Memory Lane

Chapter 12

While Blaise is in the fic with Granger, Confunded, I'm openly on edge. Snape has to tell me three times to calm down with increasing irritation, but it feels like this is taking forever.

Snape sent them to the same generic kitchen she was in with me. Blaise also took in the Calming Draughts and I told him to make sure one was available to her before he got started. I told him what I did and how to mimic it, and finally they both told me to shut the bloody hell up.

I'm pacing the little cubicle and obviously annoying Severus, who is standing against the wall with his arms folded. This space isn't large and it seems like his extensive robes take up half the room. He clearly feels the same about me, since I'm only able to walk three steps before having to turn around.

"Did it take this long with me?" I ask impatiently.

Snape considers. "Probably," he drawls, which doesn't help me at all. I don't know why I asked.

Finally, he seems to notice some sort of signal I don't and moves over to the pad on the wall. He pokes at it twice and Blaise reappears in the chair in front of us. I don't have time to figure out how that works. I don't really care.

"Well?" I prompt, forgetting what a head trip the Confunded fic was for me and not giving Blaise much of a chance to acclimate back to normal people speaking to him properly.

He looks up, shaking his head as if to clear it. "That was fucked up." He puts a hand over his eyes for a minute to rub his temples and I want to shake him.

"Yes, we all agree it's fucked up. How was she?"

"Well, she's sort of what I meant," he starts, and Snape physically moves a hand at me to stop me from interrupting.

"Start at the beginning," Severus says firmly, gesturing at me to stay out of it. I feel like his student again and it infuriates me.

Blaise heaves a gusty sigh. "She was just standing there in the kitchen, looking straight ahead. But when I moved in front of her, she didn't seem to register that I was there. I waved a hand up and down in front of her eyes and she finally noticed the movement, I think. She'd respond to basic communication, like you said."

He nods to me and I'm vaguely reassured so far.

"So I set down the Calming Draught," another nod in my direction, "and good thing I did, because when I did touch her, she freaked again. She backed up until she hit the wall and started crying."

Snape's eyes narrow sharply and my stomach sinks. "How'd you get her out of it?"

Blaise looks at me. "I backed up too, as far as I could get, but the kitchen was small. I pointed to the vial on the counter and said, 'Take that, it'll help.'"

I wince. I don't know if I would have said that. It still implies that it came from him, but then again, she had seemed programmed to follow instructions. Maybe it was clever.

"Did it work?"

"Actually, yeah. She took it, anyway. And she did get calmer. After a few minutes she looked at me -"

"On her own?" I interrupt and Snape shoots me a nasty look.

But Blaise nods. "Yeah, she looked at me. All of her movements were slow, like she was underwater, even when she was afraid. But she looked at me on her own and finally said, 'You didn't hurt me, did you?'"

Now Snape starts to talk and I shush him instead.

"Do you think she was remembering the bookshop?" For some reason, I feel funny about this. This should be a good thing, right? But somehow I liked that she only recalled me, me not being the one to hurt her. Never hurting her.