Chapter Eleven
by Magdelena
Severus lay awake for most of the night watching Harry sleep. It was odd watching his own face twist and grimace, to see his own eyes race back and forth beneath his eyelids as Harry's nightmares claimed him. Severus realized as he watched Harry's tortured sleep that he would do anything in his power to help the young man tucked securely in his arms. He knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he was in love with the Gryffindor, and that he would never willingly let go of Harry Potter.
There was nothing he could do to alleviate Harry's scars, nor anything he could do to prevent Harry having been the one chosen in the prophecy to have the power to defeat the Dark Lord. But, he could do everything in his power to make sure that Harry didn't lose another person to this madness, even if it was a figurative loss instead of an actual one.
Severus slipped from his bed, resolved in what he had to do to help Harry get past this. Finding out that he had killed Percy instead of Ron should have been a bit of a relief for the Gryffindor, but Severus knew that the betrayal by someone he had considered as a part of his family still deeply stung the Boy-Who-Lived. He didn't even want to think about the toll that killing another human being had taken on the young man as well.
Severus didn't want Harry to have a living reminder when he looked at his friend, which is what would happen if the younger Weasley remained trapped in his brother's body. There was precious little time left to make this work, but Severus was determined to do it.
Severus quickly dressed and borrowed the young man's invisibility cloak. He stole out of the castle and headed for the edge of the wards, careful to keep the cloak over him so that prying eyes wouldn't see him. The very illegal potion he intended to brew involved quite a couple of items that would be difficult to obtain. The first was a sample from the body.
Severus apparated to the back of the small and innocuous looking office that housed the Medi-Wizard who performed the autopsies for the Ministry in hopes of find what he needed. Severus easily undid the wards on the establishment and was able to find the tissue samples that had been taken from Ronald Weasley's body without much difficulty. His precious cargo in hand, he stole back outside and apparated to a place he had hoped never to see again, Lestrange Manor.
Severus circled the perimeter of the estate, wary of any traps, magical or Muggle, that might be set to ward off visitors. He managed to make it past the first level of wards without being intercepted when suddenly he heard a hiss from behind him. Nagini.
Severus turned slowly on his heel, careful to keep the cloak in place, as he turned to face the giant snake. He saw the snake standing over the remains of the Auror that had borne the Dark Lord's mark, the one that had wanted to arrest him only yesterday.
The enormous snake slithered forward over the ground towards his position, cocking its head to the side, as if regarding him and trying to make a decision on something. Suddenly, the snake began hissing at him, the low sounds that issued from her mouth that Severus suddenly realized that he could understand.
"Your sssilly cloak doesss not fool my kind. Remove it immediately ssso that I may sssenssse you properly."
Hoping for a chance to reach for his wand, Severus slowly removed the cloak, not wanting to make any sudden movements that might disturb the reptile further.
Nagini sniffed the air around Harry once he had removed the cloak, her eyes widening slightly. "SSSomething hasss changed about you young ssspeaker. You are ssstronger than you were before. Do you intend to kill my massster today?"
Severus steeled his nerves and answered, somehow Harry's brain providing the necessary words in Parseltongue, as his fingertips closed around the base of his wand. "No, I do not."
"Pity," Nagini replied. "Becaussse you now have the power to beat him. I can sssenssse it. You have met your sssoul-mate, and that mate'sss powersss have somehow combined with your own."
Severus blinked rapidly, amazed at the revelation, and released his grip on his wand. He started to speak, but before he could, the snake continued.
"I ssserve only the ssstrongessst wizard. I will not protect him if you choossse to kill him." Nagini looked at Severus curiously. "But if you do not intend to kill him, why are you here today?"
"I am here to retrieve sssomething from your massster'sss ssstoresss," Severus replied honestly.
"What isss it that you need?"
"Your venom, Nagini."
"It ssshall be an honor to give it to you, oh great one."
The snake opened its huge mouth, exposing its fangs, and for a second Severus thought the thing intended to bite him. He froze in place, and watched as the venom dripped from the great snake's fangs. Very slowly, he withdrew an empty phial from his cloak, and raised his wand to the beast's mouth, spelling some of the deadly, yet life-saving liquid into the container. When it was filled, he ended the spell, and Nagini quietly closed her mouth, glanced to the side, and nodding her reptilian head once, she slithered off into the night.
"T-thank you." Severus stammered out quietly. He spelled the vial closed, hesitating only a second before throwing the cloak again over himself and heading for the edge of the wards so he could apparate back to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, that moment was the very moment that Theodore Nott, Sr. who had just been summoned, arrived for his meeting with the Dark Lord only to see a flash of Harry Potter's head before he disappeared.
Once he had returned safely to his laboratory at Hogwarts, he warded himself inside, and spent the next several hours in the tedious task of brewing the potion. He sapped much of his magical energy in the process, and was literally shaking as he stirred the mixture for the final time. He slumped back onto his stool, exhausted both physically and magically.
Thankfully, at that moment, Harry swept into the room. "Severus, where have you been? When I woke up and you weren't thereā¦" Harry suddenly noticed Severus' bedraggled condition and hurried over to his side. "Are you all right?"
"I will recover adequately once I have the proper rest and nutrition. The only thing that matters right now is that you will be." Severus stood to pull Harry into an embrace, and his knees buckled from beneath him.
"Me?" Harry gathered his own slim form up into his arms, and started to carry Severus back to his rooms.
"No. The potion."
Harry lowered Severus to the ground, but kept an arm around Severus' waist to support him. He followed Severus' instructions precisely, and when the full beaker was floating behind them, finally escorted Severus to his bed. Severus only allowed himself to be assisted into the bed after he had retrieved Harry's assurances that he would deliver the potion to Albus immediately.
"What could be so bloody important about a potion anyway?"
"This one will restore your friend, Ronald to his own body, or more precisely, it will allow Weasley's body to magically reconstruct itself."
Harry's eyes widened almost comically. "How is that possible?"
"With a trip to the Dark Lord's stronghold, anything is possible," Severus answered sleepily, his eyes almost completely closed.
"You went THERE? To Voldemort's lair?"
"Apparently being in your body has caused me to act the part of the stupid Gryffindor." Severus yawned widely.
"But why?" Harry inquired.
"Isn't that the sort of imbecilic thing one does when one is in love?" Severus whispered.
"You love me?" Harry asked in amazement, but his question fell upon deaf ears, as Severus had already fallen asleep.
