Hibernaculum

Severus Snape was in an unpleasant mood. He had expected to find himself in a freakish situation if he ever awoke but he never counted on waking in the middle of the forest attempting to ravish a young woman. He shoved her off of him and sat up groaning from the sudden pain. She was pale and shaking her. He sighed in annoyance grabbed her again and gave her a good shake.

She seemed to recover her voice from the abuse and stuttered. \"Um, Sir you were poisoned and um, you eerr.\"

\"I attacked you\" he finished for her.

\"Um, yes, I suppose you did.\"

\"And who are you?\" he demanded roughly, giving her another good shake in annoyance.

\"I am um, Elizabeth.\" Her voice faltered.

\"And what are you doing running about the forest in the middle of the night?\"

\"I was bringing some Potions to Madame Rosmerta.\" she mumbled.

\"So you\'re the woman who has been hired in my place.\" He snarled.

\"Um, well it is only as a substitute, Dumbledore planned on you coming back, he has people looking for you everywhere.\"

Somewhat mollified, he nodded.

She added, \"You should have known anyways since I gave you the antidote, that potion is not well known.\"

One brow rose in amusement as he stated, \"You mean when you dosed me for menstrual cramps?\"

\"You\'re lucky I had that on me, Madame Rosmerta needed it, I don\'t usually carry false unicorn root around with me.\"

He snorted in reply and glanced over at her. \"Do you often make deliveries in your nightclothes?\"

She glared at him but was prevented from replying when Snape doubled over in pain retching. She pulled his long dark hair away from his face and patted his back comfortingly. He waved his arm at her in annoyance and she ceased patting him.

\"Gah! Horrid stuff,\" he choked, and then groaned, moving away from the puddle and sinking into the grass, he muttered, \"I think I might lay back down for a bit.\"

\"Well the others will hopefully start looking for us soon,\" she said patting him again, \"I think we should stay here rather than try and get through the forest in the middle of the night.\" He nodded in agreement, his face pale and weary. \"I don\'t think I could handle two stretchers and worry about the creatures.\"

He looked at her in surprise, \"Two? Who else?\"

\"Um, the person whom was dragging you, I think you called him Wormtail.\"

\"Wormtail?\" he demanded looking around, \"where is he?\"

\"Um, he is lying over there,\" she gestured to the prone figure, \"he shouldn\'t be able to move.\"

\"Double his bonds\"

She went over and looked at the man lying still in the damp grass, he didn\'t appear awake but she did as Snape demanded and quickly returned to him as she could hear Snape retching again. He waved away any attempts at coddling and so she sat quietly in the grass waiting for him to finish.

She scanned the sky watching carefully hoping Dumbledore had gotten her note. He might have been asleep after all. She had been mucking about the forest for almost an hour now and she was incredibly tired. Just when she had almost given up hope and was looking for a soft spot to lay she heard shouting.

\"Helloooooo!\" she heard Remus\' voice bellow.

\"Elizabeth!!\" Professor Vector voice quickly followed.

Elizabeth screamed for all she was worth and the two figures plummeted down towards her.

\"My God, girl what were you thinking skiving off by yourself? Dumbledore was worried sick!\" Remus said in annoyance.

She shook her head pointing at the two men lying on the grass. \"Remus look!\"

Remus and Professor Vector bent down towards the men, \"Remus, its Snape!\"

\"And Peter, My God, Dumbledore is going to kiss you when he sees this! Sirius might even be glad to see Snape when he hears about Peter.\" Remus grinned excitedly.

\"Um. Why?\"

\"He is the reason Sirius was imprisoned in the first place.\" Remus explained as he conjured stretchers and gently levitated Snape and Wormtail onto them.

She stared at him in shock, \"What? Why was he out here then?\"

\"Because his friends are bloody stupid when they are in a panic.\" Snape grumbled from his stretcher.

\"Why were they panicking?\" Remus asked, confused.

\"Because I bloody poisoned them! He growled, \"I will tell you the rest later Remus.\"

Remus\' eyes grew wide in confusion. \"Erm, all right then.\"

They quickly mounted their brooms and Elizabeth changed forms again and they took off into the night, back towards Hogwarts.

\"Damn! I can’t move,\" he thought to himself weakly. He wasn\'t certain when exactly he had felt so terrible. His head was pounding as if he had just taught a first year Potions class, and his tongue felt dry and fuzzy. He struggled to open his eyes, they protested against such action and he sighed inwardly. His brain raced over the events the night before. He remembered clearly being poisoned and then coming to while attempting to ravish a woman. He wondered to himself if he actually wanted to wake up and face that particular reality.

Severus Snape prided himself on self-control and dignity. He cringed inwardly at what else he might have done while under the influence of the poison. He groaned, suddenly remembering that he would actually have to see her again. She was here, at Hogwarts. \"Well,\" he mused silently, \"it isn\'t exactly something someone would probably want other people to know. So she won\'t be likely to tell anyone.\"

He finally managed to open his eyes and saw that next to his bed sat his mother and grandmother. He quickly closed his eyes again. \"GAH!\" he thought, eloquently.

He felt a hand grasp his own, and his mother began to speak softly. \"Hush now Severus, we are here.\"

While the presence of the two women was hardly one he would consider comforting, he wasn\'t about to tell them that. That and the other reason being he wasn\'t quite sure he could speak.

\"You\'ll not be able to speak just yet.\"

\"Apparently not,\" he thought.

He weakly opened his eyes and attempted to glare at the two women by his bedside. His mother came over and gently lifted his head and placed another pillow under it. From this new vantage point he could see he had been tied to ted. ed.

\"Of course,\" he remembered, \"the seizures from the poison leaving my body.\"

\"I am sorry about the bindings Severus, Professor Dupries insisted they were necessary.\"

He nodded in agreement. \"So a Professor now,\" he thought, and wondered what kinds of hell they had put her through helping her with teaching methods for teaching. During his own training, Dumbledore had managed to blow up the Potions lab and they only just managed to repair it in time for term.

\"I would like to take you home to recover.\"

His eyed widened in horror. The mere idea of his mother coddling him out of his wits, feeding him soup, and warming his blankets filled him with dread. He grunted in protest and shook his head as violently as he could under the circumstances.

She glared at him; \"Dumbledore of course wants you to remain here. He says that with Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dupries here you will recover much quicker. A lot of nonsense really, we can hire a Potions Master and a medi-witch to see to your needs. I insist that you come home with us. You have been missing for months now, and your family wishes for you to be home.\"

He stared at her wondering about his sudden position as a sullen child, and wondered how in the hell that had happened.

He glanced over at a water glass on hedsiedside table.

She took the hint and lifted the glass to his lips, and he drank deeply.

\"Really, Lucita,\" his grandmother\'s voice breaking the sudden stillness, \"Severus has never been one to tolerate coddling. Leave him here. Dumbledore told me he and the nurse have shouting matches whenever he is stuck in here for any time at all. I am sure that would be far more helpful to the boy than your ignoring his moods and patting his head when he is angry.\"

Lucita Snape stared at her mother-in-law. She had been sure she was on her side, and now she was to be foiled in her plans of long weeks of having her youngest son to care for.

\"Mrs. Snape,” said Lucita. “I have already contacted a Potions Master. Mr. McHenry,\" ignoring Severus\' sudden choking fit, she continued, \"has agreed to assist us, and I was going to start looking for a medi-witch tomorrow.

\"I do not think Severus approves of Mr. McHenry.\" Mrs. Snape stated bluntly.

The younger woman looked at her son annoyed at his enthusiastic head shaking. \"What is wrong with Mr. McHenry?\"

Severus rolled his eyes up to the ceiling in his own eloquent way of emphasizing the man\'s incompetence.

\"Are you so sure of Professor Dupries abilities? She only received her title a few months ago.\"

He shrugged in lack of concern. Madame Pomfrey was in charge of the Hospital Wing anyway, and he was more than certain of her abilities.

\"I tried to get a copy of her thesis but it is restricted! How can that possibly be a recommendation?\"

He was a little intrigued by this bit of information and raised his brows in interest.

\"No, I do not know what it was about!\" his mother muttered angrily.

\"Severus, we will leave you here for your recovery,\" the elder Mrs. Snape said decisively. \"Professor Dupries said you should be able to speak tomorrow and we will leave the day after that. We will leave you to your rest now.\"

She fixed the younger woman with a look, and the younger Mrs. Snape meekly followed her out of the room.

He closed his eyes in benediction to the silence in the room and thanked the Gods that his grandmother had decided to arrive with his mother. He would have gone mad in a week under her care. Of course a day or two with the Mrs. Snapes, and the staff might poison him in his sleep, or at least start shoving Healing Potions down his throat to rush his recovery and the women\'s leave taking in the process.

A quiet rustle of taffeta against silk alerted him to her presence, and he opened his eyes in irritation at the intrusion. A woman stood gazing at him unflinchingly. Her dark hair was swept up into a complicated bun, and she wore a black high-necked dress. Remembering her calm brown eyes from their previous meeting, he glared at her.

She raised a brow in return and showed him the potion bottle in her hand. Ignoring hisre, re, she approached him, removed the cork from the bottle, and lifted it to his nostrils for him to judge the contents before taking it.

Somewhat mollified at the sign of respect, he sniffed the liquid and, recognizing a Headache potion, he nodded slightly. She tilted the bottle into his mouth and he drank, hoping her potions were potent. His eyes widened in surprise, it was delicious! The taste of lemongrass and sage on his lips, he rolled his eyes in irritation at a Potion Master who took the time to make her potions palatable.

She shrugged in reply.

She bent over him and removed the straps binding his arms and legs to the bed. Finding he could actually move his arms, he rubbed his wrists irritably.

She looked at him and removed another bottle from her robes. The bottle was small and violet colored, not a color he generally used to categorize his potions. She removed the stopper and again presented it for him to sniff.

It was an oil, eucalyptus and spearmint probably mixed with almond or avocado oil. He raised a brow in question; he certainly wasn\'t going to drink it. She rolled her eyes and gestured at his arms and he realized she meant for it to be placed topically.

At his confused nod, she removed the stopper and poured some of it into her hand. She sat next to him and quickly massaged the oil onto his arms, and moved the sheets to repeat the ministrations on his ankles. He could feel the menthol in the spearmint tingling at his sore arms, and he nodded gruffly in thanks.

She nodded in return, and produced a book from her robes and presented it to him.

He took it from her and, glancing at it, noted that it was her thesis. He looked at her again questioning.

\"Dumbledore,\" she said.

He nodded in understanding.

\"I know you might not be able to sleep yet, and you realize we cannot give you a Sleeping Potion,\"

He nodded, knowing that if the poison hadn\'t been completely removed from his system he would suffer a relapse from some of the ingredients in a Sleeping Potion.

She continued, \"I thought you might like to look over some of my work since we will be working together.\"

She walked over to the table by his bed and waved her wand producing some tea and toast. Then nodded to him briefly and walked away.

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Pettigrew Found Black Exonerated

Barnaby Bellows

Daily Prophet

In a shocking turn of events Peter Pettigrew, once thought killed by Sirius Black, has been located. Pettigrew was apprehended by a Hogwarts’ staff member and turned over to the Ministry of Magic for questioning.

The Ministry revealed that during his Veratiserum interrogation Pettigrew revealed that it was he and not Sirius Black that was secret keeper for the Potter family seventeen years ago. It was also revealed that it was Pettigrew that caused the gas explosion during their confrontation that ended in the deaths of twelve Muggles.

According to the Ministry of Magic Pettigrew cut off his own finger and then turned into a rat animagi form to escape Sirius Black. The Ministry was previously unaware of Pettigrew’s animagus status.

In our conversation with Black he revealed that he never had any intention of turning over Pettigrew as a traitor. “Hell no,” ranted the wild looking wizard. “I was going to blast him right then and there. The little bastard betrayed one of my dearest friends. I would have killed him when he was found if I had been able to.”

Sirius Black will be undergoing psychiatric evaluation to decide whether his violent tendencies will interfere with his ability to live among Wizarding society.

Dr Jolene Frisk noted Wizard psychologist will be conducting the assessment.

“I have no reason at this time to doubt Mr. Black’s sanity,” she offered. “Seeking revenge despite our laws against such things is a normal reaction to such situations. I have no reason at this time to doubt Mr. Black’s sanity or his ability to function as a law abiding citizen of our society.”

Pettigrew has been indicted on one offense of being an unregistered animagi, two counts of betrayal of Fidelius Charm, and twelve counts of murder. He is scheduled to stand trial in September