I would like to thank JKR for letting me borrow her toys. (Well at least she didn't say I couldn't.)
Frogfoot24: You really got your Headmaster's son kicked out? It's nice to know that my informants are accurate. ;)
Another link to a pic by Sunna it applies to the second half of this chapter http:// www .side7. com /cgi-bin /S7SDB /DisplayImg .pl?INO =257776
Chapter Thirty-one:
Everything went to hell in a hand-basket from there. A few Gryffindor girls screamed. Harry spun on his heel so fast, that he slipped in Neville's spilled potion. A pair of strong hands caught him from behind.
"Get those Gryffs out of the way," Draco ordered with a jut of his perfect chin while trying to get Harry back on his feet.
Harry tried to take in what was going on, but it was too chaotic. 'No,' he corrected himself with a rather detached air, 'It's not chaos, it's almost like they're running around knowing exactly what to do.'
Every Slytherin in the room had a drawn wand and was efficiently performing a specific task. Some were directing the frightened Gryffindors to the other end of the room, another group was taking care of the mess under the guidance of- 'Crabbe and Goyle? Are they actually leading the cleanup?' Harry blinked. A small group had run out the door and headed in the direction of their common room.
Draco made sure that Harry was firmly on his feet before kneeling beside Snape. Looking up Malfoy scanned the milling crowd, "Pansy!" He shouted above the hysterical cries of the girls. "Professor?" he called. Snape hadn't moved. Quickly she joined him and they had a hurried, whispered conference that ended with Draco telling her to, "Just get it done now."
She stood and approached the corner where the most frightened students were clinging to each other.
"He's-dead-he's-dead-he's-dead," Parvatti chanted over and over.
Several other students (girls and boys) were mumbling or crying or stuttering basically the same thing. There was confusion and fear and a lot of noise.
Pansy raised her wand and placed a silencing charm on the entire group. "Done." She called back to Draco, who was now working with three other Slytherins to put Snape onto his back while keeping his neck immobilized.
Harry was frozen in place.
As they carefully turned Snape over Draco watched for any sign of movement, "Where are those gofers?" he demanded of no one in particular. "Professor," he called more urgently, "Sir, we need you to confirm."
Dazedly, Harry approached and knelt beside Draco.
The Slytherin shook his head, leaned back to see around Harry, "Gloves!" he called to a dorm mate then spoke to Harry, "If you're going to stay here you'd better be ready. I think he's gonna sizzle."
Quickly Dragon hide gloves were relayed to Harry and he put them on with out thinking. He had noticed that everyone who had heard the prediction tensed, "What do you mean sizzle?"
With a gloved hand, Draco brushed at the blood on Snape's face. He had bitten his lip and the blood was getting every where. There was a large rapidly swelling bruise on the right side of Snape's face where he had hit the table. His eye was swollen shut and his cheek seemed distorted.
"It's broken," Draco confirmed softly. "The swelling is kind of hiding it but if you compare his right cheek to his left…"
Harry did and was sickened to find that Snape's right cheek was indeed sunken where the bone should have been. The distended purpling flesh was continuing to swell.
"He won't be seeing anything with that eye for a while," Draco forced a tight laugh, then muttered under his breath, "If it keeps swelling like this the skin is gonna split."
It struck Harry that Draco seemed to be trying to make light of the whole mess, 'To calm me, or him?'
Snape's breathing became more forced. Not like he couldn't get air in, more like he couldn't get it out. He shuddered and without waking he rolled to his left side and began shivering violently.
"Is he having a seizure," Harry tried to ask. Some one burst into the room and a smallish black case was passed from the panting figure leaning against the door, through a relay of several waiting hands, and eventually reaching an impatient Draco.
With practiced movements he opened the case and laid out a hideously large old-fashioned needle that looked more like a torture device than a medical tool and phial of clear liquid, "Get his arm," he called as Snape began to curl into a fetal ball.
Crabbe and Goyle worked to force Snape's arm to straiten. While Draco filled the syringe and Pansy tied a tourniquet on the unconscious professor's upper arm.
"He's starting to sizzle," Draco explained to the Gryffindor at his side. The film of sweat on his brow contradicted his calm manner. "This kind of thing happens every once in a while. He's taught us what to do." he tried a reassuring smile, but knew it was not going to work.
~
Lunch was a subdued affair; the normal chatter and fooling around were painfully absent. Everyone who had been there was quietly sharing information and those who had not been present were spreading rumors. Some claimed that Snape was dead, they were in the minority. Most talked about the Slytherin-uprising that had supposedly taken place. Professor Dumbledore, Madame Pomfrey, and Snape were absent from the meal. Not even Ron bothered to point it out this time. Everyone knew.
As they left the Great Hall Harry Hermione and Ron chose to hold back a bit rather than join their Housemates. They did not notice the presence of the three Slytherins until Draco stepped forward.
"Do you need to get hit in the head too, before you get it?" he sneered in his best Snape impression.
Harry didn't bother to stop for his reply, "Shut up Malfoy." He sensed Ron tensing as Crabbe and Goyle came out to stand beside their leader.
Draco grabbed Harry's arm and forced his to stop, "Half the free world licks your boots and you're too childish to hold your tongue when nothing is on the line."
"I didn't ask for this," Harry shot back with a gesture toward his scar.
Draco scoffed, "None of us ask for the lives we get Potter. You didn't ask to have your parents killed, and I didn't ask to be born to parents that would beat me." He shook his head rejecting Harry's statement, "It doesn't matter. What does matter are the things we do ask for. We ask for the consequences of our actions. The choices we make determine what those consequences will be."
Draco shook his head again, this time though Harry noticed that his shoulders drooped. The three Slytherins left as silently as their Head of House had taught them to. The three Gryffindors stood rooted where they had been left.
After a time Hermione broke the silence, "I want to go to bed now."
Chapter Thirty-two:
He sat on the edge of the bed in the medical wing waiting for permission to leave. Albus had been less than pleased to hear of the disaster that had been first period. Cheekbone re-knit and split skin under his eye mended, it was just a waiting game now. The wide swath of gauze that encircled his head was starting to get irritating and there was nothing to do about any of it.
A swish of robes, the parting of the privacy curtain, and the Headmaster's familiar scent began to fill the cubicle.
"What were you thinking?" Albus nearly exploded as he placed a soundproofing charm on the small enclosure.
Shrugging he did not turn from the blank wall that had just become rather interesting, for some reason.
Sighing deeply Albus took the visitor's seat, "Can I at least see how bad the damage is?"
Reluctantly he turned to face the Headmaster.
Grimacing Albus got up and, after a questioning look and the slight nod of a response, he removed the thick gauze bandage Pomfrey had wrapped around his head. "I do not think he will be pleased," it was a moot point.
Rolling his open blue-black eye he chuckled, "Yah, well now he'll have a good reason to kill me." He looked away uncomfortably, "He won't want to have me around until it heals, and I heal faster when I'm out."
That was news, "You heal faster on the outside? You've done this before?"
He moved back to sit cross-legged in the center of the bed, "Second-year. At least, I think it was." Nervously he laced his fingers and hunched forward to lean on his knees. "I don't care what he does now," speaking more to himself than to Albus. "I can't take the darkness any more," he shook his head, "He's turned. There's no softness in his heart now."
Throat dry Albus licked his lips, "What exactly are you saying?"
Head skewed to the right so that he could make eye contact he whispered, "You must kill him."
Albus absorbed the statement, then changed the subject, "Here," he handed back the bandage, "There was someone who wanted to come in and see you. Are you up for it?"
Again he shrugged, rather than actually committing to an answer. He did however reapply the bandage.
"I'll take that as a yes." Albus sounded calm, but he smelled worried. "He is very anxious to see you in person. I was rather surprised. He must have done quite a bit of growing up over the summer."
"I won't hurt Longbottom. You should know that," he was focusing on the wall.
The Headmaster released the privacy charm and stepped to the door to wave Neville in from the hall.
Neville had opted to await the verdict on his visit, from a safe distance. His first choice would have been the Astronomy tower, but the hall was okay.
As he hesitated outside the curtained space Dumbledore gave the timid Gryffindor a pat on the back, "I think Madame Pomfrey gave him something to keep him quiet." Seeing Neville relax a little, Albus took his leave and headed to his private chambers. 'Kill him?! If only it were that easy…'