{Disclaimer:  The Harry Potter World was created by J.K. Rowling and rights are owned by, but not limited to Warner Brothers and Scholastic Books.  I, therefore, own no parts of this, save for the characters that are parts of my own imagination, mostly including Andromeda McGee and Wyvern}

Chapter 22

Learning to Crawl

**Can you teach me how to fly?/ See I'm scared to die?/ I've only just begun to learn to crawl/ Can you teach me how to fight?/ Keep me up all night?/ Be there on the ground if I should fall?/ Fall to you?  "Learn to Crawl" Back Lab**

Snape awoke from another bought of nightmare ridden dreams with a weight upon his chest.  It was not an imagined weight from grief or pain, but an actual tangible object.  Tentatively he reached his hand out from under the infirmary class striped blanket to touch something rather furry.  It felt alive and some how it was vibrating off of an internal motor of some sorts.  'Cat,' he thought to himself, deciding that the only fluffy creatures that usually lived at Hogwarts were of feline origin.  "Go away, cat," he spoke to it.  "I don't need you."

"Mrur?" the cat asked.

"I told you to go away.  You are getting fur all over my robes."

"You aren't wearing any robes," a droll sarcastic voice entered the conversation.

Snape recognized it immediately.  "Get your cat off me, McGee."

"Wyvern, get down."

Wyvern purred loader and began to knead the blankets on top of Snape, unheeding of her mistress's wishes.

"It isn't moving."

"Yes, she is.  Her paws are moving.  I think she likes you."

"I do not care if it likes me or not, just remove it from atop of my chest.'

"Fine," Andy sounded resigned.  She picked up the purring cat and set her on a chair.  The cat began to knead the soft cushion.  "Stay, Wyvern."  The cat squeaked in response.

"What do you want now, McGee?"

"Poppy wants to get you moving again.  She feels that dormant muscles won't help your recovery.  Personally, I have a feel that she doesn't like you being in her territory.  Were you being an insufferable git again?"

Snape chose to ignore the comment.  He had only snapped at her twice in the past few hours.  "If you want to be of assistance, you could take this bandage off of my eyes."

"I cannot promise how much you will be able to see.  Optical repair is extremely slow."  She gently removed the cloth from over his eyes.

Snape blinked.  At least it wasn't completely black anymore.  It was more like shades of gray with fuzzy outlines.

"Can you see anything?"

"Right now, you are a gray blur.  Not that it is much of a change from your normal state of being."

"That's encouraging.  Now we only have to get you out of bed and into some robes."

Snape could feel her flip back the sheets.  There was a slight pause with no sound followed by a bit of sniggering.  "Well, that answers that age old question."

"What now, McGee?"

"The question of boxers or briefs, obviously your answer is boxers as green and black snake skinned as they may be."

"Give me my robes." Snape was glad that he had never been able to blush very well.

"May I get a camera first?"

"No."  He felt a pile of cloth land on his lap and slowly sat up.  He had never felt worse in his life.  Swift fingers pulled the clothing from where it sat and dressed him with utmost care.

"You are putting on your own pants."  She waited for him to do so.  "Now stand up." Snape felt his arm being lifted onto her shoulder.  Andy pushed herself standing forcing him up as well.  "Come on.  We are just going to circumnavigate the room."

He took a stumbling step forward away from her support.  He could do it himself.  There was no way he was going to show signs of his weakness.  His foot caught something, pitching him forward.  Andy was there in an instant, keeping him on his feet.  "You can lean on me, you know.  The doors are closed.  No one can see you except for me and Wyvern."

Snape tentatively placed his hand on her shoulder.  She was strong and willing to support him.  It took a good half of an hour to get him all the way around the room.

"We're back at your bed.  Here," she gently pushed him back down.  Snape, who had not been expecting anything, grabbed onto her robes, pulling her on top of him.  "Oof!  Gee, Sev, I never knew.  You hid it so well."

He rolled her off and sat up.  "That was not supposed to happen."

"It's all right.  I understand."  Andy moved around behind him and began to massage his shoulders on a spur of a moment whim.  "Jeez, you're tense.  You ought to learn to relax."

Snape could feel her fingers work at his muscles.  They circled with light pressure, gently probing the knots.  "Why are you doing this, McGee?"

"It's fun.  I used to do this to people, give back massages."

He stayed quiet for a moment, letting the rhythm of her hands relax him.  She had done this before, he remembered, after a long day when they had met in the Potions Dungeon and were waiting for the mixture to finish simmering.  She had been the only person who would willingly give him a back massage.  Not even his past girl friends had done so, when his mother had tried to play match maker with him, that is.  His mother had given up after a while, not that it mattered much.   She was dead now.  "What did you mean yesterday?"

"About what?" she sounded distracted.

"You said I intrigued you."

"Oh, that.  You don't act human.  You keep all your emotions to yourself.  You can usually read people by their eyes, but I never could with you.  I could only find anger and resentment."

"And this intrigued you?"

"Well, yes.  Eyes are the windows to the soul.  It got me wondering if you had one."

"Do I?"

"You do," she decided stubbornly.  "It also helps that you remind me of my brother."

"Is that a good thing?"

"I'm not sure.  Ben was a Muggle.  He had a pony tail, wore leather, and drove a motorcycle with flames painted on it.  He used to threaten me with his switchblade if I misbehaved."

"Your parents didn't do anything about that?"

"They never knew," her voice turned cold.  "They disowned me before I came to Hogwarts.  Ben was made my legal guardian until I turned eighteen.  I stayed with him during the summers.  We had the time of our lives together."

"What day is it?" he asked suddenly, changing the subject since family seemed to be rather sensitive.

"Monday, after dinner, I'd tell you the exact time, but I don't have my watch with me."

"You don't have to do this."

"You mean the massage?"

"I mean everything."

"I know.  I could completely ignore you, let you suffer and become a drooling invalid that communicates through grunts and gestures."

"And yet you don't."

"No, I do not," her fingers still moved down his back in tight circles.  "I'm not a Slytherin; I'm a Gryffindor.  We lions don't leave people hanging."

Snape shifted his weight from where he was seated.  He felt something in his pocket that almost certainly hadn't been there before.  He reached his hand in and pulled out a note wrapped around a hard lump.  He opened it, realizing he couldn't make out the letters.  The talisman fell into his hand.  Snape felt the tell tale tug of being dragged by a hook in his stomach.  He landed with a hard thump on a soft carpet, still not being able to see his surroundings.

"What the hell?"

"Andy, listen to me."

Andy looked at the man.  She knew it had to be important if he had used her first name.  "I'm all ears."

Snape took a deep breath.  "I know where we are, but you are going to have to guide me.  Lord Voldemort shudder placed a port key in my pocket to bring you back to him.  I didn't know what it was until I touched it."

She placed her arms around him, seeing the terror lurking in his eyes.  "I trust you."  Snape didn't relax, but felt oddly comforted by the gesture.

"There should be a pair of large wooden doors carved with serpents and skulls with inset emeralds.  Are we any where near it?"

"If it was any closer, it could have bit us."

"Good.  I want you to knock at the doors."

"Why?"

"He already knows that we are here.  There is no place to run and no way to get out.  We can only go forward."

"That was almost poetic."  Three hollow knocks were heard.

"Wait for them to open, then enter," he paused.  "I need your support."  Andy helped him off the floor, offering her shoulders as his strength.

"Now boarding flight 666, one way, non-stop to your own personal living hell," Andy muttered to herself.  She stepped through, feeling Snape leaning heavily on her.  "You can make it, Sev."  They approached the Dark Throne.

"Miss McGee, we meet again."

"I could tell you to go kill yourself and rot in hell, but that's already happened."

"Silence!" Voldemort hissed.

"I have no reason to listen to you."

"I shall get straight to my point.  I want the Merlin's potion."

"I don't have it."

"At the trials, you said that you could make it."

"That was sixteen years ago with my notes, which are missing, thanks to you."

"You will make it for me!"

Andy paused, considering what had happened last time she had refused.  She shuddered.  That was not something she wanted to happen again.  "What are you offering me for it?"

"Your life.  If you do not make it, I will be forced to kill you."

She could feel Snape tense at her side.  He liked the options as much as she did.  His head hung weakly, silently hoping for something to come and ruin everything.  It didn't.

"Fine.  I will make you the Merlin's Potion."  Snape stiffened even more.  "Trust me," she whispered under her breath.  "At one other price."

"Which is?"

"I keep Snape."

"He is useless.  What good came he do you?"

"He is for the entertainment when I have to wait for the potion to finish simmering."

"Entertainment?"

"Personally, I was thinking about thumbscrews and using hot irons to pull out his toe nails."

"You may have him.  Get to work."

A guard entered the room and led them into a dark dungeon where a personal laboratory had been set up.  The door locked behind them.  Snape turned, grabbing Andy by the shoulders.  "Are you crazy?  Do you know what you are getting into?"

"I know more than you think I do."  She took a deep breath.  "Just trust me.  I know exactly what I am doing."

"That is what I am afraid of."

Andy found the list of ingredients on a deserted desk top and read it over.  "If I remember correctly, there was a special formula I used to determine the amounts."  She tapped her wand lightly on the parchment.  Numbers flew next to the ingredients, rippling like ocean waves.  They stopped.  "There.  I think that should do it."

"I am not even going to ask how you just figured out what took a group of us month with nothing found."

"Actually, I lost my temper while working on it and threw my wand at the parchment.  On the copy I had, all these numbers came up.  I tried it and it worked."

"I am having serious doubts on your mental sanity."  He placed both hands on the table for support.  The walking had taken a good amount of his nonexistent energy.

"Sit down before you kill yourself," she snapped harshly, pushing a chair behind him and guiding him into it.  "I don't care how stubborn you are, but having you dead won't help me."  He voice took a softer tone.  "Just give me a chance, Sev.  I have my own plans.  I need you to trust me on this."

"You have my trust until we get out of here."

"That is what I needed.  I am going to promise you that I will explain everything later."

He gave her a half-hearted blind glare, but his weakness saved him from doing anything worse.  "You better."

Andy looked around the room.  The ingredients were set on the table, mostly prepared.  A few things needed to be diced or peeled.  All she had to do was add the correct amount of each ingredient at the specific times.  It was actually an extremely simple potion to make.  It was just the amounts that had stumped wizards though out the ages.

Snape was still seeing blurs.  There wasn't much he could do and they could not allow for mistakes to happen from his handicap.  He wondered if she was being serious about the hot irons and thumbscrews.  The one thing that he could tell was that she hummed as she worked.  "You're humming."

"I know.  It's Tchaik four."

"Pardon?"

"Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony or at least some parts of it."

Snape decided that it could have been something worse.  After all she had done for him, he could put up with it for a little while.

"There.  Now it only needs to simmer over low heat for forty eight hours to ensure full potency," she paused.  "And I need a drop of his blood."

"That's not on the original list."

"I know," Andy walked toward the door.  "I'll be right back."

"I'm going with you.  I got you into this mess.  No one should face Lord Voldemort shudder alone."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and remembered something.  "That's it!"  He heard her walk to the back of the room.  "Sev, I want you to dip your finger into this."

"What is it?"

"Only when consumed at full potency does the Merlin's potion give invincibility, but when applied to the skin before full potency is reached acts as a powerful healing draught that will heal all physical wounds or ailments.  And I quote from some book that I don't even remember the title of."

"Oh."  He cautiously dipped his index finger into the vial she held in front of him.  A green glow enveloped his entire body then faded away.  The blurs fuzzed back to normal images, undistorted by shades of gray.  His muscles tightened back to their normal strength.

"Did it work?"

"It did," He stood unassisted, feeling free.  "I should probably thank you."

"See?  And I thought that Slytherins didn't know how to express gratitude.  I do know what I'm doing sometimes.  Let's go.  Just try to act like you were before."  She knocked at the door.  "We need to see your master on accounts of the Merlin's Potion."

The guard opened it silently and led them back to the room.  Snape had pulled a fake limp and looked like he was leaning on Andy heavily.  Voldemort was still in his serpentine throne.  "Yes?"

"My Lord, we have come to report on the progress of the potion.  It is completely brewed and needs only to simmer for forty eight hours to gain full potency."

"There is only one remaining ingredient that is needed."

"I believe my minions had supplied you with the complete set of ingredients as listed."

"They did.  There is something else that I would like to add in attempt to make the potion specific to you."

Voldemort's eye slits seemed to light up.  "What is it that you need?"

"Only a drop of your blood."

"And this will make the Merlin's Potion so that it is specific to me?"

"It will."

"Very well.  You shall have it."

Andy passed him a small vial.  Voldemort took a knife and punctured his finger tip.  He squeezed three drops into the container.  "Will that be sufficient?"

"It shall.  We will notify you when the potion is completed."  Snape bowed his head to his master, supposedly in no shape to do a full, eloquent bow.  They were returned to the locked dungeon.

"Now we add the blood and hope to what ever gods you worship that this works."  Andy let the blood drip into the cauldron.  It hissed and bubbled for a moment before changing back to its normal green color.  "And we are done."

"The waiting begins."

{Author's Note:  Did I not warn you that this would get more interesting?  Haha!  Only I know what the hell I am doing!  Feel free to flame me, but answers won't come until chapter 25, so you will have to wait.  Then things get more twisted, and well…I have to stop writing these at odd hours of the night. 

Anna Black:  Exactly.  When I have the book, I don't need it and when I don't have it, I do need it.  Agh!  Of course, I can actually locate the other three books, but those weren't the ones I needed.  Peanut Butter rocks!  I've had the Moose Tracks before.  The flavor that I was talking about was called "Paul De Lima's Café Ole."  It's coffee ice cream with Gertrude Hawk chocolate bits in it.  It's awesome!  That's all I can say.  Our school doesn't start until September the fourth, but I get what you're saying.  I spent most of the time last year with various different songs going through my head, especially in math class.  I can sing, though.  I'm not that bad.  I'm in chorus and do the musicals and such.  My only problem is I'm a definite alto.  My lower range is fine, but anything high is out of the question.

Atheis Gainsborough:  Sorry about your computer, I understand.  Mine never likes me to begin with.  I glad to know you're still here!

Enjoy!  Peace, Love, and Chocolate, Nataly Ravenlock}