Wounded

Chapter 8

Without hesitation, Remus cried out, "Comprendo lodix!" The golden net shot from the tip of his wand and quickly encapsulated the lethifold.

Aurelia started coughing and sputtering as she could once again breathe.

After making sure the lethifold was secure, he hurried over to her side. "Are you all right?"

She nodded her head, but was still coughing too hard to speak. She eagerly accepted the glass of water that Remus had conjured for her. "Yes, I think so. That was a very unpleasant feeling."

"What happened? Didn't you take the Invigorating Draught?"

"No. I forgot. Did you catch it?" she asked as she looked around the room.

"It's over in the corner," he replied.

She got up from the couch and stumbled on unsteady legs.

"Perhaps you should rest a little while?" Remus offered as he steadied her.

She shook her head and concentrated on maintaining her balance. "No. I don't want to remain here longer than necessary. I'm concerned about Malfoy and what he might do when his spy reports back. I doubt his explanation of finding nothing will convince Malfoy to leave us alone." Freeing herself from his steadying grip, she walked across the room and looked at the captured lethifold. The net had compressed it so that it was approximately the size of a Quaffle. "I'm going to wake Severus. Do you think you could start setting up the still?" She started to walk away, keeping her hand against the wall for balance. "Oh, I think it might be best if we don't mention the details of how you captured the lethifold."

He smiled at her. "Of course. I'll start setting it up."

***************

Severus became aware of his surroundings. He also noticed a strange taste in his mouth. Someone had revived him. "What's happened?" he asked.

"We've captured one. Remus is setting up the still and I thought I'd come wake you."

He shot out of bed, fully dressed. "You've captured one? Where is it?" He tried to determine if he felt different and assumed they must have captured it as soon as it entered the tent.

"It's out front. There's really not much to see. I'm going to help Remus."

He followed her out of the room. Once he saw the glimmering of the net, he stopped and looked at the lethifold. She had been right about it not being much to look at. He had a hard time believing that it was the key to his cure. By the time he made it to the kitchen, they had the still set up on the counter.

All three of them stared at the still in silence. Finally, Remus broke the silence. "How do we get it into the boiler?"

"The book didn't say," Aurelia said quietly. "Since you cast the net, why don't you help Severus try to get it in there and I'll stand by to recapture it if it gets loose."

"That isn't much of a plan," said Severus dryly.

"I don't hear you offering anything better," she snapped back. This had been a very long trip, and as soon as they could distill the essence from the lethifold, they could go home.

Remus summoned the captured lethifold and held it in his hands, trying to determine how best to proceed.

Severus was quickly running out of patience. "Cut open the boiler, place the lethifold inside, reseal the boiler and remove the net."

"Ah, that does make sense, doesn't it?" Remus replied sheepishly. After pulling the boiler away from the rest of the apparatus, he enlarged it, cut it in half, placed the lethifold inside and resealed the boiler. "Did we have to add water?" He wasn't sure that the lethifold would boil, as he was not entirely certain what it was.

Aurelia consulted the book. "It doesn't say, but that's generally a given when distilling something. What do you think Severus? Should we let it simmer a bit before bringing it to a full boil?"

"That sounds...acceptable," he replied. From the sink, he filled a pot with water and poured it into the boiler. Once the boiler was reconnected, he watched Remus remove the net.

Remus and Aurelia held their wands at the ready as the lethifold thrashed about in the boiler, but the tube leading from the boiler was too small for it to escape. Once Aurelia was sure that it wasn't going to escape, she lit a fire underneath the boiler. "Remus, there's no need for you stay up. Severus and I can handle this."

He was really too tired to argue and headed upstairs.

"How long should we let it simmer?" she asked.

"I have no idea. Perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes? I wish that book had been more specific on how to obtain the essence," he replied.

"You and me both. I suppose if we get this wrong, we'll have to organize another expedition?" She had not packed all her potion making supplies; they would have been too cumbersome. The still had come out of necessity. They had no idea how transportable a lethifold would be.

Severus was surprised that she would offer to capture another lethifold.

**************

After twenty minutes of watching the lethifold simmer, Aurelia raised the flames to create a full boil. A dark, smoky substance boiled up and began percolating through the condenser. It kept its smoky properties as it collected into the receiver. It only took thirty minutes for all the color to boil away, leaving something that looked like a white dishrag in the boiler.

"I think it's done," Severus said.

Aurelia extinguished the fire and magically sealed the receiver to keep any of the essence from escaping. The essence did not appear to be strictly a liquid, but it was not a gas either, it was some mixture of the two. "I'll put this away for safekeeping. I would appreciate it if you could pack up the rest of the still."

"When are you planning on leaving?" Severus asked, eager to return to her house so he could work on the cure.

"I'll wake Remus and we can leave as soon as everything's packed up. I know you're anxious to return."

***************

Within half an hour, the tent was packed up and ready to go. Aurelia had the essence of lethifold packed safely in her bag, an Unbreakable Charm applied to the bottle. She waited for Remus to Disapparate to the New Guinea Travel Office before taking Severus' arm in hers and following.

They only had to wait about ten minutes in the Travel Office, though the witch at the customer service desk seemed disappointed they were cutting their travel short and asked numerous questions to ensure they had not been unhappy on their visit. After much reassuring that they had a wonderful time and looked forward to visiting again, she handed them the Portkey that would take them back to Britain.

Remus made it through British Customs quickly, as did Severus. When the Customs Wizard searched Aurelia's bag, he spent quite a while staring at the essence of lethifold. "What is this?" he finally asked.

"Essence of lethifold," she replied politely.

"Essence of...what? You're joking right?" he asked incredulously.

She was in no mood to play twenty questions with a customs agent. "I'm not kidding. I acquired it in New Guinea for medical purposes." She showed him her St. Mungo's identification, hoping that would stop any further questioning.

He looked at her identification, as if trying to decide if he should just let her go. "Oh, I don't know if you can bring this into the country. I'll have to ask my supervisor."

She was trying very hard not to lose her patience. "Look here, my good man. I am a healer, as that card clearly shows, and I have a patient in need of that essence. As you can see by the classification on my identification, I am allowed to transport Class IV hazardous material. I assure you, that bottle holds only a Class II or, at very worst, Class III material. Now, you will kindly return that bottle to me so I can be on my way," she said officiously.

He ignored her and called out, "Hey, Herb. I have something you need to see."

She watched the two wizards conferring in a whisper, just far enough away that she couldn't hear them.

Severus stepped up to her. "What if they won't give it back? I believe it is an unclassified material."

"They have to give it back. There isn't any reason for them not to give it back. And if they don't, I'll get in touch with Marcus Stillwater. I somehow doubt they would ignore an order from the head of St. Mungo's." She kept an eye on the two wizards as they talked about and examined the bottle. They started looking at the seal, trying to figure out how to undo it. "I wouldn't do that," she called out loudly. When they both stared at her, she continued, "That essence is incredibly valuable and I would hate for the two of you to have to report how you lost some of it. And I somehow doubt your meager salary would cover it." She held out her hand, hoping that would prompt them to give her back the bottle.

They conferred a few more seconds before the one named Herb handed he back the bottle. "Of course, Healer. We just have to be extremely cautious with unknown items."

She packed the bottle back into her bag. "It wasn't unknown, I told you exactly what it was. Good day, gentlemen," she said coldly.

Once they were outside the customs area, she turned to Remus. "Thank you very much for your help. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you." I'd be dead without you, she added silently. "Good luck with your job application." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Severus bristle.

Remus shook her hand in return. "It was my pleasure to help and thank you for your kind words." He turned to Severus. "I hope that essence is what your potion needed."

Severus watched Remus turn away and had not intended on saying anything until a sharp elbow rapped him in his ribs. He glared at Aurelia, who gestured towards Remus. "Remus," he called, waiting for the other man to turn before continuing, "Consider your debt repaid."

Remus gave him a friendly smile. "You're welcome, Severus."

Aurelia shook her head and chuckled softly as she led Severus to a secluded area so they could return to her house. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"I don't need you to give me a lesson in manners," he said sharply.

"On the contrary, I believe you do. Come, let's get home so you can work on that potion." She took hold of his arm and was about to Disapparate.

"Aren't you going to help?" he asked.

"Eventually. I think I should get some real rest first. You do realize that I haven't had a proper night's sleep since we left, don't you? And unlike you, I don't work very well when I'm sleep deprived."

Once they arrived at her house, she handed him the bottle. "If you really need help, come and wake me, but I think I'd like to get a good ten hours of sleep to recover."

He held the bottle delicately. According to the directions, adding the essence was one of the last steps of the potion, a potion that would take two days to brew. "I will endeavor to allow you your rest. I did not see that any magic was required in the early steps of the potion."

*************

He took the bottle to the basement and quickly set up the lab area to accommodate the potion he would be creating. He had never realized how useful simple magic could be in the brewing of a potion until he had to retrieve every ingredient from the shelf and move cauldrons manually.

Meticulously, he followed the instructions. The precision of potions making was one of the things he enjoyed most about it. Slowly and carefully he progressed from step to step, checking and rechecking the instructions, using his knowledge and experience to fill in the gaps in the instructions.

He looked up when he heard someone descending the stairs. "I thought you said you were going to get some rest?"

"You mean you've been working continuously since we got home? It's been a little over eight hours. Why don't you take a break and we can get something to eat?"

"Work is progressing well on the potion. I would prefer to keep working," he stated simply.

She moved over to the worktable and pulled the book away. "Yes, you would work yourself to death, but I won't let you. I made it a suggestion the first time, this time, it's an order."

He moved toward her and stopped when she brandished her wand. "Give me that book, woman!"

"Or what? Once we eat, you can show me where you left off and I'll work on the potion while you get some rest."

He crossed his arms. "I do not require rest."

She held the book possessively against her chest. "Oh, no? And since when are you a medical professional?"

All he wanted to do was finish this potion so that he could get on with his life. "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

She laughed. "Me? Difficult? Oh, that's rich. I'm looking out for your health, since that's something you seem to ignore. You have neither eaten nor slept since we returned. Other than the first night you took the Sleeping Draught, I know that you have not gotten much sleep over the last ten days. I was too tired to argue with you when we got home, but now... Well, you can get some sleep on your own or I will give you another dose of Sleeping Draught."

He glared at her for several long seconds. She had not only the book, but she was the only one that could open the bottle in which the essence was stored. He hated to admit defeat. He also hated to admit his own weaknesses, but he was quite tired and now that he thought about it, he was hungry. "Since you are being childish and refusing to relinquish the book otherwise, I will do as you request."

"Hello, Pot. I'm Kettle," she joked, before leading him upstairs.

He scowled at her back. He had never been one to appreciate jokes made at his expense.

****************

After a light meal, she asked him where he had left off in his brewing of the potion and sent him upstairs.

Severus muttered to himself as he climbed the stairs and went to his bedroom. "Infernal woman. Mothering me like that. No, she's worse than that. Condescending. I'll be glad to get out of this house."

As he changed into his nightclothes, he began to re-evaluate his last statement. She and her family had welcomed him when no one else would. It would have been easy for her to abandon him after he was discharged, but she didn't. Not only that, but she had worked long hours helping him search for a cure, even going as far as taking him to France to find Malfoy. And he couldn't forget that she had given up her vacation to take him to New Guinea to capture the lethifold. She had shown him friendship when most others would have shunned him, would have been unable to forgive his actions.

No, he wouldn't be glad to get out of this house. He would miss her friendship and the fact that she was willing to stand up to him. In a way, it reminded him of Minerva. He froze in the process of buttoning his nightshirt. He suddenly contemplated how different Hogwarts would be without Minerva, Albus and the others. Aside from having been much younger than the rest of the staff, his dark, brooding nature and sordid past had always separated him from the others. Those two had been the only ones to pursue any sort of friendship with him.

If he did return to Hogwarts, it would be a very different place. Pomona was the only remaining Head of House. He supposed that Sinistra or Vector would be offered Ravenclaw. If he returned, and if Brock could be believed, he would be Slytherin. That left only Gryffindor without a Head. He shuddered as he had a sickening thought. He knew of at least one Gryffindor that was applying. Banishing that thought from his mind, he tried to get some sleep.

*****************

He was pacing in Dumbledore's study, explaining the Unbreakable Vow. When he was done, Albus stared at him silence.

"We knew the Voldemort wants me dead. This is no surprise."

Severus paced nervously. "Yes, but I have never been asked to do it. I did not expect Narcissa to extract that from me." That puzzled him, since he had probed her mind when she had arrived and had not seen that. "I cannot do it. Albus, I cannot kill you. You are the only one that believed I had changed and gave me a second chance."

"Severus, you know that the curse is killing me."

Severus ran his hands through his hair. "I know that, but there is still the chance that I could find a counter-curse." Ever since Albus had come to him that night, he had been searching for a cure.

Albus raised his hand in a request for silence. "We both know that is not likely. In the event that you don't, I will still die. By doing as I asked, you will make my death have meaning."

Severus fell to his knees next to Albus and clutched at the headmaster's robe. "Albus, I cannot. I've reformed. You can't ask me to do that. Ask me anything but that. I would rather die than be the one that kills you."

Albus placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Severus, I know this will be hard for you. We all knew that difficult choices would have to be made. We knew that you, in particular, would be asked to do difficult things. You have already sworn to follow my orders, no matter what. That you would trust my judgment."

Severus rose and began pacing again. "That was before you asked this."

"Do you want to defeat Voldemort?" Albus asked pointedly.

"You know that I do. I told you that long ago," Severus replied shortly.

"Then you will follow my orders. I am not asking you to do this tomorrow. We will know when the time is right. Before I succumb to the curse, I will need you to do this. Do you understand?"

He still couldn't believe that he was going to agree to this. "I do."

"Very good, my boy. Now, do what you can to build your stock amongst the Death Eaters. Only through this sacrifice will our side prevail. Now, if you will excuse me, I have quite a bit of work to do."

****************

Severus shifted in his sleep, trying to forget his dream. He didn't want to relive these moments.

****************

Filius threw his door open. "Severus, Severus! Come quickly! The castle is under attack. They're up at Astronomy Tower."

Severus thought the time had come. Whatever Draco had been planning had finally come to fruition. He had no idea what he would find, so he decided to stun Filius. He would protect as many as he could.

Hurrying into the passageway, he saw Granger and Lovegood. "Professor Flitwick has fainted. Assist him and get him to Madam Pomfrey." There were two more that he had saved.

He followed the noise to the Astronomy Tower. There, he could see his colleagues and members of the Order fighting against Death Eaters. He noticed that there were no prominent Death Eaters. That was not surprising since the Dark Lord actually anticipated Draco's failure. The Dark Lord had been so upset with repeated failures by the father that he was willing to take out his anger on the son.

Noticing that he did not see Draco and that the door to the Tower was open, he knew they must be atop the Tower. Quickly slipping through the combatants, he hurried up the stairs. Hopefully, no one noted his passing and the fact that he had not fired off a single spell.

At the top of the Tower, he saw Dumbledore facing off with Draco, a handful of Death Eaters prodding him to finish off the old man. He took one look at the headmaster and knew that the time had come. Something more than the curse had happened to him, but it was clear that he was near death.

****************

Snape awoke, panting and drenched in sweat. A dream, it was just a dream, he told himself. He stumbled out of bed and into the bath. Turning the cold water on, he splashed it on his face. After turning off the tap, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He hadn't had that dream in more than a month. He had thought that he had finally come to terms with what he had done, that he had had no other choice and that he did what Dumbledore had wanted.

Now that he was awake, with no hope of going back to sleep, he decided to shower and dress. Checking the clock, he saw that six hours had passed since he went to bed. That should satisfy Aurelia that he had gotten rest.

He found her sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tea and reading the newspaper. He forced himself to ask politely, "How is the potion?"

She checked the clock on the wall. "It has another hour to simmer before the next step. Would you like something to eat?"

"Allow me," he offered. "Did you encounter any difficulties?"

"No. I did make a few notes to the steps, much in the same way you did. It seems that the original potions brewer was not very meticulous with his notes. The good news is, that if it doesn't work the first time, we will have plenty of essence to try it again."

He looked up from his cooking. "I've been thinking about that. The essence is as much gas as it is liquid. I believe that some of it would escape when the bottle is unstoppered."

"Not if you cool it. I was testing that earlier. If I apply a cooling charm, it becomes liquid."

He was dismayed that he hadn't thought of that. "Ah, yes. Of course." He brought two plates of scrambled eggs over to the table.

"Did you actually get any sleep?" she asked.

"A little." He didn't want to tell her about the nightmares.

"That doesn't surprise me. I'm sure this will work and then you can get out from under my scrutiny and mothering."

He considered her statement in silence. "I'd like to thank you for all the assistance you have given me. You didn't need to do that."

She gave him a friendly smile. "I think that I did. What would have happened to you if I hadn't extended my friendship?"

He shuddered to think about what would have happened. "Thank you, again."

"I'll keep that secret that you have actually shown someone gratitude. So, what will you do if the cure works?"

"Honestly? I haven't really put much thought into it. I intend to inform Mr. Brock that I am interested in returning to Hogwarts. If I am accepted, I will be returning to Hogwarts to make preparations for the upcoming term. If not, I think I have already shown that I can find employment."

"Well, if you are interested in employment in the Potions community, I would be happy to write up a letter of recommendation for you." She paused a few seconds. "You can stay here as long as you'd like. It's been nice having you as a roommate."

"Thank you for the offer. I have enjoyed your friendship. Even if I am accepted at Hogwarts, I would still like to visit from time to time. I have enjoyed our discussions, and, as you can imagine, there is no one else at Hogwarts that shares my interest in Potions."

"That's good. I'll remind the girls that Professor Snape is a very different man from Severus Snape. I know that Julia knows how you are at school, but Helen, well, you know how she is," she said apologetically.

"Yes, I do." Changing subjects, he said, "I believe we are ready to proceed to the next step."

****************

The last rays of sun were coming through the transom window as the potion neared completion. All that remained was adding the essence of lethifold.

Severus watched Aurelia cool and unstop the bottle. He found he was holding his breath as she carefully poured ten drops into the potion. As each drop hit the surface, the potion smoked and temporarily swirled black. As the last drop was absorbed into the potion, it returned to the deep mustard and gave off a rather offensive odor. "That's it, isn't it?" he asked tentatively.

"I believe so. I think it would be best if you eat something and then take it upstairs. We have no idea what kind of effects it might have and I'd prefer you were in your bed." She ladled some into a glass and extinguished the fire under the cauldron before heading upstairs.

Aurelia surveyed the contents of her kitchen. Since they had been gone for so long, there was very little food. "How about we pop out for a quick bite? There's a nice Thai place not too far from here," she offered.

"Thai?" He didn't recall ever eating Thai food. In fact, he tended to stay away from foreign food.

"Well, you'll need to change clothes, but I don't think it will kill you."

"This is a Muggle establishment?" he protested.

"Then you pick someplace," she offered.

"We will go to this Thai place." He headed upstairs to change. Why was it that she seemed to be able to win so often?

**************

As they were walking back to her house, Severus had to admit that the dinner had not been entirely disagreeable. It had been a bit spicier than he was used to, but it was tolerable.

"I'll meet you upstairs," she said, once they were through the front door.

Severus sat on the bed and took his shoes off. He would maintain at least some of his dignity and decided not to change into his nightshirt. "Come," he said when he heard a soft knock at his door. Aurelia had the potion in one hand, and what he suspected was an antidote kit in the other. "Expecting something bad to happen?"

"I always expect the worst. Now, lie back and drink this." She helped him arrange the pillows behind his back before handing him the potion.

He sniffed it and crinkled his nose at the smell. That had not improved when the potion cooled. Anticipating it would taste as bad as it smelled, he quickly chugged the contents of the glass.

Aurelia stood back from the bed, wand at the ready, watching for any sort of reaction. After a minute, she asked, "Anything?"

He knew why she was asking. Most potions produced some sort of reaction. "No. There doesn't seem to be..." His words started slurring and he could feel unconsciousness tugging at him.

Aurelia cast a diagnostic spell to check his vital signs. They were strong. Whatever the potion did, it seemed that one of the effects was to induce unconsciousness. She made note of the time in her logbook and decided to sit with him a while longer to ensure that if anything adverse did occur, she could react. Now that he was unconscious, she thought that it might have been better to take him to St. Mungo's. If he took a turn for the worse, she could take him there.

She watched as he started mumbling. This was a good sign since it meant that he was not in a coma, just merely unconscious. Placing her hand on his forehead, she was pleased that his body temperature was normal. With nothing else to do, she went to the library and chose a book to read while she sat vigil at Severus' side.