As It Was *Complete*

3. Stay With Me

"Let's get you girls up to the castle and checked out, shall we?" Mike said, standing up and stretching. "We can apparate up. The wards are down. Take a hold," he said, holding out his arm. Isaac took hold on one side and took hold of Maddi, and Astra took hold of Mike's arm, and they turned on the spot, landing back in the courtyard.

Astra looked around to see the Aurors had cleared the courtyard of rubble and debris, and the bodies of the deceased were being moved one by one... with dignity this time. She was feeling a little bad for her outburst with Thomas. Maybe she was too hard on him?

"Let's get you girls checked -"

"Look out!" A voice called out from their left. Astra just managed to turn to see Neville, who was sitting with Dean and Draco, looking horrified.

It was like slow motion. She looked up to see what the boys were looking at to see a huge piece of boulder falling down from above. She didn't hesitate. She took her wand out and blasted the two men and Maddi out of the way just in time. She again pointed her wand up and tried to blast the boulder to pieces to try to minimise the blow. But she still managed to get hit by a rather large chunk and was knocked out.

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When she woke up, it took her a few minutes to figure out where she was. At first, she thought she was in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts, but she was in a small room hooked up to a machine of sorts. No, she wasn't at Hogwarts. She was in a bed in St. Mungo's.

She sat up, propping herself up in the bed to get a better look of where she was. It was rather dark still as the curtains were drawn, but she could hear hushed whispering in the bay next to her although, as her curtains were drawn, she couldn't see who it was.

"You had a very lucky escape," the voice said. A voice Astra knew quite well.

"Yes, so it would appear, wouldn't it," another voice droned. "And what about you? I thought you were dead."

There was a chuckle, but it was laced with sadness. "So did I at one stage. But it seems that Astra's little vials worked a treat. And not just for me, for many."

There was a cough. "I am...sorry to hear about your wife."

"Thank you." They gave a sigh. "It...." he sniffed. "I will forever regret that I did not take an extra vial from George Weasley. But I had no idea she was going to be there."

Astra sat up further. She knew these two voices. She never knew them to have even one conversation with each other, but here they were... being almost civil. Severus Snape and Remus Lupin. Both having survived and brought back from the brink of death.

"Severus, I wanted to apologise to you. Last year, I assumed that, after Albus' death that you had gone back and joined their side. I am sorry I did not think that there would be a reason -"

"How could you have?" Snape chuckled and then coughed. "I played my part well. I had to make you all believe. It was the only way."

"But you must have been very lonely. You were incredibly brave, and no one even knew."

"I do not much care for fame and glory. Now, I just want to have a peaceful life... maybe even -"

"Reconnect with someone?" Remus said. "That is why I am here."

"She saved my life, you know." Snape said. Astra almost gasped and had to hold her breath.

"So I heard. Don't you think it is time you told her the truth?"

There was a long pause. "I don't know. How do I explain what happened to her? How do I make up for the past fifteen years? I missed out on so much. I left when she was three!"