Chapter 21
Restraining Draco was a two person job. It took every ounce of strength in both Hermione and Harry to pin Draco against the wall outside the Shrieking Shack, while Voldemort questioned Severus. Hermione wanted to go save him just as much as Draco did, but she knew that would mean Harry might die before they destroyed all the horcruxes.
"Nagini." Voldemort said softly, causing Hermione's eyes to widen in fear.
Her mind instantly went back to when Mr. Weasley was attacked by Nagini in the Department of Mysteries. She knew that he narrowly escaped with his life, and the only way to stop the bleeding from Nagini's bites was a special antidote that the St. Mungo's healers had created to counteract Nagini's poison. Very few people even knew about the antidote.
Harry winced slightly as he heard the numerous bites that Nagini made to Severus before apparating away with Voldemort. The painful sounds that Severus was making now would forever be etched in all of their minds. Hermione didn't bother to hold Draco back any longer. She pulled her hands away and ran into the shack herself, before either Draco or Harry. She skidded to a stop, covering her mouth in shock as tears instantly fell from her eyes.
Severus was laying on the floor, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily as blood poured from various bite wounds. The most concerning wound to Hermione was the one at his jugular. She knew how hard it was to heal any wounds on that part of the body. It unnerved her to see the once strong and brave professor, a man who had become a fast friend of hers, now lying on the floor, dying before her very eyes.
"Hermione…" Harry murmured softly as he glanced back at a frozen Draco. "Can you do anything for him?"
"Yes." Hermione said firmly as she sprang into action, ignoring the weak protests from Severus.
She remembered a melancholy conversation between herself and her potions master, that took place the year before. He had confided in her that he didn't believe he would survive the war. But, if by chance he was dying, he wanted her to let him die. He refused to accept any sort of healing. He was ready to die and he had begged her to make sure that Draco did nothing to stop his fate. She knew what she had to do now.
She pulled out her wand and walked over to Severus' side, kneeling down while dropping her small bag at her feet. As she positioned her wand over Severus' body, a cold hand reached up to suddenly grip her wrist tightly. She looked down into his eyes with a determined look of her own.
"No." she snapped down to him. "I will keep my promise, Severus. But no where in our discussions did I promise that I would not save you."
Severus managed to roll his eyes before wincing in pain as his breathing began to hurt. Hermione stared at his state once more before digging into her bag for 3 red potion vials and 3 clear potion vials. She took a deep breath, positioned her wand over Severus' body once more and began.
"Vulnera Sanentur...vulnera sanentur...vulnera sanentur…" she began chanting quietly.
Harry and Draco looked on in surprise as the blood slowly began to seep from the floor around them towards Severus' body, returning to its rightful place. Once she had the blood under control, she started pouring the blood replenishing potion down his throat. She picked up one of the clear liquid vials and closed her eyes, briefly praying that it would work as she poured it down his throat.
She kept her chanting going as she noticed that Severus had fallen unconscious but his breathing had returned to normal. The wound on the jugular was still open and pouring out blood. She needed to focus her incantation on that one particular spot.
"I know what I have to do." Harry said softly as he stared at both Draco and Hermione.
Hermione glanced back at him, noticing that he was clutching the golden snitch that Dumbledore had left him. She had already suspected what his plans were, and now, this was just confirmation for her.
"Go...but come back." she said sternly.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, pulling himself out of his frozen state.
"I'll see you again in a few hours." Harry patted Draco's shoulder and walked out of the shack, leaving Draco looking very confused.
"Where is he going Hermione?" Draco demanded once he got his bearing back.
"Nevermind that now. Come, help me with Severus. I have to get him to the Hospital Wing." Hermione stood up, satisfied that the bleeding had stopped for the moment, but she had a lot more work to do. "We'll need to levitate him...very carefully...to the Hospital Wing."
Draco's mind, although he was concerned about Harry, knew that he needed to focus on Severus at the moment. He pulled out his wand and walked over to Hermione. He silently casted the leviosa charm over Severus body and kept his concentration as they slowly walked towards the Hospital Wing. Hermione was doing her best to concentrate on the spell she was still chanting while walking alongside Draco and Severus.
The walk was a long one, but it was the staircase up to the main room that was the trickiest. Hermione gasped in shock as they came to the main doors of the patients room. The number of students, and a few aurors, who were being treated by the sole nurse, Madame Pomfrey, was unnerving. There were so many that Madame Pomfrey had applied an extension charm on the room.
"Hermione!? Draco!?" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed as she took notice of her two favorite students. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the levitating professor and the chanting words that Hermione was constantly repeating. She quickly dropped the gauzes in her hand and ran over to the unusual trio. "What happened to him!?"
"Voldemort's fucking snake bit him...multiple times." Draco answered.
"Fuck!" Madame Pomfrey shouted, causing the entire room to fall silent in shock. No one would ever expect to hear such a word fall from the prim and proper nurse's lips. "Follow me."
She led them out of the main room and down the corridor to her private rooms. She pointed to the lone bed, against the wall at the back of the light blue painted room.
"Put him on the bed. Gently now...careful!" she shrieked. "I swear, I'll kill that man myself if Severus doesn't survive this. What's been done so far?"
"I've been performing the Vulnera Sanentur incantation, repeatedly, so his bleeding has stopped." Hermione explained. "I've given him the blood replenishing potion and...this…"
Draco gently placed Severus on the bed as Hermione pulled out another vial of the clear liquid potion. She handed it over to Madame Pomfrey.
"They used this on Mr. Weasley...when he was bitten by Nagini." Hermione stated. "They haven't given the potion a name as yet, nor do many even know of its existence."
"Oh...I've heard of this...I have some in my personal stores...Dumbledore, God rest his soul, told me to always have some on hand for emergencies." Madame Pomfrey sighed. "That man always knew more than anyone else."
She walked over to the left side of the bed and performed a diagnostic spell on Severus. She smiled in relief as she turned to Hermione.
"You've done well, my child." she walked over to her personal medicine cabinet. "Two more of these clear liquid potions and two more blood replenishing potions, a lot of rest, a thick bandage over the wound to the jugular, and...he should be fine. He's in for a long night though."
Hermione watched the mediwitch moved seamlessly around the room like the expert she was. It fascinated Hermione to the point that she decided if she were to survive the war, she would look into becoming a mediwitch herself.
"Where is Harry?" Madame Pomfrey inquired as she took over the chanting for Hermione.
"Yes, where exactly did Harry go, Hermione?" Draco, settled in his mind that Severus was going to be alright, now turned his attention to the next problem.
"Draco, I will tell you, but on the condition that you do not go after him." Hermione offered.
It took Draco a few minutes of thought before he nodded his head in agreement. Hermione glanced at Madame Pomfrey before taking Draco's hand and leading him out of the room. They walked past the main patient room and up the staircase to the huge clock. Hermione looked out at the grounds of the school, where the battle was still raging on.
Draco quietly waited for her to begin, looking at the fighting as well when the most unusual thing occurred. It all stopped. The death eaters and snatchers apparated away all at once. He could see the confused with relieved looks on some of the students faces.
"So, he's really doing it then." Hermione's sad voice broke through his train of thought.
"Who is doing what?" Draco was getting angrier by the second now, feeling as if he was being left out of the loop.
"Harry and I...while we were on the run last year, figured out that he was one of Voldemort's horcruxes." Hermione began. "It explained everything...why Voldemort and he always had a mental connection...why he instantly felt pain from Voldemort being near his person...and why Dumbledore gave him...the golden snitch in his will."
"Fuck…" Draco ran his fingers through his hair as he began to pace. "What does the golden snitch have to do with this?"
"Well...hidden in the snitch is the philosopher's stone...the stone that brings people back to life." Hermione said softly.
"He plans to let Voldemort kill him…" Draco quickly put two and two together. "No, he can't! Let's go stop him."
"No!" Hermione yelled. "He has to do this. If he does...then it'll be one more horcrux and we can finally get rid of Voldemort for good! Also, I think I know what the last horcrux is…"
"Hermione, if Harry is killed by Voldemort, and then comes back to life, what's to say that Voldemort won't kill him again!?" Draco snapped. "And then what? Harry is the one to kill Voldemort."
"We discussed that as well…" Hermione sighed softly and turned away. "We had always thought that you would be the one to finally kill Voldemort if such a thing did occur."
The silence stretched between them as Draco took it all in. They wanted him to kill Voldemort. He couldn't deny that a part of him, a very strong part of him, wanted to fulfill this request. But, he knew that deep down, Harry was the match for Voldemort. Not him.
"Harry is literally sacrificing himself…" Draco stopped pacing and stared at her dumbfounded. "And your accepting of that?"
"That was the plan all along, wasn't it?" Hermione looked up at Draco as a tear fell from her eyes.
A/N
Here's another chapter guys! Let me know your thoughts.