-a fine line- part two/ sequal

Chapter 1-New journey

First chapter! Enjoy.

Y/N had sat in the hospital wing for months. Day by day went by and never had she willingly left his side. Severus was brought in, barely conscious, and Madame Pomfrey (who was slowly going to Poppy) had helped him immediately. Y/N didn't think much about their secret relationship and had played her cards open. Everyone knew by now. Severus was in the hospital bed when Dumbledore and Minerva arrived. They had given her a strange look which was something like: why-are-you-still-here? She had just kept quiet and held his hand while Dumbledore and Minerva looked at him with worry. 

Dumbledore had responded quite calmly when he heard about her relationship with him. Minerva was concerned that Y/N would break his heart although she didn't say it aloud. They had both warned her about his troublesome past and his stubborn personality. Y/N nodded and promised not to hurt him. The order couldn't do much when they found out about it because technically she wasn't a student anymore. She graduated with average grades. The wound had been covered with a white bandage and his forehead was wrapped in the same material. Poppy said he had hit his head fairly hard against the wall of the Shrieking Shack that night. It was still too soon to say when he would wake up because he was currently in a coma. Hermione, Ron and Harry had visited as well. 

They didn't want her to stay at his side so much but Ron had shooed them off saying it was important for her. Harry still had his suspicions and refused to lower his grudges on his former professor who he hated. He had said that Severus was only with her because she was just....there. She was available, naive and easy. That's when Hermione had smacked him against the head and said how stupid he was acting because Y/N was their best friend and they should support her descision. She hadn't seen Harry much after that, only Ron and Hermione occasionally. But it wasn't important enough to think about now.

Until this day, Y/N had held his hand most of the night. She always made sure there were no locks of hair falling in his face and even read to him every now and then. It felt crazy at first, talking with someone who didn't respond back. Severus didn't look like himself either. He couldn't eat so was attached to muggle tubes because they said it would help better in this situation. Still, he had lost a couple of pounds that he couldn't afford losing so he was on the dangerously thin side. If he wouldn't wake up soon, he would only get thinner and weaker. That's what Poppy was mostly scared about. 

He would be too weak to have the strength to wake up. The wound Nagini created was going fairly well and the brain damage wasn't going to be much worse than a bit of memory loss, they hoped. They needed him though. He couldn't afford sleeping much longer and losing more weight. Y/N had watched every day and saw how he lost his strength slowly. The part that hurt most was that she couldn't do anything about it. She just sat there, watching Severus lay there in pain.

One Tuesday evening was something remarkable. Y/N was reading her favorite book aloud for them while sitting on the sofa. Severus was moved to a private room in the infirmary with a sofa and much more comfortable stuff after a few weeks. Poppy had discovered that he wasn't going to wake up anytime soon so wanted to give him more privacy. The bed was larger as well. She chuckled when she thought back at the nights she secretly crawled in next to him.

It was that evening when the first sign of life was shown. Y/N had just flipped a page and cleared her throat to read more but Severus groaned. It was a troublesome grunt which must've cost a lot of energy. She closed her book shut and stared at the now again lifeless body.

The next time he had shown he was alive was the twitching of his muscles in his fingers. They sometimes clenched around her hand as if he wanted to pull her closer. Poppy had informed it was progress and was happy to hear these things were starting to happen just as she predicted. Y/N had been so relieved to hear he was making progress that she couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

Six weeks after the first movement, he opened his eyes. She was again sitting on the sofa with her feet tucked away underneath her.

"In my heart of hearts," She read from Hamlet. The hand she held was being squeezed and Y/N looked up to see eyes fluttering open. It was barely halfway opened, but the muscles were moving.

"Severus?" She asked curiously. She made sure not to talk too loud or make sudden movements because one could never know a person's thoughts right after waking from a 8 month coma. Another groan escaped through his chapped lips. Y/N stood up to search for Poppy who was busy making the beds.

"He opened his eyes." Poppy's eyes widened with excitement and they both rushed in the small room to see Severus now with his eyes fully opened.

"Oh, dear." She gasped. Severus was trying to say something but it came out as a painful sound.

"No, no. Severus, don't you dare speak. You just woke up and your throat needs to heal. Don't exhaust yourself." Y/N snickered softly. Severus nodded and his eyes fell on Y/N. He gave her a strange look as if he wanted to ask why she was here. Poppy gave him some water to soothe the burn in his throat. Then she casted some diagnostic spells to see where his condition was. She nodded in approval.

"Right. I'll leave you two to it then." She winked and closed the door behind her, leaving Y/N and Severus standing.

"So er-." After all those months....all those scenarios she made in her head, all those thousands of letters where she prepared what to say in this very moment, but her mind was empty. What now? She shifted the weight from one foot to another and nervously glanced around the room. This was ridiciously, after all what happened. Y/N ran a hand through her hair and sat down.

"I've missed you." Severus only blinked once as if she was insane. There was a stretched moment of silence and she fought the urge to run out of the room. Poppy had said earlier to not overwhelm him with all the information of the war and to just begin with a normal conversation. Y/N stretched out her hand to grab his but he yerked it away with frightened eyes.

"Don't," He managed to croak out. She held her hands in the air in surrender.

"All right. I won't touch you. Do you....still remember who I am?" This wasn't originally what she was going to say but there was something wrong. His eyes darted across the room and she saw he was scared to be alone with her.

"Should I?" He sneered. Y/N wanted to laugh at the fact he was already snarky the moment after waking up from a bloody 8 month coma, but didn't.

"Yes." Silence. "I'm going to speak to Poppy real fast." Severus nodded with suspicion and followed her body that was moving towards the door.

"Something's wrong. He doesn't recognize me."