Suddenly he was aware again. Aware of the fact that he was aware of anything at all first, and then aware of the burning pain on his neck. Pain so terrible that he felt like he must die...and then he realized that he had died. But I thought you weren't supposed to feel pain after death.He thought. Unless...but I couldn't be...I was on the good side... All the while the pain continued to escalate until it was so excruciating he couldn't help but scream.
But as soon as he opened his mouth and began to scream a tiny hand covered his mouth tightly, cutting off the scream and preventing him from drawing air in through is mouth, forcing him to breathe through his nose, which he found seemed to make the pain lessen.
"Severus, quit panicking and open your eyes already." A small, feminine, but also powerful voice commanded from somewhere above him. It was only when he heard this voice that he became aware of yet another feeling: the feeling of a small body sitting on top of him. He did as he was told and opened his eyes. Upon his stomach he found the owner of the voice. She was tiny, and seemed to be somewhere between the ages of six and eight. In the dim light it was hard to make out the color of her hair or eyes, but her skin seemed so pale it almost glowed, much like his own. Then he noticed the set of wings protruding out of this child's back. The wings looked more suitable to a bat or a dragon, and it seemed that the girl could have wrapped herself in them comfortably. Seeing these wings, Severus concluded that she must be a daemon. And if she is a daemon then that means that I really am in Hell. But I thought I wasn't evil, I thought I made amends for all the bad things I'd done.
"You are not dead, so calm down. You did lose a lot of blood though. You are lucky I arrived when I did." The little daemon said, as if she could read his mind, which, he reminded himself, she very possibly could. "You are right where you almost died, as no one cared to see that you were properly taken care of. They all think you have been dead for the past few years, but never came looking for you. Quite a pity, really."
"No one came looking for me? I'm really not surprised. But you said for the past few years. How long have I been here?"
"Too long. It is September of 2001. When I came here the first time I just stopped your bleeding and you were supposed to recover and get up and walk back to that school you taught at. But you never did. I was not able to come back until now, and if I had decided to stay away you would certainly have died soon. The spell was about to wear off. Before your wound begins gushing again you need to get up and make your way back down that tunnel. Now."
With that the little daemon disappeared. Severus picked himself up carefully, aware of how stiff his body was. It was as if rigor mortis had kicked in and had yet to wear off. He stumbled down the familiar passageway out of the shrieking shack. He knew that with the passing of nearly three and a half years, he had a lot to catch up on. For now, he would settle with making everyone aware of his condition, which he could tell was suddenly worsening once again. He was once again aware of the pain from where that damned snake tore at his throat, and the pain was steadily intensifying and nearly unbearable. Crawling as best as he could, Severus pulled himself through the hole in the Whomping Willow and into the clear night. He was lucky enough to be spotted by someone shortly after dragging his body away from the tree and was taken to the hospital wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
A/N: Please read and review. This is my first fic and as such I am certain there must be areas in which I can improve. I need your help in identifying what they are. If you find nothing to critique, just say so. If you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear that too. Without your input, I don't know how to carry on.