A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, I have loved writing this
story. This is the last chapter but I am considering writing an epilogue that I
will post whenever I get it done. The epilogue will be much more light
hearted and funny. Thanks for sticking with it, and I hope I did an ok job.
Happy holidays! - Heather
Chapter 13
Severus and Hermione both stopped coming to the gift exchange for
the remainder of the week. Albus was disheartened, but still had one last
plan up his sleeve.
"Poppy? May I speak with you in my office?" Albus asked after their
7th gift exchange.
"Of course, give me but a moment." Poppy replied as she set down
her things and followed the Headmaster to his office.
"Albus, what is it that you wanted?"
"Are you still planning to redo the spell on Severus tonight?"
"Yes, he will be in the infirmary after dinner. Why?"
"How long will it take the old one to wear off?
"Probably somewhere around midnight or so. Why?"
"I am going to give Hermione and Severus one more shot, this has to
work! Doesn't he see that Adolyn has sent Hermione to him, to be with?"
"You are playing a dangerous game, if this fails you know he will
never trust you again."
"It is the chance I take. I believe in Hermione, I believe in her
courage."
"What do you want me to do?" She asked after a moment's pause.
"Tell Severus that you will be in shortly after midnight to reactivate
the spell, but do not go, I will send Hermione in. I will tell her that you have
taken ill and that she is to look after the infirmary."
"Albus, he will still be in pain, the old spell does not leave his body
unharmed."
"She will care for him, she is powerful, Adolyn has passed her powers
on to her. I can feel it."
"I hope your right." Poppy sighed.
"If that is all I have work to do, I have to save up my power for
tonight."
"If all works according to plan, then you shall not need your strength
tonight, for it is Hermione who needs her strength, and Severus his
patience."
***
During Christmas Eve dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione was seated
next to Severus, who, she noticed, wasn't eating much of anything.
"Severus, aren't you going to eat? It is Christmas Eve dinner."
Hermione asked.
"I am not hungry."
"Well at least try the turkey." She persuaded.
"No thank you!" He hissed. He stood from the table, he had other
things on his mind. Hermione followed him out of the dinning hall.
"Wait, I never thanked you for returning my locket." She said as she
caught up to him.
"I found it, outside your house, I am sure you wanted it returned to
you." He answered simply.
"Thank you, and thank you for the lovely quill and bookmark as
well."
"How did you know it was me?"
"I knew the moment you gave me the quill where you had gotten the
idea."
"You are quite funny when you want to be. That day in the library,
you were so despicable, and yet so open. It was nice getting to know the
real you like that."
"Oh what do you know?" He said grumpily as he walked away.
"Why did I even bother?" She said to herself standing alone in the
entry hall.
****
Severus climbed the stairs to the infirmary, he was in pain, but did not
want to show it at dinner. Every six months he put himself through this hell,
just to live the next six months in peace. There was neither potion nor spell
that would relieve his suffering through the night. He would have to bear
the pain alone and in the darkness as he always had.
"Severus, make yourself comfortable. The house elves have brought
you your nightgown." Poppy said as she pointed to a bed towards the back
of the hospital wing.
"Thank you." He struggled to get out, the pain was getting to him. It
was like facing the Cruciatius cure twice over. Then of course there was the
painful and tedious task of creating a new spell.
Severus settled into the bed and tried to let his mind wander to happier
times, but there would never be happier times, the dementors took them
from him during his time in Azkaban.
"I will be back around midnight to start the new spell." Poppy said as
she shut the door behind her.
It was late and Hermione was in her rooms when she heard the cries
that she had heard when she was in school. They were the same cries that
sent her wandering in the staff corridors that night Snape had given her
detention. She put down her quill and went out onto the hallway where she
bumped into Albus.
"Hello Hermione, just the girl I was looking for." Albus said to her.
"Hello Headmaster, what are you in need of?"
"Poppy has taken somewhat ill and has asked that you watch over the
patient in the infirmary tonight."
"Me? Why me?"
"You excelled in potions and you have the capability of being a
powerful healer if you want."
"Is that crying coming from the infirmary?" She asked
sympathetically.
"Yes, I am afraid that she has a rather difficult patient in there right
now, but I know you will be able to handle it." Albus said as he gave her a
push to the infirmary stairs.
Hermione walked up the steps and turned the knob that she was so
close to turning that night in her Seventh year. She entered a rather dark
infirmary with only the pale moonlight lighting her path. She saw a figure in
a bed in the corner. He lay still then he jerked suddenly and moaned.
Hermione walked closer and touched his foot.
"Poppy?" A weak voice asked.
"No, she has taken ill, my name is Hermione." She answered as she
sat at the foot of his bed, his face hidden in the darkness.
"Hermione? What are you doing here!" The voice asked with more
urgency.
"I was asked to come look after you."
"Get out of here! You don't belong here, you don't understand. You
wouldn't understand!" The voice hissed out. Hermione recognized it.
"Severus? What are you doing here?" She asked his face was still
covered.
"I am pain, just leave me be."
"Why? Why do you so desperately want to be left alone? I have
experienced loneliness, and I weep at night knowing I have no one who
loves me." She said back drawing closer to his face.
"You are young and beautiful, you will not stay that way forever."
"Listen to yourself, you are not old, you are still young in the eyes of a
wizard. If you tried maybe someone will love you like your Adolyn once
did," Hermione pressured.
"How do you know? Who told you?" He asked angrily.
"That is not important. Why do you hide your face in the darkness,
what are you hiding?" Hermione said as she drew her lighted wand towards
his face. He struggled, he pushed her away and doing so fell off the bed and
onto the cold floor. Hermione ran to the other side.
"Are you all right? What do you fear?" Hermione said as she knelt
down by the cowering Snape and drew her hand to the left side of his face.
He closed his eyes, and gave in.
Hermione brought her wand to his face and made an awful noise. She
now understood what had happen that night that Adolyn died. She helped
Severus back into his bed and sat beside him.
"Do you see! Do you see the kind of monster I am. My face is not
my face, my eyes are not my eyes!" He hissed again.
"Tell me, tell me what happened." Hermione purred.
Severus looked into her eyes filled with tears, and began his story.
"I was working as a spy for Albus, and my fiancŽe, Adolyn was also
working for him. We are known to the wizarding worlds as Sages, our
magic is incredibly powerful, but easily controlled. We are the oldest form
of magical beings alive, from our people, wizards were formed, a weakened
version of our kind.
Voldermort found out about Adolyn's powers but not mine. I had
prepared a potion that would block our powers for a short time in order to
prove his informant wrong. The potion was ready, and I had tested it
myself. It was highly toxic to the skin and very powerful. Lucius had
informed us that Voldermort would be at our house within the hour. I drank
the potion and gave Adolyn's her share. I heard Auroras around me, and
gasped when I saw what the potion was doing to Adolyn. She had begun to
choke, and then she turned a horrible shade of blue. I heard her screaming to
me, telling me that she was sorry." He paused.
"That she was sorry, when I was the one that did this to her!" He
yelled out through pain.
"Sirius, James, and Remus were all Auroras. They had seen what had
happened. Sirius knowing about Adolyn's allegiance to the Headmaster was
convinced that I had willingly killed her."
"But you didn't did you? It reacted wrong because she was pregnant
and did not tell you. Isn't that right?" She asked with her heart breaking just
hearing him talk about this.
"What have you been up to?" Severus asked suspiciously.
"I used Harry's cloak and followed you one day last week." She
admitted. This was not a time for lies.
"Why?" He simply asked.
"Because I wanted to get you something that would make you happy.
You seem so sad most of the time, I just wanted you to have one good
Christmas." She cried.
"I saw the picture in your room, of you and Adolyn at school. She
was very beautiful." Hermione said after a while of silence.
"Yes she was." He sat in silence.
"Why do you not ask me about my face? Why have you not mocked
me?" He asked after a while. Light filled the room as he used his magic to
show her his face.
It was horrible she had to admit it terrified her to look at him in the
face. Burnt skin scars from his hairline down his neck. It did not touch the
left side of his face; it stopped after crossing over his nose. She now
understood what those potions were for and why he was in here, but there
were his eyes. They were no longer the black endless spheres, but now blue
like in the picture. Hermione looked into his eyes and felt safe.
"It was Black who did this to me, although I no longer blame him. If
the roles were reversed I would have reacted the same way. I know that
now. He preformed the Expelleriamus charm on me, and I went flying
backwards. I hit the cauldron in which the potion was stored. It spilled and
my right side of my face fell into it. The affects did not take hold until that
next morning when I was already locked in Azkaban. No matter how I
screamed I know no one would save me."
"You were in Azkaban?"
"Yes I stayed there until Potter became known as 'the boy who lived'."
Severus explained. It was like a dam was broken he could not stop himself
from telling her. He didn't understand he wasn't furious at her for breaking
in to his private rooms, but he was glad that she had let him talk, without any
blame.
Hermione stood up and walked towards the window. She loved him,
she knew that now. She always had, but she was too blinded by the pain of
her parents' death. She was still very afraid of what love meant.
"Why do you stay? Why don't you run in fear. I am hideous I know
that, no appearance charm can hide me from myself. I know what I see in
the mirror is the truth. Leave! Leave now!" He said becoming afraid that
he might actually love her. He was pushing her away, but this time
Hermione did something unexpected.
She walked over to the bed and dragged him to the window.
"Tell me Severus why is it so impossible for you to show any feelings
towards another human being. Do not forget that I have lost the ones I love
as well. This is not some pity party for you, S. Snape!" Hermione yelled
into his face.
"What do you know about love?" He asked.
"I know love is a feeling not an action, I know that love is the
strongest emotion someone can feel for another person and I know that I
love you!" She exclaimed as she grasped his face and brought her lips to
his, and kissed him.
Severus face and eyes were in complete shock. His body melted as
she continued to kiss him, he clumsily put one of his hands that were at his
side, around her back. Then he brought the other one behind her head, and
kissed her back.
They let go briefly.
"Hermione how can you love a face like mine?" He asked.
"I do not see a face whittled with torment and pain, I see the face of a
happy man whose eyes are as blue as the deepest sea, and as colorful as the
evening sky." She replied.
"All these years I wondered why Adolyn had not returned to me as
she had promised, and yet she has. She is within you." He said as he kissed
her again.
"How I long I have told myself lies, I have always loved you, and I
always will." She said as they moved to the bed.
"Wait, what about the Appearance charm? Are you going to have it
put back on tonight?" Hermione asked.
He did not respond.
"Severus I will love you with or without it, although I do prefer the
color of your eyes without the charm on." She responded.
"Then I shall leave it off, one day at a time." He said to her.
"Don't worry I will always be there with you. Baldena dis avont druid
font" She said. Severus cocked his head.
"Where did you?" He was interrupted.
"Where I heard it from is not important, what is important is that I
mean it." She said as she touched his lips with her index finger.
"Dis donna Callai doven. Feery donn e glanus avont." He replied.
"What does that mean? I am not fluent in Old Wizard." She spoke.
"Then I will teach you. It means I have receive a Christmas angel,
and she may have my heart to keep."
"I would like that." She said as she and Severus both laid down in one
of the infirmary beds and fell asleep.
"Merry Christmas and to all a goodnight." Albus said softly from the corner of
the infirmary where he had been hiding.
story. This is the last chapter but I am considering writing an epilogue that I
will post whenever I get it done. The epilogue will be much more light
hearted and funny. Thanks for sticking with it, and I hope I did an ok job.
Happy holidays! - Heather
Chapter 13
Severus and Hermione both stopped coming to the gift exchange for
the remainder of the week. Albus was disheartened, but still had one last
plan up his sleeve.
"Poppy? May I speak with you in my office?" Albus asked after their
7th gift exchange.
"Of course, give me but a moment." Poppy replied as she set down
her things and followed the Headmaster to his office.
"Albus, what is it that you wanted?"
"Are you still planning to redo the spell on Severus tonight?"
"Yes, he will be in the infirmary after dinner. Why?"
"How long will it take the old one to wear off?
"Probably somewhere around midnight or so. Why?"
"I am going to give Hermione and Severus one more shot, this has to
work! Doesn't he see that Adolyn has sent Hermione to him, to be with?"
"You are playing a dangerous game, if this fails you know he will
never trust you again."
"It is the chance I take. I believe in Hermione, I believe in her
courage."
"What do you want me to do?" She asked after a moment's pause.
"Tell Severus that you will be in shortly after midnight to reactivate
the spell, but do not go, I will send Hermione in. I will tell her that you have
taken ill and that she is to look after the infirmary."
"Albus, he will still be in pain, the old spell does not leave his body
unharmed."
"She will care for him, she is powerful, Adolyn has passed her powers
on to her. I can feel it."
"I hope your right." Poppy sighed.
"If that is all I have work to do, I have to save up my power for
tonight."
"If all works according to plan, then you shall not need your strength
tonight, for it is Hermione who needs her strength, and Severus his
patience."
***
During Christmas Eve dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione was seated
next to Severus, who, she noticed, wasn't eating much of anything.
"Severus, aren't you going to eat? It is Christmas Eve dinner."
Hermione asked.
"I am not hungry."
"Well at least try the turkey." She persuaded.
"No thank you!" He hissed. He stood from the table, he had other
things on his mind. Hermione followed him out of the dinning hall.
"Wait, I never thanked you for returning my locket." She said as she
caught up to him.
"I found it, outside your house, I am sure you wanted it returned to
you." He answered simply.
"Thank you, and thank you for the lovely quill and bookmark as
well."
"How did you know it was me?"
"I knew the moment you gave me the quill where you had gotten the
idea."
"You are quite funny when you want to be. That day in the library,
you were so despicable, and yet so open. It was nice getting to know the
real you like that."
"Oh what do you know?" He said grumpily as he walked away.
"Why did I even bother?" She said to herself standing alone in the
entry hall.
****
Severus climbed the stairs to the infirmary, he was in pain, but did not
want to show it at dinner. Every six months he put himself through this hell,
just to live the next six months in peace. There was neither potion nor spell
that would relieve his suffering through the night. He would have to bear
the pain alone and in the darkness as he always had.
"Severus, make yourself comfortable. The house elves have brought
you your nightgown." Poppy said as she pointed to a bed towards the back
of the hospital wing.
"Thank you." He struggled to get out, the pain was getting to him. It
was like facing the Cruciatius cure twice over. Then of course there was the
painful and tedious task of creating a new spell.
Severus settled into the bed and tried to let his mind wander to happier
times, but there would never be happier times, the dementors took them
from him during his time in Azkaban.
"I will be back around midnight to start the new spell." Poppy said as
she shut the door behind her.
It was late and Hermione was in her rooms when she heard the cries
that she had heard when she was in school. They were the same cries that
sent her wandering in the staff corridors that night Snape had given her
detention. She put down her quill and went out onto the hallway where she
bumped into Albus.
"Hello Hermione, just the girl I was looking for." Albus said to her.
"Hello Headmaster, what are you in need of?"
"Poppy has taken somewhat ill and has asked that you watch over the
patient in the infirmary tonight."
"Me? Why me?"
"You excelled in potions and you have the capability of being a
powerful healer if you want."
"Is that crying coming from the infirmary?" She asked
sympathetically.
"Yes, I am afraid that she has a rather difficult patient in there right
now, but I know you will be able to handle it." Albus said as he gave her a
push to the infirmary stairs.
Hermione walked up the steps and turned the knob that she was so
close to turning that night in her Seventh year. She entered a rather dark
infirmary with only the pale moonlight lighting her path. She saw a figure in
a bed in the corner. He lay still then he jerked suddenly and moaned.
Hermione walked closer and touched his foot.
"Poppy?" A weak voice asked.
"No, she has taken ill, my name is Hermione." She answered as she
sat at the foot of his bed, his face hidden in the darkness.
"Hermione? What are you doing here!" The voice asked with more
urgency.
"I was asked to come look after you."
"Get out of here! You don't belong here, you don't understand. You
wouldn't understand!" The voice hissed out. Hermione recognized it.
"Severus? What are you doing here?" She asked his face was still
covered.
"I am pain, just leave me be."
"Why? Why do you so desperately want to be left alone? I have
experienced loneliness, and I weep at night knowing I have no one who
loves me." She said back drawing closer to his face.
"You are young and beautiful, you will not stay that way forever."
"Listen to yourself, you are not old, you are still young in the eyes of a
wizard. If you tried maybe someone will love you like your Adolyn once
did," Hermione pressured.
"How do you know? Who told you?" He asked angrily.
"That is not important. Why do you hide your face in the darkness,
what are you hiding?" Hermione said as she drew her lighted wand towards
his face. He struggled, he pushed her away and doing so fell off the bed and
onto the cold floor. Hermione ran to the other side.
"Are you all right? What do you fear?" Hermione said as she knelt
down by the cowering Snape and drew her hand to the left side of his face.
He closed his eyes, and gave in.
Hermione brought her wand to his face and made an awful noise. She
now understood what had happen that night that Adolyn died. She helped
Severus back into his bed and sat beside him.
"Do you see! Do you see the kind of monster I am. My face is not
my face, my eyes are not my eyes!" He hissed again.
"Tell me, tell me what happened." Hermione purred.
Severus looked into her eyes filled with tears, and began his story.
"I was working as a spy for Albus, and my fiancŽe, Adolyn was also
working for him. We are known to the wizarding worlds as Sages, our
magic is incredibly powerful, but easily controlled. We are the oldest form
of magical beings alive, from our people, wizards were formed, a weakened
version of our kind.
Voldermort found out about Adolyn's powers but not mine. I had
prepared a potion that would block our powers for a short time in order to
prove his informant wrong. The potion was ready, and I had tested it
myself. It was highly toxic to the skin and very powerful. Lucius had
informed us that Voldermort would be at our house within the hour. I drank
the potion and gave Adolyn's her share. I heard Auroras around me, and
gasped when I saw what the potion was doing to Adolyn. She had begun to
choke, and then she turned a horrible shade of blue. I heard her screaming to
me, telling me that she was sorry." He paused.
"That she was sorry, when I was the one that did this to her!" He
yelled out through pain.
"Sirius, James, and Remus were all Auroras. They had seen what had
happened. Sirius knowing about Adolyn's allegiance to the Headmaster was
convinced that I had willingly killed her."
"But you didn't did you? It reacted wrong because she was pregnant
and did not tell you. Isn't that right?" She asked with her heart breaking just
hearing him talk about this.
"What have you been up to?" Severus asked suspiciously.
"I used Harry's cloak and followed you one day last week." She
admitted. This was not a time for lies.
"Why?" He simply asked.
"Because I wanted to get you something that would make you happy.
You seem so sad most of the time, I just wanted you to have one good
Christmas." She cried.
"I saw the picture in your room, of you and Adolyn at school. She
was very beautiful." Hermione said after a while of silence.
"Yes she was." He sat in silence.
"Why do you not ask me about my face? Why have you not mocked
me?" He asked after a while. Light filled the room as he used his magic to
show her his face.
It was horrible she had to admit it terrified her to look at him in the
face. Burnt skin scars from his hairline down his neck. It did not touch the
left side of his face; it stopped after crossing over his nose. She now
understood what those potions were for and why he was in here, but there
were his eyes. They were no longer the black endless spheres, but now blue
like in the picture. Hermione looked into his eyes and felt safe.
"It was Black who did this to me, although I no longer blame him. If
the roles were reversed I would have reacted the same way. I know that
now. He preformed the Expelleriamus charm on me, and I went flying
backwards. I hit the cauldron in which the potion was stored. It spilled and
my right side of my face fell into it. The affects did not take hold until that
next morning when I was already locked in Azkaban. No matter how I
screamed I know no one would save me."
"You were in Azkaban?"
"Yes I stayed there until Potter became known as 'the boy who lived'."
Severus explained. It was like a dam was broken he could not stop himself
from telling her. He didn't understand he wasn't furious at her for breaking
in to his private rooms, but he was glad that she had let him talk, without any
blame.
Hermione stood up and walked towards the window. She loved him,
she knew that now. She always had, but she was too blinded by the pain of
her parents' death. She was still very afraid of what love meant.
"Why do you stay? Why don't you run in fear. I am hideous I know
that, no appearance charm can hide me from myself. I know what I see in
the mirror is the truth. Leave! Leave now!" He said becoming afraid that
he might actually love her. He was pushing her away, but this time
Hermione did something unexpected.
She walked over to the bed and dragged him to the window.
"Tell me Severus why is it so impossible for you to show any feelings
towards another human being. Do not forget that I have lost the ones I love
as well. This is not some pity party for you, S. Snape!" Hermione yelled
into his face.
"What do you know about love?" He asked.
"I know love is a feeling not an action, I know that love is the
strongest emotion someone can feel for another person and I know that I
love you!" She exclaimed as she grasped his face and brought her lips to
his, and kissed him.
Severus face and eyes were in complete shock. His body melted as
she continued to kiss him, he clumsily put one of his hands that were at his
side, around her back. Then he brought the other one behind her head, and
kissed her back.
They let go briefly.
"Hermione how can you love a face like mine?" He asked.
"I do not see a face whittled with torment and pain, I see the face of a
happy man whose eyes are as blue as the deepest sea, and as colorful as the
evening sky." She replied.
"All these years I wondered why Adolyn had not returned to me as
she had promised, and yet she has. She is within you." He said as he kissed
her again.
"How I long I have told myself lies, I have always loved you, and I
always will." She said as they moved to the bed.
"Wait, what about the Appearance charm? Are you going to have it
put back on tonight?" Hermione asked.
He did not respond.
"Severus I will love you with or without it, although I do prefer the
color of your eyes without the charm on." She responded.
"Then I shall leave it off, one day at a time." He said to her.
"Don't worry I will always be there with you. Baldena dis avont druid
font" She said. Severus cocked his head.
"Where did you?" He was interrupted.
"Where I heard it from is not important, what is important is that I
mean it." She said as she touched his lips with her index finger.
"Dis donna Callai doven. Feery donn e glanus avont." He replied.
"What does that mean? I am not fluent in Old Wizard." She spoke.
"Then I will teach you. It means I have receive a Christmas angel,
and she may have my heart to keep."
"I would like that." She said as she and Severus both laid down in one
of the infirmary beds and fell asleep.
"Merry Christmas and to all a goodnight." Albus said softly from the corner of
the infirmary where he had been hiding.