Severus had to actually shake his head to come back to reality from the fog of spinning thoughts in his head. The headmaster was conferring quickly and quietly with the Grey Lady, who finally nodded and sailed through a wall, out of the room. "I need you to take Professor Sinistra to her apartments. Madam Pomfrey will meet you there. Stay with her until I tell you otherwise." Without another word, Dumbledore opened the door, peered down the hallway, and strode from sight.
Severus stared blankly after the old man for a minute before gathering the unconscious woman in his arms, not trusting his spellwork to levitate her safely after the shock of his realization, carefully making his way down worn stone steps to the floor below, heading down the hallway until arriving at her apartment door.
"Aconite."
Sinistra's apartment door swung open as the Head of House password was spoken, allowing him to carry her into her rooms without any awkward shifting of her in his arms. A hiss from the corner told him Galileo didn't particularly care for this invasion of her space.
"Listen. This isn't necessarily by my choice. She's hurt and ill and she needs care. There's no reason to get upset with me right now."
The grey cat stared at him for a second, before hopping down from her perch on a shelf to lead him to her mistress' bedroom, her tail whipping behind her.
It was the tail that finally told him the truth.
Gods, it's not a cat. It's part kneazle. Merlin's ghost, a vampire owning a kneazle for thirteen years, and I never once guessed. Maybe McGonagall's right. I don't deserve the Defense position.
Galileo watched him carry Selene down the hallway, pawing open the bedroom door, running into the room, jumping up onto the bed, eyeing him. The entire time, Severus got the impression that he was being weighed and measured by the pet, as if it would have absolutely no problem attacking him if, at any moment, he harmed the woman he carried in any way.
The feeling was, needless to say, unsettling.
He settled her back onto the bed, jerking the blankets from their neat arrangement and covering her, determined to take the chill from her. Her lips were still tinged with a bluish hue, and her skin was like ice. Pulling his wand from his pocket, he aimed it to the fireplace, quickly charming the wood to burn hot and bright, before settling a warming charm on the blankets. All of these actions, apparently, eased the cat's mind. Galileo stopped observing his every motion and turned her attentions to her mistress, nuzzling Selene's cold hand, curling against her, trying to help speed the process of warming her.
Dawn's light was creeping into the room from the windows left open, an owl sailing into the room with a letter, addressed to Selene, in handwriting vaguely familiar to Severus. However, at seeing the stamped seal of the Sinistra wineries, he pushed the thought back into the dark corners of his mind.
I'm sure I've caught a glimpse of a letter from home at some point or other. Perhaps the night we spent talking in her study…
The owl absented itself just before he went to the windows, pulling the drapes closed, closing them from the chill of the December air. Galileo, in the meantime, curled close to Selene, her grey fur bristled as her face watched Selene breathe, the shallowness of her doing so causing both human and kneazle immeasurable worry.
Maybe it wasn't wolfsbane. Maybe it was something else. Something similar. And where in the lowest hell is Pomfrey, anyway?
As if his thoughts conjured her, the witch arrived, carrying flasks, her nightdress and robe swirling at her ankles. "Good, you've managed to take care of that chill she's always insisted on sleeping with. That's something at least." Poppy Pomfrey shooed him away from Selene's side, checking the lump on the back of her head, the dilation of her eyes, her pulse, all within seconds and with brisk efficiency. "Tell me you've a strong stomach and aren't silly like most men tend to be."
Severus stared at the school nurse, his eyes wide with shock. "What the hell kind of question is that?"
Pomfrey rolled her eyes. "We need to purge the wolfsbane from her blood. And yes, I know it was wolfsbane. I stopped at her observatory first, to see what was in the wine. She's in shock, and will probably slip into a coma, and we have to get it out of her blood before it kills her."
"Kill her?"
"You do know what she is, don't you? You're not that blind?"
" Yes. But…"
"Then, given how you've gone after the Defense position ever since you got here, you'd know that not all Vampires are undead. Now, before we turn her that way, I need to pour this down her throat. Are you going to help me or not?"
Selene's skin was gaining the blue tint her lips already possessed. Without any more hesitation or thought for the maelstrom of confusion his mind swirled within, he nodded.
"Good." Pomfrey directed him with brisk efficiency. "Now, hold her, sitting up. And you might want to gather up her hair and hold it back." As he did exactly that, she pulled the stopper from the bottle, tilting her head back and opening her mouth, pouring the contents down her throat, mumbling an incantation to keep her from choking.
"What happens now?"
Pomfrey reached for a bucket, magically at her feet. "It's a blood purification potion. I'm sure you've made it once or twice."
Not since NEWT levels, actually…
His question was answered rather violently. Selene lurched in his arms, hanging down, head hanging perfectly over the bucket, throwing up loudly and painfully.
Severus merely held her hair back and supported her in his arms until she finished.
Pomfrey waited until she was done, then wiped her face with a cold, damp cloth.
Selene's eyes never opened.
"Well, that'll keep her alive for now. We just need to make sure to do that again in four hours. Give her body time to rest. I'd rather she were conscious, but better this than the alternative." Pomfrey helped him lay her back in the bed, her color returning to a safer shade of pale. "Now, keep her warm, and as soon as Dumbledore decides what he plans to do with her…"
"Do with her!" His voice took on an unexpected edge.
Pomfrey's eyes narrowed. "She's a vampire, Severus. Umbridge is looking for every conceivable reason to throw professors out right and left, not to mention discredit the headmaster. If we move her to the hospital wing, she'll wonder why. If we keep her here, she'll wonder why I'm coming and going regularly. Personally, explaining vampiric coma and the differences between various types of vampires is not what I had planned for my Christmas holidays. Especially in front of the Wizengamot."
She has a point. You thought yourself what Umbridge would do to her if she learned of this…
He hated his inner voice sometimes.
"What if you weren't the one taking care of her?"
Poppy's eyebrows sailed upward. "Oh, trust me, Severus. I won't be the only one at Selene's bedside. Besides myself and the headmaster, only you know of her condition. So you'll be taking your turns caring for her." She gave him a sly smile, as if almost daring him to try and refuse.
Instead, he nodded. And then began pacing the hallway leading from the living room to the bedroom.
And then, the wait began.
The sun had burned away the early morning fog before Dumbledore knocked on Selene's apartment door. Severus stopped his pacing, much to Pomfrey's silent relief, to answer it, cautiously checking the hallway before opening the door fully.
Dumbledore looked past him, to Pomfrey, as she sat in a chair just within the bedroom threshold. "I assume she's stable for the moment." At the witch's nod, he turned to Severus, speaking in a low tone. "She cannot stay here, nor can she be alone until she recovers."
"And where exactly will she go?"
"For now, take her to your home."
"My what!"
Dumbledore fixed him with a resolute stare. "Take her to your private residence. It's as safe as possible, and safer than anywhere else I could suggest, for now. I dare not owl her family to inform them of her condition and ask their assistance. Her brothers are, shall we say, not my greatest admirers."
The odd look Dumbledore gave him at these words made his mind turn rapidly. If her condition is as grave as Pomfrey says, why shouldn't her family be informed? Who are her brothers, anyway? Why be so worried about a family of Italian winemakers? Why be so secretive?
Dumbledore continued. "…and we still do not have any idea how her wine bottle became laced with the wolfsbane, nor who would know the effect it would have on Professor Sinistra. As far as I am aware, the only ones at Hogwarts aware of Professor Sinistra's condition are currently within these walls."
Severus gave him a look of disbelief. "So, you're asking me to sneak an unconscious woman off school ground and into my home, and pray I don't receive company of a rather sensitive crowd while she's recovering from this coma she's in?"
Dumbledore nodded.
"With all due respect, Headmaster, you haven't a clue what you're asking of me."
"You know Professor Sinistra better than anyone else in the castle."
"A half-dozen conversations with the woman hardly…"
"It's a half-dozen more than anyone else has had."
"You can hardly blame her, if she's been hiding being a vampire from everyone."
"She clearly trusted you enough to tell you."
"No, she didn't."
Dumbledore gave him a look that was unreadable. "She never told you?"
Snape shook his head, his jaw clenched tight. "I didn't find out until this morning. I never knew. She never told me."
Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment, deep in thought. "This changes things."
Why does the man insist on cryptic commentary like that?
"She needs to be cared for, Severus. Somewhere away from this castle, lest her secret get out. You are, sadly, the best choice for this situation. You'll be able to concoct the blood purification potion and administer it regularly, and having her under your care will ensure her safety." The look Dumbledore gave his colleague was a mixture of wry humor and annoying empathy. "Besides, you are likely the only person in this castle she'd entrust with her safety."
Well, when you make an argument like that…
"I assume entrusting Professor Sinistra to my care also limits the amount of time I'll be able to spend at Grimmauld Place, thus subtly ensuring I cannot find a chance for an altercation with Black?"
"It is an additional bonus to the situation, yes."
Severus paced for a moment, weighing the situation. Taking Selene to his home, to Spinner's End, would violate his personal space. His privacy. Granted, he rarely used his personal residence, but still. It was his hiding place, his escape from the dual roles he played. At the same time, caring for the comatose woman would ensure his accepted absence from the Order for a while, which given last night's attack on Arthur Weasley, would be most welcome. Besides, any excuse to not have to stare at Sirius Black, no matter how inconvenient the excuse, was beneficial to him.
And do you really want to entrust her safety to those idiots?
"When should I take her?"
Of course not.
Dumbledore looked up at Pomfrey, who rose from the chair and walked over. "She's stable for now. Breathing easier. Her body temperature's finally risen. She could be portkey'd easily enough, but no floo powder, and certainly no side-apparition. Not until she's conscious. I'm not happy about moving her, Albus, but considering the limited options, I'll allow the portkey."
"Excellent." Dumbledore's eyes shone with urgency. "The sooner, the better, obviously. Severus, I assume that, when you return to Hogwarts, you'll share the tale of how you enjoyed the holidays with your bedridden great aunt Medusa, and how you appreciated leaving the school two days early in order to spend more time with her."
Severus nodded. "Of course, Headmaster. And we both appreciate the gesture."
"Very well. Poppy, dear, if you could manage to finish that arthritic balm you promised me you'd concoct for me today, that would be lovely."
At that, Pomfrey nodded, sweeping out the door and away from the tower apartments.
Dumbledore nodded once more, and left after his medi-witch.
Sighing with both exhaustion and resignation, Severus walked back into the witch's bedroom. Under a pair of heavy blankets, Selene's body rose and fell with her slight breathing. The drapes were drawn to block out the bright sunlight, and her face had regained a hint of color.
Well, no point in waiting any longer…
One spell turned a simple water glass into a portkey. With a slight feeling of trepidation, he reached for the unconscious woman, gathering her once again in his arms. As he reached for the portkey, her cat leapt up, landing on her chest, being jerked along with the two humans to a dark, dusty, disused house in a dark, musty, cold neighborhood in some forgotten hole-in-the-wall type neighborhood.
One wave of a wand lit the wood in the fireplace. One whispered word lit candles everywhere. One moment's fumbling with balancing a woman and a cat and attempting to open a door exposed a tall, narrow staircase. Galileo, ironically, sprang from Selene's body and raced up the staircase…
…and stopped in his bedroom doorway.
Bloody hell. I'm not giving up my bed just because some feline-kneazle crossbred housepet says so.
Galileo walked up to the bed, silently jumped up to the pillows, curled herself on one, and stared at him, as if in expectation.
Wordlessly, Severus settled Selene into his bed, pulling the bedding to cover her, lighting yet another fire in the fireplace against the wall, jerking the curtains closed.
Galileo watched her mistress for a while before closing her own eyes.
Well, hell. Now what do I do?