Shadow & Love

26* Passing the Threshold

A cauldron full of antidote bottled into small flasks with a wane flick of the tired witch's wand. Leonor checked Severus' blood thoroughly and altered Richard's recipe slightly. She yawned, yearning for some sleep. Eileen and Marcus slept still next to Severus who hadn't moved. The man was still pale, the pulse low. The venom paralyzed all signs of life. Leonor sighed and forced a vial full of the opalescent brown liquid down Severus' throat, hoping for soon improvement. Then she cuddled on the other side of the bed and slept exhausted holding her arm protective above her family.

A tawny owl floated through one of the open windows in the upper floor and woke first the midwife who jumped the second time that night. Then the owl soared downstairs and landed on Leonor's shoulder with an urgent 'kee-wick'. Leonor tried to wipe off the intruder until the owl began to peck her head.

"Bugger off," swore the witch and opened her eyes reluctantly. The weather was murky, clouds blocked the daylight and that made it more difficult to awake.

Leonor summoned a Sickle and said, "Here you go!" before falling back into the pillows with a strangely thin newspaper in her hand. She detected that she slept just a bit over an hour, and it felt even less. It was still early morning and the sun just rose above the horizon.

"The Prophet is getting thinner every week," moaned Leonor without a real interest to read before realizing that it was just one printed page, nothing more than a flyer.

She rubbed her eyes and looked at the headlines above a blurred picture of the schools' ruined cloisters, the courtyard a terrible battlefield:

HARRY POTTER VANQUISHES HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED!

MANY WIZARDS AND WITCHES DEAD OR INJURED OR MISSED!

HOGWARTS DESTROYED!

"It's true, it's indeed true!" called Leonor beaming and immediately wide awake. "Sev, the Dark Lord's gone! Potter managed it. I cannot believe it." She showered the babies and Severus with kisses.

Caryn bustled in, alerted and wrapped in a pink dressing gown. Leonor hexed the leaflet flying like a paper plane towards the midwife who conjured some reading glassed to read aloud. Then the old witch smiled, and the aged eyes filled with tears.

"Indeed, the boy was the 'Chosen One'! And he survived it!" shouted Caryn and sent the leaflet flying to Eileen who tried to catch it mid-air. They all laughed when that didn't work, and Eileen summoned it with unspoken wide-eyed magic, smiling about the success.

"Yes, it's been an immense battle," said Leonor. A frown returned to the tired face and swallowed the justifiable happiness. "I just watched from a distance, haven't seen the extent of destruction nor the sacrifices."

"You watched it?"

"It was hard to overlook, like thundering fireworks. I haven't been in the centre and needn't go there to find Severus. I've been lucky to get a hint where to find him. It was no minute too late."

Leonor checked now on the former Hogwarts' potions master; his condition was still the same.

"When will he wake up?" asked Caryn.

"Dunno. I just cannot believe that I got him out of that hell and from below Voldemort's hands when many lost their lives. There's just one little step — wake up, Sev. I know Severus delivered the message to Harry Potter, information from Dumbledore, and that was the last remaining task, likely the last impulse for Harry to attack the evil wizard and kill him for good. Severus completed the mission as promised to Dumbledore."

Tears sprang to Leonor's eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. "It feels awkward to just care for your loved ones when others fight and die. They died for the wizarding world." Leonor embraced Caryn, tears of joy and shame flowed freely. "I feel so useless in the past weeks, felt the whole year like that," whined Leonor.