Severus leaned back into Albus' chest, trying to breathe. Poppy tapped her wand repeatedly to his chest for the longest time, which irritated him to no end.

"Albus, can you cast an oxygen charm around us? Severus isn't getting enough air," Poppy said quietly, rummaging through her medical bag and pulling out a vial of purple liquid and a syringe.

"Draught of Living Death? Poppy, won't that put him under?" Albus waved his wand as a transparent dome formed over the settee where Severus, now unconscious, rested limply against the headmaster's chest.

"Actually, a small amount of the asphodel/wormwood mix should counteract the other potions' effects. It'll have to be administered directly to his heart, though. Do you have a good hold on him?"

Albus nodded, as Poppy drew her wand over the vial, extracting a minute amount of potion which filled the syringe. The matron spelled off Severus's pajama top and gently plunged the needle into the insensate potion master's still-quivering heart. She sighed as she banished the medical device with her wand, "He should go to Mungo's, Albus, but given his past, they would not care for him properly."

"I have faith in you Poppy. You are the Order's only mediwizard."

"It's not that Headmaster. Severus has just had his first heart attack due to mixing potions. I should have told him I'd given him ginseng. He would have known then not to take Pepperup or the restorative," the mediwitch wrung her hands and dabbed at the tear on her cheek. "This is as much my fault as his. I've nearly murdered our potions master."

"There, there, Poppy," Albus withered hand reached across Snape's prone form to caress the mediwitch's shoulder. "Severus didn't realize he wasn't completely healed from the heat stroke and the passum spell. He just thought he was. In his haste to get back to work, well, you know how he gets when he has projects going on."

"Well, he'll need round-the-clock monitoring for a few nights. It may be best to induce a slight coma so he can heal," Poppy said, levitating Severus from the headmaster's lap. "This will set him back greatly. I doubt he'll survive the next round of the Dark Lord's playing. His spying days may be done."

"I couldn't agree more," Dumbledoore said as the door to Snape's quarters opened to let them leave. "Especially now that he has someone to live for."

His thoughts were askew. Again. Severus tried to rouse himself from the stupor of sleep his mind was trapped in. The dream was over and the older woman in it who pleaded he take responsibility for her granddaughter, gone.

The ghost that had been plaguing his consciousness was the victim of a Death Eater plot gone wrong come to haunt him from the past. One of his early "initiations" when the Dark Lord over looked the mistakes of his promising proteges. She'd pleaded with Severus for her life, bent before him. One of Snape's mentors, Serpens Rookwood, had simply looked at her and sneered with a disdain usually reserved for Muggleborns. She'd died a vicious death -- at Rookwood's hand – and Severus had taken the blame.

He could feel fingers lightly cupped on his wrist. Blasted mediwitch taking his pulse. He moaned lightly trying to draw back from the touch, but finding himself too weak to do much but mumble. Severus leaned back into the bed pillows trying to read his body's normal cues and eavesdropping on the conversation.

"...six days..." "... heal damage?..." "... much as ... could be..." "... needs time... may never..." "...could bounce back..."

Severus managed to open his eyes to Albus, Poppy and a Healer he didn't know standing over him speaking as if he weren't there. Albus looked down and grasped his potion master's hand.

"Welcome back, Severus."

His throat parched, Snape tried to nod in reply as a glass of cool water was brought to his lips. Cool water refreshed his dry mouth.

"What happened?"

"You had a potions overdose," the unknown Healer stepped in from around the side of his bed.

"You've got to be kidding!" Severus sneered, trying to place the familiar-looking face.

"Here us out, Professor Snape," the brown-haired woman continued. "After Poppy initially treated you for the heat stroke and the passum spell, she later gave you gensing, to raise your blood pressure, which was still low, despite all the potions in your system. And then you left hospital and took your care into your own hands without consulting her about what you'd been given. And then you took a restorative and PepperUp on top of the gensing, which needs a week to clear! And the base for PepperUp is ma huang, the botanical source of---"

"Ephedrine. Yes, I'm quite aware of the nature of the overdose, Ms. Smorgdenbach, I do not require a potions lesson," Severus tried to rise off the pillows, Albus hand staying him.

"What Lavenia is saying is that you had a heart attack from the amount of stimulants in your system," Poppy stated plainly. "I am so sorry, Severus. I should have bound you to your bed."

"Now, now," Albus smoothed Snape's reddening forehead with his wrinkled hand, effectively calming the irate man. "We needn't have you undoing all the work Poppy and Lavenia have done. Your convalescence will be a long one, into the start of term, I'm afraid.

"I see you've got this all figured out, Albus," Severus jerked his finger toward the Healer.

"We've also leaked word of a volatile potions explosion--"

"Albus! The indignity--"

"Is mine," the headmaster explained. "Kingsley and I have concocted a nice tale that does not impugn your skills, Severus. Hogwarts is quarantined to outsiders, though we did allow Lucius Malfoy to ascertain your grave condition."

"The Dark Lord must be quite pleased with the story you've master-minded this time."

"It is necessary, Severus. The 'muggle' we found nearly 10 days ago is not a muggle," Albus paused, not sure to divulge the next bit of information.

"I had guessed, Albus. But I will need to know this story when I return to the Dark Lord's next revel. My absence will not go unheeded for the next two months. He has potions for me to brew, ere I lose my usefulness to him."

"No need, Severus. Voldemort knows you were injured in the explosion. He sent Lucius to ascertain how badly off you were."

"And what did Lucius have to say?"

"Poppy kept you in a coma so your heart could get some rest and Lavenia got to play with her Muggle medical supplies. Poppy? Could you come here for a minute?"

"Explain why I have been here for six days." Severus sighed, closing his eyes, knowing he was being managed and wondering what sort of Muggle contraptions he'd been subjected to.

"Albus had placed a tracking charm on you. But by the time we got to you, your heart was quivering, it wasn't beating. I did my best to repair the damage as it occurred, but given what you had taken, you should have died. About 50 percent of your heart muscle died, Severus. I could only repair about 35 percent of that. Even the Draught of Living Death couldn't completely counteract what was going on in your heart. The electrical system was out of sync, your nervous system wasn't responding and you stopped breathing for a few moments."

"Fifteen percent of your heart is dead, Severus," Albus quietly intoned. "You will not survive another bout of Cruciatus. I believe Voldemort will become less enamored of you even if you recover as fully as possible."

"Yes," Poppy stepped in. "You need sleep and rest and tomorrow we'll test your stamina."

"But Lucius--," Snape protested as Poppy pressed a vial of Dreamless Sleep to his lips.

"Saw your grave injuries," Albus said. "We'll talk about the details later."