Amour

THE BLUDGER

(This chapter comes before THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.I don't know what went wrong witg publishing..)
It was the season's last quidditch match and it was Griffindor versus Slytherin.Hermione was tearing up the pitch on her Firebolt and Malfoy's Nimbus 2000 was no match for her's.But he still tried to cheat by appearing out of thin air to block her,slamming into her from all directions and once even pulling her broomstick back using his hands which made her slow down.Madame Hooch awarded Griffindor a penalty and Snape ground his teeth together sitting in the stands,thinking Malfoy to be the most dishonourable cheating scum.Hermione had no time to lose as she went searching for the snitch again,narrowly avoiding a bludger that came her way.It was the climax of the match and both the seekers had seen the snitch hovering right above the teachers' stands and made a dive for it.Malfoy was way ahead but Hermione urged her broom to go faster and since her's had more speed,she overcame Malfoy and caught the snitch in mid air after giving a front flip.While the crowd below was cheering its delight,Hermione raised the snitch up in her hands and her eyes found Snape.He was smiling and clapping appreciatively at her but suddenly his eyes fixed on something further back from Hermione and he looked horrified.She turned around to see what it was but before her eyes could focus,she was overcome by a blinding pain and she remembered nothing more...................................................
Snape's eyes widened as he saw the bludger aiming for Hermione,but she had her back to it.Before he could shout out to her to be careful,she followed his eyes and turned around and the bludger hit her full in the face with tremendous force and she got thrown off her broom and hit a wall and slid down it to land on the ground.Everyone heard a sickening crunch as her skull cracked open and blood was pooling around where she lay.Snape was leaning over the stands to where she landed so that he missed the bludger coming round at her again.It came and hit her a couple of times more breaking several bones,before Snape and Dumbledore together hit curses at it and it got smashed to dust.This is unusual behaviour for a bludger.It cannot aim at anybody by themselves unless it has been tampered with!Snape thought.By the time he reached her,he was informed that the fraud Professor Lockhart(who succeeded Lupin)had already performed an unsuccessful healing charm on Hermione,which backfired and now all the bones in her body was sticking out at odd angles.This time Dumbledore did not waste any more time, since she had already lost so much blood,that he directly apparated her to the hospital wing.The students moved back to the castle and Snape pushed through them,running and shouting,"Move out of the way!"He reached the hospital wing and conditions were very serious.Hermione lay unconscious and the bandages on her head had blood soaking through."She should have been brought straight to me...that Lockhart...trying to prove his skills at wandwork."Madame Pomfrey was muttering."Mending broken bones is easy but shaping such oddly growing bones would be a nuisance.Not to say how hard it'll be...""But you will be able to do it,right?"Snape asked fearfully.She assured,"Oh,I will be able to definitely,but it'll be painful for her.She'll regain consciousness in a few minutes but I need to break every bone in her body again to set it right.She's in for a tough night."Pomfrey looked down with pity at Hermione and Snape grasped the full picture of how much physical pain she will have to endure.He and Dumbledore waited outside.Snape was on tenterhooks when some time later the screams started;each crack of bone was followed by a painful shriek from Hermione and Snape clenched his fists together to stop them from shaking.Dumbledore grasped his shoulder tightly to provide moral support,but Snape couldn't sit quitely but started pacing.Hours passed but the slow torture continued and Snape leaned back on a wall,feeling helpless.Pomfrey then stepped out,her apron spattered with blood."Give me something to do...some work,I beg you.Otherwise I'll run mad."Snape said,his voice breaking.Pomfrey felt sympathy for him,"Well...she's lost so much blood.If you could go to St.Mungo's and bring back a blood bag..."Hermione's screams were barely whimpers now,out of exhaustion and Snape fought the urge to peep inside to check how she was.But rather he set off at once for St.Mungo's........................................
Hermione's auditory senses returned before she fully woke up,so that she heard a number of machines beeping around her.She stirred and with some difficulty she lifted her heavy eyelids.Her vision was blurred at first but then they focused on Snape who was looking at her with concern.She smiled,saying,"Hey."He gave a huge sigh of relief and smiled,"After giving us such a fright,all you can say is 'Hey'?"Hermione tried to laugh but a searing pain in her lungs made her wince."What hurts?What can I do?"Snape asked,worrying over her.Hermione just shook her head."So how bad am I?"she asked.He gave a sigh before replying,"You have a cracked skull,three broken ribs and a fractured leg.But Madam Pomfrey had to break every other bone too ,to set them right because that good-for-nothing Lockhart tried to practice his hand in medicine on you and accidentally misshaped your bones."Hermione looked down at her body;her vision was partly obstructed by the bandage running round her head and the rest of her body was mostly wrapped up in bandages as well."Good heavens,Madam Pomfrey has turned me into an Egyptian Mummy!If I remember correctly,Padma's boggart was a mummy.I bet I can scare the shit out of her now.."Hermione joked."It's not funny!"Snape snapped.She looked at him and understood that he was taking this matter very seriously."How long has it been?"she asked."Two days."he informed.She was shocked."And you've been here all this time?!You need to go."There was a mixture of shock and pain in his expression,"You want me to...go?"Oh,no,he has completely misunderstood me!"No,no,I meant,you should go back to your room,get some rest.I'll be fine.Come on..."He easened up then."I was waiting for you to wake up."he said.Hermione looked lovingly at him,"So...it's been two days since you've kissed me,huh?"she asked smirking.He smirked back,"Two tediously long days.""How about you break the wait now?"she suggested.But he hesitated,"Hermione...you're injured.."But she sweetly requested,"Pleeeeeeeeeaaase!"He bent down on her and gently touched his lips to hers and the monitors noting her heart-rate went haywire.He broke the kiss checking the screens to see what was wrong but Hermione interjected saying,"Don't worry.That's just me hyperventilating.I always knew what your touch did to me,now it's open for you to see as well."He shook his head at her and she pouted,"Hey,I wasn't done kissing you."Snape chuckled at her claiming him for her own and bent down again to kiss her,this time deeply.As Hermione was still wincing in pain,he called Madam Pomfrey,ignoring Hermione's protests and ordered her to give her more sedatives.As Snape looked down at her,Hermione felt herself slowly drifting back to sleep.