White Heather for Protection

Another One Bites the Dust

Severus lay on his bed, face pale and face twisted in pain. It was clear he was having trouble breathing. Heather rushed to his side, a diagnostic charm flying from her wand.

A concussion, four broken ribs, a punctured lung, multiple lacerations across his back, a large burn on his thigh and, of course, diffuse nerve damage.

"You," Heather said, turning to the elf, "can you get potions from his storeroom? Two Blood Replenishers, a Nerve Tonic, one Lung Regrowth, one Essence of Dittany and two Level 5 Pain Potions. You know what they are?"

The elf nodded rapidly. "Yes, Wimbly knows!" With a snap of his fingers, the requested potions appeared on the night stand.

"Thanks," she said curtly, "Can you help get him undressed?" Heather quickly spelled one of the pain potions into his stomach, together with a spell that would speed up enteric absorption.

"Heather?" Severus groaned softly, eyes fluttering open.

"Shh, it's okay, Severus," she soothed as her wand twirled. His ribs began knitting together without fuss, owing to the thankfully clean breaks. "You're okay. You're at Hogwarts now, your quarters. You're safe."

"What-"

"Save your energy, we can talk later," she cut him off. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she continued administering the potions he needed. She cursed herself for using so much magic earlier today. Her arms were beginning to protest at the strain.

When she noticed the growing red patch underneath Severus, she swore. "Wimbly, we need to turn him over, he's soaking through the bedding." He'd lost a lot of blood while she was attending his other injuries, and who knew how much he'd lost before even reaching the castle?

It was a simple matter for Wimbly to levitate and turn Severus over, exposing his wounds while keeping him steady. Heather hurriedly smeared as much Essence of Dittany as she could into the open gashes, biting her lip as they healed far too slowly.

"We need more Blood Replenisher," she stated. Immediately, three phials appeared. She administered two in quick succession.

"Wimbly, you can help to spread the Dittany over his other wounds." Before she'd even finished her sentence, the elf had the phial in his hands.

With a tired sigh, she turned attention back to the concussion. It wasn't too serious, but head injuries were notoriously finicky. There wasn't a spell to heal a concussion, but there was one to speed the natural healing along. It was just a very delicate spell, requiring fine control that she was worried she didn't have at the moment. She wanted to scream in frustration, knowing that if she were in normal condition, she wouldn't be having this problem. With great reluctance, she refrained from casting it. She couldn't risk worsening Severus' current injuries. Instead, she deftly wrapped up his injuries with clean bandages.

Wimbly set Severus back down on the bed, having replaced the bedsheets with fresh ones. Heather sent him a grateful look. "Thank you Wimbly, you've been a great help."

Surprisingly, the elf only smiled bashfully in reply. "No needs to be thanking Wimbly. Only right that Wimbly takes care of his Master. Will Miss Heather be needing more?"

Heather shook her head, gaze drifting back to Severus.

"Of course, please take care, Miss Heather!" Then the elf disappeared with a pop, leaving behind a tea set and various snacks.

A smile twitched at her lips, seeing the evidence of the elf's motherhenning. Nevertheless, after Heather brought a chair over to sit next to the bed, she nursed a cup of tea, watching Severus' chest rise and fall in time with his breathing. Her arms were cramping, her magic was drained and her mind was woolly with exhaustion.