The Power of Pain

Chapter 8

The evening was waning as Severus put the last of the bloodied tissues into the bin. He sniffed a couple times to make sure the passage was clear before turning back towards the kitchen table. His Godson had left him all sorts of potions ingredients and little more than what he'd originally asked for and he couldn't be ungrateful. He glanced through the doorway into the sitting room and found that it would be possible to keep an eye on his charge and work in the relative safety of his kitchen; he'd just have to move a few things. He set down the cauldron he was preparing and moved back to make his adjustments in the sitting room.

He went to the lounge, his eyes flittering over to the stones, still a soft white. She was in pain, white meant pain, his mind recalled. He wondered if perhaps laying on the large scar on her back was the source of her discomfort. He hadn't yet replaced the blanket that had been stained, and when his hands reached down to adjust he jolted back. She was cold-no more than that-she was freezing. He pursed his lips, it didn't feel that cold to him. Even only in his two layers of clothing. Though he mused that perhaps a life in the dungeons had warped his sense of temperature. He huffed to himself and leant down on bended knee. His arm curled under her shoulders and her head tipped back from the new elevation. His eyes shot to the band and the black cloud over head, relieved to see that it simply shifted it's alignment but otherwise was unaffected. He curled his other arm under her knees and slowly made to stand. The cold that wafted from her form, quickly made it's way through his meager layers of clothing and he cursed himself for being so injudicious.

He carried her unceremoniously up the stairs decided instead to give her a proper bath, denying his own headache relief in retribution for his mediocre care. If she was suffering why shouldn't he? He paused at the landing as if pondering which way to go.

Hermione shifted slightly in his arms making a soft noise. The black cloud over her head lit up with a bright yellow flash before going dark again. Yellow, what did yellow mean...? His normally encyclopedic mind would have easily rounded upon the answer, though, as it was he was just trying to make it to the bathroom without falling. He filed it away for later as he came into his bedroom.

He paused for a moment looking at the disturbed bedspread from his earlier adventures into the darkness. His face twitched a bit before glancing to the bathroom door, it was a shared bathroom meaning it could be accessed from either side. Meaning, that it could be accessed from either room. So why had his feet lead him to his own once again. He made another note filing it under, things to analyze later, and laid her out on his bed.

"Once more, forgive the circumstances." He mumbled softly as he pulled his arm free of her long winding braid. He turned towards the bathroom and took a quick look around. All the while ignoring the very real and pressing logistics. Severus was a very prude man by nature, and though he wasn't shy around the female form, he was very particular about when and whom he saw in states of undress. As it was, he hadn't any real connection to Miss Granger and he felt it to be exceedingly improper for him to see what only her husband should see. The very idea of having to see her as she was born made something hard coil in his stomach. He leaned over the large bathtub and started the water thinking of just what he could do to ease his own feelings on the matter and preserve her dignity as well. Never mind that this was a former student of his, these feelings dipped well below that. No this was just who he was and had always been.

Of course he knew that a lot of his logistical problems would have easily been solved had he just used a bit of magic. He still felt it vibrating through him like an old clock ticking away gathering and coiling the springs inside him. He flexed his hands over the filling tub and lightly sent a swirl of color through the water. A deep blue dissolved and diluted into the running water obscuring the bottom. He nodded to himself and pulled a clean towel from a nearby cubby. It was large and soft and it would provide nicely. He went through the adorning door and rifled through her chest of drawers. He pulled out another tank top and shorts and with another wave of his hand set them to rights. Even the short time with his wand had expanded his wandless strength. He gritted his teeth feeling a dull ache in his forearm. He turned away pressing his magic deep inside him stifling the ache for now.