A tall figure strode up the path leading to the castle, long silver blonde hair billowing in the harsh wind. Lucius Malfoy had just heard from Draco that the Potions master had been victim of an accident and hadn't recovered after a week in the Hospital wing.
If it hadn't been for Severus' condition, he would have overlooked this fact. However, having recently seen his old friend, he knew that underneath the shelter of his robes and cloak, the man was as thin as he'd ever been, perhaps a little more. Lucius winced.
Severus had punished him since the last night they'd spent together at Hogwarts by acting as though they'd never been lovers. They'd become "friends" again. And Lucius couldn't stop from thinking it was all for the best. Severus knew about his taste for morbidity, a fantasy he'd had to hide for all his life, and if he were to have an affair with Lucius, the dark man would want to indulge him by famishing himself until he succumbed.
It made Lucius disgusted with himself.
Reaching the large oak doors of the castle, he knocked heavily on the doors.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Poppy was dishevelled. She'd spent the morning taking care of the Triwizard Tournament champions and the afternoon looking over students bed-ridden with the flu. Aside from all that, she had to put up a constant fight to keep Severus alive.
Ever since he was brought to the infirmary, his state seemed to have worsen more than anything. He couldn't be fed without regurgitating the food minutes after, and his body was nearly oversaturated with potions. At the moment all she could do was feed him by perfusion, but even this didn't strengthen him as it ought to.
So all in all, she was pretty drained when Lucius entered the Hospital wing.
"For the love of Merlin, not another decree on the use of Pepperup or muggle cures!" she half screamed, half sobbed.
Lucius quirked an eyebrow.
"Ahem. I'm not here on ministerial business. If you please, Madam Pomfrey, I came to take Professor Snape home."
She looked back at him dumbly.
"Wha?" she let out.
"I just came back from the Headmaster's office. I offered to bring Professor Snape to Malfoy Manor in order to bring him back to health. Here's Professor Dumbledore's note and signature, allowing me to bring Severus back home."
Poppy stared at the note and her cheeks redden.
"What tells me he'll be better with you rotten good for nothing ex-governor than with me?" she raged. Lucius studied her coolly.
"I happen to know more about Severus than you'll ever do, you failed mediwitch. Now it's your choice: either he comes with me and lives, or he dies under your watch. Plus," he sneered nastily, "it looks as though you've already bitten off more than you can chew." With that he dropped his gaze upon her messy nurse uniform and unkept hair. Poppy blushed, and she caught the front of Lucius' robes to violently bring him to face her, their noses bearly an inch apart.
"I warn you, Malfoy, if you ever let him down..." she threatened. Malfoy pushed himself away from her and huffed.
"Trust me, won't you?"
Poppy scoffed and lead him to Severus' room.
Lucius entered the dimly lit ward and stopped still.
Severus laid with his eyes closed, his head propped on a pillow. His face was as white as the sheets and his silky hair was strewn around him, neither neat nor messy. His lips were slightly ajar under the nose mask, his chest rising and falling in beat with the ventilator. To top it all, a long graceful hand rest upon his torso, a transfusion needle planted into it.
Lucius wanted to sigh at the whole scene's beauty.
Poppy coughed.
"How are you taking him away?" she asked. Lucius glared at her for interrupting his contemplation.
"My grandfather happened to be a renown healer. I brought back equipped stretchers that permit him to remain under ventilator and perfusion, while apparating."
Poppy blinked.
"How do you know about ventilators?" she asked in astonishment.
"I am familiar with a thing or two about muggle medicine, if you must know" he scowled.
Without waiting for her authorization, he lifted Severus in his arms before laying him cautiously onto the golden stretcher he had just unshrunk. Poppy fumbled with the cables and tubes of her patient's equipment. Lucius prodded the stretchers with his wand, and straps fastened themselves around Severus' body, holding him firmly. Nodding in satisfaction, he levitated the ill man out of the room.
"Good night, Madam Pomfrey", he called smugly.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I still don't understand how you could've handled Severus over to that... that... that man!" Minerva huffed disdainfully.
"I thought he was right", Dumbledore answered simply. Minerva was taken aback.
"How, how, Albus?"
"A few years ago, I came across Severus minutes after he'd left the Great Hall. The poor lad was vomiting what little he'd managed to eat. I asked him if he was ill. At first, he lied. I then asked how long he'd been..." Dumbledore sighed. "The date he gave coincided with Mr Malfoy Senior's last year at Hogwarts. I knew he'd been... quite infatuated by the young man."
"By all means, Albus, Severus has never been a love-struck teenage girl!" Minerva cried out. Dumbledore shook his head.
"Severus had felt... desired or accepted, even among his own family. Personally, I think he simply overreacted after that first demonstration of affection."
Minerva remained silent for a minute or two.
"How can we be sure?" she asked quietly.
"The wounds people engender are like venom: you need to cure them with the same being that first cause them."
Xxxxxxxxxx
Lucius carried Severus bride-like into the silk-laden bed of one of Malfoy Manor's many guestrooms. The journey back home had been uneventful, and he could now tend to his charge as long as he pleased. Narcissa had left for France the past week to visit her aunt and wouldn't be back before a month or two. She had decided to travel to Vichy and enjoy the Spas there, given that her recurring headaches wouldn't leave her in peace. Lucius didn't mind.
He had told his wife about his affection for Severus, and Narcissa had been compassionate. She had always liked Severus in a big sister fashion, for as much as he emanated fury among his boy classmates, the fact he'd been brought up mostly by his mother made him the perfect gentleman among ladies. That and the fact he could brew body lotions, perfumes and even (wonders will never cease) shampoos for her and her alone. Narcissa considered the relation between Lucius and Severus a way for her husband to take care of her little protégé, not really as a love affair. Love affairs involved women, in her point of view. This shook off all the guilt Lucius could have possibly felt as he cupped the Severus' jaw in his hand and bent down to kiss him, before fastening the mask back on.
Black eyes opened.
Severus' eyes screened his surroundings nervously, but relaxed when he realized Lucius was at his side.
"Good evening, Severus", the tall blond murmured suavely. Severus froze. Lucius caressed the ill man's ribs tantalizingly. Something in Severus' helplessness was pushing him forwards. He saw thin lips quiver under the transparent mask. Taking his time, he removed it for Severus to speak.
"L-L-Lu-Lucius..." Severus stuttered, his breathing coming in gasps, exciting Lucius even more. "Please... Sss...Stop..."
And strangely enough, Lucius obeyed. Not because of his lover's plea, but a most astonishing sight.
Severus was crying.
Deep inside, the raven-haired man was hating himself. He'd been through much, much worse without shedding a tear, but the pain... His chest was filled with some kind of venom, it had to be, because only poison caused spasms such as the ones he was enduring. His bones were settled uncomfortably upon the mattress, even though it was one of the softest he'd slept in. His head throbbed he felt cold under a mountain of covers. He couldn't understand.
And ignorance was one of Severus Snape's greatest fears.
As he panicked, his breaths became shorter to the point of requiring more effort than they were worth, and his vision became fuzzy.
No... no...
Panick overtook him. He vaguely acknowledged soft lips pressed upon his owns, but with no intention to kiss. His nose was pinched.
No... no...
Air was forcefully blown into his lungs, making him jolt as every alveoli stung simultaneously. Another time. And another.
Severus relaxed. His breathing became deeper, but still as laboured as before. Soon he felt silicon around his mouth and nose again, and heard the humming of the ventilator. Lucius was staring down at him, his face white. A minute hadn't passed before he fled the room, but Severus couldn't care less. His consciousness was soaring away and he couldn't stop it for all the boomslang skin in the world.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
The house elf had been sent to look upon Master Severus couldn't have felt more uneasy when Master Malfoy had asked him to do so in a would-be civil tone.
Poor master is lost in grief, obviously he is.
Lucius' hair was sprawled like a satin sheet upon his desk, icy blue eyes hidden behind his hands. It had been far too long since he'd spent time with Severus, and even longer since he'd been in position to overpower him. Raw power had always aroused him, and seeing Severus in such a weaken state had sent jolts between his legs. He cursed.
What had he been thinking? How was he supposed to bring his patient back in shape when his vision was obscured by so tantalizing thoughts... Like Severus' laboured breathing... and his helplessness... right under him...
Lucius slapped himself, hard.
Concentrate on the symptoms, you fool, or else he will become history before you know it! a harsh voice chid. Strangely enough, it sounded like Severus.
Symptoms: the man eats hardly enough to save a sparrow from starving, which has now made him weaker than Fudge's brain so that he couldn't fight off a cold if healthy, but Destiny chose to infect his lungs with pesticides.
Fucking neat.
Lucius was in the middle of reminding himself that Dear Lady Destiny was and had always been off her rocker when three soft taps echoed in his stadium-large bureau.
A thin, tall man entered the room without invitation. His white waist-length hair flowed behind him veela-style as his inky blue eyes focused on the distance. Lucius jaw fell open.
"Antonio Santa Cruz here to serve you, signor Malfoy."