Harmony braced herself under the protection of her cape against the cold wind that could be felt on St. Mungo's garden. The Fall was approaching swiftly if it wasn't already there. The trees around her certainly could be held as witnesses of that, with their branches filled with withering red and gold leaves.
The woman sighed, deep in her thoughts. Her emotions felt in turmoil inside her, bubbling and hissing like a potion in a cauldron. That would not do.
Still, having just been charged with the full-time care of an almost dying man… She had brought that on her own, she recalled. First for coming to St. Mungo's and second for being so shocked at the way he had been mistreated. Oh, and the motives. So petty and revolting. What had been made of the oaths? Had these healers not taken them before starting to work? She had never been more than an apprentice and she had made hers. Never to harm a patient, was the biggest of them all. Not that she needed the oath for that at all. Her conscience was more than enough, thank you very much.
'What am I supposed to do with him now? I don't even know where to start!' She thought as she walked around on the marked paths. 'There is everything wrong with him! He must be hurting all over and in deep agony. I wonder how he hasn't gone mad, really. Perhaps that was their intention. To make him lose any reason, to fully destroy him. Oh, but I will have their heads. I must reach and contact the retired elders if the Ministry will not. What happened here is disgusting, to say the least.'
She turned around to glance at the building, searching for the window where she had left the man. She hoped that everything was alright. She had left Rufus keeping guard to his bed so that assured her a little. It would be very hard for anyone to pass through her familiar against her orders. He was a force to be reckoned with, her Rufus.
Harmony found herself grinning at the thought of her Rufus baring his big teeth against any so called healer that tried to get close to that bed. They would experiment Hell on Earth.
"God, Goddess, and Ancestors… Guide me, please. I'm needing guidance on how to proceed with this man. He was a Death Eater once. But then, he must have seen the light of wisdom, as he his now a known hero. I'm a little sorry that I never had classes with him. It would give me a better idea of his character. His old students hate his memory and many interviews were given in his regard. He seemed the most unexpected of the heroes. Who is he?"
She felt way too exposed in all of this. In order to help him, she would have to open to him in some measure. It was a requirement as old as the profession itself. Was she ready to walk that path already? So soon after starting to get her life back together and some resemblance of order in the chaos of her mind? Harmony deep breathed a couple of times, to steady her heart. She had no other options now. She couldn't leave him.
Deciding that it has gone enough time since she had left them alone to fend for themselves, she started the path that would take her once more inside the building. She didn't bother to disillusion herself this time. She would go in and come out quickly. Or those were her hopes.
Arriving to the damned white room, she was greeted by Rufus immediately, who started to move on top of the bed as he barked.
"Easy, boy. Don't jump on top of the bed or you might get our new friend sick." She admonished the dog while petting him between his pointy ears. They both knew that she would never scold him properly even if their lives depended on it.
She then looked down at her new charge. He was eyeing her with barely concealed curiosity.
"I know that you must be hurting a lot and also very weak. Still, we have to figure out a way of taking you away from here. Fast. Apparition would be the ideal, however, I don't know if you can handle it on this weakened state of yours, Sir. Would you be available to try it at least?" She asked, not knowing if he would be able to give her any real answer back.
To her surprise, he was. Very slowly and seemingly painfully, he gave her a slight nod. That earned him a big smile from her.
"Alright then. There is still one challenge left." Harmony lifted a brow before formulating her thought. "How to take you away with minimum movement."
On the other side of the bed, Rufus started to whine and moving against his mistress' s arm.
"That was a good idea, Rufus. Thank you. But be still!" She warned him once more. "Come on! I don't want our friend here to get movement sickness because of you. He is bad enough as he is right now. And with your idea, I don't really know if he will be better or worse."Harmony concluded with a hint of sarcasm.
The dog seemed to take for granted that they would do things his way, for he leaped out of the bed, already reaching to get nearer the door.
"Sorry if he hurt you. He doesn't do it on purpose, I assure you. He's just… Way too eager to get out of this place. As we all are, I guess." She shrugged, looking apologetic to the man laying on the bed. "Anyway, he got a good idea. There is a particular procedure one can use to carry burn victims that won't hurt them. A variation of the Leviosa and the Levicorpus spells. You will be laying on pure air as if on a carrier, which can become unsettling for most people. Do you think you will be able to manage both that and an Apparition?" She asked, hoping that he could. Not that she wasn't already preparing to clean everything as soon as they got home. His stomach would hardly handle an Apparition on his physical state.
Once more, Severus gave her a shy nod. She got down to sit at the border of the bed, reaching to touch him softly on his unshaven face. He surely deserved something before enduring such a hard physical proof.
His face was priceless when she first touched him so freely.
"We will get you both looking and feeling better before the day is out. You will be my guest at my house. How does that sound? No more white walls all around you." Harmony talked to him in a calming, reassuring tone, all the while caressing his cheek. It took her all of her self-control to maintain the same reassuring demeanor when she saw tears forming on his eyes. "You will be alright, Sir." She promised before getting back on her feet once more. "Now, we really have to go. Ready yourself."
She looked around, taking in the other beds and the otherwise empty room. At the foot of his bed, she saw his files, hanging there. Harmony took no time to get those, shrink them and put them on her mantle for another time. She would surely enjoy the reading.
Pulling back the covers of his bed, she cast one spell at the time. First, one to take away the smell (or at least conceal it). Second, his shirt became a longer night shirt. Lastly, her modified version of the Levicorpus. His body balanced precariously on thin air for a few moments until she got her grip on him strong as it needed to be. Years without any practice would do that to a healer. Harmony feared that he would gag right there by the color on his face. It was a relief when he managed to control himself.
Deep breathing to get in full control of the situation, Harmony made so that he would lay by her side, just by the height of her hips. It also enabled her to grasp his hand with hers.
"Let's do this then. Rufus, you will go ahead of us. Straight to the Apparition point, please. I will do a stronger concealment charm on us and follow you closely." She instructed the German- Shepard as if they had practice on escapes like this one. Which they kind of had.
What happened next, happened swiftly. Not much more than a blur for any of them.
They took less than five minutes to get to the closest Apparition point, and then they vanished from St. Mungo's altogether.
The arrival was more or less what Harmony had been expecting. Her Apparition point was outside of her property, which wasn't really practical in the actual circumstances. Rufus barked happily as soon as they set foot on solid ground and darted in the direction of a comfortable looking cottage half hidden by trees. Harmony wished she could follow her companion, but she had to tend to their guest at the moment as he was convulsing to throw up and shaking with cold. Harmony followed all the right procedures to help him not to choke on his own bile. When she thought that he had stopped feeling sick, she took off her mantle and covered his body with it for the second time that day.
"Felling better now?" She asked nonetheless.
Snape gave her a long-suffering glare and she got the message: Inside! Quick!
And so they walked the remaining path to her garden and then to her threshold. Harmony sighed in relief as she closed the door with her back against it. Finally! Home! Safe home.
Her fireplace came to life in a matter of seconds, bringing light and warmth to the tired travelers. She caught Severus eyeing his surroundings as much as he was able, mouth agape. Well, she had promised no more white. Harmony knew that her house was actually quite colorful for that matter. She had stuck to her mother's décor.
"Now… Let us find you a place to stay." Harmony declared as she started moving across the room. Severus body followed right behind her, through a hall whose walls were filled with multiple doors. They entered one, which took them to a room. Before anything else, Severus was dropped on top of the bed, laying flat on his stomach.
"I don't know if the position is comfortable at all for you. We have to keep you from laying on your back. It is just too mangled right now with sores." The woman offered as an apology, as she took of another layer of her clothes and left it on a chair.
She got nearer the bed, adjusting pillows to try and make him as comfortable as she could at the moment. Tenderly, she made he turn his face so that he was facing the room's fireplace.
"You're no more than a skeleton right now. I guess I could have almost carried you in my bare arms if I so wished. Those… Alright, time to think about you, not them. If they end in Azkaban for a while, I will be nothing but happy. Now, my question is: Where do I start?"
Harmony went back to lay her back against the wall, arms crossed across her chest. 'Think, Harmony. What should you start with? He needs a bath, that's for sure. With the sores, he has, however, I'm afraid it would be way too painful now. Need to fix that. Then we have to feed him something that won't turn his stomach around. We don't really know for how long he has been without properly eating. When he threw up early was only biles. After finding a proper sustenance for his body, we have to dress him and keep him warm.'
The fireplace near her sparkled at this thought and she knew that soon enough the room would be warm.
"Well, let us start with the basics. Undress him it will be." She announced matter of factly.
As Rufus entered the room fifteen minutes later, Harmony could be seen throwing both the diaper and the shirt directly onto the fire. The dog got to a halt right there on the threshold, not knowing if it would be wise to enter his room at all. Humans were surely unpredictable.
Harmony sensed her familiar close by and laughed softly at his confusion. Their bond allowed her to always know what he needed or what he had his mind on.
"You can enter and lay down by the fire, as per usual Rufus. We will hardly interrupt you." She assured him without even turning to meet him. What she had in front of her was more than enough to have her mind occupied.
The entirety of Severus Snape 's body was covered by scars and marks of all sorts of violence. There were curse marks, scarring from blades, fire… Even what she thought was either a belt or a whip. As she gently touched some of the marks on his back, she heard him gulping more soundly.
"You have quite a hard tale to tell." She started, keeping her tone neutral. She wasn't about to pity him. She knew how conscious he must be feeling already, completely naked at the hands of a stranger. How vulnerable. "I hope you will tell it to me one day, if you choose to. It would give me pleasure. I will leave you like this for a bit. I have to fetch you something you can sleep in tonight and also something to take care of those damned sores. I would rather conjure a tub right away, but I will keep that for when those sores are patched. No need to warm up the water twice."
As some of you already know, this his a new version of another story of mine, "Like a Child". I hope that this one has more punch to it. Also less grammar mistakes and better overall style. I don't know if it will follow the same route of the first one step by step. Perhaps not. Perhaps it will lead to a completely different story. Click to Following button to find out.
Do review. Every single one of them it's an encouragement for me.