I absolutely love the pairing of Snape & Tonks, either romantically or as friends, so I wrote this to feed my obsession :P

A Decorated Emergency

Quidditch, thought Severus in answer to 15 down of the Daily Prophet's crossword. Scratching in the last answer, he folded up the newspaper and placed it on the coffee table.

It had been a quiet day, he'd not been summoned by either the Order or the Dark Lord, and he was relieved to have had an evening to himself at home.

He took a swig from the near empty bottle of firewhisky...and almost dropped it as a sudden hesitant knocking on his door broke the silence of the room.

Severus grimaced. It was almost midnight, what could be so important?

Unwilling to answer it, he continued to drink. Another knock sounded, more insistent than the last, accompanied by a muffled shout of his name.

Frowning, he rose from the chair and warily unlocked the door, eyes widening in surprise at the little figure on his doorstep.

'Nymphadora?'

Visibly shaking despite the warm summer night, Nymphadora staggered and clutched the doorframe, distress on her pale face.

'Severus...help me, it's burning!'

She thrust her hands out; the skin was raw and red.

Without question, he pulled her quickly through the doorway and into his living room, perhaps too roughly, for she let out a small squeal.

Severus met her pained eyes, and could see she was trying hard not to cry.

He didn't wait for an explanation, taking one white-hot hand, he pushed back the damp sleeve of her robe, revealing more burning skin in large red patches.

'It's everywhere!'

Whimpering, Nymphadora gestured with her other scarlet hand. Concerned, Severus hurriedly removed the robe, and glanced over her marred skin. Her torso was the worst, the angry burns disappearing beneath her dress.

'How much does it hurt?'

'A lot, and it's getting worse...please Severus, do something.'

'I need to know exactly what happened.'

'Can't you stop the pain first?'

It was almost a whisper. She bit her lip against the tears that threatened to spill.

Severus hesitated, desperately wanting to relieve her of the pain, but fearful of harming her even more. Until he knew what he was dealing with, it was too dangerous to try anything.

'Not until I know what happened, I don't want to make it worse.'

Grudgingly, she nodded, clenching her fists against the increasing sting.

'I was tailing Greyback, only a few streets from here, the death eaters came out of nowhere...I hexed one, but the other hit me with this..this potion...''

She broke off with a sob, wobbling slightly as though she might faint.

'Please, it's like fire!'

Unable to hold them back, she let the tears cascade down her cheeks. Her legs buckled and she dropped to the floor in defeat, ashamed of crying in front of him.

Feeling awkward, Severus turned to peruse his large bookcase, scanning the titles for anything that might help, but where to start? He didn't even know what this mysterious potion was.

Behind him, Nymphadora whimpered again.

He remembered his muggle father once soothing a scald by running it under cold water, perhaps magical burns could also be soothed that way?

At a loss of anything else to do, he clutched Nymphadora's hand, and with a pop, apparated them upstairs to the dingy bathroom.

'Aguamenti!'

He pointed his wand at the bath and a jet of water streamed from the tip, filling it much quicker than the taps would have done, right up to the brim.

Nymphadora looked up, startled.

'Severus?'

'Don't worry, I'm not going to drown you.'

She protested as he gently scooped her up from the tiled floor, shrieking as he set her down in the ice cold bath.

She raised her eyebrows at him questioningly.

'I can't be sure, but it might sooth the burning. Just stay here until I can find out what the potion was and brew an antidote. I assume you're not stupid enough to drown yourself...'

* * * * *

After half an hour however, he had still not identified the potion. Reluctant to leave Nymphadora alone for too long, he returned to the bathroom, a large pile of books suspended in the air by his wand.

She lay submerged in the bath, an odd mixture of deathly white and and bright red, her eyes closed. For a split second, Severus feared she actually had managed to drown herself, until her eyes flickered open, fixing him with a hopeful stare.

'I..i..is there an antid..d..dote?'

Her teeth were chattering so badly she could barely get the words out.

'Not yet, no...I need a while longer. Has the pain gone?'

'Only a little, and now I'm r..r..really cold as well.'

He reached into the bath and touched her shoulder, the red skin only slightly cooler than before, though remarkably the heat hadn't affected the icy water.

'S..S..Severus, do you think I could ha..have a hot drink?'

It was a strange combination, a hot drink in a cold bath; but he muttered a spell nonetheless, conjuring a steaming cup of tea. She wrapped her chilled fingers around the hot mug and sipped the drink, Severus cautiously eyeing her.

'Do try to be careful with that, Nymphadora, I think you've already sustained enough burns.'

Sitting down on the floor, he returned to his books. Things started to look hopeful as he flipped through a dusty encyclopedia. One potion sounded very likely, but alas she didn't have the boils listed in the description. The second turned out only to affect vampires.

Another half hour went by.

Searching another book, he came across a nasty sounding elixir that worryingly wasn't out of the question, and read the symptoms: Gradual loss of feeling in the extremities...difficulty in breathing...inability to perform simple spells...

He turned to face the bath where Nymphadora appeared to have dozed off again, still clutching the now empty mug of tea. He took it before she could do any damage, and urgently shook her. She drowsily met his gaze.

'No need for that, I was just resting my eyes...'

'Nymphadora, have you a loss of feeling anywhere?'

'I don't think so...'

She twitched her fingers, just in case.

'What about your feet?'

'I..I don't know, they're too cold.'

He pulled off her shoes, which absurdly neither of them had thought to remove before, and sent a small shock from his wand to her toes, relieved at the yelp that escaped her lips.

'Was that really necessary?'

'Entirely necessary. And you're not struggling to breathe?...Are you capable of simple spells?'

Handing her his wand, she managed a weak cry of "accio!", shakily pointing to a book, which drifted from the floor and into her outstretched hand.

He frowned, glad that he could rule out the awful potion, but growing increasingly worried. He briefly considered sending her to St. Mungo's, but if he couldn't identify the potion, the mediwitches had little chance of it.

Nymphadora gripped his wrist, her cold fingers making him jump.

'Severus, I think I n..n..need to come out now, I'm bloody freezing.'

* * * * *

'Are you sure it was a potion, not a charm or spell?'

It was patronising to ask, but Severus was starting to doubt her and, more alarmingly, he was beginning to suspect that she'd been poisoned. There was a definite purple tinge to her burns now, and he felt sure it wasn't from the cold bath.

He glanced behind him, where she was curled on the sofa under his cloak, face wet with tears. The burning had worsened again, as he knew it would, but she'd refused to go back in the bath.

Somehow, despite the pain, she was struggling to stay awake; another effect of the poison it seemed. But he couldn't let her sleep, however much he wanted to, it was too dangerous. Sleep could be the very end.

'Nymphadora?'

He prodded her until she stirred, drawing the cloak closer around herself, and muttering something unintelligible.

Severus sighed impatiently. The heavy old book he held, full of ancient magic, was making his arms ache. He'd been sceptical about searching it anyway, most of the listed potions and spells had been out of use for decades, but these things sometimes came and went with fashion.

He glanced down at the page he'd just turned to, where a bold title at the top read Ignis Corporis, and hesitantly scanned the faded print.

A deadly poisonous potion, designed to be absorbed through the skin...Identified by an intense burning of the affected areas...burns take on a purple hue...Other symptoms include drowsiness, vomiting, headache...

Bloody hell, he'd found it. All the symptoms were there, though thankfully she hadn't vomited. Nor had she mentioned a headache; nevertheless, he was certain this was the potion.

Severus read on, finding instructions for both an antidote and a cream to sooth the burns; frowning in frustration at the forbidden use of a bezoar, before recalling the first paragraph.

...Deadly poisonous...

He leapt up from the floor and made for the kitchen, hesitating as he glanced at the dozing form on the sofa. Merlin's beard, he could almost have sworn she was intent on dying on him. She immediately roused as he fiercely gripped her shoulders, his black eyes boring into hers; almost growling in his haste and clearly frightening her.

'Whatever you do, don't fall asleep.'

'But Severus, I'm so tired...'

'Nymphadora, if you fall asleep I can't guarantee you'll wake up again.'

* * * * *

It was a little while before Severus returned with the antidote, reflecting on how fortunate it had been that he possessed all of the ingredients. Indeed the potion had been uncommonly complex to brew, but he wasn't potions master at Hogwarts for nothing.

He was relieved to find Nymphadora conscious, though she looked like death, and if her tone was anything to go by, felt like it too.

'Please tell me that's the antidote?'

Severus nodded and handed her the glass, the purple potion matching her burns.

'You must drink it all, every drop.'

She stared at it for several seconds, wrinkling her nose at the smell, before finally raising it to her lips and gingerly taking a sip. Gagging as she swallowed the vile liquid, she drained the glass and stuck out her tongue in distaste.

'How long will it take to work?'

'The effects are not immediate, but you're no longer in any danger.'

Glancing again at her burns, he summoned a small pot from the kitchen, swapping it for the empty glass in her hand.

'This is to cease the burning, it needs to be rubbed into the skin.'

He turned to leave so she could have some privacy, but a soft voice halted him.

'Severus, help me?'

For a long moment he stood in silence, unsure of whether to engage in this intimate act. Looking again at Nymphadora, he saw his own hesitation mirrored on her blushing face as she embarrassedly dropped her gaze.

He reprimanded himself for his foolishness. There was nothing intimate about it, they were just wounds that needed healing, in awkward places that she couldn't reach herself.

Without a word, he dropped onto the sofa and took the pot back. Nymphadora sat up, hugging her knees to her chest.

'If you could just do my back, please.'

Trying to keep his composure, Severus carefully unzipped her dress and parted the fabric, slipping the straps down her arms.

Taking a blob of the cream, he gently dabbed it over one shoulder. As soon as it touched her skin she cried out, jerking away from his touch. The cream seemed to sizzle for a few moments, until he reached out and rubbed it in, and she winced at the sharp sting it caused.

'Do you want me to stop?'

She shook her head violently.

He continued down her back and she whimpered each time the cream met with her raw skin, eventually letting him slip her dress down to do her arms and front as well, flinching when his fingers tended beneath her bra.

Severus felt his face grow hot; Merlin's beard, how long had it been since he'd touched a woman like this?

Relieved to find the burns went no further than her belly button, he helped her dress again, fumbling slightly with the zip, and they shifted apart, each carefully avoiding the other's eyes.

An awkward silence settled between them, permeated only by the ticking of the clock, until at last Nymphadora dozed off, slumping against him.

Sighing, Severus put his arm around her small form and let her sleep.