Because You Love Me

62. A Marked Man

 Alaina helped Severus straight to the Hospital Wing despite his many protests. She watched worriedly as Madame Pomfrey tended to him. He was more badly injured than she had ever imagined. The cuts on his face and his head wound were nothing compared to the bruises and cuts beneath his shirt. Severus wanted her to be inside the curtain with him though.

"Merlin!" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed. "What happened to you, Severus?"

"It doesn't matter," he responded calmly. "The point is that I'm alive. And I'm very lucky to be."

Alaina stared at him, biting her lower lip nervously. She had her suspicions about what had happened to him, but she prayed that she was wrong. Madame Pomfrey dressed his head wound and cleaned up the cuts on his chest and his face. She bandaged the ones on his body, but he refused to have any other bandages on his face besides the one wrapped around his head. She moved down to his leg next. When she pulled up his pant leg on the left side, Alaina gasped. She reached down and grabbed his hand. It was a huge wound that was bleeding pretty heavily.

"Oh, Severus!" she exclaimed. "Who did this to you?"

"Indeed," Madame Pomfrey said. "I don't know how you even walked up here with a place like that on your leg. I'm afraid you're going to have to be on bed rest."

"No," Severus protested. "That is not an option. At least not today. Maybe when I get home."

"You're not going home alone like this," Alaina told him. Her voice was firm. "You'll have to stay with Harry and me or we will come live with you until you're healed completely. Take your pick."

He smiled. "I'll stay with you. But you have to know the risks first." When Alaina cocked her head to the side curiously, he continued. "The person who gave me these wounds will be coming for me. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into."

"I don't care who it is," she declared. "You're coming home with me and that is that."

"Alright, but-"

"No 'buts'."

"Okay. I surrender."

She smiled triumphantly. "Now that's more like it."

Madame Pomfrey raised her eyebrow, but she didn't say anything. The two of them were friends. Of course she would want him to stay with her. She cleared her throat. "Well, you'll live," she told him, "but you need to take it easy until you heal up some more. You've got some fractured ribs and it's going to take time for them to heal back the way they should. Other than that, you should be okay. You'll be fully recovered in time for next term I daresay."

Severus nodded. "Thank you."

Madame Pomfrey nodded in his direction and then left the two of them alone. Alaina helped Severus to his feet.

"Where to?" she asked.

He sighed. "To Dumbledore's office I suppose. Or mine. Either way I'm going to have to tackle stairs."

Alaina gulped as she helped him out of the Hospital Wing. She hated to see him like this and the moment she found out who was responsible, she was going to throttle whoever it may have been if she got the chance.

The two of them made it to the stairs of Dumbledore's office. Severus blurted out the password and Alaina steadied him against her as they rode up to the door. She knocked lightly and once they got the invitation to come inside, she opened the door. She guided Severus to the nearest chair and helped him ease down into it. She sat in the one right next to him and placed her hands in her lap.