Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Severus slowly drew his hands away from his head and opened his eyes. It took him a moment to recognise the room from where he huddled in a corner. The chairs lay in pieces against the wall of shelves, debris littered the carpet.

His only thought had been to get as far away from Malfoy Manor as possible. Apparently Spinner's End was far enough. A relatively harmless place for a wandless outburst, too, thanks to the protective enchantments on his books.

He climbed to his feet, leaning heavily against the bookshelf behind him, still trembling from the rage that gripped him. His skin prickled with the remains of the wild, wandless magic. He dealt with that by pressing his hands to the wards surrounding his books, the spark of magic safely earthed.

His self control was another matter entirely. His Occlumency shields would need time to recover. In all his years fooling the Dark Lord, they had never shattered. But the sight of Hermione kissing Lucius ...

Severus closed his eyes and breathed raggedly through clenched teeth, battling against a fresh surge of rage.

After five hours the wound was still fresh. That Hermione hadn't come to him was salt in that wound. To imagine where she could be clawed the rent wider; with Lucius, and his so-called friend taking advantage of her distress.

And that was his own fault. 'She confessed that she loved me. I walked away.'

She could very well take that as rejection. But he had no choice! To stay would have risked hurting her, and not just verbally. Every negative emotion that he'd bottled away for over a month had surged forth; every smile, laugh, and touch Lucius had coaxed from her right in front of him ... The kiss had been the last straw, his Occlumency ripped to tatters as his suppressed emotions surged forth.

Those five hours had been for his own benefit as much as for Hermione to make her choice. He couldn't be near her, not when so furious. He would not be his father.

His rage had slowly cooled. A long shower helped with that, as he tried to wash away the memory of Lucius's lips on Hermione's. But as the hour approached midnight, the anger built once more.

When she failed to turn up, he almost went looking for her. Almost. The thought of finding her in Lucius's bed was unbearable. He'd seen red at the mere thought. If he'd actually found her there, he would have lost control completely.

Instead, he fled. If Hermione changed her mind, she'd be able to find him here. She must know that whatever he'd said about not forgiving her if she tarried beyond midnight, he didn't mean it. He just wanted her back.

But would she know that? Severus glanced down at his bare ring finger. He'd left the band of platinum behind in his fit of rage.

Crack.

Severus's breath caught. His hope that Hermione had indeed realised her mistake and Apparated to his side died as soon as he turned around. It was a house-elf, tugging at its long ears and hopping from foot to foot.

"Bad elf! Tricksy is a very bad elf! Miss needs Master Snape now!"

He stiffened. So that was Hermione's game ...

"Tricksy, is it? You can tell your Mistress that I'm not falling for that. It's too late."

The elf released its ears and shook its head. "I is Dilly, Master Snape. I is a bad door-elf, but doors can't die. Miss will if you does not help her! Tricksy has done a very bad thing."

Severus crossed his arms and scowled down at the elf. "As if elves could harm their mistress! Go back and tell Hermione 'nice try', but she'll have to do better than..."

The clock on the mantelpiece struck. Once. Twice. Thrice?! Severus jerked his head around to stare at it. Quarter to twelve ... The clock was sluggish, but not that sluggish. In fact, it ran reliably late. By exactly fifteen minutes.

But that meant ...

"Midnight," he whispered. Shit. His ring. If she found...Wait. What had the elf said?

A small hand grabbed his leg and tugged. "Master Snape must come now! Miss is dying! Bad, wicked, evil Tricksy poisoned her tea!"

Poison. Dying. Hermione.

He couldn't breathe. Couldn't think, frozen by the icy hand gripping his heart.

A sudden sharp pain in his shin thawed the ice, although he still felt the chill with each breath. He glanced down, and hissed between his teeth as the elf kicked him again.

"Master Snape must keep his head!"

Severus frantically patted down his pockets. A gasp of relief escaped him as he felt the irregular, smooth outline of the bezoar and the tiny bottle full of the strongest general antidote he could brew.

"Take me to her," he snapped, and reached down to grip the elf's shoulder. Dilly whirled them away into the tight squeeze of Side-Along Apparition.

They emerged in familiar surroundings: his room in Malfoy Manor. His innards lurched, and not due to Apparition sickness. Hermione lay sprawled on the carpet, face down in a pool of blood.

He fell to his knees beside her and pulled her onto his lap. Her eyes were closed, her face pale beneath the bloodstains. Severus rested trembling fingers against her throat. Her pulse was weak and irregular, but still there. Her chest rose and fell, her body wracked by bubbling coughs. Blood still trickled from her lips.

Severus choked back bile, unable to stifle a cry of distress. Her lips were raw, and where the blood stained her face it attacked the skin. A corrosive poison, tainting her blood. It could only be worse internally, the poison less diluted there.

He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the blood from her cheek. He wanted to do the same with her lips, but touching them would do more harm than good.

He didn't bother to retrieve either bezoar or antidote from his pocket. It was too late. Both needed time to work.

He was too late. All that was left was to hold her close as she died.

No.

"FAWKES!"

The phoenix didn't appear in a flash of fire at his call. Surely the elf hadn't poisoned him too? Or was it a burning day? Severus fought back the rising panic. Even if Fawkes was reduced to a chick, he could still cry.

* * *

The top floor of the aviary was open to the sky, warded to provide protection from the elements. The only light was from the moon and the glowing of the phoenix chick. Where Severus had laid her down on the floor, Hermione looked both ghostly and as though she were bathed in blood.

Fawkes cheeped, tears already trickling down his beak. Severus quickly Conjured a vial to collect them. It seemed to take forever to fill. He stoppered it with his thumb and rushed back to Hermione's side.

He tipped the tears into her mouth and rubbed her throat. She had to swallow. She had to.

Her throat moved under his fingers. He could breathe again.

Now to keep her alive while the phoenix tears healed her. She should be out of danger within a minute ... Shit. She'd stopped breathing. Her heart wouldn't be far behind.

Severus dashed back to Fawkes and collected more tears, this time in cupped hands. He held them to Hermione's lips and waited until they had healed, checking her pulse while he waited. Shit. Nothing. He pinched her nose between his fingers and bent down to give her a breath.

Thank Merlin he'd persuaded her to teach him how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It had been a year ago, though, and he couldn't quite remember the timing. Definitely more compressions than breaths ... But how many more?

He winced at the dull crack of a breaking rib. At least the phoenix tears should heal that too.

Severus paused. Did she just ... Yes! Her chest rose and fell in a reassuring regular rhythm. He touched his fingers to her throat. Her pulse was still a little weak, but regular.

There was a quiet, rasping rumble. Crookshanks was curled up beside her, purring, yellow eyes fixed on Hermione. Severus blinked. What was the cat doing in the aviary? Unless ... Of course. The bad elf must have shut him in here to keep him out of the way. He was a half-Kneazle; a poisoning attempt with him in the same room would have failed. And if Lucius had found him here ... Murderous elf!

Lucius ... was he the orchestrator of this? The one holding the elf's strings?

Fawkes warbled, attracting Severus's attention. Fresh tears welled in his eyes. Severus frowned and looked Hermione over. Her knees were bloodstained, the skin still red and raw. Severus ruffled Fawkes' downy feathers in thanks and collected another handful of tears. He applied them topically to Hermione's knees and watched them heal before his eyes.

"Sev'rus," Hermione rasped. Her eyes were open and blearily focused on him.

He cupped her cheek in his hand and stroked his thumb across her lips. "Don't try to talk. Your voice is still healing."

It couldn't be comfortable lying there on the frosted glass floor. Severus snaked out an arm and grabbed Crookshanks before the cat could do more than hiss at him. A squeeze of Apparition later and they were back in his room. Crookshanks yowled and shot into Hermione's room, fur bristling.

Severus picked up Hermione and laid her on his bed, ignoring her weak attempts to get there under her own steam. She tugged at her clothes. On closer inspection, he could see that the poisoned bloodstains were slowly eating them away. He drew his wand. Two quick spells later and she was clad in a fresh pair of pyjamas. Her dressing gown would need replacing, though.

"Thanks," Hermione muttered. She looked away. Raw pain flickered across her face as she caught sight of something.

It was his ring. Severus sat down heavily. He snatched it up from the bedside table and slipped it back on. "I was a fool. The kiss ... it doesn't matter. Not when I almost lost you." He swallowed hard. "I love you."

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she swatted his arm, her strength returning. "About time you said so!" Her voice was back in shrill form, also recovered. "And no, that kiss doesn't matter, particularly as I wanted no part in it. He kissed me, you idiot, and if you hadn't stormed off you'd have witnessed me slap the message in that it wasn't on."

Severus dropped his head into his hands. "I should have trusted you. This is my fault. If I had been here ..."

The bed shifted slightly as Hermione moved. Her thigh pressed against his as she sat next to him. She tugged his hands away from his face and brought them up to her lips to kiss them.

"You can't take all of the blame. I couldn't get in to talk some sense into you. The wards were up around your room, I couldn't Apparate – still can't, as far as I know – and your tampered clock fooled you into leaving before midnight."

'Lucius ...'

"Dilly?" The helpful elf appeared at the call of his name. "Fetch your Master, please." Dilly bowed and vanished.

Hermione blinked at him. "Surely you don't think Lucius is behind this?"

"The wards must have been his handiwork."

"But Tricksy killed herself as a punishment for doing it! She wouldn't have done that if he'd ordered her to poison me."

Severus looked at where the elf's body lay between the bloodstain that marked where Hermione had fallen and the door. "All that means is that there was a conflict of loyalties. Lucius assigned her to you. Even in the unlikely event that he is innocent, he might know what poison the elf could have laid hands on. Aside from being corrosive, I have no idea what it was."

"There might still be some traces. It was in the tea." Now that she mentioned it he could see the shattered remains of a teacup. Severus rose to his feet and collected one of the shards, careful not to touch it with anything but the enchanted glass of a vial.

Severus had just sat back down when Dilly arrived with nightgown clad Lucius in tow.

"Incarcerous," Severus hissed.

Lucius swayed on the spot as magical ropes bound him. He fell back against the door, swearing.

"Master!" Dilly squeaked, but the elf only looked wildly from Severus to Lucius, before his wide eyes lingered on Hermione. His loyalties clearly lay with her.

"What the fuck, Severus? Release me!"

"Shut up. You see that elf?" Severus pointed at where Tricksy's body lay at Lucius's feet. "It's one of your elves, correct?"

Lucius nodded dumbly, his eyes riveted on the pathetic little corpse.

"It saw fit to poison Hermione. If not for Fawkes, she'd be dead by now."

Lucius met Severus's glower, stricken. He didn't even seem to notice that Severus had drawn his wand.

'Legilimens.'

It was clear that Lucius wasn't acting. He wasn't even Occluding, his emotions roiling with shock and guilt. But it was not 'what-have-I-done'. Lucius was innocent, at least in this.

"The wards also prevented her coming to me. The only reason I was there to get her to Fawkes in time was because not all of your elves are murderous."

Lucius's jaw dropped. "But I'm the only one who can change the wards, and I didn't touch them!"

Severus exchanged a glance with Hermione. There was no doubt that Lucius was telling the truth. He released Lucius from the magical bonds. "It seems that your elves have a special relationship with the manor's consciousness."

Lucius shook his head in mute disbelief, absently rubbing at his arms where the cords had cut in. "My wards. I don't believe it." He blinked, his brows drawing together. "But poison? There's nothing that she could have used."

There was a tentative squeak from beside Lucius. "Dilly knows." The elf looked miserable, large ears drooping.

"We was cleaning the seventh floor at Hogwarts, like Master tells us to after the big battle. Tricksy finds it in a dark corner. A great big snake tooth. I says to her that Tricksy mustn't keep it, but Tricksy never listens...listened to Dilly."

"One of Nagini's? But snake venom is not a poison – it's harmless when ingested," Lucius protested. "Even I know that."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Not if it gets into the bloodstream, idiot. The venom was corrosive! Look at your precious carpet."

Just like Hermione's discarded clothes, the carpet was slowly being eaten away by the venom in her blood still staining it, and by the venom in the spilt tea.

"Imagine that at work in flesh and blood. If not for Fawkes, that would be Hermione's fate."

Lucius covered his mouth with a shaking hand. He looked as though he might be sick. Good.

But something didn't add up. Nagini hadn't been anywhere near the seventh floor, and more to the point her venom was not corrosive.

Severus stood up again. He walked over to take a closer look at the dead elf. It had stabbed itself with something ... He tugged it out of the elf, holding the stiffening body down. It was a great big snake tooth, as Dilly had described, far larger than Nagini's. Severus shuddered. If that's what Tricksy had used to poison Hermione, a bezoar or general antidote wouldn't have worked even if there was time.

"This big?" Severus held out the fang.

Dilly nodded. "Tricksy dips ... dipped it in Miss's tea."

"But ... but ... that's not one of Nagini's. What is it, a dragon fang?" Lucius pushed away from the door and stepped over Tricksy's body to get a closer look.

"It's from a Basilisk." Hermione's voice was strained. She dropped her head into her hands, her shoulders shaking.

Severus sat beside her and put his arm around her. He stared at her. She wasn't crying. "What's so funny?"

Hermione straightened up, still laughing. "It's one of those laugh or cry things. If I'd known that kissing Ron Weasley in the heat of the moment would almost kill me, I wouldn't have done it."

Severus stared at her. Had the phoenix tears addled her wits?

"During the battle, I'd gone with Ron to collect some Basilisk fangs from the one Harry killed in the Chamber of Secrets. We needed them to destroy the remaining Horcruxes. Anyway, I ended up dropping my armful of them when I kissed Ron for the first time. One of them must have rolled into that dark corner."

Lucius cleared his throat. "If you're trying to lay claim to the blame for what happened, don't. Tricksy is the culprit, but I am the one at fault." He turned away, unable to meet Severus or Hermione's gaze.

"I can't apologise enough for Tricksy's actions. I swear I had nothing to do with them, but ... she must have seen you strike me, Hermione. And you only did that because I ..." Lucius bowed his head. "It was my fault."

He turned back to face them, his face as grim as the day Narcissa died. "I am sorry. I overstepped my bounds, broke my word to act in my own selfish interests. That almost killed you, thanks to a fanatical house-elf. I ... I promise to keep my word from now on. I'll give a Wand Oath. An Unbreakable Vow, even."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "No loopholes?" he sneered. A pained grunt escaped him as Hermione elbowed him.

"I don't want an oath or a vow. A promise kept under those conditions only breeds resentment. If there's any chance that some form of friendship can exist between us again, just your word will have to be enough." Hermione glared fiercely enough to make Lucius step back. "Don't disappoint me."

Lucius straightened his shoulders and raised his chin. "I won't. And thank you. In your shoes, I don't think I could be so trusting."

Severus smiled mirthlessly. "See that you are worthy of that trust." He stood up and escorted Lucius to the door. "Good night." He dropped his voice so that Hermione wouldn't overhear. "Lucius, if she had died ... so would you."

"I know. If you'd even indirectly caused Narcissa's death, I would have done the same thing. Truce?" Lucius held out his hand.

Severus reluctantly took it. "So long as you actually keep your word this time."

"It's in my own interest to do so. Good night."

Severus watched him walk away. That was true enough ... especially as Lucius had yet to get the formula to the sterility potion antidote.

* * *

An hour later, Severus was wide awake in Hermione's bed. They had left his room to be cleaned in the morning, insisting that Dilly get some sleep. He refused to let any other elf near their rooms.

Hermione lay in the curve of his body, close enough for him to feel the reassuring beat of her heart and listen to her breathe.

Alive. Safe in his arms.

It took a long time before he could drift off to sleep. And when he did, he dreamt of her coughing up blood and slipping through his fingers like smoke.

The sound of Hermione's voice soothed him back into a dreamless, deeper sleep.

"It's just a dream. I'm here. I'm fine."

* * *

AN: Many thanks to Kribu, Septentrion and JunoMagic for betaing.