Chapter 8

Disclaimer: All characters and settings of Potterverse are the property of J.K. Rowling and other sundry entities. Only the plot belongs to me. I am making no money. I play in this universe for the sheer joy of it. My only payment is the kind reviews and comments of those who read and enjoy my tale. This story is canon-compliant through HBP. DH has, for the most part, been happily disregarded, especially that sappy epilogue!

Special thanks go to my beta reader, JuJuJenn. She makes sure I stay focused.

Eight

The next few weeks passed swiftly.

There were strategy meetings nearly every day, usually in the morning. Snape would discuss any new information he had gleaned with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and whoever else was able to attend. At least three days a week, after the meetings, Hermione and Snape would leave Grimmauld Place and Apparate to his hidden laboratory. Before he left, Snape would give Harry and Ron a reading assignment or a list of spells and charms to practice.

Without Hermione's help, it took them a lot longer to get through their work, and Ron still needed to be nagged on a fairly regular basis. Although he wasn't as good at nagging as Hermione was, Harry managed to keep Ron more or less on track.

Then something happened that made Ron realise the importance of what Snape was trying to teach them. Afterwards, he reluctantly relegated his copy of Quidditch Through the Ages to his dresser drawer and began to concentrate instead on Dark, Darker, Darkest and Calamitous Curses.

On a Tuesday morning, about ten days before Christmas, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and talking about how different the upcoming holiday would be compared to past Christmases spent at Hogwarts.

A loud thumping at the back door had them reaching for their wands as they jumped to their feet.

Before they could reach the door, it swung open.

A figure stood in the doorway, backlit by the bright morning sun behind him.

"Snape," the figure croaked. "Get Snape."

And then he collapsed in a heap at their feet.

Hermione was the first to realise who their unexpected visitor was and to react.

"It's Remus!" she cried as she knelt by his head. She brushed his grey-streaked hair back off his forehead, revealing his bloodied face.

"He's badly hurt. Harry, go get Professor Snape. Ron, get the Dittany and some bandages from the first aid kit over the sink. I'll see if I can clear off some of this blood and find out where it's coming from."

She touched her wand to his face. "Tergeo."

By the time Harry and Snape entered the kitchen a couple of minutes later, Hermione had cleaned the numerous slashes and gouges on Remus's face and neck. She had banished his torn and bloody robes and shirt, and was working her way down his torso with her wand, cleaning him up as she went. Ron was sprinkling the many wounds with the Dittany.

"I'm trying to determine the extent of his injuries," she said to Snape as he knelt beside her on the floor.

"You're doing exactly the right thing, but we should move him to his bedroom," Snape said. "This floor is very cold, and he appears to be in shock.

"Potter, go light the fire in his room. Weasley, find some extra blankets and bring the first aid kit upstairs with you."

Harry and Ron hurried off to follow Snape's orders.

Hermione cast a Warming Charm over Remus, and Snape cast a Mobilicorpus. Together they guided the unconscious wizard through the kitchen door and up the stairs.

They settled him on his bed. Hermione reached for the pile of blankets that Ron had brought in, but Snape stopped her.

"Finish your assessment and treatment first," he said. "The Warming Charm will be sufficient for a few minutes."

Hermione nodded and closed a particularly nasty gash along his right rib cage. She hesitated as she approached the waistband of his trousers.

"No time for false modesty, Miss Granger," Snape said. "I'm sure you're no simpering maiden."

Hermione flushed slightly, but she spoke the incantation that banished Remus's trousers along with his boots and socks.

"There's where most of his blood loss originates," Snape said as he pointed to the inside of Remus's left thigh. "See that slice? It looks like it nicked his femoral artery. Another couple of centimetres and he'd have bled to death before he ever made it back here."

"Do you want to cast a cauterising spell?" Hermione asked. "I've never done one."

"Well, now you will have," Snape replied. "I'll step in if you run into trouble."

Hermione swallowed hard and furrowed her brow in concentration as she cast the spell.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the seeping blood slowed to a trickle and then stopped.

"Dittany," she said as she held her hand out. Snape dropped the canister into her palm, and she sprinkled it over the gaping wound.

She raised her wand to cast a healing spell, but Snape stopped her.

"We'll wrap it well, but leave it open for a few days so we can continue to treat it with the Dittany. It's deep and it's got dirty. It'll need to be cleaned twice a day to prevent infection."

"Is he going to be all right?" Harry asked.

"The moon was full on Sunday night," Snape said. "Even with the Wolfsbane, the transformation weakens him and lowers his resistance to infection. All we can do is keep the wounds clean and treat any complications that arise."

"What happened to him, anyway?" Ron added.

"What happened to him? I would say that his true allegiances were discovered. He was either tortured to elicit information, or as punishment for his duplicity." Snape paused for a moment before he continued speaking.

"We'll need to examine his genitals. Greyback has a special fondness for castration."

"There's not much blood on his underpants," Hermione said "And most of that looks like spatter from his other wounds."

"If Greyback castrated him, he would have healed the wound. He doesn't usually use it to kill."

Harry nodded grimly. Hermione blinked back tears. Ron looked sick.

"Why does he do it, then?" Ron asked.

"Intimidation," Harry said before Snape could answer.

"Just so," Snape replied. "There aren't many men who would risk defying Greyback's authority knowing what will happen to them should they fail in their attempt to overthrow him.

"Since Lupin's mission was to infiltrate Greyback's pack, he wouldn't have defied him. He was either betrayed or he got careless."

"Remus wouldn't have got careless," Hermione said emphatically.

Snape sighed. "No, I don't believe he would have. But it doesn't really matter either way. He's now a marked man. If he survives, he'll have to remain hidden until this whole thing is settled one way or another."

"He'll survive; we won't let him die," Hermione said.

"If he's been castrated, he may well wish he had died," Snape replied.

"We ... we should ... check," Hermione stammered out.

Snape reached down and pulled the sheet up over Remus.

"I'll do it," he said in, what was for him, an almost kindly tone. "Go to the storage cupboard and get antibiotic potions. There are at least three different formulae; get a few of each. We'll use a shotgun approach. Get the Fever Reducing Potion and a few vials of Blood Replenishing Potion, as well. He's going to need all of them."

"I'll be right back," Hermione said and left the room to get the potions.

When he heard her feet on the stairs, Snape reached for the sheet.

"Isn't there something you want us to do?" Ron asked before Snape could cast the charm that would remove Remus's underpants.

"Squeamish, Weasley?" Snape asked.

Ron tried to brazen it out. "I just don't think Remus would appreciate all of us staring at his balls."

"You'll see a lot worse before this war is over," Snape said with certainty.

"Yeah, well, I can wait," Ron mumbled.

Snape gave a soft snort before he spoke.

"Go send messages to Minerva and to Moody. Lupin will have missed his check-in, and they'll be concerned. Don't trust sensitive information to owls or to the Floo; arrange for face-to-face meetings with them to let them know he's here."

"We wouldn't have used owls; we're not stupid, you know," Ron snarled.

"No, just lazy and careless," Snape snarled back.

Ron moved toward Snape, but Harry stepped between the two of them.

"Would you two stop it?" he said in an exasperated tone. "This isn't helping Remus."

Knowing that Harry was right, Ron let the argument drop. He turned and moved toward the door.

"We'll be back to check on him as soon as we talk to the others," Harry said to Snape.

Snape nodded, and Harry followed Ron out of the room.

When Hermione returned upstairs, Snape was standing outside the bedroom, a thoughtful expression on his face. She put the vials down on the bedside table and then joined him.

"Is he ... all right?" Hermione asked in a near-whisper. "I mean, I know he's seriously injured but he wasn't ... wasn't ..."

"No," Snape replied. "He apparently escaped before Greyback could do further damage.

"Did you find his wand?"

"No."

"He was surprised, then, and disarmed. Probably outnumbered, as well."

"Most of his wounds aren't from curses or hexes," Hermione said. "They're too ragged and too dirty. He was beaten, wasn't he?"

"Yes, and kicked as well, from the looks of it. The gash on his leg, however, was the result of a Slicing Hex and was probably intended for his scrotum. When he touched his Portkey, he was jerked away and the curse sliced his leg open instead.

"He should have used his Portkey sooner," he added.

"He probably thought he could talk his way out of trouble, so he waited," Hermione said.

"He nearly waited too long."

"He wouldn't have wanted to compromise his mission. He knew that as soon as he escaped, he'd be exposed as a spy. He wanted to do his duty to the Order."

"Getting himself killed or castrated wouldn't have done a bloody thing for the Order," Snape said.

"Perhaps not, but he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he'd simply run away. He had to try."

"He may yet not be able to live with himself," Snape said as he looked past her toward the bed.

"What?"

"He's going into convulsions," Snape said as he rushed to the bed. "His temperature is dangerously high."

Hermione pointed her wand at the room's only window. The glass disappeared, and a blast of icy air rushed in. Next she soaked a blanket in the bucket of water she conjured and draped the sodden cloth over Remus. Lastly, she extinguished the fire in the grate. The room was immediately much cooler.

"We need to get these potions into him quickly," Snape said.

"How?" Hermione asked. "He's unconscious; he can't swallow."

"We'll have to resort to drastic measures," Snape said.

He waved his wand over Remus and muttered an incantation.

Remus's body immediately relaxed completely.

"We have to work fast," Snape said. "This spell suppresses all bodily functions –including the autonomic ones."

"He's not breathing?"

"No, and neither is his heart beating. We've less than four minutes to get the potions into him and lift the spell before he suffers irreversible brain damage."

"What do you need me to do?" Hermione asked.

"Pull his head back and open his mouth," Snape instructed as he rummaged through one of the dresser drawers.

Hermione climbed onto the bed and pulled Remus's head onto her lap. She tilted his head back and levered his mouth open.

Snape transfigured the leather belt he'd pulled out of the drawer into a length of flexible rubber tubing, larger at one end than the other.

He leaned over Remus and threaded the tubing down the unconscious wizard's throat.

Holding the tube in place with one hand, he used his other to uncork one of the vials on the bedside table. He poured the contents of the vial down the tube. He followed the first vial with four others.

As soon as the last vial was empty, Snape carefully pulled the tube out of Remus's throat.

"Finite Incantatem," Snape murmured as soon as the tube was clear.

Nothing happened.

"He's still not breathing," Hermione said. She put her hand over his heart. "And his heart's not beating."

"He was too weak, his injuries too severe," Snape said.

"We can't just let him die!" Hermione cried.

"He's already dead," Snape said.

"No!"

Hermione pushed Remus's head off her lap and then turned to kneel beside him. She leaned over him, closing her mouth over his, and breathed into him deeply. She did this twice and then placed her hands on his chest and began pushing.

As soon as Snape realised what Hermione was doing, he reacted.

He pushed Hermione's hands aside. "I'll do the compressions; you do the breathing."

They worked in tandem for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only two or three minutes.

Then Remus gave a strangled gasp and began thrashing around.

"He's breathing on his own," Hermione said.

"Yes, and his heart's beating."

"Will he be all right now?" she asked as she climbed off the bed. She used her wand to dry her sodden clothes.

"We won't know if he suffered any brain damage until he regains consciousness – if he does," Snape replied. "But one of the potions is already working. Look, he's sweating; the fever is breaking."

"We'd better dry him off and cover him up," Hermione said.

"And repair that open window," Snape added. "It's freezing in here."

They worked together and in just a few minutes the window was repaired, the fire was once again blazing in the hearth, and Remus was dressed in dry pyjamas and lay on dry sheets with a light blanket covering him.

Hermione leaned over Remus and touched his forehead. It was cool and dry.

"How did you know about CPR?" Hermione asked as she straightened.

"How did you?" he countered.

"I saw it on the telly," she replied.

"So did I."

"You had a telly?"

"My father was a Muggle. I grew up in a Muggle home until I left for Hogwarts, and I returned to that Muggle home during holidays. Of course we had a telly."

"You've always seemed so completely immersed in the wizarding world it's easy to forget that you're part Muggle," Hermione said as she sat down in the room's only chair, which she had pulled close to the head of the bed.

"I've never forgotten."

"No, I don't suppose it's something you could forget."

Snape rubbed his forearm as he felt the burn of his Dark Mark.

"I have to leave. I should be back before he needs another dose of the potions."

"When will he need them?" Hermione asked. She kept patting Remus's hand and adjusting the sheet that covered him.

"In about four hours. He's too weak to go through another episode like this, however. If we stop his heart once more, I'm doubtful we'd be able to get it going again, even with CPR."

"What will we do if he hasn't regained consciousness by then?" Hermione asked.

"We'll try a Rennervate," Snape replied. "If that doesn't work ..."

He let his voice trail off.

"We've done all we can do for him at this point. It's up to him now," he concluded.

Hermione nodded. Tears hovered on her lower lashes, but she blinked them back.

"He's strong. He'll fight to live, I know he will."

"I have to leave," Snape repeated. "The Dark Lord won't be pleased with me if I'm late."

Hermione jumped to her feet and rushed to stand in front of him.

"Will you be punished?" she asked. She reached up and clutched the front of his robes.

Snape put his hands over hers and gently pried her fingers away.

He didn't release her hands, however, and Hermione's fingers curled around his.

"He will have heard about Lupin by now and will have assumed that he came here. He will expect that I've had to tend to him. He'll want to know his status."

"What will you tell him?"

"That Lupin died from his injuries. I'm sure the Order will even have a small memorial service for their fallen comrade."

"Being dead is the best protection he can have at the moment, isn't it?"

"Yes," Snape replied. "No one will be looking for a dead man."

"Let's hope he only has to pretend he's dead," Hermione said.

"Indeed. Now, I really must leave."

It was only as he turned to go that he realised he was still holding Hermione's hands. He tried to pull his hands free, but Hermione held on.

"Be careful, Severus," she said as she looked into his eyes.

"I'm always careful. If I weren't, I'd have been killed long ago."

He tugged on his hands again, and again she held on.

"Be extra careful, then," she said. "I couldn't bear it if something happened to you."

She lifted his hands to her lips and kissed his knuckles, but her eyes never left his.

Snape felt like he was drowning. It was as if all of the air in room had suddenly been sucked out, and he couldn't draw breath. Without even realising he was doing it, his hands cupped her face, his thumb stroking the softness of her cheek.

He saw her lips part in silent invitation and for one brief second, he leaned toward her.

The burn of the Dark Mark on his arm brought him painfully back to reality.

His breath hitched, and he dropped his hands from her face as though her skin were burning him more cruelly than the Dark Mark ever had. He pushed her away and stepped back.

"Severus?"

"This can't happen," he whispered harshly.

He clutched his arm as his Dark Mark burned again.

"Go before he has an excuse to punish you," Hermione said. "We'll discuss this later."

"There's nothing to discuss! Didn't you hear me?" He was shouting now. "This will not happen!"

He turned and walked away, his boot heels clattering uncharacteristically loudly as he descended the stairs.

Hermione wanted to follow him, but knew that his summons from the Dark Lord had to take precedence. Besides, by the time she made it down the stairs he would be gone.

He might think there was nothing to discuss, but Hermione knew better. He said nothing would happen between them, but Hermione knew it already had.

She sighed and turned back into the bedroom to tend to Remus.