Chapter 18
"Abruptly the poker of memory stirs the ashes of recollection and uncovers a forgotten ember,
still smoldering down there, still hot, still glowing, still red as red."
-William Manchester
Snape's finger darted forward and the moment he touched the little statue, he felt as if an enormous hook had suddenly grabbed him right behind the navel and pulled. The world rushed by in a nauseating blur; Snape closed his eyes and, after a few moments, felt his feet touch blissfully solid ground again.
"Ah, here we are," announced Dumbledore beside him, straightening his hat with a twinkle in his eyes. "I had forgotten how much fun portkey travel can be."
They had landed in the middle of what appeared to be a normal Muggle hospital lobby…. Except, on closer observation, there were a few things decidedly not what Muggles would consider normal. A small boy played happily with a magical floating puzzle while his frantic mother told the nurse he had swallowed his play wand. One teenage witch was wailing in despair as a handsome young wizard was hurriedly wheeled out on a gurney, in two separate pieces.
Dumbledore noticed where Snape's eyes had followed.
"Splinched. Poor boy. Apparating without a license, I presume."
Dumbledore motioned him into a seat and went to speak with the harried looking witch behind the desk. He came back a moment later with a clipboard holding several sheets of parchment, a bedraggled quill and a nearly empty inkwell, handing them to Snape with a smile.
Snape filled out what he could (name, profession, nature of malady, duration of malady) and handed the form back to the nurse. He had barely taken his seat again when his name was called loudly at the front desk. Snape stood, hesitated and looked back at Dumbledore.
"Don't worry, Severus. They will call me when you are released if you wish," he said gently, standing up. Snape nodded and walked away.
He was taken under the wing of a plump little nurse with a pug nose and bunches of springy red hair stuffed underneath her prim nurse's cap. She chirped over him like a mother bird and soon, Snape found himself in a chair that floated off of the ground. She tapped it once with her wand and it proceeded to follow her up a flight of moving stairs, down two hallways and around a few corners until finally stopping at one room in a relatively quiet corner of the hospital.
"Here we are," she announced cheerfully, "please get changed, Professor Snape. Dr. Goopheard will be right with you." She bustled out, and quietly closed the door behind her.
Snape sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face wearily. The journey was almost over. In a few moments, perhaps, he'd drink some potion and his memory would be back… whether he wanted it or not.
* * *
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Just do it. I know you can do Memory Charms, Lily, so go on and get it over with."
A pause and then the fatal lifting of a slender wand.
"Oblivate!"
Snape opened his eyes and cautiously looked at his surroundings. He was in St. Mungo's still although the room was darkened. How long he had been asleep he did not know. The last thing he remembered was the nurse giving him a dose of Sleeping Potion.
"Sleep will speed along the recovery of your memories," she had said as the potent concoction threaded its way through his veins.
Dr. Goopheard had been intensely interested in the plaster covering Snape's arm.
"Muggles are so extraordinary! Just look at the ways they've managed to survive without magic."
After expounding for a few minutes upon the ingenuity of Muggle physicians, the doctor finally took it off Snape's arm with a dissolving potion he charmed to stop once it reached skin. Although the arm was wrinkled and pale, the doctor pronounced it fit to go back to normal use after Snape had told him the bone was fixed from the charm he had cast earlier.
The doctor had been impressed by the few things Snape had remembered.
"Not many victims of Memory Charms that go wrong are so lucky," he said, "your recovery will probably go twice as fast compared to a fellow we had here a few years ago. Odd chap. Dressed in the most flamboyant robes I've ever seen. Had some crazy story about a giant snake and Harry Potter."
Snape grimaced at the memory, for he knew exactly whom the doctor must have been referring to. A commotion down the hallway snagged his attention, and his nurse appeared at the door, giggling and blushing as if St. Valentine himself had given her a box of chocolates.
"Oh, Professor Snape! You have a visitor," she announced in a giggling voice and opened the door wider. A head peeked in beside her, crowned with golden curls and flashing Snape a grin that had successfully won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award five times in a row.
"Oh no…."
"Surprise, Severus!" beamed Gilderoy Lockhart, resplendent in lavender and turquoise robes, "Halloo old chap. I see that not even the rakish potions master is immune to Memory Charms." He nudged the blushing nurse knowingly and she giggled even harder. "I was simply on a visit to my favourite nurse when I heard you had been admitted. Can you imagine my surprise? I said to myself: 'Well, of course I'll have to visit poor Severus. After all, I had helped him on that trifling potion back at Hogwarts, he would be glad to see me'. So I went to Nurse Janson, the head nurse, you know, and…"
Not for the first time in his life, Snape thought lovingly of wrapping his hands around that perfect neck.
"Abruptly the poker of memory stirs the ashes of recollection and uncovers a forgotten ember,
still smoldering down there, still hot, still glowing, still red as red."
-William Manchester
Snape's finger darted forward and the moment he touched the little statue, he felt as if an enormous hook had suddenly grabbed him right behind the navel and pulled. The world rushed by in a nauseating blur; Snape closed his eyes and, after a few moments, felt his feet touch blissfully solid ground again.
"Ah, here we are," announced Dumbledore beside him, straightening his hat with a twinkle in his eyes. "I had forgotten how much fun portkey travel can be."
They had landed in the middle of what appeared to be a normal Muggle hospital lobby…. Except, on closer observation, there were a few things decidedly not what Muggles would consider normal. A small boy played happily with a magical floating puzzle while his frantic mother told the nurse he had swallowed his play wand. One teenage witch was wailing in despair as a handsome young wizard was hurriedly wheeled out on a gurney, in two separate pieces.
Dumbledore noticed where Snape's eyes had followed.
"Splinched. Poor boy. Apparating without a license, I presume."
Dumbledore motioned him into a seat and went to speak with the harried looking witch behind the desk. He came back a moment later with a clipboard holding several sheets of parchment, a bedraggled quill and a nearly empty inkwell, handing them to Snape with a smile.
Snape filled out what he could (name, profession, nature of malady, duration of malady) and handed the form back to the nurse. He had barely taken his seat again when his name was called loudly at the front desk. Snape stood, hesitated and looked back at Dumbledore.
"Don't worry, Severus. They will call me when you are released if you wish," he said gently, standing up. Snape nodded and walked away.
He was taken under the wing of a plump little nurse with a pug nose and bunches of springy red hair stuffed underneath her prim nurse's cap. She chirped over him like a mother bird and soon, Snape found himself in a chair that floated off of the ground. She tapped it once with her wand and it proceeded to follow her up a flight of moving stairs, down two hallways and around a few corners until finally stopping at one room in a relatively quiet corner of the hospital.
"Here we are," she announced cheerfully, "please get changed, Professor Snape. Dr. Goopheard will be right with you." She bustled out, and quietly closed the door behind her.
Snape sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face wearily. The journey was almost over. In a few moments, perhaps, he'd drink some potion and his memory would be back… whether he wanted it or not.
* * *
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Just do it. I know you can do Memory Charms, Lily, so go on and get it over with."
A pause and then the fatal lifting of a slender wand.
"Oblivate!"
Snape opened his eyes and cautiously looked at his surroundings. He was in St. Mungo's still although the room was darkened. How long he had been asleep he did not know. The last thing he remembered was the nurse giving him a dose of Sleeping Potion.
"Sleep will speed along the recovery of your memories," she had said as the potent concoction threaded its way through his veins.
Dr. Goopheard had been intensely interested in the plaster covering Snape's arm.
"Muggles are so extraordinary! Just look at the ways they've managed to survive without magic."
After expounding for a few minutes upon the ingenuity of Muggle physicians, the doctor finally took it off Snape's arm with a dissolving potion he charmed to stop once it reached skin. Although the arm was wrinkled and pale, the doctor pronounced it fit to go back to normal use after Snape had told him the bone was fixed from the charm he had cast earlier.
The doctor had been impressed by the few things Snape had remembered.
"Not many victims of Memory Charms that go wrong are so lucky," he said, "your recovery will probably go twice as fast compared to a fellow we had here a few years ago. Odd chap. Dressed in the most flamboyant robes I've ever seen. Had some crazy story about a giant snake and Harry Potter."
Snape grimaced at the memory, for he knew exactly whom the doctor must have been referring to. A commotion down the hallway snagged his attention, and his nurse appeared at the door, giggling and blushing as if St. Valentine himself had given her a box of chocolates.
"Oh, Professor Snape! You have a visitor," she announced in a giggling voice and opened the door wider. A head peeked in beside her, crowned with golden curls and flashing Snape a grin that had successfully won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile award five times in a row.
"Oh no…."
"Surprise, Severus!" beamed Gilderoy Lockhart, resplendent in lavender and turquoise robes, "Halloo old chap. I see that not even the rakish potions master is immune to Memory Charms." He nudged the blushing nurse knowingly and she giggled even harder. "I was simply on a visit to my favourite nurse when I heard you had been admitted. Can you imagine my surprise? I said to myself: 'Well, of course I'll have to visit poor Severus. After all, I had helped him on that trifling potion back at Hogwarts, he would be glad to see me'. So I went to Nurse Janson, the head nurse, you know, and…"
Not for the first time in his life, Snape thought lovingly of wrapping his hands around that perfect neck.