Disclaimer: Yes, I wrote the whole series of Harry Potter, I created all the characters; the HP world belongs to me! Oh, and I'm also the Queen of the world, and I own your house and your cat.
(I have no idea why we even need these disclaimers; the word "Fanfiction" contains "Fan" for a reason.)
…
"Weasley! Stand up! Weasley!" Snape shouted. At first he thought the boy was just too weak and lazy to stand up like a man, but he started to panic after having no response.
The boy was not responding to him, his eyes glazed over, his breaths shallow.
Damn it! He was supposed to be back to normal after the dose run out of effect! I even prepared a lighter dose for him! Snape bent down and shook the boy, attempting to wake him up. Weasley still lay so still on the ground, and Snape ran a diagnostic over him with his wand. As he suspected, the boy's nerves were fried, his body showing signs of the poison…something was off. His energy level was dangerously low. Just as Snape was about to wake him up with Enervate, the boy convulsed again, arms flaying everywhere, and eyes almost fully-dilated.
Madam Pomfrey! Snape carried the boy up into his arms and was surprised at how light he weighed. He wasted no time and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder and stepped into the fireplace.
"Hospital Wing!"
Stepping out of the green flames gracefully, Snape shouted for Madam Pomfrey and laid Weasley on the nearest bed. The boy started convulsing again, and he had to hold his mouth open to stop him from biting his tongue. His tongue was already bleeding a little from a cut by his front teeth.
Madam Pomfrey rushed out form her office and seeing the American Professor and the Headmaster, she froze for a second. Then, she waved her wand and closed the curtains around them, enveloping them for privacy. Snape took out his wand and uttered Muffliato. The Healer had already started running a diagnostic on him, and was almost about to ask Snape why the American Professor was in such a state.
Snape waved his wand over the boy, and his disguises fell. Under the feminine built and the brown locks was a thin and tall boy with distinguish red hair and a frighteningly excess amount of freckles on his face and body. "Weasley?" Madam Pomfrey breathed softly, her eyes wide as saucers.
"I gave him a fairly light dose of Cruciatus Inferni, it only lasted for a minute. He did not wake, and started convulsing again after the dose was over. Eyes were almost fully dilated and breathing shallow. Energy was dangerously low," Snape reported. The witch nodded her head and summoned a couple of potions from her cabinet. She cleaned away the cut on the tongue and healed it with a spell in a second, and with Snape opening his jaws apart, she poured the potions in and forced him to swallow. "Class Five Pain Relieve Potion and Nerve Potion. Nutrition potion too, his stomach was completely bare. And a Throat Relieving Potion; his vocal cords and throat were almost torn," she said, while banishing the potion vials. She didn't ask any questions, as she was sure the Headmaster has his own reasons, and she trusted him completely.
I saw him grow up, after all. Oh, how many times did he return bloody and broken, waiting for me to fix him, from the torture of You-Know-Who? She had literally guessed what the man does in his other life, and she knew there was a plan between Dumbledore and him. Snape did kill Dumbledore, yes, he did, but she was sure it was under Dumbledore's orders and Snape could not help it. She had also tried curing the previous Headmaster of the curse, and she knew Dumbledore would still have died whether or not Snape killed him.
Snape took in the information, and suddenly, the boy convulsed again. His limbs hit the sides of the bed; his head hitting the pillow hardly, and bit open his tongue again. Madam Pomfrey quickly bound his limbs on the bed, and opened his jaws, healing the cut and cleaning the blood out of his mouth. "He'd have to stay that way; I can't have him choking on blood from a cut on his tongue, or his bones breaking due to convulsions. The side-effects have to wear off before I can take the bindings off," she said.
"As you wish," Snape replied, and with a turn, he walked out of the Hospital Wing, robes billowing behind.
…
Ron was aware he was lying on something soft and warm. His ears still rang the dull commands of Snape. He slowly opened his eyes, and not surprisingly, the light glared blindingly at him. He immediately raised his arm to shield his eyes, only realizing then his arms were tied.
Panic filled him, and the dull ache at the back of his skull grew louder and larger, making him wince at the pain. He turned his head, looking for anyone, anyone to free his bindings.
After a whole thirty seconds of blind panic, Ron then took in his surroundings. The familiar features of the Hospital Wing stared back at him, and he suddenly felt aware that his disguise was off.
He then recalled the previous session with Snape, and unconsciously snarled. Or try to snarl. His throat was parched, not even a word could be uttered.
Desperately trying to call for Madam Pomfrey, he tried to speak and shout, but to no avail.
Trying to twist and search for his wand, he saw it by his bed, and with a wandless and silent charm, he summoned his wand and freed himself. Sitting up, he inwardly groaned at the aching of his body and looked around for anyone.
Sure that there was no other presence, he reapplied his disguise and tried to stand and walk out. But, without two steps of walking, his knees buckled and he felt himself fall, thinking, Rats! Ending up on the floor, again!
Just as he was about to hit the ground, a firm hand held him up. Looking up to thank the person, Ron's grateful expression was morphed into a snarling one in just a mere second.
Dumping Ron on the bed, Snape smirked," It seems like you aren't glad I held you up, would you rather I let you fall?"
Ron continued glaring at him as his throat was still bare and parched, speaking would only make him feel and look like a retarded moron in front of Snape.
Noticing his silence, Snape summoned a goblet with a purple substance inside, most likely some potion for him. "Drink it," Snape ordered.
Despite his previous lesson-learned of accepting potions from Snape, Ron fought his instinct to refuse and quickly dunked the potion down. What he got was not another round of torture, but a cool and comforting feeling in his throat, and Ron involuntarily sighed with pleasure and relieve.
Snape snorted, and Ron cocked his head and said grudgingly," Thanks."
"The potion is called Cruciatus Inferni, named and invented by me, with the effects similar to the Cruciatus Curse, only that it can be fatal with overdosing," Snape said, summoning another potion for Ron. "I only gave you one tenth of the normal dose."
Ron was almost smirking at its name, he knew Snape was not talking about the purple potion, obviously, but was shocked that the excruciating pain he felt was only a little portion of the real deal.
"You were supposed to recover after the dose went out of effect, but you did not. Biting open your tongue, dilated pupils, seizures. Do you know why you reacted so specially?" Snape continued, saying the word like it was something good that Ron reacted that way.
"No," Ron replied," I don't know, Sir."
"Because you had zero amount of food and energy in your thin like a twig body! Do you have any idea how malnutrition and low level of energy mixed with a potion like Cruciatus Inferni can result in, Weasley? Obviously you do not," Snape's voice grew alarmingly cold and bone freezing, scaring Ron to bits, despite the soft volume. "You are lucky to be alive, moronic boy, to be laying on this bed when you could have died!"
Ron stuttered out," I-I'm sorry, Professor."
"Yes, you better be. I cannot risk having you starved and depressed over a small matter of accidentally revealing yourself to your sister and removing her memories thus wrecking the plan to defeat the Dark Lord, you imbecile. You are needed to win this war, as am I, so having yourself killed and the war lost because of your depression over leaving your precious Miss Granger and Potter does not help!" Snape continued his drawl, and turned away from Ron.
"So, if you think your fixation on leaving your friends and sister is more important than this war, be my guest and return to wherever you stayed before you arrived here and continue wallowing in guilt," Snape walked out of the Hospital Wing, with his signature billowing robes.
Hearing the professor's words, Ron was frozen, and he finally realized, he was not here at Hogwarts, learning Occlumency from Snape just to sneak in to You-Know-Who's hideout and kill the snake. What he was doing was not so pure and simple, not a game, but a dangerous plot and plan to infiltrate the enemy undetected and be part of the war. He was controlling the results of the war; one simple mistake could cause numerous wizards and muggles to die. He was not going to just kill the snake; he was going to be a spy, not just for helping Harry and Hermione, but also for the countless wizards and muggles of the Light. He was a spy, helping to win the war.
…
Just when Ron was feeling better after Snape's potions, Madam Pomfrey appeared and fussed over him.
"Professor? How are you feeling? Did the Headmaster provide you any potions?" she asked.
"Uh, yes, the Headmaster provided me two potions, a purple one that cooled my throat, and the other, if I'm not mistaken, a nutrition potion. Thank you for your care, Madam Pomfrey, I should get going," Ron quickly replied, hoping she would let him go without any further ado.
"Ah, so be it. If you feel any uneasiness or dizziness or anything of that sort, come to me immediately, do you understand? Keep your stomach full too, Professor. It would not do for you to go around without any energy, yes?" Madam Promfrey instructed sternly.
"Definitely, Madam Pomfrey. Good day to you," Ron gave a small smile and walked out of the Hospital Wing.
Just when he was almost out of Madam Pomfrey's range, he heard the same stern voice saying back, "Good say to you too, Ronald."
Ron froze at the spot for a second, and quickly continued walking. Snape must have revealed my identity, or Madam Pomfrey figured it out herself!
Walking back to his quarters, Ron met with the Carrows, and refrained from snarling at them. "Hello, Professors."
"Look, isn't it the chick from the States?" Alecto smirked, and cocked his head towards Ron.
"Ah, yes, I'm sure she's just a little mudblood from America, no one heard of any Rosales before," his sister said with venom filled in the word 'mudblood'.
Fury erupted in Ron's blood, and his wand hand twitched, almost hexing them into next year.
"I'll have you know, I am a perfectly legitimate pureblood, and you've never heard of my name before because your ears are so full of cotton that nothing can penetrate into the pea brain of yours, Professor. We Rosales are respected and high in the wizarding world over in America. Even so, what's wrong with being a Muggle-born? Did any of them kill your loved ones or harmed you? I'm afraid I don't believe that. Good day to both of you," Ron spit out as clearly and as calm as he can, each and every word lain with disgust and the corners of his mouth turned up a little to a venomous smile when the Carrows' eyes widened in shock at someone insulting them.
By then, all the students were looking at them, and some had grins on their faces, Ron could roughly gauge that they were happy that someone dared to insult the Carrows.
Without looking back, Ron walked away, trying to make a spectacular depart like Snape, but his robes just could not billow. Feeling smug that he finally insulted the Carrows, but at the back of his mind, he knew he got himself on bad terms with them, meaning the Death Eaters. Voldemort would not be happy. Neither would Snape.
…
"Harry, would you help me switch off the light?" Hermione asked quietly. The dim light was switched off, and only light shadows remained, projected from the light of the moon. The rustle of leaves from the wind could be heard, and accompanying these sounds were the soft sobbing of a certain bushy haired witch.
Harry lay facing the opposite direction from Hermione; his heart was pained and sour from hearing Hermione's cries of someone she loves. He could only lie there and pretend he could not hear a single thing, and slowly drifting off into sleep.
…
A/N: I will end the chapter here, as most of you guys have been waiting patiently for a new chapter. I see no harm cutting it off at this point, the next scene was a different one. Hope you liked the Harry and Hermione part.
This chapter was roughly 2k words, and I had fun writing the Carrows part. (I'd love to insult them) I hope y'all enjoy this chapter, I'll try to complete the next one as soon as possible! Oh, and I need fanfiction recommendations. Mainly Snape or Ron centric, please, no Slash. (No Severitus either; I've read enough of them to last me a decade) Feel free to PM or just leave it in a review!
One last thing, this chapter was not beta-d or anything like such, grammar checks were only done by yours truly, so there's a REALLY high percentage this chapter is full of mistakes. Please bear with it and thanks for reading!
P.S. Do you realise I did NOT leave you with a cliffhanger? I think this is the first or second chapter I didn't leave you with one. There's no need to thank me. :)
Remember, reviews are the only thing us writers get in return!
