"Her lungs were regrown when she was ten months old and she has a history of anaemia, gastrointestinal issues, suffered a severe head injury in spring and anecdotal evidence leads me to believe her bones are brittle..." Severus explained Hermione's physical ailments after explaining that she'd been transfigured in this exact manner a little over a year ago.
"You have quite the extensive history, don't you?" Healer Hua remarked smiling at Hermione.
Hermione avoided the witch's gaze, staring down at her clasped hands. He supposed she didn't like hearing the list, let alone being expected to respond to it. Severus ran his hand over the top her head in a futile attempt to soothe her. She stopped crying long before they reconvened to apparate here, but she retreated into her own thoughts. Leaving Severus to weigh the pros and cons of glimpsing into her mind.
Do you want her to resent you more than she already does? Severus thought. Leave it.
"I suppose I do, Healer Hua," she said in a tiny voice.
"Please," Hua smiled. "Call me Candice, Hermione."
"Candice," Hermione nodded. "That's a lovely name."
"Thank you," Hua marked some things on her clip board. "Hermione's equally lovely. And unique, I think your father made a good choice. Now if you two will excuse me, I have to consult with the other pediatric healers. I'll be back."
Candice Hua left the two of them alone in the empty pediatric Transfiguration and Curses ward and Severus mulled over how best to comfort her. He wondered how much she remembered being here, but she was barely out of nappies the most recent time, so he doubted it. Yet she seemed so uneasy. Perhaps it was just the transfiguration, he wouldn't be happy if he had cat ears and a tail either.
He hated how familiar the sight was. A very thin layer of tawny fur covered her skin with tabby markings that included her freckles. Her bottle brush tail and pointed ears matched the medium brown of her bushy brown hair and her already large eyes grew in size while their colours changed, one eye was a dark green while the other was yellow. Her clawed hands and feet tensed, cause her hands to bleed easily.
"Where did you come up with my names?" Hermione asked in a small squeaky voice, staring up at him imploringly with her massive mismatched eyes.
"Well," he mused soothing her hair absently. Why does she have to look at me like that?
Hermione waited, blinking her long eyelashes at him as her eyes grew again in size, pleading. She waited with baited breath, perhaps hoping that her condition would buy her answers. He cursed Hua for opening the subject. His options were now lie or come clean about lying to her her entire life.
"Well 'Hermione' is Greek in origin, derived from Hermes meaning 'earthly messenger', while 'Elizab-"
Hermione's face fell and her ears dropped into her bushy hair while her tail coiled tightly around her. "You know what I meant, Dad."
"Yes," he sighed, pulling her closer. "I suppose I did."
"It's fine," Hermione pulled away, digging her claws into her flesh. "Just forget I asked."
Why do innocent questions scare you so much? Look at her..."The truth, love," he set his hand on her head. "Is that I don't know where the name 'Hermione' came from. I imagine your mother had a reason for choosing, but I was never privy to it. It certainly suits you though," he added when he saw Hermione's mismatched eyes peak out from behind her knees and thick veil of hair. God help me, I still see a four-year-old when you look at me like that. "'Elizabeth' I came up with. When I once had a friend tell me she would name her daughter 'Elizabeth' because-and I quote-'no one messes with a girl named Elizabeth'. I can't speak to the truth of it, but I did rather like the sentiment."
"Your friend didn't mind you taking it?" Hermione asked, her little ears perking up.
Prodding for my past, are you little girl? Severus hated that Hermione acknowledging Lily's existence left him feeling raw, and defenceless. She had no way to know the history there, and yet it still...before he could finish that thought he recalled the image he found in the Mirror of Erised. Lily leaning against him holding a four-year-old Hermione. It was a stupid, impossible wish, but worse, Hermione acknowledging Lily meant the world where he betrayed Lily and the one where he raised his Hermione weren't as separate as his wished. You wish to view those two as exisiting in separate realities, but how many of your decisions in raising her stemmed from your betrayal of Lily? Fear of once again losing the only person you love.
"We weren't on speaking terms by the time you came around, I'm afraid," he admitted. "And before you ask, those are the only details you'll be getting about her."
"I wasn't going to ask," Hermione sighed, her falling ears and face telling him otherwise.
"Why do I doubt that," he ran his head over the top of her head.
"Professor?" Hua re-entered the room after a brief moment of silence. "Can I speak to you in private?"
"Of course, " he nodded before turning to Hermione. "I'll be right back, love."
Severus followed Hua out into the corridor whose black eyes combed the clipboard she held before looking back up to her. "Did you ever find out who Hermione's biological parents are?"
That was when he recognized her. Hua was the young healer who returned Hermione to him twelve years ago. She was the one that filed the paperwork and assisted the elder healer in treating her. How could he not-she must've only been eighteen at the time, but he was young too. Candance Hua, the name was lost to him, but he remembered her now.
"N-no," he shook his head choking. "Hermione's hearing-"
"Won't pick us up," Hua assured him. "We have to have a lot of difficult conversations with guardians. All the pediatric wards are Impertubabble, she won't hear anything so long that door is shut. Does she know?"
"No," Severus shook his head. "If I told her, there'd be too many questions I can't answer."
Hua smiled gently. "I get that. Now, between what you've told me and the what you gave us from the Hogwarts hospital, it seems like Hermione's recently been through a lot. Physically and emotionally. Including-" she turned the page on her clip board "-this exact same transformation a year ago, with the same effects to her brain. I ask about Hermione's biological parents because I need to know if there's a history of mental illness."
Images of Hermione's biological mother's exhausted face and the sounds of her shrill voice screaming came to mind. From what little Severus knew, Hermione seem to share the woman's neuroticism, her compulsion to work to the bone...
"She has her neurosies," Severus explained. "Has to divide her food into thirds, reads everything thrice, drives her nails into her flesh when she's nervous. She's a tendency toward mood swings, fluctuates between overly cautious and completely reckless, and she's compelled to blame herself for many things. Does that help at all?"
Hua tapped her quill to her clipboard. "It might. We'll have our counsellor speak with her in the morning. His name is Callum McPherson. After a few meetings, he'll be able to go over a plan of action with you."
"You're that certain she's mentally ill?" he choked. You've always known this was a possibility...if I'd been better to her would she still...?
"Well," Hua looked up at him. "I'm no expert, but I what you described, the trauma, I'd be surprised if she wasn't. But we can't have anyone speak with her to figure it out for sure unless you consent to having our counsellor speak with her."
You think I'm mad?! Hermione's voice shouted in his head. "She won't like it," he explained combing over the consent form.
"Professor Snape," Hua said. "I'll be frank. Most parents refuse to let our counsellor speak with their kids. They think-I don't know what the think, but with everything Hermione's been through-"
"I said she wouldn't like it, Healer Hua," he said coolly. "If you believe this is what's best for her, I'm willing to sign."
"Here," Hua handed him the quill. "I'm releaved to hear that. Most parents don't listen. Think they know best."
"I used to," he admitted, forcing his hand to drag his name across the bottom line.