Chapter 14
Severus had to stay in bed, the nurse had told him that. Well, he was doing what he had been told, for so far. He stayed in bed in a half-sitting position, supported by thick, comfortable cushions, and was watching the Hogwarts Grounds bathed in sunlight from out of his infirmary room. He had let Poppy bustle around him earlier this morning, when she had checked on his arm and some other functions he didn't know about. Mercyfully she had been speaking slowly to him, and thanks to Mia he had at last grasped some of the things the nurse had twittered about. She seemed to be happy about his state of recovery, and had told him perhaps about six times that his arm made a lot of progress and no worries at all. He had understood her the second time she told him that, and had been quite annoyed about the repetitions. But, he supposed, Poppy only wanted to help him with his language problem, too, and didn't notice when she exaggerated.
This train of thought brought his mind back to Mia. He wondered when she would visit him again; and if he would be able to remember all the things she had told him about the English language, and the words... He was quite worried that his short-term memory could have been damaged, too. He would ask Mia to organise him something to write.
Severus continued gazing out of the window, absent-mindedly picking at the bandages that covered his arm. He heard the nurse rummaging in her office next door, some tinkling noises like glass bottles, a murmured spell. Someone in the students area of the hospital wing coughed, and bed sheets rustled. The typical smell of heated copper reached him, making him wonder what exactly the nurse was doing... Brewing maybe, he decided, as a certain trace of sulphur flowed through the air. Looking back outside of the window and seeing the same, unchanged scenery without a hint of activity (this was supposed to be a school, after all!), and Severus lost his patience. He was bored to the bone, and peace and quiet were the last things he wanted right now. Unfortunately his possibilities of action were quite limited, and somehow he doubted that Poppy would let him go and explore the grounds or the school. He decided to start with something easier: his wand. He had seen Albus carry one as well as Poppy and Mia, and this blonde, somehow familiar boy had burst into his room with a wand in his hand as well. And Severus knew, though not why, that he had possessed an own wand – but where was it now?
He rummaged through the drawers of his bedside table, but found nothing apart from some chocolate frogs Albus had given to him, and a small bottle of pain-stilling potion. He looked for some of his other clothes. He vaguely remembered a large black cloak; in one of its pockets must be his wand, he was strangely sure of putting it there some time ago. He got up (slowly, avoiding noise as much as possible) and started to look through the little furniture, but he didn't find any shred of black cloth. Obviously it had been thrown away... Wait a minute. Severus stopped in his tracks and tried to concentrate. Why was he so sure that it had been thrown away? On second thought, he found himself convinced of his cloak being torn somehow... slashed... a dark, thin red light shooting towards him like a whip... Severus flinched and shook his head. This was frustrating. He continued his search and managed to turn over the little room twice before he heard the door open again.
Hermione entered the infirmary, waved at Madame Pomfrey, who was busy with preparing new potions in her office, and walked into Snape's room. She was surprised to find him, despite Madame Pomfrey's strict orders, standing in the middle of the room, obviously looking for something. In the moment when Hermione had stepped in, Snape whirled around and looked at her. At the end of the fast and gracious movement he swayed strongly, and had to steady himself on the bedframe. Hermione nearly laughed at the sight of his barely concealed guilty look, and sheepish half-grin when he recognised her. She noticed, still surprised though it was not the first time, how tall Snape was. Even barefoot he was nearly two heads taller than her. And in the white shirt and trousers, which made the standard hospital outfit, he looked surprisingly... Well, not like the flappy great bat she had got used to during the last six years. She also noticed that the short cut hair suited him... It was unnerving somehow and she was unused to see him like this, but nevertheless it made a pleasant difference. Hermione snapped back to the present. Snape had settled himself back on the bed meanwhile, and was looking at her questioningly. She smiled and joined him.
"Good morning, S.. Severus. What are you looking for?"
Gosh, it was still hard to use his first name while addressing him.
"Good morning, Mia. I'm missing my... erm..."
He searched for a word. Hermione was pleasantly surprised how fluid and without hesitation he had answered her. His intonation had been better, too; and even a trace of his typical accent had shown itself. Perhaps, if not his memories, his language abilities were coming back to him slowly. Now he pointed at her wand.
"This. I'm missing my own, although I'm sure I have put it in the pocket of my cloak..."
Hermione was really startled now, and delighted; that was something she hadn't talked about with him. Perhaps she should continue her research on those books about linguistics, maybe she would find something that explained his fast progress...
"Mia?"
"Oh! Er... yes, your wand. Well, we found your wand inside your cloak, as you said right now, but I'm afraid... well... it was broken."
"Broken?"
Hermione noticed his puzzled expression. He didn't seem to understand what she meant by that.
"Yes; broken. In two pieces. Like this..."
She made a gesture like breaking a twig. Snape looked at her in shock, then he sulked. But Hermione could see grief in his dark expression, and understood him completely. The loss of her wand would make her go berserk. She took his hand.
"I'm sure you can get a new wand soon. We'll ask Poppy when you are allowed to get out of bed, and then we can go to Diagon Alley and buy a new wand."
Snape still sat there brooding, but nodded lightly when she had finished. He turned towards her and watched her intently, but in an open, curious way, as if he was wondering to ask or tell her something. His expression became uncertain and he broke their eye-contact quickly for a second. When he met her eyes again, he seemed to have decided on something. Even if he still looked a little sad, Hermione was relieved to see a new energetic glint in his eyes. Although, when she thought about it, it nearly seemed to be a mischievous glint...
"Ok, Mia; what would you say when I tell you that there are still some more verb and noun classes in Suomi?"
Draco sat in his corner of the Slytherin common room, well hidden from the greater part of his classmates, his high dark armchair secluded in the shadows. He sipped on his white wine; not that the Hogwarts students were allowed alcohol apart from Christmas dinner. But having a former house elf of his father at the Hogwarts kitchen crew did definitely its advantages. And Draco had always liked Dobby and treated him as a friend; so Dobby still was very keen on helping and pleasing his former young master.
The thought of Dobby was linked to his father, and to Draco's deal with Hermione Granger. He had written this letter to his father to gain her and Severus more of the time they needed so pressingly. Of course this wouldn't last forever. He knew, from his own well secluded sources, that Granger had at least made some progress with Severus' language abilities. They communicated with a mixture of English sentences with a lot of Finnish vocabulary. But Draco knew that Severus was on the right way of regaining his speech. He had spoken with Draco in that way when he had been younger, and Draco smiled softly at the memory of an also younger Severus, playing with him in the garden of Malfoy Manor, cradling him and brushing grass out of his hair. He remembered the odd but so comforting sounds of the foreign words, mixed with English; he remembered how he had begun to understand a lot of the foreign language he later learned was Severus' mother tongue. Draco snorted, perhaps he should give Granger some extra-lessons for her efforts. But of course that would be impossible, it was too much to risk it.
Now, back to his problem... or, the going-to-be problem. When Severus started to speak more English than now, it would not be long until his father gained notice of it. And if this notice would not come from Draco himself, he would be in serious trouble for not having reported to his father. His next step was to think about a way of informing his father without giving Severus away... And Granger, come to think of it. Draco took another sip of his wine. As it appeared at the moment, he would have to risk a middle way. The worst accusation that could be made on him, then, was that of misreading or underestimating the situation. That would have to do.
He emptied his glass, stood up and swooped down to his bedroom with a well-known swirling of his robes that would have send some of the students (mainly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs) into frightened scrambles for the exit. Well, he had taken some lessons from his dad...
