Healing His Heart

Prologue

|Prologue : The Servant's Circumstance|

{Sometimes this body is just a paper house and this life is too much flame.}

~

Severus Snape was a sallow skinned Slytherin with shoulder length black hair and a hooked nose. He was the finest Potions Professor that Hogwarts had ever seen, and he had been a double agent working for the two most powerful wizards the Wizarding World had known.

Notice the past tense.

The man Severus Snape had been was now long gone, he had quite possibly died on the battle field at the Battle of Hogwarts in May of 1998.

After Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort he had returned to the Shrieking Shack to recover Severus' body, but when he had gotten there he had found that Severus still had a pulse.

His pulse had been weak, his breathing shallow, but still there was life.

Harry had levitated Severus back to the castle where he was rushed to St Mungo's for emergency treatment. The doctors had worked tirelessly to save Severus, and eventually they had stopped the bleeding and extracted most of the snake's venom, most of it.

The remainder of the venom had mixed through Severus' bloodstream and had become a poison that was slowly and painfully killing him. The doctors said that there was no way to remove the venom without it having debilitating and quite possibly fatal effects on Severus.

No one knew exactly how long he had left to live, but it was definite that it was no longer than a year. Severus didn't seem to care, in fact he seemed to have accepted his fate and was doing nothing to try and stop it.

After returning to his chambers at Hogwarts, Severus spent his days reading, drinking and sleeping. He never left his chambers, he hardly ate and he certainly didn't care for himself.

His once shoulder length black hair had grown wild and fell just below his collarbones, his skin had turned a sickly white and his facial hairs had grown into a prickly beard. Showering hardly at all had left his skin oily and his hair was now slicked from roots to ends with grease, but he really didn't care.

Endless amounts of doctors would visit every three days to make sure he was comfortable and to check on his deteriorating condition. Severus didn't bother remembering any of their names, the only name he retained was the one belonging to his psychologist, Dr Jones.

Weekly meetings with Dr Jones did nothing for Severus' mental state as he refused to share what he was feeling, and he refused to speak to anyone.

Minerva McGonagall was in low spirits, the man who was like a son to her had given up. She couldn't bare the thought of him dying after everything he had sacrificed for the Wizarding World during both its wars.

On several occasions Minerva had tried to speak with Severus, but every time he would just slam the door in her face. So she had gone back to listening to the doctors reports and watched sadly as the one powerful man slipped from life.

Deep down Severus was afraid to die, his whole life he had hoped for freedom to do whatever and whoever he wanted. He had once hoped to find love and have a family that he could care for, but his role in the wars had made that hard.

After everything he had suffered, he wanted to finally make a life for himself that was purely his own, and now even that was getting taken from him. So he let go of that hope and let his body slowly surrender to the poison.

The Wizarding World was running out of time and resources to save Severus Snape, hope was lost among many people. Nothing would be able to save him, at least that was what they thought.

A young witch with the name Helena Stephens would unknowingly stumble upon Severus's chart in her nursing rounds at St Mungo's and she would know how to save him.

~

A/N: My thoughts and prayers are with everyone lost or affected by the atrocity that occurred in Santa Fe several hours ago. My heart cries for the families who have lost loved ones, and for the families who are sitting beside hospital beds not knowing what is going to happen.
#neveragain ❤️