A Chance of Breath. A Severus Snape Fanfiction (Stopped)

Chapter 1: The Tear-Stained Life Saver

Hermione Granger held her breath as she waited for Ron and Harry to continue towards the beautiful, if now somewhat damaged, castle. As soon as they were out of sight she coughed, the sustained breath catching on the lump in her throat. She quickly turned and sprinted back towards the Whomping Willow, Summoning several Potions as she went.

By the time she arrived back in the same room, Severus Snape was slumped lower than when she had left, not wanting Harry or Ron to know how hard it had been to simply watch everything unfold. She gasped and covered her mouth as she crawled to her Potion Professor's side.

"Please, Please Professor. Please don't give up." She begged, gulping back the tears that threatened to fall. She lifted up his chin, squeezing her eyes shut as she saw the deep bites in his neck, which were still dripping blood onto the already soaked robes and cravat. Hermione pulled off her cardigan and pressed it firmly to the wounds, as she poured the Potions, one by one, into his mouth, massaging the front of his throat to make him swallow them. Pulling out her wand, Hermione removed her cardigan from his neck, and sealed the deep wounds until they were nothing more than thin cuts. And with the shaky mutterings of a few more charms, even they became blue-ish, stretched scars.

She watched in anticipation, waiting for the pain reliever, blood replenisher and venom antidote to take effect. She finally let loose the heat that had been building in her eyes. His breathing had become erratic, sparse, and hoarse. And Hermione hoped above hope that she wasn't to late. She wiped the blood from his face before resting a shaking palm to his cheek. Her whole body began to shake as what now seemed inevitable started to sink in.

"No, No. Please Professor please. Not now. Don't you dare. Please don't leave us. You can't die." She carried on like this for a while, dread and guilt consuming her as she slowly gave up hope. However in her trance she didn't realise the warmth that slowly started to radiate from the Potion Masters chest, upon which she had ended up resting her head, desperately hoping to hear the weak thrum of a heartbeat become stronger, and one more consistently recognisable as a humans. She also failed to recognise the gentle rise and fall of the same chest. Or the blinking, confused eyes begin to open once more.

Severus Snape awoke to a dark room, and gentle crying. Looking down, he winced as pain flicked at his neck. He slowly became aware of a weight upon his chest. Looking down once more, he came face to face with a golden halo of bushy hair. The small figure rising and falling with each sob. Slowly, his hearing started to re calibrate properly and he became aware that the person was also speaking. And the familiar sound of Miss Granger broke through to him, soft, caring, heartbroken? He began to picture what had happened before he could make out what she was saying. He closed his eyes once more as he saw the snake, and those cold slits of eyes. And he felt cold with betrayal. Not that he expected The Dark Lord to ever show him any sort of mercy. That had became clear since the moment he killed Lily. For all he asked, for all he begged him to spare her. He still took her life. And with it his only reason to... Lily. He suddenly realised that he had not thought about the redhead for weeks, months even. He quickly snapped back to reality, glancing swiftly down at the Gryffindor that was resting across him, still crying, and still softly speaking to him.

"I'm so sorry Professor. I am so sorry. I tried. I tried, I need to... I'm so sorry. You deserve so much more than this. Than what we have given you. How we have treated you. You are a good man. You are such a good man. I am so sorry. I should have been quicker. I should have..." She stopped speaking as her body started to shake uncontrollably. This continued for a few minutes before she resumed her speech. "I know you, you, probably feel like you were hated by us all. But please. P...Professor. I need you to know that, that I care. Every time, I... Every time I was alone in the forests. Whilst we were hiding. I... I thought about, about all of my friends. I worried about them. But you, you, the most Professor. Because Dumbledore told me. T... Told me the truth. The, the, truth Harry by now probably knows. I knew you were in danger. And Hogwarts, wouldn't be the same without you Professor. It wouldn't... I am so sorry I haven't done enough. I tried. I tried so hard. I haven't done enough. I..." She gave up with what she was attempting to say and Severus closed his eyes as he let her words wash over him. He held his breath as tears rolled down his cheeks at the sound of Miss Granger's broken attempt to apologize. To apologize to someone who she believed to be dead. Severus took a deep breath as his vision clouded from lack of oxygen. And he suddenly realised Miss Granger had frozen, his intake of breath breaking her trance. He slowly found strength in his arms, which he tentatively wrapped around the small witch. And felt fear spike through his heart, fear worse than that he had felt just over two hours ago, as he faced the most formidable wizard in history, fear that she would hate him. And then fear as to why he would be scared of such a thing. He pulled the Witch towards him and tears fell into her hair.

"You... You have done enough." He croaked, wincing at how dry his voice sounded.. Slowly, Miss Granger lifted her head, and red eyes met his own. She gasped suddenly, which caused her to choke, as she saw the tears fresh on the Potion Masters face. Slowly, her whole body began to shake as she realised what she had achieved. She rested her forehead against his and he pulled her on top of him, holding her closely as she cried. After a short while she nuzzled into the opposite side of his injured neck. And Severus smiled sadly at this. Even at the height of misery her mind still subconsciously protected others from unnecessary pain. He laid there, holding her for what seemed an age. Yet content the whole time. Never had anyone shown him this much care. Not even... Not even Lilly. Not even when he was being near tortured by her peers did she truly do anything to stop them. Yet here was his student, a girl he had watched grow up from a child to an independent young woman, curled against him, crying into his shoulder, having saved his life. She... Saved his life. Severus looked down at the Witch once more as she began to fidget in his arms. She suddenly looked up, staring into his eyes briefly, her own flickering erratically over the whole of him, and he noticed that they weren't even in focus. Her hands quickly, yet softly, felt over the scars on his neck, to his chest, and to his wrist, checking his pulse, yet not truly taking in any of the information habit was telling her to read. Severus quickly took her face in his, forcing her to look at him, yet her eyes darted about wildly, tears still winding over her flushed face and onto her T-Shirt. 

"Miss Granger... Miss Granger calm down." Severus attempted feebly. "Miss Granger it's okay... Miss... Hermione!" He said, raising his voice, causing pain to once again lick the sides of his throat. At this her eyes locked on his. Red, tired, and terrified. "It's okay. I'm okay. You did it. I'm okay." He took her hand in his and rested it against his cheek. "Feel. I'm warm. Because of you. I'm alive. You did it." She swallowed and began to draw quick, short breaths, on the edge of hyper-ventilating. 

"I... I, Professor. You're...?" She asked quietly, her voice sounding just as strained as his own. 

"Yes. Alive. I'm alive. Because of you." He assured her, his voice for once soft. He watched as her breathing slowly returned to normal, and she smiled at him. Looking just as broken as he felt. To his surprise the Witch leaned forward and planted a soft kiss to his neck, just above the wound. And then another on his cheek, before resting her head back against his chest once more.

She closed her eyes and Severus felt himself also losing energy, and it wasn't long until the two had fallen asleep against the cold floor. The Potions Master subconsciously wrapping his thick, woollen, blood stained cloak around the Witches small form. Feeling finally at peace, for the first time in almost 20 years.