A/N: Thanks to RenitaLeandra and Keladry Lupin who continue to make this story far better than it would have been without them.
Chapter 13
Severus had only had time to take a deep breath of relief as he and Hermione stood in the entrance of number twelve, Grimmauld Place, when he suddenly felt her slump against him and fall to the floor. He quickly grabbed her under the arms and hauled her up so that he could carry her. He heard the sound of footsteps coming from the kitchen and turned to see Aberforth Dumbledore standing in the doorway.
"What happened?" he asked gruffly, walking over to them.
"Exhaustion, I think," Severus bit out. "I can't be sure, though. I didn't really have time to give a complete physical before I rescued her."
Aberforth ignored his sarcasm and moved to take Hermione from his arms. Severus seemed reluctant for a moment, but then let go and followed as Aberforth carried her to one of the upstairs bedrooms.
"Everyone else is still gone. I haven't got any word yet as to casualties. They seemed to think that an old man couldn't contribute anything, so I stayed behind to relay any messages."
Severus nodded. "They got my message then?"
"Yep. Good thing they were expecting it. Everyone managed to get organized right quick."
They had reached the bedroom and Aberforth laid Hermione on an old dusty bed. Severus used his wand to check for any injuries beyond those he was already aware of. When he was satisfactorily assured that she was not in any immediate danger, he motioned to Aberforth and they both left the room.
They were just heading down the stairs when the front door burst open.
"Abe!" Severus heard Lupin's voice as he reached the landing, seeing Lupin gaze up at him. He was filthy, covered in sweat, blood and dirt. His hair was a mess and he had several gashes, but otherwise appeared unharmed.
"Severus! What are you doing here?" he asked as Severus walked the rest of the way down to meet him.
"Hermione and I escaped. It was no longer wise to keep her there. The way it is, she was nearly killed."
"Hermione!" Remus said, his eyes growing wide. "Is she here? Is she all right?"
"Sleeping," Aberforth cut in, joining them. "What has happened? Is everyone all right?"
They walked into the kitchen, and Remus collapsed onto a chair, resting his head in his hands.
"I haven't heard yet from Harry, Arthur or Tonks. They all went to King's Cross to see if there was anything that could be done to stop the Dementors. Harry was beside himself. Ginny was on that train, you know."
"I am not interested in the love lives of children." Severus was beginning to feel annoyed. "Have there been any casualties?"
"Minerva," Remus uttered, swallowing hard, "and Bill. I don't know how I'm going to tell Arthur and Molly."
Severus looked away. Losing Minerva McGonagall was a heavy blow indeed. She was a very powerful witch and a natural leader, but Remus wasn't done relaying the bad news.
"We also lost Hestia and they managed to collapse half of Hogwarts itself; the whole western side. Not that it's going to be used any time soon for school, but it's hard to imagine the school partially destroyed."
Severus began pacing anxiously. He had hoped the Death Eaters would not be able to inflict so much damage. But then, there were so many of them now, and the Order had been given such short warning.
Remus lifted his head up and looked at Severus as if he could read his thoughts. "Thank you for the warning. Things could have been so much worse."
"If there is any bright spot to this day," Severus said, pulling out the pack he had been carrying with him and setting it on the table, "it is this."
Remus looked at him curiously and reached out to open the bundle. Pulling out the wand and the cup, he set them down, looking at them. Aberforth also moved closer to examine the items.
"Is this… what I think it is?" Remus asked.
Severus nodded. "Two of the remaining three. All that is left is the snake and she will have to be killed at almost the same time as the Dark Lord. I already have a plan in motion for that one as well."
Remus gave him a curious glance, but said nothing and instead picked up the wand, examining it. On the handle was a small carved lion. "Godric Gryffindor's wand! I never knew it had survived."
"Neither did I," Severus said. "I would like to know how the Dark Lord ever found it, but somehow I think that will remain forever a mystery."
They suddenly heard the sound of the front door opening again. Remus jumped up from his chair and was through to the hall even before Severus could move. When Severus finally got through, he saw Tonks, now sobbing into Remus's arms, looking about as bad as Remus did. She was not bloody, but she was pale and shaking.
"Not Potter…." Severus's voice trailed off, fearing the worst. All their work would be for naught, if Harry had been killed.
Tonks looked up and if she was surprised to see him, her face did not show it.
"No. Harry and Arthur are fine. So are Luna and Ginny. They're at St. Mungo's getting checked out. We were too late, though. By the time we got there, they had already attacked. They…" Her voice caught and she could not continue for several more minutes. "Twenty-two students; all Muggle-born. The Dementors had given them all the Kiss."
Severus shuddered at the thought and he could not help but think of Hermione. She would be completely distraught.
"You-Know-Who was there," she said, continuing to speak. "He went after Harry, but we managed to get away just in time. Harry's furious that he wasn't able to finish him off yet."
Severus and Remus exchanged looks, but Remus shook his head. This conversation could wait until a later time. Tonks finally seemed to gather herself together and looked at Severus. Remus saw where her gaze had travelled and answered her unspoken question.
"Hermione's back," he said quietly, Tonks looked up at him in surprise.
"Why didn't you tell me? Where is she?"
"She is upstairs sleeping at the moment," Severus answered. "She has had a… rough time. In fact, I should probably check on her."
"Susan is at St. Mungo's right now to help out with any casualties that come in," Remus said, and in that moment Severus remembered that Susan Bones had been studying to be a Healer. "Why don't I go get her and bring her back? Maybe she can look Hermione over; make sure that she doesn't need to go to St. Mungo's herself."
Severus nodded and Remus hurried out the door. Tonks gave Severus a weak smile but she looked uncomfortable as if she wasn't sure what to say.
"Come on, girl," Aberforth said, patting Tonks's shoulder. "Let me get you a cup of tea."
Tonks nodded, sniffling and allowed Aberforth to lead her into the kitchen. Severus stood silently in the hall for a moment, arguing with himself. He felt compelled to check on Hermione, although he knew there was no need. He was not a Healer. Besides, Miss Bones would be there shortly and she could see to Hermione. But what if she had woken with all the commotion downstairs? She would be distressed if there was no one there.
Without a second thought, he quickly made his way up to her room. Opening the door, he looked in. She was still asleep; it appeared she had not moved since he had left her there earlier, except for occasional twitches and involuntary shivers from the Cruciatus. He walked over and sat on a chair that was sitting next to the bed and looked down at her. She was pale and her face looked sunken in. She had lost weight from her time at Riddle Manor and, as he gently picked up one of her hands, he noticed how fragile it was. It was easy to forget her physical limitations when faced with the force of her courage and raw nerve.
He smiled faintly as he thought of all the amazing displays of courage she had shown, not just in the last few weeks but also in all the years he had known her when she was a student. He had always been too furious at the blatant disregard of rules that she, Potter and Weasley had shown that he had never bothered to concern himself with the contributions they made to the fight against Voldemort.
He heard a noise behind him and he turned to see Harry standing in the door, Susan next to him. He dropped Hermione's hand as if he had been burned, and rose from the chair. Susan immediately went to Hermione, beginning her examination.
"How is she?" Harry asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Do I look like a bloody Healer?" Severus barked in reply, feeling embarrassed that someone had seen him with his guard down. "Why don't you ask Miss Bones?"
Susan heard him and looked up. "I think she will be all right, although she has seen more of the Cruciatus than any one person should ever have to. I suppose, given the amount of time she spent at Death Eater Headquarters, that should be expected. I will heal as much as I think she can handle, but she has been under such a physical strain I don't want to do more harm than good."
She then turned towards Severus, addressing him specifically. "Professor, she will need a pain potion when she wakes. I left St. Mungo's in such a hurry I didn't get a chance to take any. Do you have anything here I can use?"
Severus nodded curtly. "I keep some in my room. It is not warded. You may take whatever you need." He paused then, as if debating his next words.
"Can you tell… did anyone do anything more to her? Things outside of spell damage?"
Harry looked at Severus alarmed.
"She has not been raped, if that's what you mean," Susan said, straightening back up. Severus wondered when the mousy Hufflepuff had become so straightforward. "But it looks like she's been beaten. With a fist, that is, not just through spells."
Harry swallowed hard but said nothing. Instead he moved over to Hermione's bedside, sitting in the chair previously occupied by Severus and Susan left to retrieve the potion from Severus's room.
"I suppose there is at least one good thing that happened today," Harry said sadly. "We have Hermione back. I just wish we wouldn't have lost so many of the others."
"There is more than just that to be glad for," Severus said. Harry looked up at him questioningly, but Severus would say no more.
"I'll wait for the entire Order before I explain any further."
As he finished speaking, Hermione began to stir in the bed. Both Severus and Harry's focus shifted towards the figure laid out on the bed. Susan came back in the room with a small bottle and joined them at Hermione's bedside. Slowly, Hermione opened her eyes and looked up at Harry. A faint smile passed across her lips.
"Harry?" she croaked. "You're okay?"
Harry nodded. "I'm fine."
"Is everyone alright? I was so worried…."
Harry tried to smile again, but failed miserably. "Don't worry about everyone else, Hermione. We had some losses but we will survive. The important thing right now is that you're okay. We've all been worried about you."
"I know," Hermione said, once again trying to smile. "I saw the black eye you gave Severus."
Despite the strain of her recent rescue, there was a small twinkle in her eye and Harry's dark mood seemed to lighten a little to see it. She shivered again and sighed as she closed her eyes.
"I'm going to go now, Hermione," Harry said, rising from the chair. "You need to rest."
As Harry walked away, Susan moved closer. "I have some pain potion for you," she murmured quietly and helped Hermione to sit up. She tipped the liquid into Hermione's mouth and as soon as she swallowed, she leaned back against the pillows.
"Get some rest," Susan said, joining Harry by the door. "I'll check on you in a little bit."
Harry, Susan and Severus turned and left the room. As they reached the hallway, Harry and Susan continued downstairs, but Severus hesitated. He did not want to face the rest of the Order just yet. As he stood in the hall, trying to decide what to do, he heard a crash come from inside the room. He raced back in to find Hermione sprawled on the floor.
"Bloody hell, woman," he growled, reaching her in three long strides. "What in Merlin's name were you doing getting out of bed?"
"I was cold," Hermione answered quietly. He could feel her shiver against him as he picked her up. "I was trying to get another blanket."
"You should be letting other people do that for you, rather than risk further injury," Severus said, his voice harsher than he intended.
"I'm sorry," she whispered and he realized that she was holding tightly on to him, her face buried in his neck. He could feel hot tears leaking from her eyes.
"Do not apologize," he whispered as he sat on the bed, pulling her onto his lap. "You have been through enough already. I do not want to see you hurt any more."
Hermione nodded but continued to hold onto him, shaking and crying. He tried to think of calming things to say, but he did not recall ever having comforted someone before, and so they mostly sat in silence, with Severus stroking her hair.
Finally her shaking began to lessen and she lie still in his arms. After several long moments she pulled away and gazed up at him. He never was sure if she moved first or if he did, but all he knew was that suddenly his mouth was on hers, kissing her swollen lips. It was gentle at first, as if to try to comfort her, but Hermione opened her mouth to him, deepening the kiss and he pulled her harder against him.
They stayed that way for a long time, kissing with all the pent up emotions from the past several weeks and with increasing intensity. Finally, when Hermione began pulling at his robes, trying to remove them, he pulled away and stared down at her.
"I don't think that would be a wise idea," he said gently, removing her hands.
"I don't really care about wise ideas right now," Hermione replied, frustrated. "I don't really care about thinking, either."
"No, I don't imagine you do. But tomorrow you will and it will not do for there to be this kind of tension when we have a war to fight. You are not thinking straight right now."
Hermione looked up at him and it seemed he saw every emotion play across her face. Finally, however, it settled on anger and hurt.
"I suppose you are right, Severus," she said shortly. "Thank you for bringing me to my senses."
Severus felt frustration flare in him at her response. "You are acting like a spoiled child!" he said crossly. "I am only trying to help you."
"Well, then you should certainly leave if I am behaving like a child. Good night, Professor Snape." Hermione slid under her covers, turned away and waited for him to leave.
Severus sighed and opened his mouth to argue back, but then thought better of it. The way it was, they had probably said too much.
"Good night, Miss Granger," he growled out and stormed out of the room.