Chapter 26: The Unexpected Patronus

Scar tissue that I wish you saw.
Sarcastic Mr. Know-It-All.
Close your eyes and I'll kiss you cause with the birds

I'll share this lonely view

Although she diligently found out all the information she could about Dementors and Azkaban, Sylvie could not figure out how he had escaped the prison and entered Hogwarts undetected. All the teachers were asked to keep an eye on Harry Potter, as he was Black's target. The weather seemed to reflect the dark mood of the school as it turned nasty with pelting rain and howling winds. One good thing, there was no sign of Sirius Black.

The day before the first Quidditch match, Remus asked her to take his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes as he was not 'feeling well'. Sylvie agreed but was unable to take the third lesson as she was already scheduled to take Professor Babbling's class in Ancient Runes and was unable to switch to another day. Since Severus was free third period, he would take the class. Teaching all day was very tiring and Sylvie started feeling intense cramps. The doctor had assured her that this was normal because her small body was stretching to accommodate the increasing size and she was to lie flat whenever she had the cramping. Immediately after dinner, she told Severus that she had to lie down to relieve the pain. He became concerned that she was overdoing things and stayed with her, giving her a massage this time. She went to sleep feeling much better.

The day of the Quidditch match did not look promising. If anything, the weather seemed to have worsened. A furious storm was pelting down rain and whipping up winds that approached hurricane strength. "Are they still going to play in this," Sylvie asked her husband, incredulous.

"It's Quidditch," was his reply, as if that explained everything. "Why don't we sit this game out? I really don't want you out there in your condition."

"Don't worry. I feel much better today. I'm from Canada. We are used to bad weather."

Sylvie wished she had taken her husband's advice and stayed inside. It was almost impossible to see what was happening with the rain. The sky was so dark, it was almost like night. The game dragged on much longer than a regular Quidditch game, probably because no one could see the Snitch. 'It's much too dark,' thought Sylvie to herself, 'even factoring in the storm.'

She tugged on his sleeve. "There's something wrong."

He turned to her alarmed. "What is it? Are the cramps back?"

"No, it's not me. There's something wrong here." Using her keen sight to look up into the blackness, she screamed, "No!"

Transforming into a hawk, she shot off into the sky. Severus leapt from the stands, pushed one of the Weasley twins off their broom and took off after her. The sight that met his eyes filled his heart with terror. Dementors were everywhere and Sylvie was flying straight through them. He whipped out his wand, shouting, "Expecto Patronum." Instead of his usual Patronus, a silvery unicorn emerged from his wand. The unicorn cleared a path through the Dementors, to Sylvie and Harry Potter?

Sylvie had transformed back into her human self and was trying to support Potter, unconscious, on his broom. She was barely maintaining her balance as the wind whipped the broom from side to side. To make things worse, four Dementors approached from below, heading straight towards them. They both drew their wands and shouted, "Expecto Patronum." At that moment, she lost the battle against the wind, trying to hold Potter and cast a spell all at the same time. Both she and Harry Potter fell towards the ground. She quickly transformed into her animagus and tried to slow his descent by grabbing on to his robes but a Ferruginous Hawk, though large, is unable to bear the weight of a teenage boy. Before he could react, Professor Dumbledore cast a spell that slowed them down but Potter still hit the ground with a loud thump. Sylvie tumbled after him, changed back into her natural form and promptly passed out.

Severus hit the ground running, scooping his wife up in his arms. She opened her eyes. "Sev," she whispered, lifting her hand to his face. Professor Dumbledore produced a stretcher for Sylvie as well as for Harry Potter but he refused to let go of his wife. Carrying her as tenderly but as quickly as he could, he strode to the hospital wing. It was only then that he allowed others to take her. Madame Pomfrey examined both victims, healed minor injuries and pronounced bed rest. She drew a curtain to give the couple some privacy and finally shooed all the other visitors away. Snape was finally able to react.

He exploded. Even though he kept his voice to a furious whisper, Harry Potter could still hear every word he said. "Of all the things you've done, that was by far the stupidest. You put yourself in danger and you put our unborn children in danger. You don't have to be the hero, Sylvie. Do you have any idea of the damage you may have done transforming into a hawk while pregnant?"

She must have shaken her head because the next thing that Harry heard Snape say was, "I have no idea either."

"The children are all right. I can still feel them."

"But did you know that before you transformed? You flew straight through the Dementors. Do you not care what might have happened to you, what might have happened to me?"

Harry didn't understand this last part. Snape wasn't the one who rescued him. From what his Quidditch team told him, it was Professor Turner. She had transformed into a hawk and tried to stop him from falling. And it was Professor Dumbledore who had slowed his descent so that he hadn't ended up dead, as he should have falling from such a height. Hermione had said something about Snape going after them on a broom but she hadn't mentioned that he did anything. Harry could not see Professor Snape trying to save him. He was shocked at what he was saying to his wife. 'If my wife almost died saving someone, I wouldn't be yelling at her,' he thought.

"I'm sorry, Sev," she said in a small voice.

Before he could berate his wife further, Madame Pomfrey came in. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave too, Severus. My patients need rest. Sylvie should be able to return to your rooms tomorrow." Harry watched him stomp out of the room with an expression of pure fury. He had never seen Snape so angry, not even at him.

It was just the two of them, alone in the room. Harry called out tentatively, "Are you all right?"

Professor Turner pulled aside the curtain. Despite the recent danger and her husband's berating, she was in a fantastic mood. Severus had expressed concern for their children which proved that he did care about them, despite expressing no interest in them so far. Sitting with a big smile on her face, she had her shoes and stockings off, swinging her bare feet off the side of the bed. Harry was fascinated by her feet. Like most schoolchildren, he did not think of his professors as quite human. Although they too lived at the school, they were always fully dressed and fulfilling their role as instructor and disciplinarian. It's true that Harry Potter had seen Professor Turner in her night shirt last year, but that had been unusual circumstances and it had been dark. To be sitting there with bare feet, just like a regular person, was unfathomable. He was sure that he would never, in this lifetime, see Professor Snape sitting on a bed swinging his bare feet. He wondered if he even showed his bare feet to his wife.

"I'm fine," she answered. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm OK. Just sore and tired."

"Is that your broomstick?" She gestured to the splintered remains of his Nimbus 2000.

He winced and tried to keep the utter devastation out of his voice. "It hit the Whomping Willow."

"I'm sorry, Harry. There's no spell that's going to fix that. The damage is much more severe than the damage to Ron's wand last year."

"Yeah, I know."

They were quiet for a while. Harry didn't know what to say about Professor Snape's behaviour. It was Professor Turner who brought it up.

"I guess you overheard Severus and I."

"How can he be angry at you. You should get a medal or something. Maybe he's angry because it was my life that you saved." Harry couldn't help it. Snape was wrong and he wanted Professor Turner to know that.

She sighed. "He's absolutely right. It was stupid of me to fly after you without thinking. It's not just my own life that I have to consider."

"If he loved you, he'd be grateful that you and the babies are OK."

To his surprise, Professor Turner found that amusing. "You don't know much about love, do you Harry Potter. It is precisely because he loves me so much that he is so angry. The fact that he may have lost me and our children this afternoon absolutely terrifies him. Instead of showing fear, he shows a more acceptable emotion, anger."

"Anger is more acceptable than fear?"

"To him it is." She didn't explain that and Harry felt he had probably said too much already.

…

Harry Potter was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of voices. He cautiously opened his eyes and, with the help of moonlight from the windows, saw Professor Snape sitting on a chair with his wife sitting on his lap, her arms around his neck, her head resting beside his against the back of the chair. The storm inside and outside seemed to have blown itself out. She was swinging those bare feet again. Should he let them know he was awake? No, Snape would probably bite his head off. Better to pretend he was still asleep.

"I should have known your Patronus would be a hawk," Snape said.

"Some of my happiest memories are of flying, though not in a raging storm. And yours is a unicorn. I know what it means to you now but what did it mean to you in the past? Why a unicorn?"

Snape looked uncomfortable. "It wasn't always a unicorn."

"Really, your Patronus changed?"

"It is possible, since your happiest memories can change."

"Oh Sev." It looked like Professor Turner was going to cry. Harry had no idea why or what they were talking about. What was a Patronus? What did the unicorn mean? What was his Patronus before? His next statement made Harry even more curious.

He took her face in his hands. "I was so afraid that I had lost you. Everyone I love dies."

She placed her hand on his cheek. "I'm not going to die. I'll still be irritating you when we are old and gray and can no longer remember half the spells we know. I promise."

"You can't make a promise like that."

"I promise to do my very best to keep my promise."

Amazingly, Snape smiled. This time, Snape's smile actually looked pleasant, untainted by its usual cruelty. His smiles usually meant that he had caught someone at something that he would be able to exact the maximum punishment. To Harry's utter embarrassment, they started snogging. He closed his eyes tight, not wanting to witness this scene. Unfortunately, he couldn't block his ears too. Kissing sounds and rapid breathing surrounded him and Harry gave up a prayer of thanks when they stopped.

"We can't," Snape said.

"Why not?"

Snape must have indicated the supposedly sleeping Harry because Professor Turner then said, "But he's sleeping."

"With the noises you make, he'll wake up soon enough."

"Then let's go back to our room. I want you."

"No, Sylvie. Madame Pomfrey said you needed to rest. I shouldn't even be here but I just had to see you."

She pouted. "You are right, as usual."

This earned another smile from Snape. He carried his wife back to the bed and kissed her tenderly before he left. Her breathing soon slowed, indicating that she was asleep.

Harry Potter felt like he was going to be sick. They were talking about having sex. What if they had actually done it with him in the room. Maintaining the pretense of sleep would have been beyond him and he would have bolted from the bed, incurring the wrath of Snape. He'd already incurred the wrath of Snape yesterday in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class when he'd questioned him as to why Professor Lupin wasn't teaching the class. Wait until he told Ron and Hermione about what they did with him in the room. On second thought, he wasn't going to tell Ron and Hermione. He wasn't going to tell anyone.

Harry looked up at the ceiling, thinking about their conversation. At least it gave him something else to think about besides the dying screams of his mother he had heard when facing the Dementors. Professor Snape was different when he was in private with his wife. He was almost human. He didn't snarl and try to intimidate her. Actually, he was affectionate with her. Who had he loved that had died? Maybe his parents? Harry's parents had died at a very early age. You would think that that fact would gain Harry some sympathy. Giving up on solving the mystery of Snape, Harry fell asleep.