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Chapter 6: Help!

Severus held her down as best as he could as she continued to twitch uncontrollably in his arms. "Miss Granger. Miss Granger, please I need you to listen to me very carefully. I need you to try and calm your mind as best as you can, alright?" He watched as she began to convulse further. "Shit!" Severus muttered before running into the potions cabinet and removed the midazolam potion. He raced back into the room and tilted the woman's head back and poured the anti-convulsant liquid down her throat. She began to choke and splutter unable to properly swallow due to the swelling and bruising around her throat.

Severus began to rub the muscles in her throat as gently as he could to try and encourage her to relax. It appeared to help a little bit and he found the woman beginning to relax on his couch. Sweat poured down the dark haired man's forehead as he held his chest. He was getting too old to deal with these sorts of things.

Once he knew she was comfortable, he began to wrap her leg in gauze and do the same as he did to her arm before checking on her left leg to find a few broken toes.

"Episky" He muttered as she yelped feeling the bones snap back into place.

"Almost done, Ms Granger. Then you may rest" He informed her as he flicked his wand towards his kitchen and summoned a cold, wet flannel to be placed onto her sweating forehead. She hissed as she shuddered from the fever that was beginning to consume her.

He sighed as he leaned back, cradling her head in his arms as he waited for her to settle. He realised he could no longer leave her alone for tonight and would have to provide around the clock care. And after that...who knew the future. He just had to get through this one night. Just one night with her.

Severus removed as much of the bandaging as he could from her severed arm and leaned back. Some of the cotton was etched deep inside her wounds and would have to be carefully removed, likely with her unconscious. "The wound on your arm is infected and will need to be debrided properly so it can heal" She shook her head as she rested her head on his thigh not able to even stand looking at her missing appendage. "I will clean it as best as I can tonight so that you may rest properly"

She feebly nodded and allowed him to clean the surrounding tissue as much as possible before looking at the dislocation of her shoulder. Another issue he was going to have trouble fixing on his own. He needed a specialist or at least a book on the subject. After placing more gauze at the end of her arm her placed her arm in a more comfortable sling and let her rest for a bit. "The only thing left for tonight would be the debris in your feet"

He pulled out another pain potion before helping her to pour it down her throat.

Hours felt as though they had ticked by in seconds as the potions master worked meticulously on his task. He had set her up in his bed to ensure she was more comfortable and stable.

She tried staying awake as he removed the splinters and glass in her feet. Severus had managed to numb most of her pain with topical anaesthetics containing lidocaine. Every now and again she would scrunch her face and lick her sore lips but never wake. He wondered when the girl had last slept. Properly slept. She appeared as though she was knocking on deaths door. From looking at her, she was only skin and bones.

Ping!

He pulled more glass from her feet. More splinters and wood then he could count. He had to wonder what had happened to his once bright student. Auror. Unspeakable. Researcher. The last time he had actually heard from her before everything went to shit was her trying to find some cure for the Cruiciatus curse. She had asked him for his opinion of the matter and he had turned her down like a pesky fly. He still remembered the amount of mail she had sent him and one by one he had scrunched them up and thrown them into the fire until she had the nerve to be banging at his door demanding answers.

She was firey, that was for sure. They had managed to conclude their petty arguments with him handing her over several books (on loan) as well as some research notes he had bothered to scrounge up. That would have been two maybe three months ago before her life went to hell. Before she was accused of murdering some stupid dunder-head who worked for ministry.

"Cold" She muttered in her sleep. "St...Stop...Stop! Please!" Her heart-rate sped up so quickly, Severus grabbed hold of her shoulders and pinned her down only causing her to squirm and scream more. "Miss Granger, enough" He shushed her, "you are safe at Hogwarts remember?" He whispered into her ear. She was barely awake but she heard him. "Hogwarts? I'm at Hogwarts. I'm safe. I'm home" She breathed out relived before she grabbed hold of her covers and pulled them up to her chin. Severus sat back and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder watching her fall back asleep before he turned back to her feet and began to remove the last of the shards in burrowed in deep.

It took another several hours of round the clock care before Severus felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in a chair beside her. The night had been a rough one and there was still a lot more treatment left to go. Unfortunately. Every now and again, he would hear her cough, awakening him and causing him to growl in annoyance every time he had finally nodded off to sleep. He wasn't a deep sleeper and being the paranoid man he was; any noise from another being tormented him.

He was exhausted come morning. Six forty-five AM and he was dressed and changed for the day. Granger hadn't moved from her position on his bed since last night. He would have to wake her soon though to remove the rest of the gauze inside her severed limb and re-apply her medications. He walked out of his quarters before making his way towards the staff room. "Morning Severus, would you like a prediction for today" Sibil asked faintly as she sipped her tea. Severus grunted as he sat down opposite the woman and leaned back in his chair. Sibil flashed him a small smile before looking into her cup. Her jaw slackened. "The skull omen - it symbolises danger in your path, Severus. You should be mindful of your next step. I believe throwing salt over your shoulder before facing your next challenge"

"Salt?" He arched his eyebrow. "Ahum" She nodded sipping her tea. "You think all I need is a pinch of salt to release me from the world's problems" Severus growled at the woman, exhausted to threads with his new guest and now about to rip this insane woman's head off.

"SEVERUS!" He turned to see Minerva enter the room appearing no better then how he felt. Her tired, tear stricken eyes met as her snarl remained fixed to her face. It was obvious she had slept no better then he did- both tormented by their concerns over a young woman.

He glared back at the woman before leaning back in his chair and sipping his coffee trying to ignore both their pains.

The staff meeting ended up going for longer than anticipated and he was now running late to his classes, again to the presence of his new guest. "Granger" He muttered trying to shake her awake without much luck. "Bloody Merlin" He muttered under his breathe as he did a quick check on her wounds and administering her potions.

"Of course, you are still resting" He muttered before beginning to unravel the bandaging on her arm. He figured, if anything, now was a good time, considering she was dead asleep and he needed to remove the rest of the debris that laid more deeply embedded in her wound. He placed a rag under her arm before summoning a numbing potion and applying it to her appendage. There were some large parts of it that looked necrotic and would have to be removed. His hand began to shake as he stared at the grotesque wound before waving his wand over and gently looking for any additional debris he could find. Unfortunately, that involved more pieces of wood, dirt and dead ants that had managed to attempt to burrow their way in. He then applied a cooling solvent ensuring her wound would not dry out before wrapping her arm back up in new gauze that wouldn't stick.

"I will have to consult Poppy" He muttered more to himself than her before leaning over and inspecting her shoulder that had been splinched. It was beginning to scab over which was good. He moved down towards her knee and ankle, noting there was still major swelling within the limb. He grabbed his only pillow left and placed it under her leg. He made a mental note to ask the elves for more pillows considering now that Granger had one pillow under her head, one on her side holding her right arm, one holding her left, one under her knee and now two under her foot. He was glad her other leg only sustained minor damage. A few scrapes, scratches and a sprained ankle likely from a fall. However, he was now left without a pillow for himself. He sighed before he checked his pocket watch. nine-fifteen. It was time for his first class of the day and he was already fifteen minutes late...great!

He placed his hand on her forehead, feeling the warmth of her fever and sweat immediately pour onto his palm.

Merlin, that wasn't a good sign.

Hours ticked by and Severus was sweating profusely. His charge had been worrying him for the whole morning and was distracting enough for him not to notice a cauldron about to explode. It finally reached lunch time by an alarmingly slow pace. Every hour he would return to his quarter's to check the woman's temperature and every hour it was getting worse. He had filled her with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory potions last night, numbing potions, dreamless sleep potions but nothing seemed to be working. His heart dropped into his stomach when he had next returned to her and she was involved in a coughing fit, blood splattering from her mouth as she tried to hold her hand up in front of her mouth. His white sheets now soiled from urine and left with sputters of blood, that wasn't to mention the blood on the gauze he had wrapped her in, seeping through from her shattered leg; the violent fits further irritating her injuries.

"Granger!" He pulled her up into his chest and tried to calm her down as she shook, her skin cold and clammy. Her whole body was wet and clothes soaked. Merlin, how long had he left her like that. What if it had sunk into her wounds.

This wasn't working.

Shit!

What was he going to do?

He had to do something!

She was dying.

Merlin, she was dying.

The hours ticked by and Severus felt as though all sense of time had gone out of the window. After cleaning the young woman up, he had ended up sending Minerva an owl to state that he would not be continuing classes into the evening due to personal circumstances. He hoped it would keep her away from him at least until tomorrow's staff meeting.

After sending the letter off, he returned to the bedroom with two glasses of water in his hand. One for him and one for the girl...woman. He was however, stopped when he found her on the floor, her eyes fully dilated as she stared at the dark wall. "Granger?" He raced over to her placing the glasses down onto the nightstand before grabbing the girl who was now curled up on the floor staring in horror at the ceiling. "Granger!" He grabbed her shoulders before pulling her in to him.

She began to fight him, screaming at the top of her lungs as she wriggled to get away. "Miss Granger, Stop! You are going to hurt yourself" He hissed at her as he grabbed her arms and held her close against his body. "Get away from me!" She tried to scream and kick her left leg out only to cease immediately as the pain set in. "Ah," She threw her head back into Severus face, clipping his nose. He yelped as the back of his head hit that night stand and the glasses wobbled before it hit his shoulder and smashed to the ground.

Great!

Just bloody great!

How could this day get any worse?

He shuddered for a second as he felt his sleeve being grabbed and the woman roll over onto her side, curling up into a ball as she finally began to fall asleep. Her ragged, shallow breathing slowly began to even out and he was able to rest, if only for a few minutes.

He leaned his back again the night stand and gently let his eye lids flutter shut. If only, just for a minute.

Severus awoke to hear the sounds of his door banging loudly.

Yes!" He opened the door only to find the exact person who he needed information from most desperately right now.

"Severus, you look awful" He frowned as the woman immediately barged in to his personal quarter and placed her medical kit down. "I'm assuming Minerva called you in to check on me" He glared at Poppy knowing that the two couldn't help but gossip amongst one another.

"She said you had been acting strange lately. Some of your students commented on that your mind seemed to be elsewhere today. I Thought you may have a flu"

"Surprised Minerva would pick up on another individual's feelings, given her state of dress"

"Severus, that's an awful thing to say. She has been through a lot what with Hermione being arrested. The girl was like a daughter to Minerva"

Severus could only nod in agreement as he closed his door and went to sit down on his lounge chair before pouring himself a glass of Firewhiskey.

"You shouldn't be drinking that given your state"

"My state is nothing to be worried about, Poppy. You should be more concerned with Minerva's at the way she's heading she will most likely end up in early retirement. Pity that; she had wanted to be Headmistress for such a long time"

Poppy shot him a glare before flicking her wand at him. He growled in anger. "I'm going to assume your poor social skills are from your illness"

She turned to check her wand, "There seems to be a dysregulation in your immune and endocrine pathways, rapid increase in cortisol levels within the last 48hrs, high blood pressure, rise in heart rate" She looked up at him in concern. "What's happened so suddenly?"

"I did not give you permission to diagnose me"

"Your bodies experiencing a fight or flight response with a recent drop in of adrenol in your system. You must be exhausted. Please tell me what's happened? I can help!"

"I very much doubt it" He glared at her before leaning back. "Severus, I am still a medical professional. I hold myself to highest levels of patient care and confidentiality. I assure you any information you give will not leave this room"

His eyes lit up at the last part. Confidential?

He would have to consult Poppy on this matter. It was too much burden alone and he didn't know if he was healing her or making everything worse.

"If you agree that nothing leaves this room, then I will agree to your help"

She gave him a soft smile before nodding. "I assure you, your secrets safe with me" He immediately stood up which prompted Poppy to do in response. He extended his hand and ushered her towards his bedroom door.

"This is a rather odd request, Severus" Poppy muttered as she picked up her her first aid bag.

"I assure you it is of the utt-most importance and you have given your word that you will be discrete"

"Of course,"

"She's in the bedroom" It took Poppy back by surprised. "She?"

"Yes!" Severus hissed in anger, thinking about his burden.

Poppy's features relaxed to a tender smile, as if in understanding to his current condition. "Oh Severus, erectile dysfunction in men is quite common in your age"

He gritted his teeth in anger, his cheeks going red immediately. "I am not having any problems with THAT, woman!" He glared at her before he basically slammed his bedroom door open. "Honestly, Severus. You don't have to be embarrassed" She smiled politely only causing him to shoot more glares at her.

"SHE is your patient!" He bared his teeth.

"The woman who is currently in your bed?"

"Indeed. She has been severely injured and, I'm afraid, will not last much longer without your expertise, Poppy. Now please see that she at least makes it through the night or I will have a Scot berating me for an eternity" He muttered the last part before he shooed her inside the dark room. Poppy carefully popped her head into the dark and gasped. Near the candlelight she could easily make out the girl's figure.

She had a terrible rattling and uneven breath that sounded so shallow. She immediately pelted into the room and grabbed the poor girl's hand searching for a heartbeat. "Hermione? Hermione, can you hear me?" Poppy was shaking as she took in the girl's features, her white shirt leant from the potions master was still covered in splatters of blood as well as the sheets. Her arm, wrapped tightly in gauze cloth as well as her left eye.

Hermione didn't respond.

It only made Poppy more worried as she began removing the white sheet hurriedly and waving her wand. She gasped as a series of diagnoses began to appear. "Severus, she's-"

"Extremely lucky to be alive"

"I-I don't even know where to start"

"Her arm would be the best place. I believe she still has debris in the area and it appears infected" She nodded and began to quickly unwrap the gauze around her arm and gasped. Severus moved around the room as held her hand over her mouth and collapsed to her knees. "W-Where's her hand? Who did this?"

"I'm not sure, Miss Granger has not awakened since returning to Hogwarts. I have yet to question her" Tears streamed down Poppy's face as she stared at her broken and beaten ex-student. She sniffed before reaching into her bag and pulling out some latex gloves. "I'm going to do a full body examination. This may take some time. You are free to wait outside if you please" She told him. He could only nod before leaving the room. He was fine waiting, at least that gave him a chance to rest.

At least with Poppy here, the girl was safe for another night. He sat back in one of the chairs and began reading one of his potions books on re-growing amputations.

"Sev...Sever...Severus" His head lulled to the side. Had he fallen asleep? He didn't seem to recall.

His blinked his tired eyes before taking in the side of Poppy who was currently covered in blood. His eyes lit up in shock before he stared towards the door. "It's alright, everything is fine. I have unfortunately had to debride her amputation a bit more then originally anticipated due to the amount of necrotic tissue stopping her wound from healing, it appeared to be the same story for her back as well" Poppy aimed her wand at her clothing before vanishing the blood and walking over to Severus' whiskey cabinet. "I have managed to stabilise the fractures in her leg. Properly mind you. That muggle contraption of pulling the compound fracture may work temporarily however, I noted it had come loose and was slowly closing the gap. I have since splinted it and put a few charms in place to ensure the fracture site does not move whilst healing"

He nodded before looking back up at the woman.

"Her face?"

"Broken teeth have been removed, although I have not been able to re-grow them. I'm more focussed on her leg at the present time"

"Not her arm?"

The Medi-witch shook her head, "Her toes were purple, the circulation from the fracture site was compromised. I believe maybe another two, perhaps three days and her toes would have to of been amputated"

"I have had to re-administer some topical anti-biotics to her splinch and...and the wounds on her back" He saw the woman's face scrunch for a second before continuing "They looked awful"

She paused. "About her right arm, I will have to consult some specialists regarding appendage healing. The damage is quite severe and I found some small insects that had burrowed their way deeply into her wound. Those insects are not common in Azkaban prisoners" She stared at him as if to say, 'what are you hiding'.

"You are correct. She was not held in Azkaban however, she has not yet informed me of her previous whereabouts" She nodded before sitting down next to him. "She also has a UTI which was very close to infecting her kidney's. I'm not sure if you were aware?"

"No," He took a breath. How could he of missed that? "I hadn't realised. I figured she had wet herself due to trauma" The feelings of guilt fell heavy on him.

She nodded, "I have had to place a catheter into her for now to ensure she remains dry. I would ensure she remains asleep for the next fortnight to ensure she heals"

"If she awaken?"

"She may appear very confused. Delusions, hallucinations and paranoia can be common with UTI's. I would discourage Miss Granger from movement at current. I would recommend bed rest. I have already taken the liberty of inserting a drip into her arm and a feeding tube through her nose. I have also inserted a catheter for her in case. I'm hoping she would be more then comfortable and this would involve less risk for movement and infection from wetting the bed" He nodded as she continued to pour herself another glass of Firewhiskey before chugging it down. "I have not put her under coma due to the trauma she has experienced. I would suggest continuing with the dreamless sleep and that she be monitored throughout the day"

"And prey-tell, how do you think we do that?"

"The order of course"

Severus shook his head before grumbling. "For heaven's sake Severus. They are our friends. You cannot simply call them enemies just because you don't agree with one or two"

"Not my point. Miss Granger's home was raided and illegal items were placed in there. Above that, her bloody office was tapes were erased. Not to mention, she was brought in to be prosecuted rather rapidly, so at this point, I do not trust anyone"

"And you believe one of the order members did this?"

"Or provided information to outside sources on her location" He stood up removing the bottle from her hands before pouring himself another glass. "I believe there is a spy in our mist and I have no interest in Granger returning from where she came from considering her state"

Poppy nodded before looking up at him, "fine but Minerva needs to know that Hermione is safe. The woman has not slept in days"

"Do you realise if anyone suspects that Granger is residing in these halls then it could rain down hell on all of us. I'm sure the spy will be aware if Minerva begins to change her attitude over finding the girl"

"She needs to know Severus"

"Give me a few days to figure out who the spy is. Then I will inform Minerva. Besides, she doesn't need to see the girl on her death bed"

Poppy sighed before scratching her head. "We're not going to be able to do this on our own. We'll at least need the house-elves to watch over her when we are not here"

Severus leaned back in his chair before sipping on his own drink, "we can't trust the house-elves. They would inform the Ministry"

"Then what do you expect we do? She requires around the clock care"

"We cannot act as though anything has happened"

"Severus, Hermione will not survive. She should be in St Mungo's ICU"

"We don't have a choice! She is a wanted murderer. We cannot simply take her to St Mungo's and expect them to treat her. She will be hauled off to Azkaban the second they set eyes on her. We will have to keep an eye on her then"

Poppy held her head as she sat down opposite the man. "I will create a pendant which will alert us both if Hermione requires anything. At the moment, her bandaging and IV bag will need to be changed daily. Her catheter will need to be changed every two hours and potions every three. She will require a number of pain medications to keep her under for now. I don't want her awakening without one of us there"

Severus nodded before looking over to Poppy. "It is only until the next Order meeting"

She nodded before looking back at the room. "I will watch over her tonight. You require rest" She placed a gentle hand over Severus' before standing and turning back to the young girl. Severus sighed as he leaned back in his seat and was finally able to rest peacefully.

The rest of Severus' week had not gone without the burden of stress. He had managed to put a lot more on himself then he had realised. His sleep had been rapidly deteriorating where he had been awoken all hours of the day and night to the girl's needs, which were beginning to feel as though it were a burden to him.

He had taken his shift with her the next day after Poppy and stared at the woman on his bed, covered in a thick layer of sweat and breathing heavily. He sighed, spelled a cooling charm on her, checked her bandaging and bags before collapsing into the chair beside her and staring at his bed. Merlin, why did he agree to this? Why help the chit in the first place? Oh that was right, she had a life debt hanging over him.

He tilted his head back before re-checking the time; 7:05AM. Great!

He should probably make a scene at breakfast otherwise Minerva may begin to suspect something. He dragged himself down the stairwell towards the staff table before plunking himself down beside Minerva who was already staring down at the paper in shock as she drank her coffee. The potion's master couldn't help but eye her. Something was clearly wrong.

He leaned across the table and saw the newspaper she was holding and read the title. His eyes widened.

Dead Body of Ex-Death-Eater Beached!

What on Earth? Minerva noticed Severus staring at the front headline before sighing and passing the paper over to him. "He was found yesterday morning by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement"

"...Who?"

"Goyle Senior" She whispered. "They're still trying to figure out what happened. They haven't released any details if this was a murder or suicide"

"Suicide?"

"It says Healer's are still trying to investigate what occurred that evening due to the excessive amount of fluid in his lungs and nerve damage..." She continued to read. "They believe he passed four nights ago" Minerva muttered the last past so quietly before looking over to him in suspicion. "Severus, do you have anything to do with this?" Minerva asked in an accusing manner. "I remember you weren't well, when I saw you the next morning and-"

"No, I was not aware of any of this. Goyle Senior made many enemies in his time. I am not surprised someone has simply hunted him down" He turned back to his coffee and began to sip it. He had a good thought he knew exactly who would know something about this.