Third Chance

A few days later, something arrived for Severus. 

Dahlia had a delighted look on her face when he opened the package, addressed from St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. 

He tore open the wrapping paper, revealing…

“A brace?”

Dahlia looked nervous but excited. 

“There are charms on it,” she explained. “I charmed it so that it takes some weight off of your leg and supports you so that you can walk.”

“Really.” Severus stared doubtful at the black object. 

“Yup!” Dahlia nodded eagerly. 

Severus looked at the hopeful look on her face and his heart melted. So he shrugged, dragged his leg in front of him, and let her put it on.

Dahlia beamed and bent down. After a few minutes, they had the brace down.

Severus wasn’t too hopeful about it. His hope was all gone. How much would a leg brace even do?

They got into the same position as they did before: Dahlia behind him, and Severus on his wheelchair.

He stood, like last time, on his left leg. 

“If you fall, Severus, I promise I’ll catch you. I’ve got my wand ready.” 

She met his gaze with so much determination that he nodded.

“I trust you,” he mumbled. 

He gripped the sides of his chair, his knuckles turning white, and slowly set his right leg down. 

It hurt, but it was more like an ache, nothing he couldn’t handle. 

He stood there for a good minute, breathing heavily, waiting for the crack to happen. 

And it never did.

Severus hadn’t felt this much joy in a long time. He was smiling, his face lighting up. His body was trembling, from fatigue, but mostly excitement.

He hadn’t been this shocked, not even when, a few days ago, Kingsley knocked on the door and gave him two items. The first was his medal. Order of Merlin, First Class. Severus had cried when he saw it. He still didn't think that he deserved it.

The second object had been his wand. He'd held it up and then carressed it. He felt free. He had his magic back. Magic had been his only refuge against his father's harsh words and fists when he was younger, and now he had it back.

But the feelings those two objects came with didn't even remotely compare to how he was feeling now.

“It worked,” he croaked. “It worked.”

Dahlia squeezed his hands in response, fighting an urge to hug him. 

Severus held his breath and took a few steps. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right. His right leg was too stiff, and it refused to bend, so he looked lopsided. His gait was unbalanced and he was limping really bad. He wasn't really even moving his legs, just dragging his hip along. But he didn’t care. He was walking. 

Severus shouted with excitement, turning unsteadily around to face Dahlia. 

“Thank you,” he rasped, and he meant it. Then he did something that he never thought that he would do: he hugged her.

He wrapped his arms around her, his right arm falling slightly. Both of them drank in the warmth of the hug, although the other didn’t know. 

“Thank you for trying, and for believing,” Severus mumbled.

“Of course.”

Dahlia wanted to say something, but seemed to think better of it. Severus swayed on the spot, still leaning against her.

They experimented with it a little. Severus couldn’t stand or walk for longer than three minutes without crying aloud in agony, and there was still the risk of him falling.

But Severus appreciated the effort.

“How long have you been working on this?” He asked softly.

“Three weeks. Hippo sent over the brace and I researched about the charms I could use.”

“You did it all for me?” Severus frowned, staring at her softly. “Why?”

Because I love you, you bat , Dahlia wanted to scream, to shout, but obviously thought better of it. 

“I care,” she said simply. 

Severus gave her a smile that made her day and pressed his lips gently on her hand as a small kiss to say thank you. 

They had kissed, before Albus’s death. And both of them loved each other, even though they didn’t know it. 

Both of them yearned for more of these tiny little touches of affection.

When Dahlia sent word to the Order that he could walk, Luna Lovegood asked if she could announce it in The Quibbler for support. Severus reluctantly agreed (it was only to get the silly girl away from him) and days later, the only thing Britain could talk about was how Severus Snape, spy and Ex-Death Eater, could walk again. 

So he really shouldn’t have been surprised when Lucius Malfoy showed up at Hogwarts saying that he wanted to talk.

“Severus.” 

He looked as regal as ever, with each hair slicked back immaculately. He looked happier and less stressed too, Severus noted. 

“Lucius.”

Lucius was never someone who could control his face very well. The second he heard Severus’s voice, garbled and destroyed, he flinched and paled. Severus didn’t know whether to laugh at him or snarl.

They were in the living room, with Severus propped up on the couch. He had been feeling weak that day, so he spent the majority of the morning on the couch, reading. Dahlia had been polite enough to leave. 

“I, er, heard that you spent some time in Azkaban.” 

Lucius seemed to be staring everywhere but at Severus’s mauled face.

“You would have heard right,” he answered wearily.

“How are you fending?”

Severus almost laughed.

“Absolutely marvelous. I barely walk, write, and feed myself.”

“Nice, nice,” Lucius said distractedly. He couldn’t understand (or hear) a single word the man was saying.

“Lucius, what do you want?”

“Sorry?”

“What. Do. You. Want?” Severus repeated, starting to get embarrassed.

“Want? Who said I wanted anything?”

Severus gazed wearily at the man, feeling, yet again, too old.

“Fine. I wanted to know if you heard about the new Death Eaters.”

“Sorry?” Severus snapped, alarmed.

“Bella told me something about it, after she escaped Azkaban. She sent me a letter. They’re rounding up old Death Eaters, and they’ve gotten a new leader. They’re trying to bring a new Dark Lord back- not Tom Riddle, but a new one.”

Lucius paused, glanced around the room, and commented, "Nice place. That girl, the matron, is she a pureblood?"

"What do you mean, they've gotten a new leader?"

"Why, exactly what it means," Lucius answered. "Oh, don't worry, Severus, I'm not planning on joining." 

He smoothed his robes once again. Severus glared at him.

"Of course not," the sick wizard said. "Wouldn't want all the money to go away, wasted...again."

Lucius chose to ignore the snarky comment.

"I was merely wondering," Lucius said instead, feeling slightly insulted. "I care about you, Severus." It was amusing how Lucius, basically the richest man in all of Britain (and possibly the world) could quail and get chastised by no one but his wife and Severus Snape. He truly respected the man, really.

"Funnily enough, you probably don't care that much, because if you truly cared, you would've visited me sooner, maybe even in Azkaban."

"Please, Severus," Lucius sighed, "I'd have been deranged to step into that fortress. You didn't have to serve that time there. I'm happy that you really are alive, though. You should have seen the looks on our faces, when we heard the news that our best friend was mauled to death by a giant snake! Nagini must have been truly powerful, to destroy such a strong wizard like you! I wouldn't face her even if all of my money was on the line!"

Severus clutched his heart shakily, breathing heavily. 

“No- please, don't-”

The words sparked too many nightmares and too much pain in his mind. 

He leaned back against the couch, his face uncharacteristically red. Fits of coughing started to overcome him. His throat began to stretch and bleed.

“Merlin, Severus!” Lucius yelped, and then summoned bandages and pressed them against the man’s throat. “I’m sorry, I won’t say anything more about- about- You-Know-What.”

Severus shivered, his breath ragged. 

“Do I have to get- what’s her face? Madam Sky-Sky-?”

Severus was impressed that Lucius even managed to remember half of her name. 

“No, don't bother her. Please.”

Severus Snape was not one to say the word please .

Lucius looked so worried, so much like his younger self, that Severus nearly smiled. The hacking died down and Severus sank back underneath his blankets, convulsing with spasms. 

“Look, Severus, you’ve done so much for Draco and Narcissa and I…if you need anything, please, I’ll handle it for you.” 

Lucius blew out lightly. 

This was the friend that Severus liked so much when they were younger. Lucius Malfoy, the sly yet sometimes kind man, the one that wasn’t the underdog or the torturer. 

“Do you need money? I have money. I’ll buy you potion supplies.”

“Lucius…”

“I’m sorry, alright?” Lucius said. “I’m sorry for not being on your side, for watching you get tortured…I wasn’t a good friend, was it?”

“No, you weren’t,” Severus agreed. And then, “Prove it.”

“Pardon?” Lucius asked.

“Prove to me that you’re sorry.”

Lucius stared at his ailing friend for a moment, sure that he’d lost his marbles. But still, he started talking.

“Do you remember, Severus, when you were in your first year and I was in my seventh? You had loads of potential then, Severus. I had to smuggle you the potion ingredients that you wanted, remember?” 

“I do,” Severus wheezed faintly, his eyes beginning to close. 

“Nearly got caught,” Lucius said mournfully. “You were smarter than all of us in the seventh year when you were eleven, Severus.”

Severus’s lips curled up just the slightest. Lucius began to recount stories of when they were younger, to try and calm Severus down. His way of apologizing was always to buy Severus something terribly expensive, but for once, Lucius spent time. 

Lucius could buy so many things and waste it all away. But he couldn’t buy time. And the only way of Severus knowing that Lucius really cared, that he was truly sorry, was for Lucius to spend time with him. 

“Remember when Cissy accidentally drank one of your potions? It turned her hair a horrible shade of green for about two weeks…”

Severus wheezed out a snicker. Narcissa refused to talk to Severus for months after that. Whenever he goes to the Manor he always checks the drink for Hair-Changing Potion before taking a sip. 

“I really am sorry, Severus.”

When the ailing man fell asleep, Lucius stood and tucked in the blankets for Severus like he did when Severus was a lonely, miserable first year. He remembered on one occasion, after Christmas break, when he and Narcissa arrived back from the holidays to find Severus crying in one of the corridors, clutching a broken wrist. 

Severus claimed that he had fallen, but Severus and Narcissa knew better, because Severus also had a black eye and lashes across his cheek. From his father, no doubt.

After that, the two always made sure to keep an eye out for Severus. 

Lucius had always liked Severus, and Narcissa did, too. He would’ve made Severus godfather for Draco but his father, Abraxas Malfoy, simply refused to have a half-blood become godfather for his perfect, pure-blood grandson. Instead, a batty old cousin was chosen. 

Lucius supposed that they would have to meet again, when Severus wasn't as ill. Lucius had a lot more that he wanted to say, but he renewed a sacred friendship, and in his opinion, it was enough. 

When Severus woke up a few hours later, Lucius was gone, but his blankets were strangely tight, and there was a package on the floor, complete with the Malfoy family crest.

He opened it. A handsome black and silver cane emerged out of the wrappping paper, entricate and beautiful. 

And when Severus tried it out with his leg brace on, he found that the cane helped significantly -it didn't hurt nearly as much to walk.

Severus snorted.

Only Lucius could buy something extremely expensive on a short notice without a second's thought.