All was red. Scarlet. Black. Hermione felt her stomach lurch. She wasn't sure how much she could stand. But at last, there he was! Severus had his back turned to her. She ran to him, reached for his arms, but he turned curtly before she even touched him. Somehow, his robes had disappeared. Deep cuts were trace upon his chest, dark blood was oozing from his lips, his eyes were glassy,… He stuttered words Hermione could not understand, and fell back. He landed spread-eagled on the floor and moved no more.
Hermione let out a terrible scream. Her breathing was shallow and cold sweat was trickling down her face. She realized she was in a hospital bed and relaxed slightly.
"Nightmare, Miss Granger?" said a familiar voice. Dumbledore was facing her serenely.
"Professor, how's Seve- I mean, professor Snape?"
"Now, now, Miss Granger, I'm sure you know I know about how intimate Severus and you have become; you may call him by his surname." He took a deep breath before carrying on. "I shan't hide from you that Severus' state is critical. He's too weak to talk, even though the healers have managed to reanimate him. If you feel strong enough to walk to his room, we may leave right-" Hermione had already swiftly rolled out of her bed and was walking quite steadily to door. Dumbledore grinned at her stubbornness to remain near Severus.
Hermione gasped as she entered the now brightly lit emergency room. Severus laid inert on the bed and looked like all the blood had been drained from his body. He reminded her of an action movie she had seen on tv, during which the main character had to visit a morgue. Severus slowly opened his eyes and painfully turned to face her. Hermione felt her heart tear at the sight of his weak form; the proud being she once knew gave the impression of a man on his deathbed. In barely more than a whisper, he uttered "Her-my-o-o-o-nee…" His voice fainted away. He was trembling a little, and looked very cold even though he was draped in what looked like half the hospital wing supply of blankets. A healer bent over him and feed him a pale turquoise potion which Hermione recognized as a strengthening solution.
"We have given him nearly all the available stock of blood replenishing potion, Miss. He ought to be all right. We managed to empty him from the potion-"
"As well as his blood", said Hermione, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
"Miss Granger!" said Dumbledore, unusually harsh. But Hermione wasn't listening to him. She had spotted John, who looked somewhat uncomfortable.
"Is something wrong, Mr. John, sir?" asked Hermione suspiciously. His cheeks flashed red like a cherry.
"No! I mean, er, no, no, no, why should anything ever be- DON'T TOUCH ME!" Hermione looked ready to pounce on him, and he made it to the door, running down the corridor. Hermione aimed a biding spell at him, and caught him menacingly by the throat, looking murderous.
"What have you done to my Severus?" she hissed. John was starting to weep like an over-grown baby; far from softening her, the sight of him disgusted Hermione and she shook him hard, his head banging against the floor.
"It wasn't my-my idea", he sobbed. "Your friend, Mr. Ron Weasly, accidentally saw the-the letter you had sent to Harry Potter. He heard that you and Sn-Professor Snape had come here after Mr. Potter received the letter from-from Dumbledore saying you were going to need his support in case… in case things went wrong… So Mr. Weasly came to see me and promised me to give me a hundred galleons if I found a way to… to…" John wailed. Hermione could only muster enough self-control to stop herself from punching him. John cried for a minute or so, and carried on.
"So I-I-I added… I added an extra ingredient in the blood replenishing potion, not in all the pints, so it wouldn't work properly, and-" Hermione let go off him and sprinted to the emergency ward, found Dumbledore, explained to him what she had just heard from John, and turned to one of the healers. Time was running out, and they had to act fast.


"Do you have a lab?" Hermione asked curtly.
"Excuse me?" answered the chief-healer, dumbstruck.
"Son of a-A LAB, GODDAMMIT! UNDERSTAND ENGLISH?" Hermione looked slightly mad, her bushy hair surrounding her now scary face. The healers stepped back.
"Upstairs, Miss, er, Granger". She hurried to the staircase, Dumbledore trailing her.
"The potion will take approximately an hour to make, but it's tremendously complex, Headmaster, I'll need your help", she told him in a slightly gentler voice.
"At your service, Miss Granger."
They arrived, panting, in the hospital lab, and quickly gathered all the ingredients they'd need and Hermione place the biggest cauldron she could find upon a conjured fire. They started chopping, pruning, powdering the ingredients and adding them to the boiling water. After an hour, they found themselves sweaty, exhausted, but glad about their achievement. The potion was ready to use. They speeded back downstairs to find the horrifying sight of Severus convulsing on his bed, with four healers restraining him by holding his arms and legs, while another was trying to force down his throat a clear potion.
"Stop! We have it! We made it! We have the blood replenishing potion!" exclaimed Hermione.
Still terrified by their last encounter with her, the healers rushed to the walls of the ward, anxious to get as far away from her as possible. Hermione ignored them and followed a bee-line to Severus. She dipped the contents of a vial in his ajar mouth and closed it. She heard him swallow and looked relieved.
"Headmaster, may I ask you to look after Severus, please?"
"Where are you going, Miss Granger?"
"Paying a visit to an old friend, Headmaster. Just give him one vial every half an hour, and it'll do."
Dumbledore hesitated and looked like he would stop her, but he looked straight into her eyes instead and whispered "Just do as your heart sees fit, Miss Granger. You're a big girl now, and I can't stop you from making decisions anymore. I expect to see you later. Don't worry, Severus is safe in my hands."
"Thank you, Dumbledore".
Hermione went out of the ward, walked out of the hospital, a determined expression on her face. Once outside, she checked out for muggles, and, seeing none, she turned on the spot and desapparated.
She apparated before the front step of Charlie's house rang the bell and waited, whispering to herself, her eyes lit with fury.
"Ronald Weasley, you will pay, I swear I'll make you pay."