Author's Notes: I'm so excited that you're all enjoying this! A quick note for any of you waiting for any other of my stories to be updated I have a list of the when's for them all on my facebook group. If you wish to join the group just search Astarte Lydianna in facebook and the group should come up. I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day yesterday! My husband spoilt me which was lovely even if he woke me up to give them to me at 5am before he left for work and even though he was at work until gone 8pm so there wasn't much point in going out for a meal or anything we had a takeaway and chocolates indoors instead. Anyway, I'm about a quarter of the way into my next chapter now so I'm posting this today as promised and on with the story!
Disclaimer: You guys know the drill!
Chapter Twelve
She had only reached the classroom when she changed her mind and went back to his office. She was determined. He looked surprised to see her come practically storming back into his office but recovered quickly and waited for her to explain.
"Actually Prof- Severus, I'd rather stay." She said firmly. "If you're still healing from the battle then there must be a way to speed it up a little."
"I hardly see how that is any of your business." He countered, narrowing his gaze threateningly.
"Well, firstly it's my business because you're supposed to be mentoring me through my degree and an ongoing injury could at some point affect work. Secondly, as I'm now your colleague it is a duty to take notice of your wellbeing and lastly because I actually rather like you and would prefer not to watch you acting like a stubborn Gryffindor and suffering." She snapped.
"I am most certainly not a stubborn Gryffindor!" he practically roared at her, getting to his feet and appearing in front of her in a heartbeat. Hermione felt her nerves kick in as he towered down over her but took a deep breath and summoned her courage.
"You could have fooled me! You may not act first and think later quite like some but you most certainly do have more than one Gryffindor trait. Now, unfortunately for you I am a real stubborn Gryffindor and I want to help you, or at least the truth from you. So I'll ask again, was it your injury bothering you yesterday?" she replied meeting his furious gaze. Silence fell between the two of them as they continued what could almost be labelled as a staring contest.
"Yes." He said finally. "Satisfied?"
"A little." She shrugged before clearing her throat. "That day when I saw it, your neck was healed – why not the one on your chest?"
"It was received before the battle even begun; it was a completely separate injury, as for why it hasn't healed – I was under the impression that we had already covered that topic." He replied.
"Dark magic...but that snake was a horcrux, that's dark magic and that healed." She pointed out. She noticed his jaw clench.
"And who healed it?" he practically spat at her.
"I didn't do anything spectacular! I only healed it enough to keep you alive long enough to see a real healer." She protested. He suddenly looked very resigned and moved back around his desk to his seat.
"All the healers did was treat the venom, the wound was already gone." He told her. "You did a good job."
"Why exactly does who healed it matter?" she asked softly.
"Dark curses are dark because of their intention; light magic so to speak heals dark curses but the healing time of a wound is affected by one's own magical core also. Healers have good intentions, it's their job to do so but that means that they get relatively used to seeing injuries and it affects the way their healing magic works, their magic works in a very clinical way unless there is a personal connection to the patient." He explained.
"Alright, so St Mungo's healers don't have the level of connection to have the good intention "oomph" behind their healing to heal a dark curse...that seems pretty unfortunate." She frowned.
"Normally they would, but when trying to heal someone corrupted by dark magic it is a little harder than that. The Healers at St Mungo's could do nothing for it at all, Poppy had some luck – she managed to heal it somewhat and take the worst of the pain away." He explained.
"Because she has a personal connection to you so her intentions were stronger." Hermione concluded. "But why couldn't she heal it completely?"
"That would be due to many years of treating a death eater Miss Granger. There's only so much dark magic one healer can take I believe. Not to mention the amount of healing that she had to do during and after the war...I suspect it could take as much as another couple of years before she has her full strength back." He explained.
"You weren't a death eater." Hermione protested.
"I suppose the Dark Mark just places itself on anyone just for fun?" he snorted.
"That was different, you weren't the first person to make a mistake as a teenager...I put up with Ron and Harry did I not?" she grinned to break the tension.
"Quite correct." He conceded.
"So...if I could heal you before, I could heal you now?" she asked, gesturing to his chest.
"Most certainly not." He snapped.
"Why not?" she frowned.
"Because I said that you cannot, end of discussion." He barked. She glanced at the jar of bruise salve still in her hand for a moment.
"You have helped me plenty...this is just one small thing – why can you not allow that?" she asked. "Do you want to suffer?"
"You are being foolish Hermione, if you consider this a small thing." He said gravely. "It is a dark curse, to heal it the caster takes the dark magic into themselves and you've already done that once."
"A mere few moments of pain to take away yours permanently? You don't think that's a price worthwhile? Because I do." she asked. "Even if you ignore every time you helped me in the past, as it could be passed off as me being Harry Potter's friend; you helped me last night when you didn't have to, and you gave me this as well and allowed me to keep it a secret."
"Bloody Gryffindor's! I suppose you are going to refuse to shut up until I allow this?" he growled. Sensing triumph she grinned and nodded. He flicked his wrist and she felt the wards appear on the door. He looked suitably uncomfortable as he reluctantly reached for the buttons of his coat. Hermione flushed slightly and couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't asked anyone else to heal him...was it through not wanting anyone to have to take the dark magic from the mark or was it that he felt he should still be suffering...which was unlikely given that he was now allowing her to heal him.
He made a move to stand and she shook her head, instead walking around the desk to where he sat. She eyed the half open white shirt slightly anxiously; it wasn't every day one saw the formidable Potions Master in anything less than head to toe black. She drew her wand and shyly tugged the right side of his shirt away, revealing sparse amounts of dark hair against pale skin and a rather large bandage. Putting her wand on the desk for a moment, she carefully removed the bandage and let out a gasp.
"This isn't healing at all!" she gasped in horror at the angry red wound that had barely scabbed over, the skin either side of the wound red and pink and sore. Now she knew why he didn't want anyone to heal him...his magic had taken too many dark curses and cast too many also to heal properly without using further dark magic; he was ashamed of it and the thought brought hot tears to her eyes, that she fought to hold back to prevent further embarrassment for either of them.
She reached for her wand and shakily touched it to the wound, before murmuring several incantations and then applying dittany ointment which he passed to her. She could feel the tension leaking from his body with every moment that passed as the wound began to shrink. Finally, she returned to casting the final incantation that would remove the dark magic from the wound itself allowing the healing to work. She felt the sting of it in her wrist but didn't care, for him to have suffered with this wound all this time a slight pain was nothing and with that thought her tears finally escaped her. She hoped that due to the mass of hair covering her face he wouldn't notice and he didn't appear to until her tears not only covered her skin but his also. Thankfully he said nothing and as she noticed that the wound had now vanished, to be replaced by no more than a purple line across his skin, she stepped quickly backwards and practically fell to the floor as the pain reached her chest.
For a moment there was silence, save for her heavy breathing as she waited for the pain to fade. Once it had done so, she stood and crossed back to the other side of the desk not daring to look at his face yet.
"I will obviously tell no one." She said quietly, retrieving the bruise salve from the desk again and heading towards the door.
"Hermione," his voice caused her to pause, he stood behind his desk shirt still half open and ruffled and looking more vulnerable than she had ever seen him, which was saying something since she had seen his near death experience...even then he hadn't looked so completely unguarded, except for maybe when he was talking to Harry. "Thank you."
She nodded mutely and left, quietly closing the door behind her. She let out a deep breath but held it together until she got to her own rooms. Then she finally let the tears fall freely. She wasn't just crying for him, it was for everyone that they had lost, nearly lost and every innocent person injured...every family torn apart, every student living at Hogwarts because they had no parents to go home to...her parents that would never know her, hold her and love her again.
She supposed that Professor Snape's near death stuck in her mind most strongly because it had been not only violent and ruthless, but because she was so closely involved in it; stood metres away while he lay dying, trying to pass to Harry the vital information that they needed...trying desperately to save his life. The memory just haunted her.
Down the hall Severus Snape found himself in a similarly shell shocked state; the Gryffindor had overwhelmed him. He wasn't surprised at her stubbornness to help him when he refused, or her willingness to take pain upon herself to heal him...that was very characteristic of her house, it was that she cared. Not just in a caring for humanity kind of way, he had heard her intake of breath when she realised the wound had barely changed since she had last seen it and he had heard her slight sniffling from beneath her hair and felt her hot tears falling onto his skin. Hermione Granger actually cared about him as a person and he couldn't remember the last time he had genuinely felt that someone else had...
It wasn't until three days later that they even spoke again, she hadn't had the guts to initiate conversation with him after crying in front of him and he wasn't the sort to initiate conversation with anyone unless he was shouting at them. They had left the Great Hall at the same time and therefore made their way down to the dungeons nearly side by side, which seemed rather awkward in silence.
"I've finished my last essay if you'd like it?" she spoke up.
"Whenever you are next passing my office then." He nodded.
"It's the other end of the same corridor, hardly a mission." She scoffed. "I'll just drop it by a little later shall I?"
"Very well." He nodded.
"I did have one question..." she said quietly.
"Go on." He nodded.
"Sixth year...you healed Draco from what Harry said were rather severe wounds..." she trailed off, wondering how to phrase her question without insulting him.
"You want to know how I did that but cannot heal myself." He surmised. She nodded. "Intent again Miss Granger, if I were to try to heal a stranger in the street it would almost certainly fail."
"Love." She murmured. "That makes sense...real love gives our magic almost impossible and endless power, as your godson you truly cared for him and wanted to heal him. So, if it were Draco you were trying to heal now; it would work?"
"Are you planning on causing my godson bodily harm?" he asked dryly. "Because if you are, forewarning me possibly isn't the most prudent course of action."
"If I were to plan on causing him harm I would definitely not tell you first." She agreed, and then sniggered to herself. "Besides, why bother cursing him when it's so much more satisfying to punch him in the face myself?"
"You're not serious?" he asked, looking somewhat shocked, which only served to make her laughed more.
"I only did it once." She replied. "He deserved it and it left no permanent damage, besides he could have fought back if it really bothered him that much."
"He wouldn't have dared." He replied darkly. "Draco was raised in high wizarding society; it is simply not acceptable for a wizard to beat a witch."
"Is that why they had Bellatrix do it?" she muttered. He paused and looked her in the face but she had trouble reading his expression.
"I had hoped that that was a rumour." He said. Hermione shook her head. "Would you mind telling me what exactly happened at Malfoy Manor?"
"One day." She nodded, not feeling ready to talk about it with him – after all it wasn't like they were friends. "I'll drop my work in for you in a bit." He gave her a curt nod and left her at the entrance to her rooms.