Chapter 81: Running Afoul

{A/N: Here's Another Update...sorry for the delay my recent shoulder injury has healed up enough for me to be able to use my right arm without too much pain again.}

My Thanks To My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

The Forbidden Forrest, Hogwarts Castle, Wizarding World...

Trembling hands stretched out before the weary eyes of the winded Potions Professor Severus Snape, whom had been struggling to retain his very sight as a result of a run in via a group of overzealous Arours. He'd barely managed to fend them off before apparating to the forbidden forest where he'd been huddled amid the trees. The grey robes of his death eater attire covered in blood and dirt from his rather hasty encounter still clung to his body as he removed the ivory mask that hid his sallow pale face from the identifying eyes of his pursuers. He had done his job quite well, playing his part masterfully to ensure even a measly measure of trust on the part of the despot. When the Arours came for him it was Snape himself that defended him taking the brunt of the attacks and ensuring the vile monster escaped in one piece. It was quite the risk, but one he assumed with full knowledge that he'd be the prime target of the Arours next go round and that the despot would no doubt take this into consideration during their next encounter. Severus Snape continued to move about the trees as wired as a cat when exposed to the nearby elements. He found it difficult to navigate for the most part, his sense of fight or flight being more in control than reason and logic at the moment. With his heart pounding in his chest, the Potions Master managed to make it to the edge of the Forbidden Forest before stumbling onto Hogwarts grounds.

The wounds left via the combined efforts of his attackers only contributed to his disorientation and blood loss as he moved. It had only been a few moments before he collapsed unable to move any further and in far too much pain to ignore it. They had gotten him pretty good, before he lost consciousness he thought of them as a rather decently trained lot despite their collective youth and inexperience in battle. The cool rush of morning air surrounded the ailing wizard as his thoughts shifted from his rather tragic situation to of a more pleasant topic in the form of his young wife Hermione Granger, and her curious amber colored eyes and sorrowful expression.

"Severus..." said her voice in his ears as if she'd been right there beside him. "Severus what's happened?"

The Potions Master had been far too out of it to note that he had managed to make it into the court yard after hours and that his young wife had indeed been at his side as the world faded into the distance and darkness over took him.

Hermione Granger-Snape kneeled at his side fighting back tears as she attempted to get him to the nearby infirmary.

She dreaded his assignments almost as much as he had but this was different. It had not been the despot that had caused him to return in a beaten and bloodied state, it had been the very witches and wizards whom she had shared a class or two with and walked the very same corridors of Hogwarts castle. They were a formidable lot, trained of course by Mad Eye Moody himself. Dumbledore had done his best to fill her in on Snape's latest assignment fearing when the lad had not returned for three nights that the worst had happened before getting word from Arthur Weasley that death eaters were spotted and ambushed via the Arours and that there was a possibility Snape was either captured or dead if not gravely injured.

Dumbledore had accompanied Hermione to the grounds, fearing the worst as she charged out toward the site where her husband had crashed the sickly grey robes of a death eater seemed to have dissolved the moment he had landed on the school grounds and the mask no where to be seen. A precaution of course in a bid to keep anyone from discovering his secondary occupation. There was so much blood that Hermione wondered just how he had even managed to make it before collapsing.

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The Infirmary, Hogwarts Castle, Scotland, Wizarding World...

It had been hours since Severus returned and the damage was far more extensive than initially suspected. He sustained several broken bones including his ribs, a fractured jaw and a concussion as a result of the unsavory landing. Madam Pomfrey managed to stop the bleeding and mended a few gashes that had been the result of magical combat. Headmaster Dumbledore didn't even bother attempting to question the unconscious wizard knowing full well that he'd been out of it and that Hermione wouldn't allow it even if he was able to answer his no doubt numerous questions. The constant ticking of the clock along the far wall of the nearly empty room lined with steel framed beds was getting to be unbearable despite the constant shattering of the eerie silence that surrounded Hermione as she watched her weary husband sleep. His body recovered well enough but he had yet to awaken following the events that lead to her watching over him much too afraid to venture back to her common room for fear that he'd awaken alone.

Snape shifted some in his sleep causing a half asleep Hermione to focus on him instead of the ticking of the clock.

It was a wonder he had even been able to rest despite it not being of a voluntary nature.

Snape continued to shift and stretch in his sleep until his obsidian eyes opened and he found himself looking into the focused amber eyes of his rather concerned wife.

"H-Hermione?" he said confused as to his surroundings and wondering if he'd still been asleep.

"Shhh...don't talk...you've been through quite an ordeal." she explained pleased to see him awake. "Just rest."

Snape sighed as her hand gently moved across his sallow pale cheek.

"Hermione." he said as a feeling of calm overtook him and he drifted right back into a peaceful slumber.

The silence returned as Hermione continued to monitor him fearful of what the next summons from the despot would bring. When their marriage began, she had never foreseen how much he would come to mean to her and just how much the nightly summons he endured terrified her. All she wanted was for this war to be over and for him to finally have peace after all those years of torment and misery he endured long before she ever came to Hogwarts.

"Severus." she said soft kissing him on the lips as he slept before scooting closer to him.

When this war was over, he would finally get to have the life he always should have had.

And Hermione was quite determined to make it a reality.