Senses

Chapter 33

As soon as Severus stepped through the hearth of the fireplace his entire being knew that something was wrong. His eyes quickly scanned the office but found nothing amiss. His feet quickly made their way towards his private chambers where the feeling of dread only grew.

"Miss Granger? Hermione? Please? Oh, Merlin..."

Severus' jaw ground as he heard Minerva's voice. She had promised him that she wouldn't try to communicate with Miss Granger in her human form. He had told her that her mind was much too fragile. The tone of her voice was the only thing that kept his temper in check.

His eyes followed the sound of her voice to the pillar that obscured the door to his small lab. Whispers began to fill his ears as he drew near and it was then that he could begin to piece together what must have happened. His heart jumped when he quickly came to shadow the now open doorway. The sound of the memories that filled the air in the room buzzing in his ears.

"What did you do?" Severus had already begun to move even as the words snarled passed his lips.

"Oh thank Merlin!" Minerva looked up with desperation in her voice.

She could only send thanks to the fates that Severus had returned. He'd been gone for hours while she watched over Miss Granger's rest and she had truly believed he would have been out all night. She had prepared herself for the possibility of having to cancel her morning class just to keep her promise of watching over Miss Granger. Though as her brain steadily took in his face she was sure this was the last time she'd be spending any time with the young woman during her recovery.

"She came in here on her own. I tried to stop her but..." Minerva's words trailed off when she realized he hadn't really been looking for an answer. Her eyes turning to watch him so artfully recapture the swirling lights that had started to fill the room. It was a rather beautiful sight of wand and spell mastery, reminding her very clearly that the man before her was more powerful than he appeared.

Ignoring Minerva wasn't so much as a choice as a necessity. The cacophony of sounds that had been mere whispers before we're starting to become an undiscernable mass of sound as he pulled the escaped memories into one of the larger vials he'd picked up from the table.

He had hoped that the pensive solution would have released the orb's memories, while successful it wasn't his intention to give them all to her at once. His original plan had been to return them slowly, carefully, when the time was right. He had no idea what they held as he had only set the orb inside recently. He hadn't even been completely sure it would work. He had been merely following his instincts.

"Severus-Severus, she's stopped breathing!"

Minerva's tone of urgency cut through the returning quiet. The last few floating memories quickly recaptured before his eyes shot down to the girl in her arms. Hermione's eyes were still open and he was just able to see the last of whatever memory had actually made contact slip from her eyes. Her face had grown pale and her lips were beginning to turn blue.

"The bed. Now!" Severus' last act before following them out was to set the pensive back onto its stand. His brow ticked when he saw the orb just below the surface of the remaining waters. It was cracked open, like an egg but there were still more memories inside. How much of her life had she hidden away?

Minerva laid Hermione down with calm and focus, moving aside as Snape came from behind. She was, of course, a wholly capable witch but this was a situation she knew nothing about. A life, a young life, hung in the balance. She knew when it was time to step aside.