Rescue
MINERVA
The wards around Hogwarts wavered a bit and the first thought that came to my mind was Severus. We hadn't seen him in the past couple of days since the incident in the hospital wing. He had been locking himself up from then on. Poppy and I were worried but didn't let it show as we knew Sev needed to sort his thoughts out and process everything.
Fear began to fill up on me as I made my way down to Sev's chamber, praying that the change in wards was because of anything but Sev. I walked in to a mess. The smell of urine mixed with alcohol drenched the living room which was littered with a dozen of bottles of fire whiskey, Sev nowhere to be seen. Something caught my attention and on further inspection, I found out it was blood. Severus' blood. My hand flew to my mouth to stop the gasp from escaping as thoughts of Sev being unsafe raced through my head.
The horror began to pick on me as I called for Ayana who popped up right next to me.
"Where is Severus?" I asked as soon as she was there.
"What is this mess?" I questioned again without waiting for her answer.
"Guardian come and take him," Ayanna responded calmly as if it were nothing new.
"That's impossible," I exclaimed horrified. "Harry is in the infirmary."
I rushed out of Severus' chambers as fast as I could straight to Poppy and told her what had happened. We were too busy to find a cure to get Harry out of the coma that we have neglected Sev no matter what excuse we gave and now we have no idea where was he. If Ayanna was telling the truth, then we were in no place to do anything, no one was until Harry somehow mends the fractured bond and fights the coma waking up which had a very rare chance of happening as Sev was not here to claim him back.
Pseudo guardians are assigned to every little before they find their proper guardian. The fracture in the bond must have alerted the pseudo guardian that they were needed at the moment which was none among us as we didn't feel the call. Pseudo guardians can belong to any classification as they have been appointed for just a short period of time and have full control over the little.
We have been waiting for Harry's awakening for a week now and Sev had been gone for the last five days. Pansy was a mess so were Draco and Hermione. Ron wasn't in the country at the moment as he had gone to the countryside due to some auror work and we didn't tell him anything about this, not wanting to get another person to wind up in this mess.
Pansy claimed Harry had talked to her about this but it was a blur and she couldn't remember anything clearly. She had gotten flashes of the day time and again but didn't have time to ponder over them due to being drowned in work. Hermione being a natural occlumen and legilimen was able to invade her mind and redid the block that Harry wasn't very successful in placing in the first place. Harry had tried to obliviate her, meaning blocking a specific memory from resurfacing again but him being not perfect at mind spells, the block hadn't been placed accurately giving Pansy access to a part of it which she got flashbacks of.
She hadn't left Harry's side since then only to use the bathroom and shower from time to time. The dark circles under her eyes were more prominent than ever and her skin seemed paler due to the lack of sleep but she refused to let Harry go. She fell into an uneasy yet deep slumber when the exhaustion was too much and her body demanded rest, not responding to her. Poppy moved her bed mere centimeters away from Harry so that she could feel him close while she took a break from all the stress.
Poppy checked on her and spelled a few strengthening potions into her stomach as she slept before checking on Harry and told us to have a rest as well as she claimed that things were the same and all we could do is wait. So, we chose our beds close to Harry as our sleep invaded mind pulled us into a light slumber.
Poppy went back to her office; she wasn't even there for a moment when loud alarms rang around the hospital wing waking everyone up as we gathered around Harry's bed. A golden hue was surrounding him but slowly disappeared after a few moments. We were shocked by the turn out of the events. This couldn't be.... could it? He wasn't moving but his breaths were steadier as his chest lifted and went down in a rhythmic motion. Pansy was quick to grab a hold of his hand as Poppy ran the diagnosis spell, smiling to herself, the smile that told us of good news, and yet she said nothing. Putting her hand on Harry's shoulder she shook it slightly.
Harry sat up with a gasp, startling everyone but neither did he notice us nor his girlfriend as she tried to get his attention. He just looked around frantically as if searching for someone and I had the feeling that this isn't going to end well because I knew exactly who he was searching for and by the look of it everyone did as a look of worry and fear crossed all their faces mixed with shock.
Pansy took a hold of his shoulders and laid him back down, holding him there when he tried to fight her.
"What happened? Where is Sev?" He posed the dreaded questions to us. It was clear that somehow the bond between the guardian and his little has mended even after the distance. Magic has its own surprises for everyone.
"Draco found you leaning against the wall outside Professor Snape's chambers, unconscious. You have been unconscious for a week." Pansy found the courage to answer after a few minutes of silence, still not finding it in herself to answer his second question.
"Where is Sev?" He questioned with worry and we all knew there was no way out of it but to tell Harry the truth.
HARRY
Tears pooled Pansy's eyes as I looked over at her, the feeling of despair, hopelessness, and loneliness growing inside me.
"Where's my little dragon?" I questioned yet again but this time with all the force I could build up.
Bonded guardians were overly protected of their little. The usually calm and playful guardians can become aggressively fierce protectors in case of any harm done to their Littles. That's what shocked everyone present in the room. According to their theory or better Poppy's theory, Harry would have woken up in two situations one being Sev claiming him back which was not even an option considering Sev wasn't here in the first place and we had no idea as to who was his pseudo guardian and the other option being Harry's magic destroying any bond between them. If it was the second case Harry would go back to where he was with Sev before the bonding forgetting about the time he spent as his guardian and from what they could see he could remember Sev clear as day.
Professor McGonagall stepped closer to the cot but kept a safe distance as if afraid of my reaction and I didn't have a good feeling about it. "He's not here." She said softly making my heart jump to my throat as anger raised inside me. My mind went blank not a single thought came to me as I tried to register her words.
"What do you mean he's not here?"
"I think he was taken by force," Minerva explained.
I got up with such speed Pansy, and Poppy, by the look of it, didn't have time to comprehend what was happening until I was standing in front of Minerva.
"Are you telling me he was kidnapped?"
I tried to keep my voice eerily calm but inside I was raging.
Minerva said nothing, nobody did. My heart felt like it would explode out of my chest any second.
The only movement I made was arching my eyebrow. "How? Hogwarts protects her Littles. Especially Severus. How could anyone just come in here and take him?"
With each statement, the objects in the room began to rattle as anger surged out of me. Things were flying around, hitting the wall. Empty vials exploding where they sat. The cots sliding across the room. It looked like a movie scene for someone who didn't believe or know about magic.
Pansy walked over to me in an attempt to calm me down but nothing was working as I ragged my brain, trying to process Minerva's words. I don't know why I was using her first name in my head in such a situation when I clearly refused to do so when she first asked me, in my first week of working at Hogwarts as a professor.
"Explain this to me," I all but snarled.
"Yes, Hogwarts does protect Littles," Minerva explained. "But the only thing that could override that protection is if someone else was placed as his Guardian."
My world came to a pause. Another guardian? Wasn't I enough?
"I was under the impression that once a Guardian was placed with a Little, it was for life," I said. My voice was much calmer than before which surprised me considering the storm of thoughts inside my head. I wanted to get a grip of the situation before I took any step.
"Yes," Poppy took over. "That is true. Lady Magic has placed Severus with you, but as you know, you weren't even born when Sev was classified and so he needed a guardian not only when he was an adult but also when in headspace as his parents died at his young age and so a pseudo guardian is assigned to the littles in such a case."
"It was the reason Hogwarts put the protection over Severus in the first place," Minerva explained further "as he didn't have a proper guardian at that time."
"All right," I calmly said, finally taking a hold of the situation. "Now, from what I am gathering is if Severus was taken off these grounds, it means that it was perceived that I wasn't his Guardian that may be due to the events from the day he broke the bond. Who is his Pseudo guardian, as you call it?"
Minerva nodded before shaking her head. Now, what was this about? "We have no idea as pseudo guardians can be from any classification." That made my heart stop for a second but then an idea popped up in my mind and I looked at Draco who gazed back questioningly at me.
"Why are you looking at me?" Draco asked.
I looked at him with an arched eyebrow as I knew if someone could have any idea where Sev was then it was him.
"He hurt you," Draco said. "So, I told him to leave."
I wasn't expecting to hear that but anger surged through me as the words left his mouth.
"And for these days, no one checked on him," I questioned flashing my angry eyes at everyone in the room.
The room was quiet for a moment.
I tried to stay calm but that was proving to be an impossible task as minutes passed away and I couldn't come up with anything. I understood what happened in our chambers the other day was Severus having a temper tantrum - something Sev will answer for when he came back. Things should have been handled differently. I couldn't change the past, though how desperately wished I could. I wanted to punch Draco for inadvertently severing our bond but I knew that he did it without knowing the outcome. The only thing on my mind was finding my Little and bringing him back home safely.
Pansy must have caught on with my thought from earlier. "Draco," She called out. "Severus is your godfather, right?"
Draco nodded. "Yeah."
"Why don't we ask your father?" Pansy suggested. "If anyone would know, it would be him."
"Let's go," I said, hurriedly walking to the door.
I, Draco, Pansy, and Hermione walked out of the Infirmary and out of the castle to the apparating point.
"Apparate to the edge of the property," Draco said before twisting and disappearing. I, Pansy, and Hermione followed suit.
We arrived in front of large steel gates, the gates that brought back memories I so desperately wanted to forget and by the look of it, it was having even a worse effect on Hermione whose breaths have picked up speed and came out ragged as she rubbed her arm where that awful word was carved on her skin. I patted her shoulder and she was able to get her emotions under control and her face was a blank mask as Draco waved his wand, causing the steel gate to swing inward.
I began to feel dread seeping into my heart. The closer we got to the mansion; the more upset I was feeling. Being bombarded by these feelings let me know that my Guardianship did not sever as he thought but strained. I hope it could be fixed.
Draco and I were standing in front of the door. When we opened it, we were physically pulled back as a green ball of light passed by, blasting the door into tiny bits of splinters. Pansy and Hermione pulled us back just in time. All four pulled out our wands, and a battle ensued. Curses and jinxes were flying around the room. I saw Bellatrix and Rabastan standing in the entranceway in front of the grand staircase. Lucius was at the top of the stairs, throwing a line of curses.
As Hermione, Draco, and Pansy handled the death eaters, I concentrated on building up my guardian magic to find my little who I could feel him though very slightly but the pull was there. The foundation began to shake, causing the three older wizards to lose their footing, allowing Draco to immobilize and bind them not that I paid any attention to it.
I concentrated on the pull which got stronger as I approached the dark cell which I was too familiar with and the dark memories flashed in front of my eyes and I tried to shake them off but it was too hard as I stood outside the cell. I collected myself, bracing myself for the worst as I pushed open the door.
What I saw next made my heart come to my throat and I wanted to gag and cry at the same time as my mind took in Sev's condition whose bare body was lying on the cold floor, his own waste smeared on his unconscious form. The copper smell of blood lingering in the air.
I dropped down beside him as my legs gave up under me, trying to calm my aching heart as I looked at the broken man in front of me, bruises littering every inch of his body, skin barely visible beneath them. Tears streamed down my face as I took my wand from the floor which I had dropped in shock the first time I saw Sev, waving it on him and cleaning up the dirt and blood so as to not increase the infection before picking him up ever so carefully, trying to hurt as minimal as possible.
Conjuring up a blanket I wrapped it around my precious bundle as I walked out of the room, not paying any attention to my surrounding to notice the Aurous milling around the mansion, Hermione talking with Ron, or Draco and Pansy describing to a different set of Aurous about the events of the past few days. I walked out of Malfoy manor, apparating back to Hogwarts when I entirely left the grounds.
Is Severus alright???