Shattered
By Adriana
trixielou60@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Please see the Prologue, OK?
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Thou'rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
~From John Donne's poem, "Death, Be Not Proud"
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Chapter 1: Rest
The first thing Hermione noticed was the smell. The pungent, smoky stench infiltrated her brain immediately, making her head spin. Looking around wildly, she registered that she was in the middle of the hospital wing at Hogwarts. A loud wail turned her attention to a young girl lying on the floor, her companions crouched besides her. Much of her clothing was burned away and her exposed skin was a weepy, deep red. Hermione made a quick mental note, assessing that over 30% of the front of her body had been burned. As she instinctively stepped towards the girl, she turned to her left and saw a young boy of about fifteen, taking in harsh raspy breaths. The front of his shirt was covered in blood. There was a line of children sitting against the wall, in various states of injury. Hermione stopped in her tracks, paralyzed.
She looked up at Snape, registering his presence for the first time. "How . . . "
"I've been given a special dispensation by the Ministry to Apparate directly into Hogwarts," he said, anticipating her question.
"What . . . "
"No time," he snapped. "If you're looking for help, it's just you and me, so let's get on with it."
"We've got to triage," Hermione said, looking around at the same time for supplies. "From what I can assess, the girl with the burns is the most seriously injured, although the boy on the cot next to her appears to have collapsed a lung. I don't know how much longer he can maintain the energy to breathe before he goes into respiratory failure."
"I've got a potion in my stores that increases the force of skeletal muscle contraction," said
Snape, smirking at her surprised look. "I can concentrate the effects of the Myocoercere Potion to his respiratory muscles, at least until you can attend to him."
"I can begin the healing of the girl using my wands, but I'm going to need a supply of analgesic potions. I will also need to replace her blood proteins, to keep her from going into shock. I know that Madam Pomfrey keeps a supply of Muggle medical devices that will be useful in the short term."
Snape nodded his head and turned to leave the room. Hermione had taken to wearing her medical robes when she meditated, for reasons that were probably more superstitious than practical.
However, the practice had served her well in this instance, as she had both of her wands in the pockets of her robes. She was sure that this detail hadn't escaped Snape's initial notice.
She went over to the burned girl, kneeling beside her. "Shhh, shhh," she crooned to the girl. "I'm Dr. Granger and I'm going to help you. Please try to relax, the first thing I'm going to do is to cast a spell to take away some of the pain and speed up the healing process." She pulled out her wooden wand (rosewood, with a unicorn hair at its core, 9 ½ inches) and held it in her right hand. With her left hand, she pulled out another wand, made entirely of selenite. A very large pink kunzite crystal was poised at the tip.
The children pulled back, all wide-eyed wonder. Hermione began muttering a spell and the girl's clothing magically peeled away from her burns. As she murmured the incantation further, the tip of her wooden wand glowed red, while the tip of her crystal wand glowed a deep blue. Hermione brought the tips together and a soft hum emanated from the apex of the wands. A deep lavender energy began flowing from the wands to the girl's burned flesh. Hermione continued whispering the ancient spell and the girl's breathing began to ease. The burns lost their angry, red hue, transforming into a deep pink colour. The skin began to smooth and dry out. This continued for a few minutes then Hermione turned to a boy next to her. "Let's get her up on a bed. I'm going to Madam Pomfrey's storeroom to gather more supplies."
As she stood up, she saw to her surprise that Fred and George Weasley were running into the infirmary, both clutching Quidditch brooms. They were accompanied by two of Hermione's London medical colleagues.
"Hermione! Thank Merlin you're here!" exclaimed one of the twins. (She still had a hard time telling them apart.) "We were at our shop in Hogsmeade when the attack occurred. There was barely enough time for Snape to dispatch us to London to bring back more help. I take it you know these two?"
Hermione recognized her friends from St. Aloysius Hospital in London and let out a breath of relief.
"Rhys! Claire! You can't imagine how glad I am to see you!" Hermione met them for a quick group hug. They walked over to the potions table. "Let me tell you what's going on."
She was just finishing her consultation when Snape entered the infirmary, with Albus Dumbledore in tow. He was an incredibly comforting sight.
"Hermione! I'm sorry to see you under these circumstances," said the Headmaster. "I only just arrived myself, I was in London when news of the attacks reach the Ministry. I came back as soon as I heard. How can I help?"
Hermione smiled at him. "Headmaster, I think you help by merely being here. Right now some of the least injured students need your attention. It would help if you could reassure them that everything is alright and that a doctor will attend to them shortly. And then perhaps we can talk, when this situation stabilizes?" He nodded.
Taking some of the well-labeled potions from Snape, she and her colleagues set to work on the most seriously injured of Hogwarts. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Snape attending to the boy with the collapsed lung. He leaned over to the boy and quietly said something to him. As he straightened up, the boy gave him a weak, but grateful smile. "He must be a Slytherin," Hermione snorted to herself.
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Severus Snape delivered the potions and stood back for a few moments to furtively observe Hermione in her work. He had been surprised to see her wearing the robes of the Order of Chiron. He knew it to be an extremely exclusive and secretive healing order and wondered about her involvement with the group.
Interesting.
There apparently was more to the irrepressible Miss Granger of "Know-It-All" fame than he would have ever guessed.
Her dark brown hair was in riotous disarray and her white robes flowed almost as if they were moving under water. The sleeves and hem of her outer robe were trimmed in a dark blue silk, with a slow moving pattern of runes running along the outer edges. He recognized the symbols for earth, fire, water and air as they circled around the material. She wore a large pendant of round, cut sapphire, surrounded by a platinum setting in the shape of the sun. He knew from what little had been published about the Order that those who belonged were trained in the channeling of earth energies, to facilitate healing. He suspected that there was much more to this particular brand of healing magic, though. It was said that the training was grueling and that most failed to make the grade.
He scowled.
Typical. He really shouldn't have been surprised that she had chosen to go for such a program.
He went into the supply storeroom and paused, sighing. He was going to have to tell Miss, ("no dammit!") Doctor Granger about Madam Pomfrey. When the Death Eaters had pointed their wands at Minerva and Poppy, he had been powerless to intervene and had watched in horror as a Cruciatus curse was hurled towards the women. In a blink, Poppy had thrown herself in front of Minerva and the curse had hit her square in the back. It was particularly horrid because it had been simultaneously cast by at least five of the Death Eaters. The others had been involved in protecting the perimeter and a battle had ensued.
Snape had cast a quick succession of "Stupefy" hexes, alternating with a couple of Cruciatus curses of his own. He saw an angry Minerva McGonagall retaliate with a few vicious hexes and he couldn't help slightly smiling at the sight. He knew that the Ministry, in spite of their public denial of a "Death Eater problem", had posted undercover Aurors around Hogsmeade. Soon they had help. He noticed that Potter and Weasely were not amongst the Aurors and had briefly wondered about that.
Many innocent wizards, mostly children, had been caught in the crossfire as the battle had begun right outside the Weasley twins' joke shop. When it became obvious that the Death Eaters were cornered and outnumbered, some had Apparated away, leaving the injured and dead to the Ministry and their Aurors. Most of the injured civilians had been evacuated to Hogwarts.
Snape had hurried over to where Minerva and Poppy were clutching each other, still huddled in the doorway of the clothing shop. He had gently laid a hand on Minerva's shoulder and she'd shifted so he could see Poppy. Even though he'd been prepared for the worst, he still had to stifle his cry. It was obvious that she was terribly, terribly injured. Every muscle in her body seemed to be contorted and her skin was a dusky gray colour. She was barely breathing and luckily appeared to be unconscious. Minerva looked up to him with tears in her eyes. "I don't think she's going to survive this, Severus," she whispered. "The only person who would even have a chance of healing her is Hermione Granger and she's in London where she's . . . "
Snape interrupted, "I know exactly where Miss, I mean Dr. Granger is, " he spat. " And I suppose you want me to fetch her," he added, in a scornful tone. He softened when he saw the stricken look on Minerva's face. "I'm sorry," he murmured, shaking his head. "Of course Dr. Granger is the best and Poppy needs the best. I'll see to it. Minvera, I think it would be best if we separated Poppy from the rest of the injured. It would only provoke panic if they knew that she's this badly hurt. Place her in my private quarters. I have a supply of potions and a lab next door. We can tend to her there."
Giving her the password to his quarters, he'd then had the presence of mind to intercept the Weasley twins and send them to London to fetch more medical help. He subsequently Apparated to the hallway in front of Hermione Granger's flat.
And now he had to tell her that Poppy had lived through the attack, only to probably die in his bed. Minerva was with her, and Snape had given her potions that would ease Poppy's pain and relax her muscles, but he feared that her internal injuries had been too great. Not only that, but his cover had been blown with the Death Eaters. There would be time enough to deal with that.
He steeled himself, gathering more supplies and left the room.
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Once she and her colleagues had gotten everybody stabilized, Hermione searched the room for Snape. She found him in deep conversation with the Headmaster.
"Things have calmed down," said Hermione. "And now I need some of my questions answered."
"In due time," said Snape. "There is one more thing we need of you, Dr. Granger." He looked at the Headmaster helplessly and Hermione felt the beginnings of unease. Snape was never helpless. Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"I'm afraid that there is one more patient we need you to attend to and I'm very afraid of the outcome. You're probably wondering about Madam Pomfrey."
Hermione felt a cold cloud of fear pressing her heart. "No," she whispered.
"She was hit by the Cruciatus, cast simultaneously by at least five Death Eaters. She's in Severus' private quarters and Professor McGonagall is with her. I'm afraid she's near death, Hermione."
Hermione turned to Snape. "You bastard!" she screamed. I needed to go to her immediately and you kept me from her! How could you do such a horrible thing?"
"Don't be angry with Severus," said the Headmaster. "Poppy briefly regained consciousness, only to tell him that the students needed to be treated first. She said that even if you were to get to her sooner, it would be unlikely that you could save her. She said she has strong reason to believe that her death is imminent. She wants to see you, child."
Giving Snape a cold look, Hermione ran out of the infirmary to the dungeons. He scowled and followed her. "The stupid woman won't be able to get past my wards," he muttered to himself.
"Typical Gryffindor, she thinks she can bulldoze her way into my chambers."
He eventually rounded the dungeon hallway to find her banging on his door, screaming obscenities at it and demanding that it open. She was pointing her wand at it, firing out all sorts of hell and brimstone. Since when did Miss Perfect use coarse language like that? He rolled his eyes and breaking the wards, they stepped inside.
He grabbed her by the shoulders before she could move further into his quarters. "Poppy is in a bad way," he hissed. "She doesn't need your maudlin, over-emotional entreaties to make her last moments on this earth harder." His grip tightened.
"How dare you," whispered Hermione. She was shaking with anger. "Poppy was my mentor and I love her very much. How dare you presume that you know what's best for her and I don't? If the situation were different, I'd be hexing you to China right now. As it is, she needs us to put up a united front. Now. Get. Out. Of. My. Way," she slowly ground out. He released her shoulders.
As she swept past him, she missed the look of grudging admiration that briefly flickered upon his features. It was gone in an instant and he settled into his usual inscrutable look.
When he reached his bedroom, Hermione was already sitting on the bed, Poppy's right hand clasped in her own. She was leaning down, whispering to the mediwitch, who clearly had been drifting in and out of consciousness. Professor McGonagall was sitting on a chair at the other side of the bed and Snape maneuvered himself at its foot.
Hermione was caressing Poppy's hand with her face. "Are you in pain?" she asked.
Poppy smiled. "No child, Severus took care of that. He's a good man." Hermione looked at her dubiously.
"I'm glad you're here," the mediwitch added.
Hermione leaned over to Poppy. "I can heal you", she whispered softly. "You know that I have the power. You were struck by dark magic and you know that there's a way I can dispel this."
"You are a Sentient, Hermione," said Poppy, weakly. "You must save your kiss for somebody more deserving, somebody who has the power to change the course of this war. It's not me, my darling. I should tell you that I have been dying for several months now. I didn't want to worry anybody, but I was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer three months ago. Not even magic could save me. Except yours, " she chuckled, but soon the sound turned into a harsh cough.
"Oh, how can you laugh at a time like this?"
Poppy reached up to stroke her hair. "I'm at peace, my girl. Promise me that you'll take care of yourself and those who are fighting for the Light." Her gaze rested on Snape. "Severus, I trust you'll look after my replacement? Make sure she has the proper potions to do her job. I can't rest knowing that things will be in disarray when I'm gone."
"I promise, Poppy."
She lay back weakly in her pillow. The conversation had taken an obvious toll on her. Her dusky colour deepened and her breathing became ragged. Before she lost consciousness again, she murmured, "I love you all."
The three of them stayed with her for another half an hour. Dumbledore came in and stood next to Professor McGonagall, a somber, sad expression on his face. As Poppy's breathing became slower and harsher, Hermione allowed herself a few bitter tears. She was stroking her face while Minerva rubbed Poppy's hand soothingly. As Hermione's vision blurred, she felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder. Surprised, she looked up to see Snape standing there, giving her the most compassionate look she'd ever seen. She almost didn't recognize him as his onyx eyes communicated their shared pain. The four sat in silence, as Poppy's breathing became slower and slower. Finally, it ceased altogether.
Madam Poppy Pomfrey was gone.
To be continued . . .
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