The last few chapters and the next few (3 or 4 more chapters) are going to be rather transitional as we make our way to March 22nd. Then after that, it's gonna be more action-packed (hopefully).

Chapter 33. Subsequent Splinching

The conversation had gone about as well as Severus had suspected. The Dark Lord was becoming ever more impatient with the slow progress of Draco's actions against Dumbledore. With impatience came anxiety and a need to blame someone. With Draco being in school, the blame fell to the man who was supposed to be guiding him. Severus understood that even though he had intended on speaking with the boy about his plans for the murder, there had been a few hiccoughs in the road that led him to neglect that particular avenue, which made him a bit of a target. He had to admit that Hermione was about as good for his attention now as she would have been had she been in his school years with him. While he worked hard at all his school work to impress Lily, he was nearly certain that, had he and Hermione been friends growing up, she would have consumed his every thought as she did now.

He believed that the only reason he was allowed to continue his mission at this point was his continued success at pairing his Godson up with Hermione. It didn't shock him then, that as he turned to leave after being sufficiently chided by the dark wizard, he was hit in the back by a powerful and agonizing unforgivable. The cruciatus that Voldemort cast was drawn out, making sure it was genuinely fully understood that his master was displeased and that his actions needed to change. He would have to find out what it was that Draco was planning and give a full report by to Voldemort by the end of the week.

As he hobbled over to the fireplace, refusing to allow his body to twitch, he was hit hard by a flying hex. Falling back, he groaned, wordlessly casting a protective spell around him as he gathered his bearings and stood, faltering momentarily. Another shot nicked him across the face, just below his eye, before he could recast his protective charm slicing his cheek. Then another to his chest, and a few more to his legs, which he just barely protected himself against. But just as he prevented one from hitting him, two more would come at him and he couldn't deflect them fast enough, having been left weakened and slow in the aftermath of his initial punishment. Soon enough one got through and sliced him across the arm. The professor hissed and gripped it, distracted just long enough for another round of hexes to hit him all over. Stinging and slicing hexes bombarded his form. Severus dropped to his knees, noting his blood pooling beside him and he groaned, looking up over his swelling cheek to see Bellatrix standing over him.

"Just a little parting gift for my dear little traitor," she cackled and he winced, gathering the strength to apparate. "I'll get some dirt on you, I know I will. You've postponed his death for too long. The old fool will die," the witch promised, but he listened to no more of her threatening words as he departed the Malfoy Manor with a loud crack in a sloppy apparition.

It wasn't a graceful landing, collapsing onto the gravel walkway of Hogwarts' front entrance, and he knew that something had definitely been left behind in his haste. He was cold, the feeling of blood loss clouding his vision and making him hazy. This wasn't his first encounter with the particular affliction and he knew that there was enough blood supply and medical care that he would make it out alive, so calm came with the haze rather than worry. Closing his eyes, he pictured the moment he found out Hermione was pregnant and the happiness that surrounded the news. He pictured her smile, how it felt to press his cheek against her abdomen and know his future child was forming so close to him. Channelling it, he conjured a Patronus and sent it off to find Minerva and Poppy, hoping that neither of them would be with Dumbledore at the time. He was dying, currently, and he didn't feel like passing out to the judgmental once-over he would certainly receive from the Headmaster. Thankfully, that would not be the case either way as the action took the last morsel of energy and he fell unconscious, the world going black.

-x-

His eyes were heavy and opening them felt like it took all his energy from him as he came to in the infirmary. It was dark, the room lit only by a few floating lanterns and the fire crackling at the end of the room. He groaned, and attempted to sit up, the pains returning to him as he adjusted his position. "Severus!" A familiar voice exclaimed before he was attacked by a mess of brown curls and hugged tightly. It would have been nice had it not been for the searing pain that came with her pressure again his upper arm. He obviously voiced his discomfort, regardless of whether he intended to or not, because she withdrew quickly and covered her mouth with both hands. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm so glad you're up!" She whispered excitedly, looking around a bit before staring back at him.

"How long have I been out?" He groaned, sitting up more and finding a new pain in his leg, making him wince. The young witch doted on him, fluffing his pillow and gently tucking him in and he would have laughed if it wouldn't have hurt. Instead, he simply watched her, and let his eyes adjust to the low light. He noted a book that had been discarded to the floor beside him as she reached over him and straightened out the blanket over him a bit more. "I'm fine, witch. How long?" He repeated when she didn't answer.

"McGonagall came and found me earlier tonight, you've been out a full day," she explained, stepping back a bit. She was in a burgundy jumper and the Gryffindor shorts she'd worn that one night he caught her sneaking after her feline. They worked well to cup her bottom in a way that made him curious as to how they would look on the floor, and he was definitely wondering what she was wearing under her jumper, if anything. He had to admit the sight was one he wouldn't get sick of, though he might offer to purchase her some Slytherin colours.

"I missed the Quidditch match then," he noted, shaking himself from the thought trail that would certainly have led down a dangerous path. He watched from his periphery as a smirk spread across her face and she shook her head, rolling her eyes and sitting back down in the chair she had previously been sitting in. The witch bent over and picked up the book she had discarded and found her page once more. He attempted to look at the front cover and discern for himself what it was that she was reading. While it looked familiar, the infirmary was too poorly lit for him to actually see what it was. "Is that one that I got for you?" He questioned, eyeing her as she refused to look up at him.

"Perhaps," she shrugged, fingering one of the pages and tapping her foot against the wooden floor. "I'm glad you're awake," Hermione muttered under her breath and he leaned back into his cot. He looked up at the ceiling and attempted to stretch out the kinks in his muscles while making sure not to pull on any freshly healed wounds.

"Would you read it to me?" He requested, closing his eyes and rotating his neck a bit. Normally, he would have protested and demanded his release from the infirmary to heal himself, avoid the pitying looks from Poppy or whoever chose to pay him a visit, but this was Hermione. His Hermione. She was kind and caring, and there wasn't a moment of her presence that he felt unsafe, and surely he wouldn't have another visitor until the morning. He could deal with being a patient until then.

"I have been," she breathed a short chuckle, looking up to meet his gaze. They exchanged a smile that worked better than any pain potion to make him feel okay again. Normal. Her honey eyes caught the twinkle of the fire as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. He nodded in encouragement and she began a paragraph, her eyebrows furrowing as she read in the low lighting. Having no context of the previous chapters, he focused more on her voice than the plot of the story she was narrating, but her soft tone easily lulled him to relaxation. He was just about to drift off when she stopped, and he opened an eye to see why it was. "Someone's coming," she whispered, disillusioning herself and hiding the book under his pillow.

He could hear, then, the footsteps approaching the infirmary and he attempted to feign unconsciousness. "Severus," Dumbledore commanded, striding into the room and forcing him to open his eyes. It was childish to attempt avoiding the Headmaster, but he truly just wanted to continue his time with the girl in private, listening to her reading, her voice. "Ah, you're awake, good. Pray tell, Severus, what was it that caused your injuries? Aside from your attempted fleeing and subsequent splinching," Albus enquired, standing at the foot of his cot.

"Miss Lestrange decided I ought to pay a little more for taking so long with the plan," Severus explained, remaining purposefully vague as he knew Hermione was listening. "I had been punished by the Dark Lord for a moment before, weakening my resolve, and she deemed it the right time to enact her personal vengeance and hex me. Of course, I decided to apparate away and in my weakened state, couldn't muster enough focus to get all of me home," he winced, noting the phantom ache of his twisted leg.

"Well, I am grateful Poppy was able to heal you in time, you'd lost a significant amount of blood over that particular mistake," the older wizard said pointedly. Severus noticed the man's eyes dart behind him for a moment, realizing that Albus likely could sense the girl's presence. Hopefully, he was unable to tell exactly who it was disguised and hiding in the shadows. Perhaps if the old man did know who it was, Severus could play it off as a simple obsession on the girl's part and begging her forgiveness for the rest of his natural born life.

He then remembered what he had been doing prior to his summoning to the Dark Lord and came up with a distraction. "And how is the search for Miss Tessa?" Severus diverted, but Albus simply waved him off.

"A conversation for another time, Severus, get your rest. You teach tomorrow," the grey wizard turned on his heel and marched out of the hospital wing. The Defence Professor released a breath and he felt Hermione's hand on his cheek. Instinctively, he moved to grasp it, leaning into her palm and sighing once more at the comforting touch. He desperately wanted to keep her there, if not for just a moment longer.

"I should go to sleep. I have to finish practising time travel in the morning," she breathed into his ear, her lips pressing to his uninjured cheek. The reminder that there was an impending plot against her life made him wince more than her accidental graze of his injured arm had and he sighed as her warmth left him. Pulling the book from behind the pillow, he opted to start it over and catch up to where she had started, as he had very little better to do at that point.

-x-

The healing charms and pain potions, dittany and cruciatus elixir, set in and he felt just about as himself as he could as he powered through his week's classes. He did not relent on the Headmaster, consistently seeking him out for an update on the rescue plan for Hermione, or any news on the search for Tessa, but the old git was about as helpful as a rock. Albus avoided him at nearly every turn, and his trips away from the castle were becoming more frequent.

He hadn't seen Hermione, either, outside of her regularly allotted class time, as to avoid suspicion from Dumbledore or otherwise. It seemed, however, that she was getting sick less frequently, and he was glad that whatever it had been that was triggering her morning sickness had at least subsided a bit. Even if her life was currently at stake, she hopefully at least felt some control over the situation, he mused as he sauntered through the halls. The next day would mark exactly two weeks until her capture and he had yet to find out if Dumbledore had a plan for her rescue or if she was to count on Draco figuring out how to escape the party long enough to go back in time and rescue the woman he knew was in love with someone else.

It wasn't exactly the kind of thing they could count on, and he had half a mind to obliviate the boy so there was no way the Dark Lord could figure out how he felt about the girl. However, he knew that it was all a very delicate situation and they had been placing more things against that balance, daring it to tip. While he wished he could spread the blame a bit, it had been him that started it all. Initiating a relationship with a student, continuing the relationship, getting her pregnant even after he had been given the mission of setting up said student with his Godson. Every time they played with fate, he held his breath, waiting for something to go wrong. Losing his child, his witch, his life. He held the fate of the war in his hands and he was throwing it against a wall to see how far he could go before he ruined everything.

Severus shook himself from his thoughts, hoping the task of surveying the castle would help him shift his state of mind from the impending war that was coming whether he could stop it or not. As he turned a corner, heading towards the Gryffindor tower, he heard the jingling that usually announced the presence of his communication method with Hermione. Sure enough, the half-Kneazle came tottering down the steps that led up to the common room and while he thought the cat would stop, it jutted off past him. Intrigued, he followed the feline who was making his way down to the dungeon. Severus strode through the dark hall and saw as the cat scratched at the Slytherin entrance and it surprisingly welcomed him. He waited just a moment before following suit and watched as the orange tail disappeared up the stairs to the boy's rooms. The common room was empty, so the Head of House disillusioned himself and followed up the stairs, careful to silence his steps.

He approached the sixth-year boy's rooms and listened carefully. "You can't be here," Draco's voice hissed.

"I don't know, Crookshanks seemed pretty adamant I come and see you tonight," a female voice teased.

"Oh, screw the bloody cat-" The boy said in a frustrated tone.

"Hey!" The female protested. While she sounded a bit like Hermione, there was something off about the voice, and yet extremely familiar. He wanted nothing more than to push open the door and see who it was that was meeting Draco in the middle of the night and didn't use any form of silencing spell.

"Whatever, why did you barge into my dorms?" Draco demanded in a strained voice that solidified the idea that he was very worried about being caught with whoever it was that was currently invading his space. This only piqued the potions master's interest even further and he nearly pulled open the door when she spoke, making him freeze.

"We only have two weeks until Her-" The woman started, but she was quickly silenced and there was a brief pause where no one spoke. Straining to listen more carefully, Severus leaned in a bit closer to the door and held his breathing.

"Someone's listening," Draco whispered after a while and Severus' heart skipped a beat. In a bit of a panic, the professor quickly, and as silently as possible, ducked into the first years' rooms and exhaled slowly. He heard the door fly open next door, followed by a forceful cancelling charm and a grumble of frustration before the door closed again.

Severus noted that all the first years were fast asleep, which surprised him for a moment, remembering the many nights he spent wide awake in his first year, but counted his blessings and departed the House as quickly as possible. Tessa, he thought as he rounded the corner to head back the way he came. That must have been Tessa, he noted, attempting to remember her voice. It sounded so much like Hermione's but it couldn't have been her, so the familiarity must have been from hearing the other witch speak endlessly.

Resolved to wait her out, he posted himself outside the entrance to the Slytherin area, disillusioned with a notice-me-not charm cast on his person. He wished he carried around a pepper-up potion because he didn't feel he could spend the night hoping she would try to sneak out for him to catch her. Sitting down on the cold dungeon floor, he watched the door thoughtfully. It wasn't long before the door opened again and Severus stood immediately. To his displeasure, all that came out was the orange furball who quickly found the invisible wizard to snuggle up to.

"Not right now, cat," he hissed at the feline, but the cat didn't pay the warning much mind and continued rubbing against his robes. Soon, the ginger furball curled up beside him and Severus took his spot back on the floor and continued his wait.

He woke with a start, his head hitting the wall beside him waking him from his blissful dream and stood. The cat made a noise of displeasure before running off and Severus looked around. It was dark, and the hall was empty, so he cast a tempus charm. It was nearing 6:00 in the morning and he had surely missed the witch by this point. "Bloody fuck," he grumbled, cancelling his charms and sauntering back up to his dormitories to properly finish his sleep before the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff later that day.

-x-

Sitting in the stand, Minerva plopped herself down next to him and looked at him cautiously. He sneered at her without turning his head to face her and sat up a bit straighter under the scrutiny. "What?" He demanded, glancing over to the Gryffindor stands which were sparse at best, missing notably Hermione Granger and company.

"Have you not heard?" Her accent questioned, proceeding with caution as she inched away from him a bit. Whatever it was, I'm not going to like it, he determined with an eye-rolled.

"Obviously not. Spit it out, get on with it," he commanded, watching Draco as he flew circles. Movement in the Gryffindor section caught his attention and he watched at the frazzled haired witch took a spot in the stands next to Ginny, who he hadn't noticed previously. He held back the smile he knew was bubbling up from seeing her and remained focused on whatever it was that Minerva was about to break to him.

"There's a new rumour spreading about the castle," she started, and he motioned for her to continue when she paused. The older witch took a deep breath and resumed, "there seemed to be a new couple. A Gryffindor girl and a Slytherin boy," she alluded. Rolling his eyes, he begged for her to get the torture over with, to just come out and say what she was beating around.

"Spit it out, woman," he repeated, knowing where she was going with it.

"Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger have made their relationship... public," she emphasized as if she were insinuating something. He sighed and feigned apathy as he continued to watch the warm-up before the match.

"And?"

"What do you mean, and?" She looked around the rather packed teacher's box and then leaned into him to whisper. "You can't possibly be all that thrilled to hear that, Severus."

"I knew," he stated simply.

"You knew?" She repeated, aghast.

"Yes. Now can we watch the match in silence?" He enquired, throwing off an air of annoyance in hopes it would end the conversation. While he knew she would likely have more questions, the middle of the teacher's section probably wasn't the most secretive of places to give him the news.

"Silence?" She echoed, glancing around as if she had missed something vital. "How long have you known?"

"Since the beginnings. Draco is my godson after all," he answered emotionlessly.

"And you let it happen?" She questioned.

"Whoever Miss Granger chooses to associate with is not my business, same goes for Mister Malfoy." The Deputy Headmistress did not appear to understand what exactly she had just been informed of, and he noted that he would have to let her in on that particular phase of the plan later. There had to be some part of her that was suspicious it was all part of the plan to keep Hermione from being murdered over Easter holidays, but she seemed genuinely dumbfounded sitting beside him at that moment.

His eyes wandered over to Hermione once more and noticed the distinct lack of Weasley in her presence and frowned. Ginevra was certainly there just a moment ago, wasn't she? Severus debated, scanning the bleachers. In fact, it seemed, that everyone in Gryffindor had moved away from her. The witch was hugging her torso, her wild curls tucked under a winter cap, and her eye trained on the pitch. He noticed, however, there was a look on her face that couldn't simply be explained away by the sun in her eyes or wind on her face. No, she looked sad. And at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to go over and see what exactly it was that caused that expression. Although, it was likely the very same reason that the Weasley girl was no longer at her side.

His gaze transferred over to the pitch and quickly found his Godson floating in the air. The blond was staring down at the stands, down at Hermione. As far as anyone knew at that point, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were officially a couple. I wonder how that particular outing came to be, he pondered, staring between the two. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Thank you to all those who favourite/follow/review my chapters! It really helps motivate me to write more, especially when I'm rather busy. Shout out to the people who have reviewed since that last time I thanked you all! PirateJinx, RAV3N R1PP3R, Steflebolt, VellaGio, HGranger89, Glass-NotCannon, GeekLoveFan, Dindore, RhodaBush, emjrabbitwolf, carmine . vesper , Reckless072529, Foxzelaine101, WickedlySweetSilence, Blond Handsome Stranger, and Guests! Your notes always make my day, and I really enjoy the theories!