Harmony found herself head and shoulders deep into a closet when she first heard an odd noise. Odd enough that she pulled out her head while keeping her arms and shoulders in,her brow frowned, so that she could find the source of it. It was coming from one of the kitchen windows.
'What the..?' The young woman thought as she decided it best to leave whatever she was trying to find for later. Rufus was still keeping guard to their new guest, which made her feel sure that everything was well in the bedroom.
Crossing the living room while cleaning her hands on her dress, she was torn between curiosity and worry. As she reached the window, two big yellow eyes meet hers in the darkness that had settled meanwhile outside. Harmony raised a hand to her chest to quiet her heart. It had certainly been too long since she received owls at such late hour of the night.
"Come inside, please. I'm sure we can find a treat for you somewhere." She opened the window, allowing the owl to fly in. The bird landed on the back of a chair and showed her the letter attached to its leg, with the Hogwarts sigil on it. A letter that she quickly took out. "Thank you."
For a moment, she felt doubts about either she should read it right away or wait until the man was asleep. Deciding that he probably would have as much interest in it as she had, she tucked it into an invisible pocket of her skirt for later. Priorities first: She had a full-grown man lying naked on top of her bed. The room would be warm enough by now that he wouldn't feel cold but it was rude to keep him like that for much longer. Not to say cruel. Going back to the closet she had been searching, she finally took out of it new clothes for him and what she had left of "men stuff". She had always kept that junk around for no apparent reason besides memory lane. Now, her reason had just entered in her life in the shape of Severus Snape.
Taking also a jar full of water with her, Harmony got back to the room, only to find Rufus laying on top of the bed, fur against Severus side. She couldn't hold a giggle at that sight.
"I'm sorry it took me so long." She apologized with good humor. "Living by myself for a long time, I had stored these things out of the way. Now, let's get you more presentable, shall we? We have a letter to read together, whenever you are ready to bed." Harmony alluded. There was a new light in his eyes at the mentioning of news that was hard to ignore. He was anything but mad. She didn't mind having to talk for the two of them either. "Headmistress McGonagall kept her word and sent news about what transpired today. Still, I thought it better to read it with you. You were the victim after all. Still, I can't say that the curiosity is not biting my rear hard."
Her explanation was rewarded with a ghost of a smile from her patient that made her feel happy.
Preparing a bowl of hot water, she knelt next to the bed to get her head at the same level of his, a piece of cloth on her hand. "It may hurt a little here and there." Harmony warned him. "I will try to be as gentle as I can."
Starting with the sores on his back, she kept to the same routine: She cleaned the wound and applied a salve to heal it. Severus flinched a bit here and there, whenever the wound was deeper but other than that he kept all of his focus on her.
"Dittany really works wonders. Does that feel better?" She demanded when she finished. The sores were mostly gone, leaving behind pink marks.
Severus gave her a nod of approval. His stomach, on the other hand, decided to make itself known. His cheeks turned a deep shade of pink, more noticeable on his pale skin.
Not for the first time that evening, Harmony found herself laughing. To make it all more fun to watch, Rufus lifted his body from the mattress and sniffed the man's stomach, before barking to his mistress and showing her his open mouth. Harmony cackled wholeheartedly until she had tears running down her face.
"I do apologize, to both of you." She said as she cleaned the tears. "You are right, Rufus. It's close to our dinner time. Let me end here with Severus and you will have your meal. You Sir, are a different matter. I don't really know what to give to you, has I don't know when you were fed lastly and what was given to you. We will have to start back from the basics, till we know what your stomach will be able to handle. First, however, I will bath and dress you in fresh pajamas. Only then am I going to grab something that may work for tonight as a test."
This time she was answered with two nods instead of one and took all her strength to not laugh again.
A claw foot tub appeared by the fire, steam coming out of the water filling the room with the scent of medicinal herbs. Using the same spell from before, Harmony lifted her guest from the bed and slowly downed him into the water, before kneeling beside the tub.
Snape sighed audibly as the water started to do its wonders on his person, much to Harmony's delight.
"I can't imagine how much time has passed without you indulging into a real bath but from your demeanor alone I can guess it was quite some time. Enjoy yourself. You deserve it more than anyone else I know." She expressed as she started the work of scrubbing his battered body.
Harmony took it as she had taken her prior examination: One inch at the time. His body became so relaxed into the warmth of the water and the massage that her hands were providing that she feared that he would fell asleep in the tub. Snape, however, seemed adverse to it, as he did his damned hardest to keep all of his focus on her.
" In the morning we will take care of your face in a more accurate manner." Harmony muttered as she reached for his hair and beard. Summoning a pair of scissors to her hands, she managed to trim his beard in a more neat fashion than before making him more presentable. It wasn't that it changed anything for her, but it would certainly change everything for him. The hospital staff had taken away all of his dignity away without even asking for his consent. She would make sure that she gave it back to him as much as she could no matter the odds. No man deserved what he had endured and she was very sure that, from all the injuries she had found on his exterior, he had endured way more than she knew.
His hair received a quick trim also, before being washed as she had previously done with all the rest. It was only an inch above his shoulders now, as she remembered him wearing it in one of the many photos the Prophet had published.
"It may not be perfect but hey: It will grow back soon enough and then we will be able to make it look better. At least now it is manageable." Harmony reassured her guest as she caught him glancing at his chopped hair in her hand. "I usually trim my own hair but as you can imagine that is easier. It is longer than yours."
When Harmony finally gave her task for concluded, she lifted his body once more and returned it to the bed, leaving all the things she had used for his bath scattered around.
It wasn't particularly easy to dress a grown man by herself, even if he looked stick thin and felt accordingly. At St. Mungo's they would use magic for that too. Harmony wouldn't.
"Now you look better." She sighed, pleased with the result of her work. Standing in front of the bed, she now had him tucked inside the covers, looking cleaner than when she had brought him in. Severus Snape glared back at her but made nothing else. Perhaps he wanted to see by himself, she imagined. No, that wasn't a good idea at the moment. First, they had to take away the remains of the beard. Then, she would hold a mirror for him.
For his dinner, Harmony provided an assortment of fruit, mashed and whole. It was the most unoffensive food that she could think of to feed him and Severus didn't seem to feel bothered about it. He managed to eat what she gave him and was capable of munching his food which only served to relieve Harmony in some of her fears. As she prepared to take the bowls away, she heard a strangled sound of protest and looked at the man laying by her side on the top of the bed.
"Do you want more?" She asked cautiously.
Snape nodded with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.
Harmony looked between the bowls still in her hands and him. It was tough to refuse him food knowing that he was hungry.
While feeling split in her conscience for not indulging into his necessities when he was making them all the more clear for her, Harmony had to overcome that and do the right thing: Wait. She knew from previous experiences what could happen if his stomach wasn't capable of keeping what food she had given him down. He would feel sick. Really sick. And then, it would be even worse.
She sighed, feeling like if she was about to commit a crime.
"Sir, let's do it this way: I go fetch something for Rufus and myself. If by the time I'm finished you are still okay with what I've given you so far, I promise I will give you more. Is that acceptable to you?"
He gave it a little thought before nodding his acceptance of her terms.
"Very well then. Rufus will remain with you as he did before." She announced.
Author note: I do hope that you like this chapter. Some people mentioned that they miss Severus P.O.V. Let me assure you that he will make his thoughts known soon enough. Just hang around and be patient with me as I explore an alternative route.