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He had spent many years cultivating his persona as the most feared Professor at Hogwarts. He had spent as much time as he could away from other people. It had been fantastic, no roots to tie himself to the old castle when he chose to leave.
Of course, Potter had put paid to that idea. Harry had painted him as a hero, a tragic hero who loved beyond all else. It was sickening. That wasn’t who he was. And then they had the audacity to find him alive. Worryingly though, it wasn’t the fact he was found alive that bothered him. It was the fact that he had been found in his stupid Animagus form. Trapped in it to be exact. He had managed to go twenty-three years with only one person knowing his Animagus form and then the Gryffindor Princess had found him and instantly worked it out.
He had been trembling at the time, in spite of the fact it was May and fairly warm for the time of year, and she had decided to warm him up in a way that, he felt, was most unsanitary. She had slipped him down her top and into her bra, giving him some of her body heat. She then pulled a knitted monstrosity, he assumed it was from Molly Weasley, from a very small bag, slipped it over her head and walked with him up to the castle, fully hidden from view. They walked directly to the Headmaster’s office, his office he supposed, though he had no intention of ever setting foot in it again.
“Minerva, are you available?” Miss Granger’s voice was soft and husky, and he supposed that she might have matured slightly on her time on the run. He popped his head out of her bra, aware that he had been nuzzling her in a way that was most unseemly. He watched her Patronus, some sort of Aquatic mammal, swim lazily out of the room and realised that the castle still recognised him and allowed her into his rooms. He heard the staircase moving outside the room and knew that Minerva was on her way. He expected Miss Granger to remove him from her person immediately, but she did not move to grasp him at all.
“Miss Granger, what can I do for you? We are dealing with the near-dead first and you seem to be absolutely fine.” The woman’s Scottish brogue sounded weary and Severus felt a pang of guilt go through him. He forgot how much older she was, how much more she had seen.
“It’s not me I’m worried about Minerva. Before we go any further though…what are your thoughts on Professor Snape?” Miss Granger shifted slightly, wrapping an arm around herself in a way that felt like she was protecting him. It warmed his heart almost as much as it pissed him off.
“Severus? Well, if Potter was right about his motivations…and I can’t see why he wouldn’t be, knowing how Lily Evans and Severus were thick as thieves when they were children, then I owe Severus a rather great apology. In the next life, I suppose, if he is willing to hear it then. The man has always known how to hold a grudge.” Minerva stopped, sniffling slightly and he felt Miss Granger nod slightly. He saw two hands entering into her jumper and backed up as far as he could, his nerves getting the better of him, as they always did in this form. Another reason he hated his Animagus form. He heard the whispered platitudes coming from Miss Granger as she finally managed to cup her hands underneath him and pulled him out of her bra and shirt. His legs kicked out and he couldn’t find it in himself to be angry with his own lack of control, even as he saw the blood well up in the scratch on her chest. Finally, he was free of her clothing and being cradled gently in her arms.
“I found him where Professor Snape’s body should have been. Minerva, was Professor Snape an Animagus?” Severus noted that the old woman had not even batted an eyelash when she was referred to by her first name.
“I don’t know lass. Was he? I suppose I knew very little of him, now I look back on it. Now, I think you should head back to the Great Hall. Potter and Weasley are bound to be worrying about you.” Minerva held her hands out to Miss Granger and he was passed from the young hands to the older. Her smell was familiar, warmer and he knew he was not as panicked as he had been. He watched Miss Granger leave and waited. What did Minerva have in store for him?
The matriarch of the school smiled down at him and placed him gently on the rug in front of the fire. He waited, knowing what would come next, and was not disappointed when she shrank and morphed into her Animagus form.
“What have you done to yourself Severus?”
“I appear to have got myself stuck. I have all the Healing Potions and Anti-Venoms I will need at home. I thought I was Apparating to Spinners End but somehow…this happened.” If he could have, he would have folded his arms and huffed. Instead he gave his very best bunny-glare and tried to ignore that Minerva was laughing at him.
“Can you switch yourself back?” Minerva caught the glare from Severus and accepted that the answer was probably no. She frowned, as much as she could in her Animagus form, and immediately changed back into her human form.
“Severus, I want to run a few diagnostic spells on you. If I have permission, move into this circle for me.” She drew a glowing circle on the ground, smiling as he slowly hopped towards it and then moved inside. As he reached the circle he froze, caught by a Petrificus Totalus in the warded circle. Minerva took a breath and cast as many spells as she could as quickly as possible.
“Severus, you are dying. If you change back before your body has fully healed, you will be dead in minutes. You need the potions from Spinner’s End but I have no idea how long you will need to stay in this form for before you are healed. Severus, I hope you haven’t blocked me out of your wards…I hope you didn’t hate me that much. Not that I would blame you if you did.” She picked the tiny Potions Professor up into her arms and concentrated on the place that she had visited three times; once when the boy in her arms was eleven years old, once when Albus had told her that Severus was to be their new Potions Professor and once when he had invited her over in the summer holidays when they had been friends. She spun on the spot and apparated directly from the Headmaster’s Office to the back garden of the cottage at Spinner’s End.
‘Garden’ was a misnomer of course, it was merely a patch of concrete with a single, miserable looking tub which contained dying or dead herbs. He had, thankfully, knocked down the old privy years ago, replacing the second bedroom upstairs with a small bathroom. ‘Cottage’ was also a misnomer, but no one ever discussed that. Minerva lifted the tub of dead plants with a silent levitation charm and plucked the key out from underneath it, smiling at the fact that he still did something so pedestrian, so Muggle. She unlocked the back door that took them straight into the kitchen and placed the still motionless bunny on the table-top, looking around the small and dingy room.
“Accio Severus’s Survival Kit!” Minerva knew him too well, she thought, when a satchel filled with various potions, tinctures and creams flew into her outstretched hand. She opened the satchel and glanced in, a slight laugh passing through her lips as she recognised that this bag had similar charms to another bag she had heard about from Misters Potter and Weasley earlier that day. She moved herself and Severus to the only other room on the lower floor of the house, a living room cum dining room cum library that would have made her chuckle but for its’ lack of home comforts. She placed the satchel and the bunny on the one and only chair, a deep green wingback that she recognised as the matching chair from Severus’s quarters at Hogwarts and quickly transformed herself, casting a Finite Incantatum on the poor hapless bunny as she did so, curling up next to him to try to stop his distress.
“What was that all about Minerva? You…wait, you managed to bring me here and find my kit and…how?” Severus stuttered and became flustered as she rubbed her head against him softly.
“Simple Severus. I know you. I realise I always have. Now, which of these Potions will you need?” Minerva was brusque, all business and he was thrilled that she would not cry over him.
She left him with the Potions he needed, wrapping him up in a jumper that smelled of Molly Weasley and leaving him in the newly warmed living room. He would survive. But right now, he was safer surviving as an Animagus, hidden from the dark forces outside. He had survived. That was all that mattered. She just hoped that at some point he would be able to return to his slightly more natural form…