Disclaimer: Anything you recognize here is not mine, only this plot.

IIIIIIIIIIIIII

Chapter 7

They had started to fall in a routine; And Hermione would have been content if not for her broken heart (yes, it was broken) that was hurting her every minute of every day, and if not for her constant worry over the strange state of apathy that had befallen Snape.

The first couple of days Snape had been in a constant state of agitation. He would wake up stressed out and would start hyperventilating quickly; So they had been forced to dose him with calming draught frequently.

But after that phase, he had become as silent and unresponsive as a statue. He would eat when asked to, and would do what was required of him; But otherwise would stay silent staring at the wall or the ceiling (based on the position of the bed) blankly. Henry had been hard pressed for acquiring answers to his questions from him in that state, and one night Hermione had lost her cool and had started crying by his bedside begging him to cooperate with the Healer so that he could find a cure.

Apparently her crying had made an impression on Snape, because after that he had been more forthcoming with his answers and even had reluctantly revealed that he had many notes written on Nagini and his mutations in his secret lab in Hogwarts, and had given the necessary directions for Hermione to go and obtain them.

After reading his noted Henry had declared that he would dedicate his time to develop a potion to stop the venom's advance; And after stabilizing him he would start looking for a permanent cure.

Hermione thanked god for thinking of opening a 'Free Severus Snape' account in Gringots. Many of their friends had donated to it and some like McGonagal and the Malfoys made monthly deposits in it. If not for that money they would not have been able to afford hiring Henry full time, and would have been forced to limit themselves to St. Mungo's regulations for home patients. But they were running out of time and needed him to focus solely on Snape's problem, and they had the money; So Henry had taken a four month's leave from St. Mungo and had started working on the antivenin full time. The St. Mungo's administrators had been fully cooperative and allowed him to use all their facilities for his work, and so he was constantly flooing between St. Mungo and Hermione's house.

One of the conditions of Snape's imprisonment was that he could not be left alone in the house. At first Hermione had decided to take the term off and stay at home but Harry had vetoed the idea. He had proposed that they share the responsibility with all who were ready to help. So they had contacted everyone who had registered in their 'Free Severus Snape' Cause and asked for help.

The result was that now they had a good schedule with many people coming and going to and from Hermione's house when she was out attending classes. And upon previous agreement their NGO's headquarters had been moved to her house as well.

Many had volunteered for help. Some of them even did not know Snape personally, but were willing to fight for a good cause; But most of them were friends. Hermione had even given out her DA coins to all volunteers to announce any change of plan, not to give the Ministry any leverage for revoking the verdict.

If just she could get Snape to be less like a zombie, she would be content. Well, as content as she could be with a broken heart.

IIIIIIIIIIIIII

Severus Snape, the new zoo specimen stared at by all those 'good people willing to help his cause' was staring blankly at the ceiling.

Despite his tries to empty his mind completely, those first days in his new hell, had been hellish indeed. He was thankful for the calming draughts Healer McDougal (call me Henry) had administered. Without them he would not have been able to work on his mind so efficiently and he would have probably ended up a drooling mess by the end of the week.

But now he had a good grasp on his mind. He had been able to keep it in permanent state of blank most of the time. It was easy when Pott… Harry or Hermione were not around. But he was beginning to understand the impossibility of not thinking about the person you were living with, who was a constant pain in the arse, with new orders (or heartfelt requests, depending on whom you asked) every other second.

By now he had been ordered to 'Don't hate me', 'Help McDougal find a cure', 'Don't hurt the delicate feelings of these good people ready to help you', 'Call us Hermione and Harry so that we can call you Severus.', '…'; It went on and on. If it continues like this he would soon be ordered to wipe her insufferable a…. Oh! Error again. How delightful.

He had to look for a new way if he wanted to keep a functioning mind. Maybe he could think about her just in derogatory terms instead of hateful. She was a tyrannical insufferable bitc… Oh! Well. It was worth a try.

Or he could think about her sarcastically. Maybe that would work. He remembered her as a student with big teeth and her hand always waving, when he had not hated… Hmmm… when she had been just an insufferable nuisance to him. It seemed to be working. He remembered her essays which were always more than the requested length and he would always subtract points for it, but never informed her of that fact. Hehehe…

Well, it worked. It was not a good decision, he knew that. It would start like this and someday he would wake up and realize that he actually liked her. But he had no choice. The ending point of this curse was exactly that, there was no escaping it; And knowing that he could not end his life because of some spell performed some weeks ago (He had Grang…. Hermione to thank for that, also. Because it was a new law decreed by the court after realizing the number of suicides and attempted suicides in Azkaban), he had no choice but to adapt. He was good at adaptation. He may have screamed and kicked the whole way, but he always adapted to the situations he found himself in. Now it was his choice to make this process as painless as possible or as hard as it could be. And really, he was tired of fighting nonstop. He was exhausted. And no fighting would change the outcome of this battle. But it was not in his nature to accept defeat easily. He would have to see what the future brought.

IIIIIIIIIIIIII

Two months had passed and still Henry had no answer. Severus was getting weaker every day. And though he tried to help Henry, he simply had too much to deal with as it was.

As the venom advanced in his system, Hermione could see the increasing level of pain he was enduring. Henry had started using painkiller potions a month ago, but they could not be taken continuously, or they would form habit; Therefore She had to watch him in pain most of the time. He lay there so stoic and silent that at first she had thought the pain was insignificant, but Henry had informed her that this level of pain would make most men cry for release.

And his nightmares had gotten worse. They had been forced to start using a limited amount of Dreamless Sleep (it was addictive like the painkillers, and apparently he had misused it in the past) as well, so that he could have one or two decent night of sleep every week.

But despite his worsening physical condition, he had gotten much better. He was not like a zombie anymore; And his sharp tongue had returned also. Hermione felt a thrilling joy inside every time he made a mocking remark about her and her friends. She was so happy to see him alive again that she had even laughed one time or two, surprising him completely.

But he was not quite himself yet. He was still so subdued and depressed that it hurt her to see. And it was not the only thing. Many times it happened that he would suddenly stop at the middle of a sentence, as though he had lost his train of thought. And sometimes when they were interacting, something would flicker for a second in his eyes. Hermione had tried to realize what that look was. She thought that it was something dark and hateful, but it would disappear so quickly that she could never be certain.

Tonight, she had just finished her day with a delightful meal (Molly's cooking) with the Weasleys (minus Ron). They had started holding their monthly gatherings in her house since Severus had moved in. Hermione was grateful to them, because they all went out of their way to assure her that they were not going to abandon her because of her break up with Ron. After all, they had all witnessed their constant fights and supported her more or less in her decision.

After their departure she had wakened Severus from one of his nightmares (It was so hard seeing him recoil from her every time.); And no she was starting to get ready for sleep when the Floo flared and Henry called out to her. "Hermione, can I come over?"

"Of course." She was accustomed by now to his unusual working schedule.

He stepped through waving a bottle excitedly. "I think I have found it." He exclaimed.

IIIIIIIIIIIIII

Severus Snape was feeling quite helpless.

In the past months every day that passed without success made him more hopeful that his suffering would end soon. The gradual increase of his pain was a cause of hope for him also. It was not that he enjoyed the pain, but he had endured worse and it was a sign of his impending death and so it was welcome.

But now, now all his hopes had been crushed. McDougal had found a temporary cure (with his involuntary help), and he was sure that he would be able to find the full treatment in the two year respite. After all he was a very competent healer.

Now his fate was sealed. He was destined to become the perfect slave for Hermione Granger. In normal circumstances, based on what little he knew about this obscure curse he would have four to five years before losing his identity completely due to the reprogramming of the Geas. But Hermione was a very opinionated girl, and she had the tendency of declaring her opinions in the form of admonishments, requests or outright orders; And to the Geas they were all the same. Based on these conditions he estimated his gradual intellectual and spiritual death to take about two years.

But the worst part was that he would live on despite being dead inside, and he would live a happy contented fake existence for a long time and there was no escape from it for him.

It seemed that he had reached the bottom after al… Oh! No. He would not make this mistake again. He didn't want to experience a new low again. So he would try to appreciate his situation, and would be happy that he would be free of this purgatory existence in a few years. He would be happy to have a fake happiness at least.

Yes. He would be happy.

IIIIIIIIIIIIII

Author's Note: The last chapter, the chapter in which I thanked my reviewers, had the least amount of reviews in all my chapters so far. I am never going to thank you again for anything :'(

Just kidding ;)