Hungry flames of red and yellow surged through the room, eager to devour everything in sight. They leapt at the furniture, latching onto wood and carpet with no intention to ever let go. They feasted on the books like they were the sweetest delicacies available, gorging on their cellulose sheets like ravenous children in a candy store.

Severus watched the dreadful spectacle they presented with a certain reverence. It was a sight to behold, after all. And it wasn’t like he could move, anyway. What little was left of him was now imprisoned in his depleted body. A body that was slowly dying of exertion, nearly unable to draw breaths anymore.

It wasn’t long until the flames took notice of him, and they jumped happily in his direction. He felt them reaching nearer, lapping at him from all sides in an attempt to swallow him whole. He closed his eyes as he waited for the pain to come.

But it didn’t.

He waited a little longer, but still—nothing. They must have reached him by now. They were so close, he could feel their warmth surrounding him, but they’d yet to sink their teeth in. Curiosity won over his morbid thoughts, and he forced one eye open, then the next. The flames were there; he’d been right. Only, they had stopped two inches away from his face. Unable to so much as twitch his head, he glanced down the length of his nose as far as he could. His wand-arm was twisted at an odd angle by his side; the wand still clutched between his useless fingers. But that was not the most surprising sight; the flames were there, too, but they kept their distance. They no longer seemed in a hurry to devour everything in their path. Such as it was, it looked more like they were attempting to protect him. They’d built themselves into a cocoon of dancing amber tongues.

And Severus couldn’t understand why Bellatrix would cast such a spell on him. Something must have gone wrong, for she must have intended the flames to devour him, not protect him. And yet, as he watched on in amazement, the flames stayed where they were, unmoving and gently cradling his prone form in their warm embrace.

Severus was dimly aware that he should have passed out from the lack of oxygen by now, but he could breathe effortlessly. The air that drafted in to him seemed to come straight from outside. It was both fresh and pleasantly moist, and Severus felt his mouth open of its own volition, desperate to drink the humidity out of the air itself. Somehow, it must have succeeded, for he could swear he felt droplets of water land on his parched tongue.

He realised that he hadn’t seen or heard Bellatrix in the last few minutes, and she should be on him by now, enraged at her spell going awry and determined to finish him off some other way. He had no doubt she’d gladly resort to tightening her fingers around his neck until he’d breathed his last if she had to—so determined she was to kill him.

Sprawled to the floor as he was, Severus couldn’t see the entrance of the library where he’d last seen Bellatrix standing. He wanted to, though. Gulping down the water drops on his parched tongue, he heaved in a reinvigorating breath before forcing his neck to crane forward and to the side a little. He managed with a moan, and the sight it revealed chilled him to the bone despite the ambient heat.

Bellatrix was there—only she wasn’t Bellatrix anymore; she wasn’t much of anything anymore. Her hair had been singed away, and her face burned into nothingness. Flames feasted on her corpse with the vigour that Severus had envisioned for himself, and he shuddered at the sight.

Feeling the last of his strength abandon him, he marvelled that the flames still hadn’t advanced on him. And then the world went blissfully black.

***

As far back as he could remember, Severus had always hated hospitals. St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was no exception, and he couldn’t leave this appalling sterilised place soon enough. If only he were stronger, he would have already.

But it wasn’t only his body that had taken a beating. He’d reached his limits—physical and magical—and then he’d pushed beyond. As a result, he’d fully and truly depleted himself of magic. He was dry to his very core, unable to perform even the simplest of spells—no better than a Squib, for the time being.

Thankfully, he was told that it would not be a permanent state. But his recovery would be long and arduous, and it could not be counted out in days or weeks. It would take months. Exactly how many was anyone’s guess. It depended on the wizard and the magical levels that were there to begin with. Not to mention that it was a rare occurrence and that relevant documentation on the subject was seriously lacking. Few wizards were stupid enough to push themselves to such extremes—or so the Mediwitch had told him, not too kindly, when she’d finished her recap of his present condition.

It had hurt a little to hear that nothing but time would help him, not even his trusted potions.

“Time and rest,” the Mediwitch repeated with a frown that was a clear warning he’d about maxed out her reserve of patience. Still, he couldn’t help but point out that he could get ample doses of both in his own quarters at Hogwarts and that there was no point in keeping him at St. Mungo’s any longer.

“Be nice to the lady, Sev,” a familiar voice said from the room’s entrance. “She’s only doing her job.”

His heart skipped a beat at the voice—her voice—and even the Mediwitch’s charms picked up on it, flashing red by the foot of his bed for one instant. Saturnine—he’d all but forgotten about her return, and her sudden reappearance brought forth a flood of memories.

“The boys?” he asked, jumping onto the most pressing issue.

“They’re safe, both of them,” she replied, entering the room. Then she stared at the Mediwitch until she cottoned on and left them alone. “They were taken to a safe house this morning. Harry’s still got a few scrapes and bruises, but he’ll be right as rain in a day or two. Draco will have to take it easy for a little while longer, but there will be no lasting damages.” She paused, then allowed the next words out cautiously, “Physically, at least.”

He arched an eyebrow questioningly.

“They both say they’re fine, but I don’t believe a word of it,” Saturnine explained. “They’re just kids, and what they went through in that house…” She let her words hang. There was no need to elaborate. Severus knew better than most what the Dark Lord was capable of.

“Where are they?”

With a resigned sigh, she said, “I can’t tell you any more than I already have.”

Severus understood the words for what they were. Not won’t but can’t—a literal physical impossibility due to a magical restraint placed on the building itself. Wherever they were, the children were protected by a Fidelius Charm. And that piece of knowledge took the edge off of his worry.

With one last thing to worry about, he returned to his earlier concern. Now that he’d been temporarily freed from the Mediwitch’s scrutiny, it was time he made his grand escape from this lime-green prison. Stifling a moan, he pushed the equally appalling-looking covers off himself as he rolled to his side. Knowing it would be hard to stand but refusing to ask for help, he decided to take it one step at a time. And the first step was to swing his long, aching legs over the side. He hadn’t so much as stepped a toe over the edge of the mattress when an alarm went off.

The matron made her grand return an instant later, as if she’d been waiting behind the closed door all along for him to try and do something like that. She pushed him back to the mattress with little delicacy as she looked down on him.

“I’ll have none of that, young man,” she said in a tone that caused Saturnine to chuckle audibly from where she stood by the foot of his bed. “You try that again, and I will stick you to the mattress with a charm, I will.”

A dark sneer was his only reply, and the Mediwitch looked down her nose at him all the way to the door. Once it had closed after her, Saturnine moved to take her place by his side. Severus was surprised to see she’d taken out her wand.

“If you want to get out of here, you have to bypass the Monitoring Charm first,” she said, aiming the wand at his head before reaching out a hand for him. “Sit up,” she instructed.

Not having any idea what she was talking about but wanting out of that dreadful place yesterday, Severus complied. Saturnine had no trouble hoisting him upward, but he had some difficulties staying vertical. The world swayed dangerously around him, and he felt his stomach lurch.

Beside him, Saturnine was busy waving her wand at the spot where his head had been. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, Severus saw a mist of green energies floating on the pillow behind him.

Saturnine reasserted her hold onto him, sneaking her fingers down to his forearm, and she pulled a little as she said, “Come closer to me, and sit on the edge of the bed.”

He did as instructed and watched as the mist grew to cover the spot his body had just vacated, like a warm imprint left behind on the sheets.

“Ready to stand?” Saturnine asked, glancing his way an instant. He nodded even though he felt anything but. Ready to topple over was more like it.

His sister kept her wand on the space behind him as she focused back on the charm. “On three,” she said, clasping his arm a little more strongly.

Unsure what would happen but somehow guessing it would hurt, he clenched his teeth in anticipation. The last thing he needed was to scream out and alert the Medidragon that was surely patrolling the hallways nearby.

“Three,” Saturnine said, and she tugged on him so hard that he was flung forward and into her chest. She caught his bulk one-handed, swaying a little under the impact, even as she hurried to finish the spell on the vacated lumpy mattress. The instant she was done, her wand vanished up her sleeve, and she reasserted her hold on her brother. It wasn’t a minute too soon, the world having dangerously blurred around the edges for Severus.

“Don’t touch that bed again,” Saturnine explained further, and her words were a welcome distraction from the close proximity they were now in. “And the charm will keep thinking that you’re in it.”

She passed an arm around Severus’ shoulder to steady him, assuming most of his weight as he fought to keep his breathing under control and the bile from rising in his throat. An “Accio” from Saturnine caused his torn-up clothes to shoot out of the wardrobe and land into her waiting hand. They were gone an instant later.

Severus drew in as deep a breath of fresh air as he could the instant they Apparated back into the land of the living. The ocean brine in the air was a welcome surprise and a much-appreciated relief after agonising hours spent in the antiseptic-filled air of St. Mungo’s.

Not recognising the place, Severus looked around for a familiar landmark, but couldn’t find any. They’d arrived in a desolate plot of land by the sea or the ocean.

Looking towards the open horizon, he was surprised to find the beginning of a sunset. But hadn’t Saturnine just told him that the kids had been taken away ‘this morning’? Well, it looked like he’d been out of it for longer than he’d thought.

Before he had the time to voice his questions, Saturnine pushed a piece of parchment in his hand. He glanced down to find a short note in the headmaster’s handwriting.

“Cove Cottage can be found at the end of Sennen Path, Cornwall.”

The instant his weary eyes finished taking in the words, a small cottage shook itself into existence in front of him. It sneaked out of the ground like a reptile who’d just felt a mouse darting by, settling on the flat, desolate surface by the cliff to better inspect its surroundings.

The walls were built out of light-grey stone bricks and covered with a slated roof of the same colour. Several windows made from white-painted wood and clear glass afforded him a peek inside what looked to be one more of Dumbledore’s in-case-of-emergencies modestly adequate hideouts.

“Almost there,” Saturnine said, helping him forward again. “Then you can get some rest in a proper bed. How does that sound?”

“Lovely,” he admitted between pants of laboured breaths as they entered. He barely noticed the interior of the cottage as they crossed through. It wasn’t much, but it looked clean and safe. Not a bad place to haul himself up for a day or two to lick his wounds.

He was only too relieved when Saturnine helped him lie down on a comfortable bed with fresh linen that smelled of lavender instead of antiseptic. He sank into the plush mattress with a relieved sigh and almost fell asleep the moment his head hit the warm, fluffy pillow. But then someone pulled up a warm blanket over him, and a delicate hand pushed a strand of hair off his face.

When he reopened his eyes, she was still there. Not an illusion then, he realised. Saturnine was really there, and so were a million questions. They were getting louder in his head, colliding with each other as his tired, addled brain tried to make sense of this visual impossibility. He wanted to ask her for an explanation, but his mouth had gone to sleep already.

Leaning down a little, Saturnine murmured, “Not now,” with a knowing smile. “You need to rest, brother-mine.”

He nodded in acceptance; there was too much to ask, anyway, and even more to analyse. In the span of a handful of hours, his world had been turned upside down: his duplicity revealed, his position as a spy blown to smithereens, the boys almost killed. And amid all that, Saturnine—his Saturnine—had returned.

His fingers curled around his sister’s before he could order his hand not to. And once he felt her warmth clasp around his cold digits, he found that he didn’t want to let go, after all.

“Sleep now, Severus,” she said in that same soothing voice that was a direct echo to much younger days. Another strand of his hair was tucked in place, accompanied by the brush of warm fingers on his temple. “We’ll talk later.”

More than the words, it was the warm hand in his that he believed. It was a promise in itself.

Like a whisper on the wind—on his last exhale before he allowed sleep to take him—he released from his lips the nickname he had denied himself for over fifteen years. “’Nine.”

~ End Of Part Two ~