Chapter 3

A/N: Written for Bluestocking79 for the Winter 2007/8 round of the SSHG_Exchange on LiveJournal. Huge thanks to my beta, ubiquirk, and my Brit-picker, Saracen77. Any remaining errors are mine.

Disclaimer: Does anyone actually think these characters are mine? Didn't think so.

Chapter 3

"Well, Severus, I think you're doing just splendid! Just splendid!" Dedalus grinned inanely. "At this rate, you'll have finished working your way through the last of the elementary Charms before the end of the week, and after that, you won't need me at all!"

While certainly pleased at the prospect of being done with this ridiculous exercise in babysitting, for some reason the possibility that it might end before Her... Miss Granger returned from completing her N.E.W.T.s was a bit irksome. He shrugged off the fanciful notion.

"I believe we are done for today," he said stiffly.

Dedalus chuckled. "Yes, yes. You're welcome, Severus. You can't fool me. Well, not anymore. You're pleased as punch. I'll be seeing you tomorrow then."

Not dignifying that with a reply, Severus simply held the door for the other wizard and shut it behind him.

The quiet that settled into the house was refreshing. Mindless chatter annoyed him, and only the prospect of either being forced to acclimate a new assistant at this late date or, worse, to wait for Miss Granger's return and then to work with her alone for the remainder of his rehabilitation held him back from verbally flaying Dedalus alive.

That fleeting thought of being subjected to an extended amount of time with Miss Granger, unrelieved by the company of anyone else, was rather less dismaying than it should have been.

Bugger.

The dreams had, if anything, increased in her absence. Clearly, what he needed was a visit to Knockturn Alley to alleviate these un-sated impulses. Unfortunately, Kingsley had made it quite clear that, while he was not, of course, under house arrest precisely, it would be unwise to venture out in public just yet. Polyjuice would be one solution, but he lacked some of the more expensive ingredients as well as the funds to order them. While having the Ministry cover his basic living expenses was, in his opinion, the very least that was owed him, requesting funds to purchase powdered bicorn horn and lacewing flies so that he could go screw a whore would be degrading. And he thought he'd had rather enough of feeling degraded.

And so the dreams continued.

~o0o~

He did not, in fact, finish his elementary Charms work before Miss Granger returned. Having the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests behind her had not, fortunately, improved her disposition. If anything, she seemed snippier than ever.

After he'd heard one too many of her obnoxious remarks, he finally asked, "What, pray tell, is your problem, Miss Granger? Is it not enough that you will most likely have achieved a record-setting number of N.E.W.T.s without being troubled to actually attend your final year? Can you not wait patiently for your results like anyone else?"

She looked first startled and then incensed by his question, but she did not reply.

"Cat got your tongue, Miss Granger? How very surprising. Perhaps you were expecting the wizarding world to shower you with accolades and gifts as well as allowing you to ..."

Her face abruptly turned crimson, but not, as he might have supposed at first, with rage. It seemed she was embarrassed.

"You did," he said wonderingly. "That is precisely what you expected. How very naïve."

"I did not expect ... gifts," she sputtered. "I didn't expect anything except maybe a chance to live a normal life."

"If you wanted a normal life, you'd be home with your parents and not here plaguing me," he pointed out.

"You don't know anything about it," she huffed. "And stay off my parents! We're done."

"Clearly."

As she snatched up her things to leave, he shocked himself by adding, "You'd be surprised how much I know about it, Miss Granger. Both the ingratitude of the wizarding world and the impossibility of ever living a normal life."

She turned and looked at him oddly, then left without another word.

~o0o~

It was strange that she was running so late, he mused as he set water to boil for another pot of tea. He wondered whether he had finally pushed her past the point of no return. Oddly, he found that idea disquieting.

Just as the water was starting to simmer, there was a knock at the door. She appeared rather more out of sorts than usual. He merely acknowledged this with a raised eyebrow and returned to the kitchen.

After setting her things down, she followed him in and uncharacteristically plopped herself down at his table, propping her chin in her hands to watch him. No, she was not really watching him. The glazed look on her face was one he was more accustomed to seeing on almost any other of his former students but her.

"And what is wrong this morning, Miss Granger?" he asked in spite of himself. "Have you, perhaps, received your exam results? Surely you can not be so terribly shocked if you did not do as well as you had hoped."

She looked up at him warily and then down at the table. "No, it's nothing like that. I mean, yes, our results arrived this morning. Much faster than we'd expected."

He was irritated to find himself curious. "And?"

"And I passed all mine, and the boys didn't." She waved a hand. "Go on, have at it."

Ah. So she was not returning to school but the other two would be. For this to be bothering her as much as it apparently was, she must be quite disappointed. Disappointment, however, was not what her expression appeared to show. She looked ... bleak. She looked as though she had just lost her best friend. Best friends.

"Surely, Miss Granger, not even those two young louts are shallow enough to begrudge you your success."

"I can't imagine why my life is suddenly so interesting to you, sir," she retorted.

"It isn't," he said with a sniff, leaning back against the countertop. "I merely wish to ascertain how this change in mood will affect our work today."

"It won't."

He found that hard to believe and gave another disdainful sniff. This time he smelled something very wrong, and he worked it out just as she yelled, "Professor Snape! You're on fire!"

The heat finally hit the area around the dead spot on his arm, and he quickly moved his arm away from his body before the flames could spread, lunging for the sink.

"Frigeo!"

He heard her cast the Flame-Freezing Charm a split second before he managed to turn on the tap. The small flames froze, and as the tap water hit them, they melted and ran down the drain. He found himself mesmerized by their strange appearance so that he barely noticed when Her ... Miss Granger yanked on his wrist and pulled his arm out of the stream of water. It wasn't that he didn't notice the searing pain that exploded outward from that one dead spot. It was just less interesting than watching frozen fire melt.

"Professor! Professor!"

Why was she calling him that? He thought she knew better. He really ought to tell her so. His arm twisted, and she looked at it strangely.

"Shit! What did it do? Are you even hearing me?"

He looked down and saw his sleeve vanish. The hissing sound of her indrawn breath chilled him, though he could hardly blame her. From around the burnt flesh, black and red lines were spreading. The burnt spot didn't hurt much, but the lines did, and he wondered what they would do if they spread past his arm.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know if this will even stop it, but ... Petrificus Totalus!" He felt his arms snap to his sides and his legs snap shut. "Mobilicorpus! Don't worry, sir, I won't let you fall." Well, that was rather nice of her. He hurt enough right now without falling over. "Good. It's stopped. It probably still hurts though. You can hex me for this later. Stupefy!"

~o0o~

The black and the gray swirled around him. Where was he? Perhaps he was dead, and the bits he thought he remembered about surviving that damned snake were just bizarre hallucinations his brain threw out as it was dying. At least the pain was gone. No, wait, there it was. But it wasn't in his neck. It was in his arm. So either that had all been real or this was part of the same hallucination.

There were voices he didn't recognize. Could you hallucinate voices you'd never heard before? He hadn't thought so, but then, it wasn't something he'd ever questioned before.

"Pocket of venom ..."

"Encapsulated ..."

"Never seen anything like it ..."

"So fortunate you were there ..."

"But it's my fault!"

Well, that voice he knew.

"Were you the one set him on fire?"

"Not this time."

Not this time? When else had he ever been ...?

"Now, where was that other spot he said he still couldn't feel?"

"His toe. He never said which one. Why didn't anyone tell us this could happen? Why weren't you checking in on him before now?"

"I told you, we've never seen the like of it. Should probably have a look at anyone else who's been bitten by that ruddy snake – make sure they don't have any venom capsules left in them either."

"That'd be Mr. Weasley. And Harry. There might be others, but they're the only ones I know about."

Nagini had bitten Potter? If the Dark Lord was going to do that anyway, why did he care so much about the sodding Elder Wand in the first place? At least he was gone for good this time.

Hopefully.

He became aware of a soft hand holding his. Impertinent girl! Still, as he couldn't quite seem to open his eyes, it was rather nice to feel that someone else was there. Her thumb moved across the back of his hand soothingly.

"There's no need for you to stay, miss."

"Well, someone should."

"Suit yourself."

A door opened and closed.

"Please be all right, sir."

Why did she care? Her thumb kept moving slowly back and forth across his hand, lulling him to sleep before he could figure out the answer to that question.

~o0o~

The grays were getting lighter, and he was starting to feel more things. This was definitely not his bed. Nor was it the temporary bed that had once been and was once again his couch. The stiff sheets did feel familiar, though, and he guessed he was in St. Mungo's.

There was something heavy next to his arm, and something soft and fuzzy draped over it. Not his injured arm either. That was odd enough that he managed to pry his eyes open and turn his head to look.

It seemed that the fuzziness was a riot of brown curls, and Hermione had fallen asleep and laid her head down next to his arm. Given her position, he imagined that had not been deliberate, as she would surely be very uncomfortable when she woke.

Turning his head again, he looked at his wand arm, which was swathed in bandages. He tried to flex his fingers.

Nothing.

Surprised at how tired he could be after a bit of head-turning and finger-not-flexing, he closed his eyes and sank back into sleep.

~o0o~

"'Mione, why are you still here?"

A better question might be what the boy was doing here, Severus thought fuzzily. Once again, his eyelids did not want to open, but the voice was clear enough.

"Go pack for school, Ron. You'll have to make the train tomorrow."

"We could at least have this afternoon. Maybe go to Diagon Alley? I won't even pester you for taking too long in Flourish & Blotts."

"No, Ron, we couldn't. Maybe when you've moved on we can have a day as friends, but not now. It's too soon."

The thumb was moving across his hand again.

"At least you don't have to be here all the time. Harry says you haven't been back to the house at all."

"Kreacher brought me a few things, Ron. I'm fine. I just ... I can't leave Mr. Snape again. Not till he wakes up anyway."

Something about that sounded rather off. Several things, actually, but he still felt too fuzzy to sort them all out. However, it now sounded like a very good idea to stop trying to open his eyes, at least for the time being. He decided not to try and sort out why that was either.

"It looks weird, 'Mione, seeing you sitting with him like that. Why're you holding his hand?"

"The Healers say sometimes that helps an unconscious person, so they know someone's there."

The Healers were right, it seemed.

"Well, it's creepy."

She sighed. "Go home and pack, Ron. I'll owl you and Harry to see how you're doing in a few days."

"You sure you're going to be all right?"

As she didn't say anything, Severus imagined the look she must have given him.

"Right then. Well, bye."

"Bye."

The door opened and shut.

There were long minutes of quiet. He felt her shift and take his hand between both of hers. Presumptuous in the extreme, but also rather nice.

"They don't understand. I thought at least Harry would. I know it's not quite the same as before, but you did almost die again. I'm so sorry, sir ... Severus. It's strange, trying to call you that, but the Healers say I should. I think it would make you mad, but if you got mad enough to wake up, I suppose that would be all right."

She was right. He should be furious. However, his name sounded rather pleasant when she said it like that, so perhaps he wouldn't hex her once he was back to full strength. Or at least not for that.

"Anyway, I'm sorry we left you. I'm sorry we didn't check more carefully. Even if you were evil, if V...Voldemort had been right about the wand, then the thing to do would have been to keep you alive somehow. Except you were still alive anyway, and you were stuck there by yourself, and ... well, I know it's not the same thing at all, but I won't let you be left all alone this time."

He should have known. Another one with a guilty conscience. Fighting the lethargy that held him still, he pulled his hand from between hers and rested it on his stomach.

"S-Severus? Sir?"

This time, it did not sound pleasant at all. Fortunately, she did not speak again, and he was able to go back to sleep.

~o0o~

The next time he awoke, he was alone. At least, no one was touching him, and he could not hear anyone. When he forced his eyes open, he confirmed that he was, indeed, alone. His right arm was still wrapped like a mummy's, and his fingers still would not respond to his commands. This seemed rather worse than before. How could a small burn cause that to happen?

The door opened, and Hermione entered. A split second's relief that she had not left was followed immediately by irritation that she was inflicting her presence on him, as though he were in some way supposed to help her expiate her guilt.

"Se-sir. You're awake!" Her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Obviously," he rasped

She tapped her wand in a rapid staccato on a purple tile on the wall, clearly signaling the Healers as they descended upon him en masse within seconds.

"Follow my finger with your eyes without moving your head."

"Can you feel this?"

"Can you move your head?"

"Wiggle your fingers."

"All right, now the toes."

"Do you know what year it is?"

"That depends," he croaked, "upon how many months you have used up asking me useless questions. May I please have some water?"

"Oh, right. Certainly." One of them produced a glass and filled it from her wand-tip as another of them used a charm to raise the top of the bed so that he was sitting rather than lying down. He took the glass awkwardly and sipped it a bit, moistening his mouth and throat gradually before taking a large swallow.

"Now," he said a bit more clearly, "what has happened to me?"

One of the Healers he remembered from his last stay here stepped forward. Wilbert, perhaps? And he began to explain.

"It seems that due to some unusual properties in the venom of the snake that bit you, two parts of your body retained bits of that venom in an encapsulated form that none of our prior treatments detected or affected in any way. When you burned your arm, the capsule there ruptured, releasing the venom again." Wilbert or whoever he was took a deep breath. "Miss Granger's instinct to bind and Stun you was a good one. Your body was slowed down enough by the combination of spells to prevent the damage spreading beyond your arm. As it is, we do not know yet how well it will be able to recover from this second trauma."

He pressed his lips together tightly.

"While the damaged tissues had mostly recovered, they were still rather fragile. It will be some time before we know anything for certain."

"I see." That did make some sense of the snippets he'd heard earlier. Trust the Dark Lord to have a pet that did things no one could predict, even after it was dead. "And the other capsule?"

"We located and removed it. Now that we know what we are looking for, we scanned your entire body to be certain no more of them remain."

"And you did not know this before? How is that possible, when you have had at least one other victim of that damned snake in here, not three years ago?"

The lot of them squirmed like first years caught without their homework.

"We, er, didn't discover that property of the snake's venom at the time. In fact, we've had Mr. Weasley come in to be examined. He had three capsules – one in his liver. It's fortunate the man doesn't overindulge in Firewhisky."

Was that supposed to make him feel better? Arthur had been walking around with these time bombs in him for nearly three years without incident. Of course, Severus Snape would cause one to rupture just as he was nearly recovering the use of his arm. That was simply how his life worked.

And that was patently unfair. Had he not suffered enough? Had he not done enough? Now he was supposed to resume those ridiculous exercises in what was fast becoming a clearly Sisyphean task, as evidently some other complication would arise as soon as he'd begun to regain the ground he'd just lost.

He caught sight of Miss Granger still standing where she'd been since she'd summoned the Healers, and the pitying look in her eyes set his stomach on fire. As he gritted his teeth, one of the lanterns on the wall exploded in a shower of glass and wax, making everyone in the room jump.

"Get out, all of you!" he snarled.

"Mi-mister Snape, you'll want to calm down," stammered Wilbert.

"What I want is for all of you to leave. Now!" Another lantern burst, leaving the room substantially dimmer.

There was a bit of a scramble for the door as they finally complied.

Just as she left, Miss Granger turned to look at him, her eyes no longer filled with pity. She held her hand against one of her cheeks, and at first he thought she looked shocked. Then one of the Healers bustling her out pulled her hand away and clucked over the piece of glass wedged into her flesh.

The rage that had been swirling inside him abruptly stopped, leaving him feeling adrift on suddenly becalmed waters, and if he'd actually eaten anything in the past couple of days, he thought he would probably have been sick. For the next several hours during which he was left to his own devices, all of his thoughts continued to return to that hurt and accusing look she'd given him and that piece of glass sticking out of her cheek with blood welling around it.