Welcome back to another chapter! :)
p.s if anyone is catching on to where the chapter titles are coming from then I give you major props! :)
Madame Pomfrey raised Hermione's foot onto a small cushion on the bed. "I wouldn't go around saying such things to Professor Snape, you don't want to get on his bad side dear". The pain had subsided slightly as Madame Pomfrey begun to ease the pressure on the foot. Hermione laughed "Trust me, I have been on his bad side for eight years and besides, I think everyone is on his bad side." The Mediwitch began to chant spells and Hermione's whole body relaxed as she felt the pain trickle out of your body.
"Now, I am going to fix the broken bones in your foot. I will give you this to bite down on" Madame Pomfrey handed her a clean scrap of fabric. Hermione gave her a questioning look as to why considering she had just erased her pain through an enchantment. "People tend to bite down on their lip when they get the shock. You won't feel the pain" Madame Pomfrey reassured her. "I will say it now in 3...2...1..episkey!" Hermione clenched her teeth as she felt the bones crack back into place. She was right to say it wasn't painful, just incredibly weird.
"Unfortunately I don't have any bruise salve left in the stores. A second year fell off his broom today and cleared me out. I'll hand you these for the time being" She pulled out a set of old wooden crutches and set them beside the bed.
"Ever since Professor Snape was in a coma, no one's been able to stock up the stores. I'm not particularly very good at potions myself you see" She replied guiltily. Hermione was preoccupied with the knowledge that Professor Snape had been in a coma that she hadn't of even thought of why she'd need crutches.
"Perhaps I should go down and see Professor Snape to ask for a batch of bruise salve. Will you be alright on your own dear? I would have asked a house elf to get some from him but he particularly despises that" The Mediwitch waited for a reply from Hermione, but Hermione shook her head and replied without thinking. "You should stay here Madame Pomfrey just in case a student needs you. I'll go down and ask for a batch myself and send them up to you. You don't need to worry, I tore my Achilles when I was younger playing tennis, I'm used to crutches." She replied to the mediwitch.
Madame Pomfrey nodded reluctantly as Hermione got up and steadied herself on the crutches. She left as the clock's hand just ticked over 8 pm.
As Hermione left the room, she immediately regretted offering. Not only did it feel like the crutches were rubbing her skin away under her arms from all the hobbling around, but she really did not want to ask Professor Snape for the salve. Especially since she had just humiliated herself. She felt her cheeks redden as she thought back on the night's occurrences.
xx
Severus Snape was sitting in his private laboratory pouring over yet again another massive tome. Dinner had been a very unjoyous occasion. The worried questions from Minerva and two sets of eyes glaring at him from the Gryffindor table made him want to curse how quickly rumors and word spread around the castle. And to be frank, he wanted to forget the whole night.
His desk had several loose pieces of parchment sprawled on top of it. Several large, old books and a half drunk bottle of Ogden's Firewhiskey. Normally he was quite simplistic and tidy with his workspace and he would have never dared to drink before curfew but desperate times called for desperate measures.
He was using the same potion he had brewed for the curse that was on Dumbledore's hand and it helped to slow down the curse that was creeping higher and higher up his leg. He wasn't even sure why he cared to find the cure. Why couldn't he just accept his fate like Dumbledore had? It is not like he was particularly living for much. His life no longer served a purpose and throughout the entirety of the war, he never once believed he could make it out alive. Severus Snape was no stranger to just existing instead of living. And the man had nothing that made his life worthwhile, except for perhaps his research, but no one was interested in the ideas of a murderer. Yet he still felt like he needed to stay on earth for a little while longer.
He was about to pull one of the books out from a stack to cross reference material when he heard the potions classroom door being knocked. He bit his lip and pushed the books aside in clear annoyance. He heard the knock again, this time it was longer. He reluctantly got up from his chair, walked out of his chamber and into the potions classroom. He opened the door to the person he least likely wanted to be standing opposite him.
"Miss Granger..I do not have time to look over rubbish you consider extra credit. leave" He reached for the door to close it, but she interrupted him. "I need bruise salve, Madame Pomfrey hasn't any left in her stores" she bit back. He was taken aback by her definitive tone. "5 points from Gryffindor due to that slip of the tongue" he sneered. "Excuse me sir, but I need it, and if you don't want to uphold your duty of care then I'll come in there and brew it myself. If I had my own potions lab stocked with ingredients, I wouldn't be needing to ask" She replied defiantly. "I believe that hasn't stopped you before Miss Granger" He retorted.
He saw her look down as a small quirk of a smile formed on her face. The smile quickly fell as he assumed she had remembered the incident that he was implying - one too furry for her liking. He felt a smirk escape that he had been trying hard to suppress.
It was in that moment that he properly looked at the girl. Her eyes were bloodshot, foot darkened by her injuries and a blanched face. She looked horrible and it was partly his fault. He found himself not caring that for the first time someone who wasn't his master was telling him what to do, and he stepped aside to let her through the door. There was no way that she was in a right state to be brewing anything.
He watched her hobble in on her crutches. "Why are you using those?" he found himself genuinely asking. "They are crutches, they help muggles to get around when they have broken bones," she said matter-of-factly. "Do you take me for a fool? I can see you using them. I was asking why you need them to walk as if I am correct... Madame Pomfrey has made sure you've experienced pain relief" He noticed her nod her slowly as a slight blush formed on her cheeks, realizing that what she said wasn't very intelligent by any means.
"She didn't actually tell me. But I suppose it's due to it not being fully healed, and If I was to walk on my foot, it'd cause more damage. Also... the enchantment could wear off while I was walking on it and it'd cause a great deal of pain" He listened to her explain and it made enough sense to him. He had never really pondered a circumstance like this, he always was able to brew anything he needed to alleviate the countless injuries he endured over the years. 'well except the one on your leg' he heard the inner voice in his head taunt him.
He noticed that Miss Granger had been looking at him waiting for him to say or do something, as he had been lost in his thoughts for a few moments. "Take a seat over there" he pointed to one of the chairs relatively close to his teaching bench. "I'll brew a batch, it'll take 40 minutes," He said to her as she went to go sit down. He noticed her sigh with relief as she sat down. He didn't wish for idle chit chat, and he didn't want the girl to simply sit there. He didn't like people to watch him while he worked.
"You'll tell me the instructions of the bruise salve and I'll follow exactly what you say. If you say anything wrong I will not resurrect the salve by doing the correct method. I will not make it again If it is not satisfactory, and you'll need to explain to Madame Pomfrey why it is not satisfactory if this is the case" He explained to the girl. He was interested to see if she could still perform without the comforting aid of instructions right in front of her.
xx
She wasn't expecting him to say that. She thought that perhaps he would have asked her to leave and come back or to just sit somewhere in the room and wait for him to finish. Her mind raced with information as she tried to remember the formula. She had made the salve before countless times when she was hunting the Horcruxes along with Ron and Harry. The boys constantly had welts on their body and it was always up to her to make sure they were looked after. Thinking back on this made Hermione shudder a slight bit; she didn't like to think about it.
Professor Snape must have seen her reaction as he questioned her, "Do you mean to tell me you do not know Miss Granger?" Hermione shook her head, "No sir, I have made it multiple times, I just got distracted sorry". He had a look of dissatisfaction on his face. "I do not need any more accidents, if you will not pay attention then you will leave," he said as he glanced down at her foot.
She dismissed him and decided to start rattling off what he needed to do to make the salve. "You need to add the beeswax and stir once clockwise and four stirs anticlockwise". He followed her directions exactly, he didn't question what she was saying. She continued through the rest of the directions with ease. It was at that moment, when she called out the last thing he needed to do, that the salve turned into the right shade of yellow. She beamed at her achievement.
"One point will be awarded to Gryffindor. It seems your exhaustive reading has paid off" He said. It wasn't much, but it was very rare that Gryffindor would get any sort of reward from Professor Snape and due to this, Hermione was incredibly proud of herself. He began to scrap the salve into empty containers that he then placed into a small wooden crate.
"Thank you, sir, I'll call for a house elf to help me take them to Mada-" She was cut off by Professor Snape. "That will not be needed Miss Granger, It's past curfew and you'll not roam these castles, who knows what you'd get up too". She rolled her eyes slightly when he looked away from her 'Yeah I'd totally go around causing havoc with a battered up foot'. He continued on, "Besides... Poppy would just demand more brews for her stores and I'd rather hear her whining now than at breakfast.
She reached for the container of salve that he was handing her and opened it. She massaged it into her foot and she watched the bruises disappear. Hermione stood up and placed her foot on the hard cold floor, she breathed a sigh of relief to know her foot was perfectly fine to stand up and walk around on.
It was at the worst moment, in complete silence, that her stomach decided to growl. She reached down to grab her stomach, which was a rather pathetic way to tell it to be quiet. She had hoped he hadn't heard it but she'd be a fool if she believed he didn't.
"I daresay you haven't had dinner tonight?" he asked her. She shook her head. He clicked his finger and she assumed It was his personal house elf that had just appeared. "Master Snape, how may I be of service?" the little house elf asked while giving a slight bow. "A plate of whatever was served at Dinner Teasel, please" He responded to the Elf. 'the man speaks better to creatures than he does to people' she thought amusedly. "Does Master want food too? he was not at dinner" The house elf asked politely. Hermione was curious as to why Professor Snape hadn't gone to dinner, as he had taken her to the infirmary just beforehand. "No, perhaps just a bottle of firewh...a coffee. Thank you Teasel" He had obviously remembered who was in the room.
When Teasel had returned, they ate and drank in complete silence. Hermione ate rather quickly as she couldn't bear the weird notion of her sitting in the Potions classroom with Professor Snape eating Dinner. She was finishing her last piece of Lasagne when Professor Snape broke the silence. "It is getting late," he said with clear intent. He got up and waited for her to do the same.
However, she needed to wear shoes if she hoped to walk back to the infirmary for Madame Pomfrey to check that her foot was fully healed. She patted her cloak down to feel for her wand but couldn't feel the familiar smooth narrow object.
"What on earth are you doing Miss Granger?" Professor Snape demanded. "I believe you still have my wand Professor," she said. She saw him feel for a particular pocket and he pulled out a wand - her wand. As he handed it to her he said "Follow me" and started to walk out the door. She accio'd her shoe and slipped it on after she caught it flying through the door, in which it nearly missed hitting Professor Snape. She hurried off to catch up to the teacher.
Professor Snape swung the doors open to the infirmary and Hermione followed behind him. "Ah, Severus..and Miss Granger! I see you've brought me a batch of the Bruise salve. Now, Severus, we need to talk about my stores or lack thereof...and Miss Granger take a seat on the bed while I inspect your foot" The mediwitch said hurriedly.
Hermione walked over to one of the beds and sat down on the edge of it. Madame Pomfrey came over and began to inspect her foot, flexing the muscles and looking for any swelling or discolouration; she did this while she talked to Professor Snape. "I wrote a list of all the remedies my stores are low in or that have been exhausted, there is quite a few" Snape went over to the mediwitch's desk that she had been pointing to and picked up the list. One that Hermione had noticed was quite long as suggested by the length of the parchment.
"Poppy I have hardly enough time to teach and grade let alone brew these," he said definitively. "It needs to be done, Severus. Perhaps you should consider getting an assistant to help brew the easier potions? I'm aware that Miss Granger is quite competent with potion making?" Hermione blushed slightly at the recognition.
"Don't even think about it Poppy, now if you don't mind I've spent enough time here already, Is Miss Granger's foot capable enough to walk back to her bed?" he said with a drawl. "Yes, I believe it has, you may go now Miss Granger".
Hermione nodded her head and thanked the woman before she got up from the bed. She followed him down the corridors; albeit a few spaces behind until they made it to the front of the Gryffindor tower. He said nothing as she slipped through the doorway.
And that is the end of another chapter everybody! I hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to review, please :)