Love is Blind

Chapter 5

Hermione buried her face into Severus’ chest. She could
feel him trembling beneath her and tried to squeeze him tighter than he was
squeezing her – which was pretty much impossible. Her sobs had subsided at the
comfort she felt in his arms. She felt so warm and safe there in his embrace
She deeply inhaled the wood-and-spice scent that was definitely Severus. His
heartbeat pounded in her ear and she started to relax in the rhythm.

“Hermione… this is all my fault. If I wouldn’t have
been so damned… stubborn… you would be all right,” Severus whispered hoarsely.

Hermione could feel a slight wetness where Severus’
cheek was resting on top of her head. She realized that Severus Snape - former
Death Eater and ferocious potions master of Hogwarts, was crying… over her.
There weren’t many tears, but even a few was out of the ordinary.

“Severus, please, it’s not your fault. I must have
added the dragon fang at the wrong time. I just wasn’t paying attention,” she
said trying to squelch his guilt as she burrowed deeper into him.

“But it was because of me that you weren’t paying
attention. If I would have treated you like a… well, if I had treated you
better, then we would never have argued and you would have realized what you
were doing.” He breathed in her scent and sighed. It felt so good to hold her
next to him. His usual harshness was gone and replaced with what he saw as a
blubbering fool that he had never seen before. Hermione had that effect on
people – you were either in love with her or pissed off at her.

The two of them were holding onto each other as if they
would die if they let go. Hermione had never seen Severus show any emotion,
other than frustration, annoyance, anger, hatred – you get the idea. But to
know he was crying, broke her heart. She let her hands roam up to his face and
wiped the few stray tears away. He startled at the soft touch of her fingers to
his skin.

“Severus, I shouldn’t have let you get to me. Please
stop beating yourself up over it. I’m all right,” she said softly.

“No, Hermione, you are not all right. I know
what you have planned for your future and you can’t do it without your eyes,”
he croaked through the lump in his throat.

“I’ll learn to cope. I have four other senses.” She
pulled back from his hug and took his hands in hers. “Severus, I know you have
sat here the whole time, although I am not sure why. But thank you. I trust
you. I truly believe that if anyone can find something to help me, you
will,” she said as she placed a soft peck on his cheek.

His eyes opened wide in shock, but then he smiled
and relaxed. “I will do all there is in my power to fix this.” He pulled her to
him again in a short embrace. “You need your rest, Hermione. I will be here
when you wake up.” His lips softly grazed her hairline before he pulled back to
sit in the chair.

She laid in the bed in silence for what seemed like
hours. She knew that Severus was still there. He hadn’t moved. She inhaled and
got a whiff of the wonderful smell emanating off of him. She sighed and raised
her hands to her face. She felt the bandages around her eyes. “Severus?”

“Yes?” he answered softly.

“Would you please take off the wrap?”

He hesitated slightly before he stood up and helped
her remove the bandages. She could feel his hands shaking but his touch was
soft and gentle. Once the dressing was off, he softly pushed her hair from her
face. She heard him take a sharp breath.

Her voice was shaky, “How bad is it?”

“Hermione…” he swallowed hard and took her hand in
his. He gently guided her hand to her face. “I will let you tell me how bad it
is.” His voice was soft and smooth like velvet. She had never heard him like
this. She couldn’t believe that this was the same ‘evil git’ that tortured
Gryffindors for fun.

She gingerly felt the flesh that covered her eyes.
It was not at all what she expected, if she even knew what to expect. Her flesh
had ‘melted’ over her eyes. She started trembling slightly before Severus wrapped
his fingers around hers. “Shhh… Hermione… shhh… I’ll find it, I swear. I
promise, and you know I always keep my promises.”

They sat in silence holding hands for quite a while.
Severus knew she needed to rest and he glanced at the purple vial of dreamless
sleep potion on the night table. “Hermione, I know this is difficult to handle
right now. Do you want to sleep? I can give you something to help you rest.”

“No thank you.” She moved her head to face were he
was sitting. “I would actually like to sit up and talk a while. Will you talk
with me?” she begged softly.

“Anything you wish,” he whispered.