The Games They Play
Chapter 42
Severus turned around so swiftly he almost slid with one foot in the shower, righting himself, he flicked his wand – grateful he never took it off his wrist – and his clothes were back on, despite the wet trailing down his body. Which was easily absorbed by the material of his clothes. Yanking open the door he shot out like a bat out of hell, noticing that Harry was performing CPR on Blake while shouting at him.
"Don't you die on me, don't you dare die on me! Not now! We won Blake, we won, please come back!" pressing down against Blake's chest, trying to get his heart to restart.
Severus grabbed a hold of the teen and backed him up, using a spell that did CPR compressions it was much easier on Blake's already wounded side. Having someone in a blind panic trying to press down on the wounds would be painful and could potentially lead to a rib being accidentally thrust through his lung. The spell would get him breathing, but whether he would begin breathing on his own…well, he didn't know but he prayed for a miracle, for once in his life, he prayed for something to go right.
"He can't die!" Harry choked out, the absolute fright he got when he heard that sound go off…he'd been sleeping but he'd immediately lurched up to do whatever he had to in order to save Blake's life. Terror almost rendering him speechless, and immobile.
Severus swallowed thickly, he had no words, he couldn't think of one thing to say. Not when he was feeling nothing but total devastation himself. All he could do was clutch at Harry, and watch in desolation as Blake died before his very eyes.
The longer he went without breathing…the worse that feeling came. It was mere seconds, for most part uncounted, except for now. Those seconds were vital and terror inducing.
Dobby suddenly popping in with Poppy Pomfrey didn't surprise them at all. They'd been expecting it, even if it did feel like hours opposed to the reality of being under a minute.
Poppy immediately hastened towards Blake's side, nodding her approval at the CPR compressions. Silencing the alarm, so she could work without distraction. She begun by running a diagnosis to see what the possible problem could be, and found it immediately. A rib was pressing against his lungs, had actually punctured it, thus making him unable to breathe.
"I need the restitutio pathologica pulmonis draught immediately, Severus!" Poppy called out, draining the liquid from his lungs, knowing he had charms on his cupboards to prevent just anyone from summoning his potions for safety's sake, which was quite irritating right now.
That wasn't a much needed potion, and the did not keep it in the Hospital wing. Thank Merlin, Severus was always an overly cautious individual and had brewed nearly every potion conceivable and kept them viable by stasis charms and the like. "Accio!" Severus chanted, summoning the potion to himself, not budging, not that he could have, Harry had a strong grip on him at the moment, his eyes never wavering from Blake's face.
"Poppy," he warned her, as it floated towards her, she snatched it out in mid-air while she guided the rib back into position, he'd need another rib mending draught, she thought. Dumping the potion into his mouth and massaged his throat, getting the draught down his gullet at quickly as humanly possible. "It's repairing the damage, ease off the spell," Poppy told him, anxiety thrumming through her, this was make or break, Blake was either going to survive or die.
Severus reluctantly did so, and the three waited with bated breath for the outcome.
Then the most blessed sound met their ears, breathing, as wheezy and shallow as it was. He was breathing on his own.
The three let out shaky breaths, closing their eyes, swallowing thickly, thanking Merlin for mercy. "He needs a rib mending draught, but he can only get three millilitres," Poppy informed him, already digging into her bag to get the aforementioned potion. Using an oral syringe to measure it out and get it down Blake's throat. The rest of the potion was set on the tray with the other vials.
Once she was done doing all she could for him, she unsilenced the spell that allowed them to hear Blake's breathing. There, that would give them peace of mind, and her, she thought. Sitting down, she manually wrote everything down on the clipboard, including the potions she had just given him.
"Would you like a coffee, Poppy?" Severus asked, hiding his shaking hands, of course, Blake had to make things difficult, it was his MO really. Dramatic ass that he was, scaring the life out of everyone.
"If you wouldn't mind," Poppy agreed, muffling her yawns, she felt like she'd just gone to sleep.
"Dobby can do it," Dobby declared immediately, causing all of them to startle, surprised to see the house-elf still there. They shouldn't be Dobby had always been very loyal to Harry, and that loyalty had transferred to Blake as well, obviously. Not only had Blake employed him, given him a Master again, but it was fundamentally his Harry Potter just older.
"No," Severus retorted sharply, before his tone softened, "No, I'll do it, Dobby," he needed something to do otherwise he felt as though he was going to go insane. Still hiding his shaking hands, he moved into the kitchen and began the prep for coffee.
Closing his eyes, he pressed his hands against the counter, breathing evenly as possible. Trying to regain his equilibrium, he'd done a lot of shit in his life. including spy on an insane son of a bitch, who would have tortured him to death for weeks if he'd found out. He'd done all that with stable hands, yet Blake not breathing had reduced him to a near mindless panic.
Once he felt a little more calm, the sound of the heartbeat aiding him surprisingly. He made the coffee's and placed them absently on the tray along with milk and one cube of sugar, it's how Poppy took it normally, but he wasn't sure if she'd want it this late. Once he was sure his hands would shake, he took the tray and brought it through to the sitting area.
"Sit down," Severus told Harry, waiting until he did so before handing over a coffee. He contemplated the idea of drugging it with a Dreamless sleep draught, but nixed the idea. If anything happened to Blake during the night…Harry would never forgive him. He had grown to care for Harry, very deeply, to his surprise.
Severus handed Poppy hers, before taking a seat closest to Blake as possible. He doubted very much he'd get a shower or sleep tonight. So he had no problem consuming as much coffee as possible in order to remain awake.
"How did Minerva take the news?" Severus asked Poppy as he cupped the mug, waiting for it to cool down to a more drinkable temperature.
Poppy pursed her lips, "Not very well, she was understandably shocked and upset."
"Is that the reason she hasn't been wondering where her student is?" Severus asked, a bit of bite to his voice. Every single one of his students were in the dungeons, he knew this, and if one wasn't…he would be hunting Hogwarts for them, concerned for their wellbeing. It wouldn't be the first time, but it might well be the last though. He could no longer teach potions or be the Head of Slytherin house, as Headmaster he had to remain impartial, and he would do so, he would not be like Dumbledore. He had rigorously favoured Gryffindors to the extent they felt untouchable and that had made them very dangerous. Here he was thinking about Sirius Black and the incident that had scarred him for life.
"Oh, Severus, Minerva isn't stupid," Poppy said, tutting softly, "She knows he'll be with Blake, and saw you go with them. She's aware I've been helping him. Minerva isn't unaware as you like to believe." Admittedly over the years, she could have taken better care of her lions, but with three different sets of duties, it was hardly any wonder the ball slipped the net occasionally.
"For once," Severus muttered, he'd never been overly fond of her, and with good reason. Minerva was as blind as Dumbledore when it came to the Gryffindors. Giving students points for ending up face to face with a troll! He would have given his students detention for being idiots and made sure they thought twice before approaching danger on their own like that. They should have immediately summoned a teacher to deal with it. End of story. The other Heads of Houses actually agreed with him on that front – which had been a surprise – but Minerva with Dumbledore's backing had gotten her way as always.
Poppy pursed her lips, but said nothing more, well aware of the animosity between them. Or rather should she say, animosity Severus felt for her, while Minerva failed to realise that there was anything wrong between their relationship. Then again Severus was the same with Minerva as he was with the rest of the Hogwarts population, both student and teacher.
Well, with one obvious exception, she admitted, Blake.
"Has she even realized that I am Headmaster and not her?" Severus asked, a subtle smirk on his face. What could he say? He was a vindictive bastard when he was wronged, and he had a whole lot of wrongs done to him over time.
Poppy coughed, "I'm afraid I didn't ask," finding herself a little amused despite herself, "I do hope you'll allow me to see the reaction, Severus?"
Harry laughed softly into his coffee, grinning a little, it seemed he wasn't the only one.
"You may," Severus said imperiously, eyes gleaming. "You may be needed regardless, I believe many of the students will…ah, require your aid." To bring them around.
"I assume you're going to be out of commission until Blake gets well?" Poppy deduced, the way he was behaving was a great indication.
"I am," Severus declared, "The students wont be focused on their work anyway, and I'll require time to find a new Potions professor." He did know a lot of people who had been exemplary potion students, but whether they were Masters now or not…he did not know. He didn't keep up with all his students, once they graduated that was it.
"You're giving them free days? What's next cancelling exams?" Poppy teased.
"That will not happen," Severus said deadpanned. "None of my students parents were happy that they had to take their children to the Ministry to take their exams. Especially those who had to pay for the N.E.W.T's. I'm not sure how the Muggle-borns managed to afford it."
"Wait, what?" Harry gaped, "But I never had to take exams."
"No, and you've still not taken your first or fourth year exams," Severus explained patiently, "Technically you've not passed your first or fourth year tests, it won't impact your grades now, but overall, if you were anyone else…and what happened during your first and fourth year wasn't known, it would have been a sign of laziness, and those looking for someone to employ do not like laziness." Or someone they know they wouldn't be able to rely on.
"Nor the Weasley's, they cannot afford it," Poppy pointed out.
"But wasn't Percy in his fifth year…" eyes widening realizing what that meant.
"Percy worked with staff during the summer holidays to earn enough to take his exams, even me," Severus revealed, much to Harry's shock. He wasn't vindictive enough to prevent an extremely smart boy, which Percy was, much like his elder brothers, from getting their N.E.W.T exams because Dumbledore had cancelled them on account of the Triwizard Tournament.
"No wonder he hates me," Harry muttered, surprised that the others didn't as well. The twins wouldn't have cared much for exams but Percy most definitely did. Ron went into the twin category. Let's not forget everyone else, he hadn't been aware of all this, why hadn't anyone came at him over it?
"Hardly, they as well as the rest of the students blamed who should have been blamed," Severus said dryly, "Which is the only time they went right." The rest of the time they were children being children, selfish and judgemental while they tried to find themselves doing seriously questionable stuff along the way. Like going with the masses instead of gaining their own individuality.
Severus and Poppy were watching Harry's reaction to the news, it wasn't surprising really, that the students hadn't thought of the consequences when they all cheered at the announcements when Dumbledore made them. However, Harry's face jerked towards Blake and his eyes widened.
They swung around themselves, Severus' neck creaking in the speed of which he did so.
"Blake?" was echoed by both Severus and Harry, as they loomed over Blake.
Dazed green eyes flittered open, a pained groan leaving his lips.
"Mr. Slytherin…can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me," Poppy said, placing her hand next to Blake's so that he could grip if he was coherent enough. He shouldn't even be awake, the amount of pain he was experiencing was probably immense.
A very, very weak squeeze was all she got in turn.
"Can you speak?" Poppy then asked.
"Yessss," Blake croaked out, his speech a little slurred and it hurt judging by the grimace on his face.
"Between 1-10 how much pain are you in?" Poppy asked, it must be very high up.
"Ffffivvee," Blake got out, grunting a little. He made no move to get up, to shift, to do anything.
Poppy swallowed thickly, the amount of pain he was in and he was going with a five? She was waiting for the 'hundred' that followed. It made her heart hurt to realize what this young man had been through that he felt that this pain was only worthy of the word five. If it had been anyone else they would have been screaming and begging for pain relief, to the point they would have been willing to knock themselves out. Rummaging in her bag, she pulled out the strongest one she could give him.
"What…appened?" Blake muttered blearily, inhaling sharply as pain radiated down his side.
Severus glanced at Poppy, did he mean with his injuries or had he forgotten the duel? Did it really matter in the grand scheme of things? He was awake, sort of coherent and blessedly alive.
"We can discuss that when you're better, you need rest now," Poppy declared, despite the fact Blake was an adult, she treated him like she always treated everyone, like a mother. The fact that he had woken up and seemed coherent was a very good sign…especially considering it shouldn't be possible and he'd almost died no more than half an hour ago.
Licking his dry lips, he grunted his agreement, in too much pain to argue, he couldn't fight to prevent unconsciousness much longer. He did brush his hand against Harry in silent reassurance though and it took everything out of him. He had no need to fight it off, as Poppy fed him the potion and within minutes his body ceased hurting, and exhaustion swamped him to the extent his eyes slid closed and sleep overcame him.
"Has he forgotten about the…" Harry asked staring down at Blake still. Still feeling the phantom press of Blake's fingers on his arm.
"It's likely just trauma induced, he will remember when he recovers," Poppy informed them, brushing his covers back into place absently. "He'll sleep through the night now, now both of you get some rest, there's no point to all of us being up all night."
Unsurprisingly, nobody got sleep that night.
Yes I know it's short but Ms. Grinch here decided to feel a little guilty about the cliff-hanger and decided to give you a little more LOL it wouldn't have been fair to make you all wait ages for an update 😊 so here it is, enjoy. R&R please
