Author's note - So...having not updated this story for two years and a half, I can only apologise and say once again that life got in the way (a.k.a A-levels and getting into university) but I am pleased to announce that I will be continuing and finishing this story by the end of this year! (yay) Again, thanks to everyone for their encouraging messages of support - this is for you! Now onto chapter nine...
Chapter Nine - A Series of Shocks and Surprises
The next thing Severus knew was that he was in a bed. A warm, soft bed with sheets that felt far too comfy to be the ones in which he normally slept. (This year Avery and Mulciber had, as usual, taken their liberty in leaving the worst bed in their dormitory to Severus.) Where am I, then? Severus wondered, believing that it was sixty-thirty am, and that he'd just woken up. But when Severus opened his eyes, he was not greeted with the familiar surroundings of Mulciber's belongings strewn all over the floor and the loud sound of Avery's snoring on the other side of the room, but instead he realised that he was lying in none other than the hospital ward inside of Hogwarts. Suddenly, the memory of catching the Snitch during the Quidditch game against Hufflepuff came crashing back, just as the Bludger had come crashing into the back of his stupid, rubbish broom that had obviously landed him into the hospital ward.
"Oh, you're awake," a voice exclaimed, in a tone that was miraculously loud but soft at the same time.
Severus turned his head to the right and realised that he was facing Sophie Evergreen, who sported a look of utter relief on her face.
"I was so worried," she admitted, "when I saw that Bludger shooting at you…"
Severus began to reply but found it difficult to talk as a strong feeling of aching limbs suddenly coursed through both of his legs. It was horrible type of slow, dull ache that was not strong enough to be acutely painful, but strong enough to cause severe discomfort, and in Severus's case, inhibit his ability to talk.
"I'm…sorry…" Severus gasped after a few seconds. "It's…har-…hard to…talk…w-with…the…p-pain…"
Sophie frowned and then peered at Severus's legs that were wrapped up in dressings and secured with two long metal rods on each side. Severus followed her eyes and squirmed when he saw the sight of his heavily bandaged legs.
"Oh Severus, why didn't you just dodge the Bluger? I mean, obviously, I know why, but–" Sophie complained, shaking her head. "The pain will disappear very quickly, but you won't be allowed to partake in our next match, and –"
"What…d-d'you mean...quickly?" Severus asked incredulously, wondering how on earth a pain so intense could possibly just subside rapidly. He'd probably smashed both of his legs into tiny pieces, and now he wouldn't be able to play Qudditich for the rest of his time at Hogwarts, let alone in the next few matches. So why on earth was Sophie so concerned that he couldn't attend the next match, based on the current state he was in?
"Well, you broke both of your legs." Sophie told him, to which his response signalled that this was not new information for Severus. "But, because of the way you swerved your broom going down, you did a lot less damage than you should have. In fact, you really should have broken your spine, in which case you'd be in a lot more trouble than you're in now, but you came out of that crash really safely.'
Severus raised his eyebrows in a sceptical fashion, despite the amount of pain he was in. Did she really just say that he came out of that crash safely?! What could possibly be safe about breaking both of your legs?
"Professor Slughorn quickly came over after your crash and performed the Cruris Emendo spell on both of your legs – he said that he was really surprised that he only needed to cast it once on each leg, meaning that you must have only broken part of your fibula bones; both of your tibia bones were fine."
Having focused on breathing regularly over the past minute, Severus managed to reply fairly easily, "Then WHY does it hurt so much?"
Sophie bit her lip and scrunched up her forehead ponderingly. "Not to second guess our dear Head of House, but I'm not sure that Slughorn conducted the spell with the most…concentration, shall we say."
Severus sharply turned his head to face Sophie and looked at her despairingly. The overwhelming pain that he felt seemed to be replaced by an intense feeling of anger.
"What…do you mean?" Severus exclaimed in great annoyance. "He didn't do the spell properly?"
"No, no, he did it properly…" Sophie backtracked, with a faint smile on her face. "It's just that it was a bit chaotic in the stadium, what with you having crashed and all…"
Severus was completely confounded – what on earth had happened when he was unconscious in the middle of the Quidditch pitch? And why on earth did Sophie find it amusing?
"Sophie –" Severus gasped again, with the dull ache in his legs starting to resurge in its intensity over his confusion and annoyance. "What…happened?"
Sophie sighed in spite of the obvious look of pleasure and happiness spread across her cheeks. "Oh, Severus, I didn't want to tell you like this. Ugh, I've done this completely wrong…"
She suddenly rolled her eyes in annoyance at herself, as if she herself was completely exasperated at her own behaviour.
"I'm sorry," she admitted after a few seconds, "I don't know what's going on with me right now." She laughed a nervous little laugh, and Severus could tell that she seemed to be inwardly chastising herself.
"Basically, the crowd was going wild when you caught the snitch. I don't want to dampen your spirits or anything – I mean, if anything, what I'm going to tell you is going to heighten your spirits – but… there was a bet on you between the teachers…"
"Wait, what?" Severus demanded, his perplexed state of mind ever more confused.
"Yeah, between Slughorn and Professor Bluebell, about whether you'd catch the snitch and –"
"Wait a second," Severus interrupted, too shocked to care about constantly interrupting Sophie, "you're telling me…that the Hufflepuff H-Head of House…made a bet on…me…against Slughorn?!"
"Ye-es…" Sophie replied, realising by inference what Severus was thinking. "I know that you're shocked that the Hogwarts House with the reputation for kindness, respect and good nature, and their Head of House, no less, would be making bets on how badly you would do in your first proper match, but I know you know the answer to that, Severus. They may have a reputation for kindness, but they hate Slytherins just as much as anyone else."
Severus made a gentle nod of his head to show Sophie that he understood. It made sense. Being in the most hated house inevitably meant that any kindness that Hufflepuffs reserved for Gryffindors and Ravenclaws obviously did not extend to Slytherins. But for their Head of House, Professor Bluebell, to be making literal bets on Severus's performance in the Quidditch match was not just unkind, but downright insulting. Severus suddenly was overcome by feelings of embarrassment. Did everyone just assume that he was so terrible at sports, that he wouldn't even be able to beat Hufflepuff at a game of Quidditch? Hufflepuff, the House who were literally known for their lack of Quidditch ability, were taking bets on how well they would beat Slytherin at a match. It was beyond embarrassing, Severus lamented miserably.
"And even though Slughorn bet on you catching the Snitch and us winning, I don't think he actually was optimistic." Sophie explained, wincing a little at Severus's glare at her covert insult.
"So when you actually caught the snitch – and Merlin, I was so proud of you and – well, Slughorn was absolutely shocked. I mean, pleasantly shocked, obviously. But still, shocked. And then everyone was calling him down to attend to you as you'd had a pretty bad crash, but there was this crazy atmosphere around the stadium. Like…one of disbelief." Sophie winced again. "No offence. But it was just this feeling of magic on the Slytherin side, and everyone else was just flabbergasted. And I felt so contented, Severus, I tell you. Like, finally. Finally. Finally, you proved to everyone how amazing you are at Quidditch, and now they can believe in you just as I can –"
Sophie suddenly stopped speaking, with a look of embarrassment on her face and a realisation that she had spent the last minute rambling. Oh Merlin, she complained inside of her head. Why can't I stop messing this up?
Severus, still very much caught up in a state of bewilderment, felt strangely touched at Sophie's last words. Despite the plethora of emotions he was currently experiencing, consisting of confusion, embarrassment, pain, anger and incredulousness, he also felt an odd warmth when Sophie expressed her pride in him. No one had ever expressed such a sentiment for him before, and he barely knew how to respond. Fortunately, Sophie soon started talking again.
"Oh, sorry," she apologised, "I keep side-tracking. Well, as this weirdly excitable atmosphere was happening inside of the Quidditch stadium, Slughorn was quite absentminded when he tended to your broken legs. I mean, he was literally yelling at Professor Bluebell in glee, telling her that she owed him ten gallons. Totally inappropriate, but Professor Dumbledore quickly admonished him. And anyway, it's not as if the entire school were unaware of the bets that were going on about you. Half the school were making bets as well! Oh – sorry…"
Severus simply sighed at Sophie's admission that half of the entire school believed him to be a complete failure sports-wise, but it wasn't as if he was at all surprised. Still, it hurt that he was seen as simply a joke to most of the students that he didn't even know, and this feeling reminded him of the one he experienced during his argument with Lily. The feeling of inadequacy. Even Lily, the person who was supposed to be his best friend, thought it was ludicrous that he might be good at Quidditch. The recognition that this opinion was held almost ubiquitously hurt a lot.
"So basically, he mended your broken fibulas perfectly, but it took a while before the metal rods were fastened to keep them strong and rigid. That's probably why it aches a bit – the whole procedure was way slower that it should have been."
Severus, now almost fully recovered from the initial shock at the pain, was able to reply naturally, "It aches a lot. And you're telling me that the reason why my legs hurt is because Slughorn took ages to fix my legs because he was so proud that he won his bet against Professor Bluebell that I would completely tank this match? Great!" Severus exclaimed sarcastically.
"Oh no, but you shouldn't think about that!" Sophie exclaimed. "On the contrary, you should be overjoyed! You proved them wrong, Severus, and all those who doubted you looked so stupid. If anyone, they're the ones who should be embarrassed."
Severus, however, was unconvinced, and felt so deflated by what he heard that he just wanted to soak back into the hospital bed covers that were so much more comfortable than his own, believing he would be able to fall asleep instantly. If not for the pain in his legs, that is, which he resolved to ignore for the time being.
Suddenly, the loud sounds of an altercation were heard from further down the corridor, out past the hospital ward's two large wooden doors. Severus could faintly hear the sound of an impatient girl, who seemed to be threatening to barge in through the doors at any moment.
"But he's my best friend and he'll want to see me!" The voice exclaimed angrily. "And it's obscenely unfair that you've let in a visitor before me when I've been asking a hundred times!"
A small smile crept up on Severus's lips. Lily. She was busy declaring war on Matron so that she could enter the ward, and by the sounds of her voice she may have succeeded.
"Oh, alright, alright you may go in," Matron reluctantly sighed, although her feelings of intense frustration were made clear through the bitterness in her voice.
Suddenly the large rectangular doors of the room burst open and Lily sprinted to the lone bed on which Severus was laid. The look on her face was one of utter fear and apprehension, but as soon as she saw Severus's faint smile, relief flooded into her face and her eyes shone of the care that she felt for him. She looked much more put together than she did this morning, after spending an all-nighter in the library trying to complete Arithmancy homework.
"Oh Sev, you're okay, you're okay!" She exclaimed in a sigh of joy, a sigh which was immediately cut short upon the sight of Sophie Evergreen sitting right next to Severus. "So you're the visitor who was allowed in before me!" Lily said curtly, unable to disguise her strong dislike for the Slytherin girl.
"Well, yes," Sophie replied coolly, "I am one of Severus's fellow players on the Slytherin Quidditch team. I guess that's why they admitted me here before…a Gryffindor girl who doesn't even know how the rules of Quidditch work?"
"Hey!" Severus exclaimed, "Why are you both acting so rudely? You don't even know each other!"
The two girls glared at each other, each with a look on her face that demonstrated perfectly that they both knew why they were being so rude to each other. With regards to this, the girls were on the same page.
"I just have to introduce you to each other." Severus carried on. "Sophie," Severus began, turning to face his Slytherin Quidditch teammate, "this is my friend Lily. And Lily, this is my friend Sophie. She's one of the Beaters on the Slytherin Quidditch team."
"Yes, she said." Lily responded abruptly, clearly deeply unhappy about something. Sophie, on the other hand, maintained her look of calm and composure.
"I'll leave you two." Sophie told them both, before standing up and saying goodbye to Severus. The absence of her acknowledgement of Lily left a cold silence in the room, and both Severus and Lily could hear the sound of Sophie's footsteps walking away resonating down the corridor.
"What just happened?" Severus asked Lily, with the feeling of confusion once again returning to him. For someone as knowledgeable as Severus, such a feeling of not understanding was not simply unusual, but deeply disturbing. Severus liked knowing what was going on, enjoyed being the one with all of the answers. To be in the shoes of someone who was constantly confounded didn't just annoy him, but it was even unsettling for him.
"I have no idea," Lily lied as she went to sit down in the seat next to Severus's bed, formerly occupied by Sophie. "But you're okay, and that's all that matters."
"Did you expect much worse?" Severus inquired, wondering if he actually did crash pretty safely, as Sophie had told him.
"Yes, definitely!" Lily replied. "The way that Bludger smashed into the back of your broom…well it could have been a lot worse, Sev."
"Yeah, I guess I'm pretty lucky." Severus replied, although the constant ache in both of his lower legs suggested otherwise.
"Well no, not lucky." Lily smiled, in spite of her nervous countenance at the sight of Severus's legs enveloped in layers of dressings. "Definitely not lucky. It's not due to luck that you didn't come out of that crash much worse than you did. It's due to your talent."
Severus frowned, wondering why on earth Lily was wishing to praise his Quidditch aptitude when it had been precisely his lack thereof that had placed him in this mess. It was his fault that he hadn't dodged that bloody Bludger, as Sophie had complained to him earlier. But he just wanted to touch the Snitch; that was all that mattered to him. And look where he was now.
"I don't think you realise it, Sev." Lily continued, with the smile still lingering on her face. "A Bludger literally disintegrated the back half of your broom. Made thousands of splinters of wood explode in a million different directions. And you managed to control the front half of your rubbish rubbish broom so that you would descend at the slowest possible speed, and hence minimise your injuries. And you caught the Snitch at the same time. That's incredible, Sev."
He could see the admiration glowing from her eyes. She looked pleased, amazed. Proud. But suddenly, her features changed into a look of guilt. She bit her lip apprehensively, and lowered her head, not looking Severus in the eyes.
"Sev…I…I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. About the argument the other day. I'm still worried about everything I said but – but I'm sorry that I doubted you. I didn't mean to doubt you – or your ability at playing Quidditch – but – well, I was so harsh about it. Saying that you couldn't blame me for being a little surprised at your transformation. But…the truth is, ever since I saw you play in that match against Gryffindor last year, I knew that you had a talent. That's why I congratulated you. I meant it honestly. It's just that I let my own selfish worries get in the way of…of telling you just how amazing a Quidditch Seeker you truly are. But now everyone knows." She laughed a little nervous laugh again and looked upwards again to face him.
Severus was speechless. He was honestly shocked that Lily thought his broom manoeuvrings were of much credit; he hadn't thought that his ability to execute his own descent onto the ground deserved much praise, but apparently, he was more skilful when it came to operating a Quidditch broom than he thought. And Lily was being so sweet about it, despite her reservations about his playing Quidditch.
"Lily, you could never be selfish." Severus told her honestly. "You're the kindest and most thoughtful person I know. Look, I completely get why you're not so keen on the whole Quidditch thing. But you don't have to worry. I promised you earlier than nothing will change, remember? And I won't break that promise."
Lily nodded, seemingly convinced. "I know you won't."
Once again, the unnerving creaking sound of the large wooden doors opening resonated along the room, and in entered Professor Dumbledore, accompanied by Professor Slughorn. Lily immediately jumped off of the chair and apologised to Professor Dumbledore, saying that she would give them their privacy. Professor Dumbledore smiled at Lily and thanked her, before turning to Severus once Lily had left the room.
"Mr Snape, I see that you're in a relatively fit condition?" Dumbledore enquired.
"Well, relatively." Severus replied, trying to be humorous. "My lower legs just ache quite a bit –"
"Oh, I apologise about that." Professor Slughorn replied immediately, speaking for the first time since entering the room. "There were some…problems with getting your legs braced to the metal rods after I mended your two broken fibulas. But you should recover in no time!"
"Thank you." Severus replied curtly, trying to hide his resurgent feeling of embarrassment, remembering Slughorn's betting affair with Professor Bluebell.
"You have yourself to thank for such a graceful fall." Dumbledore complimented Severus, "In all of my years as Headmaster, I have only witnessed two other occasions during which a Seeker had such perfect control over half of his broom after a collision with a Bludger. And neither was using an old second-hand broom, I might add."
Severus, despite the awkward tension he felt towards Slughorn, could not help but beam in pride when Dumbledore told him this. Despite his evident wariness towards the Headmaster who had a reputation of being biased against Slytherins and in favour of Gryffindors, hearing such words of praise from him meant a lot. And Merlin knows how much Severus needed external validation.
"You have much talent," Dumbledore continued, "and I am sure that you will go on to impress the entire school in more matches once you fully recover –"
"Which should be in a matter of weeks," Professor Slughorn interrupted, "as a result of the complications with your legs. But they are perfectly in place and all that is needed now is some time for the bones to set and gain strength. But you shall soon be back again on a broom, my boy."
"T-thank you." Severus repeated. "To you, Professor Dumbledore, and you, Professor Slughorn. Thank you."
"I am sure you will not want to miss the celebratory Slytherin dinner, Mr Snape? Courtesy of Professor Slughorn, of course." Dumbledore asked him.
"Yes, yes," Slughorn replied eagerly, "I am hosting another dinner for our Quidditch team, and you shall certainly be able to come along in a wheelchair. And don't worry, you shall only need it for a mere few weeks, remember!"
"Of course!" Severus replied, although the idea of having to be in a wheelchair for a month made him inwardly groan.
"And with regards to your lessons," Dumbledore told him, "you shall be able to attend all of them without impediments. You can simply use the Levitation Charm on your wheelchair in order to travel upwards and downwards across stairs."
Severus nodded, thinking that floating across the stairs in a wheelchair was much more difficult than it sounded.
"Other than that," Dumbledore finished, "I would like to congratulate you once more, and leave you to rest after your accident."
Severus once again thanked Professor Dumbledore who promptly left the room, leaving Professor Slughorn standing in front of Severus's bed awkwardly.
"Severus," Slughorn began, already adopting an apologetic tone, "once you return to the Slytherin dormitory, you may hear some rumours. I would just like to set the record straight before."
Slughorn shifted uncomfortably, evidently having not been in many situations like this before in which he was having to apologise to a student.
"You have turned out to be a marvellous Seeker," Slughorn commended him, "and a Slytherin Quidditch player of which I'm very proud. But I'm sorry to say that, previously, I somewhat doubted your abilities. Of course, you've proven me wrong, for which I am honestly delighted. But, from professor to student, I'll admit that I behaved poorly in engaging in trivial bets with another professor about your performance today, a practice which usually occurs with new players, I'm afraid. Except usually, the new players don't perform nearly as well as you did today. I betted in favour of you, of course, except that I admit that the ten gallons I put on you were frankly an insult to your talents, and demonstrates my completely inaccurate opinion of your abilities. You are worth much more than a mere ten gallons and – well…you've certainly taught us – me – a lesson, and that awful practise ceases today. But I would still like to apologise to you – face-to-face – and to tell you that you have my complete confidence – complete confidence – in your Quidditch aptitude."
"Thank you…Professor." Severus replied in an uncertain tone. He didn't really know how to respond to his Head of House; he only knew that the knocking that his pride had taken by the Professor's admission still lingered within him, despite his apology. This was his own Head of House. Who didn't even believe in him. And it took him breaking both of his legs so that he did. Maybe Potter's opinion of him was also shared by a majority of his fellow Slytherins, a thought that made him queasy.
"Thank you, Severus. I truly am sorry." Slughorn apologised again. "And so, tonight's dinner party shall be a celebration of our best player – and frankly the best Seeker our House has ever had. I hope you are looking forward to it, my boy!"
"Very much so, Professor!" Severus managed to reply with a smile, dissipating some of the awkward tension that had existed earlier.
"I shall see you then!" Slughorn responded eagerly, before leaving Severus alone in the large hospital ward.
Severus sighed, thankful to be alone, finally, to collect his thoughts. He had made quite a few discoveries today. Firstly, that most of the school had thought that he sucked at Quidditch. A realisation that made him think Ouch… Another discovery was that he couldn't even trust his Head of House to have faith in him. Another Ouch… Thirdly, that he wouldn't be able to play Quidditch for at least a month. Ouch… And fourthly, that he was be in a wheelchair for the entirety of that time, and would have get around the school using the Levitation Charm. Ouch…
But…
He discovered that he actually had a rare skill in controlling a broomstick, a fact that he had not known before. And that he was potentially on track for becoming one of the most skilled Seeker the Slytherin Quidditch team had ever had. Potentially even the best. That wasn't an ouch, Severus thought. That was most definitely a Hell yeah!