Understanding

Chapter 11 – Forgetting the past

My relief at seeing Sirius alive lasted just seconds. He managed to transform himself back to human form at my feet just inside the doorway, but it was clear to me that all was not well. He was wearing just a ripped pair of trousers and he appeared to have several broken ribs, along with a huge patch of blackened skin on his stomach. One of his arms was also twisted into an ugly shape. It was beyond me how he had found his way to us.

'Oh Sirius, what have they done to you?' I said frantically as I knelt by his side.

'Hermione? What are you doing here? I don't understand.' His voice seemed okay, but his breathing was laboured.

'Don't worry about that, Sirius. Severus?' I shouted upstairs. 'Get down here, I need your help.'

'Hermione, they put a tracking charm on me.' Sirius said suddenly, as if he'd only just remembered. 'We're not safe here.' He was trying to get up, grabbing my arm. I pushed him gently back down, which was not hard given his gaunt appearance. Seconds later and Severus was dashing down the stairs, sizing up the situation.

'Black.' He said, a scowl on his face. 'Well, I'm impressed, how the hell did you get here?'

'Severus, now is not the time. He's badly injured, but I'm no expert at healing. His ribs are broken, he can't breathe properly. He says they're tracking him.' I looked back at Sirius, who appeared to have either lost consciousness, or fallen asleep.

'Tracking? Hogwarts. We'll have to go to Hogwarts.'

'How? And what about the potion?'

'God, I'd forgotten about that. Right, we'll go by floo. You take Black, I'll follow with the potion.' He headed back for the stairs. 'It'll be alright, Hermione, don't panic.' Then he ran back up, out of sight.

'Okay, Sirius, we're going to get you some help.' I said quietly. I waved my wand and muttered 'Mobilicorpus.' Then, with Sirius floating along in mid air, I magically expanded the fire place and lit a bright fire. I threw in some powder, squeezed both of us in and yelled 'Hogwarts!'

Seconds later and we flew out straight into the entrance hall of Hogwarts. I jumped up from the floor and rushed up the marble staircase, making sure that Sirius was floating behind me. I had met no one when I got to the Hospital Wing on the fourth floor, and I was just hoping that Madame Pomfrey would be here to help. I slammed the double doors at the entrance open, and brought Sirius down to rest on a bed near the door. Thankfully, Madame Pomfrey came rushing out from the opposite end of the room, still in her night clothes.

'What in the name of Merlin is going on?' She shouted as she came running up to me. 'Miss Granger? What are you doing here? Oh no, what's happened here?' She gasped as she saw the state Sirius was in.

'It's Sirius Black, his ribs are broken, I think, and his stomach's all black. We didn't know what else to do.'

'It's all right dear, you brought him to the right place, I've mended hundreds of bones in my time here. Could you go and fetch the Headmaster? I daresay he'll want to know.' She got to work on healing him, and I rushed off to go and get Professor Dumbledore.

I reached the stone gargoyle a few minutes later and realised that I didn't have a clue what the password was. I had rattled off every muggle and wizarding sweet under the sun when Severus sprinted towards me in the hallway. He skidded to a halt, gasping for breath.

'Chubachups.' He said in between panting. The gargoyle slowly moved aside to reveal the moving spiral staircase. We both stepped onto it in silence, and seconds later we were standing in Dumbledore's empty office.

'Albus? Where are you?' Severus shouted.

'We've got Sirius,' I added, 'He's in the Hospital Wing.' Professor Dumbledore had now appeared and was stepping slowly down the steps from the observatory.

'Indeed? In the Hospital Wing, you say? We'll go there now.' He moved past us back onto the spiral staircase, and moments later the three of us were striding through the hall ways.

We had been gathered around Sirius for barely five minutes when Harry rushed into the Hospital Wing in his pyjamas. He flung himself over to the bedside we were gathered around, where Sirius had now had his seven broken ribs healed, the bleeding in his stomach had been stopped and his arm was now back to its original shape. He was sleeping peacefully, having been fed a large amount of chocolate by Madame Pomfrey.

'Sirius!' Harry yelled. 'You're okay! He is okay, isn't he Professor?' He asked Professor Dumbledore, more calmly.

'He is now, thanks to Severus and Hermione here.' Then he smiled at Harry. 'And as I've told you before Harry, you may call me Albus now, you are no longer a student at Hogwarts.' Then Harry seemed to notice me standing beside him for the first time.

'Hermione!' He flung his arms around my shoulders and gathered me in a big hug. 'What happened?' He asked when he had let me go. 'Where did you find Sirius?'

'Severus is just about to tell us the whole story, if he'd be so kind.' Dumbledore, no, Albus butted in. He then conjured four chairs around the bed.

'Well, this all started earlier this evening, when I was er, flying around the Riddle House, looking for signs of life, because it had appeared deserted earlier that day. I was summoned by the Dark Lord, so I went inside the house. There were many more people than usual, and I noticed the cold more than ever. It turned out the Dementors and Azkaban are out of the Ministry's power, and into the hands of the Dark Lord. Anyway, my attention was caught when I heard something being said about a traitor. Next thing I knew……..' Severus' voice was lulling me to sleep as he told the tale I already knew, for the most part. It was far past dawn, and I had barely slept, so I drifted off now in my chair.

When I awoke I was moving, somehow, and my face was pressed into some thick black material. I moved my head aside, to find that I was being carried in the arms of Severus, down a staircase.

'Severus, I can walk, you know.' I whispered. Big mistake. He almost tripped down the rest of the flight of stairs, I presume at the shock of hearing my voice when he thought I was asleep. 'And you shouldn't be carrying me after what you've been through tonight.'

'You were asleep.' He muttered. 'I didn't want to wake you.' I noticed it was dark, we were probably in the dungeons.

'Well, that's sweet of you, Severus, but I wouldn't have minded, really. Where are we going?'

'To get some sleep. We both need to be down here to continue working on the potion.'

'Oh, right, so we can't go back to the Hanged Man?'

'No, Albus says he doesn't think the fidelius charm works against Dementors.' He stopped and put me down on the floor. Then he took his wand out and waved it over the stone wall. A door appeared and he opened it and we went inside. 'Would you like a hot drink?'

'Er, yes please.' I sat down on a black leather sofa, in front of a fire that looked as if it had already been burning for quite some time. I sat there, staring into the fire for a while in silence, until a steaming mug of hot chocolate was pressed into my hands.

'Thank you.' I said distractedly. Severus sat beside me, also holding a mug. I took a sip and sighed as I relaxed. It had been such a long day. Or rather, days, as it must have been late morning by now. I could hardly keep my eyes open.

'Tired?'

'Mmmm.'

'You'll be sleeping in my guest room. It's over there.' He gestured to a door to the left of the fireplace. We sat in silence while I finished my hot chocolate.

'Goodnight, Severus.' I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. 'And thank you.' I stood up and went to my room, falling asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.

*********************** (no, this chapter isn't over yet! I said I'd make it a long one!!!)

I woke up around midday, to find myself in a huge four poster, with the softest dark green silk sheets ever. I rolled over, not wanting to get up, but knowing that I had to. This room was surprisingly bright, given that it was underground. I got up and explored the room, something that I hadn't done when I had fallen straight asleep a few hours ago. Then I pulled on some clothes and went to find Severus and the potion.

I found him in his dungeon classroom, absent-mindedly stirring the potion while reading a dusty old book.

'Good morning!' I said chirpily. He looked up and smiled at me.

'Good afternoon.' He raised one eyebrow slowly. 'Did you sleep well?'

'Yes thank you. Is the potion going well.'

'Nothing more needs adding for hours. You can go and get something to eat if you like.'

'Okay, I think I will. Bye.' I doubled back and set off for the Great Hall, thinking that I would go and see Harry and Sirius as well, and say hello properly, i.e. without falling asleep.

A small table was set up for lunch in the Great Hall. I sat down, alone in the huge room, and helped myself to some chicken salad. I ate it all very quickly, then went off to the Hospital Wing. I found Harry and Sirius in there, sitting next to each other in armchairs next to the bed Sirius had been in the night before, deep in conversation. They looked up as I cleared my throat.

'Good afternoon, Harry, Sirius.' I smiled at the two of them as I pulled up a chair. 'I guess I owe both of you an explanation?'

'Its okay, Hermione,' Harry said reassuringly. 'Dumbledore told us everything. I understand why you couldn't tell us the whole truth before.'

'Thanks.' I said.

'I owe you my gratitude, Hermione.' Sirius cut in. 'I might not be here if it weren't for you.'

'I didn't do anything, Sirius.' I said, puzzled. 'It's Severus you should be thanking, he saved your life. I was just there.'

'Exactly, you were there when I needed help. As for Snape, I thanked him earlier this morning and I rather got the impression that he didn't think to much of my appreciation.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, he pretty much told me I could stick my thank you where the sun doesn't shine.' Sirius grinned, but also looked slightly pissed off.

'Really?'

'Yep. I told him I was willing to let bygones be bygones, for real this time. He just looked at me as if I had told him I was madly in love with him or something. Then he walked off.'

'That's odd. He's been mostly fine with me, these last two weeks.' At this both Sirius and Harry shot their heads up, looking as if they were trying to stop themselves from laughing.

'He does seem to have an, um, soft spot where you're concerned, Hermione.' Harry said, fighting laughter even more now.

'Honestly, you two, what are you on about now?' I said in despair. 'You're acting like a pair of eleven year olds.'

'Oh come on, Hermione. Snape, the evil Potions Master, carrying you to bed?!' Sirius said. 'Please tell us what's going on between you two. I've never even known him be civil to anyone besides Albus.'

'Yeah, you're lucky Ron's not here! He'd throw a fit!' Harry said, finally giving into his laughter. I just raised an eyebrow in response, then turned and walked out. However, this only seemed to make them even worse, I sneaked a look back and Harry was rolling around on the floor.

***************** (nope, still not over!!!!!!!)

I went back down to the Potions classroom. Severus was still sitting in the exact same position he had been when I had left. I doubted that he had moved an inch. I shut the door quietly behind me.

'We need to talk, Severus.' I said, standing in front of him.

'Oh?'

'What's going on?' I challenged.

'What do you mean, what's going on?' He challenged me right back, standing up now to tower over me.

'You're blowing hot and cold every other moment. You know what I'm talking about.'

'No, I don't. Please enlighten me.' His voice was back to the menacing iciness he was renowned for.

'Oh, for God's sake. Do you have to be so difficult?' I muttered. 'One second you're kissing me, then the next second you're running away from me. And now I find out that you're treating Sirius like he's dirt on your shoe! He's a friend of mine, Severus. I thought you were different. Can't you forget what happened at school? He's a good man, Severus. I thought you were too.' I stood in silence, waiting for a reply. He stood, shifting from one foot to the other, his eyes moving around madly, looking anywhere but my face.

'I was obviously wrong.' I turned away, disappointed about his lack of response.

'No, you weren't.' He said quietly. I turned back, finally catching his eye.

'So why couldn't you just accept it when he thanked you?  He was all ready to bury the hatchet, and you shoved it right back in his face! Why?' I was shouting now, but I couldn't stop myself. He turned his head away from me, staring at the opposite wall. He mumbled something, which I couldn't quite catch.

'What was that?' I asked quietly.

'I said I don't fucking know! It's just so easy to slip back into my old role, I don't know how else to act!'

'You can be yourself! You can be the person that I've got to know. Sirius is great, once you get to know him. He deserves a chance at least.'

'He's never given me one, until a few hours ago, at least.'

'Who cares about that? You know what, Severus? You might find that if you'd only give something out, you'll start getting it back. You can't expect everyone to give you a chance first. You take the first step for once. You might be surprised!' At that moment there was a loud knock at the door. I was aware that I had been shouting quite loudly, so I turned to leave.

'No, stay, Hermione.' He whispered. 'Come in.' He said more loudly. The door opened and Harry and Sirius walked in.

'We were, er, just looking for Hermione.' Harry said. Severus cleared this throat.

'Black, could I have a word, possibly?' I looked at Severus, wide eyed.

'Any time, Snape' Sirius winked at me, Severus cleared his throat very loudly.

'I'd like to apologise. It was wrong of me to be so rude this morning. I accept your gratitude, and if the offer is still open, I think it would be admirable if we put the past behind us and well, er, perhaps start at the beginning?'

'Alright, Severus,' Sirius said carefully, stepping forward. 'Here's to a new start.' He put his hand out and they shook on it, none of the malice that I had seen between them before present.

'A new start.' Severus echoed, a faint smile on his face. He turned to me, his face splitting into a broad grin when he saw me. I smiled back. I was genuinely surprised. If I had known that shouting at him would have this much of a response, I would have done it long ago, i.e. during first year. Mind you, I would have been too scared of getting expelled. I made tea for the four of us, and we sat around the cauldron chatting. The talk between Severus and Sirius was a bit formal and polite at first, but after half an hour or so they were making up daring and brave stories of the previous night's adventure, each actually making the other out to be a hero, which surprised me no end. Severus even managed a few words to Harry here and there, although Harry spent most of the time staring dumbfounded from me to Severus, as if we had each grown two heads or something.

A/N

Okay, that really is the end of the chapter. I hope that was long enough! I can't believe I've actually got this chapter up ahead of schedule as well. That's actually because I'm trying to put off my revision for as long as possible! But I get lots of nice lovely praise for doing this, but none whatsoever for doing my work. Okay, so there's the added problem of actually getting my university place next year, but that's what I'm sacrificing for you lot! (not really, don't stress, I'm just using this to rest from work, I've been revising all morning, but it's just sooo boring! Is it just me or does it take everyone else forever to come up with chapter titles? I'm starting to wish I'd just called them chapter 1,2 and so on!

Thank you to tiz, ozratbag (x2!), kittykat52788, DragonFireAngelVWP, snapesophelia, sorceress, meeka and Sez for your great reviews!

DragonFireAngelVWP – Thanks again for the extra long review! Don't worry as long as you keep reviewing I won't make you eat vomit flavour beans!! Sure I will help you with your own fic if you want, just email me or whatever. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Snapesophelia – The thing about Hermione thinking of Severus as a greasy bat is kind of how she's still not got over the fact that he was her Professor, because Harry and Ron always called him a greasy bat/git etc. I know it's really not a nice image is it? In the films his hair is not even particularly greasy! But if you like, I will omit every 'greasy bat' comment and put in 'snapesophelia's sex slave', just for you! Now that would be funny!! I guarantee that by the end of this story, Hermione will no longer think of Sev as a greasy bat!

Keep up with the reviews everyone, and thank you for reading!