Distracted
Halloween was nearing and things at Hogwarts were in full swing. Sarah was working full tilt at her choir and still found time to help Severus. He was starting to suspect that her constant need to be busy was coming from a need to avoid sitting alone with her own thoughts. He understood that. He often felt the same way after everything that had happened in the war. He was thinking about her upcoming choir concert with the students during his NEWT potion class when a cauldron exploded. Students were launched away from the explosion and Severus, who had been standing by the door was thrown backwards into the hallway. Having been far enough away from the blast, Severus found himself to be unscathed but he looked in the classroom in horror to see clouds of dust and rubble. There was dust everywhere and he could hear screams coming from inside. He jumped to his feet and sent a patronus to Professor Dumbledor for aid before leaping into action.
Climbing through the rubble, he could see some students who were half buried beneath chunks of shelving, books, broken desks and glass from broken empty vials. He thanked Merlin that he hadn’t kept any other active potions ingredients in that classroom. He began to use his want to lift the rubble off of one student after another. There were a few students who were unharmed who joined in the search. He counted every student as they got each one out of the classroom. Only two were unconscious and none were mortally wounded. He gave a huge sigh of relief as he helped levitate the last student out of the room. At this point, other teachers had come from their classrooms to help. Severus stood surveying the damage while doing one last final head count of his students. He realized in that moment that one was missing. Where were they? He scanned the room again, anxiety creeping in as he saw nothing but rubble. He walked further into the room and started to shift aside more rubble when he caught sight of a hand just visible under a pile of textbooks. He made his way over to the student and carefully levitated all the debris off of the boy. The boy’s eyes fluttered open as he took in a deep breath. Severus had a moment of relief before he heard a deep rumble. He had a split second to cast a protective shield over the boy before the ceiling crashed in on top of them.
—-
Sarah had heard the explosion from her classroom a few doors down from Severus’ lab. She had run as fast as she could. She saw Severus bringing out student after student, and made herself useful by checking on each child to make sure they were stable before sending them to the hospital wing with one of her own students. As she was packing up one of the last students in the hallway to be brought to the hospital wing on a levitated stretcher, she heard a deep rumble and looked up just in time to watch in horror as the ceiling came down on top of Severus.
She paused long enough to make sure the debris had stopped falling from the ceiling before rushing in. She had to climb hand over foot to get through the pile of rubble in the doorway. More teachers had arrived behind her and were helping with the students in the hallway to clear a better path through. She made her way through the dust and devastation to see a child resting inside a protective bubble. She could see it was a shield because the swirls of dust were not penetrating it. The child was relatively unharmed. The bubble flickered and then faded. That was not a good sign. Sarah thought to herself. She rushed over to the child and inspected him for any injuries. Noticing a broken wrist and a few shallow cuts from broken glass, she gently helped him navigate the piles of debris to the doorway, which by now had been cleared enough for the boy to get through to aid more easily.
Once she had ascertained that the boy was in good hands, she rushed back inside, summoning a “point-me” spell to find Severus. It pointed her towards a pile of debris only a little further away from where the boy had been. She began to levitate the rocks and books from the pile to reveal Severus. She ran then. Kneeling down beside him, she looked him over. He was unconscious and barely breathing. Upon closer inspection, Sarah cursed as she could see a sliver of wood that had been jammed into the side of Severus’ neck. She realized it was right where his artery should be. She leaned closer to the wound. She knew if it was removed, he would bleed out in seconds. If he was moved, she risked the chance of doing further damage. Pausing for a moment, Sarah sifted through her knowledge of healing spells until she remembered the proper one. Focusing on the sliver of wood, she murmured the spell while picturing the artery knitting itself together again. She continued to chant the spell as she slowly pulled the wood from his neck. There was no blood. She had done it! She looked now at the rest of his body. He had a bump on his head that would surely cause a hell of a headache for a few days, but other than a couple of glass shards that would need to be removed, he was okay.
Sarah breathed a shaky sigh of relief as she began to levitate Severus out of the classroom. When she exited, she came face to face with Poppy, who had rushed down to see what else was needed. “Merlin!” She exclaimed after seeing the unconscious form of Severus. “One would think that man indestructible with how little help he’s required of me over the years” she slid her wand from beneath her sleeve and continued Sarah’s levitation spell, carrying Severus’ unconscious form away to the hospital wing. Sarah stood behind blankly, feeling the shock of the ordeal before turning back towards the destroyed potions lab and joining the other professors in the repair process.
—-
Three days later, Severus awoke abruptly feeling startled. He had to get his students to safety! He had to - he felt a hand gently on his chest pushing him back. He grabbed the hand only to open his eyes in that moment and see Sarah leaning over him with eyes wide with concern. It was her hand he had gripped onto. He released her, falling back onto the cushions. Quietly, Sarah stated “you were in a potions accident. All of your students are healthy and safe. Your classroom has been restored.” Severus sighed in relief to the answers of questions he hadn’t even known to ask. Tiredly he blinked back up at her. “Thank you” he whispered. Her open look shuttered closed and she stood abruptly, “I’ll let Poppy know you’re awake” she said and disappeared. He blinked confusedly at her now empty chair. Before he had a chance to think further on it, Poppy appeared in his vision casting a variety of spells and tutting here and there at him. “Professor” she said sternly, “you have suffered a concussion, along with some major trauma to your neck and some blood loss from some wounds from broken glass.” His neck? He thought. His brain was all muddled. Before he could ask, Poppy sensed his confusion. “You suffered a severe laceration to your artery. Sarah was able to close it before you bled out. You are a very lucky man.” She finished. Sarah had saved him. He moved to sit up but Poppy’s firm hands pushed him back into the cushions. “You sir are in no shape to be up and about just yet. You require a few more days here with some strong potions to fix that concussion of yours. We will have you up and about in no time though. Worry not!” He winced at her final words. She was being far too loud.
“Where’s Sarah?” He finally managed to get out. Poppy’s face softened. “She stepped out to give you some privacy love. She hasn’t left your side since the explosion though. Even went so far as to sleep in a chair by your bed. Such a sweet little thing that girl.” Poppy trailed off, now just murmuring to herself. Severus had a warm feeling in his chest when he thought of Sarah sitting by his side. He hummed softly to himself as he felt sleep drag him under.
It took a week before Severus was finally well enough to leave the hospital wing. He had missed the Halloween feast, not that he really enjoyed such frivolity, although he was sorry he had missed the food. Once he had woken, Sarah came to visit him here and there. Sometimes bringing cards to play or wizards chess. She kept a respectful distance though. Severus sometimes wished she would put her hand on his chest again like before, but she never did.
By early November, Severus was back to his regular old stormy self. Back to frightening his students and gliding intimidatingly through the halls during his patrols. Sarah returned to brewing with him on her free evenings. One evening she appeared to be distracted and Severus grabbed her arm before she added her lacewing flies at the wrong time. She gasped and ripped her arm out of his grip. She stared for him for a quick moment before uttering a quick apology. This gave Severus pause. Her eyes betrayed her. He saw fear. Was she afraid of him? She turned quickly and glanced back down at her notes before returning to her potion as if nothing had happened.
Severus started to think. Was she afraid of him? Or the contact? He decided to keep an eye on her. At the great hall during breakfast, Professor Flitwick tapped her on the shoulder eliciting a subtle jerk of surprise from Sarah. Later that day, Severus watched a small first year approach her from behind and tug on her sleeve to get her attention. Sarah spun around, eyes wide with alarm before spotting the first year and smoothing out her face with a warm smile. Severus thought back to other encounters. She seemed jumpy at times. She had mentioned nightmares. He wondered if she really did have trauma from her time as an auror. Or was it something else?
Leading up to Christmas, Severus had decided to spend the holiday at Spinner’s End this year. He rarely spent the holidays away from the school, so the other professors couldn’t begrudge him of that. Flitwick and Trelawney had offered to stay back for Christmas with the students this year. Not necessarily the most responsible pair, but Severus was sure Flitwick would keep the students in line at least. One morning, Severus was sitting by Sarah for breakfast. He casually asked her plans for Christmas. To Severus’ surprise, she lit up. “I’m going to New York to visit some of my old friends from school! We are planning a little reunion. I can’t wait to see them all. It’s been ages since we’ve all been together. I haven’t kept up with most of them. It’ll be so nice to hear everything they’ve been up to!” She rambled on. Severus couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. She was often cheerful and her default facial expression was a smile, but Severus felt that her smiles were often to placate others and not a reflection of her true self. It was nice to see such a genuine smile on her face.
The week continued on, and before they knew it, the holidays had arrived, and they were off. Severus relished the quiet of his home during the holidays. He languished by the fireplace reading muggle novels and sitting in his favorite arm chair. He decided to avoid spending time in his personal potions lab in an effort to have true rest. He slept better than he had in years and by the end of his time at home, he felt more prepared than he ever had before to start a new semester with his little snot nosed idiotic students. Mostly, he was looking forward to seeing Sarah again. He wouldn’t admit it to himself but he missed her.