Two days later

Licking my paws to get rid of the last of the shortbread crumbs I yawned contentedly. Life was as good as it got when you had a mad dark lord on the rampage. I had only just finished the large slab of shortbread that McGonagall had given to me, Hermione had given me a very good scratching around an hour ago, and Severus' bedroom where I was resting was quiet and warm. Unlike the downstairs living room which was full of order members playing board games and drinking lots of tea. And these are wizards and witches who are supposed to save us all, thank the gods that no one outside of the order would ever see this behaviour. The quiet atmosphere was broken when my Master stumbled through the door.

"Severus?" I was on my feet instantly, this was bad. He was still dressed in his Death Eater robes and because of this I could not see the blood that stained the cloth, but I could smell it. Moaning in pain he gently lowered himself on his bed and with shaking hands removed his mask. Clearly no-one else had seen him, he would have been challenged, it's not everyday you get a death eater stumble into order headquarters. Anxious as I was to comfort him, I restrained myself, he was already shaking from the after effects of the cruiciatus curse, a simple touch would increase the pain and I didn't want him in pain. So instead I positioned myself on the headboard.

"What should I do Severus?"

"Nothing" he choked out "it will pass" To me that wasn't an acceptable answer.

"There must be something Severus, maybe I should get Madame Pomfrey…"

"No" he gasped, shaking from a new bought of pain, I made a gentle dooking sound, hoping to calm him "I don't want that woman near me" I had no idea what to do, no matter what he said he needed medical attention and I was in no position to care for him and yet he would tolerate no one else. My head shot up as an idea hit me, there was one other whom he got on with. Despite my desire to stay with him I jumped down from the headboard and ran through the cat flap that Severus had installed in his bedroom door. Quickly traversing the stairs I ran into the sitting room which housed the majority of the order members. Being careful not to be trodden on I dashed through the multiple pairs of feet, looking for the pair that I needed. To my despair she was not in the room, making a decision I raced out of the room and into the kitchen, startling Potter in the process and if it had not been such an emergency I would have found him throwing himself away from me causing him to crash into the female Weasley funny. I was so relieved when I finally caught her scent; luckily Hermione was on her own reading at the kitchen table. Scaling the table I began hissing to attract her attention, fortunately it worked and she looked up.

"What is it Sophia?" not having the time to spell out my response in her book I ran up to her only to turn and bound towards the direction of the door making "come here" gestures with my head. Good job she was so smart otherwise she may not have understood, however she caught on right away and got up to follow me, obviously sensing my distress. Leading her up to Severus' room took less time than I thought it would, she was moving almost as fast as me, clearly wanting to know my source of concern. So close was the distance between us that when I leapt through the cat flap she almost opened the door on my tail. Reminding myself to yell at her later for it I led her to the bed.

"Professor" she gasped and made her way towards him.

"What did you get her for?" gasped my Master so only I would hear (aka through our bond)

"Shut up Severus, you know she took that course with Madame Pomfrey, she's the closest thing there is to a medi-witch that there is at Grimauld place so be quiet and let her work." I settled myself back on the headboard and watched as Hermione gingerly checked my Master's injuries, and disrobed him; placing him in a pair of pyjama bottoms (she did it with magic, no need to get excited!). I winced at the array of injuries littering his chest, more scars; clearly the girl was just as shocked if her gasp was anything to go by.

"Sir I can heal these, but the magic will cause the after effects of the Cruiciatus curse to increase until the wounds are healed" she stated, obviously shaken by the amount of blood "but if I don't heal them then they may become infected."

"Heal them Miss Granger" he mumbled "I'm used to pain by now", he didn't see when she wiped a small tear away, her clear distress at my Masters pain made her a lot more worthy in my eyes, maybe Crookshanks was onto something with these two. We both winced as she began to heal his wounds, he was clearly trying to muffle his sounds of pain but it was ineffective, once she had finished he was still left shaking, still suffering from pain from the cruiciatus curse.

"Musco" the girl intoned flicking her wand; quickly Severus' shaking subsided slightly.

"What was that?" he asked, his voice thickened slightly with pain.

"A spell I have developed sir, it will help to relax your muscles; decreasing the amount of pain you feel" she replied, pulling the covers up over him "unfortunately it will have to be renewed every hour to take full effect." I could sense how impressed Severus was, it was difficult to create a new spell.

"Thank you Miss Granger"

"That's quite alright; I'll just go and get you a sleeping draft"

"That won't be…" but she had already left the room. Cautiously I moved close to him and when I realised the spell was actually working buried myself in his arms.

"Are you alright now?" I asked my heart aching with concern. Gently he stroked me, trying to calm me down.

"I'm better now Sophie, thanks to Miss Granger, I'm glad you fetched her."

"So am I" I was glad that he was healed, but I could sense that there was more that he was not telling me, "What is wrong Severus"

"They know" he mumbled, hands tightening slightly in my fur. I knew who he was referring to why else would he come back beaten so badly, especially after his supposed triumph at Dumbledore's "death".

"What that Dumbledore is alive or that you are a double agent?"

"Both, one led to the other" I could sense his frustration at failing in his task for Dumbledore, my Master was a proud man and disliked failure, I however held a different view.

"I am sorry that you have suffered because of your discovery Severus but I am glad that you don't have to pander to that maniac anymore"

"I couldn't agree more, but there was still information to be discovered…"

"Oh shut it Severus" I said, settling myself more comfortably in his arms "you did as much as you could just worry about getting better." He gently vibrated with silent laugh only to groan slightly, the spell was beginning to wear out. Fortunately Hermione walked in at that moment. I watched in amusement as the two argued over the sleeping draft, eventually Hermione got her way and after administering both potion and spell settled in a chair that she dragged to his bedside.

After a few minutes Severus entered the realms of sleep and I gently disengaged myself from his arms and leapt into her lap. I dooked as she began scratching me and nuzzled her as a thank you, she had done much for my master.

"There's no need to thank me Sophia" she murmured and then lowering her voice she asked "can I tell you a secret?" After giving a signal in the affirmative she whispered her confession in my ear, she looked at me afterwards obviously expecting some sort of negative reaction but I only dooked and nuzzled her hand. Grinning she set me back on her lap. So we sat there all night, two females who both loved the dreaded potions master (to different degrees of course) watching over him as the wizarding world prepared for war.