Love is Blind

Chapter 2

The halls were silent except for the harsh footfalls
heading toward the infirmary. At the sound of running in the hall, Professor
Lupin opened his door ready to deduct points from the offending student. In the
corridor, he did not see any students, but rather a large billow of black robes
carrying a limp… body?

Remus rushed to Snape’s side. “Oh gods! Hermione?!”
Remus gasped. Trying to keep his voice calm he turned to his colleague,
“Severus, what happened?”

“Her cauldron exploded,” Snape said shakily as he
carried the unconscious body of Hermione Granger into the hospital wing. Before
Remus could ask any more questions, Madam Pomfrey rushed to them frantically
asking the same inquiries that the werewolf wanted answered.

Snape gently laid Hermione on a bed. As the
mediwitch examined her, he relayed as much of the incident as he could. “We
were working on our research and she added something to her potion. I saw it
bubbling, but it was too late. The potion erupted all over her. Somehow she
accidentally spilled some dragon’s blood into the flames. Before I could react,
the cauldron exploded and she was on the ground.” Severus had never sounded so
frantic in his life. All Slytherin pretense and intimidation seemed to have
vanished.

The mediwitch looked up from her patient and watched
as the potions master sat down heavily and placed his head in his hands. “What
did she add that made the potion erupt?” she asked calmly. “These burns are
severe. I need to know what was in the potion so I can treat it properly.”

Severus shook his head, defeated, and said. “I don’t
know.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW?!” Remus was furious, although he
wasn’t sure if he was really mad at Severus or just upset about Hermione. “You
overgrown bat! You watch every move she makes, everyday. You ensure that she
does not make a mistake. How can you say, ‘I don’t know?”

Severus raised his head and glared into the yellow
eyes of Remus Lupin. “I said, “I don’t know!” he said through gritted
teeth. “She was working on another variation of the wolfsbane. I think she was
working with…” he tried to think, “hippogriff claw, yew root, dragon fang… and
I think phoenix ash. It could have been any one of them. They all look alike.”

Remus fumed. He knew that Severus watched Hermione
like a hawk. Although she was no longer his student, he still treated her as
such. “Snape, think HARD… which one was it?” Lupin growled.

“Give me a moment. I don’t need you on my back. I
have had enough of that already today,” the potions master snapped, giving a
sideways glance at the woman lying in front of him. “Dammit, if I wouldn’t have
been such an ass, she would be fine,” he muttered to himself and again buried
his face in his hands. His shoulders started to shake lightly. He cursed
himself for letting his emotions show. He never let himself cry, let alone over
a Gryffindor… but Hermione wasn’t the typical Gryffindor, was she?

Madam Pomfrey treated Hermione’s other injuries and
had narrowed down the possible offending ingredients to two. Both were treated
similarly, and she left to fetch what she needed.

Remus sat down next to Snape, his anger calmed at
the sight of the dark man’s uncharacteristic flow of tears. “Severus?” he asked
smoothly. “What happened?” Remus was wary. He and Severus never really had a
friendship, it was more like a symbiotic relationship. They seemed to coexist
and feed off of each other. If it wasn’t for Severus’ talent in brewing
wolfsbane, Remus would be either insane or dead by now. On the flip side,
Severus needed Remus to help him recover from the mental and physical anguish that
he suffered at the hands of Voldemort.

Snape fiercely wiped his face with his robes before
raising his head. “We had an argument,” he croaked, never letting his eyes
leave Hermione’s form. “I said something wrong, she got mad, etc. Maybe she was
distracted and added too much of something. If I would have acted like a human
being rather than an ‘overgrown bat’,,,” he emphasized the words Remus
used moments before, “the fight would never have happened, and she would be
fine now.”

Remus reluctantly put his hand on the other
professor’s shoulder. “Severus, don’t blame yourself. You know that working
with potions can be very hazardous, especially wolfsb We We both know that a
few of those ingredients are extremely temperamental, if they are not brewed
correctly, things can go wrong. We also know that Hermione can have a fierce
temper,” he said, trying to console the usually harsh, ill-tempered man. “Why
are you so upset about this?”

“I wish I knew…” his voice was low and filled with
pain and confusion. “She is so set on finding a cure for you. She is so
determined, almost Slytherin-like. I never show her the respect she deserves.
She is so damned intelligent and never lets you forget it,” he said, still not
looking away from the woman in the bed.

“She’ll be all right. Poppy knows what to do,” Remus
said, squeezing Snape’s shoulder before standing up. “I have a class. Please,
inform me if anything changes.” Remus said as he walked to the door. Severus
merely nodded and was left alone with his thoughts and fears.