Their was a flutter of excitement as a houseelf ran into the great hall, right up to Danny. "Miss Silvermane! Its the boiler again! The Spells wont hold and it badly needs repair! " She turned to Severus. "Im afraid this will have to wait...you can follow if you like, but Im sure It will bore you..." She looked down at the elf.
"Have Winky bring my tools to the Boiler room. " The elf shook his head. "They await you lady, please hurry! " She left her dinner half finished and gestured to the elf. "Lead the way, if its as bad as I think I will need all the house elves to assist me.."
Severus stared blankly at the entire scene. 'Needs repair? ' What on earth were they on about? Better investigate. He followed them, and watched as Danny began to shed her outer robes, she shoved them to Severus, and began to roll up her sleves.
"How bad is it? Details my elfin friend. I need Details, When did it begin to act up?"
The house elf responded quickly. "Its been acting up for weeks Lady, but we were told your studies were to come first, and to only approach you when it was dire..."
She growled and clenched her fists. "I dont care if this is a Muggle problem or a muggle talent I have, if there is something that needs my attention Im to know immediately! I told Uncle Albus that the day I came here! Damn the man!"
Severus said nothing as they erupted into the Boiler room, it was filled with steam and scalding water streamed in all directions. Elves were trying to stop the leaks.. Danny turned to Severus, "This is bad...just stay out of the way unless I ask for your assistance.. I may need a bit of extra strength to get this patched.." She pulled on a huge pair of gloves and climbed the pipes as if they were ropes. "Wrench! " She called out hand held down for it, she hooked her legs around one of the pipes and hung upside down as she began to tighten each and every bolt on the boiler, a few she had to replace.
She worked in a frenzy, paying little to no attention to him at all, so focused was she on the task at hand...and she did it all without any magic. She shook her head angrily...tightening them only helped a bit...she tossed the wrench down and climbed along the pipes to a large valve, she strained as she began to turn it, "Severus! Grab a pair of gloves and give me a hand, this is rusted beyond belief...Ive not got the strength to turn it..."
He frowned, removed his long coat, and pulled on a pair of her gloves, he stood upon a crate and grabbed the otherside of the valve, and with both of their arms screaming in protest, they got it to turn...and then as they worked in concert to turn the water pressure off, the steam began to lessen, as did the waterworks.
Danny hung upside down panting...sadly they were both soaking wet. She got down slowly, and stripped her shirt off, causing Severus to look away. She made a rude noise. "Oh for Pete's sake Severus I have a HALTER on beneath this...honestly.."
She moved to her rather impressive tool chest, and donned the strangest mask, it was solid black with a little window for her eyes. "What are you doing? " He asked curiously as she pulled out a strange metal bottle with a curved metal tube on the end of it.
"This has to be welded. The Bolts wont hold as they are right now. I will have to tell Uncle Albus a new Boiler will need to be ordered as soon as humanly possible...I can fix it temporarily. But it wont last another school year. " She looked at him and threw him a pair of strange darklensed glasses. "Put those on, If you look at the arc-weld it will damage your eyes. " She looked at the elves. "None of you look at the light that comes from this fire, do you understand me??" They all nodded and began to mop up the water.
She pulled the mask on as Severus put on the glasses...curiously watching her, she lit the strange bottle and he watched as she went to work. Sparks of white blue light flew everywhere, mostly hitting her arms and legs...she worked tirelessly for 2 hours before shutting off the flame and pulling off the mask...she staggered to her tool chest and put away her tools, and gloves.
Silently he handed her the glasses and his gloves..."Take my Tools back to my rooms will you?" She spoke to the elves softly. Her voice was filled with exaustion. They nodded happily and in a flash of elderich light, her tool chest, and the elves were gone. She climbed up the pipes once more...and turned the valve back on...the boiler began to humm loudly to life...and not a single leak showed.
Sinking down she leaned against the wall and panted...it was only then that he noticed her arms, they were spotted with small burns.
"You are hurt." He stated solemnly...she threw a tired smile at him. "Nothing serious. Just weld burn. " He reached out to brush wet hair from her face.
"Where did you learn to do those things?" He asked curiously...suprised and somewhat unerved as she unconciously leaned her head into the caress of his fingers.
"Home. Ive had a knack for fixing machines since i was little. I got my Mechanics Certification last year. I needed a real muggle career incase the Magic stuff went bust..." She smiled up at him.
"Thank you for helping. I appreciate it. " he nodded, and looked down at her. "Come, let us get you to Madam Pomfrey." She shook her head and began to walk out of the Boiler room, staggering with exaustion.
"Im fine. I dont need healing. " She said stubbornly...he shook his head, walked up behind her, scooped her into his arms.
She fussed angrily. "Put me down Severus! I said Im fine!" He began to walk.
"Humor me." She rolled her eyes and relaxed in his arms..."Fine. Im too tired to argue with you." To this he only chuckled...as he carried her down the halls.
"Severus?" She asked softly. He stopped to gaze down at her a brow raised, she touched his cheek and smiled up into his dark brooding eyes...before leaning up and kissing him softly on the tip of his nose.
"Thanks." She murmured before resting her head against his shoulder. He frowned softly and nodded, leaning his head a bit to the side, resting his head breifly against hers.
"You're welcome."
He carried her to The Infirmary in silence, brooding...once again she was making him feel things he should NOT feel. And he wasnt certain wether or not he liked it...but one thing he knew was certain...he was feeling something...and part of him didnt want to stop feeling it.