Blood Stones (Snarry)

The Curse

The following weeks Severus spent headfirst in books in his study. While he tried desperately to split his time, the more he read, the more he worried, and the more he knew, the less confident he felt in his ability to succeed. Knowledge gave him fear.

"Severus." Harry entered his study in what was nearly the only remaining outfit that still fit him. Loose fitting grey sweatpants and a very stretchy purple shirt. He managed to look up at the very pregnant wizard with tired eyes.

"Have you not slept still." He moved further into the room, taking a seat on an identical armchair across from him.

"Sleep is not something I may have the liberty of affording I'm afraid." He hardly looked up from his notes.

"Why is that? Don't you care to share?" Harry's tone became irritated.

"Please, Harry. I can't-"

"Why can't you?! Don't you understand yet after all of these many months that I feel exactly what you feel? Don't you think I know how important this is, how scared, how terrified you are? Please." He pleaded, eyes tearing up.

"I will not burden you the way I have done for myself. Nor will I provide you information so dire at any point during your pregnancy. The baby should not be under such distress." Severus remained unwavering until Harry left the room. He felt then a single tear leave him before he warded the door.

Though he unwarded the door sometime later and Harry came to see him in attempts to break his silence several times, he remained there, continuing his studies, hoping to find anything of use. A benefit that he found beneficial in this case at least was that despite his false exhaustion, he was still dead, and could remain where he was for weeks without sleep and be completely unaware of how much time had truly passed as his body didn't need it to. Although there were several breaks and times where he had joined Harry to eat or to hold him, he never slept and was determined not to until a time when he found himself a cure. The next time his door swung open, it was not Harry who was there to greet him but Minerva.

"Oh, dear boy." She hastened into the room to his seat.

"There will be no need for theatrics Minerva, I can assure you."

"Nonsense. Look at yourself, Severus, living in this filth for over a month. What has happened to you? When I received Mister Potter's owl-"

"Harry brought you here. Of course, he did."

"You've frightened him Severus, and I'm afraid I won't be leaving until I receive some sort of explanation. It is Potter's wish that I attempt to assist you in whatever endeavor you have deemed more important than him at this very moment." She took her seat across from him and waved her wand, rendering all of the stray trash and dust tidy, cracking open the window to let in the sunlight and fresh air.

Severus sat with his head in this hands for several minutes, massaging his temples before locking eyes with Minerva. She looked the same as she practically always had, a thin woman, always in green, her grey hair which was now whiter than ever was tied into a loose bun, atop which sat a large green witch's hat.

Harry was careful not to make any noise as he sank down to the ground just outside the door, sure that he must have been tired enough to not put up any wards.

"When I was a death eater, one of the things that Voldemort enlisted us to do, was brew a potion that would grant us life after death. He of course had no interest in teaching us about horcruxes, as only he should be able to live forever, but the potion would work similarly in the sense that your soul would attach itself to an object and you would need to retrieve it in order to return to your living state." He began hesitantly, leaving out several details about how they retrieved the instructions and ingredients for this potion.