Saved by Love (Severus Snape / Original Female Character)

His point of view

Right after the attack

Severus knew it was Nicholas who had disapparated him from the battlefield and was carrying him through the Headquarters corridors.

He heard Lupin say Florence's name so he knew they were most likely taking him to her – which he'd have forbidden in any other circumstance, for she couldn't undergo any stress and seeing him bleeding would certainly stress her – but since he was very close to dying, he wouldn't want any other healer to care for him but her.

As soon as the pull of apparition ended, Severus heard many voices shouting around them, but the only sound he focused on was Nick's heart-breaking whispers of: "Hang in there, dad. You cannot die, please don't die, dad. Please."

Severus felt his back hit a soft mattress and he could tell he was about to lose consciousness; he heard Nicholas crying and talking to Remus and they said Florence's name again – but he was in too much pain to focus on the words being spoken.

His whole body was nothing but blinding pain.

And Severus wasn't a stranger to pain – no; there had been a time in his life when he would get hit by several Cruciatus in the evening and still got up for his classes the next morning.

But nothing he had ever lived had prepared him for what he felt in that moment. His neck and left shoulder burned; and it was like air was made of some sort of thick acid: it was difficult to breathe it in and it burned his lungs whenever he successfully inhaled it.

The room spun and, even though his eyes were closed and he knew he was lying down on a bed, he felt like in a freefall. His brain was also weird, he couldn't focus or think as fast as usual and he couldn't find the right muscles to speak.

He stopped fighting to stay awake and let unconsciousness claim him.

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Severus knew the moment Florence walked into the room where he had been laid; he could smell her sweet vanilla scent - the smell so uniquely hers permeating his muddled brain and helping him relax a little.

He felt her hands on his chest and then something sharp pierced his arm; immediately his body stopped burning, he still felt weak, but the pain was only a tenth of what it had been seconds before.

"Don't do this to me, Sev," he heard her whisper.

I'm here, Flor. He desperately tried to send her, but it was clear she couldn't hear him.

He felt Florence lay her head on his chest, her perfume stronger now that she was near him; he wanted to comfort her, to wrap his arms around her – maybe for the last time, since he suspected he was half-dead – but he was unable to raise his arms or move any muscle. The combination of degenerative venom and blood loss was, expectedly, incapacitating.

Severus felt the sharp thing being removed from his arm and something cold was pushed against his lips. He drank it, before fainting again.

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Severus slowly regained consciousness but had no idea how long he had been out.

He didn't have enough energy to open his eyes, or move – in fact, he could barely breathe. He wasn't even sure he was awake or if he was just hallucinating.

He could tell Florence wasn't no longer in the room, her perfume too faint for her to be around; but he wasn't alone, he recognised the voices of his mother and Pomfrey's.

"Do you think she'll survive?" he heard his mother ask, the sadness clear in her voice, and she was certainly crying, according to the occasional sniffling sounds he could hear.