Disclaimer: The amazing JKR owns these characters.
Chapter 2. Going Nowhere Fast
He awoke with a start, but was not certain he was awake or it was a continuation of the nightmare. He could not move, but he was certain that he was no longer on the floor of the Shrieking Shack. He could not see, but he could no longer smell the dust and mold that had filled the building for years. There was no scent of decaying wood and disintegrating plaster. The acrid smell of blood spilled over time was no longer in the air. He could not smell the odor of angst from the werewolf who had occupied the building so often over the past twenty years.
He was aware of the sounds of someone sleeping nearby. It was accompanied by the scent of a woman. Not the aroma of the shampoo she used (the cherry and almond aroma was nice), but the odor of the essence of her being. It wasn't the smell of fresh linen that had been laundered and hung out in the sunshine to dry. That scent was there, too. No this is the unique pheromone issued by a witch. He was aware that he had encountered this scent before, but it had been some time since he had renewed its acquaintance.
He tried to speak, but the pain in his throat was so sharp that it brought back the nightmare he had tossed off. He remembered Nagini, Voldemort's snake, and the dagger-like stabbing of her fangs into the side of his throat. He tried to reach up and feel the wound marks, but his arms would not move. As he tried to turn his head he found he could not do so.
He thought he was opening his eyes, but all was black. Now he was feeling panic move into the pit of his stomach. Who was in the room with him? What was going on? When is something to happen? What day is it? Where was he? Why was he here? How did he get here?
"Take a deep breath," he thought. "Good, you are still alive. Not good, you are supposed to be dead." His thoughts went on as though he were carrying on a conversation with … with whom? "Is it over? It seems eerily calm to be waging a war, but where am I? The other person is stirring- Wait, I hear a baby. Who has a baby?"
"Are you awake?" the kind voice asked. He heard the creaking of the rocker as she rose. Her footsteps echoed as she tiptoed across the floor. The quiet noise was deafening.
"Definitely a woman." Her scent hovered over him and mixed with her magic he could almost see her aura. Well, not see, but he could feel the electricity of it. He could sense it. She was alive, but what was he. He tried to answer and open his eyes, but nothing worked.
"Well, I am going to tend to Teddy and bring a pot of tea back. Maybe you will be awake then," the voice said.
"Who's Teddy? Why would someone assume I know who Teddy is? Nott? No, Theo Senior is not in any shape to procreate and Theo Junior was too busy avoiding conflict to find a pure-blood witch to engage with. Ew, not going there. Don't want to think about seventy year-old men or seventeen year-old boys having sex. I don't even think Nott Senior is seventy, but Merlin he looks old. I wonder how old Merlin would be if he were alive today. Am I alive? I cannot move. I cannot see. I cannot talk. I can hear. I can feel pain. I can smell. I can think-though it is a bit rambling."
He heard the sound of someone entering a nearby room by floo. The voices were hushed, but he could make out what they were saying. "No change," Almond cherry said.
"It's been three days," came voice two.
This was also a woman. Older. "Was there a hint of a brogue?" It might be Minerva. If she were to come near he would be able to tell for certain.
A younger woman's voice was next. "I hope I did okay by saving him."
His ears perked up. "Are my ears deceiving me? That sounds like a student, no make that former student, one of the brightest he had the privilege to teach. Who am I kidding? If I am dead, I might as well be cliché. Hermione Granger is the brightest student to have graced the halls of Hogwarts. If given the chance to complete her schooling she would, undoubtedly, score more N.E.W.T.s than anyone in the history of the school." He strained to listen and not allow his brain to wander.
She was continuing, "… so, he's still alive. Hasn't shown any other signs?"
Almond cherry answered, "I talked to him when Teddy woke up, but he didn't even move."
"Do you think he might be in a coma? I know when I was petrified my brain was still working and I could hear and smell and sense the things going on around me." Hermione commented, "I just couldn't seem to come out to play."
Old woman replied, "Poppy said to keep him comfortable and she would be here shortly, but she didn't want to create suspicion by disappearing with us. Harry was going to talk to Kingsley."
"Damn, Biddies. Talking about me like I was a piece of meat instead of a man. Make that a vegetable. Why would Harry want to talk to Kingsley? Why are they keeping my location a secret? Why hasn't Poppy been here to see me if they aren't going to ship me off to St. Mungo's? I need to relieve myself really soon or it isn't going to be pretty."
The women came back into the room. Yes, he could tell it was Minerva by her gait and the last speech. Now he smelled the woods and heather on her, but also the smell of smoke and curse residue lingered. "Wonder who has been getting the sharp end of her wand lately. And her tongue, jeez how that woman could make a person wither under a good tongue-lashing."
It was slowly coming back to him. Hermione and Minerva had brought him to Andromeda's after finding him in the Shrieking Shack. He had taken anti-venom, but there had been so much blood loss. He had no strength and could not move. Hermione had stuffed the bezoar down his throat. That's the acrid taste that had been lingering in his mouth. Then the stinging of the phoenix tears on his neck. "Where in the world had the girl, no woman, gotten those?" He continued his stroll down memory lane. They brought him here and unceremoniously left him on the hard surface of what? What was he lying on?
"Poppy gave me this to dose him with if he were not responding," Hermione said. "It has foxglove in it. It isn't quite like digitalis that they give muggles for cardiac therapy nor seizures, but it should wake him up. She said it was one of the potions he developed that works with the mandrake which wakens the petrified."
"Can you help me move him upstairs to the guest room?" Cherry almond, no Andromeda asked. "The bed is softer than the dining table and he can have more privacy."
"No wonder this is such a hard place to lie. What would Mother say with me and my feet on the dining table? That is really bad when you are visiting. Oh, and my butt, too? This is the strangest-"
"Hey! Be careful. That's my head you just bumped into the door when you levitated me, Minerva." He felt his body moving again around a corner.
"Dromeda, can't you steer any better. It is like being on a roller coaster. Up and down, up and down." They must be moving him up the stairs like he was a piece of furniture.
"Hermione, you are dropping my feet. Yes, up a little more. No, that tickles and I cannot move. Stop! I am going crazy. Stop it you stupid dunderhead!" Giddy now and unable to laugh, his unseeing eyes were tearing.
"Hey, I think he just reacted to something in the levitation. His toes twitched right after you bumped his head," Hermione giggled. "Wonder if one was a reaction to the other. I wonder-" She continued to laugh at his predicament. "He cannot be ticklish, can he?"
"The bushy haired, know-it-all was really getting on my nerves. That is if my nerves could feel anything. Okay, she is totally irritating, but if it tickles, I must be able to feel."
Then he was alone again. This time he sunk into the feather bed and was cuddled by a down comforter. "Damn, it is too hot in here," he shouted in his mind. He tried to kick off some of the bedding. No luck. Then sleep overtook him again.
"It must be morning," he thought. "I can feel the sun shining on my face through the window. I wonder if I can open my eyes." He let out a deep breath, then inhaled another. The window was open and the fresh air filled his lungs.
"Severus, are you awake?" Cherry almond asked. He would never think of her as Andromeda first again, she was Cherry almond. "I brought some warm, wet cloths to soak your eyes. There seem to be an abundance of crust built up. You must have been crying awfully hard for that to happen."
He felt the soothing cloths being laid across his eyes. His finger twitched, then a toe. Maybe he could move again on his own.
"Hermione brought more medicine and your wand. She is such a thoughtful girl," Cherry almond continued her soliloquy. "She has been here most of the last two days and nights. She wanted to be here when you awoke, but she was falling asleep on her feet so I sent her off to sleep."
The cool air swept across his face as the cloth was removed. Then he felt the gentle washing of his face and care around his eyes.
"Thank," he squawked out. "It wasn't even a complete thought and it was singular. It should have been plural or had another word attached." He opened his eyes to the smiling face of his Florence Nightingale.
Charms Class Assignment #2 #2: Anti-Apparition Charm
Prompt: Plant: Foxglove