One Day at a Time

Return to Hogwarts

Tarazet jumped awake and, with a startled look on his face, reflexively whipped out his wand with his right hand. "Oh, it's just you," he wheezed before visibly relaxing. "That's good. I thought I heard sounds but, I mean, I can't duel with my right hand. You know I'm left handed."

I heaved a relieved sigh: he was alive, and well enough to be awake and talking. He was also bleeding, from the looks of it, but I would take what I could get. Exhausted, and beginning to feel rather light-headed from all of my exertion, I sunk to the floor. "What happened?" I asked, gesturing towards his arm and the bloodied rags.

"There was a Death Eater battle. It was chaos. There were so many of us, and so many Aurors in this tiny tunnel, the Underground or whatever Muggles call it, and it was just chaos," he moaned. "One of the other Death Eaters, I didn't see who—or rather I saw who but they were wearing a mask, I mean obviously, so I couldn't give them a name—accidentally hit me with a curse." He was speaking in a rather hazy voice, and it was clear he was too exhausted for his mind to work perfectly clearly. I gathered enough details from his story, though, to know what had happened. He had been in one of the back-up regiments that had been called to the battle my regiment had started. I felt myself further calm down, knowing that he was in no active danger beyond whatever after-effects the curse might have.

"Is the blood on your sheets related to this?" I asked, still trying to comprehend that his injury was caused unintentionally.

"I've been keeping my arm wrapped up in cloths, but I think they slipped off one night. I was sleeping there until it became too much effort to go up and down the stairs to get to the kitchen," he mumbled, and with his bloody arm he gestured towards the kitchen door only a meter away from the couch he was on.

"Let me see your wound." I started gently peeling the bloodied rags off of his thin left arm and felt a look of revulsion form on my face at the sight. There was a large gash all the way from his bicep down to his wrist. It was gaining a yellowish-greenish tinge and was still actively bleeding, albeit very slowly, even though he had received it almost a week ago. When it reached his forearm the gash curved in such a way that it went parallel to the skull's open mouth in the Dark Mark, and made it seem as though its jaw was open impossibly wide in a maniacal laugh. It looked rather like the curse I had been hit with, and as soon as I thought that another wave of fatigue hit me. "Why didn't you go to St. Mungo's?" I asked, exhausted and exasperated at his injury.

"They'd see my Dark Mark," he said shortly, and he closed his eyes again, as though talking was too great of an effort.

I understood his logic, but that didn't mean he was going to heal on his own, and I felt another wave of worry and helplessness. "I got your letter, but I couldn't come any sooner," I blurt out, feeling rather guilty for my lack of action. "I couldn't leave Hogwarts."

Even with his eyes closed, a slight frown appeared on his face. "Was Snape bothering you or something?" he selflessly and weakly asked in a concerned tone, before continuing in a slightly annoyed tone, "Snape seems to keep sticking his nose into your business."

I let out a slight laugh at how far wrong my brother's guess was. "No, Severus has been fine. I—uh—" I struggled to think of something to say; I certainly couldn't say that I was injured at the same battle as him, because that would reveal I had been at the battle in the first place. I didn't want to lie to my brother, either, though. "Severus says that the curse Seginus and Matar used on me relapsed, so I haven't been very, uh, mobile, recently." There, that wasn't a lie. It was what the Potions Master had told the other professors, even if what he was saying itself wasn't true.

Tarazet opened his eyes, the concerned frown reappearing on his face. "Are you alright?"

I blinked at him disbelievingly, before replying, "I'm fine. You're the one lying bleeding on the couch."

He let out a sound that sounded like a snorted laugh before it withered into his wheezing breathing pattern. "I've been taking blood replenishing potions. I'm fine," he said in a feeble voice.

"Blood replenishing potions aren't going to be enough for Dark Magic like this," I sighed. "Does it hurt?"

"Like a Cruciatus curse," his thin, pale lips trembled.

I held my head in my hands and worriedly thought about what I could do to. My annoyance at not being able to come up with any ideas spilled into my tone as I said, "You know, you could have said something more specific in your letter than 'Sorry, I'm too unwell to have lunch this week.'"

His shoulders made a small movement, and I guessed that he was trying to shrug them. "I promised we could have lunch this week, and I didn't want you to think I was ditching you. Besides, I can't exactly write, 'This curse hit me right on my Dark Mark.' What if it was intercepted?"

Frustrated, and still worried about him, I spitefully continued in my annoyed tone, "What if I hadn't picked up on your hint? Or what if I had just decided to not come? You would have had to do something, and then maybe you would have been too injured to do anything!"

He let out a single wheeze of a laugh, before weakly replying, "But I knew you'd come. You may be working for Dumbledore and friendly with Harry Potter, but you're the same person you always were."

My annoyed, worried demeanor faded into a smile and I felt a warmth in my heart at his faith in me. "I'll think of something and come back tomorrow," I sighed, and with that I shakily got to my feet. Once I reached the threshold of the room, I turned around again; it looked as though my brother had already fallen back asleep.

The next day I apparated to Tarazet's house at around the same time, only this time instead of drinking the potion Severus gave me in the morning, I had put it in a thermos and brought it with me. I felt much weaker than I had yesterday, and I dragged myself into the house to find my brother in exactly the same position I had left him; I vaguely wondered if he had woken up once since I left.

"Tarazet," I gently awoke him again, holding onto the arm of the sofa to keep myself standing despite how faint I felt. His eyes fluttered open, and a small smile formed on his face as he quietly mumbled a greeting. "Drink this," I commanded, placing the thermos in his right hand. He finished drinking, and I took the thermos back. "Move your feet," I said tiredly, and I sat down at the foot of the couch, too exhausted to stand much longer. Not being familiar with the curse that had struck him, I had been unable to think of anything to help him heal short of the potion that Sev brewed for me. If the potion didn't make an impact, I would have to find my way to the library and start doing research.

It seemed that neither Tarazet nor I had the energy to say much of anything and, after resting for what felt like an hour, I staggered outside and apparated back to Hogwarts. I felt a wave of frustration that I seemed to be so much weaker today than yesterday and vaguely wondered if my failure to drink the potion made that large of a difference in my strength. Once at the Forbidden Forest, I had to rest for another half hour before slowly beginning the long trek to the Slytherin dungeons. I was in a narrow, deserted hallway when I started to feel the last of my energy desert me. With a pang, I remembered the last time I had collapsed in a hallway and whispered "Evincious." A minute later, Sev was walking down the hall towards me, and I felt my heart swell with a sense of relief at seeing him.

"What are you doing so far from your quarters?" he demanded. I didn't reply but instead nearly collapsed and put my arms around him, unable to support all of my own weight myself any longer. At first he seemed surprised, but then he put his arms around me to keep me from falling and continued in his annoyed tone, "You can't go exhausting yourself like this. You need to rest."

I vaguely nodded and put my head on his shoulder in an attempt to make the world stop spinning. Part of me was quite focused on my fatigue, but another part of me couldn't help but realize that I was essentially hugging Sev. I was determined to not look into his inky black eyes, irrationally afraid that he might somehow recognize the love in mine, and so I instead stared at intently at a spot of wall over his shoulder.

"Let's get you back to your quarters," he said gruffly, and breaking the embrace he cast a charm to make it easier for me to support my own weight. Once we reached my room, he told me to rest and disappeared, presumably to brew another potion; I felt as though I must be single-handedly emptying the Hogwarts cupboards of potion ingredients. Sev briefly returned with, sure enough, another potion, and he handed it to me before taking a seat on a nearby chair. "Where were you going? Or coming from?" he sounded annoyed, and I noticed his dark eyes were locked onto mine.

"What's it to you?" I said, not wanting to meet his gaze and knowing he wouldn't approve of me leaving Hogwarts.

"What's it to me? Do you not remember that I told you to not travel more than necessary, because of how close the curse landed to your heart? Are you not aware that if your heart fails to function you die?" he sounded furious. "Look me in the eyes, Liseli." I grudgingly tore my gaze away from a patch of ceiling and looked into his eyes; there was something almost calming about their endless, obsidian-coloured depth. "Why were you leaving Hogwarts?" he asked, still angry.

"Tarazet wasn't feeling well. I went to check on him," I grudgingly admitted.

Severus's face was still angry, only now there was an element of confusion to it, too. He stated one shocked word: "What?"

"Tarazet owled me almost a week ago, and said he wasn't feeling well. I went to check on him today and yesterday. Turns out, he was wounded in the same battle I was. Same type of curse, too, by the looks of it," I stated, mildly annoyed at having the information dragged out of me.

Sev was still looking deep into my eyes. "You gave him your dose of potion?" he sounded disbelieving.

"Yes, I did," I said curtly, sure that he was about to berate me.

"Why would you do that? He's horrible to you," he continued in the same tone.

I gave him a surprised look; I had not been expecting him to take that angle. "What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"All he does is insult you, attack you. Why would you sacrifice your own health for his?" he rephrased his question in the same tone.

"What am I supposed to do, let him suffer?" I said in a confused tone. To me, my course of action seemed obvious. "I wouldn't let him suffer. That'd be just cruel."

Sev was still looking at me intently, only now his facial expression had changed slightly. In addition to the disbelief, there was now an element of awe and something else I couldn't identify. It was the same something that had flitted across his only a few times before, and whatever it was, it looked utterly foreign on his face. I had never seen him so discombobulated. He stood up and softly shaking his head I caught a few of his whispered words as he walked away "…can't believe…your brother…too selfless…"

Severus forced me to rest, him stopping by frequently to check on me (or to make sure I hadn't run away again, as I thought.) It was the next day, a Saturday, and he was sitting in one of the chairs in my room reading. Suddenly, he said in a would-be casual voice, "Where does your brother live?"

I frowned and wondered what he was getting at. "Assuming you mean Tarazet, he lives at my mother and father's old house."

"What's the address?" he continued in his conversational tone.

"I don't know; what am I, a Muggle? Everybody either owls or apparatus," I said, suspicious. "Why are you asking?"

I heard him harshly exhale, and just from that I could tell he was annoyed before he even opened his mouth. "I brewed a double dose of potion. One's for your brother, because evidently that's the only way I'll get you to drink your dosage."

I was shocked. Severus barely knew Tarazet, and judging from the few times they had met, he had already started hating my brother. And yet he was still helping him, even if he did so with annoyance. I felt a wave of gratitude towards Sev wash over my heart.

"I can apparate you," I said softly.

"No. You'll weaken yourself too much," he stated in a final-sounding tone.

"I'm strong enough. I've done it before," I argued. "And I only need to show you where it is once."

He was giving me a steady look before he grudgingly said, "Fine. After that you rest. You haven't been able to teach for long enough as it is," he finished with a weakly annoyed snarl.

We left towards the Forbidden Forest, and he cast the charm to make it easier for me to support my own weight. I was fine until we reappeared after apparating, at which point I lost my balance and had to tightly onto his arm to steady myself again. Looking at the small worn down house, I felt the need to defend its dismal appearance and I lamely explained, "Tarazet hasn't been living here for very long, and before that my parents hadn't lived here for over five years." It seemed as though he didn't particularly require an explanation, though, and together we walked up to the front door. "Don't tell Tarazet I'm a Death Eater," I suddenly remembered to add. "He doesn't know."

Severus gave a brief nod as we walked into the dusty living room. Tarazet was, for once, awake, but otherwise he was in the same position on the couch. "What is he doing here?" Tarazet gestured towards Sev with narrowed eyes; it sounded as though he was trying to ask in a menacing tone, only his voice was so feeble it came off rather pathetically.

"I brought him to help you," I explained in an annoyed tone.

Severus was looking at my brother with a very annoyed expression on his face, but none the less he approached Tarazet's wounded arm.

"I don't need your help," my brother glared at the greasy-haired man and clamped his right hand over the cloth on his left forearm, keeping it firmly in place.

"I'm a Death Eater, too," Sev snapped, harshly adding, "Let me see your arm."

With one last suspicious glare at Sev, Tarazet haltingly took the rags off to reveal the long, deep gash and his Dark Mark. Sev set about waving his wand and handing him the potion to drink, while I sat on the floor and rested. He was still casting spells when I heard him mutter "This could have killed you eventually if it wasn't treated. You're damn lucky Lee is so forgiving."

"Lee? Who's that?" my brother said in a confused voice. I looked up at Sev, rather surprised that he was using the nickname he had created for me when I had argued that Severus, at three syllables, was too long of a name.

"Your sister," he snapped.

"Never heard anybody call her Lee, before," he continued in his fatigued voice. He closed his eyes after he finished the sentence and I couldn't tell if he had fallen back asleep or not.

I continued watching Severus as he worked on my brother's wound for a period of time longer. He looked confident, skilled, sure in every spell he cast. I opened my moth and quietly said, "Thank you for doing this, Sev."

For a split second he stopped what he was doing. He mumbled something that sounded like "It's nothing," before hastily continuing his movements again.

…

A/N: Hee hee, I have far too much with Snape using legilimency on unsuspecting Liseli. On a different note, thank you very very much to angelofire, tibys, and PollyWantCookie for reviewing! Reviews are always appreciated.