An Arrangement is Made



Severus walked in the door hesitantly. She was the only patient in the room. Her trunk , which he assumed was mostly full of heavy texts and dusty leather bounds, was under the bed. He walked closer with the intention of just leaving his parcel on the night stand, but kept his eyes carefully on her face, trying to keep from disturbing her. Several strands of her bushy hair seemed to have worked themselves into her mouth, and she was working her lips in subconscious frustration. Not thinking, he looped his fingers under them near the roots and eased them gently out to join the rest. Unfortunately, the sensation seemed to have an effect on her.

Hermione stirred restlessly, and he could see her eyes beginning to move. He set the parcel down and was almost out the door before he heard her voice. "Wait. Please, whatever you're here for, just do it, I'm not asleep anymore."

He turned abruptly to face her. "I'm not here for anything, Miss Granger. Go back to sleep."

"Professor Snape?"

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, but I get the feeling we are both far too literal for it to provide satisfactory answers. I was requested by Doctor Broadmoor to deliver that," he intoned, gesturing to the package on her table.

She tore off the invoice eagerly. "Ooh, I've been waiting for this!" She grasped the sides of it, but after a feeble attempt to lift it collapsed back into her pillows.

"Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

"I think so, I'm sorry for troubling you, this has been happening more often lately. Would you mind just handing it to me?"

He quickly moved across the room, hefted the book, tore through and removed its paper covering, and set it down on her lap. "An Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs and Fungi and Their Properties? Circe, I wouldn't read that book unless I had to, and certainly not cover-to-cover," he responded, blinking and shaking his head lightly. "Which is, I presume, what you had intended to do?"

"I just thought it would help me prepare for my O.W.L.s, sir, since I could pick up potions and herbology information at the same time."

"Are you sure you're up for it? It's rather dry, if you hadn't figured that out already."

She merely nodded. Lord, who was this girl? The pale, weak thing on the bed had none of the fire or strength that defined Hermione Granger, and he just didn't have the heart to continue this with her.

"Does Albus know?"

"Probably. I haven't told him, and he hasn't spoken to me about it, but I think it probably would have gotten onto my forms somewhere when I was signed up. I'm not really sure, I never saw them. Bethany sends me my medicine, and makes sure I have energy potion."

"Who filled out your forms, when you signed up? Where do you go, when you're not here?"

"My parents, I'm pretty sure. I go to school, Hogwarts I mean. I stay in a room in the Leaky Cauldron right before term starts. I was at the Weasleys for a bit last year."

"I mean your home, child. Your family."

"I haven't been home in the longest time, sir. I haven't seen my parents in over two years. I'm here for treatments over the summer hols, and sometimes over Christmas too, and the hospital just sends someone to meet me at the station or pays for me to take a cab over."

"And this is your home, your life? Are you able to deal with this well enough at school?"

"It was a bit of a mess my third year. I guess you probably know that I was using a Time Turner. I'm quite sure Professor McGonagall didn't know about this," she gestured weakly to the room around her and the IV drip hooked up to her arm, "or she wouldn't have let me. That was why I really had to give it up. I'm supposed to have a strict schedule for my medicine, but I was living so many more hours than the clock that I couldn't keep track of it and ended up making myself sicker."

"You don't have to deal with this yourself, you know. I'm sure Minerva would like to know about this, if only to prepare her for other things. Poppy would probably be willing to let you take some of your treatments in the hospital wing, so you could at least be a bit connected to your friends. And while we're on the subject of medicine, you might as well just come to me for your potions, since I think I've been making them up and sending them to Bethany just for her to send them back to you."

"I don't want to, though. I don't want McGonagall always worried about me, or dealing with people hovering over me with sweets in the hospital wing when I'm like this. I wouldn't mind going to you for my potions, since you already know, but I don't want everyone involved in this. I know it's not much, but it's my life, and it's the only way I know how to live it."

"All right, child, don't work yourself up. No one's going to make you change anything, me least of all. I didn't come here to argue or lecture, just to drop off your book, though my good sense would tell me not to leave you with that thing. I assume you will be stable enough to return to us at the beginning of term?"

"As far as I know, sir. They say I'm responding well enough to the treatments. Not exactly improving, but handling everything well enough that I can mostly continue everything for the next year at least," she responded frankly.

"Are you going to be a prefect?"

"I'd like to."

"Do you plan on getting any sleep next year?"

"Oh, I have to, sir, at least four hours a night. Bethany made me promise."

"And you'll be needing somewhere to take your medicine, I suppose?"

"Well, I used Myrtle's toilet last year, but my dosage has increased a bit, and I really don't like being in there any longer than I have to."

"You can use my office-"

"Thank you, sir, I wasn't expecting-"

"For a price. I will be working on a few projects this year that will need an extra set of eyes and hands. Are you willing?"

"Certainly, sir. Thank you."

"Arrange for your medicines to be posted to me. No one suspects anything when I receive packages at breakfast. Meet me in my classroom after the Sorting Feast to arrange anything left." His voice softened. "And do get rest up, child. I don't want to imagine having to deal with Longbottom actually making all of his own potions."

He turned and left the room before she could reply, leaving both of them with much to think about.





A/N: Well, what do people think? I know it's been a while, but I have had absolutely no time to write for ages. I really shouldn't have been doing this now, as we're in the middle preparing Passover dinner, but I couldn't leave it any longer. I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions. Much love!



To my reviewers -



Cult of the Cynical Giant Cow - (which is an awesome name, by the way) Thank you. I have lots of fun with Snapefic, even though sometimes it's really tempting to make him totally OOC. And as squicky as SS/HG felt at first, I like that pairing more the more I write it.



ann no aku - Thank you for your opinion. I know the beginnings of my stories are often a little odd, but there's a lot of character development to be done with this one.



Saavik - She hides a lot of things. She's got the chronic kind, so it's just sort of slowly getting worse, and it's not that hard to hide a pill or a day when you just feel a little sick and out of temper. Besides, there's always been a lot of time she doesn't spend with the boys.



Jana B - Thank you for telling me about the category. As far as I know, it's fixed now. That's definitely not the pairing I intended for this. And I'm glad you like it.



Green Eyed Lady - Thank you immensely for all the encouraging with this pairing. I never would have gotten this past the bunny warden if you hadn't told me to go ahead. And of course I always cut off before the good parts. If I put all the good parts in, I'd never finish a chapter! And you were right about updating, though I did manage to postpone it a good deal longer than I should have. I liked being able to use the beginning to introduce the character, kind of a Sevie that we've never met before. I did use some personal experience with the emotion in that seen, though I do not ever say "Merlin's beard!" (at least not in public). And have we ever really seen Snape throw a temper tantrum? I don't remember it. I know he's a little OOC with Bethany, but he did mention at one point that he's always a bit of a mess around her, and hates it. If I haven't really made it clear, this is just the summer where the books are stuck now, between fourth and fifth years. I'm never clear as to time in my fics, because all the ones that make it very obviously clear it feels forced. Like "Oh, in case you couldn't tell, my story is just like every other fifth year story in existence." Thanks for your insightful comments. I'm not sure, but I don't think we'll be seeing much more of Bethany, at least not for a while.



Weirdo - Well, I tried my best, tell me what you think. There should be more soon, as my schedule from heck lasts only two more weeks.