I can remove that…

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. That all belongs to J.K. Rowling.

'Your desire to have that removed will be very painful and will require you to regret your actions, but yes I can remove that from your arm.' she said.

'Yes, I very much regret doing it, the pain I have seen because of it, the losses I have seen and caused because of it. So, the pain will be miniscule to what I have already been subjected to. So please do what you can.' he huffed as he sat in front of the Healer.

'It will require you to stay here at least two months depending on your healing time and then you will be required to come in twice a week for bandage changes after that.'

'Two months?'

'Yes'

'I have a normal life, I just need this,' shoving his sleeve up, 'Removed.'

'Well, that was put on by a curse and must be removed very carefully or you will die. What do you think happened to Rodolphus Lestrange, he tried to cut the mark off himself, and look where he is now… dead. So, if you would like to take your chances or you can let us help you continue with a new life.'

'Fine.'

'We will take you into surgery to remove the mark, we will put fish skin on to help the healing process. The first two to three weeks after you will be in a medically induced coma to let your body heal. As you have helped us with the healing salve, you know the results of the cursed scar removal. Yours will be the third Dark Mark removed. While you are here you can spend time in the library, if the books are not up to your standard, I could owl the ministry library and get something more to your liking. Your arm will be very delicate for some time so you will not be brewing for some time so you will need to get that all done before you come in.'

~o~

'Why pray tell are you sleeping in my bed?' Severus growled as he surveyed the scene. A woman dressed in a crop top and shorts draped across his body.

'Trying to help you.' as Hermione stretched awake. She waved her hand and a silver otter appeared. 'Tell them he's awake and being a grouch.' The otter nodded and left the room.

'Please tell me what is going on?' Severus snarled.

'Well give me a minute and we will.' as she grabbed her shirt from the bedside table. "You have needed 24-hour care for the last 2 months as you recovered.' as she turned herself in the bed but maintaining contact.

'Why are you manhandling me?' he yelled as he tried to move away from her.

'Stop moving, and please lower your voice.' just as the rest of the team entered the room.

'Severus, please we will explain everything just give us a minute to do some tests.' Narcissa spoke.

'Fine.'

'Ready Miya? I will do the diagnostic on him.' Andromeda asked, Hermione nodded and moved away from Severus. As soon as the test was done Draco and Lucius placed their hands on Severus's legs.

'What is so important that you feel you must touch me?' Severus snarled.

'Well, that is what we are trying to figure out.' Hermione snarked back, 'Do you think we enjoy being next to you 24/7? And yes, we will explain everything after you try to eat something.' as a tray of food appeared in front of him. 'Now eat.'

'We are not sure what is going on but one of us needs to ground… touch you 24 hours a day. IF we don't you start to convulse.'

'Show me.' as he pushed his plate away.

'Fine.' as she nodded to Draco and Lucius, as they removed their hands. Severus's body started to shiver and grew into a full blow convulsion.

"I can't let this go any further.' as Hermione climbed into the bed next to him trying to get as much skin-to-skin contact as she could. It took a few minutes for Severus to get his head together.

'What happened?'

'Well, that is the million-galleon question and when you get your right mind back, we are going to go over everything and try to figure it out.' Hermione spoke as she adjusted herself at the end of the bed, so her leg touched Severus's leg. 'Draco can you get the binder? And we can get started.' A flurry of movement started as everyone got their chairs and notepads ready. Narcissa conjured a mirror behind Severus.

'What is that for?'

'So, I can see what page you are on while we talk so I can add notes as we figure out what happened.' Just as Draco came in with two six inch binders. 'This is everything that has happened over the last 4 months.' handing Hermione one and Severus the other.

'4 months? I have been out for 4 months?'

'Yes,' they started to talk about what had happened. Severus flipping pages reading and looking at the pictures. Every page had a picture of him or his arm as it healed with notes of what curses had been removed and how that had happened.

'You had over 50 charms and curses placed on you. As we took one off a new one showed up. We thought we had all of them, but then this one showed up. For some reason you need us to ground your magic. We have figured out that Luna and Andy both need to touch you to keep you to a quiver. Draco, Lucius or Narcissa alone can keep you at a quiver but any 2 can keep you at complete rest.'

'And you?' Severus snarked.

'I can keep you at a full rest with just a touch and that is what we are trying to figure out why I alone can do it, but you need two of the others.'

'Well, I think it has something to do with our friendship. I was never his favorite student.' Luna spoke up. 'But the Malfoys are true friends.'

'But me? He hated me in school.' Hermione looked pleadingly at Luna.

'I don't think so, he liked you but couldn't show it. Don't shake your head at me, I saw it, you always had the best ingredients, he turned his head when you helped Neville. Severus?' as Luna looked over to him. 'Don't lie to me Severus, you had a crush on Hermione.'

'No, I do not, I admired her.' Hermione blushed at the news. 'For how she kept those two dunderheads alive.'

'You keep telling yourself that, sir.' as Luna patted his leg then finished writing in her notebook.

'Well now that you are awake, we can try to wean yourself off of my touch so we can get back to our lives.' Hermione huffed. 'Well let's go thru the binder and see if there is something there that affected his feelings.'

'Well, we have been at this for some time and I'm hungry.' Draco spoke up as he rubbed his eyes.

'Yes, Severus and then you need some rest.' Narcissa added.

'Um, can I have a shower first?'

'Yes, who do you want to help?' Hermione asked.

'Well as Ms. Luna and Tonks would prefer, I would not choose them, Draco and Lucius are not my preferred choice, Cissy is married. So, you, Ms. Granger gets the joyful job.' he snarled.