A.N. - Thank you for clicking on my story! I hope you enjoy it, but if you don't, I'm happy to read your criticism. Please do me the favor of giving *constructive* criticism, though, because I really do want to write better. Feel free to correct my "Brit grammar" too because, while I do try to have HP characters speak authentically, I know I miss some of the finer points. Thanks, and have fun! PS, I hate dropping people into a story with no bearings. Snape and Hermione are Aurors, they work together, and it's about 3-4 years or so after the end of the War, give or take. AWAY WE GO!

Hearts and Scars

Sunday - 4AM

The wound was deeper than Snape originally thought. His fingers flew at the layers of robes and the Muggle sweater and t-shirt that stood between him and the origin of the blood seeping out of Hermione Granger's limp body. Incantations spilled from his lips as he strived to recall every spell he'd cast over Draco Malfoy's body so many years ago. But this was not Sectumsempra, and the Vulnera Sanentur was not designed for this.

As the icy wind began to turn wet, Snape pulled out every scrap of knowledge from the battered card catalogue of his mind. Counter curses, healing spells, spells to slow blood loss, charms to calm the victim and prevent shock... The cold seeped into his lungs making them ache, and he realized how heavily he was breathing. He held his breath to rewarm his throat, now dry and raspy. Then a thought struck him, an idea so simple that he nearly cursed for not thinking of it earlier.

He pulled off his own cloak despite the freezing cold. He began to rip the sleeves from the garment with his bare hands so he did not have to stop singing the countercurses to cast a severing charm. Hermione's head lolled slowly from left to right. Her hair, splayed around her head as though she'd been electrocuted, began to gather little bits of dead grass and leaves deposited by the wind. Snape quickly folded the sleeve over on itself and pressed it hard into the gash across Hermione's chest. He continued his spellwork as he leveraged his whole weight above his partner's body.

With the flow of blood stanched he was able to concentrate on closing the wound and bringing her back to consciousness. It took eight long minutes before Snape had any idea if this physical treatment was having a positive effect. Finally he decided that, despite the chance of overloading her already strained heart, there was no time left to dither. With resignation he cast Enervate and waited, stock still, as the sleet began to come down around them.

Through the thickness of the rendered cloak he could feel her heartbeat return with renewed strength. It was barely there one moment, but then it came upon his palm like a drum. Hermione's eyes snapped open and she gasped loudly as her body jerked awake again.

She cursed vehemently as her body shook with life. Instinctively she tried to clutch her hands to her chest, but Snape batted them away as he maintained pressure on the wound. "Stop," he said calmly.

Hermione collapsed back on the hard wet ground as she realized where she was and who was attending to her. She raised a hand to block the sleet-now-turned hail that was coming down harder now. "Impervious," she managed weakly. The frozen pellets of wet ice stopped their assault instantly and began to ping off the invisible dome that had magically formed above them. "Why didn't you do that first?" she asked quietly.

"I had other things to occupy me at the time," he said, prodding the space between Hermione's skin and the folded sleeve with his wand.

"What's that?"

"Sticking charm. And my sleeve."

"Thank you," she said, smiling weakly. Her eyes closed again, but Snape felt her heart beating just as it should. He finished securing the sticking charm, then severed the other sleeve from his cloak. Snape traced his wand down the length of the sleeve, split it nearly in two, but kept it attached at the cuff. He slid the long piece of material under her back, then tied the ends over her heart. When he was satisfied he slid his arms under her, pulled her towards his chest, and lifted her from the cold hard ground. With a spin and a crack, he apparated them away. The dome which had shielded them collapsed with a splash.