Chapter 26

Hermione had readied herself to leave St Mungo's to explain to the Headmaster that a lion would now have to live in the castle, when she heard Harry's cries coming from the ward as she passed by. She arrived at Vic's room in time to see the Healer pull the sheet over his face. Harry turned with tears in his eyes then raced into her waiting arms. His heavy weight dragged her to the floor and she cradled his head against her chest.

The Healers looked on with sad faces that soon turned to horror as Vincent walked into the room.

"He's safe!" She exclaimed when one of them pulled out their wand. Harry sobbed loudly and she hushed him with a gentle stroke to his head.

"Mistress he's in pain!"

Hermione glanced back at him. "I know," she squeezed Harry tighter.

"No! Man is in pain!" He grumbled loudly and raced over to the bed. "I can feel the pain! He's crying out!"

"Stop! He's dead!" Hermione scowled at the lion. "Harry is grieving, stop talking—wait...crying out?"

Harry turned away from her chest to stare at the lion. "What's going on?" He asked with a whimper.

"He's my familiar, Harry, only I can understand him," she offered him a small smile to ease the stricken look on his face, but it did nothing to stop his pain.

Hermione got to her feet and walked over to Vic's bedside. Her eyes watered at the sight of his covered body, but she chanted a specific mantra to keep herself from breaking.

"Crying out how?" She whispered in her mind.

"Put your hand on his chest," he said. "I can sense the dark magic."

Hermione bit her bottom lip then placed her shaking hand over Vic's covered chest.

"What now?"

"Don't you feel it?"

"No."

Vincent started to pace around the room under the worried eyes of the Healers. Hermione stared at the covered body on the bed until Harry appeared by her side.

"He's dead...right?" He wiped the tears from his cheeks.

Hermione nodded her head. He's dead...it's not like he's in some form of stasis…

Her eyes widened and she frantically moved to put her hands on his chest. She shushed Harry's concerned words and closed her eyes to focus.

His chest is warm — why is it warm?

"Vincent! Is it a stasis spell?"

He turned his head suddenly then bounced over to her with a quick nod. "My friend back in the Texas state had a master who talked about this dark curse a lot. It puts the person into stasis and mimics death. Since the curse is dark it's rarely used, but the victims of it are usually pronounced dead more often than not, meaning they are buried alive and left to rot."

Hermione threw back the sheet and Harry latched on to her arm to stop her. "He's alive, Harry!"

"What do you mean?" One of the Healers asked.

"He's been hit with a stasis curse!" She exclaimed. "How do we fix it, Vincent?"

A Healer came over and waved about his wand. Hermione guided Harry over to a nearby chair and dropped to her knees in front of him.

"We're going to save him, Harry," she brushed his hair from his face. "I promise."

Harry wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face against her shoulder. "Thank-you."

"—your scans aren't going to work on helping him!"

Hermione got to her feet and glanced over at Vincent. He stood by Vic's bedside glaring at the Healers. "They can't hear you, Vincent."

"Oh, right...I forget sometimes."

"What is he trying to tell us?" The male Healer asked.

"Tell him that it can only be broken by a specific potion. I remember the ingredients but not the name of the concoction."

"He needs a potion," Hermione explained. "He knows the ingredients but not the name."

"How do you know he's telling the truth?" The blonde haired Healer stepped away from Vincent.

"He's my familiar," she said. "One of his goals is to ease my stress and help those I care about."

"Your familiar?" Harry said. "Since when?"

"Since less than an hour ago," she offered him a weak smile. "I don't think I've come to terms with it yet, but it'll have to wait. I'll brew the potion."

"We have the facilities here," one of the Healers said.

"What are the ingredients?" She asked Vincent.

"Rock salt, unicorn tail, amethyst dust, Himalayan ghost butterfly wings...a drop of his blood, a drop of the brewers blood, unicorn bile and...well...a human sacrifice."

"A what?!" She screeched. "Are you kidding me? You should've told me that first before you gave us false hope!"

"What's wrong?" Harry got up from the chair with fresh tears forming in his eyes.

"He...the potion needs a human sacrifice...it's a bloody dark magic ritual…"

"Oh," Harry frowned. "Oh…" he sat back down and buried his face in his hands.

"I'm guessing you don't have the facilities here that deal with this type of potion."

"We have to find Lucius now!" Harry snapped.

"We can't do that," Hermione said much to Harry's dismay.

"Are you seriously defending that bastard?"

"Of course not!" She pushed her hair away from her face. "But if you want to be the one to explain to Vic that he digested another human being, then by all means, have at it!"

"B-But...who then?"

"Nobody," she whispered. "Everything you've heard here will not leave this room."

Hermione pulled out her wand.

"You want us to make a vow?" The younger woman asked.

"Yes," she approached them. "I've talked about a very dark ritual, and I don't want the media getting hold of it. They'll either say I'm in league with the Malfoys or forcefully sacrifice someone and give it to Vic because he's Harry's lover."

"I'll be the sacrifice!" Harry yelled.

"Don't be so stupid!" She yelled back. "So I have to tell him that he's consumed the man he loves?!"

"Loves?"

"Yes, and you love him too, am I correct?"

Harry nodded.

"I know you wish to do everything within your power to save him, but sacrificing yourself isn't one of them," Hermione sighed. "Just leave it to me and I'll think of something."

They went about making an unbreakable vow, then it was decided that Vic would be moved to Grimmauld Place to recover. The younger Healer, Britt, was assigned to watch over them and it would be noted on the patient record that he recovered quickly and went home. Harry was still pale and squeamish but Britt promised to keep a close eye on him.

Hermione managed to return to Hogwarts only to be scolded by Flitwick for being away for too long. She'd hid Vincent to begin with so he didn't startle the small man, but his sour mood lightened when he saw the large beast. She was told that he'd have to stay in her room, which meant he would be staying in Professor Snape's quarters with her.

Later on, Hermione found herself staring at Vincent's sleeping form through confused eyes. I have a familiar...how? She rubbed her tired eyes. Why does everything seem to happen all at once?

There was too many big things happening in her life. Is Professor Snape going to make it? How on earth does she have a familiar? Will she find another way to save Vic?

So many problems with very little answers.

Even though she knew that the only way to discover what curses had been used on Snape was to hunt down Lucius, Hermione could only think about easing Harry's pain and helping Vic. There has to be another way to save him.

That thought led Hermione through a sleepless night. She browsed the many books that lined Professor Snape's walls, making sure to check each one for any protection charms. She wasn't going to find an answer in the library, and she doubted that the restricted section would be of any help. Snape has a complex collection of books about curses; I can only hope that his previous affiliation with the Malfoys may have influenced his purchasing habits.

Vincent awoke as the sun began to rise and he greeted Hermione with impossibly bright, black eyes. "Good morning, Mistress."

Oh...now I understand why Severus hates being called Master so much. It doesn't make her feel warmth knowing that a creature has devoted its life to serving her. "Good morning."

"You must rest!" He nudged her thigh with his head. "Hurry and lay down."

"I'm fine," she yawned. "I have to find a solution to save Vic."

"There is no other way," he said. "It's a mere coincidence that I used to be around the man who created such a curse, and I can assure you that I know every detail about it."

"Then how are we supposed to find a human sacrifice?!" Her tiredness was replaced with anger. "Why does everything have to be so dramatic? Why couldn't the cure be simple enough for somebody to brew without killing someone and draining their own magic performing the ritual? None of this is fair! None of it!"

"Calm down, Mistress," he said. "We'll figure out a way to save him."

"It's not just that!" She snapped with tears in her eyes. "Severus is still unconscious and nobody expects him to wake up any time soon! Why can't my life be simple? I wish I could've fallen in love with him under different circumstances...but I'm not sure whether that would've happened."

"This Severus, is he Penny's master?"

"Yes," Hermione wiped away her tears. "Apparently I'm his intended soul, whatever that's supposed to mean."

"I'm sure Penny is doing all she can to help heal him."

"Forgive me for being rude, but it isn't good enough," Hermione took in a staggered breath and leant against the wall. "I have to figure out how to save Vic first."

Vincent paced around in circles. She watched on with disinterest, still unsure how she felt about having a familiar — he's a bloody lion. I'm never going to be able to take him anywhere.

"A human sacrifice is the essential part to the ritual," he said. "There's no way around it."

"Well, we have to find one," she pushed herself away from the wall with a sigh. "You cannot force somebody to eat another human without their consent."

"But it will save his life, Mistress!"

"But it's morally wrong!"

The pair stared at one another for a few moments until a knock sounded on the door. Hermione opened it up to find Flitwick and McGonagall standing there with concerned faces.

"We must talk about…" Flitwick trailed off and stared at Vincent.

"Come in," she opened the door all the way and led them over to the sofa.

Hermione knew that she'd have to argue for Vincent's cause ferociously. Flitwick would be easy to persuade whereas McGonagall liked to stick her nose into business not related to her.

She didn't offer them any pleasantries or refreshments, and she found herself channeling her inner Snape by brooding in front of the fireplace.

Flitwick cleared his throat. "I feel we must lay some ground rules in regards to your familiar," he said. "He'll have to stay out of sight from the other students—"

"Perhaps you could send him somewhere else?" McGonagall said.

"Not a chance," Hermione stared at the flames. "You should think about setting up a department for familiars. I'm sure there are more creatures out searching for their Master or Mistress. Each one needs to be registered as official — how about you actually do something useful as Minister of Magic."

McGonagall frowned. "I thought we'd cleared this bad blood between us?"

"You annoy me," she retorted. "Just keep your nose away from my personal business."

"We used to be so close? What went wrong?"

Hermione smirked to herself then took a seat in the nearby armchair. "You've always irritated me, but it took me to witness your mistreatment towards Professor Snape to lose all respect for you," she saw the awkwardness on Flitwick's face. "Anyway, this isn't about our troubles but about Vincent."

Vincent perked up at the mention of his name and started to pant like a dog. Hermione placed her hand on his black head with a small smile.

"I'll do my best to keep him away, but as you can see he's difficult to hide. We'll no longer be a problem when it's time for me to graduate."

"Don't rush your plans too soon," Flitwick eyed Vincent with a smile. "You're always welcome here."

"Thank-you," Hermione sighed. "Is that all?"

"We just wanted to see how you are coping with things," McGonagall got to her feet. "However, you seem to have everything under control. I'll be stopping by to check on Severus tomorrow."

"You don't have to run it by me," she muttered. "I'm not his carer."

"I know."

McGonagall left with a solemn look on her face, and Flitwick soon left after petting Vincent. Hermione took in a few deep breaths then relaxed on the sofa.

The early hours of the morning soon turned into a cold afternoon, and Hermione stayed on the sofa staring blankly at the fireplace. Her thoughts drifted from thinking of a new cure for Vic, to the man she loved laying alone in a dark room. She knew that she couldn't let her negative thoughts control her actions. There was a chance that Vic would survive as well as a chance that Professor Snape would wake up. Yet, without Snape by her side, she felt lost and alone. She'd depended on him so much since Halloween and she was starting to realise how much of a problem it had become.

To recover, she needed to separate herself from him, but she wasn't sure her heart could handle the pain it would inevitably bring.