Chapter 16
Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter.AN: Many thanks to septentrion and LadySunflower for betaing.
The summary comes from the song 'Anywhere Is' by Enya.
Dragging Atropos over to the veil with Lupin's help, Severus had noticed Hermione walking around to the other side of the ragged black cloth. He had assumed that she wanted to make sure that Atropos really left their world rather than just coming out on her side. Then he had seen Hermione's feet move towards the veil even as they shoved Atropos through. It almost looked as though she had overbalanced… but he couldn't delude himself that it was an accident, not with her last words.
"Don't follow me, Sev—"
For a moment, Severus was only aware of the ringing in his ears and the growing ache within his chest… and the absurd hope that Hermione would reappear in front of him. The gently billowing veil seemed to blur as it came closer, only to jerk away with a jarring tug, snapping Severus out of his detached state.
"Severus, no, there's nothing you can do."
Lupin had grabbed him, holding him back. Severus noticed that his throat felt raw: it seemed that he had been expressing his feelings very vocally… alternatively, he had been holding back any vocal expression. He had no idea which it was.
"No," Severus gasped. Struggling madly against Lupin's hold, he managed to inch closer to the veil, only to fall to the ground as Potter helped Lupin pin him down.
"Let me go! That's my wife through there…" Tears stung his eyes as the realisation struck him that it wasn't just Hermione that was gone. 'My child….'
"And I thought that you had all the luck, Snape," Potter's voice rasped in his ear, obviously grieved by his friend's lunacy to go beyond the veil.
Severus inched still closer to the veil, his arms feeling close to being dislocated by Lupin and Potter's grip on them.
"Hermione… come back," Severus yelled, his voice hoarse, cracking on the words. "Hermione!"
She was gone. It was impossible for her to return: she'd said as much. There would be no reunion this time….
Even with that terrible knowledge, Severus didn't stop struggling. Bitter tears traced burning trails down his sallow cheeks. He should have paid more attention to his earlier unease; should have realised that Hermione was not ruthless enough to inflict Atropos on an unsuspecting world; conversely, she was more than ruthless enough to do what must be done, whatever the personal cost.
'Gryffindor,' he thought savagely. 'When I get my hands on her, I'll give her such a strong reminder of her worth to me that she won't be able to—' A mental howl of anguish cut him off. There would be no opportunity to get his hands on her again. Ever.
"Please, Severus, come away from there. Hermione would never forgive us if we let you throw yourself through the veil," Minerva pleaded from behind him. She sounded as though she was crying.
"It's not really as bad as all that, is it?" Croaker asked.
Severus stiffened at the Unspeakable's words. In his anger at the unfeeling man, he reversed the direction of his struggles against Lupin and Potter's grip.
"Croaker!" Minerva almost screeched, apparently sharing Severus's outrage.
Talking fast, Croaker hurried to explain himself before he could be hexed. "What I mean to say is that 'Ermione 'ad to go through to stop Atropos from wreaking 'avoc in 'er original world or from coming back 'ere. I seem to remember that 'Ermione implied that there was a way back."
"She did," Minerva muttered thoughtfully. "So Hermione may yet return after she has alerted those who survived Atropos's onslaught on her own world. It would be simple enough to deal with a powerless Necromancer."
Closing his eyes, Severus stopped struggling. He felt Potter and Lupin release him, perhaps assuming that he would make no further attempts to follow Hermione to his doom.
Thinking back to what Hermione had said, Severus felt faint stirrings of hope. She had said that it was virtually impossible for a Necromancer to return, which meant that there was still a chance, however slight. But he shuddered at the thought of the uncountable identical veils in that hall between worlds described by Hermione. If only there was some way to mark the way home for her!
'Wait. Surely it would not kill me to simply reach through the veil? Granted, I have no idea what will happen to my arm when I do….'
"It's not that simple. There is a room of sorts between the worlds," Severus said, his mind working overtime. Minerva did not know of the danger Atropos had posed to innocent people in those other worlds. She would kill him if he revealed the truth… "I had no idea Hermione was going to go through, but she can't return without help."
"I see." Minerva sounded exasperated. "You infernal man! You should have told us what you were trying to do; it would have saved us and yourself a lot of heartache." She sighed. "Try not to panic in future."
'Easy enough for you to say!' Severus bit back a sarcastic retort, satisfying himself with a few uncharitable thoughts.
Croaker cleared his throat. "Enough time should 'ave passed by now to try to get 'Ermione back through 'ere."
Climbing to his feet on order to step towards the veil, Severus glowered at Lupin over his shoulder when the werewolf took a firm hold of his robes.
"There is no sense in getting yourself accidentally pulled through," Lupin admonished him.
Reaching through with his left arm (there was no sense in risking his wand arm), it went numb when he reached through, but it wasn't any more painful than pins and needles. For a tense minute nothing happened. Then something grabbed his hand, almost causing him to fall through in his surprise. Steadying himself with Lupin's help, Severus pulled his arm back through, bringing whatever was holding onto him through.
Sucking in what felt like his first breath of air for a lifetime, Severus mentally thanked whatever deity had answered his prayers for Hermione's return. His relief turned to concern when Hermione dropped to her knees, her grip on him slack. Crouching down, he touched his fingers to her clammy face, alarmed by her sickly greenish pallor.
"Hermione, what's—"
She groaned, turning aside, but too late to keep from vomiting partly on him.
Grimacing, Severus brandished his wand, casting a Scourgify as she finished emptying her stomach. "Better now?"
Hermione shook her head weakly, her face grey. She closed her eyes, shuddering. Severus caught her before she slumped to the rough stone floor, currently unblemished by the blood red runes that had stained the whole room before the Necromancers had passed through the veil.
"Expecto Patronum," Minerva murmured, summoning her feline Patronus. "Fetch Poppy," she ordered it.
"I'll 'ave to see if I can translate those runes, not that any of you can see them. Just in case the wrong Necromancer came back," Croaker said, producing a scroll of parchment and a quill.
"That will not be necessary," Severus stated. He was examining one of Hermione's wrists. "She's the one married to me." He frowned down at the marital branding. It seemed to have faded slightly, but was still legible. An effect of passing through the veil, perhaps?
"Who has been injured this time?" Poppy asked as soon as she had arrived, eyes roving around the room. "You again!" she groaned when she spotted Hermione, drawing her wand as she swept over to her recurring patient in a rush of white robes.
Poppy's lips thinned as she ran her wand above Hermione's prone form. The colour drained from the nurse's already pale face. She jerked her head up, fear showing in her eyes. "We have to get her to St. Mungo's. Now."
It was after a tense hour of pacing outside Hermione's hospital room that Severus managed to pull Poppy aside after she emerged.
"What is wrong with my wife?" he asked, worry causing him to bite the words out.
"First and foremost, she has lost her powers."
"I know she's not Necromancer anymore! She followed Atropos through the veil, stripping herself of her powers."
Poppy gave him a pitying look. "She's not a witch anymore, either. Her body is reacting badly to the change."
Severus was dimly aware of Minerva inhaling sharply from behind him. The other occupants of the Death Chamber had joined him in his vigil, only to be ignored when they tried to offer any comfort.
"She knew. That's what she meant by 'so be it'," Lupin murmured. Severus felt a flash of irritation at him for stating the obvious.
"Do you want to hear the rest in private?" Poppy asked, suddenly noticing that they had an audience. "It is of a rather personal nature."
Momentarily, Severus was tempted to insist that she did. But Minerva and Potter at least deserved to know what Hermione's condition was. "Let them hear it. I would only have to relay whatever it is later."
"Very well. What is more worrying than her loss of magic is the effect it is having on her pregnancy."
Severus could almost hear his moral supporters' jaws dropping.
"I'm sorry, Severus, but unless we acquire a very complex potion, she's going to miscarry." Poppy sniffed, wiping at her eyes. "If that happens, there is a greater than fifty percent chance that she will die in the process."
"Why?" Severus rasped, feeling as though he had been punched by a troll.
"I don't fully understand it myself, but it's often seen in premature births of magical babies to non-magical mothers."
"What is this potion?" he demanded. It was clear to him that there was no way he would risk Hermione's life in a dangerous miscarriage, certainly not when they had decided to keep the child.
"One not kept in stock due to the very short shelf life. What is more, the only Potions master known to be capable of making it died in Atropos's attack on the Ministry. He was apparently waiting to meet with the Head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes."
"I can make any potion," Severus growled, taking Poppy's comment as an affront to his abilities.
"I hoped you would say that," Poppy said, grimly satisfied. "St. Mungo's doesn't have the recipe, but it should be in Even More Potente Potions—"
Severus interrupted her. "I have that at Spinner's End. Thankfully it contained too many obscure potions to keep it at Hogwarts." He made for the door at the end of the corridor, only to be halted by Poppy calling after him.
"You need the name of the potion, Severus! It's the Anti-Abortifacient Draught."
Nodding curtly, Severus stalked off, turning at the door as something else occurred to him. "How much time does she have?"
"The Healer's have managed to put her in a modified Body-Bind. You should have enough time to brew one dose of the potion, but if anything goes wrong…."
"It won't." 'I hope!'
As he left, Severus was conscious of Potter asking Minerva if she thought Severus had known about Hermione being pregnant.
"It would explain his earlier panic in the Death Chamber," Minerva answered.
Thirteen hours later, Severus stirred the dented cauldron one last time. All of his best cauldrons had been at Hogwarts, together with the majority of his ingredient supplies. After getting the base underway and leaving it simmering, he'd made an emergency visit to several apothecaries, sparing no expense to get the ingredients he needed. For one heart stopping moment, it seemed that one of the most vital items could not be found anywhere, when he remembered that he had stored his own personal supply of it in an unbreakable vial at Hogwarts.
The ruin of Hogwarts had been an unrecognisable pile of rubble in harrowingly familiar surrounds, but Severus had no time to spare for exploring the wreckage of the school he had occupied for most of his life. Three Summoning Charms had been required to unearth the precious vial, and another to bring it to Severus's outstretched hand. Finally he had more than enough virgin's blood.
With the potion now complete, Severus looked dubiously down at it. For once in his life, he had made an off-colour potion. Instead of being a rich blue, it was almost purple. Perhaps the virgin's blood was meant to have been fresh instead of well over a year old… Severus could only hope that the potion would fulfil its purpose. Bottling it in another unbreakable vial, he Apparated back to St. Mungo's, handing it to Poppy.
He had barely resumed his pacing outside Hermione's room, the others long gone, when Poppy opened the door.
"We have a problem. Hermione's awake and unrestrained; we can't risk subduing her. She's refusing to take the potion, paranoid that it's an Abortifacient. We can't reason with her… perhaps she would take it if you gave it to her?"
Walking into the room, Severus got the impression that it would be in complete disarray if Hermione still had her powers. There must have been a Silencing Charm in place, for the moment he passed the door, he could hear her yelling at the Healers and calling for him. Wild-eyed, cowering away from exasperated men and women, she only began to calm down when she spotted him.
"Severus?" she all but whimpered.
Plucking the vial of Anti-Abortifacient Draught from the mediwizards closest to his wife, Severus uncorked it with a flick of his wand.
"You have to take this." He reached down to take Hermione's hand reassuringly, only to feel his own concern rocket when he felt the clamminess of her skin and erratic pulse at her wrist.
"No! It's a trick, you're not really—"
"Hermione!" Severus cut off her fevered protest. "It is me. See?" He unbuttoned his sleeve, tugging it up to reveal their intertwined initials coiling around his wrist. "I made this potion myself. If you don't take it, you are going to miscarry."
Severus had to repeat himself before Hermione would let him lift the vial to her lips. She had managed to swallow half of the dose before her eyes rolled back in her head and she flopped back down on the bed, unconscious.
The professionals moved in, snatching the vial from him to tip the rest of it down Hermione's throat.
To his emphatic objections, Severus found himself escorted to wait outside.
"If there is any chance that she will die, I want to be with her!"
"Sorry, Mr. Snape, but we cannot allow that. This is the crisis point. Any interference may be fatal for her."
"Severus? You can come in, now." Poppy beckoned him inside. All of the other medical professionals were making their way out.
Staggering over to the bed, Severus reached down to take Hermione's hand. He breathed a shuddering sigh of relief when he noted that both her skin and pulse felt more normal. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
"Hermione will be fine, although this pregnancy will be difficult for her. With proper medical care, your children will also be fine."
"Children?" he blurted, unable to contain his surprise. He stared, wide-eyed, at Hermione's flat stomach, although it would be a while yet before she started showing.
"You didn't know? Hermione is carrying twins. Congratulations!" Poppy beamed.
"Twins?!" he exclaimed weakly, gibbering mentally. He sat down heavily on the chair provided next to Hermione's bed. It was quite a while before anything remotely resembling intelligent thought resumed in his mind. 'But… she was only carrying one child before the veil….'