Lily Potter watched in horror as suddenly a twister was born and then Severus and Harry collided in mid-air. She saw Harry's broom spiral out of control and screamed as he started to go over backwards. But then a large six-foot cold drake came and snatched him up in his claws before he could fall to his death. She then turned to watch Severus, who had been knocked backwards by the small twister, slamming his head and neck into the willow tree. He seemed to right himself, then slumped over his broom.

"Sev!" she yelled, petrified he too was crashing. And Theo couldn't carry both of them. Desperate, she pulled her wand and cast two charms very swiftly, one after the other. The first was a Featherweight charm. The second was a charm designed to catch and hold objects in midair. "Arresto Momento!"

The spell caught Severus and slowed his descent so that it appeared he was floating in midair.

Lily darted a glance at the young drake, who was spiraling lazily down to the earth, Harry dangling from his claws like a piece of meat. "Theo! Is Harry all right?"

*I don't know. He's not answering me. I think . . . he might be knocked out.* replied Tempest. He wondered how that sudden twister had appeared, then scolded himself for not remembering Harry's stormcaller ability. Apparently, Harry could not only call storms already in existence, but create them as well. Theo would have been amazed if he wasn't so worried about his friend and Healer Severus, who appeared to be badly injured.

He landed on the ground gently, cradling Harry in his forefeet. He sniffed at the boy, his nose telling him Harry was alive, but injured. Theo recalled grabbing Harry and the boy banging into his chest. *Lily, Harry's hurt, he banged his head into my chest.*

Lily didn't know who to worry about more, Harry or Severus. She wished Lucy were there, but Lucy was still asleep. Lily had woken first and gone to check on the boys, upon finding them missing, she had woken Severus to ask where they might be, and he had come out to help her search.

Lily waited until Severus and his broom had floated to the ground before she rushed over and felt for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the lifebeat in his neck, but he was dreadfully pale and there was a large bump on the back of his head. "Oh, Sev! Thank God you're alive! You and Harry both." She felt dreadfully guilty, because she was certain the accident had been caused by her son's talent, for a twister like that didn't just come out of nowhere.

She cast a charm to conjure up a pair of stretchers and carefully levitated them on one each. Then she spoke the charm to make the stretchers and their comatose patients follow her. "Mobili Corpus!"

Theo followed, trying to keep his tail from dragging on the ground. He didn't even want to know what his mother was going to say about this, and he felt terribly guilty that Harry and Healer Snape had gotten hurt, he thought he should have been able to save both of them.

Lily took her two patients to cottage and placed both of them in Severus' master bedroom. She didn't want them separated, making her have to go back and forth between them, and Severus' bed was big enough for three people. She debated on whether to call a Healer from St. Mungos or Poppy Pomfrey, since Lily only knew basic medical charms.

She decided on calling Pomfrey, for she wasn't sure if Severus wanted any of his colleagues to know he'd fallen off a broom, he might be embarrassed. And then there was Harry, and she didn't want any more gossip attached to her son. She conjured her silver doe Patronus and sent it off towards Hogwarts. A Patronus moved at the speed of lightning, and Lily knew it would arrive, deliver her message, and the return almost before she could miss it.

"Theo, can you fetch your mother for me? I'm going to need another pair of hands and a wand over here, because I need to monitor both of them carefully, head wounds are very tricky." Lily asked, not really thinking about how awkward it would be for Theo to tell his own mother about his misbehavior. The instant the thought crossed her mind she started to call Theo back, but the drake was already flying over the caretaker cottage.

Theo arrived and landed gently on the porch, and carefully pushed open the door with his foot, it was never locked during the day. He padded through the house until he reached Lucy's room, then he shoved open the door and sent *Ma, wake up! Lily needs your help! Healer and Sev and Harry are hurt bad, they crashed into each other flying and it's really my fault because I wanted to race Harry . . .*

Lucy woke up as soon as she heard her son's voice in her mind. "Theo? What is tha talking about? Thou art thinking too fast, lad, tell me again." She requested, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Theo repeated his message, hanging his head in shame. It had all started out so innocently, he couldn't believe this had happened.

Lucy was out of bed in a flash, sticking her feet into her slippers and grabbing her wand from the nightstand. "We'll discuss thy behavior later, lad, there's no time for it now. Come on, mayhap tha can help monitor their thoughts, make sure there's no brain damage."

*Brain damage!* Theo wailed silently. Great Merlin, he prayed neither of them had been injured so badly.

Meanwhile, Lily had put medical monitoring spells over both wizards, they would monitor blood pressure, heartbeat, pulse, and temperature. It was all she could think of to do. She was terribly worried that both her son and her best friend could possibly die or be brain damaged. So far the mentoring spells revealed normal results, but they couldn't tell Lily what was going on in their brains.

Just then Harry groaned and twitched in his sleep. Lily hurried over to him and stroked his hair, murmuring, "Shh, baby. I'm here, Harry. You're going to be all right," she choked on a sob. Just moments before, he had been flying without permission on his broom and she had wanted to spank the living daylights out of him, but now she would give anything to see him flying again, instead of lying so still moaning with pain in Snape's bed. She stroked the messy hair back from Harry's forehead and kissed his brow. Tears filled her eyes and she wiped them away. She had to be strong, her little boy needed her.

Then her gaze went to Severus, whom she feared was even more seriously injured than Harry. She stared at his pale face, with the slightly crooked nose, that she regarded as so oddly handsome. Severus wasn't like James, with his movie star good looks, but he had a magnetism and appeal that made women drool over him—of all ages. Lily couldn't explain it, but Severus Snape drew women to him like nectar drew bees. It wasn't that he was devastatingly handsome, but rather that he was sexy . . . in some undefinable way that was uniquely Severus Snape.

She approached, her hand reaching out to brush the silky black hair off of his cheek, and as she did so, she allowed herself to feel something she had denied since coming to Heatherton Cottage—the truth. That she was not only attracted to the man she still considered her best friend, but she loved him. Loved him with everything in her. "Sev, please wake up," she pleaded. "I need you so very much. And . . . I love you, Severus." She bent and kissed him on the lips, a gentle kiss. He remained unresponsive, and Lily gave a self-deprecating chuckle. Really, what had she expected to happen? That he would open his eyes and be healed, like some prince in a fairy tale? Not even in the wizarding world was such magic possible.

She straightened, checking the monitor charm over Severus. His vitals were a bit elevated and she wished Pomfrey would hurry. She was a novice when it came to head wounds, though she knew that both wizards probably had concussions. She turned at the sound of a footstep and saw Lucy.

"Lily, what's happened? Theo told me that Harry and Severus were badly hurt?" asked the pureblood witch.

"Oh, Lucy! Thank Merlin you're here. I need you to monitor Severus while I watch over Harry. I've called Madam Pomfrey to examine them. Hopefully, she can treat them, or else I'll have to call on a Healer from St. Mungos."

Lucy moved over to where Severus lay. "I'd say he has a pretty bad knock on the noggin, aye? She gently peeled up an eyelid and shook her head. "Ah, dilated pupils, not a good sign."

Lily stared. "Where did you learn about head injuries?"

Lucy chuckled. "You forget, my brother was a Quidditch player at school. He was allus getting knocked in the head, if not by a Bludger than a Beater's bat or from falling off his broom. He was in and out of the Hospital Wing with concussions so many times I was sure he was going to end up brainless. Poppy practically kept a bed open for him after each game. She's a good 'un at treating head injuries—Teddy gave her lots of practice."

Lily was relieved to hear that, she had feared she had made a mistake, upon second thought, but now she remembered Poppy's designation of mediwitch did not mean she was a lesser grade of Healer, it was merely what one called a Healer who worked at Hogwarts, it was a rather old term, back when it was not usual to have a female Healer. And with the way kids tended to get injured at Hogwarts, Poppy was as qualified as any Healer working in the emergency ward at the hospital.

Poppy arrived in a small flicker of blue light, she had Apparated directly from outside the gates of Hogwarts. "Lily, dear, I came as quickly as I could," she said, giving a reassuring smile to the distraught witch. "Now then," she said rolling up her sleeves, "Let's see what happened to our poor boys here. You say there was a collision in midair?"

"Yes. Severus and Harry crashed into each other, but I managed to . . . arrest their fall," Lily said, not wanting to mention Theo, for she had a feeling the shifter gift was a closely guarded Nott family secret. "I think they both have concussions."

"Who wouldn't after such an accident?" Poppy said, drawing her wand. "It reminds me of several rowdy Quidditch matches." She pointed her wand at Harry and muttered a complex sounding spell in Latin. "Ah . . . as I thought. Harry has a stage two concussion. That's one that has very little swelling on the brain. When he wakes, I shall test his memory, reflexes, and coordination. He should recover in time, lots of rest, and making sure he doesn't fly a broom or engage in any roughhousing for two weeks. Since he's young he should recover quickly, boys his age bounce back from these things like you wouldn't believe."

Lily couldn't help a sigh of relief. Harry would recover. She wondered though how this accident would affect his stormcaller gift.

"Now, let's see about Severus." Poppy repeated the spell she had cast upon Harry.

But unlike the previous result, Poppy looked very grave. She said nothing for a few minutes, chanting other diagnostic spells.

"Poppy? What's wrong?" Lily asked, fearing the worst. There was an icy cold spot in the pit of her stomach.

"I'm afraid Severus has a more severe concussion than Harry. His is a stage four, there's a lot of swelling and bruising on his brain as well as some bleeding. I'll need to Floo St. Mungos for some potions and then perform some surgery to mend the bleed and bring down some of the swelling."

"No! Will he . . . recover?"

"It's hard to tell at this stage. His vitals are good, but whether or not there is some brain damage remains to be seen. Because of his age, his recovery time will be slower than Harry's, and as his concussion is more severe, he may have more complications than Harry. I won't know until I operate and even then some symptoms could show up later." Poppy said sadly. "I sincerely hope he can recover, Lily. It would be a waste of a brilliant mind as well as fine Mind Healer." Poppy turned away to Floo St. Mungos.

"If anyone can recover from this, Healer Sev can," Lucy said reassuringly, squeezing Lily's hand. "He's a fighter, Lily, and he never gives up."

Lily nodded, a lump in her throat as big as a boulder. She knew Lucy was being optimistic, and prayed that Severus recovered without any significant loss of memory or motor coordination. Because what a terrible tragedy it would be for Severus to wake and not remember who he was or even what he was. A Severus Snape without his brilliant mind and snarky wit was just a shell of the original.

She went over and gently stroked Severus' head. "I love you, Sev. Now please get well. Don't give up, you hear me? Don't leave me alone." Two tears splattered on his upturned face. It would seem the time to pray for a miracle. Lily could not bear to lose him, not now, but how many miracles were given in one person's lifetime?