The Last Sanguimagus

Severus carefully guided the stretcher into the entrance hall. He let the door swing shut behind him, and looked up to see Minerva anxiously awaiting him.

"Is she all right?" asked the Transfiguration professor, looking down at Sarah.

"She will be after I get her to Poppy," he said evenly.

"I didn't think it would cause such trouble for her to chaperone the children," said Minerva, shaking her head.

Severus narrowed his eyes. "I thought Filius and Silas were accompanying you."

"Filius was struck with a sudden illness this morning. I asked Sarah to substitute for him."

There had been something with Nott's son...he had approached Filius the night before. Severus frowned.

"It's fortunate that you were able to bring her back," said Minerva. "What...happened to her?"

"She was unlucky enough to be abducted by Death Eaters. What do you think happened to her?" asked Severus acidly.

Minerva suddenly looked angry. "Her troubles stem from her own poor choices in life. If she hadn't followed the Dark Arts--"

"You knew she was a Sanguimagus," he said, surprised.

"Yes," she said. "She should never have been brought here. I warned Albus. She should not be teaching children."

"I don't have time for this," he said brusquely. "Whether or not you approve of her residence here, she needs medical attention, and I need to get her to the Infirmary and then make my report--"

"I will take her to the Infirmary," she interrupted. "Give Albus your report now. He's not sleeping well as it is, and the earlier you speak to him the better."

Severus looked at her for a long moment. "Very well," he said.

She left the hall, the stretcher following her obediently.

***

Lucius was waiting for him in the manor's foyer. "He is waiting for you. Follow me."

Severus nodded. They went upstairs, past dilapidated tapestries, rotting furniture, and many closed doors to a spacious room. Upon entering, Severus noticed that only Peter and Macnair were in attendance.

"You had Harry Potter in your grasp and you brought that pathetic little witch to me instead?" roared the Dark Lord. His red eyes blazed. Blood oozed from unhealed burns. "She is trivial...He is everything!"

"I'm sorry, so sorry, my Lord," cringed Macnair, his face pressed to the floor.

"My Lord, Severus is here with the next dose," interrupted Lucius quietly.

The Dark Lord turned toward them. "At least one of my faithful can follow orders..."

"She had blood on her hands," sniffed Macnair. "She said she were going to melt the flesh off our bones if we tried to take Harry..."

"A bluff. And a ridiculous one at that. If she really had that talent, do you think she would have voluntarily accompanied you? Useless, all of you. Severus, the potion..."

Severus dutifully handed him the vial after it was uncorked. The creature drank it all in one gulp, tossing aside the container carelessly. The effects were immediate. The healing draught was strong, and with the delicate alterations Severus had just performed, it was able to adapt itself to the Dark Lord's reptilian nature.

"My Lord," said Severus hesitatingly. The creature turned to him. "Minerva brought in the girl as I was leaving. Filch was nearby...I could not attempt to cast a Memory Charm upon her."

The Dark Lord flexed his abnormally long fingers experimentally. "That will be all, Severus."

Severus bowed and left, glad that he was not Macnair at that moment. His unfortunate screams followed Severus down the hallway.

***

Hogwarts was silent, and Severus was utterly exhausted. The events of the evening had been draining, and it was very late. He only wanted to crawl into bed.

He was nearly at his door when he remembered Sarah. He felt a flicker of guilt for a moment, thinking of Lucius's hand on her neck, the pain she'd been subjected to. He paused. He really wanted to sleep.

"Blast," he muttered, whirling around and taking the stairs back up to the entrance hall.

The Hospital Wing, surprisingly enough, was still well lit. Poppy hadn't gone to bed yet. He was even more surprised to see her tending to the Granger girl, who looked truly awful. She was pale, and every one of her veins stood out black against the rest of her skin. Next to her lay Potter and the Weasley boy, soundly asleep.

"What happened?" he asked.

Poppy turned, looking at him with bleary eyes. "They were attacked by Death Eaters on their way to Hogwarts," she said. "An outrage...to attack children like that..."

He realised that the rest of the Infirmary was empty. "Poppy...wasn't Sarah brought here as well?"

"Why, yes," she replied, trying to cover a yawn. "I healed her internal injuries...but she told me not to bother with anything else, she'd take care of the rest herself."

"You let her leave? Without being fully healed?" He was astonished.

"She said she had her own healing potions," answered Poppy. "And I have my hands full."

He was furious. "There is no reason for her to have walked out half-healed. You are a fully competent Mediwitch with one of the best collections of healing solutions--for Merlin's sake, I know you have a bottle of Salus Potion, I inventoried it myself last month! You--"

"I have one bottle, and one bottle only," she said sharply. "It should be saved for an emergency."

He was speechless for a moment. "You're saving it for Potter, aren't you," he said softly.

"How dare you." Her cheeks were flushed. "For your information, Severus, her condition was certainly severe at first, but it was not grave enough for me to administer a Salus Potion. Her remaining injuries can be taken care of with a few basic potions."

"You'd never let one of the students leave your ward without being fully healed."

"She left of her own free will. She insisted upon it, in fact," said Poppy, frowning at him.

Being around Sarah must have made Poppy uncomfortable. And Sarah had been wearing a Death Eater's cloak, which could not have helped. "Where did she go?" he demanded.

"I assume that she returned to her rooms," said Poppy brusquely. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really must return to Miss Granger's healing."

He descended the stairs seething. All thoughts of sleep fled. He swept into the hallway that led to her rooms. The door to her office opened immediately for him. A good sign...she had not reset the wards. Perhaps she wouldn't attempt to hex him the moment he entered. "Sarah?"

There was no answer. He closed the door behind him.

She was huddled on the couch, still wrapped in Lucius's cloak, looking very pale. Bruises stood out in livid relief on her neck and jaw.

"Sarah?"

Her eyes opened slowly. "What..."

He came closer. "And here I thought I'd find you fully healed after you'd gone through your extensive potion stores." He looked down at her. "Do you even have anything besides Strengthening Solution?"

She blinked. "The drawer..." she said hoarsely, pointing towards her desk. He walked around and pulled it open. Empty. He pulled the next one open. Three bottles rolled around inside it. One was the Strengthening Solution she'd been using. There was something labeled "Auntie Dodd's Famous Burn Relief" and a half-full bottle of Murtlap Essence. He looked at them with a practiced eye. Rubbish, both of them.

"Those are useless," he said irritably, pulling out his potions case. He took off his travelling cloak and threw it across her desk.

"What are you..." She coughed.

"I'm going to finish Poppy's job," he said, sneering at her. He drew out a few vials, inspecting them carefully.

"Where...did you put..." She swallowed painfully. "I need...the Burn Relief..."

"Burn Relief?" he asked, surprised. "Why would you need that?"

She was actually beginning to look angry, and he was impressed, considering that she used a Painstone regularly. "I don't need...your help."

"Let me be the judge of that," he said. He leaned in and took hold of the edge of Lucius's cloak, pulling it aside. He wanted to heal the slice on her back, if possible, and take care of some of the bruising. Plus it seemed that her throat was inflamed. He could see bruises in the shape of finger marks arrayed across the skin of her neck. One side of her face had apparently encountered some sort of odd hex, because it looked red.

He nearly dropped the vials in shock. Her upper arm and shoulder were badly burned. The skin was blistered and looked painful. "Merlin..." he breathed. "This..."

"The second nail," she said, coughing again. "A magical flame, connected to the nail...I held it a moment too long."

He went back to his potions case and drew out a different vial. The burns were not too deep; a topical application would take care of them. He Transfigured the couch, making it wider so that he could sit down next to her. "The spellwork on the two nails was quite advanced...it must have taken quite some time to develop..."

She looked at him suspiciously. "I don't trust you. I've told you to leave already. I will be speaking to the Headmaster..."

"See that you do," he said casually. "After all, he is the one who sent me back to the Death Eaters."

"What?" She gave him a confused look.

"I'm a spy for an organisation that's actively working against the Dark Lord," he said. "I can't tell you any more...but you deserve to know that, at least."

"A spy," she said, still looking at him warily.

"Yes," he said simply. "The Headmaster will tell you the same."

"Oh." She closed her eyes and winced.

Yet again it was only the word of Dumbledore that brought down the walls of mistrust. He unstoppered the burn solution. "Now will you let me treat you?" he asked.

She reopened her eyes. "If you feel you must," she said quietly.

He poured out a small amount of the liquid onto his fingertips. The worst section was on her shoulder, and he began to gently massage the solution into her scorched flesh. She gasped when the cold potion touched her. He poured out more, letting his hand glide over her skin, not allowing too much pressure, until he was satisfied that he had covered most of the affected area. He ran his hand over her one last time, his sensitive fingers searching for any warm patches that had been missed. She looked drowsy.

"You've burned your face as well," he said, looking at her closely.

She blinked. "It wasn't easy to aim at him," she mumbled.

"Be still for a moment..." A few more drops on his fingers, and he was lightly tracing the slight burn on her cheek, watching as the skin absorbed the potion and returned to health. Her ear was red as well, and he delicately applied more, the cooling sensation replacing the heat. Her eyes were shut. She looked exhausted.

He leaned back. Her robe was ripped and bloodied. And wet from the knees down. He frowned. "You need to remove your robe."

She rubbed her eyes and attempted to sit up. He reached out and pulled her up. She swung her legs past him and put her feet on the floor. Slowly she stood up, swaying a little, and then took a step forward, and then another.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm going to bed," she said wearily.

He picked up his potions case and followed her into her bedroom. She slowly removed the ruined robe, dropping it to the floor, and then sat down on the bed and kicked off her sodden boots. She looked at her socks and grimaced. He bent down and stripped off the offending garments. "Thank you," she murmured.

Without her robe he could see the damage. She was black and blue, and the old wounds had bled out all down her back. She looked thin, and broken. He felt odd for a moment. Pushing the feeling aside, he helped her bring her feet up onto the bed and get comfortable. He spelled the blood off her back as gently as possible, carefully placing one of the large pieces of white fabric that she used to staunch the bleeding. He set to work removing the worst of the bruises. She hissed in pain as he probed a particularly nasty one on her ribs.

Her left hand was deeply bruised as well, and he recalled Macnair's boot. Poppy had fixed the broken bones; he worked the solution into the battered flesh of her hand deftly. He noticed her forearm. Two bleeding puncture wounds sat next to one black nail head. He touched the remaining nail lightly, wondering what spell the last contained.

Suddenly she shouted something unintelligible, grabbing his arm and shoving him bodily away from her. Overbalanced, he slipped off the bed and collided with the floor. "What--"

"What do you think you are doing?" she yelled. "Are you mad?!"

"I was just--"

"Don't touch it!" She was drawing in great gulps of air. "You saw what the other two accomplished--you--how could you be so reckless?"

"I..." He stood up, his back smarting. "Enough. You are correct, it was reckless."

She relaxed, but her pale stare continued to regard him uncertainly. He stood up again and sat back down on the bed slowly. He reached out and took her hand once more, double-checking the potion's absorption. The bruise was nearly gone. He applied a minute amount and the last of it vanished. Satisfied, he looked over her ribs again. Definitely too thin. The fault of her reliance upon Strengthening Solution, no doubt. He rubbed more solution into the bruising. For several minutes he concentrated on removing bruises from her arm and neck, until she relaxed nearly imperceptibly. He looked up to see that she had fallen asleep, her face losing its pinched quality and softening.

He stared at her for a moment or two, his thoughts aimlessly turning. Shaking his head, he drew out another vial and uncorked it, estimating that he had just enough potion to finish treating her.

***