Severus' eyes slowly opened, but he blinked because the light hurt his eyes. He had no idea where he had ended up. The last thing he remembered, he knocked on a door and fell unconscious. He wondered if he still laid in the same place, but the image of the door opening, and seeing a pair of feet, came back to him. He definitely had to be somewhere else. That person seriously could not have left him there, or could they? After all, he looked like he went through hell and back, so who would take the chance of helping a complete stranger like that?

Snape decided to let his senses kick in to discover his location. He noticed his body laid firmly on something, which felt neither cold, nor hard. This eliminated the possibility of him still being on the ground outside. He moved slightly, and the foundation beneath him felt soft and only moved a little bit. Then, he looked at himself and noticed he had been lying on a bed. The bed didn't bother him as much as his appearance. He still wore his black robes, but they were torn in spots and had patches of dirt all over them. He could see the various bites left by Nagini, and cuts which shown through the rips in his robes. He also could feel the stringiness of his hair, which clung to his face from sweat that formed when he struggled to travel with his injuries.

After Severus overcame the disgust of his appearance, he gazed at his surroundings. He discovered he had been in a small room, most likely meant for one. The curtains over the only window in the room appeared to be brown and dingy. He discovered a small, brown, coffee table with a couple of matching chairs, a nightstand by the bed, and a TV which still had dials on it to change the channel instead of buttons or a remote. He looked to the ground and noticed an ugly, brown, shag carpet. He looked back up, discovering two doors: one, which led to the entrance, and the other to the bathroom. He didn't even want to know what the bathroom had been like, so he groaned, feeling like he had been thrown into some 70's sitcom.

As Severus studied the room, his eyes moved to the door because the knob started to move. It sounded like someone trying to pick the lock, just like in the movies. After a few seconds of this chaos, the door opened, leaving no time for Severus to react and hide. A young woman entered the room, carrying two plastic bags full of items. She had long black hair, most likely dyed; blue eyes, and she wore a pair of plain blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt. The thing most noticeable about her, had to be the black around her eyes, looking like that of a raccoon.

Snape forced himself to sit up in bed as the woman turned around. She looked at him; her eyes and face expressionless. She walked over to the bed and placed the plastic bags on the floor. She looked him in the face after she studied the condition of his body. "I thought you might never wake up." She explained.

Severus studied her and felt surprised by her speech. "How long have I been unconscious?" He asked, afraid of the answer.

"Only about a day," she answered before kneeling down and rummaging through one of the plastic bags. "We should get you cleaned up and take care of your wounds."

This reminded Severus of his bag of potions. "Where's my bag?" He asked, afraid it might be lost.

She reached her hands underneath the bed and pulled out his black bag. He quickly snatched it from her, not even thanking her.

"Rude," she stated before standing up and reaching for the bag. "Let me help you with that."

"No." He said in his usual undertone. He grabbed her wrist, stopping her from touching the bag.

The young woman winced as he held her wrist. "You're hurting me." She stated, displaying the pain with her wincing.

Severus knew he didn't even squeeze her wrist. "I didn't even squeeze your wrist." He stated, knowing it had been the truth. He released her wrist and she quickly snatched it away. He could have sworn he noticed a bruise on her wrist.

She held her wrist for a moment before Severus opened the bag and pulled out three potions: an Anti-Venom potion, Healing Potion, and a Blood Replenishing Potion. He opened up each different vial and guzzled each one down. He immediately felt the potions start to work. Color started to come back to him, even though he had always been naturally pale. His wounds started to heal slightly, but not enough to go without bandages. Also, his body no longer seared from Nagini's poison, but since he waited so long to take the potion, there could be delayed problems in the future.

Severus felt like he might actually live, but his undying thirst made him doubtful. "I'm thirsty." He croaked from his dry throat and mouth.

The woman nodded, and she walked over to a mini-fridge, which had been inside the hotel room. The fridge matched the decor by being brown, and the woman obviously didn't care as she pulled a bottle of water out of the tiny refrigerator. She walked back over to Snape and handed him the bottle.

Severus snatched the bottle away, opened it quickly, and started to guzzle it down. Half of the bottle had been drunk before he stopped and looked at the woman who now watched him drink like a pig. This was the same woman who pulled him in, from off of the ground, possibly saving him. "Thank you." He stated with a questioning pause at the end, as if looking for her name.

"Paige. My name is Paige," she responded. "And you?"

"I'm Snape." He stated blandly with a slight croak in his voice still.

Paige looked at him as if she wanted to laugh at his name. Severus noticed and glared at her. "What is so funny about my last name?" He asked in his trademark undertone.

Paige trembled at the sound of his voice, and she seemed to become serious. "I assumed it was your first name," she explained. "What is your first name then?"

"I'm not going to tell you." He responded, feeling annoyed with her questions already.

"Why not?" She asked curiously.

Severus' rude behavior started to kick in. "The same reason you wouldn't tell me who gave you that black eye and bruised wrist if I had asked you. I feel it is none of your business." He explained rudely with no reason to be rude at all.

"I would be nice to me, if I were you," she suggested. "I haven't told anyone where you are, but that can change if you make me change my mind."

"And why haven't you told anyone where I am?" He asked.

"The same reason no one knows where I am," she confessed. "I don't want to be found, and I know that neither do you."

"How do you know that I don't want to be found?" He asked, curiously.

"No one comes to a hotel room door, knocks on it, and carries a bag full of bottles with weird liquid in them if they want to be found." She explained.

Severus' expression turned to anger, and he pulled out his wand before pointing it at her. Paige just wrinkled her forehead and raised an eyebrow. "You're pointing a stick at me. Am I supposed to be afraid of a stick?" She asked.

Severus groaned and rolled his eyes. "It's a wand. Witches and wizards use it to cast spells." He explained.

"I don't believe in magic," she confessed. "I think your injuries have made you delusional."

Severus realized she must be a muggle. He didn't really care at this particular moment because he needed someone on his side. "I can prove it to you," he stated. "I can't do a spell or they could locate me, but I can have you drink a Healing Potion. It will make those bruises disappear." He reached into his black bag and pulled out a Healing Potion. He reached out his arm and handed it to her.

"How do I know that isn't some type of poison?" She asked, looking rather afraid to drink it.

Snape popped the stopper on the vial and drank a sip of it. He handed the potion back to her. "Now you know." He stated.

Paige grabbed the potion, put it to her lips, and drank it. After a few seconds, her body felt tingly, and she watched the bruises on her wrists disappear. "How come the potion didn't do the same for your injuries?" She asked.

"My injuries are more severe. In fact, I need some bandages." He explained.

"Technically, you need a bath first, to wash off all that dirt, dried blood, and help clean the wounds," she explained. "I'll go draw one up for you, and then help you in there."

"I don't need any help." Severus stated in his stubborn, usual way.

"The way you look suggests otherwise. You look like a train ran you over." Paige smirked before heading into the bathroom. She turned on the water, making it a perfect temperature. "Bubbles or no bubbles?" She asked from within the bathroom.

"Bubbles, considering you will be helping me, and I have no choice. Unless you want to see me naked, that is." He retorted, trying to be a jerk about the situation.

Paige poured three capfuls of bubble bath into the water. After a few minutes, she turned off the water and the bathtub was full of foamy bubbles and hot water. She walked back to Severus. "It's ready. I should help you get up." She offered.

"I don't need help." He stated once again. He forced himself up and out of bed, groaning in the process, but he did it without a whole lot of effort. The potions were obviously starting to work their magical effects. Paige tried to help him, but he brushed her aside as he walked to the bathroom. He held onto the wall at times for support, but most of it, was him walking on his own.

Paige followed him into the bathroom like he needed a chaperone or something. She walked past the mirror and noticed her black eyes were gone. She actually looked beautiful, and she admired herself for a minute. By the time her amazement of her appearance was over, Snape had already stripped off his robes and stepped into the bathtub. She turned around to see him sitting in the tub with the bubbles covering his naked body, except for his chest and up.

"This soap smells awful," complained Snape. "It smells like lemons."

Paige rolled her eyes. "It was either that or the soap that smells like Bengay. When you don't have a lot of money, it means you smell like lemons if you don't want to smell like a nursing home." She explained.

She grabbed a washcloth and kneeled down next to the tub. She went to clean a cut on his shoulder, but he grabbed her wrist. "I told you I don't need help." He stated in his cold voice.

Something on Severus' forearm grabbed Paige's attention. It looked like a skull with a snake running through it. "What's with the creepy tattoo?" She asked.

"It's not a tattoo," he answered. "It's a Dark Mark."

"What's a Dark Mark?" She asked while Severus still had a hold of her wrist.

"None of your business." He replied. He turned her wrist so he could see the back of it; the part where all the veins are. On her wrist, there was a scar that was vertical to about halfway down her forearm. It went up and down instead of across. "What's with the scar?" he asked, being rather nosey. "Looks like someone got a little suicidal. You even did it the right way."

Paige scoffed and pulled her wrist away before throwing the washcloth into the bathtub. "Clean yourself and put a towel on afterwards so I can bandage your cuts," she explained before heading towards the doorway to the bathroom. She stopped at the doorway and turned to look at him. "Those wounds will heal over time, but I'm sure that Dark Mark will never go away." She looked at her wrist and traced her finger over the long scar. "Some wounds don't heal." She explained, looking up at him before leaving the bathroom.