Severus battled the darkness he'd been slipping steadily in and out of for what seemed like years. His head felt light, his legs equally so, but his torso burned. He felt the familiar suppressant of a pain supplement coursing through him, rendering him weak, but it seemed to do little for the wounds in his stomach and chest.

He finally managed to groan into consciousness, and the moment his eyelids opened, they promptly closed for the sunlight that crept through the Hospital Wing's drawn curtains wasn't a pleasant sight to wake to. Severus allowed himself a moment to lay still and take in his bearings, and he felt unsettlingly incapable of raising his own body. Each time he tried, his arms would shake with the effort.

With a guttural growl, he gave up, and slid down his pillow in defeat. He peered around him to find that aside from Madame Pomfrey whom could be seen doting about in her office, the ward was fairly empty.

If you didn't count the young woman sitting beside him, of course.

Severus cocked his head to the right and was treated to the sight of a soundly sleeping Hermione Granger. She was curled rather intricately around a stiff wooden chair, her head bent at an odd and obviously uncomfortable position, her feet tucked up beneath her. Her hair was pulled back from her face and she looked the very picture of innocence.

But then he saw her arms.

It appeared their stay in the Dark Lord's dungeons did a number on her porcelain skin. Across her arms, from finger tips to her shoulders, where her tank top cut off his sight, were deep, ghastly, half-healed scars. In some places, he could make out whole words. Her arms where the only parts of her visible, but Severus was willing to bet his entire Gringott's account that those scars didn't stop at her tank top straps.

In that moment, she stirred lightly and stretched. Severus averted his eyes quickly, trying to look as though he, too, had just woken. When she saw his open eyes, she started.

"Professor," she whispered at first, but then her adrenaline started flowing, and the reality of it dawned on her. "Professor!" She flew to his bedside like there was a fire to put out, and took his proffered hand within both of her own. "Oh, thank goodness," she murmured. "I thought…Madame Pomfrey wasn't hopeful, I thought for sure—"

She broke off, apparently unable to finish for the brutal reality of what she thought was too horrific to wrap her mind around. Her concern sent more warmth into the pit of his stomach than she cared to admit, and he allowed her a light smile before patting the back of her hand.

"There, there, Miss Granger. You aren't through with me quite yet," he muttered rather formally. His brow furrowed. "How, erm—how long was I out, exactly?"

Hermione took the liberty of taking a seat on the edge of his bed. "The better part of two weeks now. For a long time, it was so touch and go, Dumbledore and I hardly left your side for fear we'd miss it if your health took a bad turn."

Severus tried once more to sit properly, and managed it this time with her help, though he begrudged it. "How on earth did we get out?"

Her brow furrowed. "You really don't remember a thing, do you?"

He shrugged. "Last thing I know, you were crawling about the floor casting curses and I thought for sure you'd get it hit yourself…when in reality, it was I who got hit minutes later."

Hermione nodded. "There was blood everywhere," she gasped and then swallowed hard, embarrassed by her reaction. "Well, Harry and the rest of the Order, as well as half the Ministry, cropped up minutes after your lost consciousness. Dumbledore destroyed Voldemort's Horcruxes, all seven of them, and left Harry in the warehouse so the two could battle fairly." She shook her head. "I was watching you bleed out, and watching him saunter into his death. It was a nightmare."

Severus gulped, greatly afraid to hear the outcome, but knew the revelation was inevitable.

"And?" he drawled.

A slow, wide smile crept onto her face. "We won. Harry was brilliant—he hadn't a scratch on him. Which, obviously, is more than you can say."

Snape nodded. "I'll be quite all right. And you, Miss Granger?"

She cocked an eyebrow and studied him. "What about me professor?"

He growled at her avoidance. "I am not blind, girl. I see what those monsters did to your arms." His voice softened when she started. "Miss—Hermione," he lamented, "are you all right?"

She smiled lightly, but a tear rolling down her cheek betrayed her. She studied her arms, turning them over as if investigating. "Lovely, aren't they? Bewitched, I think, to heal slower and less effectively than they should." She swallowed hard. "They're…everywhere."

Severus felt an ferocity he wasn't familiar with burning in his chest when she pulled at her shirt a bit to reveal the word "Mudblood" written across her stomach for the world to see. "Madame Pomfrey and I have hit a sort of standstill at trying to remove them. We've tried everything."

He tugged her shirt back down to hide the offending mark before it sent his temper soaring to dangerous heights. "I've a salve in my stores. I can't promise they'll disappear, but they will fade."

She inclined her head in thanks. "The funny thing is that I don't remember them cutting me at all," she murmured laughing, though both the sound and pronouncement were humorless. "They must've used their wands amidst a bought of the Cruciatus."

Severus bit the inside of his cheek to keep his anger in check. An outburst would only upset her further. He reached up tentatively to tuck a stray curl behind her ear before cupping her cheek, a public gesture that sent a wave of relief through her. She'd partly expected him to pretend their conversation in the dungeons was a figment of her imagination, so this indication that he had no such intentions sent her heart soaring excitedly.

He wiped away an escaped tear with his thumb and made her look him in the eye. "That is precisely what they did," he muttered softly, "I've seen them in action. But Hermione, they can't break you. They can break your bones and your body and your skin, and Merlin knows they've seen each of the three through, but they can't break you. And they won't."

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and leaned into him tentatively. When he didn't reject her, she wrapped her arms lightly around his neck and felt his settling around her, one hand rubbing her back very gently. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered.

He laughed lightly in her ear. "My dear," he muttered lightly, "I wasn't about to let you out of your promise so quickly!" She pulled back to look at him, and he smiled widely. "If I have the facts straight, I do believe you owe my your company for dinner one evening."

Author's Note: A little short, but I hadn't updated in a while and wanted to toss a bone out there, even if it is a scrawny one. PLEASE review!