Bella took in the surroundings on the battle field that used to the the Hogwarts grounds, and was deeply saddened at the loss of life in the idyllic Scottish setting. She was filthy and sore as she tended to the wounded of the battle. She had come at the call from her cousin, Mia, or Hermione as she is known outside of the family. She had gotten along with her younger cousin, but they were never exceedingly close. Bella had naturally worried for Mia when she hadn't been able to reach her for the past nine months or so, only to get a patronus saying that the war was ending. That it was finally time for the big bad to show his ugly mug and get his non existent nose kicked in.
Thankfully, Bella had a residence on the outside edge of Hogsmead, having moved there after she had graduated with the highest marks in her year at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her magical studies had been her refuge and escape after her disaster of a relationship with the undead coppertop with admittedly amazing hair. His one redeeming feature. Then, not long after she graduated, her long lost, and not so dearly missed friend Victoria paid a visit. Charlie had been home alone and ended up the object of her wrath. Wrath Bella visited on her tenfold. Bella was the one to find Charlie, on the edge of death. Not even her extensive knowledge of healing had helped any, and he died of his wounds. Bella cataloged every hurt on Charlie, and mimicked them on Victoria, using werewolf saliva, bought on the wizarding black market, to ensure her wounds didn't close, before she slowly burned her piece by piece.
Bella still owned the house in Forks, but was currently renting it Angela and Ben, who had gotten married after Angela had gotten her degree in education. As soon as the lease was signed, Bella packed up and moved to a cottage her grandmother had owned in England. Once the war was heating up, something that wasn't all that hard to miss, she placed the Fidelius on her cottage and made herself the secret keeper. Afterall, secrets are easiest to keep if there is only one person in the know. She holed herself up, and had her house elf, Mei Mei, get whatever she needed, and if things went to shit for good in the UK, Bella had no qualms about jumping ship back to the states.
When Mia's patronus had penetrated her little cottage, Bella was actually just getting into bed, despite the ridiculously late hour. Thanking her lucky stars that she slept in sweats and a t shirt, the latter probably not all that practical in the colder Scottish weather, but that is what warming charms were for, Bella jumped out of bed and quickly and silently made her way to the Hogshead, where a disgruntled Mr. Dumbledore was grumbling about people leaving him be for the last eighty years he had run the pub and now they wouldn't stop trampling through the place.
Finding herself in a room filled with hammocks, bundles of blankets, chairs, tables, and the like, almost like a communal college dorm, she practically ran into her cousin. After a rib cracking hug from Mia and a quick explanation of where she had been and what she and her two friends had been up to, Bella had decided that she would stay and help as a battlefield medic. Running triage on a normal battlefield was bad enough, but add in giants, dementors, acromantula, vampires, feral werewolves, and spells meant to boil your entrails as they spilled out of you upped the ante by a factor of innumerable proportions.
Now that the sun had risen, the big, bad, noseless megalomaniac had gone to finally pay his dues to the grim one, and Bella's triage duties were finally seeming to come to an end, she wandered aimlessly around the grounds, looking for a quiet place to just gather her thoughts before she went to find her cousin, who was probably celebrating with the Weasley family. All breathing a sigh of relief, especially after the close call that had almost cost Fred and Percy their lives. Thankfully, Bella was a dab hand a shielding charms, and not just the kind that blocked mental and magical attacks.
Finding herself on the edge of the Black Lake, she made her way to the rather large boat house, thinking that there was no possible way for the battle to have reached this far. Most of the action had taken place in and around the courtyard and great hall. And it looked like she was right. The structure was empty from what she could tell. Bella slowly made her way to one of the upturned boats so she wouldn't slip and fall on the wet ground and sat, pulling her legs to her chest, and resting her chin on her knees. Today had been a surreal day. If only the disco ball with the stick shoved up his ass could see her now, she mused, and gave a breathy giggle at the ridiculousness of the thought.
Lost as she was in her musings, she startled when she heard a gurgling sound from behind another upturned boat. Drawing her wand, and readying herself in case she came across a hex happy Death Eater, she gasped when she found a man lying in a pool of his own blood.
"Sweet Circe, Merlin, and Morgana!"
She found a Death Eater all right, but she knew this one. Severus Snape. The man had been the bane of her cousin's life for seven years, for all that she defended him. But there were two sides to every tale. And Bella couldn't see Albus Dumbledore being fooled by this man. The old headmaster had his faults to be sure. Plastered all over the Isle in that infernal book of Skeeter's. But Bella was sure, even if Snape was clever, he wasn't Dumbledore level clever.
Thinking fast, Bella got to her knees and quickly inspected the wounds on his neck. Bite wounds. From an incredibly, and almost impossibly large viper. But nothing was impossible with magic. First thing's first, viper's are for the most part, poisonous, so Bella dug out a bezoar and placed it in Professor Snape's mouth as far as her fingers could reach, before closing his mouth and massaging his throat to encourage him to swallow. It seemed to do something, because the next moment, she was looking into incredibly charcoal gray black eyes.
She then stiffened as she felt him in her mind. This was a first. Not even Ed-bitch was ever able to get a read on her. Images flashed in her head. A clear potion in a small round vial in his innermost left hand breast pocket. Underneath all those buttons. Bella tsk'd at absurdity and ran her wand along the row of buttons, not wasting time undoing them by hand, and found the vial. She unstoppered it, and gave it a sniff. Phoenix tears, judging by the salty smell. Placing four drops along each gash, she then had him ingest three more, placing a conjured glass of water to his lips to wash it down.
He fell back unconscious, likely due to the effort of getting her attention and then directing her to the one thing that was sure to save his life. Checking once more to make sure that the tears were doing their healing magic, Bella cast a warming charm on him, and then levitated him off of the filthy, algae covered floor. Not wanting to miss anything in his healing, she also funneled the blood that had been on the floor around him into one of her own empty vials to check and make sure the venom in his blood won't cause unnecessary problems even after the phoenix tears. Unlikely, but a good healer always covers her bases. She then placed a hand on his shoulder, and apparated them to the gate just outside her cottage, where her wards ended, and walked the rest of the way into her home.
One thing is for sure, things will get interesting when he wakes
A/N: So, I was thinking on how I would progress A Bite Out of Time, but I'm still stuck, so I was thinking that starting another HP story with Snape would hopefully get the creative writing juices flowing. I'm thinking on it while I'm at work, which, considering the repetitive nature of my job, is the perfect setting, so fingers crossed. For now, Enjoy!