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As Harry knelt in front of Professor Snape, swirling the memories around the potions vial she had given him, Hermione huffed. Merlin, she would be glad when this was over and she could take a break from thoughtless boys.
Snape opened his mouth to say something, his eyes glassy as he looked at Harry. “You have your mother’s—”
There was no time for this, Hermione realized.
“Move, Harry,” she snapped at him, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. As her best friend scrambled away, Hermione dropped into the spot he had just abandoned, her wand gripped tightly in hand.
She was no Healer, but their time on the run had given her plenty of opportunities to learn and practice spells and she was almost certain she knew the right one that would remove the venom from Snape’s bloodstream.
“Repellere venenum!” she whispered, worried about other Death Eaters who might still be nearby, as she guided her wand through a series of fine movements.
For just a moment, nothing changed, then there was a hissing sound that had her looking over her shoulder, fear surging through her that the snake might have returned. Hermione realized when Harry and Ron gasped, wide eyes staring at Professor Snape, that the hissing sound was coming from him.
Indeed, it looked almost like his blood was boiling as the venom came out and the man moaned in pain, his eyes closing as he passed out.
Merlin, she hadn’t thought about the blood loss. “Bloody hell,” she cursed, reaching into her beaded bag and tumbling things around as she searched for blood replenisher. She had just made a new batch before they left Shell Cottage.
The next challenge once she found it was getting it into him when their former professor was dead to the world. As Hermione closed her eyes and searched her memory for the right spell to magic the potion straight into him, she was interrupted by Ron.
“What are you doing? Let the bastard die!” Ron said.
“He just gave Harry information, and he may have more,” Hermione said. “Besides, he deserves to pay for his crimes.”
“You can’t just—” Ron began.
“Enough,” Harry said, looking shaken. “I need to view these memories. Mione, can you get him to the Hospital Wing?”
“It wouldn’t be safe for him there!” Ron argued, exasperated with them both.
“Fine,” Hermione said. “We’ll leave him here. But not until I’ve made sure he’s stable.”
Ron looked torn as Harry headed out the door.
“Go with him,” she told him, hoping he would listen for once without arguing. She had noticed that, even with her wandwork moving the potion into his stomach, Snape’s lips were turning blue, the rise and fall of his chest had stopped.
Relief swept through her as Ron nodded and ran off.
Wasting no more time, Hermione ignored her own urge to be sick at the thought and moved the man onto the floor so that she could begin compressions on his chest. It was after the second round of offering him her breath that Snape began to cough and gasp for air on his own.
“Miss Granger,” he sputtered after a moment, looking around as she placed her hand on his chest to hold him down. “What have you done!?”
“Kept you alive,” Hermione answered simply. It was the truth.
“Why would you do that?” Professor Snape demanded, fighting against her but still, fortunately, too weak to push his way up.
For some reason, Hermione couldn’t bring herself to answer that question. Yes, there were the reasons she had given the boys, but something told her there was more to her motivations than she was ready to admit. She just shook her head and said, “Stop fighting it, Professor. You need to—”
“I’m not your professor,” he snapped, then fell into a coughing fit.
She rolled her eyes. “Severus Snape, stay down and let me heal you.”
“I was supposed to die,” he snarled.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Hermione snapped back at him. “Now I’m going to put you into a magical sleep so you will rest and I can come back to heal you more after the battle.”
“No,” he protested, but she ignored him, hitting the man with the strongest sleeping spell she could muster. After he settled into sleep, she hit him with two more healing spells and one stasis spell before dragging him hurriedly under one of the boats. It would have to do for a hiding spot until later. She would see to him after the battle. For now, there were other things to do.