A/N: Sorry no update last weekend, I was in Seattle as my honey OD'ed on baseball ;-)
In the Company of Snakes
By: Cousin Mary
Part9
Severus Snape paused in what he was doing and frowned. Why was he chopping ginger root? He looked down at the knife in his hand, it wasn't one of his. He next noticed that instead of his normal highly polished wooded work bench, he seemed to be working on… deep blue tile? Snape's head snapped up and his eyes swung around. He was in a bathroom! Standing, in his black night shirt, his feet bare on cold imported Spanish tile. The air was thick with a bitter tasting steam and… was that the young Mr. Malfoy standing next to him shredding willow bark?! "What the-?"
"Keep working, he isn't doing very well," Draco didn't even look up, just carefully measured out the bark and added it to one of several small cauldrons he had brewing.
Still disorientated Snape glanced behind himself and found what Malfoy the younger was so intent on, "Lucius," He gave a pained hiss, "Merlin, what happened?"
In his slick bath, Lucius stirred slightly but didn't awaken. The exposed skin of his face, neck and upper chest above the water line was a deep red, almost like cooked lobster. His eyes were swollen shut and his hands floated to either side of him a mass of scar tissue. He looked ghastly. Like a nightmare made flesh.
"Burned, Incendio curse," Draco answered for him, "You're working on the burn-healing paste while I handle the anti-nerve damage tonic."
Snape found himself nodding as he continued chopping the ginger. He was at a loss as to how he came to be at what he now knew must be Lucius's bath, but refusing to help his former classmate simply wasn't an option. So he chopped, brewed and administered potion after potion. He and Draco barely talking as they worked side by side. He was dimly aware of passage of time as the stained glass windows against the wall lit up with dawn and proceeded to darken as the sun passed overhead.
Hours had passed when Severus found a cool drink being pressed into his hand, he glanced down at the house elf who'd brought it only to discover a pale girl quickly hurrying by and delivering a drink to Draco as well. She turned then and sat down next to tub where Lucius still floated, oblivious to the world.
Snape frowned at the girl as he drained his glass, some sort of health concoction that was supposed to replace a real meal. He watched as the girl stared intently into the murky bath, ringing her hands in obvious distress. "Who's she then?" Snape was almost surprised when he heard himself ask the question out loud, even more so when he realized he'd directed it at the young mister Malfoy. Since when did he have conversations with students?
"That's Maggie, my sister." Draco rolled with shoulders, trying to release some of the tension. He didn't seem surprised at their exchange, or perhaps he was just too exhausted to recognize the oddity of it. "We should get back to work, the fluxweed infusion should almost be ready."
It was as if a haze were slowly lifting and Snape found himself much more aware of his surroundings. He suddenly become conscious of the fact that the girl had been in the room nearly the entire time, just leaning against the back wall near the tub, silently sitting and staring. He also became startlingly aware of the fact that Malfoy the younger was, and had been for hours, displaying a level of potion mastery well beyond anything a mere student should possess. He glanced to Lucius, still bobbing unconscious in his dark, viscous medicinal bath. "What happened here?" He finally asked the questions he should have asked hours ago, "How did I arrive here and who did this to your father?"
Snape watched Draco frown and take a step closer to the bathtub, no, to the girl. He sank down and knelt next to the girl who, the potion professor noted, was trembling. "We're not sure what happened exactly," Draco began hesitantly, but before Snape could interrupt, he continued, "As to who's responsible…" The boy pushed his hand through his sweat-drenched hair, "The only logical answer is Mother."
The boy had almost whispered the last bit, but Snape heard it and his eyes widened in shock. Narcissa had-? He couldn't believe it. His eyes narrowed on the young girl, "There seems to be another possible suspect."
The girl's eyes swept up, red-rimmed from lack of sleep and crying. "I didn't do this!" She jumped to her feet, "I would –never- do something like this! Especially to my own father!"
Snape was exhausted and frustrated and instantly furious because of it. He was about to challenge the young chit that she was no daughter of Lucius Malfoy, when Draco pulled up to his feet beside her. One look at the two of them together was enough to close Snape's mouth with a snap. His brows drew together as he guessed the reason for Narcissa's fury. Of course nothing could excuse the woman's actions, but if he presumed correctly, the girl's presence at the Manor did explain a few things. "When did-?" He gestured to Lucius in the bath.
"Last night, around three we guess," Draco stepped away from Maggie and took his place back before his cauldrons. The rest of the day was spent discussing the potions and possible treatments, while the girl just stared from the shadows.
Snape had been given one of the guest rooms when everyone had become too weary to continue. Lucius was in a kind of stasis at the moment and would stay unchanged for at least a few hours. As the dark hared wizard collapsed across the deep red of the velvet coverlet he briefly wondered at how this had come to be. Lucius and Narcissa had always been, since graduation, their entire adult lives. Yet now it seemed Lucius was alone, for surely Narcissa wouldn't dare return. Lucius alone, with not one, but two children. Children that had to call upon him for help.
Snape frowned as he shut stinging eyes. He would never say he and Lucius Malfoy were friends, had ever been friends, but he'd admit, at least to himself, he was worried. He sighed, turning his head into the pillow as if turning away from his thoughts on Lucius. And then, his last thought, just before drifting off into a dreamless sleep, 'just how the bloody hell did I end up here anyway?"
Reviews are like candy!
A/N: Short chapter I know, but hopefully more soon!