-=JKR owns HP, blah, blah, blah.=-

Come Inside

Closed Up


Swimming pools of light splashed with muted colour.

The echo of voices.~~~~~"She's not responding to any of the treatments administered thus far. Here is a list of potions, spells, nutrition, and complementary therapies we've tried. Also, there doesn't seem to be any damage to her ears, nose or mouth. It's more often the brain that matters in these cases; in that the brain decides, if and how to process the sensory input. There isn't a spell to indicate what's actually going on inside.

The swirls, beautiful swirls.

~~~~~"It looks like your team has run the gamut."

~~~~~"Yes Mr. Snape, we have been thorough and persistent. Please relay a message for me to Madam McGonagall. Ms. Granger will likely be moved to the Permanent Spell Damage Ward. She appears to be in perfect health, except for the absence of any measurable response.

~~~~~"If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look. Eyes are the windows to the brain." Severus says silkily as he raised her lids. The attending Healer left.

Too bright, that's better. A dark blob brought comfort from the blinding light.

~~~~~ "Ms. Granger, I'm going to penetrate your mind. Legilimens." No mental blocks, only light and amorphous shapes. Hermione sat in a chair alone, had to be the Gryffindor Common room. "Can you hear me, Ms. Granger?"

"You're a jerk, a git." She didn't even bother looking at him. "You're just a dream. Go away, I have to find a way out. The door is gone, did you take the door? You Took My Door!" Unhinged, she yelled still facing away.

"Please, Ms. Granger, calm yourself." Severus was firm.

Hermione stood, beginning to pace. "Please, please, please, Please, please. Yeah, right! Do you even know Severus?" Each syllable ached with contempt. Continuing to walk a tight circle, "you're not helping me. You want to help?" Severus assented. "You can scratch my breasts, they've obviously removed my nipple rings. They must be healing. And tell them to put all of my jewellery back in." She shouted at the wall.

"Please excuse me, Ms. Granger." Shocked he drew back from the vegetative form. Snape stormed out into the hall. "Healer Sharp." Blast it. "Healer Sharp."

"What's is it Mr. Snape, what's happened?" The healer was alert.

Pinching the bridge of nose, "Healer Sharp did you, or one of your staff members remove Ms. Granger's body jewellery?"

"Yes, all of it." The stout woman, didn't seem at all surprised.

Stupefied, Snape gave the witch his most imploring expression. "Could you please scratch her breasts, she says they itch, from the holes trying to heal."

"What's that you say?" Healer Sharp implored.

"I was able to communicate with her using Legilimens." Snape explained.

"Legilimens?" The witch looked perplexed. "What kind of magic is that?"

"An obscure branch of magic, used to penetrate another's mind. It's companion is Occlumency. If you please, Ms. Granger is requires your sensitivity." Snape led the woman back to the room.

The Healer uttered the world's two most dreaded words, "hospital policy..."

"Hospital policy, be damned. Sorry. What do I have to do to get her taken care of?" Snape's impatience crested.

"I assume you are not her husband or next of kin." The healer was less than diplomatic.

"No," his teeth clenched with the effort to keep from strangling her.

"Then you have to enslave her or marry her," too cheerily, "or both."

"You can't be serious." Snape hoped to Merlin she was kidding. Healer Sharp flashed a marquee that clearly indicated the hospital's policy, was as she had stated.

"Her parents! Can we get them to sign her over into my care? They're Muggles, will that make a difference?"

Healer Sharp looked crestfallen, "given the statute of secrecy we can't. If it were life or death, we'd likely be able to accommodate you. Her condition is stable, and moving her to a Muggle hospital would put her at risk. Are you a trained healer Mr. Snape?"

Snape was ready to bang his head against the wall in-time to her pedantic prattle. Holding up a hand, to stay her nonsense. "Let me see if I understand, you will not put her jewellery back in and you will not release her to her parents or myself. Can you at least relieve her discomfort?"

The healer got a sly look on her face. "No, because she didn't ask me. She asked you, didn't she?"

"I am a gentleman, I don't go around groping colleagues." He folded his arms across his chest.

"But she asked you. So you'll have to do it. And besides Gentle Sir," the Healer was well versed in sarcasm. "If you do it, she'll know you meant no personal intrusion."

"She's not even convinced I'm real."

"Mr. Snape, I appreciate your situation, however there are other patients needing me." Healer Sharp pulled out the next clipboard.

You appreciate nothing. Snape stormed back into Hermione's private suite, and closed the curtain. He turned his head, closed his eyes and scratched Hermione's itches.

AN/Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed.