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Memories of Deception	By : professorflo Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 20868 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters within. I make no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Memories of Deception
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9.
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The moment they landed on the bed Hermione was gently tugged away from him. She could already feel the tingle of magic as Snape was rolled onto his back and Madame Pomphrey began to cast her diagnostic spells. Arms wrapped around her waist from both sides and pulled her to one side of the room that had been set up in preparation, to give the nurse the room to work. Hermione tried to pull away, but she was held tight between two bodies, and was forced to watch from a distance.
Symbols and lights began to flash above Snape's body, and Hermione watched intently to try and make out as much as she could. She had some basic idea of what some of them meant, but now wished that she'd taken the time to study the diagnostic spells further. She couldn't tell much beyond the fact that his blood pressure was dangerously high, but falling, presumably as his blood thinned as the potion she'd given him began to work.
"Why are his lips so blue?" Sarah whispered beside her.
Hermione tore her eyes away from the diagnostics to look down at his face. Now that he was on his back she could see clearly what she hadn't noticed before. Sarah was right, his lips were paler than normal, and in fact the whole of his face seemed almost bleached, rather than his normal sallow complexion. Straight away she knew what the problem was, although it was beyond her to voice it. They had discussed the possibility that his thickened blood hadn't been able to carry sufficient oxygen to his organs, and the colour of his skin suggested that they had been correct. Oh Gods, please don't die.
Everyone watched as Madame Pomphrey cast a few healing spell that Hermione didn't recognise at the prone body on the bed. A couple of phials came zooming through the air as they were summoned, the corks pulling themselves out with a flick of her wrist before the potions inside disappeared. Hermione could only presume the same spell that she'd used a few minutes earlier was being utilised. The empty phials disappeared and Madame Pomphrey turned back to study the diagnostics. A few of them were slowly changing colour or symbols. Hermione could only hope that was a good thing.
The room was silent except for the raspy sound of Snape breathing. Was it getting any easier? It was hard to tell, each breath still seemed so shallow and slow, and she could see no visible change in his colour yet. Hermione had recognised the potions that had been used, both of them for different types of organ failure, one for the kidneys and the other for the liver. Madame Pomphrey made a sound of irritation, and flicked her wand again. Another potion flew through the air towards her.
"Is he…will he be ok?"
"It's too early to tell. You may as well make yourself comfortable," the witch said absently, manipulating the phial as before. "It's going to be a while."
..
Around an hour had passed, but it felt more like a day before the last of the diagnostics stopped blinking red and began to edge towards a orangey yellow colour. From her seat between McGonagall and Sarah, Hermione watched as Madame Pomphrey slumped tiredly into the chair next to the bed. She was pale and shaking, her magic likely close to exhaustion. Both Hermione and McGonagall had offered their help some time back but had been turned down by an irritated nurse who hadn't welcomed the disruption.
McGonagall now stood and summoned a glass of water and some chocolate, and went across to try and revive the nurse somewhat. Hermione gaze returned to Snape. His skin had returned to normal, his cheeks almost flushed compared to their natural colour. The nasty rasping sound had almost gone and his chest was rising and falling steadily now. She wanted to go to him, to touch him, but a strange fear held her back.
Madame Pomphrey seemed to notice her distress. "There's a good chance he'll be alright, child," she said weakly. "It was touch and go there for a while. His organs were in a very bad state, especially his kidneys which had already taken in some of the toxins from the venom. Now I'm mostly worried about his brain, it was starved of oxygen for longer than I would have wished, although his blood wasn't completely stagnant, or he would be dead already. I fear there may be some complications."
Hermione had a good idea of what she meant. Brain damage, memory loss, paralysis even. Sarah tried to wind one arm around her shoulder comfortingly, but Hermione pulled away and stood, moving over to stand over him.
She could barely believe that he was there before her. It didn't seem like two years since she had last seen his face, and it felt strange to see him so unchanged while so much had changed for her. She reached out to touch his cheek gently. He was warmer than she'd though he would be, and so real that she almost couldn't bear it. She ran her hand down his shoulder and down to gently grab the hand that was resting upon the blanket that Madame Pomphrey had covered him with.
Squeezing his fingers gently she was shocked when his hand twitched in hers. Is he waking up?
"I think he moved…! Madame Pomphrey!" She bent further over him. "Severus…? Can… can you hear me?"
She could see his eyes moving back and forth slightly under pale lids, but there was no other sign that he was aware of what was going on around him until his fingers tightened around hers again.
Madame Pomphrey, for all her exhaustion was suddenly alert and at his other side, McGonagall next to her with one hand under her elbow. She grabbed the hand next to her and felt for his pulse, observing him closely, an anxious frown on her face.
"He shouldn't be waking up yet, the venom and the healing has taken far too much out of his system, physically and magically. If he didn't wake for a week I wouldn't be worried." She pulled out her wand again, and cast another diagnosis charm, although there was only one set instead of several and the colour seemed washed out and weak compared to the ones she'd cast earlier. She studied them intently, flicking her wand after a few seconds to show something else. "Minerva, you may need to assist me if there's something wrong."
"Of course Poppy, just tell me what you need, " McGonagall replied, pulling her own wand out.
Another movement of the nurse's wand and a different set of colours and runes appeared.
Hermione's eyes were only drawn back down to the man on the bed when her hand was suddenly squeezed tightly and let go again. His eyes were flickering half-open before closing again, and she was aware of slight movements of his body under the blanket.
"Wha…" he mumbled, his fingers clawing at her wrist, before making a few unintelligent moans.
"Speak to him, Miss Granger. Try to keep him calm," said Madame Pomphrey as she continued to try and figured out if there was something wrong.
"You're in the infirmary. You're going to be fine," she said, with false bravado, not liking the way his hand was shaking so hard in hers. A quick glance across at the tired nurse confirmed her notion that something wasn't right.
He shook his head slightly from side to side before he opened his eyes again with a visible effort, moving them from side to side in an attempt to figure out where he was.
"I'm here, Severus… Can you hear me?"
His eyes seemed to focus, and when he realised who was talking to him he looked horrified.
"No…." A look of intense pain crossed his face.
"It's ok, you're safe." She prayed hard she wasn't lying to him.
"You… don't want… leave…" he almost seemed to be pleading with her.
"What do you mean? I didn't leave. I waited for you." His tight grip was starting to hurt, but she clung on still.
"…away... go… away" His whole arm was shaking now, and he turned his head with difficulty away from her, as if in dismissal.
Hermione let go his hand as if stung, but made no move to leave, although her heart seemed to be shrivelling in her chest.
"Madame Pomphrey… his hands… What's wrong?" she whispered.
The nurse glanced down at Snape, and seemed to notice for the first time how he was shaking. "Damn, he's going to fit. I'm going to need help." She cast another diagnostic.
"M…Mi…erv… girl… g…go…" he stuttered, before his eyes rolled back in his head and the shaking turned into full body convulsions.
"He's got a clot in his brain. I've got something that will break it down. Granger, help me to hold him steady. Don't hold him too tight, just enough to stop him hurting himself," the nurse snapped. "Minerva, something between his teeth then you'll have to help me with this potion." Madame Pomphrey turned to grab a phial with her hands before turning back.
Hermione hadn't moved, frozen with shock and disbelief. He didn't want her. After everything…
"Granger…quick girl!"
When Hermione still made no move to help Sarah pushed past her and used her weight to hold Snape at the shoulder and thigh. Madame Pomphrey held his other shoulder while Minerva opened the phial and verbally cast the spell to transfer the potion to Snape's stomach. After a few moments the convulsions lessened.
"Nearly there…" Madame Pomphrey whispered. "The stress… he needs time to heal…"
Hermione couldn't stand to see anymore. She turned and ran, barely aware of the nurse behind her casting one final spell before slumping back into the chair, utterly exhausted.
. . . . .
An hour later Sarah found her at the top of the Astronomy Tower, sitting on the cold stone, eyes fixed on the card she was twirling around in her fingers. She'd not cried a single tear, she'd been unable to. The shock of his dismissal had worn off, however, and instead a cold acceptance had stolen over her.
Sarah came to sit by where she sat with her legs dangling over the long drop where Dumbledore had fallen almost three years before. They sat in silence for a few minutes before she spoke.
"Minerva's forced Poppy to rest while she watches him. Poppy thinks he'll be asleep for maybe a few days or so. She got the tremors to stop completely by putting him in what I understand is a sort of forced coma, though it should wear off when he's ready to wake up. The clot has gone, it was just the stress that was causing the tremors at the end there, and Poppy is sure that as long as he has time to recover and takes it easy once he wakes they shouldn't return."
Hermione heard it all in silence, watching Sarah with dark eyes.
"How are you feeling?"
Hermione had to look away before she could reply. "I… I'd thought… hoped he would at least give me a chance. Her gaze returned to the card in her hands. "I guess nothing's changed for him. I was stupid to get my hopes up at all really," she sighed. The tower was silent again for a few minutes until she spoke again. "I guess I need to decide what I'm going to do next. I need to get out of here, move on from it all. I've been putting it off for two years, but it's time…"
"What about your potion's mastery? Don't you want to finish that?"
Hermione shook her head. "Slughorn is debating whether or not to retire again, and in any case I am not tied to him. If I want to continue I can either follow him, or there are others I could go to to complete my training. That's if I choose to continue. Potions was never my passion. Things only fell out the way they did because of... of everything that happened."
"You're not the sort of person to easily throw away two years of work, Hermione."
She shrugged. "Ever since I discovered the inequality shown to any magical being not a wizard or witch, I dreamed of helping them somehow, working for the Ministry department that deals with their regulation perhaps. But recently I've been thinking about doing something with charms, or perhaps healing. That way I'd not be wasting what I've learned."
"What changed your mind about helping magical creatures? From what you've told me you had a real passion for it."
The card started to twirl again in her fingers. "I've always liked helping people. I guess I just lost the will to fight losing battles. At least if I go into healing people will want my help."
"You're not talking about house elves. You mean Snape?"
The spinning card came to a sudden stop, and Hermione shrugged again. "Perhaps… In any case, it's time to move on." She pushed herself to her feet and hesitated for a moment next to Sarah before holding out the piece of card.
Sarah slowly reached out and took it, looking up at Hermione questiongly. "What…?"
"Would you give it to him… it's his, I took it from his room almost two years ago. I saw him looking at it once. He locked it away next to his bed, but one day when I went to hide in there… the drawer was open." She looked away. "He'll want it back. Would you…?"
Sarah turned the card over. It was jagged along one side where it had been torn, and an image of a beautiful young woman smiled sadly up at her.
"Who is she?" She'd never seen the woman before, although she had her suspicions.
Hermione didn't answer straight away, instead turning away to look out at the lake. She wrapped her hands around the cool metal of the railings and seemed to visibly steel herself.
"Lily…" she breathed. "That's Lily. That's the woman he's loved since they were children. How could I ever compare….?"
Sarah got to her feet and went to stand next to Hermione. "I can't tell you what he's thinking or feeling, but I do know that you shouldn't leave without seeing him again. You need to finish this one way or another, or you'll never be able to let him go." She held the photo out to Hermione. "I won't help you to avoid him. You'll have to give it back yourself."
Hesitantly Hermione took the photo from Sarah's fingers, dropping her gaze to look at the beautiful woman staring back up at her. By the time she looked around again, Sarah had gone.
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Memories of Deception