Chapter 6

A week later, Sonora woke screaming from another nightmare, gasping in remembered and current pain. Her dream seemed to still echo in her ears, her moans seemed all too real, even through the protection of the Silencing Charm…

Then she realized that she was hearing someone else moan in pain. It was low, it was ragged, but it was another person. Without thought, she shakily threw back her bedcovers and caught her robe as she reached for her cane. Someone else was in pain.

She opened the door to her rooms and limped slowly through her dark office. Opening the door to the Potions classroom, she saw by the dim light of one torch a dark figure fumbling with one of the storage cabinets.

"Illuminate," Sonora said with clearly with a flick of her wand. The rest of the torches lit with a swish and the dark figure jerked around in the light to reveal the pale and drawn face of Professor Snape. "Professor Snape?" she asked, taking a step toward him. "What…"

"Go away," he snapped. "Go back to your bed, and leave me be." He turned back to the cabinets but not before Sonora caught a grimace on his face. The man was in pain, she thought with a spurt of sympathy.

"You're hurt," she said quietly, limping toward him. "Why didn't you go to Madam Pomphrey?"

"Because the fewer who know of my activities, the better!" he snapped, finally getting the doors unlocked and swinging them open. "Now leave me be, woman!"

Sonora ignored him and watched for only a few seconds as his hands shook visibly as he checked bottles. Somehow, the sight made her ache. "Here," she said softly, with a flick of her wand. "Try this." A bottle appeared in her hands, summoned from her locked trunk.

He turned his head to glare. "I don't need your assistance," he growled.

"I assume it was cruciatus?" she asked quietly. "I know the symptoms." She sent the small bottle wafting toward him. "Try this."

He stopped his fumbling and stared at the bottle for a moment. "What is it?" he asked, a wary note in his voice. He sounded tired and pained beneath his façade of temper and independence.

"It is designed to dissipate the aftereffects of the spell," Sonora told him, feeling the ache in her leg intensify as she stood there. She leaned a bit more heavily on her cane. "I brewed it myself."

Snape did not move for a moment, and then reached out and in what Sonora later realized was a move of great trust, took the bottle from the air. He uncorked it and swiftly swallowed the liquid inside. He bowed his head and Sonora waited. She knew it should work fairly quickly.

Indeed, it was only a few moments later when he raised his head and gave her a stiff nod. "Thank you," he said, not looking at her. "Might I suggest you seek your sleep again, Professor Stone." Snape was very carefully not looking at her, and instead was looking down at the blue bottle in his hand.

Sonora studied him, feeling an ache in another part of her body begin. Had she ever met anyone as alone as this man, she wondered. Weary and wounded in body and mind. Herself, some small voice whispered. "You will be tired," she said, a little uncomfortably as she tried to reign in her thoughts. "You should sleep as well."

Snape finally turned and looked at her. There was an odd look in his eyes that Sonora couldn't place, that was quickly hidden. He held out the blue bottle. "Good night," he said.

Feeling like something was happening and she was caught up in it without understanding exactly what, Sonora reached out and took the blue bottle. Her fingertips brushed his palm as she did. "Good night," she said, a little uncertainly. She turned and began to limp slowly back to her rooms, feeling the dark gaze of the Potions Master behind her, watching her go.

When she finally gained her bed and eased back under the covers, it was with the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what to expect. She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. She would think on it later.

~~~~~~~

Severus waited until he heard her door close before letting himself slump. Damn his weakness tonight, he thought, turning and making for his own chambers. The Dark Lord had been angry with him, angry enough to allow Lucius Malfoy an opportunity to toy with his spy. And Severus had been off guard, not expecting to see Professor Stone wandering about at this time of night.

And then she had stood there, looking slim and soft in a thin nightdress of something creamy and silky. Her eyes had been dark and concerned, and she had wanted to help. And he, weak fool that he was, had given in and let her.

Severus pulled off his robes and draped them over a chair as he tumbled into his bed. He let himself lie in the comfortable softness before forcing himself to rise and strip off the remainder of his clothing before changing into the sleeping pants he normally donned at night.

Once more, he collapsed into the bed. He closed his eyes. Whatever she had given him, it had done the trick, he thought. Cruciatus usually lingered with him for a while, sometimes even days. Tonight, however, there was no residual ache in his fingertips, no lingering pain in his arms or legs.

Severus let out a breath. Sonora had done him a service, he thought sleepily, not noticing how her first name slipped easily into his mind. Perhaps he shouldn't have let her. But it was done now. And he slept.

~~~~~~~

The next afternoon, Sonora had had enough. "Mr. Malfoy! Mr. Potter!" she snapped, pivoting on her good foot smoothly to catch the two fifth-years with identical glares and hands on wands. "Twenty points from each of you, and you will both serve detention!"

She'd had enough of the animosity between those two, augmented by Mr. Weasley. She counted her blessings that the redheaded boy in question had suffered a minor mishap in Herbology and was currently in the hospital wing, having a Giant Venus Flytrap removed from his left ear. At least the boys' antipathy had been primarily directed toward each other, not herself or the other students.

The classroom was dead silent as the two boys' heads snapped around to her, clearly startled at having been caught. Mr. Malfoy's expression immediately snapped into one of angry disdain.

"I have warned this class," she said into the quiet, voice echoing off the stone walls over the bubbling of cauldrons. "I will not tolerate disrespectful behavior from my students!" She glared at both of them. "Both of you. Immediately following dinner, prepare to spend three hours with me."

"Three hours!" Mr. Potter blurted out.

"You can't do that," Mr. Malfoy had the audacity to sneer. "You're not even a real professor…"

Sonora leveled one look on him that froze his vocal chords. "That is your error, Mr. Malfoy. I most certainly am a real professor, and as such can give you any such punishment as I deem necessary. Ten points from Slytherin for your rudeness. I expect both of you promptly after dinner." She swept a glare around the room. "If anyone else would care to join them, please speak up."

Not surprisingly, there was dead silence. "Then continue," she said coldly. The rest of the class passed in relative quiet as Sonora made her customary rounds, checking cauldrons and fixing mistakes before they became disasters. Silently, she fumed. She'd thought she'd gotten through to Mr. Potter, at least, on the concept of respect. She'd see if a few hours doing tedious preparatory work resulted in any improved attitude from the two.

~~~~~~~

Severus was making his way to the head table as he overhead the gossip. "… so she gave Potter and Malfoy detention!" a Hufflepuff was saying in a hushed voice to his friends. Severus slowed his steps to hear a little more.

"I heard the Slytherins saying that Malfoy's livid Professor Stone gave him detention," another Hufflepuff said. Her face was serious as she leaned it. "He's been saying an awful lot of mean things about her, and what he'd like to do have his father do to her."

The first boy spoke up again, but Severus was forced to keep moving. "Do you think Malfoy's father is really a Death Eater? I mean, that would mean that he…"

Severus picked up his steps, deep in thought as he took his seat. Draco had been becoming more vocal among his housemates about his dislike of the Potions Mistress. Severus had even tried hinting to the boy that such blatant dislike was not wise, but Draco had simply sneered and muttered something foul beneath his breath. Severus scowled at his plate. He wouldn't put it past the little wretch to try something tonight. Draco, despite all Severus' best efforts to the contrary, subtle though they were forced to be, was still alarmingly arrogant and possessed a strong belief in his own superiority. Severus was afraid the boy might never learn to think for himself, but would simply follow his father's path into the Dark.

Severus realized that the meal time was half over and Sonora had not made an appearance. He scowled again. The woman was too damn frail-looking to afford to miss meals. He'd stop in a little later, he decided abruptly. Check on the situation with Malfoy and perhaps see that she'd eaten something for the day. After all, he tried to tell himself, he was simply looking out for the well-being of his House.

~~~~~~~

Sonora waited for the two fifth-years to arrive. Rather than give the boys the opportunity to be late as she made her slow way back to the dungeons, she'd elected to have the house elves bring her dinner in her office. She checked the clock. They had two minutes before they were late, she thought.

Mr. Potter was the first to arrive, about thirty seconds later. "Professor Stone," he said, dipping his head as he came to stand by her classroom desk.

She studied him. "Mr. Potter. You will take those jars of unicorn hairs, and you will split them. Evenly and finely, Mr. Potter." She got a small amount of satisfaction watching the boy's face fall as he took in the number of jars.

Mr. Potter had begun working by the time Mr. Malfoy strolled into the dungeon. "You're late, Mr. Malfoy," she said quietly from her seat. "Ten points from Slytherin." The young man's face darkened in anger and Sonora wondered, not for the first time, why this student continued to test her. She would have thought he had learned the limits by now.

"You will take this bag of basil, Mr. Malfoy, and you will dry and powder each leaf individually," she said, indicating the large sack on the floor. "You may use the minutus flamatus spell to dry each leaf. Powdering will be done by hand."

The boy snatched the sack, looking furious and headed for the opposite side of the classroom as Mr. Potter, who ignored him. Sonora watched them both for a few minutes before turning back to the fourth-year papers on the uses of dragon's root.

A while later, her leg was stiff and aching and she'd read the last essay. Glancing at the clock, she saw half the allotted three hours had passed. She eased herself up from her chair with an effort and limped over to inspect Mr. Potter's work.

She studied the progress the boy was making. "Don't rush the work, Mr. Potter, unless you want to risk more exploding cauldrons in class," was all she said as she took in the reasonable pile of completed hairs. The boy was at least trying, she thought. He was doing as he was told and not trying to shirk his punishment.

Sonora turned and limped slowly between the rows to where Mr. Malfoy was sitting, a sour look on his face that turned into a sneer as he noticed her slow progress toward him. She ignored the disrespect on his face, feeling too tired to give yet another lecture to the Slytherin. She studied the scant amount of powdered basil in the jar.

"Mr. Malfoy," she said quietly, not seeing any way around it, "Should you continue to attempt to disregard my instructions, I will have no choice but to remove you from my class. That will result in your failing for this term and being forced to take these Potions classes again next year. Is that understood, Mr. Malfoy?"

She looked steadily at him, watching as fury filled his face and his hands clenched on the edge of the table. "I don't have to take your incompetence," the boy hissed. "I'll have my father…"

"Your father does not determine your performance in my classroom, Mr. Malfoy," Sonora cut in. "You do. And it is up to you to ensure that you do not reap results you do not like. I expect to see your behavior and performance improve from now on."

She turned away to limp back to her desk, and in doing so barely saw the rage flash over the boy's face. She did not see the movement until it was too late, as his foot lashed out and caught her in the back of her weak knee.

Waves of blinding pain swamped her and her legs gave out beneath her. Unable to stop herself, Sonora felt her body collapsing toward the stone floor. She could barely breathe, she could barely think, barely hear.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered a deep roar of fury and another voice talking rapidly.

"Madam Pomphrey, Potter… NOW!" she heard as she tried to gasp in a breath. Then two very strong arms were there, catching her and raising her up in the air. Sonora moaned in agony as one hand brushed her knee.

"Hold on," a tense voice said in her ear. "I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing."

Sonora gasped again in pain, tears slipping down her cheeks as she was carried across the room. "It hurts," she moaned.

"I know," the voice above her said grimly. Sonora forced her eyes open to see the furious face of Professor Snape. He looked down and saw her eyes were open. "Damn that vicious little twit!" he muttered as she moaned again.

Sonora heard feet rushing toward them down the empty corridor, and then there were other people there. Dumbledore's voice was urgent and insistent. "What happened, Severus?"

"Draco Malfoy kicked her from behind. In the knee, I think." Snape's voice was cold and hard.

Madam Pomphrey was there as well. "Let me levitate her up to the ward, Professor, you don't have to carry her…"

"I've got her," Snape said curtly. In truth, Sonora was glad he was carrying her. In some irrational way, it helped to have someone secure and strong against her as she fought giving in to the pain and letting darkness wash over her.

"Minerva, will you fetch Mr. Malfoy and bring him to my office to wait?" Dumbledore said in a voice that Sonora had not heard him use before. A voice that even through her pain she realized she wouldn't want turned on her. "Poppy…"

"Lay her down right here, Professor Snape, and let me take a look," Madam Pomphrey instructed. Sonora clutched at the security of the man holding her as he very gently laid her down on a bed, causing her to cry out at the intense waves of agony. "Hush, dearie, let him go, he won't leave," the healer's soothing voice managed to penetrate.

Reluctantly, Sonora forced her fingers open, releasing the front of Snape's robes, only to clutch at his hand. He clasped hers tightly, and she gritted her teeth, trying to get a handle on the pain.

"Can you… can you heal it?" she managed to ask, opening her eyes again and looking at the serious looking healer.

Madam Pomphrey was grave when she looked up. "I can, dear, but you're going to have a limp. Not a little one, I'm afraid. I was trying to let your leg heal on its own to prevent this, but after the damage Mr. Malfoy has done, I'm afraid I have no choice."

"Do it," Sonora gritted out, getting a few breaths now.

Madam Pomphrey looked over her shoulder at Professor Dumbledore, standing a few steps behind her. "I'll need you to help Professor Snape hold her," she said to him. She turned back to Sonora. "This will hurt, my dear," she said in a very gentle tone.

Sonora gulped back more tears as the two men grasped her hands tightly and pressed down on her shoulders. And then Madam Pomphrey gently laid her wand tip on her knee and she screamed.