Senses

Chapter 65

Hermione pressed her hand tight over her mouth. A sob catching painfully in her throat. Her body jerked with each strike the snake took. Three in total. Severus' head rolled slowly against the wall, his eyes searching through the darkness. He looked so fragile in that moment that she found herself lost in his searching gaze.

The heavy slamming of the door snapped her sharply out of the void she had lost herself in. Despite the danger, she hastily pushed herself from the floor. On her hands and knees, she crawled through the blood that had begun to pool around his slouched frame.

"Severus? Severus?" Hermione pressed herself close to his side, her hands coming up to the blood bubbling out from around his cut collar, "Don't you dare die on me. Not this way."

Hermione's voice caught in her throat as she turned her head down. Her wand pressing into the largest wound across his chest calling back the blood that was chilling her fingers. Tears spilled down her cheeks when the softest of noises raised her head back to his face.

"He-"

"No, Don't speak. Save your strength." Hermione swallowed down a painful sob as she turned her attention to his neck. The wound was not healing as it should have due to the large crack in her wand. A sharp noise to her right made her heart stop, her ears telling her that something or someone was coming.

Without thought, she wrapped her arms tightly around his head and pressed her wand into the broach dangling off of her lapel. The last thing she saw before they'd completely gone up in smoke, two frightened green eyes.

Harry stood there dumbfounded by all he had witnessed. Even in the darkness, he knew who had been just before him. A ghost, no longer. He staggered aside as Ron then Draco came out of the hole to stand beside him though he was unsure what they'd heard. His eyes turned down to the darkening pool of blood beginning to slip through the warped floorboards.

"We have to get back to the castle..."

oOo

"Misty!" Hermione's voice hurt her own ears as she laid Severus down on the floor. Unable to carry him beyond their portkeyed position. Her hand cupped his face as she summoned a pillow from the bed to rest his head on.

"Stay with me. Don't close your eyes." Her hands started pulling away the buttons on his coat, tearing away the fabric in haste.

Severus could feel his body growing heavier, colder. His vision swimming as he tried to force his tongue to move. To tell her what she needed to know. What he needed her to do.

"Herm-ione..." Blood gurgled in his throat.

"No... don't speak. Your throat it's..." She pushed her wand back against his throat or rather what was left of it, "Misty!"

A sharp pop echoed over the heavy breathing in the room. The small elf instantly ran forward pressing her hands over Hermione's own, "Misty is here. Misty help. Get headmaster's potions!"

Hermione released her hold but not without a shaking chest. A push off her legs brought her back to her feet with a dizzying spin. A deep cough dripped blood down her chin but the back of hand wiped it away.

"What potions, Misty? Which ones!?"

"The small brown box." Misty's voice portrayed an eerie level of calm, her large eyes searching over every injury while her small hands worked a magic all their own, "Was he bitten?"

"Yes, by the bastard's snake! Does he have an antivenom or-"

"Yes! Red bottle, back of the shelf beside the pain potions. Leftover from Weasely yes, left over."