Wounded

Chapter 2

Severus was glad to be getting a new wand, but incredibly nervous about appearing in public. He had a reputation to maintain, and part of that was never showing weakness.

Aurelia came to his room, to escort him and saw him sitting in the chair, nervously tapping his foot. "Is something bothering you?" she asked gently.

"No. Yes." He sighed. "I have a reputation to uphold."

She thought she understood. "I wouldn't worry about it. The odds of you running into someone you know..."

"Are actually quite good," he finished. "I have been teaching for nearly twenty years and many of my students are now passing on their knowledge to their offspring. If they were to learn of my condition..." He still wasn't sure what he would do with his life now that the Dark Lord was gone, or even if he would be welcome to return to Hogwarts, but he wanted to keep his options open.

"Severus, don't worry about it. We'll Apparate straight to Ollivander's and straight back. Since it's early June, I wouldn't expect you would run into anyone there." She didn't want to tell him that if they could not cure his blindness, he would not be teaching anymore. It was best not to think about that. She moved over to where she could take his hand, and pulled him to his feet. "Come, let's go. I'll Side-Along Apparate you."

He started to pull away from her. "I am still capable of Apparition," he said defensively.

"Oh? And where are you going?" she asked defensively. He had not argued with her when they left his house so she took this as a sign that he was feeling better.

He was once again reminded of how helpless he was. He had no idea where he was and especially where in relation to Diagon Alley he was. "Very well." He let her pull him close and took hold of her arm.

After the crack of Apparition, she released him. "We're here," she said quietly as she discreetly led him to the counter.

In short order, they heard Ollivander's happy voice. "Ah, Severus, what a surprise. Come for service on your wand?" After the war, the old wand maker had returned to his shop, explaining that he had gone into hiding rather than risking being impressed into You-Know-Who's service.

"Actually, no. I have come to purchase a new wand. Twelve and a half inches..."

"Oak with dragon's heartstring core," Ollivander finished. If there was one thing he hated, it was rushing a wand purchase. "Well, you will forgive me if I insist on measuring you again. As you know, the wand chooses the wizard, and while that wand suited you then, each is a little different."

Severus knew that if he wanted to purchase a wand, he would have to allow the old man his games. Fortunately, Ollivander did not mention his infirmity.

Aurelia had taken a seat and watched as Severus tried out several wands. By the sixth wand, he was growing quite impatient. After the tenth wand, she thought he might hex Ollivander with whatever wand was in his hand.

Finally, Ollivander handed Severus a rather unusual looking wand. "Ebony and dragon's heartstring, thirteen inches." He watched expectantly, and finally saw the green and silver sparks shoot from the end of the wand. "Excellent. You see. The wand chooses the wizard. That heartstring is from the same dragon as your original wand. None of the oak wands had a core from the same dragon. It seems the dragon has chosen you. Of course, he was a particularly cranky Hebridean Black."

Aurelia couldn't suppress the chuckle at Ollivander's description of the dragon.

"Does something amuse you?" Severus asked snidely.

"Nothing in particular," she replied. "Come, I know you didn't want to stay out long." She waited for him to pay Ollivander for his replacement wand before grasping his arm with her hand and Apparating them to her house. She tried to pull away, but he held tightly onto her wrist.

"What was so amusing in Ollivander's?" he asked in a voice that compelled an answer.

"Oh, just the thought of you being tied to a particularly cranky black dragon. It's quite fitting, really." She couldn't help but laugh at the scowl he gave her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go get lunch ready."

He followed her to the kitchen and took a seat at the table. "And when will you teach me the book spell?" He was impatient to learn a spell that would give him a measure of independence.

"After lunch. I hope that it will be helpful for you. I'll have to take a look at my books and write up a list of ones that might be useful and the parts of the book you should look at. You will need to be patient. The one downside of this spell is that you can't skim through books." She paused for a few seconds. "Severus, we really need to consider the fact that there might not be a cure."

"Now that we know what caused it, we will find a cure," he replied gruffly.

She had let him live with his denial for long enough. He was getting around her house quite easily now, though she had to remind herself not to move anything around. He had even agreed to use a cane to prevent him from running into furniture and walls. "I'm serious. There are some maladies that cannot be cured. Now that you have a wand, I'd like to bring a therapist over who can teach you how to cast spells that will help you function without sight." She watched him lean back in the chair, cross his arms, and scowl at her. She knew he found this subject incredibly upsetting. "Be reasonable, it could take some time for you to regain your sight. This would help you learn to be more independent."

"So you can get rid of me," he snarled.

"No, I don't want to get rid of you." She had enjoyed his company. He was intelligent and interested in many of the same things she was. Ever since Henry had been killed, she had dreaded coming home to an empty house. Having Severus here had changed that. There were times when he filled the role as big brother and others when she was the big sister.

"Then why am I here?" he had been thinking about this much more frequently the last few days. He was beginning to suspect that she had not invited him here merely to work on the cure.

"I told you, it's easier to work on the potions with you here."

"Why am I really here?" he asked.

Knowing that lunch was taking care of itself, she sat across from him. "After Henry died, I buried myself in my work. I didn't want to come home to an empty house full of memories. The children offered to stay, but I didn't want them in Britain. It wasn't safe here. I didn't have any family to stay with me; they all had their own families to look after, so I'd been considering looking for a roommate for a few weeks. As you can imagine, it's incredibly tedious interviewing people to ensure that you can get along. As much has you don't want to admit it, you needed a roommate, too. Since I knew you, and that we could get along with each other, I figured it would be mutually beneficial."

"You deceived me," he stated simply. A part of him had to admire her for taking such a Slytherin tack.

"Yes. I know how proud you are. Combining what I knew of you from school and the stories Julia told me, I knew that you would not accept my charity. You really intimidate the students, you know."

"That is the entire point. Julia was a Ravenclaw, wasn't she? She's a very bright girl."

"Thank you. I think she'd be surprised to hear that from you."

"Why should she be surprised? She always received the highest marks in my class," he stated simply.

"Perhaps she'll realize that this summer. I'm hoping you can be Severus and not Professor Snape around them. They'll be home in a few days."

He had forgotten about her children coming home. "Perhaps I should leave before then."

"Why? Is it your pride? Honestly, you have to get over that. If you resume teaching in the autumn, I'm sure they will realize it's in their best interest not to mention the fact you were blind. If you don't, it won't really matter, will it?" She got up to finish lunch. "Besides, do you think you are really ready to live on your own?"

He sighed, realizing he had lost. "No. And I will resume teaching in the autumn," he said insistently.

She smiled sadly as she placed the plates on the table. She was not very hopeful that he would regain his sight, but the optimism he displayed made him easier to live with.

***********

After lunch, she led him to the study to teach him the book spell. "Now then, it's a somewhat tricky spell. It took a while for me to learn it, so if you don't get it right the first time, don't worry." She realized that he would not be able to see her wand movement to mimic it. "I need you to stand up."

"Why?"

"I need to show you the wand movement." She stood with her back to his front. "Place your hand on mine." She pointed her wand at a book on the table, performed a rather ornate flourish, and said, "Libri dico." The book then began speaking the words." Finite," she said to stop the book. "Did you need me to demonstrate it again?"

"Perhaps once more," he replied.

She demonstrated again for him and then moved away. "Now, give it a try."

Severus brandished his wand and said, "Libri dico." Nothing happened.

"Well, that wasn't bad." She stood on his right side and wrapped her hand around his. "Like this," she said as she demonstrated the flourish again. "Try just the flourish."

***********

After half and hour, Severus was quite sullen that he had not yet mastered the spell. "This was a stupid idea," he proclaimed and sat in a chair.

Aurelia was perplexed. His flourish was now perfect and there was nothing wrong with his pronunciation of the spell. "Severus, try to summon the book," she ordered cautiously.

"Why would I want to do that?" There was no point in summoning something that he could not read.

"Humor me, please." She hoped she was wrong. After all, it was a complex spell to make a book speak and she had been the only one of the grandchildren to master it.

"Accio book," he said and held out his hand, expecting the book to fly into it.

Aurelia frowned when nothing happened. She had been afraid of this. "This is not good," she said softly as she began to pace.

"Not good? That's a bit of an understatement, wouldn't you say?" he asked angrily.

"Try another spell. A simpler one, something we learned first year. Try Levitation." She watched expectantly as he tried to levitate the book. Again, nothing happened.

Severus threw his wand across the room. "This is useless." I'm useless. I have no sight and no magic.

Aurelia summoned his wand. "It's not useless. It's another clue. This might help narrow down the search."

"And now I am completely useless to the search," he groused.

"Not completely. Once Julia comes home, she can help you during the day. It will be good for her. Granted, she won't be here all day, but you can get a couple of hours of searching done each day. I don't think Helen should help you. She's too young."

"Now I am relegated to babysitting children," he said bitterly.

"Just like at school. You wanted to feel useful, right? This will give you something to do. Now that we have an idea of what we are looking for, you can give Julia a great deal of direction in her search. You've already admitted she's quite bright."

"Fine," he replied gruffly. He hated the idea of relying on a student to do his work.

***********

For two days, Aurelia spent all her free time searching through books for any clue on the poison. She delegated most of her duties in the ward to the other healers, supervising them as necessary. She was sure the loss of magic was an important part of the poison, but she had no idea how it related to the blindness.

Severus had become more sullen, and she made a point of involving him in the search in the evenings, frequently asking for his opinion even though she didn't really need it. She knew that any disability had the potential to cause severe depression. She was very concerned that was happening with Severus. While he might have been able to accept the loss of sight or magic separately, she wasn't sure he could handle losing both.

Checking the clock on the wall, she saw it was time for her to go pick up her children. She had tried to imagine how Julia would react to the news that she had chosen Severus as her roommate. Well, she would find out soon enough.

***********

When Julia and Helen arrived from the International Floo Network, they ran over to Aurelia and gave her huge hugs that nearly knocked her down.

"Mum, I've missed you," said Julia.

"I love you," said Helen.

"And I love you both. Let's collect your bags and we can be on our way home." She was so glad her children were safe. She had initially fought against Henry's desire to send the girls to Beauxbatons, but after the battle that nearly destroyed Hogwarts, she was glad she had listened to him. While they were waiting for the bags, she said, "The two of you need to know something about my roommate. Julia, you know him."

"Him? You never said it was a guy," said Julia suspiciously.

"Don't worry. He's not there to replace your father. He's one of my old schoolmates, who found he needed someplace to live after all the fighting. I want the two of you to be nice and polite to him. And you need to know that he was injured in the fighting. He's lost his sight and his magic."

"Oh, that's horrible," said Helen.

Aurelia paused. She knew that she had to tell them who it was so they could be prepared, but she knew that Julia would probably be quite upset. "Yes, it is. Julia, it's Severus Snape. I think you know how you need to behave around him."

"That's a joke, right?" she asked incredulously. "I mean, you didn't really take Snape as a roommate, did you?" How could her mother befriend the man who killed Dumbledore?

"Yes, I did. He is not an evil wizard, I'm sure you read about in the paper. And I'm going to need you to help him this summer. We're trying to find a cure to the poison that did this to him. You'll spend a few hours in the morning helping him search the library. No complaining. And neither of you are to bring up his loss of magic. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Julia replied sullenly. While she had read the article about the hearing that had exonerated Snape, it was very hard to forgive the man who killed Dumbledore, even after reading about Dumbledore's memory, where he admitted he was dying from a particularly nasty curse, and wanted Snape to be able to retain his position as a spy and thus ordered his own death.

"Can I help, too?" Helen asked.

"We'll see what you can do to help." Aurelia knew this would be a tense situation for a few days. Even while he was a patient at St. Mungo's, there had been those that had a hard time accepting the fact he had been spying on the Death Eaters and had remained loyal to the Order. When he had first been brought into the hospital, some of her colleagues had actually suggested she not help him.

***********

When they returned home, they found Severus listening to the Wizarding Wireless Network. That was how he spent most of his days, since there was little else he could do. Aurelia led the girls into the living room. "Severus, we're back. I'd like to introduce Julia."

"Good afternoon, Professor," Julia replied politely.

"And Helen."

Helen ran over and gave him a big hug. "Hi, Professor. I hope you feel better soon."

He had no idea how to react to this sudden embrace. As a rule, children feared him. "As do I," he replied uncomfortably.

"Helen, what did we discuss?" Aurelia asked.

Julia was doing her best not to laugh out loud.

Helen pulled away. "That I should be polite. But that's what I was doing. You always tell me that hugs make you feel better."

"That may be true, but Professor Snape doesn't like to be surprised."

Helen turned back to Severus. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Now, upstairs with the two of you. I want everything unpacked neatly before dinner."

Severus listened as the two of them made a commotion running upstairs.

"I apologize for Helen's behavior. She's always been a very friendly child. I think she'll end up in Hufflepuff. Plus, she's always excited to meet new people."

"As long as she realizes that behavior is not acceptable," he replied.

Aurelia was relieved that he didn't sound upset. "Can I get you anything before I go work on dinner?"

"Actually, I have prepared a roast for dinner," he replied.

"A roast?" She unconsciously checked to see if he had all his fingers.

"It is time I do something to earn my keep."

"Well, I guess we'll find out how good a cook you are. Thank you."

***********

Severus was adjusting to working with Julia. At first, she had been quite aloof, mostly due to the fact he had only recently been acquitted of being a loyal Death Eater, but over time, she had become more relaxed around him. While Helen was not helping in the search, she would read her own books on the floor of the library. Whenever she had questions about the meaning of a word, she would ask him. She also delighted in telling him about whatever she was reading. Right now, it was magical creatures. He found his personality softening due to the fact that he did not intimidate her.

Julia proved to be as bright as he had believed. She was one of the rare people that seemed to have an intuitive grasp of Potions. While he had not found anything specifically relating to his poison, he was learning a great deal about potions that had similar properties. He also felt useful answering Julia's many questions. Perhaps his life was not over.

Aurelia smiled as she saw everyone in the library. "Good afternoon, everyone. I've brought some books home for tomorrow. Did you find anything?"

Julia waved Aurelia over. "Professor Snape found one that he wasn't sure about, but he thought you might find it useful."

Aurelia looked at the book. "This is interesting. Julia, can you cook dinner tonight?"

"Yes, mum," she replied.

"What is it?" Severus asked.

"This has given me an idea. One I'd like to test out."

"Do you require my assistance?" he asked.

She knew he liked to be involved in any new potion. "If you wouldn't mind."

***********

Severus and Aurelia lost time working on her latest theory. They were disturbed from their work when Julia poked her head in the door.

"Mum, are the two of you coming to eat dinner?" she asked impatiently.

"What? Oh, my. Has it been that long?" Aurelia replied.

"Yes, mum. Dinner's getting cold."

"All right, we'll be up in a minute." She turned to Severus. "I think that after we add the powdered dragon's liver it will be okay to simmer for a while."

"I concur," he replied.

***********

After dinner, the two of them returned to the laboratory to finish the potion. After many lengthy debates about which ingredients to use and how to add them, it was nearing completion. "I like the color," Aurelia said.

"What color is it?" he asked.

"A brilliant azure with a hint of deep indigo when I stir it." She couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice.

"That's what I expected. I think a half hour should be sufficient?" he asked.

"Yes, that sounds about right." She couldn't believe they might actually have the answer.

"Mum? Are you still down there?" Julia called from the basement door.

"Yes, dear. We're still here."

Julia walked into the lab, wearing her bathrobe and her hair tousled from sleep. "Have you been up all night? You know it's nearly seven-thirty?" she asked.

Aurelia checked the clock on the wall. "My goodness. So it is. I'm going to get ready for work. Julia, please make breakfast."

"You surely aren't considering going to work without any sleep, are you?" Severus asked.

"I have to go into work. I'll take a reviving potion and I'll be fine. You might as well clean up and eat, as well. We'll have time to try the potion before I have to leave."

***********

Neither one of them was particularly interested in eating breakfast. Both were wondering if the potion would work.

"Do you really think you did it?" Julia asked.

"Are you going to cure the professor, mum?" asked Helen.

"I certainly hope so. We'll find out here in a little bit. I need the two of you to be quiet today. Julia, no visiting friends unless Severus gives you permission, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Julia replied sullenly.

"One day spent with your sister won't kill you. Now, the two of you do the dishes and the floors need scrubbing today. That should keep you busy."

Severus found himself smiling at the fact that she was not lax with her children. They grumbled about being given chores, but she did not relent.

"Now then, let's check on that potion," she said before leading Severus back down to the basement. She gave the potion a gentle stir and announced, "The indigo is gone. I think it's ready." Ladling some into a glass, she applied a quick cooling charm and handed it to him. "Well, give it a try."

He held the glass nervously; this potion would either be yet another failure or the answer they had been looking for. Finally, he worked up the courage to drink it. At first he felt nothing, then he doubled over in pain.

"Severus? What's wrong?" she asked as she knelt at his side.

He replied through gritted teeth, "Sharp, stabbing pain in my stomach."

She quickly cast a diagnostic spell. The potion they had brewed should not have been poisonous. She was relieved to see that it did not seem to be killing him. Normally, she would have given him a painkiller, but she didn't want anything to interfere with the potion. "Just lie still. I'd like to see if it passes before I give you anything."

He only nodded as she helped him to his side. After several minutes, though it seemed like an eternity, the pain began to dissipate. He found that he could once again breathe in something other than panting gasps. Rolling over onto his back, he tried to catch his breath.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

Cautiously, he flexed his fingers and toes, making sure he still had use of his limbs. "There doesn't seem to be any change." He still couldn't see.

"Did you feel anything other than pain?"

"Shortly before the pain started, I felt a brief wash of warmth, but it was quickly overpowered by the pain."

She stood and retrieved his wand from a drawer in the workbench. "Why don't you try a simple spell?"

He tried Levitation three times and after failing the third time, threw his wand across the room.

Aurelia caught it before it hit anything. "I would ask you not to do that again. There is too much potential to break something. Besides, it was not a complete failure. The parchment did waver," she offered optimistically. While he had not regained his magic, this was the first positive improvement she had seen.

"That could have been from a breeze," he replied sullenly.

She knew it wasn't. There was no breeze in this room and the parchment was no longer moving. "I have an idea, a very radical one. What would you think about adding powdered Black Hebridean eggs to the potion?"

"I would think you are insane."

"I'm serious. I've just started thinking about your wand. Both your wands had the same core. What if you are in someway connected to that species of dragon?"

"Dragon's eggs are not used in antidotes," he replied sharply.

"And what do you have to lose? The potion did not work. Nothing would be wasted by giving it a try."

"You intend to feed me that vile concoction again?" he asked. He had no interest in suffering through that pain again; it had rivaled the pain of the Cruciatus Curse.

She ignored his question. "Since you aren't dying, I need to go to work. I'll bring the dragon's eggs home with me. Think about it."

He listened to her climb up the steps. He got to his feet and slowly approached the cauldron. After giving the potion a quick stir, he raised the ladle to his face and sniffed the potion. She is truly insane for considering adding dragon's eggs. While he was used to going without sleep, the latest potion had taken a lot of energy out of him and he decided to go upstairs to bed.