Poisoned Love: A Snanoine Romance

Chapter Three

Professor McGonagall paced the floor of the quarantined hospital ward, glasses precariously balanced on the bridge of her nose. Her face was one of extreme exhaustion, her robes still splattered with blood from yesterday's battle. She had come straight from Hogwarts by floo only an hour before, as soon as she'd received the owl. A hint of a grim smile had played over Snape's face at her arrival, her shrill cadence echoing down the hall as she gave firm instructions to the Head Healer for the ward to be quarantined and under Snape's control.

Her shoes clicked against the polished tile, traipsing back and forth down the center aisle while Snape continued to survey his patient. She had entered the ward without a word, knowing better then to speak until Snape had finished his assessment.

"Minerva, I fear though the Dark Lord...," McGonagall raised her eyebrow, "...Voldemort rather is dead, his dark magic may have thwarted us yet."

Snape sat at the bedside of his former student, leg now wrapped in fresh bandages beneath his normal teaching attire. Hospital gowns would not do if he were to attempt to save Hermoine's life.

"What has happened to her Severus?"

McGonagall paused her pacing, instead coming to stand at the foot of her beloved student's bed. Snape turned, staring out the window as he gripped angrily at the empty potion bottle still in his hands.

"I heard tale of it amongst the Death Eaters, about Nagini's venom. Voldemort had supposedly cursed her poison, so that if anyone tried to help one of her victims, the magic in the poison would kill them instead of the original target. It was known only by those close to Voldemort so they never interfere with his beloved pet. I just never realized the extent of the tale's truth."

McGonagall's hands flew up to cover her mouth, eyebrows high into her hairline with shock.

"Certainly you tried a Bezoar," she mumbled, eyes misting over as she looked back to the small form in the bed beneath her.

"It's the only reason she's lasted this long Minerva, I'm not daft!" Standing, Snape threw the empty potion bottle against the wall on the other side of the ward.

"I'm only alive because the poison started to dissipate from my body only hours after I had received it. The magic in the venom began to counteract my wounds the moment Ms. Granger plunged the needle in her arm to save me. She began dying at the moment I began living.." his words fell off as he grasped to control his anger.

His shoulders were slumped, hands pressed against the wall by Hermoine's bed, frustration clearly etched onto his face as he pushed dark hair back from his eyes.

"She should've never tried to save me Minerva! What could've possibly possessed her to save an old bat like me? This was never her fate to bear, it was mine. Mine alone. I should've died!" Snape shouted at the empty room, chest heaving in agony as he stared down at the sleeping witch.

He could tell Hermoine's wounds were getting worse. Even as the burning sensation in his own body diminished, sweat appeared on her forehead as she moved restlessly in her sleep. A bruise was beginning to show under her eye, and Snape knew his was growing lighter by the hour. Soon the cast on his leg would no longer be needed, but a new one would need to be prepared for Hermoine's wound.

McGonagall's gaze never left the pair before her. The sleeping witch in the hospital bed, aching with fever and her Potions Master, aching with guilt. She had never seen Snape like this, so emotional before. If he wanted to know why Hermoine had saved him, well then by Merlin she would tell him.

"Snape," McGonagall began slowly, her voice calm but accent thick with underlying emotion, "Do you remember the letter Dumbledore had you write before you became a spy to Voldemort? A letter to go to your family if you were to be killed in action?"

Snape's hand tensed against the wall. He remembered the death letter well. He had written his to Lilly for he had no one else. But then she had died and he refused Albus' request to write another. He gave a small nod of confirmation.

"You may not be aware Albus gave instructions for me to continue this practice, even after his death. Any Order member acting in the field was to leave a letter behind to a person of their choosing, in the event they did not survive. "

McGonagall pulled a roll of parchment from the sleeve of her robes, the seal of which glowed red with that of a Gryffindor  lion. She lay it on the bed in front of Snape, who eyed the roll of parchment suspiciously.

"It is Hermoine's death letter. Read to whom it is addressed." It was a command, not a request.

Snape's eyes widened before him as the scroll illuminated a fiery script written down the length of the scroll.

To Master Severus Snape, Potions Master at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"I think it wise Severus for you to read it, if she is not far from death. Ms. Granger I'm sure would agree if she were able. Perhaps then you will quit this facade of self pity and do what you can to heal the poor girl!"

McGonagall was gone with a pop that resonated through the ward as she apparated away. With trembling hands, Snape grasped the roll of parchment that was addressed to him with despair filling his stomach.

"Why would you write such a letter to me?" He whispered, cracking the seal and unfurling the scroll before him.

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the kind words and hearts! I am thoroughly enjoying writing this story and I hope you all enjoy this most recent chapter. I'm am off this week from work so trying to get as much writing in as I can! Please feel free to share my little tale and follow me to get the most recent updates!