"One pain is cured by another. Catch some new infection in your eye and the poison of the old one would die."
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
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CHAPTER 24 - Apples And Acromantulitis
~ S ~
The last time Severus saw Renee was two days ago when she was being tended in the hospital wing, accompanied by the birdbrain Weasley. He had not seen her since and anxious wasn't enough of a word to describe how he was feeling at the moment.
The day after Renee's mishap, Severus didn't expect her to attend her classes as her injury was painfully malignant, and she needed round-the-clock medication in order for her wound to heal. It took him more than five visits to the hospital wing just to ask Poppy how Renee was faring; the Mediwitch has been giving Ms. Moore some healing potions for Renee because he has heard that she preferred to stay in her dormitory rather than the school wards.
By the second day that Renee was absent, Severus was beyond uneasy. It came to a point where the stoic professor waited in the common room just to see if she would go out, causing slight apprehension among the Slytherin students at the sight of their intimidating head of house standing by the doorway. When Ms. Moore came out, he furtively blocked her way, making the girl almost die from a heart attack.
"Is Ms. Capulet not well yet? It has been two days, surely the potions must have taken effect by now." Severus said directly, eyeing the girl in murderous scrutiny.
It took Ms. Moore a moment to recover from fright, but she managed to reply. "Ah-- um, her wound is still wrapped, sir, but she says it's getting smaller-- although the reason why she's absent today is because she's got high fever, sore throat and colds."
The arch in Severus' brow got even higher; why in Merlin's name would she just get sick like that?
"Then obtain the appropriate tonics from Poppy and bring them to her. Do it now." Severus commanded as if Ms. Moore was Renee's maid.
"Y-yes sir," the girl uttered obediently.
Severus walked off and decided to let the day pass. He wasn't sure at first, but every minute he knew that passed-- every minute of Renee not knowing how he truly felt made him miss her, although it took a lot of shortcomings before he was able to realize and admit it.
Get out of there, Renee. I won't bother you. Just get the hell out of there already.
Her beautiful face, her desirable body, her mere presence-- Severus missed them all terribly, and he'll be damned if he'd say that he never wanted to kiss those divine lips again.
A part of Severus felt wretched for aching to be with a bloody student; since when did he become so miserable to go this low? Even just by thinking about it was pitiful.
You are incredibly pathetic, Severus. You have crossed the borderline of sanity and you'll die without succeeding in your endeavors.
But the harsh reality kept slapping him in the face: Severus couldn't do anything now-- he couldn't return to the time when Renee wasn't his lone source of bliss. She was the only one who could make him feel like he has actually got a place in this world and he blew it all off-- not that she felt the same thing.
Seems familiar, don't you think?
•••
~ R ~
Renee didn't know how long she has been lying on her bed; it felt like ages since she last attended a class. In actuality, it had only been three days, yet she had completely lost track of time. Not only was she feeling emotionally drained, but she's been also having this massive fever as well as a throat that felt like it was on fire.
No matter how many duvets and sweaters Renee used to wrap herself up, she still felt uncomfortably cold. She was freezing as if winter hadn't subsided; it was mid-spring and she knew it wasn't normal for her body to behave that way. She wrote a note to Madam Pomfrey through Jamila and Fred asking for some tonics to help relieve her sore throat and fever, but that was the only thing she told her. The truth was that she knew her condition was something else, but she didn't want to stay in the hospital wing-- the tonics and potions would take effect anyway and she'd be fine here.
At the moment though, fine was the last thing on Renee's mind as she had never felt so sick in her life. Her wound wasn't getting any better either and from the state of it, she knew that she must've got some sort of disease from the Acromantula venom.
It was torture for Renee to be left alone in her dormitory with only her thoughts to keep her company. If she wasn't sleeping, she would be crying from pain-- both physical and emotional. She still could not remove Severus from her mind; she badly wanted to see him, hold him, ask him what went wrong, but she also didn't want to see him and talk to him because she knew what to expect and it wasn't pleasant.
I love you, Severus. I'll always love you, even if you'll never love me...
It was only yesterday when Renee had a dream about Severus; she dreamt that his hands were chained and he was screaming out loud. She was trying to move towards him but she couldn't because she was in her Siren form and they were on land, and she discovered that her body was chained as well. She woke up crying silently, trying to breathe out the intensity of the nightmare and held her forehead, only to find out that she was still burning with fever.
Renee couldn't sleep anymore after that, mostly because she kept thinking about Severus as well as Clarice and the things she said. Renee was too sick to riddle out the rest of the things she told her and the only thing that kept bothering her was the fact that Barty Crouch Jr. was in Hogwart-- according to her, at least.
After an excruciating headache overpowered her better senses, Renee couldn't think straight anymore since all she could focus on was trying to get herself warm so with difficulty, she drank the sleeping draught from the hospital wing and knocked her sick self out.
•••
~ S ~
Four days of Renee not gracing the castle with her presence was too much for Severus to handle, so he finally decided to pay her a visit in her dormitory later while the Send-Off Feast for the Easter break of the Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students is ongoing. There was definitely something wrong with her-- four days was too much for a supposedly simple sickness.
All students were given a free period before the feast and the teaching staff had a scheduled meeting, so all the professors were mucking about in the faculty lounge, discussing school activities and things to accomplish while the students are on their week-long break. Most of the blasted children preferred to stay, complaining that they've got piles of assignments to finish, but the staff really needed to get the school in order so they encouraged everyone to go home for the break.
Severus couldn't be more impatient and wanted to go and see Renee already, but he knew he had to wait until everyone was in the Great Hall lest someone gets suspicious of why a bloody, creepy male professor goes to a girls' dormitory.
"Severus, are you aware that Ms. Capulet has not been attending classes for..." Pomona approached him and started to browse through her record.
No, I'm not fucking aware. I've only been bombarding the hospital wing for days just to make sure she has received her tonics. "Four days. Yes, I have been informed that she is sick. Do provide me with a list of the school works she has missed; she will be taking them as soon as she recovers."
"I'll be needing her excuse letter, then," the Herbology professor said before walking off to chat with Minerva.
"I'll be needing them as well," Moody interrupted. "It's rather alarming for her to absent herself like this, isn't it... Severus?"
Severus looked at him skeptically. "Funnily enough, it has never occurred to me that you were ever concerned of such matters... Mad-Eye."
"She's my student too, Snape. Surely that accounts for something. You aren't still suspicious of me, are you? And to think I'm the one who's an ex-Auror and not the Death Eater," he whispered tauntingly.
"You speak as if the organization still exists."
"Well, I wouldn't know, would I? Let's not forget the spots, Snape. The spots that won't ever come off..."
Severus glared at Moody, who has been getting on the most sensitive part of his nerves since the start of the term. There was something about the man that bothered him more than it should and it irked him that he still did not know what it was.
"You'll have her letter by tomorrow," Severus said decisively before abandoning the Defense professor.
"Where are you off to now, Severus?" Albus asked, seeing his untimely escape.
"Hospital wing," he merely said, then stomped off the damned lounge.
Passing by the students with an air of contempt for all of them, Severus walked briskly, eager to see Poppy to ask her what on earth was wrong with Renee before going directly to the girl. He was there in no time and just as soon as he opened the door, he almost had a stroke upon seeing Poppy and Argus... snogging.
Poppy's eyes darted towards Severus and the moment she saw him, he slapped Argus hard on the face, making him squeak and peel himself off the mediwitch. Severus was absolutely certain that he looked like a shocked mule with his eyebrows raised to the high ceilings; he didn't know whether to chuckle or do nothing.
It would be assumptive to think that Poppy and Argus were Severus' chums; yet he couldn't ignore the fact that for some unknown reason, one way or another, they would always end up being there when he needed them. Every time Severus was livid, his 'off day' as Argus would call it, the caretaker would always find a way to make him feel better even just by the tiniest of deeds-- bringing him a nice meal, some wine or even rare tomes which he could not figure out how the squib was able to acquire. Nonetheless he was thankful, even though unconventional would be the word to sum up their relationship. Poppy on the other hand, was quite open about raising her concerns when it comes to Severus' welfare; the littlest of headache that he felt meant her automatic fussing about and meddling which he particularly hated, but at the end of the day, it helped him feel better.
Severus was silently grateful that when no one gave a shite about him, the two of them and now Renee, would be there for him. He knew it was none of his fucking business whether the two would choose to shag in an empty alleyway, yet he couldn't help but find the whole thing ridiculous.
"Ow," Argus rubbed his reddened cheek and dismissed himself from them.
"Have I interrupted something?" Severus smirked, leaning on the wall with his hands crossed.
"You-- that wasn't-- oh for the love of Merlin," Poppy said in defeat.
"Don't fret, not a word shall go out." he devilishly vowed.
"It's not what you think!" Poppy insisted with her cheeks blushing, making Severus resist the urge to shove a mirror in front of her. "I swear that was... that was an accident!"
"Yes, I'm sure it was." Severus rolled his eyes. "Now tell me, did Ms. Moore say anything about Ms. Capulet's condition?"
Poppy was obviously relieved to not discuss the incident any further. "Ehrm, well, I just handed Ms. Moore the potions that Ms. Capulet had listed. It has been four days now, am I right?"
Severus remained emotionless and simply exhaled. "As far as I'm aware, yes."
"Well, you know my protocol-- if she isn't out of her dormitory by the seventh day, she'll be admitted here straightaway."
One week was simply too long for Severus; he couldn't imagine the pain Renee must be feeling right now. He left the two old farts to deal with their sexual tension on their own; he needed to check on Renee now. Who knows what's happening to her in there, she might already be dying for all he knew.
Fortunately, the feast had already begun and even though there might be some people who would be arrogant enough to be suspicious of Severus' absence, this was his only opportunity to visit Renee in her dormitory as the rest of the student body were currently too busy engorging themselves with multitudinous stacks of treacle tarts. Heading down to the dungeons, he stealthily walked to the girls' dormitory in utter silence, casting a spell to break the protective enchantments that only he knew of.
The sixth year girls' room were at the far end and the corridors were as dark as Severus' office as well as his classroom. Grateful for his natural night vision, he easily treaded his way there and knocked on her door. No response came, and so he did what he had to do-- he opened the door and let himself in.
All of the four-posters were empty except for the one near the window which, he was certain, was occupied by Renee. She was facing the wall, curled like a ball, covered by the thickest sheets he'd ever seen. Vials of tonics were scattered in her nightstand and books were strewed all over her area, which was highly unusual given the fact that Severus knew all too well of her obsessive-compulsiveness.
Severus went closer and saw that she was entirely wrapped except for her face, which was clearly in agony. He held her cheek and was shocked to feel it burning madly.
"Renee?" Severus called, trying to see if she's awake. All he heard was a weak groan that proved to be rather worrying.
He inspected the bottles and vials of potions-- they were all pretty much for mild diseases and clearly won't take any effect on Renee. No wonder she hasn't been recovering; she has misdiagnosed herself.
Severus bent down to take a better look at Renee's face and tucked the strands of hair that covered it to her ear. "Renee," he whispered.
The girl could barely even lift her eyelids and when she managed to do so, it hurt Severus to see that she had been crying. Renee stared at him for a moment before closing her eyes once again.
Lifting the layers of duvet that covered her, Severus carefully maneuvered his hands under Renee's hoodie and pajama-clad body and carried her frail from with ease, her head resting on his shoulder. "I need to take you to the hospital wing," he tenderly said.
Relieved that he need not to worry about anyone seeing them, Severus impatiently walked all the way to the wards with Renee in his arms, the girl coughing like a troll with pneumonia, clutching her wounded hand. Why she let her condition worsen like this, he truly did not know. Even with multiple layers of clothing, he could still feel her heat and to say that he was concerned was the understatement of the year.
"Oh dear," Poppy said worriedly after seeing the two enter the hospital wing.
Severus gently laid Renee on the nearest bed. "Cast a diagnostic enchantment on her. Quickly." he ordered with haste.
Poppy waved her wand on top of Renee, who seemed to be on the brink of unconsciousness. A glowy, blue, parchment-shaped light filled with texts that only make sense to healers and mediwitches appeared and she read with fright.
"Take a disease-repelling potion, Severus. We shall move Ms. Capulet to a private ward."
•••
~ R ~
For reasons entirely unknown to her, Renee felt more oddly comfortable compared to how she felt the last time she remembered being awake. She was no longer lying on a stiff mattress but a softer, cozier bed with a heavenly pillow beneath her head as well as on her side. Prying her eyes open had proved to be difficult and she still felt terribly sick, but she managed to do so. After making sense of her surroundings, Renee found out that she was in a part of the hospital wing that she was quite familiar of, having apprenticed here only a few weeks ago.
Judging by the milieu and how she felt, Renee figured that she must really be sick for her to be brought to a private ward which wasn't exactly a separate room from the hospital wing, but a curtained area filled with protective enchantments for those with extremely viral diseases. There were still a lot of lingering questions in her aching head such as how did she even get to this place, how long has she been here and what exactly was the state of her condition.
Renee tried to move her head, but doing that simple action was more painful than she thought. She really wanted to know what the hell was going on so she struggled to look to her left, which was empty, and very slowly, she turned her head to her right.
Feeling her heart leap out of her chest painfully, Renee almost burst out crying when she saw that Severus was sitting beside her on a sofa that looked uncomfortable, dozing off.
What... what is he doing here?
If Renee wasn't feeling awful, she would've immediately sat up and tried to wake him up even though the thought of talking to him still wasn't appealing. She was still mad at Severus for hurting her, yet her heart still undeniably yearned for him. There was really no one else.
It was as if fate had sensed Renee's agitation and wanted to agonize her even more because Severus was now waking up. She watched him anxiously as he scratched an eye and sat upright, his jet-black hair a tad bit tousled, making him look adorable to her eyes.
Stop it, Renee! You're mad at him, remember? He hates you, for God's sake!
After straightening his robes, Severus looked at Renee so inexplicably that she felt like fainting from his intense gaze. She immediately avoided the man's eyes because she knew she was about to break down any minute now.
"How are you feeling?" she heard a deep, gentle voice ask.
Perhaps there was still a bit of pride left in Renee after all because she refused to answer Severus and did not even dare to look at his onyx eyes, which caused him to sigh deeply.
"Are you hungry? You must be famished, don't even try to deny that you haven't eaten properly for days." Severus pressed.
And why exactly does this concern you?!
My goodness, Renee. Just talk to him already. He's being nice, see?
Nice?! Nice my arse! In case you've forgotten, he loathes your guts! He must be doing this out of responsibility.
Renee's conflicting emotions prevented her from communicating with the professor and she stubbornly turned and faced the other side like a petulant child.
"Right then. What do you want to eat?" Severus asked.
Glad that he could not see her face anymore, Renee tried to stop her tears from slipping by closing her eyes but was obviously unsuccessful. She felt so distressed; why is he here? Why would he bother to help her? She wished he just left her alone so that she wouldn't get her heart broken over and over again.
"Let me just get you something. I'll be back." he declared.
The wait for Severus' return was one of the most apprehensive moments of Renee's life. She kept on tossing and turning on her bed like a madman, unable to figure out what the hell would she do once he comes back.
Renee's tribulation was short-lived; she could not help but feel grateful as Severus carried a tray filled with delectable and healthy food. "I do hope I did not take too long."
Shaking her head ever so slightly, Renee managed to look at Severus in the eye for a moment, yet she figured that she would only gain an aneurysm from trying to decipher his expressionless face.
Severus bent Renee's bed with his wand in a way that she could sit and eat. He put the tray on the speechless girl's lap and sat on a sofa beside her, his gaze never once leaving her form.
With flushed cheeks, Renee tried to get a hold of an apple when she found out that she was physically unable to do so, she thus dropped the fruit onto the floor.
"So-" Renee whispered hoarsely, struggling to speak through her sore throat. She wouldn't be able to speak to him even of she wanted to after all. "Sorry..."
"It is fine, Renee, do not stress yourself." Severus assured. "It must be the medication; it's numbing your limbs. Here, let me--"
He cleaned the apple and held it in front of Renee's mouth rather awkwardly. She felt beyond embarrassed to eat like an uncivilized human being so she timidly pointed to the Colcannon instead, guessing that it would require less clumsy biting and chewing.
Severus seemed to oblige because he grabbed a spoonful of the Colcannon without complaining and fed her, with Renee feeling like a big baby. For a while they remained silent while she ate, but it was the man who eventually broke the ice.
"You must be wondering about your sickness, or I might be mistaken. Do you know?"
It was painfully humiliating to admit that a potential healer like Renee has never heard of whatever she's got, yet it was the truth, so she shook her head, looking down on the ground and asking the marble floors for some sympathy.
"Acromantulitis. It is a rare, viral disease from Acromantula venom that gradually weakens the immune system. You have acquired it from... the accident that had occured the last time you attended my class."
Once the word 'viral' had registered in Renee's brain, her eyes immediately widened and she struggled to pathetically put the duvet on top of her.
Severus looked on amusedly. "You don't have to... worry about me. I took a disease-repelling potion."
What for? You aren't really going to stay, are you?
And why do I feel so achingly happy at the thought of you staying?
More antsy silence followed after that, and Renee was ever so thankful once she finished eating. Severus gently put her bed back to its original position. She was so tired and distressed that she knew it would not be easy going back to sleep because she knew for a fact that he was just right beside her.
"You ought to take a nap, it'll help you recover." Severus prompted, as if he had just read her mind.
A few minutes had passed and Severus must have seen her clear agitation. "Would you like me to read to you?"
His offer shocked Renee to the bones and she knew it was just not possible to decline that. She looked at him in awe, wondering why has he been so generous to her.
Merlin knows you love his voice, Renee. He could read Arithmancy transmutation tables for hours and you would still listen.
With a deep exhale, Renee nodded. She watched him as he browsed through the tomes on the spare desk. "I'm afraid all I've got is a decent story about pigs. Will that be suitable, or shall we just forget about my offer?"
Gesturing for him to carry on, Renee closed his eyes and absorbed the story; there was no doubt that his divine, velvet chocolate baritone voice soothed and calmed her nerves down.
"Pigs have two reputations. There's the cuddly porker of children's stories and the ferocious boars of the hunting forest. We all love Miss Piggy, of course..."
"Why," she uttered weakly as soon as he finished, struggling to let the words out, afraid for what his answer might be. "Why are you staying?"
Severus put the thin tome down and went closer to Renee and caressed her cheek, making her shiver.
"How else will I show you," he said, "..how I regret my past actions?"
That was when Renee could not resist crying in front of him anymore. She mentally kicked herself for breaking down and looking like a weakling, but she has been hurt so much that it just wasn't possible to not show any signs of pain.
Severus wiped her tears with his thumb. "I know it would be quite difficult to believe that hurting you was not my intention. It never was. I hope you find it in your heart one day to forgive this sorry old sod."
Feigning deep breaths, Renee was too overwrought to respond and did her best to cease her tears and stay still.
"If you want, we may talk tomorrow, but your priority for today is your rest." Severus said. "You will be pleased to know about this... I have been informed that Lupin is going to visit you tomorrow."
At least one good news came by; Renee couldn't wait to hug Remus and tell him all about what's happened to her.
"For now, take your well-needed rest. I will stay here until you get well."
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Firstly, I want to thank each and everyone for supporting this book. It means the world to me and If I can name everyone who's voted for this and added this to their RL, I definitely would. Thank you thank you thank you so so so much♥♥♥ bless you all.
Secondly, I apologize if this was late, that's only because the week after I uploaded CH23 I wrote a oneshot for fanficfriday (you may check it out, but I'm still not satisfied w/ it) and then had our final exams. But that's over now so I'm back and full force. :D
As you may all know, we're almost at the final stages of book 1... not sure if this will reach 'til chapter 28 or 30.. it depends on how much I'll write per chapter, as they're all stored in my brain for now. heehee.. Book 2 will probably be more or less 30 chaps as well, so you're in for a long adventure :D Book 3, however, will be the longest of them all. :D
And OF COURSE, I have a link to Alan Rickman/Severus Snape reading 'Pigs'! It's perfect. Go listen ;) And Congrats to our dear Alan for his Giffoni Award and I hope we all support his new film, 'A Little Chaos' :D
as for my other announcement, I feel that it is a bit early so I'm just going to announce it on the future chaps to come.. :D
Thank you once again and see you in the next chapter! Much love to all of you..