Hermione woke to excruciating pain and started to panic.
What had happened? Where was she? Was she still bleeding? Was she dying? She couldn't be dead already, because she could still feel pain, right?
She slowly opened her eyes. She blinked as they adjusted and then she realized she was in Severus's living room. Gathering her bearings and fighting the pain, she slowly lifted her head to look around.
A hand pressed into her gently,
"No, you don't" came the low voice and Hermione released a sigh as she lay her head back down. She was with Severus. She was safe.
The hand stroked her nose softly and Hermione glanced up. Her head was in his lap, her front legs draped over his bent knee, the rest of her body lying flat on a thick blanket. She could feel his other leg stretched out and along her side. They were on the floor directly in front of the fireplace.
She studied his face.
He was pale and his eyes were slightly red around the edges as if he'd been crying. She wanted to immediately dismiss that thought, but she realized there was a small possibility it had happened. She'd broken through his shell, after all, and she knew he had feelings. She'd been petrified of what was going to happen to her, she couldn't imagine being the one to see her body lying on the floor gaping open with blood pumping out.
His hair fell forward to the sides of his face as he looked down at her, casting dancing shadows on his cheeks where the light of the crackling fire shone through.
"I'm so sorry Hermione, I should have been there -" Hermione shook her head quickly to stop him, gritting her sharp teeth as the pain welled up. His hands stilled her face and he murmured, "Ok, shh..." He was quiet another moment before he took a slow breath and started talking in a low, quiet, carefully controlled voice.
"Potter didn't know it was you... I honestly thought Albus had told the both of them about the situation... It doesn't excuse his actions, he never should have attacked you, whether he thought you were just my familiar or not," he paused, taking another slow breath. Hermione could see he was fighting to suppress the anger that was boiling inside him, and she nuzzled him reassuringly.
"He cast my own spell against you, I can't believe it, he must have remembered it from the Order dueling training from the summer," another slow breath, "It is a nasty spell. I created it when I was younger and I've never regretted it more than I have now," He looked down at her, his eyes soft and sad, and Hermione frowned at him. She did not blame this on him, not at all.
"You're too kind," he whispered, stroking a thumb under her eye, before continuing. "It gave you multiple deep slice wounds, and I tried to help you but Albus's damn "protective spell" wouldn't allow me to," his voice grew very cold, "He blocked me, and me only. He seemed to think every time you looked my direction I was going to stun you,"
A longer silence this time.
"I sent Draco to get Albus, but it was a few minutes before he arrived, and it took him some time to heal you. Healing Animagus's in their animal form is extremely complicated. Their bodies are not very accepting of magic, but Albus managed to stop the bleeding and stabilized you. You lost a lot of blood. He could have killed you, it was so close..." His Adam's apple bobbed and his face tightened. Hermione lowered her eyes from his face and burrowed herself into him, and she felt his arms grip her tightly.
"You're going to be on the mend for a while. I brought you back here, now that Albus has removed his bloody brilliant protective spell, and I cleaned your wounds the muggle way and stitched you up by hand with dissolvable stitches. I contacted Poppy to get ahold of some lion's blood for you, because Blood Replenishing is for human consumption only. I hooked you up and gave you a blood transfusion. I had to resort to some books, because, although I'm a half-blood, muggle medicine has come a long way since my youth,"
His hand stroked her ear.
"It worked, no problems. You just need time to rest and recover now, although since you're awake I'm afraid I must let Albus know," He titled her head up so she could see him.
"I'm sorry, I'll try to make them leave as quickly as I can,"
Hermione rolled her eyes, trying to be playful, and he gave her a small smile. He shifted her slightly so he could stretch up to reach the small bowl of Floo powder, and he grabbed a handful before settling back down and tossing it over her head and into the flames.
A second later Dumbledore's head appeared.
"How is she?" He asked eagerly, to which Severus replied with a scowl and a gruff,
"She's awake. Give us a moment to get out of the way of the fire, and then you better make it quick,"
His head disappeared without replying.
"Ok, Hermione. I know you hurt, but it's another half hour until I can give you more medication, and we do have to move so we don't get trampled," his voice was calm and patient, and Hermione nodded. She could deal with a little more pain, she would rather not have a bundle of Harry, Ron, and the Headmaster landing on her.
"We're just going to go across to the couch, try not to move and it should be ok," she nodded again and he shifted out from under her, setting her head gently on the floor. Pulling out his wand he cast a silent Moblicorpus. Hermione felt herself leave the ground, pain shooting through her muscles as she tried to keep her body parallel, and Severus said quickly,
"Relax, you won't flop, I promise,"
She did, and was happy to find that her body did indeed stay straight, the only thing drooping towards the floor was her lax tail. In a mere second she was hovering over the couch... But without Severus.
Blind panic gripped her and she started squirming, pawing the air towards him, momentarily oblivious to the excruciating pain shooting through her.
His eyes widened and he moved closer, trying to calm her while still lowering her slowly.
A yelp escaped her and he swore,
"Fuck, Hermione, it's ok, shh you're fine, I'm right here," his voice was so gentle and smooth, and his touch comforting, and she stilled, her control coming back.
"Here, I'm here," he repeated, sliding under her body once more and then lowering her down between his legs and onto his chest. She sighed, looking at him apologetically, and his eyes warmed and he chuckled softly.
"It's ok Hermione, I don't mind. I know you're scared, I'll stay with you. I won't let anything happen to you again," his eyes turned serious as he spoke, and she gave him a low whine in response, touched at how kind he was being. He smiled at her and flicked his wrist, the blanket from the floor flying in the air towards him. He grabbed it and tossed it over her.
"Good?" He asked. She nodded, resting her head against his chest, and she felt him respond by pressing his chin to the top of her skull, his other hand moving under the blanket to rub in between her shoulder blades.
For a moment, she forgot that she was a lioness, imagining that she was doing this as Hermione, and she felt her lips curl into a smile.
That is until the Floo activated and Harry, Ron, and Dumbledore came through one after another.
Eyebrows rose in surprise as they took in the companionable sight before them, but all three of them remained silent as they looked at the lioness in his lap.
Hermione tensed at their arrival, and Severus felt himself make a soft sound of comfort and reassurance without even thinking about it.
He was rewarded by her relaxing into him, and Severus tore his eyes away from her and back to his intruders. They were not worthy of guest status.
"'Mione, I'm so sorry," Harry started, making to move forward towards her. Severus scowled warningly at him and Hermione growled softly.
"Harry," Albus cautioned, and Harry gave him a sheepish look and stepped back. Ron was absolutely green, staring at the lioness in his arms as if he'd never seen her before, and Severus cast a stern glare at him, daring him to vomit. He blinked, swallowed, and seemed to gain a little bit of control over himself, but his eyes were still wide in shock as he looked back at Hermiome.
"Harry and Ronald have been made aware of the situation, and will not speak a word of your identity, Hermione," Hermione glanced up and caught Severus's eyes, she looked incredibly irritated.
Albus really had no idea about priorities. Apparently not much had changed since Severus was a child and Lupin had almost killed him. Did Albus care about Severus almost dying? No. He cared about making sure Severus never opened his mouth so his precious Gryffindor wouldn't be expelled. And even now, all Albus cared about was making sure his plans stayed in tact, not about the life that had almost been extinguished. Severus's eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw at the thought.
"Nothing has changed, you will still be posing as Severus's familiar," at this another low growl escaped, this one in annoyance rather than defensive warning.
Albus narrowed his eyes.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but this is not up for discussion" he said firmly. Severus groaned.
"For Merlin's sake, she doesn't give a fuck about that Albus! She's a little put out by the fact Potter almost killed her, a subject you seem to be neatly avoiding,"
Harry didn't move but spoke up,
"Seriously Hermione, I didn't know it was you, I would never hurt you, I thought you were just Snape's familiar - "
This growl was much louder and much more menacing. Severus fought a smirk.
Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise, and he swallowed nervously, thinking over what he'd said and what might have offended her.
"'Mione, Harry's right," Ron said, oblivious to the danger of the words he was about to say, "We were just trying to get at Snape, he's a nasty git, you can't argue that, and just think about what his real familiar would be like! It'd be a monster! And then you went out and roared at the class 'cuz no one was working, what were we supposed to think? Anyways, he deserved i-"
RRROOUUARR
Hermione snapped, lifting her head into the air and cutting Ron off mid-syllable, his mouth still partially forming the sound he was about to say. Hermione's claws had unconsciously unsheathed and were currently pinned into Severus's flesh quite deeply, but it was worth the pain to see himself being defended. And she had roared at the class for not working? He smiled smugly.
Ron sputtered, completely taken off guard, and exchanged an incredulous look with Harry, who had a look of dawning comprehension on his face. Dumbledore had been shocked as well, and jumped a little, something which pleased Severus to no end. Now he was looking quite happy, which immediately caused Severus to scowl at him.
"Wait, 'Mione..." Harry said slowly, "You... You actually like Snape?!"
Ron's red eyebrows darted up even farther,
"Bloody hell," he said under his breath.
Peering down at Hermione, he saw her throw them a look of "No shit" and the boys once again exchanged glances and Harry murmured,
"Oh," clearly not sure how to take the information he had just received.
Albus clapped his hands together enthusiastically,
"Well that's settled!" He said, his blue eyes twinkling. Severus raised a lip at him in disgust.
"No it very well isn't! What is their punishment?"
"That, Severus, is none of your concern," he replied airily, stepping into the fireplace and disappearing before Severus could argue. Harry and Ron stepped towards the fireplace after him, each grabbing a handful of Floo Powder.
Ron went first, casting Hermione a sorrow filled look, and said softly,
"I'm so sorry 'Mione, I really am," and he was gone.
Harry looked slowly from Severus to Hermione, frowning, before gathering himself together and saying a little stiffly,
"I'm sorry I hurt you Hermione, but I couldn't have known," and then he too was gone, leaving both Hermione and Severus with anger welling up inside them at his immature and frankly astonishingly inconsiderate departure as well as Dumbledore's apparent lack of discipline regarding the matter.