Title:
Debts Discharged.
Team Name: Spy for the Men in Black – even
though it's not dark.
Word Count: 10 x 100
Rating:
PG-13 – for Swearing
Challenge: Life Debt Challenge
Characters:
Hermione/Severus
Authors Notes: HP is not mine and I make nothing
from this. Not beta'd.
Slowly, very slowly he opened his eyes. He moaned as the back of his eyes where temporarily bleached by the white light. Taking a breath, he sensed antiseptic and a plethora of potions, which could only mean one thing... he was in a hospital wing somewhere. Shit.
As his vision cleared he noticed her bushy hair, bloody hell Granger was in his room, had she come back to save his rotten soul?
The silence of the room was shattered by a voice, but whose was it?
"Poppy... Poppy he's awake!"
With a silent groan he realised he was at Hogwarts.
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He lay still on the crisp sheets of his cot, staring into space as Poppy made intricate movements above him with her wand and murmured incantations which he vaguely recognised.
"Well, Severus it seems those potions you had on you did the job. You should be thankful that Miss Granger was so quick minded and recognised what was contained within the bottles."
Shit! Merlin's saggy bollocks, he had discharged one life debt, only to gather another. He owed Granger his life.
Why couldn't she have left him to rot on that dusty floor? After all it was what he deserved.
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"Severus, you need to take this potion and then we will leave you in peace. Come now Miss Granger, you need to rest."
Severus sipped from the vial; calming warmth suffused his aching body, lulling him to sleep.
The next thing he knew a panting Potter stood by his bedside, crying, wailing. Stupid boy, what was wrong with him?
"Professor, Severus I owe you my life. Without those memories I wouldn't have known what to do, how to beat him. I know you loved my mother, with your memories I knew Love was the one way I could beat Voldemort."
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Shit. He'd let Potter see how much he had loved Lily Evans. Well, he had thought he had loved her, but was it truly love?
Granger was there again, hustling Potter away. Muttering that the professor needed to rest, need to sleep to help his body repair its self.
Bloody Granger, she was there defending him, protecting him still. Why couldn't the stupid chit leave him alone?
She was right though. Sleep sounded like a good plan. In the run up to the final battle he'd barely slept at all. Long, meandering chats with Dumbledore had filled his sleeping hours.
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He slept fitfully for another three weeks before he was awake for more than an hour or so.
Miss Granger had become a permanent fixture in his room, sleeping on a low-lying cot whenever he slept, and working at a rickety desk when he was awake. Garnering information from him, building a defence for him should the Wizengamot ever press charges.
She instructed Potter to keep his memories safe.
"Place them in your family vault," she instructed him.
Potter just nodded, he'd do anything to repay the professor. He was the saviour; wizarding Britain knelt before him. He was untouchable.
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He was tried without even appearing before the Wizengamot. Granger had conversed with Dumbledore's portrait and found all the necessary information and memories to clear his name.
Potter had stood up and defended his name. Had told how he had done it all out of love for the red haired girl from his childhood.
What a idiot he must have appeared to be, lamenting the demise of a woman who was never really his, his action partially due to the debt he owed her husband.
Granger burst into his room, practically breathless.
"We did it! You're a free man, Severus."
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It took another six months for him to recover enough to leave the hospital wing.
Minerva was practically tripping over herself to make up for how she had treated him during his tenure as headmaster. The board of Governors wanted him to remain as headmaster once the school reopened.
He wanted solitude.
He needed time to contemplate what he would do next. How to repay Hermione for saving him in more than one way, did that mean he owed her more than one debt?
He'd have to read up on that.
Hermione moved into his quarters when Poppy released him.
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Hermione assured him that he didn't owe her anything. That she wouldn't, couldn't have lived with herself had she not gone back to retrieve him from the shack once the dust from the battle had settled.
She continued to nurse him back to health.
Hermione made sure he ate regularly, she helped him with his Magiotherapy to regain his muscle tone, and she was a constant in his world, a shining light, a beacon.
She was his salvation.
Severus was blown away by her dedication, by her offer of friendship.
He forgot the red-haired girl who had haunted his dreams.
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Once he was given a clean bill of health, he employed Miss Granger as his apprentice.
"Severus, why are you so demanding, why do you belittle my technique?"
"Because, Miss Granger you have the potential to exceed my brilliance. You are far too lackadaisical sometimes with your knife skills."
Hermione placed the root into her softly simmering cauldron.
A plume of magenta smoke rose wispily.
Severus saw the cloud in his peripheral vision, cursing he man handled his Miss granger to the floor, shielding her with his body.
The cauldron exploded, hot liquid shot everywhere. His shielding charm saved them.
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Once the explosion ceased, Severus picked himself up off her prone form, dusted himself down, and then proffered his hand to her.
"You silly girl," he berated. "You should have minced the root, not ground it."
Hermione stared at her professor. Tears trailed down her face.
"You saved me."
"I did. Your death would have generated far too much paperwork, Miss Granger."
"You saved me, Severus. Your debt is repaid."
He took a moment to take in her words. He had repaid his debt.
He was free.
Leaning forward he kissed his Hermione.
He groaned as she kissed him back.