Published 30th of November, 2020
Rayleigh. Alex Rayleigh. So we started well. We started. We. Hermione.
In one second, thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind at the speed of light, and he could neither count nor follow them. The fact that now he knows for sure who the murderer is, that they started well, that it was so close that it ended differently, that he is finally in the right place, that maybe HERE there are both the antidote and Moon Water, that...
It all mixed with a mounting dread at the thought of Hermione.
The space in front of them flickered in familiar way, with thousand sparks and as they vanished, the Passage to Rayleigh's private laboratory opened. In which he was with Hermione just a few hours ago.
The woman pushed Severus forward hard, then stepped through it and, whispering an incantation, closed it behind them.
The first thing he noticed was a row of black sealed bottles standing on the bottom shelf. Immediately afterwards he saw another one, on the table near the cauldron, from which silvery steam rose and beneath which a fire glowed.
MOON WATER. ANTIDOTE.
He had what he was looking for. He found it. With this amount of Moon Water he could save the whole world, not just the sick in St. Mungo's!
At that moment, he thought he would just go crazy. That he fell into some bottomless tunnel.
RAYLEIGH. ANTIDOTE.
But after just a few seconds, everything faded, stopped to matter and a choking, overwhelming panic for Hermione surfaced. Fuck the antidote, sicks, fuck everything.
He had to do something to get her here. NOW. RIGHT NOW.
Rayleigh pushed him into a chair, then picked up a glass of thick mud and tossed a long black hair into it. The brew foamed, gurgled and turned a fiery red color and in some incomprehensible way it was the color that brought Severus finally back to reality. Merlin, get a grip. Calm down. Think! Act!
When Rayleigh transformed into herself and with a flick of wand changed into dark work clothes, he looked up at her and feigned shock and disbelief.
"A-Alex?" He choked out, then immediately restrained himself and looked indifferent. Severus Snape was not in the habit of showing his feelings.
The woman didn't answer, just pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at him carefully as she played with her wand. She ran her gaze over his face and stopped somewhere on his neck.
"You'll have to help me" she said in a dry, matter-of-fact tone.
"You just said I was going to die. You were trying to kill me. And now you want me to help you?" Severus snorted contemptuously.
"I can change things very easily, you know?"
"Oh, I don't doubt it. How was I going to die? In Azkaban? Kissed by the Dementors?"
"No. Poisoned" Alex replied impassively.
Severus understood immediately. Gratus tried to poison not only Hermione, Potter and Ginevra Weasley. Him too.
He let the words hang in the air, let them resone during a few seconds.
"What a… a nice perspective" he finally said, drawing out the syllables. "Admit it, you wish you didn't succeed to kill me, don't you?"
The woman didn't answer, though something hard to grasp flashed in her eyes. Apparently, to hide it, she went to the table and inspected the brew in the cauldron.
"It was Peterson who took you to Howden Dam?" She asked over her shoulder.
"Howden Dam?"
"Where we just came from."
With these words Severus' heart twitched slightly with relief as he found the old, familiar feeling that he was taking control. If Howden Dam was the name she used to describe that place...
"Your second... secret lab?" He put as much sarcasm as possible into his words and when she didn't deny it, he added. "Yes."
"Why did you come there?"
"To talk to Tylor about the poison. I didn't expect to meet you."
"What did you want to talk about?"
Merlin, not now! NOT NOW!
Severus tilted his head and choked back a scream that pressed on his lips. He had to keep playing.
„First of all 'Why'?"
Alex stirred the brew and for a moment stared at the bottom of the cauldron as if she were struggling with her thoughts.
"Because of you" she finally said in tight voice.
"Because of me...? Could you ENLIGHTEN me about my role in all of this?"
It sounded very harsh and Alex shuddered, tossed the glass spoon on the table with a loud clatter and turned abruptly toward him. She looked as if she wanted to kill him on the spot. Or to cry.
„You!" She snorted. „It's all you fault!"
"I'm such a problem?"
"You are a VERY BIG problem! Severus Snape!"
Struggling to calm down, Severus raised an eyebrow and that apparently made something in Alex snap.
„I was trying to... impress you! Show that I understand! A lot of things! That I matter! That…" She trailed off because she was out of breath, blinked her eyes and shook her head. "But you didn't react!"
"Have I ever told you that you don't understand? Don't matter?"
„It's not enough that you DIDN'T SAY! Or rather not, that was the problem! That you were NOT saying! You ignored me! You ignored my hints, my suggestions, ME! All the time! Or you mocked me!
„Because that's how I am. You have to learn to read between the lines."
The woman covered her mouth with her hand and took a deep breath, trying to control herself. But when she spoke after a while, everything still trembled inside her and she looked as if she was going to fall into thousands of pieces.
„You mean, when you said that the ingredients smell different to the Potions Mistress, it wasn't making fun of me? When you said that you were afraid that all the recipes will be changed now, because they have to smell like roses... that... wasn't an allusion to... my perfumes ..?"
Oh Merlin, shut up ! At the thought that he had to listen to stupidity now, and Hermione...
He did not dare to finish his thought.
"Can you tell me why you paid such attention to what I was saying?"
Alex squeezed her eyes shut desperately and a hollow moan escaped her mouth.
"Because... because I cared about you!" She cried. "Because... because I loved you! You were the one, the only one... !" She choked and turned her head not to look at him.
Severus froze because he was struck by a crazy, foolish idea. Maybe this is the way ...? Try!
He opened his mouth, but didn't speak, just took a long breath and stared at her in disbelief. And with suddenly awakened hope, like a man who suddenly noticed a light in a tunnel.
"Why... why didn't you tell me...?" He whispered.
"How was I supposed to tell you ?! Fall at your feet and beg?! And why are you acting like you just found out about it now ?! Master at Legilimens?!
"It is said that men are utter mediocrities when it comes to feelings" he said slowly, still uncertainly. "As much as it pains me, I must admit that it is true."
Very slowly, Alex looked into his eyes. Her tension was palpable and Severus forced himself to reply with the same. With tension, uncertainty and hope.
„When you looked into my mind, when I wanted to... give you amortentia... Was it not enough for you?"
"You just wanted to sleep with me!" There was a slight pain in his voice. "For me… I don't want a women just for one night."
"Not true!" Alex shouted immediately. "I loved you! I wanted you more than... anyone, more then anything else in the world!"
He took a deep breath and looked at her deeply. Now he was the one who suddenly understood and was only afraid to believe. He was a shipwrecked man who finally spotted the dry land. And began desperately run towards him. And every wave, every breath brought him closer to her. Until finally he threw himself on the sandbank and… It happened. He believed.
He moved his hot gaze slowly across her body and returned to her eyes.
„You DID love me? A... you DON'T?" He asked in a low, silky voice and casually licked his lips.
In the sudden silence one could hear the faint hiss of the flame under the cauldron. And the beating of her heart that followed the rapid pulse in her neck.
"Come here" he muttered.
"- Sseverus..."
He looked at her with hunger in his eyes and slowly rose to his feet.
"Come here" he growled. This time it was no longer a request, it was an order.
Alex gasped out loud and slowly, as if in a trance, without taking her eyes off him, walked over. It was as if only his voice had stopped her from falling.
He was taller than she was, so he slowly lowered his head, close to her face. He could feel her uneven, rapid breathing against his cheek.
„Alex."
"Please... please" she sighed, completely and utterly lost.
He made her wait for another moment.
Finally, he tilted his face a little more and brushed his lips against hers. At first gently, then a little harder, as if afraid of being rejected. Alex shivered and a sound like sobbing came from her chest.
He kissed her passionately and this time the woman answered him immediately. She touched his face with her trembling hands, slipped one of them into his hair and held him close.
He forced himself to kiss her hard, forcefully, hungry and at the same time to tolerate her hands wandering from his hair to his shoulders and back again, but as she tried to move closer to him, he leaned back and began to run his lips over her face. He didn't want to give her what she was looking for.
React. Now!
Break her.
"Don't make me beg" she gasped. "Hold me."
"I intend to do much more" he murmured and bit her gently on the neck.
Alex moaned and gripped her fingers tightly in his hair.
Do it. DO IT NOW!
He pressed his left hand firmly to his side to cover his wand as her hand slid down his back onto his bound hands and... suddenly the ropes were gone! He was free!
He didn't even have to fake the snarl that escaped from his throat.
He wrapped his left hand around her waist and clutched her tightly, even brutally, with his cramped hand, making sure that his forearm still covered his wand. He slid his right hand over her neck up to the collarbone and stepped back to look at her. He could barely feel anything under his fingers.
But he wasn't going to wait. Not a moment longer!
Alex tilted her head back with a soft sigh.
"Wonderful" he whispered, memorizing the distance and placement of the material on her shoulder. His fingers casually ran along her neck and he brushed his lips against her earlobe. Alex screamed something nonsense.
NOW!
In a fraction of second, he raised his right hand and hit it hard against the base of her neck.
This time her sigh had nothing to do with pleasure.
Severus jumped back as the woman slumped limp and flew to the ground. Struggling, he pull out his wand with numb fingers.
"Incarcerous! Petrificus Totalus!"
Magic cords appeared immediately and with a flick of his wand he wrapped it around unconscious woman, from head to toe. Then he added a magic cage and gave up on all the other spells that could be used, to additionally immobilize her, silence her, or render her unconscious for a longer time! Nothing mattered anymore!
Praying to all the gods who could possibly exist, that he would be RIGHT, that Howden Dam was the right word, he pronounced the incantation:
"Aut ne tenraris aut prfice, Porta ostium nunc laboratory in Howden Dam!"
He held his breath and felt his heart force its way into his throat and choke him. And he didn't breathe until thousands of sparks spilled from the top of the circle.
The Passage opened, but instead of the room he expected to find Hermione in, he saw billowing, roaring flames mixed with black smoke through which he made out a figure in the hot air. And through the roar of the fire he heard the echo of a maddened howl:
„HELP!HELP! PLEASE! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! "
Terror in a split second exploded in him and, without hesitating, he shouted:
"Partis Temporis !"
There was a breach in the flames for a moment, so he lunged in, grabbed Hermione and was about to turn to run away when he spotted another woman out of the corner of his eye, a little further!
Without thinking, he pushed the struggling and howling Hermione through a crack in the fire, leapt over to the other one and pulled hard to him. He inhaled at the same time, but instead of air, he gasped the heat and immediately began to choke.
The flames closed, but the Passage still had to be open! He threw himself at it blindly, clutching the other woman tightly, they both flew over it, in Cold and Calm and fell to the ground.
Severus rolled onto his back and inhaled clean air with a groan.
„Porta prope nunc !"
„NO NO NO!"
Hermione was still wriggling on the floor next to him, choking, gasping, coughing and screaming. The other woman did too, but he was completely uninterested in this one. He crawled to the girl, carefully turned her over on her back and began to pour water over her.
„Aquamenti! Anapneo! Aquamenti!"
The girl gasped and vomited violently, then began to cough. With a wave of his wand, he removed the blackened rag that had once been his jacket and poured water on her again. She was all wet by the time he finished, she had stopped screaming and wriggling, but was just gulping down the air and moaning softly.
He glanced briefly at her ear, which was hanging on piece of skin and cartilage but no longer bleeding, and at the swollen eye. She certainly suffered, but fortunately it was all healable, unlike the wounds in her mind.
He would have liked to try to heal her now, but that would have to wait. They had no antidote, but at least they hoped for it, and now, most of all, he had to do everything so that what they had been through, would not be wasted. They had come too far, and it had cost them too much to take a risk now.
"Professor… Professor Snape?" The woman he had pulled out of the flames lifted up on trembling hands, sat up and stared at him with a look of shock and disbelief. He didn't recognize her, but over the years so many students had passed through his class that it did not surprise him at all.
Ignoring her completely, he stood up, opened the Passage to Spinner's End and began pacing back and forth. Bottle by bottle, he brought all the Moon Water to his living room. It was followed by a cauldron with the initial stage of the antidote and a sheet of parchment with a list of ingredients and marked brewing stages. After a short consideration, he also took two empty glass cauldrons, made sure their sizes were appropriate and set them carefully on his table.
Rayleigh was unconscious all the time so he just levitated her into the air to move her. He wasn't going to touch her. Never again. As soon as she was on the other side of the Passage, he removed the spell and turned immediately. The thud of the body falling on the floor reached him as he passed into HER dimension.
"You can walk?" He asked the woman sitting on the ground.
She nodded uncertainly, so he waved his hand toward the Passage.
"Go there. Don't touch anything. And get out of my way when I get back."
He didn't even know if she answered. He bent over Hermione, still lying on the ground and lifted carefully.
"Seve-rus?" She wheezed.
"You are safe" he replied immediately. "You are safe now. I'll get you out of here."
He gently took her in his arms and was about to get up when he noticed his jacket on the floor. He didn't care about the rag, but there was Potter's wand hidden there, so he tossed it over his shoulder and tried to stand up. Immediately everything darkened and the world fell apart in front of his eyes, but he only gritted his teeth and took a deep breath a few times until everything calmed down a little. He wasn't going to levitate Hermione. She was not an object.
He stumbled across the Passage, reached the couch, put her on it with the rest of his strength, and quickly closed the Passage.
They were home.
Merlin. Finally at home. He already thought that this moment would never come.
Suddenly he felt strangely limp and felt himself slide to the very edge of the couch.
"... have antido...?" Hermione muttered. "No. Has anyone managed to escape? Maybe one of them..."
"All dead."
Severus hung his head, the taste of defeat in his mouth.
"I have Moon Water" he said, and while it was somehow good news, his void was blank.
She didn't reply as if she didn't know if it was good or bad news. But that wasn't her concern any more, he could do it himself. For her the time has come to rest.
He looked again at the eyelid, swollen and barely clotted with blood.
„It can all be healed. You will look like before."
Hermione squeezed her lips and eyes tight and covered her face with her hands, but a long, desperate moan that escaped her chest betrayed her. A moment later she inhaled just as loudly and burst into tears. But she was crying with relief so he could let her do it.
Something suddenly moved in the corner. Severus jumped up and pointed his wand and only then did he see a woman sitting on the floor next to an armchair, trying to wipe her tear-stained cheeks. At the sight of him, she screamed and leaned against the furniture.
Any woman on the other side of the Barrier? Could it be ...?
It had to be Bryant's wife Peterson was talking about. And judging from her condition, she must have been dealing with Gratus.
He scowled, both at the thought of the bastard and the fact that bringing her to his home he'd revealed his Secret to her.
"Cover yourself with this." With a wave of his wand, he pulled the cover from the chair down on her.
"Sir, what..."
"Not now" he snapped, cutting her off immediately. He had more important things to do now than babysitting her.
He conjured his Patronus and a shining Doe appeared out of nowhere in front of him.
"Wolf, it's urgent. I'm waiting for you in Cokeworth, at Spinner's End, next to a completely collapsed house with only a chimney left. Miss Granger is badly injured and needs immediate help. She and another woman. Snape."
With a wave of his wand, he sent the Patronus to Mathias Wolf, then summoned another one for Gawain Robards. But he didn't owe him any explanation, so he just ordered him to come to the same place. Right in front of the windows of his living room.
"I'm not going anywhere" Hermione said weakly.
She stopped crying, but with tears staining her left eye, she couldn't see him and had to find him by his voice. Severus scowled again.
„I beg your pardon?"
"I'm staying here."
"What for? To disturb me?"
"To help you."
Severus looked at her with pity and shook his head.
"It's not me who needs help, but you. If you want, I will bring you a mirror so that you can see how you look like."
The girl wiped her left eye with her sleeve and managed to look at him. She looked so pathetic at that moment that something inside him just howled. And maybe that was why her answer surprised him even more.
"You probably do not look better."
"It's your blood, not mine."
"I'm staying with you."
"Do I need to remind you that Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley need an antidote that we don't have?" Tears immediately filled her eyes and she clenched her fists.
"I know!" She gasped and gave a short sob. "So I want to... help to brew it!"
"Hermione..."
"Please! You will definitely need some help!"
He hesitated for a moment, so she added, hope trembling in her voice.
"Do you remember what I told you once? That we can go much further together?"
"You need to be healed." It was not only an excuse, but a last attempt to refuse her help.
"So do it!'
He sat down on the edge of the couch and, not paying attention to the fact that the girl grabbed his hand, looked at her ear and eye. The ear could be healed very easily, but with the eye it was much more serious. He didn't know how deep the wounds were, but there was nothing he could do if she was conscious.
„I'd need to give you a Draught of Living Death. I don't have the potions you use in the Clinic" he replied seriously. "You trust me that much?"
The girl looked him straight in the eyes and her lips twitched slightly, in the shadow of a smile.
"The most in the world."
He should have snapped at her, should laugh at her and tell her that she was stupid and didn't know what she was talking about. He should push her away. For her own good, he should have said "No" and sent her to the Clinic. Merlin, he had said himself that he was the one to decide here!
But right now he could only feel the same strange feeling she had shown him once and be thankful for it.
Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, he heard his name. He looked out the window and saw Mathias Wolf looking around and calling for him over and over.
He quickly removed her hand and stood up.
"So be it" he decided and nodded to Bryant's wife. "Let's go."
As soon as they stepped outside, but had not yet crossed the area covered by Fidelius, Severus held her and looked deep into her eyes. "Obliviate!"
He focused on her last memories and erased them all from the moment they both flew through the flames and fell to the floor in Rayleigh's lab. Not wanting to take any chances, he brought her into his home and thus revealed the Secret, but he was not going to let her remember it.
Only after that he lead her to Mathias Wolf, who gasped at the sight of her, but immediately looked around.
„Hermione? Where is Hermione ?! Is she...?!"
"She's alive" Severus reassured him.
Mathias looked as if the hippogriff had suddenly been removed from his shoulders. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but just as quickly opened them.
„What's wrong with her? Why didn't she come... you didn't bring her? If you still... push her away because..."
"I'll take care of her myself" Severus cut him off.
„But ..."
"But I will need Sleeping Draugh, Blood Replenishing Potion, Restorative Draught, Pain Killing Potion and Calming Draught."
„I'd rather take care of her myself."
"And she prefers ME to take care of her, so I suggest skipping any further discussion" Severus snapped. "How are Potter and Weasley?"
After the first words, the Healer gave him a gloomy look, but as soon as he heard the question, he paled and looked down.
"At first they got a little better, but since an hour they have been getting worse again. Did you find this antidote?" He looked at Severus with hope in his eyes.
"No. We only found Moon Water. I'll start brewing it soon."
"Hurry up" Mathias said in a muffled voice. "Please, hurry up."
Severus raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know... when they will reach the state when their organs will no longer heal" Mathias replied to an unasked question. "So ... we moved them to a Muggle hospital. You know, where..."
"Then bring them back to St. Mungo's! Muggles won't help you. What happened in Dublin was just an antidote test, nothing more!"
Mathias hesitated visibly, and Severus snorted with impatience.
„Don't be an idiot, Wolf. Have you ever heard of Muggles healed Spattergroit, the Paris Glow or Dragon Pox? I'll try to brew the antidote as soon as I can, but I don't want to run around Muggle clinics with it, is that clear?" He nodded and pointed at the woman who was pressing the cover to herself and was looking around with a still absent gaze. "Take her and bring me the potions I need as soon as possible, because I don't have the whole day!"
Without waiting for a reply, he turned and went home.
There wasn't much left of what Mathias Wolf had given Hermione to heal him, but he didn't need much at the moment either. He drank the Restorative Draught he usually avoided, believing he could handle everything. Now, however, he felt weariness overcome him again and everything felt strangely distant and unreal. And second, this time he had to concentrate really hard to heal Hermione's wounds without leaving any scars.
He brought from the basement everything he needed: one vial of Draught of Living Death, a bottle of Decontamination Elixir and dittany essence and summoned clean towels and a bowl which he filled with warm water from his wand.
After making sure that the Wiggenweld Potion he needed to wake her up from the coma was still edible he carefully set aside. He sat down beside Hermione and uncorked and put a Draught of Living Death to her mouth.
"What about Harry and Ginny?" She asked, holding his hand.
"They need the antidote" he replied shortly.
As soon as the girl swallowed the contents, her whole body went limp, her head tilted back and she fell limp on the couch. Severus waited a few more seconds until her chest practically stopped moving and cast diagnostic spells.
He was not a Healer, he could not heal any infectious disease or poisoning, but by necessity he learned to heal all physical and non-spell injuries. He could set broken bones, heal even deep wounds, remagicked torn skin so that there were no scars left, and heal most black magic curses. He was his first patient.
So, now as he moved his wand over her body, he immediately discovered a slight swelling in the internal organs and perineum and grimaced painfully.
He carefully took off her shirt, covered her with a towel and, with a spell, pulled a layer of blood from her face, neck, and hands to which dust and smaller pebbles were stuck. Tergeo didn't absorb everything, not as well as he wished, so he dipped the other towel in the water, wrung it out and gently rubbed her skin with a damp cloth. And he gritted his teeth at the sight of the wounds he could see clearly now.
The ear was really torn very badly and judging by the shape of the wound, the son of a bitch just had to tug it, or use a Tearing spell, but not black magic.
He doused the entire wound with the decontamination potion, dried it and, bringing the torn part to his neck, whispered Episkey. The cartilage healed immediately, so he dipped his finger in the bottle of dittany and gently rubbed the place where the skin was torn, until even the tiniest marks disappeared.
Now he could take care of her right eye. First, he diminished the swelling by drenching it profusely with the decompression potion and only when he could see anything, he took a close look at the injuries.
The inner corner of the eye was torn, there was a not-so-deep, lacerated wound under the eye that disappeared only at the level of the temple and when he opened her eyelid, he saw a deep hemorraghe on the eyeball. Apparently Hermione had to tilt her head at the last moment and only thanks of this it ended up with this and not a gouged out eye.
Slowly, methodically, he removed the blood and dust, washed her eyeball profusely and poured a few drops of dittany. Then he coated his fingers with it and rubbed gently all wounded areas. The corner of her eye healed, the surface of the eyeball became smoother, a new skin grew in the place of the torn one and after a while the pink line was almost completely gone. Almost. The skin in this place was so delicate that she will certainly have to rub the dittany for some more time until all traces disappear.
He healed her wounded wrists in the same way.
Only then he summoned her pajamas and with a wave of his wand changed hers into it. It was time to wake her up from a deep coma.
He poured six drops of Wiggenweld Potion into her mouth, massaged her throat triggering her swallowing reflex and regarded her closely. For a moment nothing happened, but after a few seconds her cheeks flushed a little, she began to breathe and moved her head.
He gave her the Sleeping Draught and the last vial of painkiller in a similar fashion, and he clearly saw the moment when the potion started to work and Hermione just fell asleep.
"Accio blanket" he whispered, pointing his wand to his bedroom, grabbed one of her nice blankets and covered her well.
Hermione took a deep breath, rolled over on her side and curled up, but continued to sleep.
She looked like a child at the moment. And in a certain way she was still a child, indeed. She was a little girl who grew up too fast cause of this goddamn bloody war. Other girls her age, at another time, in a different world, would spend their time dressing up in pretty clothes, talking about perfumes, hairstyles, makeup and the boys they liked. The life had stole from her all those funny, stupid and innocent moments. Instead, she kept wearing the same idiotic Muggle clothes that smelled of sweat and fear and which she only cleaned with spells. She talked about horcruxes and ways to save the entire wizarding world. Teenage quarrels about anything turned into desperate discussions on how to survive tomorrow. Instead of mustering up a courage for the first kiss, she had to find the courage and faith to be able to throw herself into nothingness.
All this horror left its mark on her deeply. And today's nightmare only made them worse. It made her the wreckage of the woman she would have been if she had lived in this other world. The wounds on her body could be healed, but those on her soul would heal for many, many years.
He didn't even know if any of them would ever really get back to normality.
She probably will. He… will not. Never.
He stared at her for a brief moment, then sighed heavily and went down to the basement. It was time to start brewing.
An hour later, in four glass cauldrons, decotions were bubbling at different stages of brewing. After talking to Mathias Wolf, Severus decided to use whatever shortcuts he could think of to speed up the brewing process. But the risk of one of them failing and the brew becoming just useless colored water was too high, so he decided to brew both the shortened and the normal versions. What Rayleigh had started brewing wasn't a ready-made base yet, but he gained at least an hour of work.
And fortunately there was also Hermione. He alone wouldn't have been able to make four potions in that time.
He decided to give her as much time as he could. That is, to wake her up only when he was no longer able to stand on. Then you'll take the Restorative Draught again and try to hold on a little longer.
He quickly marked the ramora roe in the list of ingredients, stirred carefully five times in an anti-clockwise direction and then went back to crushing the oleander leaves. Normally he should cut them into tiny cubes and stir five times every two minutes until it dissolves and the juice turns from yellow to orange, but chopping and crushing should speed up the process by at least a quarter of an hour.
It Should. However, he couldn't use a silver dagger, only a diamond-bladed knife, so it took him longer than he thought.
But it was worth of. As soon as he poured the slurry mass into the cauldron and stirred five times, the pale yellow immediately turned strong.
He set the alarm for two minutes and hurriedly walked over to the third cauldron, from which the silvery, shimmering steam began to rise in a wide spiral. In the case of this cauldron and the fourth one he had to follow the original recipe, so he waited a few more seconds for the first bubble to splash on the surface and in one smooth movement he poured six hellebore petals, stirred and, having looked at the watch, marked the next stage and quickly returned to the first cauldron. He had to add the Unicorn's closed breath to it, wait for the thousands of tiny bubbles to spread evenly throughout the brew and stir until they were completely gone. And almost at the same time, it was necessary to sprinkle a pinch of powdered graphorn horn into the fourth cauldron and come back to the second one, where the yellow slowly, slowly began to turn into a very pale orange...
Luckily both Robards and Wolf showed up before he even started brewing, because at the moment he absolutely wouldn't have had time to take the potions from Wolf and hand Rayleigh over to the Auror. Robards was so surprised that he tried to ask about everything. Severus, in a few short words told him to lock the woman in custody and make sure that no one accidentally let her out, even if that meant that Robards would be chained to her and spend the whole day in a cell at the Ministry. He declined any further explanation, almost threw the petrified woman at his feet and without saying goodbye returned to his home to give sleeping Hermione a blood replenishing potion.
The alarm started to whistle while some small bubbles of air glistened still the bottom of the cauldron. Severus grimaced, immediately turned the alarm off with a wave of his wand, carefully grabbed the other glass ladle and began to stir in both cauldrons at the same time.
"One… two… three..."
He counted to five, shook the ladle in his right hand, replaced it blindly on porcelain stand and finished stirring with his left, setting the alarm again. One day you will need to do something to muffle the sound!
For the next fifteen minutes, he had to deal with two or even three different cauldrons at the same time and he almost ruined the antidote in one of them by trying to slice the ingredients with a dagger. He realized what he was doing, literally at the last moment, just before pouring them into the cauldron. However, it was the next step that overcame him. For one of the shortcuts to work, while stirring, it was necessary to concentrate as much as possible on the spoken incantation. The slight trembling of his hands, which had appeared halfway through, quickly turned to convulsions and finally the thing he feared happened: a glass ladle cracked, and glass shards fell into the brew and stuck into his hands.
Severus conjured a Shield, muttered Accio glass and immediately all the shards flashed towards him and with a crunch slid down to the ground. Reparo repaired the ladle, but eventually he realized that it wasn't the broken ladle that was the problem, but himself.
At any moment you will do some stupidity that cannot be repaired anymore. You'll ruin the antidote. One stupid mistake could have cost Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley's life.
And dozens of other people.
One by one he cast static spells on the cauldrons and went to wake Hermione up. It was time to swallow his pride.
They shared the work and Severus started brewing the antidote using shortcuts, while Hermione did the normal one. It helped a lot, though given their condition, the job was still too much for them. Hermione walked over to a table piled high with dozens of bottles, vials and jars and sank heavily on the stool.
"It's only an hour and a half of difference" she said, comparing the ingredients list.
"Should I get Rayleigh in so you can tell her she was brewing too slowly?" Severus asked and sat down on the stool as well.
Hermione felt as if he had hit her cheek. Strongly. She almost felt a sharp splash. She looked at him, but because he ignored her completely, she bowed her head and, biting her lips, found another ingredient.
But she couldn't help but asked another question. She had to ask them.
„Where are you? I mean, how much time is still needed to finish?"
"Just by asking you will not speed up anything. Take care of the brewing."
The girl felt as if the sharp needle stuck in her heart and she quickly set to work.
Time passed and their conversations became more and more curt until they stopped to talk at all. Along with the silence, there was more and more tension, the air became thick, but not from the fumes, but from fear that appeared out of nowhere, crawled uninvited and though they both tried to push it away, with each passing moment to moment it bit deeper into their consciousness.
From time to rime Hermione looked briefly at Severus. His movements were nothing like the precise, graceful gestures she had admired a few weeks ago. Now it was clearly visible how much effort he puts into holding the knife at the right angle, making perfect circles when stirring or measuring out the right amount of ingredients. He furrowed furiously, alternately pressed and twisted his lips and even his breathing became loud and spasmatic. He looked as if he wanted to run forward at all costs, but something was holding him in place.
For the thousandth time the girl glanced at her watch and a heavy sigh escaped her chest. It was already after seven in the evening. How much time will they last? How long is it until they can no longer be healed? How many time it will take?
And suddenly another question appeared out of nowhere that almost took her breath away. How do we check if the antidote is good? If is it working?
They no longer had the poison! They used all of it to make the chocolate stain! They had nothing left! Maybe at Powell's there is still something left on the floor ?! Or there are some leftover in the Ministry? But they didn't have time to search! They would have to sneak in there and try to find something again, not even knowing WHERE to look!
In add, it took many hours to brew it! And even if she started brewing now… She would have to stop brewing the normal antidote... And if the shortcuts won't work, then...
Suddenly everything went dark in front of her eyes and she felt something grow in her throat. Something hard, foreign, which made her unable to breathe, couldn't talk, couldn't... anything!
She grabbed it, trying desperately to tore her skin from her throat, to breath, to tear this thing out and throw it away far as possible, but though she scored her skin with her nails, it was still there. God, it will strangle me... !
Her heart galloped furiously and began to hammer within her; in her head, in her chest, in her stomach and through someone's scream she could still hear racing pulsation in her ears. It was as if she had fallen deep under the water, so deep that the water obscured the light, muffled the sounds and she could only hear her own body as it sank to the bottom.
Out of the corner of his eye, Severus saw Hermione toss the ladle aside and suddenly pushed away from the table.
"What...?!" He growled and at that moment the girl began to choke and grabbed her throat. "What's wrong?!"
His last word was lost in her moan, which turned into a scream and the girl dropped to her knees and began to claw her throat.
He glanced at his two cauldrons. Rayleigh's decoction might have waited a few seconds, but to the other one he should have added right now dragon blood. At the same time, Hermione gasped and her scream died, so without thinking, he tossed the spoon aside and run to her.
„Hermione...! Can you hear me?! Hermione!"
He caught her face, lifted toward him and saw her wide-eyed eyes full of horror. But she didn't seem to notice him because she didn't even react. She gasped again and began to pant and wheeze, still staring blindly somewhere through him.
"Calm down. Easy. Keep calm. Breathe. Breathe!"
Apart from the red marks, there were droplets of blood on her neck, so he moved her hands to the sides and tilted her head back.
"Breathe. Easy. Yes, like this" he began to repeat as she grabbed his wrists, found his eyes and took a short breath. "Again. And again. Easy... easy. Breathe."
Hermione breathed a few times and began to choke again.
"Can't... I… I ca...!"
„You can. You can do everything. Just easy. Calm."
But she had seen him already, she knew he was with her. That she is not alone. He nodded his head to confirm her every breath, repeating the same reassuring words over and over again and though at first she heard only a vague murmur, as if she were still under the surface, slowly she began to distinguish them. To hear.
She broke the surface. Finally she emerged.
"You are safe" she heard finally clearly.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded her head slightly and began to cry.
Severus squeezed her arm once more and slowly stood up. The panic attack seemed to be over, so now the first thing he needed to do was deal with the antidote. The abandoned cauldron was most likely already lost, but fortunately it was the one in which he started to brew. Rayleigh's antidote, in a much more advanced state, was still good. At least, he hoped so. He checked quickly Hermione's cauldrons, stirred one of them and added three drops of hellebore extract.
„What happened?" He tossed over his shoulder, starting to storr and a sharp, slightly acrid scent spread all over the room.
Hermione struggled to get up and leaned against the wall.
"Excuse me..."
"I asked what happened."
"I thought ... we don't have the poison. How will we check if the antidote is working?"
Her voice trembled again, but she took a deep breath and managed to control it. But Severus froze for a moment. Shit.
Just in case, he carefully turned his face away from her and began to think frantically. The poison. They needed the poison! They didn't find it in Rayleigh's lab. And now she was only brewing the antidote. In Howden Dam everything burned to the ground. And they still didn't know what the poison might be in. Peterson and Gratus were dead, only...
Gratus! Suddenly he remembered Peterson's memory of the son of a bitch saying that he had poisoned Hermione in milk, juice and water and a stone had fallen from his heart.
"Of course we do." He turned and looked at her with complete peace in his eyes. "In your house.
"... w-where?"
"Gratus put it in your milk. And not only. We'll go get it as soon as I'm finished brewing it." Severus handed her a spoon. "You can continue?"
Hermione nodded and returned to the table. Though she could rather say that she swam, because as she walked on, everything was undulating."
"I added the hellebore" Severus said. "Mark it and continue."
After adding the syrup, Hermione had a few minutes of time, so she started to think about controlling the antidote.
"We'll have to separate milk and poison?" She thought that they won't, but right now everything came down to time. Each additional thing to do postponed in infinity the moment when the antidote could be ready. Merlin, she began to feel as if they would never finish brewing it!
"No."
Hermione only felt a hint of relief. And she struggled not to ask Severus how much time was left until the end of the brewing. He was right, the questions didn't change anything, but the fact that she couldn't get it out was starting to weigh on her more and more. God, please, faster.
She glanced at the clock and contained a sigh. Seven twenty-five. Time was slipping through her fingers. It sped up, it slowed down... When she thought about Harry and Ginny, it dashed forward at light speed, but whenever she looked at her watch, it was almost the same time.
She squeezed her eyes shut and began to pray. And she didn't know who she was praying to. To all gods and Severus.
Exactly five minutes later, Severus put the spoon aside, walked over to it and glanced at both cauldrons.
"Stir twice" he tapped the other one, "and cast a static spell. And we go your home."
„YOU FINISHED?!" Hermione jumped up so abruptly that she almost hit her head on his chin. He stepped back and pointed to the cauldron.
"Hurry up."
At the beginning he thought he would go to her alone, but then it occurred to him that, first, Hermione would know better what the poison might be in, she herself was saying something about the milk closed differently. And second, he was afraid that she would have a panic attack again. For some time she should never be left alone.
Using the Floo net, they walked into her apartment and, ignoring the heavy, sweet smell of decaying garbage and musty air, they burst into the kitchen.
"Gratus put poison in your milk, juice and water," Severus said hurriedly. "Take it all!"
Hermione yanked the refrigerator door open and brought out the milk bottle and the orange juice carton. The juice didn't stink yet, but the milk certainly did.
"Water?" Severus urged her.
"In that bottle" she waved at the bottle with a wide plastic stopper. "I always pour..."
"Go!"
Severus grabbed the bottle, the girl grabbed the milk and juice, ran to the fireplace and in a second were back in his living room.
"Vad infer" Severus muttered, waving his wand at the burner and setting the golden cauldron on it. Hermione carefully removed the large cork.
„Let's use the water!"
"I told you milk can be, too!"
"I know, but at least it doesn't stink!"
"Don't be silly, it doesn't matter now!"
"So there may be water!"
"Granger ...!" Hermione looked at him and gritted her teeth.
„Let's not argue."
Severus had the greatest difficulty resisting the urge to growl that in that case there was to be milk, poured some of the antidote into the beaker and, nodding his head, ordered her to pour the water. Hermione tilted the bottle too sharply, the water splashed inward, so she quickly withdrew her hand.
„Enough?!"
Severus jerked his head and increased the flame. And while he waited for the brew to boil, he could only count the seconds absentmindly. Nothing else came to mind, as if his brain was cut off from everything else.
Hermione was counting too, biting her lips steadily and clenching her wand unconsciously. And she was afraid to blink her eyes.
They were both counting, but when the brew boiled, neither of them could even tell how much they had count to.
Severus focused, made a complicated movement with his wand and whispered:
"Creatho!"
They both held their breath and stared at the slightly pearly brew from which a thick steam was rising. Let it stop boiling. Let the bubbles disappear. Let the steam disappear. Let it stop to move...
All these words flashed through Hermione's mind completely without her will, without any awareness, not even words, but a desperate plea, the silent scream of her heart. She clenched her fists so hard she dug her nails into her hands, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel her body, felt nothing but the words echoing deeply somewhere in her empty mind.
She stared at the gleaming cauldron and stared intently at every fragment of it. She could see the curved bottom, some scratches on the edge obscured by steam that might have been some sign of the manufacturer…, precious metal glistening in the candlelight… and at the same time she didn't see anything. Her mind was focused only on the bubbles and steam and cut itself off completely from everything else. Nothing mattered anymore but the slowly disappearing bubbles, the smoothing surface of the brew and the ever clearer contours of the cauldron... and everything around.
Moments later, the last bubble of air rose from the bottom, splashed across the surface and the brew stilled.
Hermione sighed so relieved she almost vomited.
"WE HAVE AN ANTIDOTE, COME TO SPINNER'S END IMMEDIATELY" she heard Severus' voice and she lay limply on the table and tears sprang to her eyes. "IMMEDIATELY! Snape."
A silvery Doe flashed in their eyes and vanished. They had to hurry!
"Get me the vials!" Severus said in an imperative tone that immediately returned her energy.
Hermione jumped to her feet and quickly began placing vial stands on the table and placing vials in them with a trembling hand and Severus summoned a few handfuls of corks. He set them aside and began to move the antidote to the vials with a spell. Hermione immediately corked them as carefully as possible, and when she finished the first stand, she summoned any empty cauldron and reached for her wand to cast an Unbrekable Charm on the vials.
„NOT ON VIALS!" Severus snorted instantly, grabbing her hand. "A cloth !"
Hermione summoned a towel from the living room, set it in the cauldron and began to gently put the vials over it. Moments later, Severus held her a stand with another six vials, so she summoned the second towel, pulled them apart and placed another layer on top. And one more.
„Thirty!" Severus called at the end, helped her put the last vials into the cauldron and grabbed it. "Let's go!"
When they both run outside the house, Mathias Wolf was already there. He rushed over to them, so Severus shoved the cauldron into his hands and pushed Hermione towards it.
„Go! I will brew the rest!"
The Healer opened his mouth, staring at the layer of rags in the cauldron, but immediately closed it, grabbed Hermione's arm and turned on his heel.
In a split second, they both desapparated with a loud pop.
They appeared at the back of the Clinic. Mathias slammed his wand so hard that the rubbish bins literally flew up against the wall and hit it loudly. He pushed the gate open and dragging Hermione with him, ran into the Clinic.
The torches on the walls flashed in front of their eyes, the walls parted as if they were moving them by will and their thoughts ran a few yards ahead of them, just to get to...
"In my office!" Mathias shouted, grabbing the doorframe with his free hand and turned so violently that he almost fell into the wall.
They got to the internal staircase and started to climb two steps at a time.
"Carefully!" Hermione called and held Mathias as his foot slipped.
They turned on the first floor and rushed higher. They were gasping for breath, dark spots began to fly in front of Hermione's eyes, but she just didn't acknowledge them. They passed the second floor, ran up the landing to the third and a few leaps further they run into the familiar corridor.
„GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Mathias yelled and with his wand he pushed everyone else to the side. They ran to his office, Mathias yanked the door open and they jumped inside.
The two beds he had left Harry and Ginny in just before the rounds were empty.
"NO!"
Hermione next to him grabbed her face and began to howl, but he didn't give up. He looked around the hall and saw Ang emerging from the next room, apparently alerted by the screams.
"No...!" The voice next to him was quieter and… lower. "ANG?!... Where are they?!"
The woman ran up to them rapidly.
"Here! We wanted to clean..."
He didn't let her finish. He grabbed Hermione's arm, helped her to her feet and dragged her to the next room.
Harry and Ginny looked as though they were asleep, but at first glance it was neither normal sleep nor coma. There were plenty of haemorrhages everywhere under their skin; some already blackened, others cracked and the blood dried or trickled down, soaking the fresh sheets and clothes.
Mathias carefully removed two vials and handed one to Hermione.
"Take care… of Ginny" he panted.
On shaky legs, barely gasping for air, Hermione tossed the stopper aside, lifted Ginny's head slightly and holding the vial to her chapped, parted lips, began to pour the pearly fluid a little. Every few seconds she massaged her blue-black throat to force her to swallow, poured another dose and kept doing so until the last drop was gone.
She didn't know where the vial had gone, or why she was suddenly half kneeling, half lying on the floor, her face stuck in the bed. It just happened.
"Give the rest to those most in need" came Mathias' voice and a murmur right next to her. "Snape is brewing a second batch of the antidote?"
For a second, Hermione didn't know who Mathias was talking about. Snape? Ah ...
"Yes" she whispered finally.
„When it will be ready?"
"I don't know" she replied tiredly. "In about two or three hours."
Suddenly Ang and Lil and Barney appeared next to her and began to talk to her, pat her on the shoulder, smile, but she couldn't hear them at all, as if they were behind some thick glass. Or as if she hid herself in a glass ball where nobody and nothing had access to.
She turned her head and looked at her friends. They looked exactly as they just had been. As if anything could push them through the Veil. Stronger movement, deeper breath. Anything.
Someone took her hand, but of course it was impossible because of the glass ball, so she slowly got to her feet, sat on the edge of Ginny's bed and, taking care not to move her in any way, passed her wand over her, whispering diagnostic spells.
Immediately her fingers tingled as she detected her magic. Weak, but it was still there. And the already familiar poison vibrations. After so much examinations, she already knew what to look for, recognized them without hesitation. Her hand's nerves were burning, especially in such poison cumulation.
Hermione's hand shook, but she didn't give up and returned her wand to Ginny's chest. She didn't know how the body would react to the antidote. Will the poison go away immediately?
Impossible. It has to happen gradually.
For the next several seconds, she ran her wand over Ginny's entire body and barely noticed that Mathias was doing the same over Harry.
"Slowly, but…is gone." he muttered, voice suddenly tense.
Hermione jerked.
"WHAT ?!"
"Poison. Vibrations diminish. As if... the poison disappeared."
Her heart stopped for a moment, then pounded furiously as she tried to sense if Ginny was reacting similarly, if they didn't came too late...
And as she passed her wand over her chest once more, she had the feeling that the burning sensation had faded! Was she imagining or was she just getting used to it or...
Has the antidote worked ?!
God, please. Please, please, please, please...
She went back over her stomach and... yes, now she felt it more clearly! The vibrations decreased, especially over this area… At stomach level... too !
„It works! The antidote works !" Mathias shouted, turning to her, his face beaming with happiness. He opened his arms towards her. "You saved them !"
Everything suddenly became soft, fluid, the colors faded and darkness fell.
Mathias didn't catch Hermione on time, but he held her in at the last moment and kept her head from hitting the floor.
„We have a working antidote?" Karen asked, staring in amazement at the girl, then at Harry. "Mathias..."
The Healer realized that the moans and whispers had died down in the room and there was an unnatural silence. As if snow had fallen and muffled everything.
„Yes! Put them in a coma for 24 hours, we'll wake them up tomorrow! Everyone! All who is sick! Those who have too many clots, we will removed it and put them in coma, too! And in a few hours we'll give them some blood replenishment potion!" He blurted it out in one breath and only when he ran out of air, he calmed down a bit and looked at Hermione. "Karen, take care of her, I have to go to the Carpenter immediately!"
The entire staff of the Clinic was already circulating in the corridors, administering vials to those in the worst condition, so it was suddenly very crowded. Mathias strode between them and ran to the 1st Floor, but before he burst into Carpenter's office, it occurred to him that he should notify Snape.
He conjured his Patronus, a large bird of paradise and forced himself to say something logical.
"The antidote is working. Harry and Ginny will recover. Thank you... thank you all, professor. Really." His eyes prickled, so he blinked them and added quickly: " Hermione passed out. I'll keep her here, let her recover. Mathias Wolf."
The bird of paradise spread its wings wide and flew away immediately, but though its warmth was gone, an overwhelming, almost choking relief remained in his heart and soul.
It was late, but in the last few days everyone was working around the clock, including Sergius, who simply lived in the Clinic and could always be found in his office or on the 3rd floor.
"Sergius!" Mathias called from the door and in response to his boss' half-conscious, exhausted gaze, he smiled broadly. "We have the antidote! We are already starting to distribute it! And it works!"
Carpenter's quill fell from his hands and he froze, oblivious to the ink on the parchment.
"Did they brew it?! Rufus didn't tell me anything..." he choked out, confused.
"Not them! Snape! And Hermione!"
Mathias quickly sat down in the chair and explained in a few words what had happened and finally revealed the reason for Hermione's absence. Until now, he kept it a deep secret.
"Do you know what does it mean? We can ... we must! Cancel the visit of Professor Neumann and Dr. Roberts tomorrow!"
"Is it sure Snape will brew more?"
"For sure! But anyway, the Muggle cure won't work! In fact there is no Muggle cure! It was the antidote all along that the person behind it was testing!"
Carpenter looked at him in horror, but immediately smiled and squeezed Mathias' shoulder.
"Go upstairs. All those who have received the antidote should be put to coma and moved to clean rooms. Let me know when Snape ships the next batch. I run to the Minister and take care of the Muggles."
He straightened the Healer robe, grabbed his wand and, taking Mathias by the arm, headed for the door.
"Merlin, I hope those for whom there is no antidote now will last a few more hours..." muttered the young Healer.
Carpenter opened the door and let him pass.
"They should. They must. And if not…" He hesitated and grimaced painfully. "I know this is going to sound horrible, but there's nothing we can do to speed it up..." He trailed off and shook his head. He couldn't say what he was thinking. „The most important thing at the moment is that this nightmare will end. And even if not for everyone, it is for most."
Spinner's End
11:45 pm.
It was near midnight when Severus had finished brewing a second, larger batch of the antidote, poured it into vials and handed it to Mathias Wolf, whom he had summoned with Patronus.
And for the first time in his life, he left his lab without cleaning. On the table there was a pile of dirty boards and knives, dripping antidotes, spoons, ladles and pipettes, ingredients were scattered between them, sheets of parchment with a list of ingredients that they marked meticulously lied around, a handful of corks, two broken vials and scattered leaf remains, pods or seeds. The light of the candles reflected from the splattered cauldrons and bigger and smaller spots and strong scent that represented his whole world hung in the air. But right now, he dreamed of nothing else but to finally lie down and drift away.
His legs carried him by themselves, completely without his consciousness and it was only when he entered the kitchen that he realized where he was. Since he was already here ...
He summoned a glass, poured the water full and gulped it down to the end. The taste was stunning. He couldn't even remember the last time the water tasted like this.
Instinctively, he went to the sink to rinse it and froze at the sight of the cup with the rest of the tea in the bottom.
Oh Merlin ...
A cup from today's breakfast.
It was only several hours ago and in the same time… several days, even years ago.
He remembered that he wanted to throw Hermione out of here this morning and suddenly he burst out laughing.
"Go back home. I don't need you here. I don't need a nanny.
But almost immediately, laughter was choked by a bitter moan.
Merlin, how stupid he was! How wrong he was! Without her, there would be no antidote, no hope. Without her, there would only be death. For Potter and Miss Weasley. And others. Oh, without her, he would be dead since long time!
He felt another shock at the thought that he had just left Azkaban just yesterday morning. Yesterday morning ... How was it possible for one... two days to last thousands of years?
Wherever he turned, whatever he looked, he could see the traces of those thousands of years. The crumpled, bloody cover on the couch Peterson had been sitting on earlier... and now was dead. Polyjuice bottle standing on the table... Luckily Hermione had drunk the potion just before going to the Howden Dam! No cover on the armchair ... because he gave it to Bryant's wife. Bryant. He was also dead. So was Gratus.
At the mention of him, a wave of wild hatred flooded him. The bastard was lucky that he was dead! Otherwise, he would have drunk another Restorative Draught, though he knew perfectly well that it was not to be used too often, and chased him! And he would kill him not once, but three times! For what he did to Hermione, for what he wanted to do to her and for what he would like to do to her if he discovered that she was a woman!
The glass cracked in his hand and it was only then that he realized that he was staring at his breakfast cup all the time.
Calm down. It's over now. Now it will only get better.
Go to sleep, because from tomorrow the hearings and visits to the Ministry and to St. Mungo's will start.
With the rest of his strength, Severus almost crawled to the bedroom, extinguished the candles with his wand and did not remember even the moment he went to bed. All he remembered was the warmth, softness and the smell of cinnamon and orange.
Monday, May 12
St. Mungo's,
Eight in the morning
Peace reigned in the Clinic. As you walked the corridors, the silence rang in your ears. It is true that you could hear the Healers bustling about the rooms, the clinking of vials and jars, conversations and in the Women's Ward the crying of newborns, but in some way you didn't notice it. There was no crying, no moans and no sighs. There was silence.
The poisoned patients had received the antidote and now they were all in a coma. The first were to wake up in the evening. Kingsley asked Minerva McGonagall for help yesterday and at ten o'clock in the evening the Clinic was swarming with house elfs who could replace the staggering staff, clean the rooms, change the bedding and wash the sick.
So now the gentle rays of the rising sun looked into the clean rooms and illuminated the rows of beds where the sick slept, covered with white duvets and sheets. They slept to recover, not to never wake up again.
The terrifying stench was gone and it just smelled like it used to be; potions, soap, swirling dust particles and hope. Wizards with symptoms of poisoning continued to appear in the emergency room, but after yesterday's extraordinary press conference, at which the Minister announced that the antidote had been invented and that no one else's life was at risk, the diagnosis of poisoning was no longer accepted as a death sentence.
Gawain Robards got information out of Alex Rayleigh yesterday evening about Poisoned Chocolate, Charming Sherry, Fire Whiskey and Gandalf's pumpkin juice and Kingsley made the decision to immediately destroy all the bottles already produced. He also announced it at a press conference, so there was a good chance that from tomorrow no one would get poisoned.
The world was slowly returning to normal.
Hermione was lying by the window in one of the rooms. She was awake, just staring at the sun rays entering through the window. Sometimes they were pale, but after a while they appeared more clearly, as if some great sea was undulating outside and the Clinic rocked on it like a nut shell.
She didn't react to the sound of footsteps, but as the bed sagged beside her, she turned her head slightly to see Mathias. The man grinned at her and touched her forehead with his hand.
"Hello, Hermione. How are you?"
She only nodded her head.
"You had an extremely high fever yesterday, but it's gone" he said, looking up at her pale, tense face. "I have wonderful news. Harry and Ginny are in much better shape now. They are still asleep, but I think we'll leave them that way for a while. At least today. Let them recover."
He must have read the relief in her gaze as he took her hands and squeezed her lightly.
"You were brilliant. Wonderful. You saved so many people..."
She tore her hands from him and, biting her lips, looked at the streaks of light again.
"What happened?"
She didn't know how to tell him this.
"Hermione?"
She sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive gesture.
"I do not know."
"Do you want me to play Mind Healer again?" Mathias joked, though only his voice was actually laughing, not his eyes.
"I'm afraid."
"You're okay. Snape said yesterday not to leave you alone, so there will still be someone sitting with you. Gawain Robards asked me what time he might see you, but don't worry, he won't approach you even ten yards without my permission."
Hermione shook her head. It wasn't about Gawain Robards or any other Auror. It wasn't about Today, Now.
"You'll stay here a few more days. You'll see Harry and Ginny. You go to the tea room upstairs. Paula has already promised to bake you cookies with jam. The ones you like so much. You will throw parties at your bedside. Everything will be fine."
Mathias stroked her cheek with the back of his hand and while there was even a hint of a smile on her face at first, she finally grimaced and started crying.
"Hermione!" He hugged her immediately. "What's happening?!"
"I'mI'm afraid..."
"What?"
"Mathias ... what if someone bad appear again?" She choked out, her hands clutching the covers. "And everything will start again... all over again?!"
What if the storm breaks again and the tempest comes again? This nut shell won't stand..."
"Calm down" he said firmly. "Do not think about it."
"I can't... do more!" She moaned in a choked voice.
"You do not need. You don't have to deal with all the problems in the world. All you have to do is start living a normal life."
He started to say anything just to talk, to calm her down and after a while her crying stopped and turned into a soft sob and finally it stopped.
He did it this time, but her trauma seemed to be back and it would be a long time before she started living a normal life.
Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
London 09:00
Kingsley and Gawain Robards arrived at nine o'clock in front of the Institute of Infectious Diseases for an appointment with Professor Neumann and Dr. Roberts. They were supposed to help them bring everything that was needed to start administering the Muggle medicine to the wizarding world, but after yesterday's events they simply had to stop everything today. And, of course, remove their memory.
Kingsley walked through the guardhouse first, showed his pass and submitted to a meticulous inspection. Two armed men gave him a piece of paper to lick, then placed it on something similar to French remporters and when it did not disappear, they just burned it. Then one of them made him stand astride and ran a flat, narrow object along his arms and legs. Working on Downing Street with the Muggle Prime Minister, Kingsley had seen a lot of control, but nothing like this one.
Gawain acted equally professional without blinking an eye, a photo was taken of them and a few seconds later they were given their passes and only then were they shown to Professor Neumann's office.
"Shall we tell them we made it, or immediately Obliviate them?" Gawain muttered under his breath.
"Obliviate. They won't remember anything later anyway" Kingsley decided.
Another guard opened the door for them and let them in.
Dr. Roberts was just signing a document and Professor Neumann was talking to someone on the phone. Kingsley wasn't sure Gawain knew what a telephone was, so he immediately tugged on his jacket.
"Version number one" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth and smiled charmingly. "Good morning, doctor Roberts."
"Hello" the woman replied immediately. "Professor makes an appointment for a final delivery of frozen plasma. I don't know how long it will take, so let's go."
She put down a bundle of papers, walked over to them and gave a surprised look at Gawain whom she had never seen.
"Doctor, we have very good news" Kingsley stopped her. "We invented... our cure last night. We gave them to all patients and we can see a great improvement today."
"Ah yes?" She muttered, surprised.
"So we don't need your help anymore" said Gawain. "I know it sounds... like we refuse your help. But believe us, that's not the case. We are very grateful to you, but..."
"But it would be much worse if we let you use your medicines for nothing. Medicines that can save your people's lives" Kingsley said.
"Simply the coincidence in time is... I would not like to say "unfortunate" because too many people have died to put it that way."
They spoke one through the other and the woman looked between them, visibly confused.
"Yees" she said finally. "It is indeed... good news..." She glanced at Professor Neumann, who merely waved his hand and continued talking. "Well ... it means that..."
"That everything will have to be canceled" finished Gawain.
The woman looked at him again with obvious tension. Suddenly her eyes widened and she clutched her stomach.
"Oh, I'm sorry...! I have to..."
She didn't finish, just turned on her heel and walked away briskly.
Gawain and Kingsley exchanged glances.
"What happened to her?" Kingsley asked, surprised.
"Maybe she got her period. You know, girl's things" Gawain snorted. "My wife and daughter have this problem. They get it in the least appropriate places."
"All the better for her that she does not have to run around the Clinic. As soon as Neumann put down the earphone, I get on with him, and you watch the doctor."
Gawain glanced at the professor, who had just started gesturing nervously.
"He put down what?"
"This white thing he is talking to now."
"You told "ear"… It is not to listening?"
.,.
Dr. Roberts pushed the toilet door open, glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was following her and locked herself in the last cabine. But instead of starting to unbutton her apron, she grabbed a pen from her pocket and a bundle of post-it notes on the other and began to write on them. Her hands were trembling so the letters were lopsided, but all the better. Nobody will understand it.
While they were talking at Downing Street and during her visit to the magic hospital, she asked how it was possible that none of the 'Muggles' had found out about magic yet. And she was told it was a secret, only the wizards and the Prime Minister and the parents of the young wizards on whom a spell was cast that prevented them from revealing it, knew about it. And that as soon as everything is over, the wizarding doctors will wipe their memory. She was told that it wouldn't hurt, just when she open her eyes, she won't remember anything that had happened. And perhaps she will remember something else that never happened.
But she didn't want to let it happen! That hospital might have been dirty and… different, but she saw a lot of wonderful things and concluded that if wizards and Muggles were to cooperate in the field of medicine, miracles could indeed be performed. It can eliminate cancer, AIDS, Ebola and more! They could cure incurables diseases like muscle atrophy, polio and cystic fibrosis, help suffering and unborn children!
Wizards could benefit from their help too!
She wrote a few more words and glanced at them before tucking the note deep into her apron pocket.
.,.
Magic and wizards exist Imperius Clinic St. Mungo's
Harry Potter Oliva Anders Wand
Kingsley Shacklebolt Tony Blair's secretary Minister
Department Store Purge & Dowse Ltd
.,.
She straightened her apron, wiped her sweaty palms on the soft cloth and returned to the office.
She barely opened the door when the other, unknown wizard pointed his wand at her and whispered "Obliviate."
And everything stopped.
Author's notes:
Dears,
First of all, thank you for reading. If you followed this fick till this chapter, obviously you found it… interesting.
Original fick, in Polish, contains veeeery long Epilog. I don't translate it into English now but certainly will do it - in the future.
The reason why I decided to stop here is simple: the right plot – posion, Harry and Ginny's help and the consequences, Severus and Hermione – their fight together to save muggles, wizards and especially Harry and Ginny, Her fight to save HIM and His fight to save HER… the way they both changed, their feelings evolved, their cold and distant relation became close and very precious friendship… it is all over. Here, in this plot, I don't have anything more to say.
The reason I wrote an Epilog was not to finish Critical State but to START another, completely different story - Part II – Chasing Happiness, where:
- The trial in Wizengamot starts in one week.
- Severus spends his time waiting for Hermione's visit – he realizes that, however doesn't want to acknowledge. When he learns from Harry that her trauma cames back, he decides to go to her and Obliviate her so that she forgets last horror. He knows that she will forget him as well, but even if it pains him, he is ready to sacrifice his feelings if it can heal her and bring her happiness. He informs Harry about his decision and goes to Hermione. But discussing with her he understands that the reason of her trauma is different and only one thing can help… so he offers her one week trip to Australia to find her parents.
- Harry and Ginny also wants to help. Ginny explains to Harry that cleaning Hermione's memories is one thing and the lost of her parents is another. And as they are on sick leave during one week and have free time… they decide to go to Australia to find her parents.
- BUT at the same time Monika and Wendell Wilkins prepare their one week-trip to England – Monika is invited for XVI Symposium of the World Medical Association and Wendell is going to accompany her.
- Doktor Roberts finds her note about magic, wizards, Harry Potter, Oliva Anders and Department Store Purge & Dowse Ltd. She tries to understand what does this note mean… and the only one thing she is able to check is very old store Purge & Dowse. She succeeds to enter to the Clinic, is recognized by many Healers and meets Mathias Wolf, whom, of course she doesn't recognize. But she is determined to find out what happened to her, why she forgot everything and… after their first meeting Mathias has very strong reason to help her. Cause he falls in love with her.
But what is very important is… that it is doctor Robers who will manage XVI Symposium of the World Medical Association…
All this is in Epilog. Part II - Chasing Happiness is also finished and... opens Part III.
.,.
Translating Critical State into English I realized that it is much more difficult to do it than I thought. I finished it cause it is not my habit to not finish things I start. But in order to translate Epilog and Part II, I will really need somebody's help. An English Beta, who can correct my translation.
Hoping I will find one, for this moment I throw myself into Part III that I promised to polish readers – a criminal that becomes thriller. Of course with Sev and Hermione, but also with Harry and Ginny.
Here I would like to thanks everybody who read this fick and especially the Mysterious Guest who always remembered to leave a few nice words in reviews. I would love to answer but on Fanfiction we can answer only people who have their account. But I appreciated it a lot – this is the most precious gift that an author can receive from readers.
Have a great day and hope to meet you somewhere - in other fanfics :)