Disclaimer: never did and never will own it. J.K. Rowling does.
Spoilers: Order of the Phoenix
Thank you to my beta, Nakhash Mekashefah!

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~ Living On Borrowed Time - Haste, Haste To Town! ~

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Caradoc began by protesting heavily, but Severus was deaf to any of his pleas.

“You’re not yourself; you’re still suffering from shock.”

“I’m not! I’ve survived six months of them, Caradoc.”

“But–”

“There are no ‘but’s, Caradoc,” he said savagely.

Then his voice dropped to a soft, menacing whisper. “You will help me, Caradoc, or else…”

“My studies on them are not complete, Severus!”

“I don’t care. And neither does Hermione.”

Despite his stalling, Caradoc was only waiting to be convinced, and after Severus threatened to give clothes to his house-elf so he would bring him Caradoc’s notes about the Dementors, the old Potions master yielded gracefully. As soon as they were agreed, they began working in frenzy.

They mixed together phoenix ashes and blood, unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, Dementor blood and added several plants known for their regenerative powers. While Severus tried different dosages, Caradoc was searching for a charm to emulate the life-force stealing ability of the Dementors, Severus having adamantly refused looking for it, referring to it as ‘silly wand-waving’, scorn dripping from his voice.

Caradoc secretly thought that Severus didn’t want to reflect too much on the idea of becoming a pale copy of a Dementor, no matter the fact he had suggested the solution himself. He made a mental note to link the ability to something else than positive emotions. Even though Severus prided himself on his dislike of others, Caradoc couldn’t even envision him stealing others’ joy to survive. It would destroy him faster than any curse the Dark Lord could have come up with.


~*~


Caradoc could see, in small details, that Severus was coming close to a result. As for him, the spell was ready but he didn’t know what to link it to. He had thought of making Severus an anti-Dementor, by allowing him to get a new life-force from negative emotions, but he wasn’t sure of the impact it would have on the younger wizard’s metabolism. His researches had not reached that point yet. On the other hand, he didn’t want to link him only to humans, as were the Dementors, since Severus was hardly a social person. Contrary to the Dementors, Severus had a spell draining him constantly, so he couldn’t last long without any life-force input. He considered asking Severus for his choice of link, but somehow figured that the younger wizard would see the question as a mark of weakness and insecurity. It wouldn’t do to have his former pupil think such a thing about him.

Finally, he made his decision and hoped he would never regret it. He chose to link Severus’s new ability to the instinct for survival. Few animals were depressed to the point of not wanting to live anymore – unless they were a pet whose master had just died – and Caradoc trusted Severus’s impatience with the whole world would prevent him from staying in the company of despondent people. His only fear was Severus himself, for the link would try to get energy from his own survival instinct, and Caradoc wasn’t entirely sure that Severus had any will to live, except to repay his debt to Hermione.


~*~


Finally, Severus put a tiny phial in front of Caradoc and slid in the seat across from him. The older Potions master looked at the thick brownish liquid, wondering once again at the marvels that finely honed skills could produce. It was so small a thing, containing maybe two mouthfuls at most, yet it would save a life on hold – hopefully.

“Are you ready?” asked Severus, clasping his fingers under his chin.

Caradoc felt that it was to hide the trembling in his hands. Severus was afraid, for himself or for Hermione, Caradoc couldn’t tell, but the realisation that Severus could feel anything akin to fear was earthshaking. Caradoc had rarely felt emotions coming from Severus, unless it was anger or indifference.

“As ready as can be,” he replied, unwilling to show his uncertainty.

They exchanged a glance and understood each other without a word. They were both terrified.

Severus shrugged, opened the phial and drank it in one gulp. Caradoc aimed his wand at him – noticing the unease of the younger wizard to be at aim – and chanted his spell. A milky-white glow settled around Severus, who looked slightly offended by the colour. Caradoc laughed nervously.

“How do you feel?”

“Good. But I felt good before.”

“No changes, then?”

“Nothing.”

Caradoc noted this carefully in a notebook whose blue cover designated it as ‘Observation Notes for the Life-Force Draught’.

“You have the counter-spell?”

“Of course. Don’t lecture me on the basics of major magic works. You’re the one who made a mistake by not creating, right away, the antidote to your Nosferatu Draught.”

“It was a one-way potion and, if something had turned wrong, I would have been the only one to suffer from it, not that I would have suffered for long.”

“And what if your potion had given You-Know-Who your powers?”

“Don’t be demeaning, Caradoc, I know better than that. Besides, Hermione herself had a look at the potion, and may I remind you that she identified it in front of Albus just by reading the composition and instructions?”

“This discussion is fruitless and–”

“My sentiment exactly,” muttered Severus.

Caradoc glared at him, disliking the interruption.


~*~


“You will cast a spell on me – something like the full Body-Bind – and Winky will check the time it takes for it to fade.”

The name of the house-elf had a familiar ring to Severus, as if he had already heard it.

“Winky?”

“My house-elf.”

“Yes, yes. The name is... vaguely familiar.”

“Ah. Maybe Hermione told you of her. She was Bartemius Crouch’s house-elf but he freed her because she had let his son wander away while under her care, causing some… troubles.”

Severus snorted at Caradoc’s delicacy. He now remembered the troubles created by Barty Crouch Jr., troubles that had eventually led to the elder Crouch’s demise. He also remembered what Hermione had told him about this particular house-elf, as her failure with SPEW had been a sting to her pride, especially where Winky was concerned.

“I thought she wouldn’t do anything but drink?”

“That was until Albus had an inspiration. He somehow managed to find out that I was related to the Crouch family – distantly, mind you – and thus, that Winky should serve me. Believe it or not, she trusted him and has served me since then. I wasn’t too keen on having a house-elf, but she’s proving really useful, if a little bit overbearing, though she’s quite distressed by the presence of the Dementors.”

“Very well. Call her and we will begin the experiment. How long do you plan on testing my abilities?”

“One week at minimum. Let’s hope the effects won’t take too long to manifest themselves.”

“Let’s hope also that there won’t be a peak before crashing down suddenly,” added Severus wryly.

“Do you have reason to believe it would do that?”

“No. The life-force levels should keep rising until stabilising because I can’t store anymore, unless there isn’t enough of the life-force input around me.”

“There should be,” Caradoc assured him with a secret smile.

He was somewhat taken aback that Severus didn’t ask him which input he had chosen. Even though he knew the reason why, it shocked him as a researcher.


~*~



The first test was conclusive in the sense that Severus had lost nothing of his powers with the ingestion of the potion and the spell casting. Then, everyday at the same hour, they would proceed once again to the test, Severus casting ‘Petrificus Totalus’ on Caradoc and Winky wringing her hands beside him, counting the elapsed time before her master would move. It went against all the instincts of the house-elf to let a guest cast spells on her master, but as she had said herself, “Master instructed Winky and Winky is obeying, sir!”

Caradoc was nothing but thorough, and Severus made a habit of settling in a comfortable armchair with an interesting book while waiting for his old master to move. Winky took to pacing around nervously, muttering under her breath while keeping track of the time. She usually was distressed when it came to lunchtime, because she couldn’t prepare the meal while remaining by her master’s side, and she simply wouldn’t leave Caradoc.

The worst was when Caradoc remained frozen during both lunch and dinner. At lunch, Winky had proudly produced sandwiches, biscuits and hot tea she had brought in before the test and kept at the right temperature, but at dinner she was distraught. Severus, who could easily do without one or two meals, simply finished off the last biscuits and made no comment. The problem was that when Caradoc came back to his senses, he was famished and Winky left the room squealing “Bad Winky, bad! Winky does not make dinner for Master!”

“I suggest we stop the tests here and now,” said Severus dryly as Caradoc sat heavily in an armchair.

“Do you think they are conclusive?”

“In a certain way, yes, but it’s more about the fact that we don’t know if casting the total Body-Bind every day will have any ill effect on your health, especially considering the rate at which my power is increasing. And on the other hand, Hermione will have our heads if she hears how much we’ve been distressing Winky.”

Caradoc chuckled weakly at Severus’s attempt at humour before gulping down gratefully the hot tea Winky had just brought him while dinner was cooking.


~*~


The following day was spent in cleaning and organising the laboratory, re-shelving the books they used for their research and carefully hiding their notes. Caradoc had been adamant about going back to Hogwarts with Severus, if only to finally break out of his hiding.

“Albus cannot ask me to keep under this pretence for much longer,” he declared to Severus. “You-Know-Who is dead and I’m at risk no longer.”

“Especially since Albus isn’t at Hogwarts to reprimand you for coming out of hiding without his permission,” muttered Severus. “The Dark Lord wasn’t the only danger to you, Caradoc. The Death Eaters were also, and probably some of the Knights of Walpurgis.”

Caradoc glanced at Severus.

“Sometime, you will have to tell me about that secret society.”

“Better for us to wait for Hermione to wake up. She’ll probably have questions of her own and I hate repeating myself.”

Somehow, Severus didn’t know exactly when he had started thinking about her as ‘Hermione’ rather than ‘Miss Granger’ and even talk about her using her first name, but it now seemed natural to him. After all, they were bound by more than people could ever understand; she had let him use her magic force and nothing could be more intimate than that – even though she probably didn’t know all the implications of her selfless gesture, since she was Muggle-born.

As if he knew what was passing through his head, Caradoc glanced at him.

“Do you intend to tell her?”

“Tell her what?” snapped Severus.

“About the bond she created between you and her.”

“Don’t be stupid. All she wanted was for me to live a life without owing her anything. What would I be if I held her to a sacrifice she cannot fully comprehend?”

“She knew what she was doing!”

“She knew not half of it!” yelled Severus.

And he left in a flourish of black robes.


~*~


They left Caradoc’s house after reassuring Winky that her master wasn’t abandoning her and that he would be returning – without his guest. The house-elf was obviously quite terrified to remain alone with the Dementors, but Caradoc told her he trusted her to be the perfect housekeeper during his absence. She puffed her chest in pride and nodded eagerly.

The two wizards travelled without excessive precautions, though they made sure not to use anything that could be spotted by the Ministry. They remembered the adage saying that it’s best to hide where everybody can see it and went their way by daylight, stopping only before arriving at Hogwarts; they knew only too well that the school would be watched. They stopped even before Hogsmeade, since Severus would have been recognised there.

Patiently, they waited for the middle of the night, even though Argus Filch would not be happy to have to open the gates at that hour. Then, calmly, they made their way to Hogwarts. They both stopped dead, even before seeing the gates. The whole castle was enclosed in an orange glow shining like the sun on a summer day and it was pulsing like a heart.

“What happened here?” asked Caradoc, half frightened.

It was a purely rhetorical question and he didn’t expect Severus to respond.

“I’m a fool, that’s what happened,” replied the younger wizard darkly. “I’ve read the specificities of the spell enough times to know what to expect.”

“You mean you’re responsible for that? Are you crazy? It almost screams ‘Hit here, I’m the perfect target!’ The Muggles will wonder about it!”

“The Muggles don’t see it; the wards hide it from them. As for my being responsible… in a way. What you see here is Hermione’s magic force leaking all over the castle.”

Caradoc was stunned for a moment, then nodded in comprehension.

“Yes, yes, of course. But why didn’t they do anything about it inside?”

“That is a good question. I hope that Hermione’s magic force didn’t affect them.”

They exchanged a quick glance and, without a word, hurried toward the castle.