Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine, damn that lying genie….
Hermione awoke feeling as if she had been hit by a bomb blast. As she raised her head weakly to survey the damage on her body she ruminated that that explanation may not have been too far from the truth. Her head was pounding, she could feel her blood rushing around her body. Above the deafening noise in her skull she could just make out raised voices in the next room, one female, some males. Settling back down in her bed she reasoned that it was probably only McGonagall, Harry and Ron.
Harry and Ron… that jogged a memory loose. Her door exploding. Catching a glimpse of Harry on the other side. Submerging in a wave of blackness. Well that explained how she had ended up in the infirmary yet again. Now that she remembered being injured her body seemed to come alive and she inhaled sharply as almost all of her seemed to be in pain. She blacked out.
When she came round again it was night. The white sheets on the other beds were illuminated by the moonlight that shafted in through the three large bay windows. It was somewhat eerie. There were no other patients as far as she could tell. In fact, as far as she knew, there had been no overnight patients in the wing for over two months.
Two months ago. She shuddered deeply and pulled the sheets around her for comfort. She cast around in her mind for a more pleasant topic and was grateful that the door swung open at that moment.
She lay as still as she could. Slowed her breathing and tried to give the appearance of sleep. Through a barely imperceptible crack in her eyes she watched from beneath her eyelashes to see who had come into the room. She had expected it to be Madam Pomfrey so she was surprised that it was a man and had to force her cry of alarm back down her throat. As he drew nearer she could see that it was Snape. He had a mortar and pestle in his hand, probably containing a healing potion for her.
Closing her eyes completely when he came to a standstill by her side Hermione did not dare to breathe. At least that was until she realised that he would probably get quite alarmed if she didn't make some sign of life. She exhaled and inhaled, shakily, trying to focus on only her breathing and not what he was doing. There was a sound of something hitting wood, she flinched involuntarily and froze. After a moment she felt his fingertips massaging salve onto the backs of her arms which she was thankful for as they had been giving her the most pain. He repeated his actions to her shins. He made no comment to her, no attempt to talk even though she was sure that he must have realised that she was awake. His footsteps echoed out across the polished floor and then faded to nothing. She was alone again. The only evidence that he had been there was the mortar dish on her bedside table.
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A/N:
I can never remember which is which, is it the mortar that's the dish or the pestle?? If anyone knows definitively, well done, all I can say is that there must have been something happening outside the science block that day that distracted me from absorbing that point.
More soon. With fun Snape/Shanks interaction…