are!
AN: Next chapter will have some lemons for everyone :). Damn exposition!
Chapter Two: Exploding Girl
A figure clad in nothing but a dangerously small and almost transparently nude pair of boxer briefs with a wreath of African lilies atop his head stumbled up onto his feet from the floor.
"Hermione, I'm sorry, alright? I'm not a bloody drag queen, I can't move like that!"
Sweat was rolling down Harry's forehead and dripping onto his nose, and he looked utterly exhausted, if not a tad bit ridiculous, especially since he was still clinging tightly to a small drum and a rattle. Hermione did not seem to notice any of this, though.
"You aren't supposed to move your body like I am, Harry! You're supposed to let your skinny little hips lead your clumsy little feet and not fall over onto your irritating little arse!"
Hermione was dressed in a scandalous pair of nude coloured knickers and a thin, tan bra. Her hair was bushy and wild, sweat pouring from her body. She stood in the middle of what used to be Severus Snape's personal study and was now the emptied, barren, steamy, and inventive recreation of a shaman's earthen ritual quarters.
She muttered a few obscenities under her breath as she turned upon Harry with an exasperated scowl on her reddened face.
"Well, fuck!" Harry exclaimed. "It's hard to keep everything straight in this ruddy ritual! I'm not doing magic with my wand, you know. This is all ridiculously strange, and I'm really trying!" Harry pushed the flower wreath off of his head and sank back onto the floor, which was covered in rich, red soil.
"I know you're trying, Harry, but you'll just have to try harder not to fall over like that again!" Hermione wiped the sweat off of her brow with the back of her hand and fussed with her unruly hair for a moment. "How hard is it to match your sidesteps with the counter beat of your drum, anyway? I've got to make love to the bloody air, channel all of his most private memories back into his ruddy head, and focus on projecting all of my magic into Sev... Snape at the same time. Not to mention this difficult, complicated little spell I have to chant over and over. There is this whole business of breathing, too, you know..." Her tone was scathing, and her eyes were glassed over with anger. One glance at her in this state caused Harry to sink even deeper into the dirt.
She took in a deep sigh and peered warily down at Harry, who looked rather put out and surly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry," she said in a placating manner. "The strain of this has been getting to me. It's just that I think I felt some terrific progress today! I think I actually managed to force all of his memories back into his mind! I could feel his walls more closely today; they are getting weaker, and if we had kept it up a little longer, I think I could have revived his senses."
Harry pulled Hermione down next to him, putting his arm around her shoulders for comfort.
"This is a good thing, Hermione. This is what we've spent over two months preparing for. You spent six weeks searching for this information, and the staff at St. Mungo's spent four months trying everything they could for Snape. Did you expect us to succeed right away? He's really closed himself in quite skillfully. I'll try my absolute hardest tomorrow, but I think we both need to call it a day."
He's right, you know, she thought dejectedly. Hermione took another deep breath, closed her eyes, and placed her weary head on Harry's shoulder. She couldn't believe that she was sitting in the dirt, panting heavily, practically naked, in Severus Snape's household with said homeowner lying like a piece of broccoli on his own small bed. With Harry, of all people. He was as good as her brother, and they were dancing around their former Potions master's still form with nothing but their skivvies on. It all seemed unreal, ludicrous. But it was going to work; she knew it in her bones.
She took another deep breath and thought about how she had gotten here.
***
After the chaos and tears at the end of the Final Battle died down a bit and everyone began to clean up the rubble throughout the grounds, Harry said he was going to the Shrieking Shack to retrieve the remains of the former Potions master. When she saw Harry running back and heard him yelling frantically about finding nothing but a puddle of blood, they together started to commission all who were capable of moving without immense pain set out with them to find Severus Snape.
Three hours into the search, without so much as a trace of Snape's remains anywhere, an owl flew up to her. It was carrying a letter to the survivors cleaning up at Hogwarts. Well, she was a survivor, so she took the liberty of reading the letter to herself and Harry. They were adults now, and they definitely earned the right to selective information. The letter was from St. Mungo's, and it detailed a former staff member's most peculiar arrival.
"Severus Snape arrived at St. Mungo's in the middle of the night via phoenix, with almost all of his wounds completely healed." she read aloud. "The phoenix departed nigh a second longer than it had arrived..."
"'It was Fawkes! I know it, it had to be!"
She nodded hurriedly at Harry and continued to read.
"...And we brought Mr. Snape in for treatment. The official care of Mr. Snape is funded by the newly appointed Minister, and our Mind Healers would appreciate the expert opinions of some of the witches and wizards who were involved in the Final Battle." The letter detailed his condition, stating that he was in an Occlumency-induced coma.
Harry looked at her in disbelief. She let out the breath that she was holding, and she pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket.
"We can go ourselves, Harry. I have this paper I could make...oh, we're wasting precious time that Snape doesn't have if we keep chatting, or if we go off scurrying about the grounds! I think that..."
Harry cut her off with a brief wave of his hand. "Who should I alert?"
"Send off your Patronus to Ron and Ginny, tell them to alert the others, and let's go. I'll make a Portkey. I'm not sure if it is safe to Apparate."
When they arrived at the hospital and rushed to the specially warded room Severus was being kept in, some of the best Mind Healers, and even some average ones, were trying their hardest to bring him out of his self-induced coma. Her eyewitness account had not helped because his state was not caused by a dark curse or rebounded spell...it was his own doing.
After four months of no progress, St. Mungo's wanted to release his case. After pleading with Kingsley Shacklebolt a great deal, the hospital allowed the care of Severus Snape to be handed over to Harry and her.
The hospital had refused to let them keep Severus at the hospital, but a particularly friendly, young Medi-Witch had tipped Harry off on some fantastic charms, which Ginny nagged him about to this day. Nevertheless, Harry gained some valuable information on how to Transfigure a normal household room into safe, healing environment for a person as personally afflicted as Snape. Seeing as Harry never, ever wanted to go back to Grimmauld Place, and the Burrow was too small and populated as it was, there was really only one option. So, along with the help of Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville, they moved Severus to his home at Spinner's End, where they all made a pact to do everything in their power to bring back the man who had sacrificed so much.
Harry of course felt a particular responsibility towards reviving his former professor and ordered countless numbers of books from Wizarding communities all over the world for all of them to research. Luna and Neville were in charge of tracking down all of the research materials, people, or magical artifacts that could possibly be helpful to their cause. Ginny and Harry were in charge of sorting out all of the different volumes and treasures. She, being the most studious out of the five, manned the research, records, and applications of everything useful they could find. Ron opted to work with Neville and Luna, as he wasn't too keen on loads of research.
For about a month everything ran rather smoothly; everyone worked together quite harmoniously. After that fourth week was over, though, Ron and Neville started to lose both hope and interest in their combined work. The ceremonies, the invitations, and the opportunities that their bravery and success had wrought proved much more appealing than pouring over dusty old tomes and tracking down vials of Madagascar periwinkle and musk mallow.
One evening, as Luna was updating the spending records and Harry, Ginny, and herself were all discussing and researching the possible uses of the valerian root, Ron and Neville came bursting into the house laughing. Neville ran over to Luna whilst Ron made his way over to her side, across from Ginny and Harry. He had a lopsided grin on his face, and his hair looked rather ruffled.
"We've been thinking, Neville and I, that we need to let loose a bit, step back from this depressing Snape business, and, uh, have a bit of fun, yeah?"
Harry and Ginny looked up at Ron blankly. She continued shuffling though her scrolls of notes.
"Bloody hell! Don't you want to go out for a bit, have a drink or two? You lot never leave here! Never want to go out with Neville and me! Why did we fight so hard to be free if you just want to stay cooped up in this fucking little house all hours of the day?"
She could tell that Neville and Luna stopped their intimate discussion and were looking in horror upon their friends, dreading another row. Ginny peered sideways at Harry, who was gnawing his lip away to keep from biting Ron's head off.
She, on the other hand, continued her research and acted as if Ron wasn't even there. After all, this little scene had happened many times in varying manners over the past few days.
Ginny stood up slowly and walked her brother quietly into the farthest, darkest corner of the living room. She and Harry both turned towards the siblings and listened very hard. It was a rather small home, so they had no problem hearing and seeing the entire exchange.
Ginny narrowed her eyes and whispered bitingly to her brother.
"Ron, not all of us were freed. You know that everyone else has given up on Snape and you know that the man I love and the woman that you claim to love want desperately to right this! So please stop being so ruddy selfish! They both need us!"
Ron let out a small chuckle. He narrowed his eyes right back at his little sister and leaned very closely into her face.
"Maybe what they need is a reality check, Gin." He turned his back on Ginny and walked briskly back into the kitchen, arms spread wide.
"THIS ISN'T GOING FUCKING ANYWHERE, HARRY! YOU HAVEN'T MADE AN INCH OF PROGRESS, 'MIONE!"
She had jumped to her feet to push Harry back into his chair and immediately rounded on the red-haired boy she was slowly growing to despise.
"YOU have a lot of bloody nerve, Ronald. We all made an agreement. We OWE that poor man our lives!"
Ron laughed loudly again, pulled her swiftly into his arms by her waist, and began to whisper roughly into her ear.
"YOU owe ME the time with you that I deserve! I've been in love with you since my second year at Hogwarts, Hermione! I was always too stupid to see it, to see you the way you are. You're beautiful, amazing, brilliant! I love you! I want to LIVE my life with you! Voldemort's gone, we've all been through hell and back, and you just want to fuss about all day, searching endlessly for a non-existent cure, giving sponge-baths to Snape!"
She tried to tear herself out of Ron's grip, but he strengthened his hold. She turned her face defiantly towards his and started to push against his chest.
"Let GO of me, Ronald. NOW."
A low, fearsome growl escaped the throat of a fuming Harry, who she saw reach a shaking hand towards his wand pocket. Neville began to pull Luna warily towards the door as Ginny made a mad grab into her own wand pocket.
"PROTEGO!" Lucky for everyone, Harry's angry Stinging Hex was deflected into the kitchen cupboards by Ginny, sending Harry flying into the kitchen table and Ron and her stumbling backwards. She thought she was about to escape from Ron's constraining grip, but he only clutched her to him more tightly to keep her from falling. Neville and Luna took the opportunity to slip away, and Ginny stalked angrily over to help Harry up.
"Harry, are you mad? You could have hit Hermione! There are better ways to settle this!"
"I will NOT let him continue to act like a selfish fucking animal!"
Ginny laughed and picked a few slivers of wood out of Harry's hair.
"So what were you just trying to impersonate? A bloody Healer?"
Harry grabbed her hand and pulled himself up beside her. Ginny and Harry both gave her a quick, concerned look, and then abruptly stared daggers into Ron's skull.
Harry pointed his wand at Ron. Ginny soothingly stroked Harry's back.
"Leave her be, Ron. If you don't want to help anymore, if you think this is all daft, then just go."
Ron didn't take his eyes off of her. He loosened his grip and began to softly stroke her hair.
"We torture ourselves day and night, night and day, when we all know in the back of our minds, that there's nothing left for us to do. Thirty days we've been slaving away over a lost cause. Wake up, Hermione. You've got a strange fixation with Snape. He's all you ever think about! You've forgotten about us."
She knew then that the perfect moment in the Room of Requirement months ago had been nothing more that a fluke. She was mistaken by believing that her childhood love had finally grown up. He was just as selfish as he was when they were in school. He still didn't understand her, and she thought that he never would.
She mustered up all of her strength and pushed her raging emotions deep into her heart. Now was not the time to become Hermione, the Exploding Girl. Coldly, she raised her chin and looked straight into Ron's eyes.
"There is no 'us', Ronald."
***
"OI! Put some ruddy clothes on if you're going to fall asleep all over each other!"
Hermione was startled out of her dream-like reminiscing by the annoyed exclamations of Ginny Weasley.
"Well, it's better than actually being naked, which is what this ritual called for before I modified it. Walk around in your knickers, if it would make you feel better!"
The girls laughed a little, and Hermione nudged Harry in the ribs.
Harry jolted awake beside her and jumped onto his feet, dusting off his legs and back.
"Sorry, Ginny my love. Hard day."
"Obviously."
"Ugh, I smell like Mundungus. Fancy a bath, then, dear? I'll let you scrub my back, yeah?"
Ginny smiled despite herself and wrapped her arms around the filth-covered man in front of her. "Hah-hah, but actually, yes! You don't mind if we take the bathroom tonight, Hermione?"
Hermione smiled at the happy couple in front of her. She felt a pang of jealousy and wished silently that she had someone to bathe with after a long day. Stupid Ronald, she thought to herself, you just couldn't think about anyone but yourself.
"No, I'll just do some quick cleansing charms before I check Severus' vitals and go off to bed. Goodnight, you two!"
"Goodnight!" they chimed simultaneously and then walked out arm in arm towards the bathroom, giggling.
"An Imperturbable and a Silencing Charm, please!" she called after them, chuckling.
Hermione quickly used her wandless magic to siphon all the soil off of the ground and into a large stone chest in the corner of the plain, white room. She performed a quick Scourgify on herself, and then directed the wreath of African lilies and the vanilla-vine garlands to the empty end table.
When she turned to look at the still, pale form of her once cruel and menacing teacher, she found herself overcome with the desire to free him from himself.
She quickly grabbed a green robe from the closet and covered her now cool and dry form. She walked over to the bed where Severus was and sat on its edge. Leaning in closely to his face to brush away a stray strand of hair, she smiled and whispered very softly, "Goodnight, Severus. I am so very close to freeing you from your chains. I can only hope that you won't Obliviate yourself as soon as you realize where you are... Hopefully you will realize that we all care about you. I know I do. I've grown very fond of you, and yes, I know that I've really just been talking to myself for months since you've shown no signs of comprehending our... my... " She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. "Oh, just let me in, Severus. Let me in, so you can let go."
Hermione leaned down, placed a soft kiss on his forehead, and then tucked him deeper into his covers. She held her finger underneath his nose to check for steady breathing until she was satisfied that he was in as normal a state as humanly possible. She then pulled out a tissue from her robe pocket and transfigured it into a small, overly cushioned cot.
"I'll be right here, if you need me, Severus. Sweet dreams, love." Even as it slipped out of her mouth, she seemed a bit startled. "'Sweet dreams, love'? Merlin, thank the Gods you can't hear me right now. I...yawn...sound like a foolish schoolgirl again... "
Hermione laid her head on her fluffy white pillows and drifted swiftly off to sleep.
If only she had known that this night Severus hadn't merely gained back a few lost memories. He had reacquired one of his senses...his sense of sound.
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Latest 25 Reviews for Revival
76 Reviews | 6.13/10 Average
Quite an auspicious beginning chapters. The humor has been quite enjoyable.
hoooweeee! awake at last! more, please and thank you!
LOL I love that Hermione would pass out at the point of imminent success, but I do realize that what they are doing is incredilby taxing. I can't wait to see what happens next .:D
I love using Severus just hearing to describe the scene and set the mood and I really love that last line. LOL Oh how will she feel when she realizes she did partially succeed.
Well written argument with Ron. This is something I really see happening between the two of them. They just aren't meant to be. And I love that Ginny found the two of them passed out on each other nearly nude. LOL Nice touch. And Severus has his hearing back. <eg> Poor Hermione.
Oh, poor Severus. I love how the whole scenario is unfolding. The shock of him figuring out it's Hermione. LOL
What an interesting choice of language to use. It definitely fits the vibe of the story and the ritual.
eeek! She fainted, does that mean she has to start again??
Hermione's outburst at the end of the chapter is hilarious , well done you!
Nice to have the different POV, now on to find out what Severus thinks of what he has heard.
"its all in the hips" ? what are they doing, the samba?? LOL
SHE FAINTED!! She was so close to awakening him! Gads.I loved the morning routine with Ginny and Harry. Too bad Ron's a prat and ditched out. oh, well
There is no way you can keep us waiting for too long! *Bats eyelashes becomingly*This was a fabulous chapter with Hermione's little fantasy in the middle! I wonder what exactly went wrong with Ron and Hermione, and will Severus remember everything that happened while he was in his coma when he wakes up?
great chapter. evil cliffie! i will try to amuse myself until the next by imagining exactly how his snarkiness would respond, if he could speak, to hermione fainting when he specifically told her to 'keep it up.'
Anonymous
Aaarhg! What an evil cliffhanger! *tears hair out* HOW can you do that to us? :D
Great chapter, interesting development. Some things are getting clearer, and the Zulu magic part is really fascinating. But please, please, don't let us steam too long with an update *lol*
I can't beleive I missed this until chapter four! A little comedy, a little angst, a little smut :D I love it!
ooo now that is an evil cliffy! More! Irish
Yay! I love that little mind connection they had at the end. And, although I"m not an RW/HG fan, I thought the flashback moment they shared after the funerals was very touching and sensual, showing that Hemrione could have a connection with Ron, and that she could truly see him as "the one" - something I never really thought possible even reading canon.
I am so impatient! I can't wait for Severus to wake up! Great chapter, the angst and desire, and loneliness- very moving.Livvy
no, no, noooooooo!!!! he told her to Keep it up, girl - he didn't tell her to faint! wake up and go back to work, Hermione....thank you for the new chapter!
A most excellent chapter! You really left us hanging here! I eagerly look forward to updates!
Anonymous
So they succeeded and he did get his memories and his hearing back. That's quite something. With this, even some kind of worthwile existence is believable.. though hearing Harry and Ginny having a go at it wouldn't be a hearing experience I would have liked to witness in that situation, too *giggle*
Can't wait t read on!
Author's Response: Thank you again! Chapter 4 is up, I hope you like it!
Anonymous
On the one hand, it seems unrealistic, a Hermione falling in love with a Snape who's unable to entice her with anything typical for his character - be it intelligence, knowledge or academic mind... but on the other hand, falling in love with someone you care so deeply for is rather easy.
Seeing Ron this way is not entirely my cup of tea, but you made it very plausible that he would react this way.
Great new chapter!
Author's Response: Thank you for your praise as well as your crit! But just to clarify one thing, Hermione didn't say "I love you" to Sev. She actually called him "love" and then made reference to being a silly schoolgirl. I was trying to imply that perhaps she had crushed on him a bit before, and that she really did care about him enough to give him a pet name in her head. And I am glad that you could appreciate Ron in this situation although you didn't particularly like him. Happy reading, thanks so much for reviewing! <3
Anonymous
Now these are two really inventive ideas - occlumency-induced-coma and the way to get Snape out of it... really interesting start, I'm eager to see how you go on!
Author's Response: Yeah, this prompt seemed like it would be much fun to play with, I'm glad you enjoyed it, thank you so much for reviewing! :D
What a wonderful start to this story. I love the plot you have devised, and the different approach you have taken to this prompt.
And I love that Ron got his. The jerk.
Response from potionmastersmistress (Author of Revival)
Thanks so much! I was hoping my take on it would be well received!
And yes, I could only see Ron and Hermione ending as messily as they started :D (he makes a jerky little appearance in chapter five... humor will ensue!)