Saving your life

“Hermione?”

She barely heard Ron’s voice, all her attention focused on the door, on the sounds she was sure she had heard coming from downstairs.

“Did you hear that?” she asked in a whisper, all senses alert as she walked to the door and threw it open.

“Arthur, Kingsley, somebody come here!” she heard Molly scream from down the stairs. “Please, someone call a Healer!”

She could hear the panic in Molly’s voice, and she felt her heart beat wildly in response. If the witch was screaming in that way, it couldn’t be good.

Without wasting a moment, she started running down the hallway towards the stairs, only one thought in her mind. Severus.

She distantly heard Ron and Harry call after her, but she couldn’t pay them any attention; she had to follow Molly’s voice, had to get to where she was. She had to know what was happening.

“Please, don’t let it be Severus. Please, don’t let it be him,” she muttered under her breath as she ran, the stair seemingly growing longer with every step she took, the seconds feeling like hours.

The first thing she saw when she reached the landing was Molly, kneeling on the floor, bent over a figure lying in front of her. The man on the floor was wearing black robes, but that was all she could tell from where she was. She couldn’t see his face.

She took a tentative step closer, needing to know if it was him, and at the same time afraid of what she might see, but before she could get close enough movement to her side caught her attention. She tilted her head to the side and froze.

It was as if the world around them had vanished, and nothing else mattered. There he was, alive and well, standing by the door, his eyes on her as she watched him. Relief suddenly flooded her body and she felt tears well up in her eyes as her heart began to slow down.

“Severus,” she whispered, taking a few steps towards him, but before she could reach him Molly spoke.

“Hermione,” she called, her voice still frantic, bringing Hermione back to reality. “Go get Kingsley, I need help.”

“I’m here,” Kingsley replied before she could move, his deep voice calm and firm as he walked over to Molly and the figure on the floor.

The relief at seeing Severus alive and well had made her momentarily forget about the man Molly had been trying to help, but now her eyes darted back to the figure. If it wasn’t Severus, then who could it be?

“Hermione,” she heard Severus mutter, his voice low, his tone tentative, but she didn’t pay attention. As Molly moved to make room for Kingsley she had seen a glimpse of white blond hair.

She knew what she would see, knew who it was, but still she stepped towards him, close enough so that she could see him. As much as she had been inwardly preparing herself to what he might look like, a small gasp of surprise escaped her when she saw him. His face was cut and bloodied, his robes torn, his chest slashed open on several places, a large burn on the middle. His eyes were closed, and she wasn’t even sure he was breathing.

Her gaze flicked to Severus for a second, saw a hint of guilt in his eyes, and then turned back to Draco, taking another step and kneeling by his side.

“How can I help?” she asked, but both Molly and Kingsley were too busy to pay her any mind.

“What happened to him?” Kingsley asked, turning to Severus.

“The Dark Lord found out he was helping the Order,” he replied, and although she was still facing Draco, she could feel Severus’ eyes on her, as if it was her he was explaining it to.

“I will need to know what…”

“I will bring the potions he needs,” Severus interrupted him. “All you need to do is keep him alive until I return,” he said firmly before turning around and leaving.

“What an arrogant…”

“There’s no time for that,” Molly interrupted Kingsley. “The boy needs our help.”

“Well, we cannot help him here,” he said, standing up. “Move back,” he said, before flicking his wand over Draco, levitating his body and guiding him towards the small infirmary.

“I need to know what happened to him, in order to help him,” Kingsley said, as soon as he had laid Draco on the bed. Taking a step back from him, he lifted his wand again and, with a complicated flick, murmured, “Legilimens.”

Her eyes darted from Kingsley to Draco, watching the boy grow paler and the Auror’s features contort in surprise first, and in anger seconds later. After a few moments he lowered his wand again and walked over to the small cupboard on the far wall, searching through the potions stored inside.

“The bastard,” Hermione heard him mutter under his breath.

“What did you see?” she asked. “What happened to Draco?”

“Severus did this to him,” he replied, and she gasped. “Why are you so surprised, Hermione?” he asked, turning to her. “Who do you think he is? What did you expect of him?” he asked angrily, walking back towards Draco and pouring some bluish potion over the burn on his chest.

“There must be a reason, he wouldn’t…”

“He wouldn’t what?” he snapped. She heard Molly gasp at his attitude, but the witch said nothing, and neither did Harry and Ron, who were standing by the door. “He is a Death Eater, Hermione. He may be helping the Order, but that doesn’t change who he is; what he is.”

She looked at Draco once more, unwilling to believe what Kingsley was saying. Severus had told her he would help Draco; why would he ever hurt him in such a way?

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Kingsley asked her angrily. She had never seen him like this. He had always been kind to her; never once had he spoken to her in such a way. “I have done nothing but try to help you, have trusted you when I had no reasons to, and yet now you don’t believe my words? You trust him more than you trust me?”

“It’s not like that, Kingsley,” she said in a pleading tone, but he didn’t listen.

“Very well, see it for yourself then,” he said in the same tone, lifting his wand and pointing it at her. She watched his lips move, but couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Suddenly, the room around her vanished, the silence replaced by loud screams. She lifted her hands to her ears, trying to shut the sound out, but it didn’t work. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again a large stone wall had appeared in front of her.

The screams became louder, and she turned to the side to see Draco lying on the floor, his body shaking from pain caused by a curse she knew well enough. Another figure stepped closer, and she lifted her eyes to find Severus standing there, his wand aimed at Draco, a look of hatred on his face that made her shiver in fear.

She could see his lips moving, knew he was talking to Draco, but she couldn’t hear his voice over the screams.

She blinked, and the scene in front of her changed again. Draco wasn’t on the floor anymore, now he seemed to be bound to the wall, and Severus was standing in front of him, a strange, green flame floating between them. They both stood still for a moment, and she thought she had seen Severus’ lips move again, but again, she could hear nothing.

Then Severus moved, and she watched wide eyed as with a flick of his wand, he made the flame reach Draco, burning his clothes first, and his flesh moments later, the pained screams deafening her.

“Stop it!” she heard someone yell from far, far away, and the next second the screaming had stopped, and the figures vanished.

She was kneeling on the floor of the infirmary, and although she could feel the pain on her knees she couldn’t remember falling.

Molly was kneeling by her side, her hands cupping her face as she tried to calm her down. Blinking a few times, Hermione wiped the tears she hadn’t realized were falling from her eyes as she tried to calm down.

“What did you do to her?” Harry asked, and she looked up at Kingsley. For a moment, she had forgotten it had been him who had caused the visions.

“I showed her what I saw in Draco’s memories, showed her what had happened to him. Maybe now you will believe me,” he said, the last part directed at her.

She wanted to reply, although she wasn’t sure what she could have said, so she remained silent. A part of her wanted to defend Severus, to tell Kingsley that there had to be an explanation for what he had done, but the other part wasn’t so certain.

“He has been trying to convince the Order to find and kill Draco for days,” Kingsley said, his voice calm and soft again as he stepped closer to her. “Don’t try to see more in this than there is. You saw what happened for yourself, you know what he did.”

She looked at him silently, unable to deny what he was saying. He was right, she had seen it herself. She had known Severus wanted Draco dead, but still she had decided to believe him when he had said he would help him. She had helped Severus find Draco herself, had helped him do this to Draco. Suddenly, she felt like a fool.

Seeing her calm down, realizing she was finally listening, Kingsley reached his hand forward and she took it, letting him help her stand.

“I am sorry I did that,” he said softly, “but you had to see it for yourself. I had to make you see the truth.”

She nodded her head, but before she could someone else spoke.

“I do hope I am not interrupting anything,” Severus said coldly from the doorway, his eyes flicking from her to Kingsley, down to their still joint hands, and then back to her.

She instantly let go of Kingsley’s hand and took a step away from him, but Severus didn’t say anything else. Instead, he stepped inside the room and walked towards Draco, leaving the potion vials he had been carrying on the small table before walking to the cupboard to retrieve some more.

“What are you doing?” she heard Harry snap.

“What does it look like I’m doing, Potter?” he snapped back as he walked to Draco with a few more potions in hand.

“Just stay away from him.”

“Excuse me?” Severus said, leaving the potions on the table and turning to him. “I was aware of the fact that you disliked Mr Malfoy here, but I never thought you would simply want to let him die.”

“I was aware of the fact that you disliked Mr Malfoy here,” Harry replied mockingly, taking a step forward, “but I never thought you would torture him to that extreme.”

“You may think whatever you like, Potter,” Severus said angrily, “but you will not give me orders.”

“How do we know you’re not just trying to finish him off?” Ron asked, and Severus looked at him as if he were stupid.

“If I wanted to finish him off, Mr Weasley, then I wouldn’t have brought him here, would I?”

“We know you did that to him,” Ron replied. “Why should we trust you will help him now?”

“Why don’t you just leave and let us take care of him?”

“Let you take care of him, Mr Potter?” Severus asked, a single eyebrow raised in question as he turned to him. “You wouldn’t know where to start. If you want Draco to live, then let me work.”

“I still don’t…”

“Will you just let him do it?” Hermione snapped angrily, and then turned to Severus. “Heal him,” she said in the same tone, and ignored his questioning look.

“I would prefer not to work with an audience,” he said, looking pointedly at Ron and Harry.

“We’re not lea…”

“Let’s go,” Molly interrupted her son, speaking for the first time since Severus had arrived. “There is nothing we can do in here.”

“But…”

“We are leaving, Ronald,” she said more firmly, motioning for both of them to leave the room. “Hermione, dear?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said firmly, and the witch merely nodded.

“Kingsley?”

“I’ll stay.”

“Very well,” Molly said, silencing Ron’s protests and closing the door behind her.

“Miss Granger, I…”

“Just heal him,” she said briskly, not wanting to hear whatever Severus wanted to say.

She could see the confusion and anger cross his face for a moment, but he merely nodded and turned back to Draco, uncorking the first vial and sitting Draco up so he could drink it.

She gasped in surprise when Draco suddenly started coughing and shaking, trying to push Severus away without waking up.

“What are you doing to him?” she asked, running to Draco’s side and taking his hand in hers.

This was all her fault; he wouldn’t be in that condition if it weren’t for her. Draco had helped her when she had needed him, and what did she do when it was he that needed her? Well, send Severus to him, and get him tortured, maybe killed.

“No,” she breathed. He couldn’t die. She had to do something, she had to help him.

“He needs to take the potion to heal,” Severus said, and although she could hear the anger in his tone, he didn’t say anything else.

“But it’s hurting him, you’re hurting him.”

“Hermione,” she heard Kingsley say softly by her side, taking her hand and trying to pull her away from Draco. “If you want him to live, you will have to let Severus work,” he said gently, and she reluctantly let go of Draco, letting Kingsley pull her a few steps away form him.

“This is all my fault,” she said, her eyes fixed on Draco as he stopped coughing and fell back against the bed. Severus gave him another potion, but this time he didn’t react.

“It’s not your fault,” Kingsley said, his tone soft yet firm. “I dislike this as much as you do, but we need Draco alive, and for that we will have to trust him on this,” he said, looking pointedly at Severus.

Deep inside, she believed Severus was trying to help Draco, to save his life, but that didn’t make things any easier. Her own words echoed in her mind as she watched Severus work.

“How do I know you won’t just turn him in, and that you won’t hand him over to get killed?” she had asked Severus, when he had told her he needed to see Draco.

“You don’t,” he had replied. “But if you want my help, then you will tell me how to find him. You asked me to trust you, now I ask the same of you.”

Had she been such a fool? Had he been lying all along, only wanting to kill Draco? Perhaps he had only said what he knew she needed to hear,

That was a stupid thought; there must be an explanation to what had happened, for what she had seen, but as she watched Draco, the little voice of reason in her head became softer, barely audible. How could she think straight in such a situation?

“I cannot give him any more potions at the moment,” Severus said after a few minutes, applying some salve on the burn on Draco’s chest. Then he turned to them, his eyes on Kingsley as he spoke. “I will bring a few more potions he will need, and leave instructions on how and when to give them to him.”

She heard Kingsley agree to what Severus was saying, and ask a few questions of his own about Draco’s condition, but she wasn’t paying any attention. Her eyes had been focused on Draco while Severus spoke, not sure why but not wanting to meet his gaze.

“Miss Granger,” he said after a moment of silence, and she forced herself to look at him. He was standing a few feet from her, his expression unreadable. “May I have a word with you?”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said, her voice weak even to her own ears. The relief of knowing he was alive and well mixed inside of her with the worry over Draco and the anger at what Severus had done to him, and she was afraid she would say something she might regret later.

“It will only be a moment,” he started, but she shook her head. “Miss Granger,” he insisted, but she still didn’t agree.

Seeing no other way out, no other way to avoid him, she turned to the door, but before she could take a single step towards it she felt his hand on her arm, his fingers wrapped tightly around it, holding her in place.

“Hermione,” he said, as she yanked her arm away.

“Just leave me alone!” she almost screamed, all control finally lost. “Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through, waiting here for you, not knowing if you were still alive, if he had killed you? For hours I could do nothing but wait, fearing the worse and knowing there was nothing I could do to help you, and then you show up, unharmed, and with him like that,” she said, turning to Draco for a second before her eyes fell on Severus again. She could feel the tears well in her eyes, and she tried to blink them back as she spoke. “I trusted you; I told you how to find him. You said you would help him, and I believed you, and now look at what you have done to him!”

“It is not…”

“I don’t want to hear it,” she interrupted. “I saw what you did to him, I saw it for myself. You tortured him, you cursed him until he was barely alive, and whatever reason you might think you had for doing it, it is not good enough,” she said, wiping away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks angrily. “You’d promised me you’d help him,” she whispered after a moment, her voice broken. “I trusted you.”

He looked at her in silence, his expression still unreadable. Wasn’t he even going to react? Was he made of stone? As she looked back at him, she wondered if perhaps that was the truth, that he didn’t care; not for what she thought, not for her. The small voice of reason tried to tell her it wasn’t true, but she wasn’t listening.

“Hermione?” a soft voice croaked from behind her. She instantly turned to the side, in the direction the voice was coming from, and her gaze rested on Draco. His eyes were open, a pained expression on his face, his breathing heavy.

“Draco,” she gasped, running to his side and taking his hand in hers. “You are awake. Are you all right?”

“Hermione,” he repeated, his voice softer than before.

“Don’t speak,” she said softly. “Just rest; everything will be all right.”

“Did it…” he started, but grimaced in pain as he tried moved and coughed lightly. “Did it work?” he asked after a few seconds.

“Work? What are you talking about?”

“The plan. Did Severus’ plan work?”

She looked at him for a second, not sure what he meant.

“What plan?” she asked, but he didn’t reply. His eyes had closed again, his breathing even as he slept.

Confused, she turned around, only to find the door open, and Severus nowhere to be seen.