The taxi driver waiting for clients in front of St. Matthew's Hospital in London woke from his doze with a start as a man bumped into his car.
"Oy, be careful there! Fucking drunk, are you?" he shouted at the black-clothed man staggering on the pavement. Then he saw the blood.
"Damn, he's injured."
The driver got out of the car and reached the bleeding man just as he crumbled to the ground. Several other people stopped at the scene.
"Get help," the driver shouted and someone ran into the hospital. Soon two male nurses appeared with a stretcher and carried Severus Snape into the building.
"He's lost gallons of blood. The bleeding doesn't stop. Is he a haemophiliac?"
"Sir, can you hear me?"
Severus Snape did not react. He was too weak to speak, too weak to think, it was bliss just to sink into unconsciousness quietly. He did not notice the nervous activities surrounding him. Needles were put into his arms; his body was connected to beeping monitors.
"We need blood. Test him for his blood group."
"It's 0 positive."
"Right, get some units."
"There's nothing there."
"What?"
"Well, It's summer, supplies are low."
"We need a donor, right here and now!"
"Make an announcement in the hospital, hurry."
Claire Saunders was about to leave St. Matthews, still smiling sentimentally about her younger colleague's happiness with her new baby. It had been a difficult birth, the baby had been four weeks early, but now everything was fine and they would go home tomorrow.
"This is an emergency. We need a donor with the blood group 0 positive; please contact medical staff or reception at once."
Claire stopped. That was her blood group. She had donated blood before occasionally, so why not? If she could help somebody… Claire turned and went to the reception desk. Some minutes later a young nurse arrived to take her to the right ward. She had to undergo a short health check, filled in a form, donated the blood and was given a cup of tea and some sandwiches. Then she went home, not realizing that these 30 minutes would change her life completely.
Severus Snape regained consciousness the following day. He would have liked to sleep on, the tiredness was still overwhelming, but there was this voice, friendly, but very determined and it would not stop. Also there were hands gently slapping his cheeks. So he opened his eyes reluctantly and tried to focus on the face above his bed. Woman, young, brown hair, blue eyes.
"Sir, that's nice, you are with us." She turned. "Doctor Monk, the patient's awake."
Another white-clad woman bent over him.
"How are you? Do you feel any pain?" She took his arm and felt his pulse.
"No," his voice came as a hoarse whisper, "just tired".
"That's normal, you lost a great amount of blood, we had to give you a blood transfusion. You were very lucky that we found a donor. The wound on the neck has stopped bleeding, too. So all you have to do is drink and sleep. Can you give us your name, by the way?"
He swallowed. "S … Sam Smith," he croaked.
"Right, there are some formalities to go through, Mr Smith, but now just relax and we can do that tomorrow. Nurse Brown is going to give you something to drink. Is water all right?" Severus nodded and gratefully sipped the water from the cup with a straw the nurse held to his mouth. Then he sank back into the cushion and drifted off to sleep.
When he woke next, he felt much better, although his mouth was parched. Noticing that his body was still attached to a drip and to some kind of monitor, he carefully raised himself on an elbow and reached for the plastic cup at his bedside. He managed to put the straw in his mouth and took a deep gulp. The movement obviously had alerted the nurse – an older one this time, red hair, lots of freckles.
"Good morning, Mr Smith" – she didn't see that he started slightly at the name – "how are we today? Do you feel like breakfast?"
He nodded, suddenly realizing how hungry he was. The nurse helped him sit up and put a tray with tea and toast on his bedside table. Later a doctor came, felt his pulse and removed all the needles, tubes and electrodes from his body.
"Tell me, how did this happen?" he asked.
"I was attacked in the street, they stabbed me from behind, knocked me to the ground and robbed me," Snape said, having made up the story over breakfast.
The doctor frowned.
"Isn't that horrible? In broad daylight and in the middle of London! Did you see your attackers, can you describe them?"
"No, they came from behind, I didn't see anything."
"You should go to the police."
"What for? They can't do anything about it."
The doctor shrugged.
"Anyway, you must fill in this form. Name, address and so on. Perhaps the police will contact you. Now, tell me, why were you bleeding so heavily? You aren't blood sick, we tested that. Do you take some medication for thinning the blood?"
Snape nodded. He couldn't tell the doctor about hippogriffs, could he? The doctor wrote something in his notes and seemed satisfied.
"Right, that explains everything. If there are no complications you can go home tomorrow. Your GP can look after the wound."
Again Snape nodded, lay back and closed his eyes.
Claire woke up with a start. It was dark. She glanced at the clock. 2 a.m. Goodness, what a dream she'd just had! She felt her nightshirt clinging to her sweaty body. She'd never had such nightmares before. Dimly she remembered dark, faceless figures, screams of terror, torture and an overwhelming feeling of guilt… How had these images got into her mind? She never watched horror films. Bad dreams usually were about that car crash her husband had died in 18 months ago. Slowly she got up and went to the bathroom. The third night the dreams had troubled her. She would feel terrible tomorrow. Should she go and see a doctor? But what would be the use? She had been treated by a psychologist after the accident and she had not found it very effective. Claire sighed, washed the sweat from her face and returned to bed.
Thanks to JKR for the inspiring characters.
I apologize if medical details are not correct. My knowledge about blood groups etc. is limited to what I learned in my biology lessons at school many years ago.