Author's Notes: No specific warnings here. Please let me know what you think before you go. Prompts and challenges in the usual place, down there

Word count - 1120

Root of Asphodel and Wormwood

Malfoy Manor, July 1997

Rodolphus was reacquainting himself with the corridors of the Manor, as he was levitated into a room he did not remember. A small office, it seemed. Severus Snape levitated his injured body to a sofa by a window, and he hissed in pain as his weight put pressure on bones that were surely broken.

"Stay still," Severus told him, already shuffling through vials, "I'll take away the pain, but your bones will have to grow back over the night."

Skele-Gro, he figured. The potion was a usual remedy in his youth, during his Quidditch playing years at Hogwarts. He would have trouble sleeping tonight.

"Where is Bella?"

"Upstairs. She was furious about missing her niece tonight. Breaking things, I'm sure. The prisoners in the dungeons will have a tough night." Rodolphus sighed. Yes, Bella would probably take out her frustration in some poor soul.

"And the Dark Lord?"

"Upstairs too, probably destroying a room as we speak." At that, he had to hold back a chuckle. No, there was something else upstairs these days, something that Snape was completely ignorant of. A little someone with dark curls and wide, heavy-lidded eyes, that had an uncanny ability of calming both her parents.

But he couldn't talk about that.

Severus was by his side again, gesturing for him to prop himself up on his elbows, so that he could take whatever he was pouring on a spoon. The pain was number then, and Rodolphus sat up just slightly.

There were bookshelves all around the room, but the majority were lined with vials, jars, flagons, bottles and flasks. Some held potions, some held ingredients. This was quite clearly Severus' study and potions lab. He could make out the contours of a cauldron in the corner, simmering with something, but he didn't care to ask.

"You'll stay here for the day, where I can watch over you." It was a simple statement, made as he covered his aching body with a quilt that came flying from behind a door Rodolphus hadn't seen yet. Severus bedroom he figured.

"Do you think there was something we could have done differently?" With the pain numbed, Rodolphus found that he couldn't sleep just now. His brain was reeling, still trying to process what had happened. Seven Potters. Seven freaking Potters had taken to the skies, and they couldn't take a single one out, let alone the right one.

"This is real life. You don't get to hit the rewind button when you make a mistake." Severus answer sounded bitter, like he himself had wished for do-overs many times before.

"What's that? A rewind button?" Rodolphus was honestly puzzled. Severus was simply annoyed by the conversation.

"It's something in Muggle devices. You wouldn't know."

Rodolphus chuckled. Old Snape, getting snappy over his less than clean blood. But he really was curious now.

"What does it do?"

"Think of it as a precisely aimed Time Turner, one they use to go back on a song and such."

"Why? Why on earth would you want to," Rodolphus raised his upper body a little more and immediately regretted it, hissing in pain, "you know what, forget it." He slumped on the sofa, adjusting a pillow beneath his head. Severus smiled.

"Can I trust you to lie down and be still now? Or do I have to sedate you with something?"

"Getting bold, are we? No," Rodolphus shook his head and made a dismissive gesture with his hand, "you do not have to sedate me. And I will hurt you if you try."

He watched the younger wizard get up once more, moving to a place behind the sofa, where he couldn't watch his movements anymore. He didn't like that. The months he had spent in Azkaban hadn't done much for his sanity, but they hadn't broken his body in quite the same way. All his reflexes were ready to go, pain or no pain, he would move. He looked for his wand with his fingers, feeling for it under the quilt, and taking hold of the handle.

He did not need to use it. Snape was smart enough not to move briskly around those that knew the insides of Azkaban a bit too well. They were all like that now, Rodolphus admitted. All of them more than a little broken, but all the more dangerous for it. Severus moved to his side of the sofa again, and lowered his body.

"Here, this is the Skele-Gro," he said, extending him a small glass, "then you drink this. It should help you sleep through the process." Severus stood back up, taking the empty glass and extending a vial, already free of its stopper.

Rodolphus tried, and failed, to prevent his face from twisting at the taste of the potion. The thing hadn't gotten any better with the years. He poured the vial down his mouth, wishing for something better. It was sweet, cloy, and entirely displeasing after the bone growing concoction.

It wasn't a sedative, so it wouldn't make him sleep right away. But it would make his mind foggy, and he had to watch his words around this wizard. He was not a dim witted Carrow. He knew how to put two and two together. So he decided to guide the conversation.

"Did you ever wish to have one of those buttons?"

"Shut up, Rodolphus, and go to sleep." Severus was done talking, apparently. Rodolphus saw the ghost that haunted his dark eyes, behind his greasy hair, that had fallen over his face. That ghost came back every now and then, but Rodolphus hadn't been able to put a finger to it.

He wasn't going to manage that now. Snape had closed on himself, there would be no more talking. Rodolphus stirred under the quilt, adjusting his body, making himself as comfortable as possible. He turned slightly, almost facing the back of the sofa.

He heard Severus mutter something that sounded like a goodnight, but didn't answer. He remained silent as Severus left the study, and closed the door to his bedroom. He focused on the shelves he could see now. Most of the stuff he couldn't identify, he had never been very good with potions, but there were labels on every single one of the flasks and vials.

All but one, in between a jar that read Root of Asphodel and another that read Wormwood. A single jar that held a single flower, obviously preserved by a charm. A white flower that seemed to float inside, untouched by the cylinder of glass, not touching the bottom or the lid. A lily.

There's his ghost. Old Snape and his old regrets, Rodolphus thought. Right before he closed his eyes.

Author's Notes: Prompts and Challenges

Creative Collection Challenge: Pairing – Snape; Dialogue - This is real life. You don't get to hit the rewind button when you make a mistake

Caffeine Awareness Challenge: Cortado - (restriction) No characters under 25

Jewel Challenge: Agate Ring - word Bold

365 Prompts 200. Plant/Flower – Lily