None can have a healthy love for flowers
unless he loves the wild ones.
- Forbes Watson
Running was not something she did often, surely she hiked and walked in pursuit of knowledge, she could trek for days but running had always been reserved for times of high emotion. She felt like a child running towards the castle now, running from the truth, running out of time, running towards a job, running, running, running. Her hair blew off her face and her lungs ached with the long forgotten exertion, her arms pumped with abandon helping to propel her forward, she must get to the infirmary before any potion flows. She took the steps up to the castle two at a time while ingredient possibilities filed through her mind. What could have been used to taint the stores, or perhaps nothing was used but she knew she would have to check them all.
The stairs changed direction and she cursed under her breath, it would cost her seconds, valuable seconds she didn't have. She rested for a moment, undone, out of breath, her throat parched she coughed in an attempt to regain a solid voice; she had to make herself clear to Poppy immediately, lest she was administering a questionable remedy just as she arrived. She tested her voice to be sure it had not failed her, "Poppy!" good she thought, I can yell before I even enter the Hospital Wing. The stairs finally shifted into position and she hit the floor level running, again returned the childish feeling, perspiration making her chilled as she created her own wind current through the hallway. It was at this inappropriate moment that she realized how they could kill Voldemort.
The details of the plot coalesced within seconds; the ingredients she had been working on took on a new significance. Through all his manifestations he has kept his voice, his early beginnings, charming his professors, when he had killed Harry's parents, when he coaxed Quirrel and wormtail to help him, when he seduced deatheaters to come to his side, she thought of professor Snape's story from today and she bit back a taste of revenge. His voice was really his weapon, not his magic and now she would rob him of both. Fear and exhilaration filled her cells and with this energy she yelled, "Poppy, " and burst into the infirmary. Hermione's greatest fear took shape before her eyes, the mediwitch held an empty vial in her hand and there was a young girl on the bed beside her.
"No!" Hermione shrieked.
"Hermione what is it?"
"What did you give her?"
"Just a headache potion, she suffers from the fall allergies, she forgot her own medicine at home."
The girl, no more than 12 laid propped up on pillows, holding a handkerchief with yellow flowers embroidered on the corner.
"I need to speak with you immediately"; she motioned for Poppy to walk with her to the other side of the room.
She explained the possibility of tainted ingredients and she could see the tragic look on the Mediwitch's face.
"Have you dispensed any other potions since the end of last term?" Hermione probed
"No. None." She said confidently
"Get me another vial of the headache potion you just gave her. I'm going down to the dungeon to analyze it, send a house elf to fetch me immediately if she starts having any adverse reactions. Keep her here for at least 2 days."
She grabbed the potion from her hand and hurried out the door.
"Lemon sherbet"
He entered Dumbledore's office at full speed, worry knitted his brow and an uncharacteristic honesty flowed in his sentences.
"Sir, I am much distressed… Bertrand…I think foul play…tainted ingredients…sustained imperious…my fault…Miss Granger…"He shook his head, knowing that he wasn't making any sense but the events of the morning had unhinged his usual control and upon seeing Dumbledore he became undone.
"My boy" Dumbledore moved around his desk with agility he reserved for only such moments. He took hold of Severus arm in a rare physical gesture, knowing that he was unaccustomed to such advances. Dumbledore himself felt the hairs raise on his neck, wizard or no wizard when you saw Severus Snape unnerved you were on the alert as any wolf would be, sensing the air for danger.
The few seconds of concern and touch from Dumbledore roused him like a smelling salt and he moved just out of his reach, straightening his robes.
He cleared his throat and retrieved the voice to go on with his story.
Dumbledore listened with rapt attention but made no sudden move to have them run back down to the apothecary.
"We must be careful here Severus, if someone is controlling Bertrand we must assume that they are close by and today's activities has been enough to alert any unwanted attention. Remember the role you play, your invaluable information can't be cut off just yet."
Snape had known deep down that when he first saw Bertrand his old friends life had become expendable, he had become a pawn in what seemed a never-ending game. He sat down hard in his usual chair and put his head in his hands. He was committed to the order, to Dumbledore's side and he knew he had to pay back for the wrongs he had done but at times like these it all seemed so childish.
"Let me think on this for a day." Dumbldore murmured, already lost in thought.
"Snape rose quickly, unsatisfied with Dumbledore's reaction but impatient to find Miss Granger and check on the potions.
"I must go and help Miss Granger, she is all alone in her pursuit and I'm sure quite frantic."
"Yes of course, quickly go." Snape turned and hurried back out while Dumbledore watched and puzzled.
He was not sure where to find her but thought by now she could be in the Dungeons.
"He went straight for the classroom lab. The odor stung him from down the hall and by the time he reached the classroom he had had to cover his nose and mouth with a handkerchief. The lone cauldron stood on the workbench, bubbling over with a grey liquid, no sign of Miss Granger. He came round to find her passed out on the floor, he dashed over to the flame and extinguished it, he reached for his wand and conjured a lid from a silver ingredient tray on the table, covering the liquid and extinguishing the vapors from diffusing.
Almost immediately she roused, coughing and moaning softly. He dropped his handkerchief and knelt down, lifting gently he pulled her up, cradling her body and leaning her nose and mouth into his shoulder, shielding her from breathing any more of the vapors.
He muttered a spell under his breath and the door next to the ingredient cabinet opened; it was a small office, just large enough for a desk and one comfortable reading chair. He rested her down on the chair and called her name, she had drifted off again.
"Miss Granger…Hermione…wake up" he hated to use enervate on her for he sensed she was almost awake by herself.
Surely enough her head bobbed and she opened her eyes, he knelt beside her, checking for burns or symptoms. When he looked up her eyes looked wild and beautiful, the pupils were dilated to such a degree that the rich brown became like liquid pools, shimmering in the late afternoon sun, mesmerizing as they looked he knew this was a bad sign.
She put her hand up to block the light, pained by the sensitivity.
"My eyes…it's to bright, she closed them and wiped away the tears that had formed at the edges.
Snape undid his outer cloak and put it up over the lone window behind the desk, darkening the small room.
"Miss Granger are you alright? Do you suffer any side effects? What were you testing?"
His voice was sympathetic but edgy and Hermione knew how hard it must be for him to control his usual rage.
"Are my pupils dilated?…they must be", she thought out loud.
"Very much so." He was confused by her tone, it was as if she almost suspected it.
"Please explain at once." His voice grew louder with agitation but Hermione wasn't afraid she sensed it was more worry than anger, this alone she could marvel at but there were dire circumstances and their was no time to infer his feelings at the moment.
" We must move quickly. Do you have iodine?" She asked hopefully, knowing it wasn't a common wizard ingredient.
"Severus shook his head, he knew of it but didn't keep it, but he caught on quickly to where she was going, his mind ran the lists of antidotes for poisons."
"Opium will do." He countered.
He stripped off his under jacket and covered Hermione. " I won't be long, don't move!"
She was still woozy from the vapors and imagined his voice to be the cloak that he wrapped about her arms, his command soothed her and she drifted off knowing that all was understood.
He ran to his rooms, his small lab equipped with all the ingredients he would need, the tincture would be more than likely too strong for Hermione, who had only breathed the vapors but he suspected one or more of the children had received a vial full and that was why she had not taken precaution when checking the ingredients. Her haste had cost her but if he could work quickly enough they would all be fine by morning. He stirred as he counted the grains of black opium powder falling into the cauldron; it was the best antidote he knew for the victims of… Belladonna.