26
"I've found her, Headmaster!! She's in this room - she doesn't look well
at all, she won't wake up, her energy levels are all off. I think she's
dying, please hurry!"
Rushing into the room, the old wizard in Muggles clothes looked down, shocked at what he saw... what ever was wrong with the girl had been magically induced. But how? And why, in a Muggle Hospital of all places? Draco looked up from the bed where he was holding Cassandra, a pleading look on his usually sharp and condescending features. "Can we save her?"
"We have to get her back to Hogwarts now! Whatever she's been given, it's toxic. I'm going to have to use the Portkey: if I apparate her in this condition, it's guaranteed she'll splinch."
Draco winced at the thought, trying not to visualize his girl in various pieces strewn over Madam Pomfrey's infirmary "Well, we better do it fast, because I can feel her fading, then energy keeps disappearing around her. There don't appear to be any Muggles around right now, let's do it!"
"Yes, there is no time to waste. I certainly hope that Madame Pomfrey has what we need to cure her; normally I would call on Severus for matters of this nature. Whatever has been given to her, it mostly definitely involved Magic of the darkest nature."
"Sir, where exactly is Professor Snape? Shouldn't he be here with Cassandra? They both appeared to me in the library earlier today."
"You can't feel where he is Draco? That is indeed a shame. I was hoping that you would be able to find the Potions Master in the same manner that you so deftly wove our way through London and through this Hospital to find Cassandra. I don't understand how you did it, but it is a precious gift! I knew the instant that Severus was injured, however I was uncertain of where he was, or the circumstances surrounding them. When we met in the hall, I was going to apparate to the Muggle Medical clinic where they were headed to that morning."
Draco said nothing, but made a mental note of the last comment. Should she survive, he would be interested to hear Cassandra's explanation of all this. But first, he would like to see her survive. Priorities.
"Maybe I should go and talk to one of the..." Draco gagged slightly at the thought "Muggles who work here and ask around. Does Professor Snape use his real name when he comes to London? "He was willing to do anything to save the fading creature in his arms. Pride had no part of things in desperate times.
The headmaster shook his head. "Some things I cannot tell you, Draco. But I must leave now, and if you would please stay and search around until you find your head of House, and then apparate back to Hogwarts to fill me in on his status, we could both be doing something to save your. housemate."
With that, Draco stood up from the bed, leaning over to give Cassandra a kiss on the forehead, but changed his mind and met her lips instead. "I came as promised; now you must wait for me to join you." With that, he left the room, unwilling to watch the moment when Dumbledore would touch her hand the dirty hanky in his pocket and whisk her back to the castle. He heard the pop as he stepped out into the hall, willing himself not to let his tears show; he focused on his new mission at hand. How to best approach the situation, was the question. How to do it without getting anyone hurt or getting into too much trouble from the ministry.
"Excuse me maim" He asked over the counter in his 'little boy lost 'voice. "Where do I go to find out which room my father is in?" "Your father is here and you don't know where? That 's a bit odd, why wouldn't you know that?" The tall woman asked suspiciously. "Well, I don't know, you see." Draco allowed his voice to waiver momentarily, and smirked inwardly as the quick response that got from the nurse. "I think my sister might be here too. They were supposed to be home ages ago, and they didn't come back. I'm worried that something terrible has happened to them!"
Noting the boy's thin build and apparently unstable emotional state, she called down to the admissions desk to find out if anyone had been brought in. Having been put on hold (for the hundredth time that day) she cradled the phone into her shoulder and looked back at the boy.
"DO they look like you, son? Same build and hair color. how old is your sister?"
His watery grey eyes met her straight on. "No, you would not recognize them as my family is you didn't know it. We all have the same build, but that is where the resemblance ends. My sister is one year younger than me, and has coal black hair and eyes. My father also looks similar to my sister, as she took after him and I my mother. Dad is 40. He had longish hair and wears black all the time, ever since mother.. Anyways he has a large tattoo on his left forearm, it is quite unique. Have you seen them?"
The nurse went pale and motioned to a doctor to come over. Telling Draco to take a seat and wait, she went over to the man, and he could see her motioning furiously with her hands, talking fast, looking nervously over her shoulder at where the blonde Slytherin was sitting.. Draco knew that whatever had happened to Professor Snape must indeed have been serious also, and decided that now would be a good time to pull his 'panicy Hufflepuff' routine.. one of his personal all time favourites, as the case would have it.
He stood up abruptly, making sure he knocked the chair over as he did so.. muttering a quick charm to make him shake and sweat slightly, he ran over to the counter. "Does he know something? " He asked in a high-pitched voice " Does he know about my dad, or my (sob) sister?" "They aren't .dead, are they? Oh, Cassandra, oh Father! " As a grand finale, Draco flung his head into his hands and began sobbing. "Oh, there-there dear boy, it's alright son. Your sister is here on this floor, and she's going to be alright, and your father." her voice trailed off. "Maybe we'll take you to see him right now."
Draco sniffled, wondering if this woman was going to give him a lollipop to make him feel better. This was indeed one of his finer performances, period. " Yes, I'd like that" he replied weakly, allowing the nurse to guide him down the hall and over to the steel doors known as an elevator. The doors closed and the elevator began to glide upwards, thus they missed the commotion of the head RN walking into Cassandra's room and finding her ward missing. On their ride upwards, the nurse began explaining about double-decker buses hitting Snape, critical injuries and coma, and how it was a miracle he had survived this far.
'She's trying to prepare me' he thought to himself, 'she thinks he is going to die. This is bad, I need to get him to decent care, Madame Pomfrey or St Mungo's would be able to heal him and repair the damage.'
The elevator halted and the doors slid open, and they walked out over to the desk. "This is the ICU, "she explained to Draco " Restricted access, you'll need to be accompanied over to your Father's room. Here, come with me, he's in room 3."
'Damn, having a muggle with me the whole time will make it difficult to get Snape out of here. I'll have to work something out, Dumbledore will have some good ideas, say he's my Gandfather or something.' Dracos thoughts were interrupted as an intercom crackled to life and a medical team rushed past him.
"Code Blue, Code Blue to room 3."
Rushing into the room, the old wizard in Muggles clothes looked down, shocked at what he saw... what ever was wrong with the girl had been magically induced. But how? And why, in a Muggle Hospital of all places? Draco looked up from the bed where he was holding Cassandra, a pleading look on his usually sharp and condescending features. "Can we save her?"
"We have to get her back to Hogwarts now! Whatever she's been given, it's toxic. I'm going to have to use the Portkey: if I apparate her in this condition, it's guaranteed she'll splinch."
Draco winced at the thought, trying not to visualize his girl in various pieces strewn over Madam Pomfrey's infirmary "Well, we better do it fast, because I can feel her fading, then energy keeps disappearing around her. There don't appear to be any Muggles around right now, let's do it!"
"Yes, there is no time to waste. I certainly hope that Madame Pomfrey has what we need to cure her; normally I would call on Severus for matters of this nature. Whatever has been given to her, it mostly definitely involved Magic of the darkest nature."
"Sir, where exactly is Professor Snape? Shouldn't he be here with Cassandra? They both appeared to me in the library earlier today."
"You can't feel where he is Draco? That is indeed a shame. I was hoping that you would be able to find the Potions Master in the same manner that you so deftly wove our way through London and through this Hospital to find Cassandra. I don't understand how you did it, but it is a precious gift! I knew the instant that Severus was injured, however I was uncertain of where he was, or the circumstances surrounding them. When we met in the hall, I was going to apparate to the Muggle Medical clinic where they were headed to that morning."
Draco said nothing, but made a mental note of the last comment. Should she survive, he would be interested to hear Cassandra's explanation of all this. But first, he would like to see her survive. Priorities.
"Maybe I should go and talk to one of the..." Draco gagged slightly at the thought "Muggles who work here and ask around. Does Professor Snape use his real name when he comes to London? "He was willing to do anything to save the fading creature in his arms. Pride had no part of things in desperate times.
The headmaster shook his head. "Some things I cannot tell you, Draco. But I must leave now, and if you would please stay and search around until you find your head of House, and then apparate back to Hogwarts to fill me in on his status, we could both be doing something to save your. housemate."
With that, Draco stood up from the bed, leaning over to give Cassandra a kiss on the forehead, but changed his mind and met her lips instead. "I came as promised; now you must wait for me to join you." With that, he left the room, unwilling to watch the moment when Dumbledore would touch her hand the dirty hanky in his pocket and whisk her back to the castle. He heard the pop as he stepped out into the hall, willing himself not to let his tears show; he focused on his new mission at hand. How to best approach the situation, was the question. How to do it without getting anyone hurt or getting into too much trouble from the ministry.
"Excuse me maim" He asked over the counter in his 'little boy lost 'voice. "Where do I go to find out which room my father is in?" "Your father is here and you don't know where? That 's a bit odd, why wouldn't you know that?" The tall woman asked suspiciously. "Well, I don't know, you see." Draco allowed his voice to waiver momentarily, and smirked inwardly as the quick response that got from the nurse. "I think my sister might be here too. They were supposed to be home ages ago, and they didn't come back. I'm worried that something terrible has happened to them!"
Noting the boy's thin build and apparently unstable emotional state, she called down to the admissions desk to find out if anyone had been brought in. Having been put on hold (for the hundredth time that day) she cradled the phone into her shoulder and looked back at the boy.
"DO they look like you, son? Same build and hair color. how old is your sister?"
His watery grey eyes met her straight on. "No, you would not recognize them as my family is you didn't know it. We all have the same build, but that is where the resemblance ends. My sister is one year younger than me, and has coal black hair and eyes. My father also looks similar to my sister, as she took after him and I my mother. Dad is 40. He had longish hair and wears black all the time, ever since mother.. Anyways he has a large tattoo on his left forearm, it is quite unique. Have you seen them?"
The nurse went pale and motioned to a doctor to come over. Telling Draco to take a seat and wait, she went over to the man, and he could see her motioning furiously with her hands, talking fast, looking nervously over her shoulder at where the blonde Slytherin was sitting.. Draco knew that whatever had happened to Professor Snape must indeed have been serious also, and decided that now would be a good time to pull his 'panicy Hufflepuff' routine.. one of his personal all time favourites, as the case would have it.
He stood up abruptly, making sure he knocked the chair over as he did so.. muttering a quick charm to make him shake and sweat slightly, he ran over to the counter. "Does he know something? " He asked in a high-pitched voice " Does he know about my dad, or my (sob) sister?" "They aren't .dead, are they? Oh, Cassandra, oh Father! " As a grand finale, Draco flung his head into his hands and began sobbing. "Oh, there-there dear boy, it's alright son. Your sister is here on this floor, and she's going to be alright, and your father." her voice trailed off. "Maybe we'll take you to see him right now."
Draco sniffled, wondering if this woman was going to give him a lollipop to make him feel better. This was indeed one of his finer performances, period. " Yes, I'd like that" he replied weakly, allowing the nurse to guide him down the hall and over to the steel doors known as an elevator. The doors closed and the elevator began to glide upwards, thus they missed the commotion of the head RN walking into Cassandra's room and finding her ward missing. On their ride upwards, the nurse began explaining about double-decker buses hitting Snape, critical injuries and coma, and how it was a miracle he had survived this far.
'She's trying to prepare me' he thought to himself, 'she thinks he is going to die. This is bad, I need to get him to decent care, Madame Pomfrey or St Mungo's would be able to heal him and repair the damage.'
The elevator halted and the doors slid open, and they walked out over to the desk. "This is the ICU, "she explained to Draco " Restricted access, you'll need to be accompanied over to your Father's room. Here, come with me, he's in room 3."
'Damn, having a muggle with me the whole time will make it difficult to get Snape out of here. I'll have to work something out, Dumbledore will have some good ideas, say he's my Gandfather or something.' Dracos thoughts were interrupted as an intercom crackled to life and a medical team rushed past him.
"Code Blue, Code Blue to room 3."