Chapter Twenty-Four
New Hope
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Late that night, Harry sat in the hospital wing talking with an exhausted Ginny. Severus lay in a bed nearby along with Volker, Remus, several Aurors, Flitwick, and Sinistra. Harry and Hermione had helped McGonagall and Sprout notify parents that their children were at the Ministry. There were some interesting parents belonging to those Slytherin students and Harry spoke to each of them on behalf of Snape.
For the most part, the adults had been genuinely concerned for the Head of Salazar’s House. Several had been thankful that their child had been whisked away to safety. Every so often, a few had been out right rude, and Harry had felt that feeling of darkness while speaking with them. No wonder those kids are messed up, with parents like that anyone would be!
Harry looked over at Snape. Nettle and Quirke had spent hours repairing the shattered leg. The bone had broken into shards and the shards had slashed the surrounding tissue. It was a nasty spell meant to lame the target. Hopefully Snape would be able to walk with only a slight limp because of the two ladies' hard work.
"He means a lot to you now, doesn't he?" Ginny asked, watching him with tired eyes.
Harry nodded. He had watched Bellatrix taunt Snape and then the exchange of curses that followed. He had felt his heart stop when the green light hit Snape. He had thought it was the Killing Curse, and knowing Bellatrix, it could easily have been. Thankfully, when he reached Snape, the man had been breathing and barely conscious. It had been a relief. Was still a relief. A limp was a small price to pay for one's life. Harry frowned slightly. Severus had taken a spot in his life that Harry had never expected anyone to fill again.
"I guess," Harry answered her more fully. "He's more human since he stopped being a spy. And he's been a great help. I guess he's become a mentor of sorts, especially now with Dumbledore's death. And yet... not... It's... it's hard to explain."
"I know what you mean," Ginny said softly, her head resting back against the chair she was curled up in. "He's acting more like himself, I think. And I don't think he's had that much practice at it."
"I think you're right," he responded after a moment's thought. "Lessons are sure a lot better than they used to be."
"I enjoy our Potions lessons," Ginny whispered with a faint smile. "He's really helpful and a good critic. And he knows what he's doing. I feel really lucky that he was willing to take me on for private lessons. He doesn't do it often."
"Only for really bad students," Harry said, wrinkling his nose, remembering Malfoy's sneer when Snape had said Harry was taking remedial Potions. Looking over at her, he smiled broadly. "Or the really great ones."
"I'm not great," Ginny said, the fire in her voice very faint. Harry could tell she was about to fall asleep on him.
"Was it busy today?" he asked, watching her eyes almost flutter shut. He couldn't wait until she actually accepted to really going out. When he could run his fingers along her face without feeling like he had to ask. When she could sit on his lap and fall asleep in his arms. When he could walk around Hogwarts with her hand in his for everyone to see.
"People kept coming in, you should know that, you brought half of them," Ginny answered, sitting up straighter in an effort to stay awake. "People would come in, get healed, and then leave to fight some more. Then you'd just bring them back again."
"Annoying?"
"Unbelievably," she answered with a small, soft laugh. She unconsciously slumped in her chair, and brought her legs back up onto the seat. "At least they were alive to be brought back up."
