Her Frozen Heart

Chapter 6

Stumbling from the fireplace Snape looked around to see if there was anyone present in his classroom; it was empty. Still holding Riley in his arms, he went to a long table that was covered in cauldrons and swept it clean with a wave of his wand. Gently, he placed Riley on the table being careful not to hurt her.

The curls that she had so meticulously done before the party were now wild and covered in her own blood. A small bit of blood rested on her slightly parted lips. Snape went to his cupboard and pulled out a jar of thick purple paste. Carefully he began to apply the potion to the wounds on her chest, grayish smoke filled the air around them. Riley flinched as the potion started to take affect.

Snape ripped her dress open more so that he could get to the wound on her stomach. Blood still bubbled from the deep cut. Once again he applied the paste being careful not to do any further damage.

A small moan escaped from her lips as she started to struggle slightly. "Be still." Snape's voice was gentle yet in control. Returning to the cupboard he replaced the jar and took out another. Again he started to smooth a potion over her wounds. Placing that jar back he grabbed some bandages and began to cover the gashes with them.

The dungeon was cold as usual, so, making sure that there was no one about, Snape removed his robe and placed it gently on Riley. A small blue flame appeared near her body as he continued to try and warm her.

A slight blush began to appear on Riley's cheeks. Snape stood over her watching her chest rise and fall with each shallow breath. One single salty tear found its way down her cheek as she continued to lie there unconscious.

Snape ran his hands through his hair, and started to pace the floor. The Hospital Wing was the place for her, but he did not want to rely on someone else to nurse her back to health when he was more than capable of it. Muttering to himself Snape continued to pace the floors of the Potion classroom. "If only I hadn't...How could I have forgotten? It's all my..." With his mind made up Snape approached Riley and once again lifted her up into his arms.

Walking through the open door he turned down the darkened corridor and headed to his chambers.

Snape's body ached; he shifted in the chair and opened his eyes. Riley still lay on his bed her eyes closed. The candles he had lit were now just pools of melted wax. Stretching, he tried to undue the damage of sleeping upright in the chair all night.

Snape stood over Riley. Long black curls covered his pillowcase; he frowned realizing that his pillow would smell like her now. While holding her in his arms he had been forced to breath in the scent of her vanilla scented perfume.

Dried tears, mascara, and blood covered her face. A small amount of color had started to return to her cheeks. Riley had been pale to start with so the blood loss made her look like death.

Snape bent over and moved a stray hair that was stuck to her cheek. He discovered that he was looking into two startling blue eyes. Fear flashed behind her eyes as she looked up at him. Riley opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.

"Emma, don't try to speak. I know you're in pain, but that means the potion is working." Snape spoke clearly and compassionately. "Do you need a drink?" A soft whimper answered him. "I will take that as a yes." Snape turned his back on her but her hand reached up and caught the back of his shirt. Riley clung to him as if she was still in danger. "Emma, let go." Reluctantly she released him.

Snape walked to the other side of the room and poured something into a glass. "Here." Tilting her head up slightly he put the cup to her lips and let her drink. She coughed at first, some of the liquid spilling onto the blankets. "Easy." Riley took another drink and then glanced at him her nose wrinkled. "I know it doesn't taste good. It's a potion...it will help you get your strength back. Here, you need to drink it all." He put the cup to her lips again and Riley forced down the bitter liquid.

Riley let her head fall back onto the pillow never taking her eyes off of him. The night's events sill confused her. Flashes of the attack popped into her head but they didn't make any sense.

Snape could tell she was trying to figure something out. Sitting back down in the chair he had spent the night in he covered his face with his hand. He had the urge to flee from her. He did not want to see the look in her eyes when she finally understood what had happened.

They stayed like that, Snape in his chair and Riley in his bed, for what seemed like hours. The time passed by slowly and Riley drifted back into a nightmarish sleep. Snape wondered how long it would be before they were disturbed. Would the other professors notice their absence at breakfast? He did not have long to wait to find out the answer.

A soft knock startled him. Snape did not even have the energy to go answer the door. "Enter." Dumbledore opened the door, walked to where Snape sat and placed his hand on the back of the chair.

"How serious are her wounds?" Dumbledore did not ask how she had been injured nor why Snape had seen it fit to bring her to his personal chambers.

Without looking up at him, Snape replied, "Life threatening."

"Emma is a strong woman. A very remarkable woman. She will pull through." Dumbledore turned and left the room without another word.

Riley opened her eyes and glanced around the room. It appeared to be empty. She felt groggy and sore. Days had gone by since Snape had brought her to his chambers. Riley had been drifting in out of consciousness as he watched over her. Slowly, she began to prop herself up with her elbows. A sharp pain spread across her abdomen. Riley gasped and placed a hand on the bandages.

A soft silky voice came from somewhere behind her. "Be careful, you do not want to reopen the wounds."

Snape appeared at her side and placed a pillow behind her back so that she could remain sitting. 'I need to go, I have a class." Snape left her sitting there, her wounds throbbing.

Taking a deep breath she carefully swung her legs over the edge of the bed placing her bare feet on the floor. Her knees were weak and did not want to hold her up. Stumbling, she made her way to the chair and used it to support herself for a moment.

Every inch of her body was throbbing with pain. Taking another deep breath she made her way into the bathroom. A large mirror hung on one wall, and making up her mind, Riley inched her way to the mirror.

The beautiful red dress she had worn to the Christmas party was unrecognizable. Slowly she peeled back the bandages on her chest to see how bad the cuts were. A foul smell came from her chest when the air hit the wounds. Four long gashes covered in some kind of purple and brown paste were reflected back at her. Placing the bandages back on, Riley started to take the ones off of her stomach. Again the foul smell filled the air, and again she found the paste had been smeared across the wound.

A sudden flash of yellow eyes and long sharp fangs made her stumble backwards. Would she ever be able to forget what had happened? Her left arm was wrapped in bandages from her hand to her shoulder. A queasy feeling took over her. Starting at her hand she unwrapped her arm bit by bit. Stopping at the elbow she stared down at the part that was exposed. Two deep puncture marks were still seeping blood. Riley continued to stare at her arm remembering back to that night. Lifting her head she looked at herself in the mirror, tears streaming down her cheeks, and whispered in a choked voice, "He bit me."

Her legs gave out from beneath her and she crumbled to the cold hard floor. It had been Wolfsbane Potion he had given her that night. The smell had seemed familiar, but she was still so dazed, she hadn't realized....she had seen the disgust in Snape's eyes. Riley knew of his hate for the creatures, she just didn't, couldn't put it all together yet. He had bit her; she could see it now, the fangs sinking into her flesh, the hunger in his eyes as he tasted her blood. She had frozen to the spot; she hadn't even tried to stop him. Sobbing she curled up into a ball on the floor, realizing that she was now cursed.

Professor Montgomery pulled open the door and strutted to the front of the class. "Excuse me Professor?" Hermione who was sitting in the front row had her hand stretched to the limit.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"I was... well that is to say, we were wondering how much longer you would be teaching this class for Professor Riley."

"Until she is well enough to teach you herself." Hermione raised her hand again. "And no, I can not tell you how long that will be or what is wrong with her." Putting her hand back down on her desk Hermione turned towards Harry.

"She must be very sick; she's missed two classes so far. I heard she grew ill around Christmas. That'll be about ten days." Harry nodded as though he was really paying attention to her. "Harry!" she hissed. Harry swung his head around and met her gaze. "Something must be really wrong with her; she's not in the hospital wing though. We should go see how she is."

"I don't know Hermione..."

"It's settled then, we'll go find her after class."

True to her word Harry found himself standing outside of the faculty room with Ron and Hermione when the class had finished. "Now, what we'll do is just ask one of the professors if they've heard anything. We'll just tell them we're really worried."

"Right, and I'm sure they will just tell us everything we want to know." Ron snorted and crossed his arms.

Pushing the door open Hermione stepped inside. Madam Pomfrey was standing near a table pouring herself a cup of tea. "Perfect," whispered Hermione.

"Madam Pomfrey? We were wondering how Professor Riley was doing." Madam Pomfrey narrowed her eyes and began muttering.

"How on earth would I know? He won't even let me near her, says he can bloody take care of her himself. Not proper no its not. The Hospital Wing is the proper place." Madam Pomfrey sulked off to the other side of the room.

Hermione tiptoed out of the room pulling Harry and Ron with her. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? She was just mumbling about something." Ron look to Harry to see if he knew what Hermione was going on about.

"I heard, she said he won't let her near her."

"Exactly, who do we know who has the knowledge to take care of someone besides Pomfrey?" Ron started to open his mouth. "Not Dumbledore, he would have let her at least see Riley. It's got to be Snape."

"Why would Snape want to take care of her? I can't see him feeding her spoonfuls of chicken noodle soup." Ron nodded his head as if that was the end of that idea.

"She must not be sick. Maybe she's injured, maybe...."

"Maybe what Hermione?"

"I don't know, but it's awful suspicious."

Harry watched her for a moment; she bit down on her lower lip as though she was thinking hard. "Well, isn't everything Snape does suspicious?"

"I don't think this is a good idea, Hermione." Ron's face had grown pale as they stood outside the door to Snape's office. "Let's just go, I'm sure Professor Riley is fine."

"You don't know that, Ron. Besides I have some information to give her. I've been doing a lot of research for her book." Hermione reached her hand out and knocked on the door.

After a moment Snape appeared in front of them. "Yes?" he sounded preoccupied.

"Er...Professor, we were just wondering if we could see Professor Riley."

"What makes you think she's here?"

"Well, Madam Pomfrey said she wasn't taking care of her, so we figured you must be." Snape stared at Hermione for a moment. He did have to admit the girl was clever. What harm would it do if they saw her? They did not have to be told the truth about Riley's injury; she was supposed to be watching over Hermione after all.

Snape lead the three of them down the corridor to his chambers. Rapping on the door once before he entered he found that the room was empty. "She is supposed to be here."

Hermione slid by him and looked around the room. There was a light coming from the bathroom.

"Sir, I think she may be in there." Snape hesitated. "May I sir?" Snape grunted and pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

Hermione peered in through the open door, her heart leapt to her throat. Riley was lying on her side on the floor, one arm thrown up across her face, a small puddle of blood on the floor. "Oh, no." Hermione ran into the room and knelt beside her. "Professor?"

Riley put her arm down and rolled onto her back. "Miss Granger? What are you doing here?"

"We came to see you, Professor. Are you all right?" Riley nodded and proceeded to stand with Hermione's assistance. Snape stood just outside the door watching them; he noticed that her arm was no longer bandaged. "Professor, your arm is bleeding."

"I know it is. Don't worry, Miss Granger, Professor Snape can take care of it." Snape pushed Hermione aside once they were in the main room and took hold of Riley's right arm.

"What the bloody hell do you think you were doing? These wounds need to stay covered!" He let go of her arm and she flopped down onto the bed. Kneeling down in front of her Snape rewrapped her arm.

"Professor Riley, we were worried about you when you didn't show up for class again today."

"Miss Granger, I assure you I am in good hands." She forced a smile at Snape who turned his head away from her.

"Er...Professor, what has happened to you?" Harry spoke from where he stood still by the door.

"Nothing that concerns you Mr. Potter. All the three of you need to know is that I will be resuming teaching as soon as I am able." Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked puzzled. They couldn't understand why she was being so secretive. "Thank you for stopping by."

Snape opened the door and practically shoved them out. Turning back to face Riley he said "What were you doing on the bathroom floor?"

"I had been examining my cuts, when.... when I realized that I had been bitten. I suppose I was in a bit of shock." Snape looked away from her gaze.

"I suppose I should thank you for taking care of me, even if you did it out of guilt."

"Guilt! What do I have to feel guilty about?"

"Oh please, Severus. If you hadn't thrown a little tantrum and refused to make Lupin his Wolfsbane Potion then I think things would have turned out quite a bit differently, don't you think?" Snape's face turned crimson red. How dare that woman blame her own stupidity on him. If she had tried to defend herself she wouldn't have been attacked.

"Well, if you hadn't stood there like a complete dunderhead then I suppose I wouldn't have had to waste my time taking care of you!" Snape turned and stormed out of his room.

"Don't you think it's odd that she wouldn't even tell us what has happened to her? Did you notice all those bandages on her? She's been hurt bad, but by what?"

Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Ron and Harry. "She must have been attacked by something. Who knows what that woman does in her free time. She probably raises Manticores or something for fun."

"Ron, don't be stupid. She's actually really very nice."

"Nice? Professor Riley, nice? I don't believe it."

"Well you don't have to. I swear the marks on her arm looked like teeth. She must have been attacked by an animal."

Dumbledore glided into Riley's office. "You are feeling better?" Riley was sitting at her desk with a pile of books in front of her.

"Yes, Headmaster. Severus told me that the wounds are healing very well. I think I should be well enough to resume teaching my class tomorrow."

"No rush, Emma. Artemis shall finish the week and you can begin fresh next week."

"Headmaster, do you know what Montgomery is doing for the Malfoys?"

"I was unaware that he was doing anything for the Malfoy family."

"He was at the Christmas party. Draco had mentioned that his father had hired him to do something." Riley stared at a painting that hung behind Dumbledore. "I wonder..."

"Yes, Emma?"

"It was odd, his behavior. He was at my side most of the night, talking to me about school, about the students. Lucius took him off into a separate room for awhile and when he returned he seemed very interested in..."

"Very interested in what, Emma?"

"In the so called Gryffindor Trio. He went on about Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Wanted to know why I was with her all the time." Riley seemed confused about something.

"Emma, are you feeling all right. You look quite pale."

"I'm fine Headmaster, really. I just need some more rest is all." Dumbledore left so that Riley could go back to her room and try to get some rest.

Hermione was walking down the corridor on her way to the library. "Excuse me, Miss Granger." Professor Montgomery had come up from behind her.

"Hello, Professor Montgomery."

"I presume you are headed to the library. You are not in a hurry are you?"

"No, Professor."

"Good, I was wondering if I could speak with you about your most recent exam."

Montgomery led Hermione back to his office. "Have a seat, Miss Granger."

Hermione sat in a plush swing back chair that was opposite his desk. "May I offer you a drink?"

"No, Professor, I'm fine."

"Miss Granger" - Montgomery turned and faced her as he poured some tea into a blue and silver teacup - "I insist."