Chapter 118: That Elusive Sleep
{A/N: Here's Another Update...late post}
My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S
The Snape Residence, Muggle London, England...
Hard rain and a distinctive chill in the dead of night had been the first things Hermione noticed when she awoke. The sound of choking had been the second as she quickly spelled on the light and noted the trembling pale heap that had been her husband, whom had blood coming from his mouth and nose. Frantic she turned him on his side and used her wand to keep him stable while she moved the blood soaked sheets from his still trembling body. He appeared to be in a good deal of pain as the blood began to seep from his pale chest in the form of numerous gashes. Trying to think quickly, Hermione lept out of bed and rushed into the loo for the medicine cabinet. She found a good deal of pain and healing potions and brought them into the bedroom. She tried her best to get him to drink them all down but none seemed to help. Severus had been so weak and his complexion more pale than usual.
Hermione tried casting a few charms in a bid to improve her husband's condition but it had been to no avail. No spells. No potions. Nothing even muggle in idea had worked as the curse continued to drain the ailing wizard's life force. Tears streamed down Hermione's cheeks as she could do little but hold him close as she had the night Harry had cast that wretched curse upon him.
"Severus." she said as the tears continued. "Severus please...please don't leave me."
The Potions Master's obsidian eyes had been filled with tears as he could do little but look back into her sorrowful amber eyes. His breath grew ragged and she noted him go limp in her embrace.
"SEVERUS!" she shouted as the tears came streaming down unimpeded.
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Feeling a distinctive shift of the covers and Severus Snape's obsidian eyes opened in the darkness of the bedroom that he shared with his wife. He could feel her trembling and he sat up despite a bit of stiffness given the morning chill. He noted the sound of the rain beating against the window and scooted close to his fretfully sleeping wife. Hermione had been clutching her pillow and screaming his name, not ideal given she had seemed more afraid than in the throes of pleasure. The raven haired wizard scooped the terrified witch into his embrace leaning her back against his chest. As he gently kissed her awake.
"Hermione." he said softly. "Hermione open your eyes...I'm here."
The bushy haired witch continued to cry clutching his arm as tightly as she had the pillow in her sleep.
"Hermione...listen to me witch...whatever you are seeing is not reality." he said continuing to rouse her from sleep.
Snape sighed noting how deep she had been in this night terror.
Thinking of nothing else but to entice her awake, Snape scooted out of bed and lifted her in his arms.
"Wake up love." he said softly as she rested her head against his chest.
Snape let her bare feet touch the cold floor. Hermione's amber eyes opened but the tears continued to fall down her pale looking cheeks. It seemed the night terror was worse than it seemed.
"Hermione?" said Snape looking his wife over before taking a step back, although he supported her weight with his out stretched arms to ensure she didn't fall.
"Severus." she said sounding a bit numb.
"It's alright love." he said softly not wishing to frighten her further.
"Severus." said Hermione suddenly turning to face him, and threw her arms around his neck as she hugged him.
He kissed her on the cheek as she pressed her soft slender body into him. There was no incentive needed as he wrapped his pale arms around her. the wet warmth of her still flowing tears had dampened his exposed shoulder.
"Hermione...it's only a dream." he said trying to reassure her.
"More like a nightmare." she replied looking into his obsidian eyes. "One that keeps finding it's way back no matter how hard I try to forget it."
Hearing this Snape noted that she had been dreaming about what might occur with him in the near future.
"I'm still here." he said softly wiping away her tears. "There is still a chance for this potion of yours to work."
Hermione arched an eyebrow at this.
"H-How did...?" she began.
"I'd be a piss poor Potions Master if I didn't know the ingredients to a particularly rare potion when I saw them." he replied with a smirk. "Besides, I had a feeling our sixteen year old son would attempt such a feat, a Dreamstride potion is hardly a routine brewing."
Hermione shook her head.
"Git." she said pleasantly. "Sometimes you really can be insufferable."
"It takes one to know one it seems." he countered.
Snape pressed his pale lips into her soft pink ones and carried her back toward their bed.
Hermione's back sank against the mattress amid the crisp white sheets that lined their bed.
A few minor tears trickled down her cheeks and Snape took care to wipe them away. He proceeded to kiss her lips once more and then trailed down to her exposed neck.
"I love you so much." said Hermione as Snape positioned himself between her slender thighs.
"And I love you." he replied capturing her lips in yet another hungry kiss before trailing back to her neck.
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Phaeron had a hard time getting a restful sleep since he had been back home. The mostly Slytherin sleep over had been his mother's idea even with Lily spending the night as he, Scorpius, and Albus Severus shared the floor in the family sitting room. Sidney had joined them as well leaving Lily the room with Shiloh for the night. She had been fine with the beautiful baby witch, she marveled at how much Phaeron and his little sister resembled their father.
Lucius had declined the invitation to stay over but promised to smooth things over with Draco before going home. Likewise Hermione sent an owl to Ginny about Lily and Albus Severus.
The teenage Snape got to his feet and made his way down to his father's potions private lab. He couldn't sleep and wondered if he had anything that would help him or if he had to brew something to accomplish this goal. When Phaeron descended the stairs he had not expected to see his father sitting on a rather sleek looking stool and apparently in a mode of concentration.
The older raven haired wizard seemed to have been a bit more tired than he believed he had been but he seemed to find comfort in the various scent and ingredients.
"Couldn't sleep either father?" asked Phaeron with something of a small smirk across his sallow pale face.
Snape opened his eyes and returned his son's witty smirk.
"Neither could you I take it." he said.
Phaeron noted the way his father seemed to lean on one side, it appeared that he had begun favoring his left side over the right.
"Does it hurt that badly?" asked he asked catching the subtle hint.
Snape continued to smirk.
"Of course you would inherit your mother's attention to detail." he said though he sounded more proud than annoyed.
"And as such I noticed that you didn't answer my question." said Phaeron narrowing his obsidian eyes at his father.
Snape couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"I suppose my own tactics being used against me is good enough incentive to tell you the truth." he replied. "In truth, it does...but it's nothing I haven't encountered before."
Phaeron nodded.
"I wish I could do something about that sooner." he said.
Snape sighed.
"Alas, we are all mortals...one cannot simply snap their fingers and make something that isn't what it is." he said. "I'll be fine boy, I already told you it's something that I've encountered before."
"H-How's mother doing?" asked Phaeron changing the subject much to his father's relief.
"She's...not taking this very well...given that she's a Gryffindor, I expected nothing less." replied Snape thinking back to what he had done with the bushy haired witch prior to coming down to his labs. "Needless to say, she's doing perfectly well at this moment...of course that is the benefit of a good night's rest."
Phaeron had not missed the flickering behind his father's eyes. The teen wizard had known all too well what his father spoke of, thanks in part to Bellatrix LeStrange's antics, he knew a bit more about his father than he wanted to know even with eleven years of separation in the past.
"Childhood trauma not withstanding, perhaps you should...not...indulge...so often." replied the teen Slytherin wizard.
Snape chuckled once more.
"That's like telling fish not to swim." he said with a smirk.
Phaeron shook his head.
"What am I going to do with you father?" he asked with a sigh.
Snape looked about his make-shift lab and smiled.
"I suppose you came to ask me to brew something." he said.
"The thought had crossed my mind." replied Phaeron. "But..."
Snape got to his feet and moved over toward the table. With a wave of his hand the apparent enchantments fell treating the younger Snape to a view of a proper potions lab.
"Wow!" said Phaeron unable to take his eyes off the various stocks of potions and ingredients. "W-When did you have time to do all of this?"
Snape smirked.
"This is but a pale imitation of the lab I once had." he replied. "But it does the job...given where we are located."
Phaeron shook his head.
"You know...you and Master Phaeron are both two peas in a pod." he said. "All dark and mysterious."
Snape shook his head this time.
"Mysterious, hardly...but I can attest to being of a darker nature." he replied.
The two of them approached the table with several prepped ingredients.
"Well...shall we get started?" asked Snape looking into his elder son's eyes.
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Phaeron had been having a blast chopping ingredients for his father's mysterious potion. Snape had quizzed his son on nearly everything pertaining to the potion they were brewing right down to the adequate number of times he was to dice the ingredients in order to refine the brew. It pleased the Potions Master that his son was able to think "outside the box" so to speak and invent a new way to ensure the best possible results were made for the potion.
The rest of the house had been sleeping as Phaeron noted his father superior skills when brewing. He had handled making a potion as if it had been second nature to him. His hands seemed to dance rather gracefully across the chopping board and the ingredients split apart in neat but thin chunks. Then, Snape moved about shoveling them into the bubbling cauldron at record speed and more were added before Phaeron could blink.
The younger Snape admired the sure way his father moved about brewing the potion with a mix of patience and skillful understanding. Briefly, the teen wondered what his father must have looked like as a student at Hogwarts with that inherently serious expression on his sallow pale face.
It had been amazing when the substance in the cauldron became a deep blue mixture.
Phaeron noted the sprigs of lavender added to the cauldron, and the way his father used the knife to crush a flobberworm to obtain the thin layer of clear mucus, he had even taken in the added application of Canis Root.
"Father's what's..." he started.
"A much stronger variation of a sleeping draught, except it's of my own creation and deviates from the original recipe a bit more than is comfortable for most Potioneers, the effect is much more substantial but one feels fully rested when it is ingested." explained the Potions Master.
Phaeron had been silent when Snape took but an eye dropper's measurement of the thick dark blue mixture and filled a small phial.
"It is extremely potent, one drop should do." said Snape with a smirk. "Any more than that and you'll likely be in a coma."
The teenage wizard had been stunned at the potency of this strange potion.
"What do you call it?" asked Phaeron curious.
"Mid-Summer Night's Dream." replied Snape as he took another eyedropper full and loaded the potion into yet another small phial.
Phaeron arched his eyebrow at the obvious muggle literature reference.
"Whatever you say father." he said not buying that he would really call it that.
Snape simply shrugged.
"What do you expect?" he asked." I was half asleep when I finally got it right and that was the only thing I could think of at the time."
Phaeron shook his head.
"I think I'll head to bed now." he said.
"So long as you intend to make your way back to the sitting room with the other hormonal inept males and not where Miss Potter is currently sleeping I am fine with it." said Snape.
The teenage wizard seemed to be caught off guard by this statement.
"Father...I wasn't going to..." he started.
Snape smirked.
"Believe it or not boy, I was young once." he said. "You're little girlfriend being so close to you without constant supervision is too tempting an offer not to try your luck."
"I wasn't going in there." said Phaeron in his own defense.
"In any case the door is charmed and those that attempt to venture without permission will get a nasty surprise in the wake of their ambitions." said The Potions Master.
"Good to know." replied the raven haired teen. "Good night father."
"Indeed." replied Snape with a sly smirk. "Although good morning would be more appropriate."
Phaeron took his leave of his father and headed up stairs toward the sitting room. He glanced as the door where Lily Potter slept pleasantly on the other side. He had almost been tempted to try and see if he could open the door but knew his father well enough to think better of it. The raven haired teen drank the potion his father had given him and it seemed to work like a charm as he found himself drifting off into a pleasant sleep.
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Hermione Granger had still been a bit restless in the wake of spending more time with her husband. He had gone down to the lab to brew her a minor sleeping draught and had taken a bit longer than he initially promised. She had sat up and was about to get out of bed when Severus returned closing the bedroom door behind her. He gave her the phial and she drank some down and handed the phial back to him. Snape drank a bit of it as well and settled into bed with his wife. He wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head against his chest.
Before long the both of them had drifted off into a quiet slumber.
It wouldn't be long before Shiloh started to awaken and the rest of them would follow but for the time being the Snapes attempted to get some much needed rest.