Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it. I am merely borrowing J.K Rowling's brilliant characters and backdrop.
HPHPHP
Harry had spent the evening mulling over what he had seen in Snape's room. The memories of the protective gleam in his bushy haired friend Hermione's eyes as she stepped in front of Snape, the moment of vulnerability he had seen beneath the typical expression of cold indifference that adorned the hooked nosed boy's face, Snape's bogart of a drunk, uncouth, vicious man, and Hermione's bogart of him and Ron dead were images Harry could not rid from his mind. Harry debated talking to one or both of them about what he had seen, but he knew the look of disapproval he would receive from his bushy haired friend for eavesdropping and he was certain he would only receive a cold, sarcastic remark from Snape.
Well, it was too late now to talk to either Hermione or Snape Harry thought crawling into his bed across from Ron's.
Slowly Harry's thoughts faded and he fell into a fitful sleep.
His body felt smooth, powerful and flexible. He was gliding between shining metal bars, across dark, cold stone . . . he was flat against the floor, sliding along on his belly . . . it was dark, yet he could see objects around him shimmering in strange, vibrant colors . . . he was turning his head . . . at first glance the corridor was empty . . . but no . . . a man was sitting on the floor ahead, his chin drooping on to his chest, his outline gleaming in the dark . . .
Harry put out his tongue . . . he tasted the man's scent on the air . . . he was alive but drowsy . . . sitting in front of a door at the end of the corridor …
Harry longed to bite the man . . . but he must master the impulse . . . he had more important work to do . . .
But the man was stirring . . . a silver Cloak fell from his legs as he jumped to his feet; and Harry saw his vibrant, blurred outline towering above him, saw a wand withdrawn from a belt . . . he had no choice . . . he reared high from the floor and struck once, twice, three times, plunging his fangs deeply into the man's flesh, feeling his ribs splinter beneath his jaws, feeling the warm gush of blood . . .
The man was yelling in pain . . . then he fell silent . . . he slumped backwards against the wall . . . blood was splattering on to the floor . . .
His forehead hurt terribly . . . it was aching fit to burst . . .
"Harry! Harry!"
He opened his eyes. Every inch of his body was covered in icy sweat; his bed covers were twisted all around him like a strait-jacket; he felt as though a white-hot poker were being applied to his forehead.
"Harry!"
Ron was standing over him looking extremely frightened.
"Your dad he's been hurt . . . hurt bad," Harry panted.
"Harry what are you talking about? Are you alright?"
"Your dad . . . attacked . . . snake . . . blood," Harry gasped. He need to make Ron understand. It didn't matter if Harry was alright. Mr. Weasley had been attacked and was badly injured and it was Harry's fault.
"I'm going to get an adult. You stay here, Harry," Ron said, his face ashen.
Several minutes numerous Order members were crowded around Harry's bed.
"Mr. Weasley he's been attacked by a snake – he needs help," Harry said hurriedly.
"What are you talking about, Harry dear," Ms. Weasley asked in a motherly tone, but Harry could see the fear in her eyes.
"I saw it. You have to believe me – you have to help him."
"What do you mean you saw it, Potter?" the ex-auror Moody growled.
"It was a dream, but it wasn't . . . it was real. It felt different," Harry exclaimed. He knew what he had seen. Why was everyone still sitting around asking him questions and not going to rescue Mr. Weasley?
Several of the Order members exchanged glances and Harry waited apprehensively to see if any of them would believe him.
"Tonks, Kingsley go check on Weasley. I'm going to send a patronus to Albus," Moody barked.
"What is going on here?" demanded a young silky voice.
"It doesn't concern you, Snape," Moody snarled sending the young Slytherin a hard glare.
Snape, however, seemed unfazed by the hostile treatment and continued on in the same bored drawl, "If a member of the Order has indeed been attacked by a venomous snake, than I will be the best equipped to deal with it."
"And why would you think that, boy, when there are plenty of capable adults here," Moody growled and Harry mentally agreed.
"Potter, I need you to describe to the best of your ability the nature of Mr. Weasley's injuries, so Granger and I can prepare ourselves the best we can," Snape continued, ignoring Moody.
"It was a big snake and I . . . it struck three times. The wounds were deep," Harry stammered.
Snape seemed unimpressed by Harry's description, but beckoned Hermione to follow him to go prepare Harry supposed.
HPHPHP
"Severus," Granger called half running after Severus.
"What?" Severus snapped irritably.
"Do you really think we can do this?"
The dark haired Slytherin grunted. Honestly, Severus wasn't all too confident in his ability to heal Mr. Weasley, but he wasn't going to let them know that. So instead of voicing his doubts, Severus said in calm, authoritive voice as they hurried down the hallway, "We are going to need a blood relinquishing potion, an anti-venom, and probably a pain reducer. Do you know how to do a stasis charm?"
"Well, I've read about them . . ." Granger began hedgingly.
"As have I. The question, however, was not have you read about them, but can you perform one?" Severus drawled.
"I've never attempted the stasis charm before so I do not know," the bushy haired Gryffindor replied icily.
"I suppose we can have one of the adults to it then, perhaps Ms. Tonks."
Severus irritably turned around realizing that Granger had stopped following him. "Why are you standing there? We don't have time for dawdling," the ill-tempered boy demanded scathingly.
"Don't you think we should let the adults take care of it?" Granger asked, her tone implying that was she thought they should do.
"No," Severus replied simply before continuing towards the room he had converted into a potions lab.
Less than five minutes later the aurors Tonks and Kingsley had returned a blood soaked Mr. Weasley clutched in their arms.
"Move," Severus barked shoving his way through the Order members Granger trailing behind him.
"Lift his head, Granger," Severus instructed kneeling beside the blood traitor Weasley. He carefully poured an anti-venom down the man's throat followed by the vile of blood relinquishing potion.
"Ms. Tonks could you perform a stasis charm on Mr. Weasley?"
Tonks nodded numbly and stepped forward performing the spell.
"Granger needle and thread," Severus requested holding a small pale hand.
The bushy haired girl handed the younger child the requested items.
"What are you doing to my husband?" Ms. Weasley cried frantically, pushing her way to the front.
Ignoring the irate woman, Severus tread the needle and began to sew up the wound. It seemed to be working . . . no, the thread was being dissolved. "Damn it," Severus hissed angrily.
"What's wrong?" Granger questioned anxiously.
"The venom it's dissolving the stiches."
"You're experimenting on my husband," the always overbearing and explosive Ms. Weasley roared.
"Get her out of here," Severus snarled. He needed to focus and having the irate redhead screaming at him wasn't helping anything. What if . . . what if he dipped the thread in the anti-venom….perhaps coating the thread in the potion would prevent it from dissolving due to the snake venom. "Granger pass me another vile of the anti-venom," Severus said slowly.
Severus dipped the string into the substance insuring that it was fully coated before threading the needle. Carefully he began to stich Mr. Weasley's skin back together using the same well practiced technique he had used countless times on his own wounds.
Sitting back on his heels, Severus admired his handiwork. The first slash was successfully sewed together – his hunch that dipping the string in the vile of anti-venom having been correct. Smirking proudly, Severus proceeded to stich the rest of the red haired man's skin back together.
Severus wasn't sure how long it took, but at last he was done. Mr. Weasley was sill unconscious, but that was probably for the best. Both Severus and his assistant, Granger, were coated in scarlet. Wiping his bloody hands on his pants, Severus stood.
"He should be fine, however, someone should observe him through the remainder of the night and you might want to move him to a more comfortable place. In three hours' time he should be administered another dose of the blood relinquisher and a pain alleviant if needed," Severus said briskly, once more shoving his way through the crowd.
"Where are you going, Severus?" Granger demanded, as usual sticking her nose into his business.
"To take a shower. I suggest you do the same," Severus said coldly, turning on his heel and stalking off.
HPHPHP
Hermione watched the small dark haired boy stalk out of the room his back rigid and his expression sour as it usually was, leaving behind a silence that was only broken by Ms. Weasley's sniffles.
"This is marvelous work, very impressive."
Hermione jumped at the sound of the headmaster's voice having not noticed the ancient wizard's arrival.
"And he handled the situation very professionally as did you, Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall, who had accompanied the headmaster, added.
Hermione had to agree with both of their comments. She had seen how talented Severus was when it came to potions working with him in the lab. In fact her respect for his skill had doubled from what it had been when he was her professor at Hogwarts. She knew he was the youngest person to receive his potions mastery in centuries, but she had never realized how talented he really he was and given what she had seen him to do a twelve begged the question of how capable he must have been as an adult. Hermione had also impressed by his calm and refined composure that could only stem from having treated wounds of similar caliber previously.
"Is Arthur really alright?" Hermione heard Ms. Weasley asking.
"It seems so," someone replied.
She could hear the Weasley's talking amongst themselves, but she didn't listen to the words they were saying until Ms. Weasley's arms were suddenly wrapped around her squeezing her tightly.
"Thank you so much, Hermione. I know I got a bit upset earlier, but…" Ms. Weasley gushed.
"It's completely understandable," Hermione reassured the motherly woman.
"I ought to go thank Severus now," the Weasley matron said, drying her tears with a handkerchief.
"No," Hermione declared firmly.
"Why not? It is thanks to him Arthur is in as good a condition as he is and I was a bit harsh with him earlier."
"Yes, but Severus is exhausted and I highly doubts he wants to interact with anyone right now. Thank him in the morning," Hermione said firmly, her words surprising herself as much as everyone else in the room. She knew her words were true though, Severus would as likely bit Ms. Weasley's head off as accept her appreciation graciously.
Ms. Weasley nodded.
"I'm going to take a shower," Hermione announced, glancing down at her own blood drenched hands.
Ron and Harry followed her up the stairs, both still looking shaken.
Hermione found herself trembling as well as she climbed the stairs with Ron and Harry. She had been too distracted while she and Severus were working to be afraid and panicked.
"I don't trust him . . . Snape. He could've pulled some funny business while he was working on dad," Ron said, his voice fearful and accusatory.
"No, Hermione said forcefully, glaring at her ever incentive friend Ron, "he wouldn't do that."
"What do you think, Harry?" Ron asked, clearly looking for support from their third group member.
"Huh?" Harry said and it was obvious he had not been paying attention to Hermione and Ron's conversation.
"We were talking about whether we think Snape was really helping dad back there," Ron explained.
"But never mind that," Hermione interjected, "are you alright, Harry? Seeing that vison must have been terrible."
Harry nodded mutely.
"You know this isn't your fault, right?" Hermione asked gently, placing a hand her dark haired friend's shoulder.
"But . . ." Harry protested meekly.
"Hermione's right, don't blame yourself mate. It couldn't have been your fault and thanks to you the Order was notified immediately who knows what would have happened otherwise," Ron added reassuringly.
Their conversation came to a close as they arrived at Harry and Ron's room. They said their goodbyes and Hermione exhaustedly trudged the rest of the way to the bathroom she shared with Ginny.