Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

ONE LIFE TO LIVE	By : Mistress Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 9831 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. Nor do I make any money off of writing in here.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
                                                                 CHAPTER NINE
                                                                     MINERVA

I take Potter’s hand and we apparate to Spinner’s End. My heart swells with the feeling of joy of Severus being alive and at the same moment, I can’t think about how I’ll be looking him in the eyes after all that happened. I also anticipate that he will not be happy to see Potter in his house and advise him to stay behind until I make sure it’s safe for him to come out. Thankfully, he listens without arguing.
I knock at the door and wait for what seems to be an eternity until I hear the limping sounds of his steps. I can’t help but to hold my breath the moment he opens the door. Gods, he looks awful. His face is paler than usual, dark circles around the eyes. The collar of his robes soaked in blood. Taking care of others, he obviously didn’t have time for himself. The only thing that seems to keep him going is determination and blood replenishing potion.
We keep looking at each other without saying a single word, until I make a first move and step into the house. My hands reach out to him and I can’t hold my tears – “Severus. I am so sorry. Please forgive me.” I expect him to push me away, but instead he falls to his knees and wraps his hands around my waist.
- “I failed him, Minerva. I failed him just like I failed you.”
- “You didn’t fail anyone and you certainly didn’t fail me. Thanks to you, the war is over. You helped Potter defeat the Dark Lord. You saved all of us.”
- “Not all” he whispers. “Lucius… I can’t wake him up. He gave me his life and now he’s dying because of me. I… I tried, but… I can’t.”
I can feel his tears wetting my robes and strengthen my hold around his head and shoulders. – “My boy. Look at you, you are so weak yourself. You know that he’ll only get better if you will. Let me heal you and then we’ll think about how to wake him up. Together we’ll find the solution. Come on, I need to check your wounds.”
I help him get up and stop his hand when I see him going to close the door.
“Severus, I… I didn’t come alone.” Shocked, he looks at me, probably thinking who else could have seen him in his moment of weakness.
- “Who did you bring?”
I motion Potter to come out and quickly close the door behind him, trying not to look at the shocked expression on Severus’ face. Before I can offer my explanations as to why I brought him with me, Potter starts talking.
- “Professor, please…”
- “You have no right to be here, Potter. I want you out of my house this instant.”
- “I’m not here to cause any trouble, I promise. I am only here to see my friend and make sure that she’s ok.”
- “Not trusting me with her safety, Potter?”
- “I do, but as professor just said, you need help yourself. Please, just let me sit with her for a while.”
I turn my head to him – “Severus, please. The boy just wants to help. You have to let him stay.”
- “Or what? You’re gonna battle me again?”
- “I won’t battle you, but I need to check your wounds and you are being difficult for no reason.”
- “Please professor, you won’t even know I’m here.”
Fatigue drains him and he doesn’t have the strength to argue for a very long time. He nods his head slightly – “She is in one of the rooms, upstairs.”
I let him lean on me and help him up the stairs, with Potter following behind. Before we can enter the room, we are greeted by a young Malfoy. With his wand out, he stands at the door where his father lays unconscious, guarding it with his life.
- “What are you doing here, Potter? You can forget about entering this room. I will not let you or any of the Aurors that you brought with you, in.”
- “I’m not here to cause any trouble, Malfoy. And I didn’t bring any Aurors. I’m only here to see my friend.”
Before he can respond, Severus motions him to let us in.
- “Lower your wand, Draco. He is here to help. I allowed him to stay here.”
- “Why? We don’t need his help. We’re doing just fine without him.”
I take out my wand and decide to end this argument before it can grow into something bigger.
- “Oh for the love of Merlin, lower your wand Mister Malfoy and let us in.” He looks at me without saying a word. “I will not hesitate to cast a full body bind on you boy, if you don’t do as I say.” That seems to do the trick and he lowers his wand, taking a few steps back, allowing us to get in the room.”
- “Miss Granger’s room is at the end of the corridor, Potter” Severus says, trying to ease Draco’s tension. The boy nods and walks out without saying another word.
Once Potter is out, I turn my head to Severus – “Take your clothes off and lay down”
- “Minerva…”
- “Not another word, Severus. And you, Mister Malfoy… please step outside” I say, understanding Severus’ hesitation to let his godson see his wounds. “It won’t do for you to see your professor in this state.”
- “I don’t want to leave him” he whispers, taking his father’s hand.
- “I know, but I can assure you that nothing will happen to him while you’re out and if anything, I will call you right away. Now go, there’s some food downstairs. I’m sure you’re hungry. Go eat and come back. I’ll need to check you too, later.”
Taking a deep breath, he nods his head and steps out, leaving us alone in the room.
- “I won’t repeat it twice, Severus.”
With my help, he takes his robes and the shirt off and I put him down carefully. Holly Merlin, those wounds. Opened and somewhat closed and reopened again. Neglected and untreated. They look like they will never heal. Taking a deep breath, I start working on closing them up and stopping a continuous bleeding.
My skills are not as good as Poppy’s, but after a few tries, I am finally able to do it. They still look very raw, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.
- “We need to show you to Poppy. She’ll be able to do a better job.”
- “No. Poppy has a lot on her hands now. I can only assume how many are in need of her help” he says, trying to get up.
- “Where do you think you’re going?”
- “I can’t just lay here. I need to figure out how to bring Lucius back. And Miss Granges hasn’t woken up yet. I need to make sure she does.”
- “In this state, you won’t be able to figure out anything. I’m sure, Potter is trying his best right now to wake Miss Granger and you need some rest. We need to make sure, your wounds will not open again. Plus, we need an antidote potion to get rid of all the venom that you still have in your system. I assume that is the reason your wounds keep reopening.”
- “I can’t trust anyone to brew it for me.”
- “You can trust me.”
He turns his head away. – “You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to do anything for me. Not after all that I have done.”
- “You stop that crazy talk right now, Severus. I don’t want to hear another word of it. You will close your eyes and get some rest and give me some time to brew that damn potion.”
- “Minerva, I…”
- “I said, not another word from you.” I put the palm of my hand on his cheek and stroke it lightly. “We will figure this whole thing out. Just rest for now.”
Exhausted, he closes his eyes and I watch his head lolling to the side as sleep finally takes him.
I go to check on Potter and find him sitting on the side of the bed by Miss Granger. They are talking quietly and I feel relieved that she has finally woken up.
- “Hello, my dear. How are you feeling?”
- “Hello, Professor. I feel weak, but I think I’m fine.”
- “No wonder, my dear. You’ve been hit by a powerful spell and brought back by even more powerful one.”
- “Yes, Harry told me what happened. Where is professor Snape?”
- “He is resting. His injuries are extensive. I will need a potion that will help fight the poison from Voldemort’s snake. Without it, I doubt that he’ll recover any time soon.”
- “I want to see him.”
- “You will dear, but right now all you need is rest and some food. We need to make sure you are nurtured to your full health. After all, you might be the only string that keeps both of them alive.”
- “Both of them? Who else is in here?”
I hesitate for a second, but then realize that there is no point of keeping anything that she’ll be able to see with her own eyes.
- “Lucius is here too.”
- “Lucius? We need to inform aurors.”
- “No we don’t, dear.”
- “Professor?”
- “It’s complicated, but I need you to trust me when I say that he is not exactly someone that you think he is.”
Potter raises his head to me – “Professor, please. We need to know the complete truth.”
I take a few steps and sit on the side of the bed, facing both of them. I take the girl’s hand into mine and squeeze it lightly. – “The truth is… they share one life. You can’t kill one while the other is still alive.”
- “So that’s how he was able to pull through after…”
- “Yes. When he saved you from that spell, he shared a part of his life with you and that’s what brought you back. Unfortunately, saving you sent Lucius into coma. With you still being weak and Lucius barely alive, his own wounds keep reopening and with Nagini’s venom still being inside, he is getting weaker and weaker by the minute.”
- “I share my life with two other people” she says in shock.
- “I’m afraid so, my dear. And that is why we need to make sure you are in full health if we want to save both of them.”
- “I’ll do anything you ask of me, professor.”
- “Good. I need to get back to the castle now and pick up some ingredients for the potion. It won’t take long.”
I turn my head to Potter. – “Would you please go downstairs and bring her some food. And call Draco, I need to check him too before I go.”
- “Sure professor” he nods.
Once he is out of the room, I catch Miss Granger’s gaze on me. – “I know you have a lot of questions, but I’m afraid they will have to wait until we find a solution to sort this whole thing out.”
- “I understand. There’s just one thing that I can’t stop thinking about.”
- “What is it?”
- “When we were out there, on the battlefield, before the curse struck me, I saw a panther. I’m sure it was the same one that I encountered five years ago. And it was him, wasn’t it? Please, professor. I need to know.”
- “Very few people knew about his animagus form. That’s what helped him do his job for the order for all these years. How did you see him?”
- “I didn’t mean to… I followed Crooks to the forest and I saw him hit by a powerful spell. There was a man. I didn’t see his face, but he ordered me to levitate the animal to my room and do what I can for him, or he will hurt my family. I got scared and… I did what he told me. All four of his legs were broken, so I mended the bones as good as I could. And then Draco came in and took him. He didn’t tell me anything, but I could tell it was not just an animal.”
- “He never told me about that.”
- “So that explains it then, doesn’t it? Why he saved my life. He thought he owed me for helping him that night.”
I see tears starting to glisten in her eyes and take her hand again – “Dear girl…”
- “Don’t you see professor, he is in this condition because of me. And Lucius… Gods, Draco probably hates me right now. Saving me, almost killed his father and as much as I dislike Lucius… I would feel the same if I was on his place.”
- “You shouldn’t feel this way, dear. You helped him and he returned the favor. Don’t blame yourself. As for Draco… he is a very disturbed young man. Life was not always fair to him and there was nothing anyone could do about it. He just lost his mother and his father is in coma until we can figure out how to save him, but he is not as weak as it might seem, he’ll pull through. He is a Malfoy after all.”
- “I hope so.”
The sound of the opening door, makes both of us turn our heads. In the doorway, we see Potter.
- “Professor, Draco is gone.”
- 8
- 9
- 10
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

ONE LIFE TO LIVE