The next day, Severus was reading in his favorite, old leather chair by the window when Angelica softly knocked on his door, and let herself in after a moment of silence. It was a system that worked well for them; since he could not vocally deny her entrance if he was indecent or needed privacy, he would simply pull the curtain shut that divided the room in half instead. She always heard the rustle it made, and would either come back in a few minutes, or wait for him to come find her later.
"You have a letter," she told him, and held the envelope up with a wave. "Just arrived by owl."
Shocked, Severus just stared at her for a moment, then shook his head and returned to his reading. There was some mistake; he had not received any letters since he had arrived at Saint Mungo's, and he never had much personal correspondence even when he had worked at Hogwarts. Besides, very few people knew that he had survived Nagini's attack, and outside of the hospital staff, he could count the people on one hand who actually knew that he was there: the Minister, Potter, his two friends, and Minerva. The hospital staff were all under Silencing Spells that prevented them from speaking about him to anyone outside of the hospital itself.
Oh, the world at large knew the tale of how he'd been a double-agent for Dumbledore, and how he had worked to help bring about the downfall of Voldemort; Potter's testimony afterwards had been vital in clearing his name, but everyone thought he'd died in the Battle. And as Severus had preferred to keep it that way, thank you very much, everyone involved had deemed it best as well. Much to his surprise, he had an official Portrait hanging in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, which he was told kept fairly quiet and glowered at everyone from his shadowy frame.
Angelica snorted, mildly amused at his reaction. "No, it's not a mistake, we checked." Severus looked back up at her, then at the letter she held in her hands. "We worried that it might have been cursed, so we ran a Spell-Check on it first, and it came back clean."
He arched an eyebrow at her words, disbelief clearly written on his features.
"Just because it's not cursed doesn't mean it isn't going to be a nasty letter," she warned him unnecessarily. "If you'd like, I can open it first to be sure. I'll get rid of it, if it's horrible," she promised.
Severus did not even need to consider it before shaking his head no and reaching a hand out for the letter. He did not want her to read it; he did not deserve her pity. Besides, if someone had anything malicious to say to him, he'd certainly earned it over the years while acting as the faithful Death Eater for the Dark Lord. The least he could do was to "hear" them out. He'd also much rather know who exactly now knew that he was alive.
Angelica paused a moment, then with a sigh, stepped forward and handed him the letter. "If you change your mind, just let me know," she told him quietly, hoping that he would. She'd personally seen the man go through too much in the two years she had known him, and had more than a good idea of what hell he'd been through before that. Everyone deserved some happiness in life; she wished he would just let the past go.
He gazed down at the handwriting, then back up at her. With a small smile, he put his fingers to his mouth, then brought the hand down towards her. Thank you.
"You're welcome," she told him with a smile as she signed it as well. Her smile faded and she lightly placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look back up at her quickly. "I mean it, Severus," she told him, then turned and left his room, closing the door behind her.
One eyebrow raised, he stared at the door for several moments after she had left. What had she meant? That he was welcome, or that she'd get rid of the letter if he wished? Or something else entirely? He looked down at his shoulder, where she'd briefly touched him. Though he had eventually become accustomed to the hospital staff and doctors touching him over the years- he'd had too many exams and check-ups in that time to let it still bother him- no one had ever touched him when not medically necessary. Was it possible she felt something for him? His brow creased in thought. No, he decided; Angelica cared for him as a Healer would care for their patient after as lengthy a recovery as he had had. Surely, it was nothing more than that, he thought despondently.
Damning his social ineptness, he stole a glance at the clock on the wall. Noon. The letter would have to wait until this evening. He set it down on the small table near his chair, then stood to go make his rounds that would take up most of the evening.
"Angie!" a woman's excited voice called out loudly as the junior Healer walked over and sat down at an empty seat across from her at the small table. Angelica didn't dare sit in the seat next to her, which she knew was strictly reserved.
"Hello, Alice, how are you doing today?" She waved to the woman's husband sitting next to her quietly. "Hi, Frank. Are you doing well?" Her question was answered with a smile as the man blushed and nodded before he quickly looked away and focused again on the puzzle he was assembling on the table. Alice rattled on to her about the day's events before she looked over Angelica's shoulder with sudden interest.
"Snape!" she waved her arm frantically above her head, trying to catch his attention as she did every time he stopped by.
With an easy stride, the man walked to where the trio was already seated, and with a nod to the couple and a small smile toward Angelica, he took the empty seat next to Alice, as he always did, and set a large leather bag on the floor near his foot. After the girls had caught up on their small talk for the day, Severus watched silently as Angelica asked the man and the woman the same set of questions she did every day, and he scribbled notes on his clipboard as they answered. It had, apparently, never bothered Alice that Snape never talked to or replied to her during his visits.
Eventually, Severus pulled two vials of a cheerful blue-colored potion from his leather bag, handed them silently to Angelica, and stood up to leave.
As always happened, Alice sprung from her chair and threw her arms around Snape's middle before he'd gone more than a handful of steps.
"Bye, Snape! Bye, bye, bye," she said with a grin.
"Bye.." Frank offered quietly from his chair in the corner, then resumed work on his puzzle.
Angelica sat in her chair, hiding an amused grin. She could tell that Severus never understood why the couple liked him the way they did, but he always endured Alice's attentions with grace. She watched as he hugged her back with his one free arm, silently gave her a small kiss on the top of her head, and steered her back to her chair as she started singing under her breath.
With a wave to all three, he left the room carrying his leather bag, on to the next of his many patients he needed to see, leaving Angelica to see that the pair were administered their potions.
Later that afternoon, Snape sat in his chair by the window, looking over the survey results from the Longbottoms. Both Frank and Alice were obviously improving in regards to past memory and current recollection abilities, speech abilities, and eye-hand coordination. The other hospital staff were thrilled with the improvements the couple had shown in the last year, and Severus could state without conceit that it was due to his experimental potions that they were being administered.
With a grin that was part smirk, he recalled the little fragment of a song Alice had been singing before he had left. Snape, Snape, Severus Snape.. It was an annoyingly catchy tune. He wondered if someone had taught it to her, or if she'd simply made it up. If she'd actually invented the snippet herself, she was progressing leaps and bounds above what had initially been anticipated by the hospital staff many years ago.
Their improvement was one of the reasons that Severus stayed on at St. Mungo's. While part of his mind taunted that he was simply a coward, hiding from the wizarding world who had despised him, the more rational side of his psyche knew that he simply wanted to help right the many wrongs he had committed during the last twenty-odd years of his life. By staying on as an unofficial "staff" member, he could perform all of the potion making and brewing that the hospital needed, more quickly and efficiently than any of their old Head Brewers. It was, admittedly, something he loved to do- he had a full lab at his disposal on the premises, and he didn't have to teach (which he had never enjoyed anyway), or worry about the dunderheads blowing up his classroom anymore. They'd set him up in his own private, permanent room here at the hospital, and the position also afforded him a generous salary, of which he spent a portion of on owl-ordered books without an ounce of guilt.
He was still analyzing the day's results from all of his patients, and making notes in his journal, when Angelica knocked on the door and let herself in after his customary moment of silence.
"I just wanted to let you know that dinner would be ready in about half an hour," she told him.
Thank you, he signed to her with a smile, which she returned. She could always tell that helping Frank and Alice and the other patients did something to boost his spirits, and she found herself wondering once again if he did all of this to help atone for the horrors of his past.
"I also wanted to let you know that Frank and Alice's son stopped by this afternoon, and was amazed at their progress. When his parents both recognized him, and called him by name, he picked up Sarah and swung her around he was so happy." It had been a sight to see, Angelica thought; she'd never seen the young man so happy here before. She'd wished that Severus could have seen it.
The man smiled and signed I'm very glad to her.
"Well, I'll leave you to your notes. Don't forget about dinner tonight; some of us missed your presence last night," she told him, then left.
Again, he found himself staring at the door, wondering.
Author's Note:
Poor Snape.. he's just not sure what to think when someone is nice to him! Please R&R!
