Not the Hill (Tag;; open)

[severus]

Everything had started out normally enough. It was a nice afternoon, though the oncoming rain clouds made their threats to spoil that by hovering just beyond the castle. Severus was sitting under his favorite old tree, staring absently into the Forbidden Forest while kids around him played and studied in what little time they had left with the sunshine. He had just finished writing in his journal. No sooner had he shoved the journal back into his bag and closed his eyes to take a nap did four Gryffindors in their seventh year decide to come over to him and pick a meaningless fight. A bulky boy of a rather foul disposition, wearing a surprisingly sinister smile for someone of his house, gave Snape’s shoe a quick kick.

“Hey grease-ball, get up,” he demanded. When the sixth-year Slytherin didn’t respond, a much leaner, but in one way less intimidating Gryffindor whacked Snape’s forehead, making the back of his head knock the trunk of the tree. Irritated, Severus finally opened his eyes and observed the group. They grinned down at him, a blonde boy in the back slapping his fist into the open palm of his other hand.

Severus was not impressed.

“Get up, you,” the first boy demanded, “we’ve got something we want you to see.” Severus glared at the meat-head with indifference, making no move. Instead, he closed his eyes once more, relaxing against the trunk as his hands slipped into the pockets of his robes stealthily.

“Go away. This is your only warning,” the Slytherin grunted calmly. The four older boys laughed at once, so busy in the overly-dramatic display of courage that they all failed to notice Severus had pulled his right hand back out from his pocket, resting it and his ebony wand at his side just in case. When the largest boy, the obvious leader of this pathetic pack, leaned forward to try and grab hold of Severus and force him up, the Slytherin simply poked him in the chest with his wand and sent him packing on a stunner spell. The two lesser bullies who had been behind him ended up catching their boss with their faces, all three crashing to the floor in a heap of robes, dust, and profanity. The lean boy ran to them quickly, first to check if they were okay, then to demand them back to their feet so they could repay Severus for his little surprise. Severus, ever the quick thinker, knew better than to sit around and wait for them to gather themselves, so he sprang to his feet, throwing his book bag over his shoulders, and made his escape.

“Get him!” screamed the lean boy, taking one final glance at his unconscious friend before taking off after Severus in an awkward, bull-like frenzy. The two others followed command, leaving their stunned leader to recover as they joined the chase. Other students were watching with joy. They could never pass up a good opportunity to see the Slytherin suffer. The Gryffindor, unburdened by bags, soon caught up with Severus, grabbing the strap of his rucksack and using it as a sort of slingshot to toss the Slytherin, who had been trying to get back into the campus, back towards the other two. Severus stumbled, but did not fall as he was thrown back, slipping his shoulder out from his bag and regaining himself in time to only just avoid the grasps of the other two boys. With his original path now cut off, Severus made a mad dash towards the Forbidden Forest. His hope was that they would be deterred to follow him by the scary trees and over-all danger of the woods, but he was once again foiled. They were Gryffindors for a reason, and quickly pursued him into the trees, leaving behind their audience. Maybe one of them would inform a teacher, or come to his aid, thought Severus held little hope for either scenario. He moved expertly through the trees, his best bet now to lose them within the foliage. But they were like bloodhounds, keeping to his scent without any sign of faltering.

“You’re dead!” he heard their screams echo through the forest, and he could tell that they were closing in. If only he were a faster boy! They were starting to spot him through the brush, casting spells to try and strike him down early. One came uncomfortably close to home, hitting a tree just left of Snape’s head. He gasped and sprang away, dashing off in another direction.

The wrong direction.

He came to a sudden and completely unwelcome stop, staring down from the top of a rather steep hill leading down into a thick mass of yet more trees. They were too dense to maneuver through, that he could tell. Not that it mattered; he would never be able to make it down the slope of the hill. He took a few steps back, making to change directions and back track to a safer path, when an acute burst of pain in his back stopped all motion. He hadn’t been paying attention. He hadn’t heard them approach, nor call the spell that had so perfectly connected with the center of his back. But he certainly felt the blow, and that was it. Before he could comprehend anything else, he fell.

And what a trip that was.

For a split second, he felt like he was flying. Doing a series of barrel rolls through the damp clouds. Of course, this somewhat pleasing sensation was quickly murdered as his out-of-control body made contact with the first of many rocks, bushes, and other forest-like floor materials. He somehow managed to figure out through the confusion that he was really rolling, and that it wasn't an odd dream. Rolling down the very cliff he had tried to avoid only moments earlier. Talk about irony. And he could do nothing to stop himself. His body was mindless, thanks to whatever spell those jerks had smacked him with. He felt the grass under him, brushing the dew from their bodies onto his as he passed by. It could have been a fun experience, were it not for another rather large rock that sat directly in his path. He felt his wrist smash into it as it passed him, snapping it easily under his body. This rock also managed to be enough of a disturbance to actually lift him off the ground and break the vicious rolling cycle. Of course, it sent him into more of a completely random tumble, hands and feet flying everywhere, but at least he wasn’t rolling anymore. And the tumble only last a few seconds, as he was just lucky enough to crash into one of the only free-standing trees sitting at the very base of the hill. Now his ribs burned with the same tormenting pain as his wrist, and it was all he could do to simply roll fully onto his back. He groaned and coughed; the force of the tree trunk collision more than enough to knock the wind out of him.

He laid there, his broken wrist sitting limply on top of his aching chest, the two pains screaming in unison. But there was nothing he could do for himself. Everything was out of sorts. The world refused to stop spinning, even with his eyes tightly shut, and he had yet to find any manner of air. He felt nauseous, disoriented and uncharacteristically afraid. Nothing about the situation was okay. After a few moments, his initial breathing problems subsided from impossible to slightly labored, but he senses were none the less jumbled. Blood pounded in his ears, making the already faint voices he thought he may have heard all the more difficult to comprehend. But he could still hear the terror in the tones. Though these words came more as muffled grunts of fear than anything coherent, Severus knew they were not over if he was okay.

No one cared.

With this less-than-comforting thought the last to enter his mind, Severus finally blacked out. His body just needed a few minutes without such thoughts to get everything sorted out.

“Oh man! He’s dead!” cried one of the Gryffindors, staring in horror at the unmoving body that was now resting at the bottom of the cliff. All three Gryffindors where whimpering with fright, pacing about the edge of the cliff and trying their best not to completely freak out. This was not supposed to happen. The lean boy, the one who had taken the lead in the chase, turned to face his two buddies, one of whom was too busy being sick to notice anything else.

“He’s not dead!” the boy hissed quickly, going over to his ill companion and rubbing his back comfortingly. “Come on, we have to get out of here!”

“We… we should get help…” the sickly boy whispered, looking up at his obviously freaked out pal. The lean boy shook his head, helping the other Gryffindor away from the hill as the last of the trio followed behind them. None of them were thinking in any condition to think rationally.

“No, no, we need to go! Let’s go. Before someone finds us!” the other two agreed, fear over-taking any common sense. They were too dumbstruck by how fast everything had happened. So they left the hill quickly behind them, breaking into a frantic stampede as they rushed out of the forest. A few students noticed their return, though if any of them noticed the panicked nature of their fleeing was anyone’s guess. The three spazzed-out boys met their freshly revived leader halfway across the grounds, all but collapsing into him as they stopped to chat. All three tried desperately to tell him what had happened at once, cutting each other off and taking long pauses to gasp for air. They told him how, at that very moment, Severus Snape was laying under a tree in the forbidden forest after falling down a steep hill and how he looked to be dead, their voices perhaps not as quiet as they should have been when relating such startling information.

[geniskloitzsage]

He needed to clear his head, and he needed to do it now. A small boy, not even five feet tall walked slowly through the corridors, his short little legs carrying him along. He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. The boy's blue-green eyes were on the floor, he only glanced up to check where he was going so he didn't walk into a wall or crash into someone.

Genis Sage, the little third year with the intelligence to match wits with people twice his age was having a serious problem. It was with one of his homework assignments. Normally, Genis rarely had problems with his homework and he always got it done promptly and correctly, but this particular piece was different. They were studying Defense Against The Dark Arts and they were going to be dealing with boggarts.

His task was to practice the ridikules spell, so that he was ready for this boggart come Friday, but he didn't know how to laugh at his fear. His fear wasn't something like the dark or spiders or roaches. It was his own mother. His mother appeared with her doll in her arms and she would extend it to him. Asking him if he'd like to meet her daughter. Then she'd start screaming at him, calling him a horrible boy. Genis had no idea how to make her funny, not when she frightened him so much.

He'd been thinking about it for hours and it was now starting to affect his mood, so he left the Ravenclaw Common Room and walked along through the corridors, his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure where he was going, maybe he'd go find Lloyd and see if he wanted to hang out. Lloyd always made him feel better. He slowly made his way outside and started to look for him.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and Genis considered working some magic and creating an enchanted kite that would fly like no other muggle kite would when the silence was shattered by a scream 'Get him!' Genis jumped, thinking that maybe they were talking about him, maybe he'd done something wrong! But as he looked around, he saw a boy, being picked on by one....two....three....four Gryffindors.


He got a little closer and was able to see it was Severus Snape. "Hey." He asked a Hufflepuff, "What did he do this time?" he was curious, because he'd always heard Severus was an ass and a git and a bastard and anything else that wasn't nice and he wondered if he really deserved it all.

"Who knows kid." the girl said, "But it's fun to watch."

Frowning, Genis watched the boys chase Severus into the forest. He stayed put once everyone left and then sat down to wait, to see if they'd come out. They did, eventually but without Severus. The Gryffindor boys looked frightened and nervous. Where was their victim?

Genis considered going back to the castle, it wasn't his problem and it was dangerous in the forest! It was also forbidden to enter, hence the name! The Forbidden Forest! He waited.....and waited... for at least twenty minutes. Then he got to his feet.

"Awww man....sis is gonna kill me." He muttered and took in a deep breath, heading into the woods. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he knew how to follow a trail. "Lumos!" He whispered as he drew his wand, lighting the tip so he could see where he was going.

"Hey! Anyone out here? Hello? Hey!" he shouted, trying to make sure Severus could hear him, unless he'd come out of the forest from another spot. That was plausible. As he walked, he came upon a sudden drop off and got onto his hands and knees, so he didn't fall. Peering over he gasped, "Shit!" and then called down "Hang on! I'm coming!" and looked around, muttering "Somehow...." he wasn't athletically gifted at all and he wasn't sure how he'd get down into the ravine.

He'd heard the conversations of the three boys, how Severus was dead. "Oh....oh...please don't be dead. Please don't be dead." He prayed and started making his way down the wall, half climbing, half sliding. He was all scraped up and dirty by the time he made it down, but he knelt by Severus and bit his lip. "Hey.... are you alive?" He asked nervously, "M-...my name is Genis. I'm Professor Sage's little brother. Can you t-tell me your name?" He knew his name already, but he had to see if Severus was okay or not. If he could say his name he had at least didn't have head trauma, if he couldn't, then that was even worse.

[lita]

one more day down these stairs, his room is cold now and it hurts like hell. he holds tight, he stares. it’s almost over and it’s running through his head. they don’t know me, they don’t know more than i show.

--------------------

It wasn't unusual to hear a scrabble among the school grounds - scraps between houses were common, and Lita normally ignored it to the best of her abilities... unless it was directed towards Severus. Since meeting him for the first official time at the lake a short time ago, Lita found herself growing even more attached and protective of the boy - even if she did irritate him a bit with her sarcasm and selective mutism. When she recognized the tall and handsome figure of Severus racing past, however, Lita jumped to her feet, sky blue's glaring at the boys who flew past quickly behind the Slytherin prince. Obviously, her free period would be compromised by some idiot Gryffindors picking on her man! Err... her friend. Her... whatever he was to her now that they had officially met. Running a hand through her strawberry blonde strands, Lita followed behind with a quickened pace, ears burning at the various rumors flying about the other students. "What had Snivellus done now. What was gonna happen to him. Snivellus was gonna get what he deserved. Blah blah blah, rubbish." A growl escaped the girl, and when she noticed the boys race into the Forbidden Forest? ... well, she all but froze for a moment to ponder.

Lita had never gone into the forest before, other than for Care of Magical Creatures... it had been a thought of hers before to wander around on her own, but the dangers of a lonely girl were seemingly ten-fold in a place like that! It only took a moment, and the distant sound of echoing shouts and hollers and laughter that finally made up Lita's mind. She was gonna go in there... and what, confront the boys? Probably not - she wasn't that great with confrontation unless absolutely needed. However, she could be there for Severus, back him up if she could. Taking in a sharp breath, Lita made her way into the deep woods, pulling her wand out and gripping it so tightly, her knuckles threatened to turn white from strain. Swallowing hard, the girl whispered to her wand, the tip lighting up enough so she could maneuver her way through the dense forest. Now... if she could only figure where they-- "You're dead!" -- oh. There they were.

The sound of spells being cast made Lita move more quickly through the trees, and when an eerie silence took over the forest, the Slytherin girl paused in her pace. Leaning against a smaller tree trunk, Lita strained her ears, shutting her eyes and leaning every which way to try and listen for a sign to where they were; the cracking and snapping of twigs, bushes, and falling rocks made her bright blue's snap open, and Lita turned herself, looking about to find her sense of direction. Panic set in. The silence was all too deafening to her ears, and when she finally moved slowly through the trees again, the girl nearly gasped as she stepped near a cliff's edge. Hmn. Eyes flicked up at the sound of whimpers, panicked voices, and the wet sound of retching. The blonde's breath hitched, and when the Gryffindor boys stampeded past her in a panic, the girl snarled, following the edge of the drop off until she found the trampled earth where the boys had all been standing. The vile bile scent of vomit made Lita scrunch her nose, and yet before she could get a good look around, the sound of another voice touched her, and Lita hid herself behind a larger tree trunk.

She didn't recognize the boy, however he didn't seem as nasty as the others had been. Still, distrust ran ramped with her, and she glared at the boy as he too looked around. When the drop off forced him to his fours, Lita nearly tilted her head at his gazing over the edge... until his swearing caught her off guard and she too moved hesitantly to look over the edge. Her gasp was more than audible, and her bright blue's widened to saucers. It didn't seem that this other kid had heard her, so when he moved to crawl and climb down the cliff's edge towards him, Lita's protectiveness kicked in, and she jumped out to the small clearing to glare down at him. "Hey!" she barked, pulling her wand out to point at the kid stiffly. What was he gonna do to Severus? Lita could only assume he was going to mess with him some more. He already looked like he was dead or unconscious, and the girl couldn't help but force down the lump growing in her throat.

She would stay strong now. Severus needed her. ... She thought.

Doe eyes were trained on the boy as he knelt down by Severus' body, and she only tightened her grip on her wand. Oh, how much she wished to shout down at the boy... however the social awkwardness and selective mutism had Lita simply glaring down at him as he spoke to Severus... he didn't seem angry, or cruel, however Lita couldn't' be so sure. Sighing, the blonde made her way carefully down the edge as well, scraping and scratching and bruising herself up. Not that it mattered - that sort of pain she was used to, and when it came down to it, the idea of losing Severus (even if they weren't close) pained her more than she could comprehend. Hopping down the last bit of the slope, Lita launched herself towards the fallen body of Snape, falling to her knees next to him and lifting her chin furiously at the boy - Genis was it? She had barely heard what the other boy had said. She had been far too concerned.

Brushing some hair from Severus' face, Lita's blue's brimmed with tears - his shallow breathing the only indication he was still alive; unconscious, but alive. "Oh..." The girl whimpered, adjusting herself so she could lift the boys head and lay it down in her lap gently. She ran her fingers through his hair comfortingly, even if he couldn't feel it, and when she was sure he would be comfortable for when he woke up again, Lita fixated her eyes on the other boy and narrowed her eyes at him. Motioning with her chin to his lengthy body, the girl nearly lifted her wand again... however the concern in Genis' expression had softened the girl only slightly. "Check him." She didn't trust the boy still... but this situation was far greater than any social norm. She wasn't wasting her words now - not with Severus' life in their hands. She continued to run her hands through his inky hair, running her finger tips along his forehead and face in comforting strokes. Wow... this was magical. Even in this terrifying moment, Lita could appreciate the butterflies chaotically tearing up her insides at the fact she was holding the boy she was in love with.

--------------------

she’s walking up to him so slowly. it’s about time, it’s about time to fly away, but wait; this one is different cause she’s lonely. fold your wings, you’ll need them more one day.

---

TAG; severus snape and genis sage
NOTES; lita = not impressed
SONG MUSE; n/a yet.

[severus]

Oh God, he was in so much pain. That was the first thing he realized when he regained consciousness. He couldn’t answer questions, or make sense of his current position, as he was too busy dealing with the pain shooting from his chest and wrist. It felt like his wrist had been broken, that much was clear from the pain alone. He didn’t want to open his eyes and look at the damage, hoping it wasn’t any kind of open wound. Still, even closed, he didn’t want to see the swelling. How he hated breaking bones! Especially at Hogwarts. Pomfrey always asked him too many questions when he broke a bone and was stuck in the hospital wing for a day or two. It seemed like he wasn’t going to be able to get away from a visit this time, however, as he was not a master at mending bones on his own. How nice it would have been if he had fallen down a hill and not gotten injured.

But his luck wouldn’t allow for something like that- he had no luck.

Groaning lowly, the boy finally ventured in opening his eyes, the blurry, dark forest slowly gaining form as he blinked back the spots in his vision. Things were… not as he remembered them. For one, he wasn’t in the same position as when he had fallen unconscious, and for another it seemed as though he was suddenly in someone’s lap. His somewhat glazed eyes drifted up, the boy resting his bleary sights on Lita. Was he in her lap? He was- his head was resting in her lap. But how had that happened, and how had she even gotten there in the first place? The last he remembered, he had been ditched by some Gryffindors. It seemed unlikely they would have gone to tell someone from Slytherin about what had happened, so she could go a fetch him. And, as it soon became clear to him, she wasn’t even the only one there. There was a boy there, too, much younger than the two of them. He looked just as panicked as Severus felt, which he imagined was comforting in some kind of weird way. Hey, at least he wasn’t stuck in the forest alone.

However, being touched, and held, was not something he was that used to. If not for the pain distracting him, he might have been made very uncomfortable with the whole situation. Coughing softly, having swallowed a bit of dirt in his fall, he turned his eyes back towards Lita, frowning through the pain.

“Lita..” he offered lowly, his voice a little more than hoarse, “what are you…. Doing here?” he asked weakly, tilting his head slightly to one side. Another groan escaped him as more pain shot through his body, making it difficult for him to focus on anything else. Why had he regained consciousness, again? At least when he had been out, he hadn’t been in pain.

Someone knock him on the head.

“My wrist…” he groaned lowly, deciding to skip the questions for the time being. His two would-be saviors could fill him in on all the details a little later. In the meantime, he would like to get out of the woods. Assuming they knew a way to escort him out, of course. It hardly seemed like he was going to be able to sit up, much less walk out of the woods back to Hogwarts.

Getting up that hill was going to be a bit of a trick for the lot of them- maybe there was another way out. Though, really, Severus couldn’t be sure. He had completely lost all sense of direction, and wasn’t even sure which portion of the hill he had fallen down in the first place. The painful part, that was all he remembered. If they got lost in the woods, it was going to be the death of all of them. Or was he just a bit gloomy after getting so beaten up for no good reason? Possibly. The doom and gloom thoughts normally crept out when he was in a foul mood. However, that didn’t mean they were fine. With him bleeding, and lots of unknown creatures all around them, it was dangerous to remain there too long. If they got lost, that danger would only increase. Who knows how long it would be before anyone in the school came looking for them? They had to find their own way back.

The last thing he wanted to do was spend the night in the forest. So he needed to try and get up- he needed to tell them what was wrong so he could let them tend to him. If they could. Maybe putting him in laps was the best of their ability.

In which case, he really wished he had stayed unconscious.

“I think my wrist is broken…” he mumbled lowly, closing his eyes again, “I… was knocked down a hill…” He was still feeling a little dizzy, too. If he gave himself half a moment to really think about what had happened, he might have thrown up. Instead, he just stayed in Lita’s lap, letting her hand comfort him while he tried to muster his strength.

[geniskloitzsage]

"Not good not good." Genis moaned lowly and with shaking hands, he reached out and put two fingers against the boy's neck and then sighed deeply and leaned back again. "He's alive." He whispered to himself, so glad that he wasn't dead. He got to his feet, looking all around, trying to see if there was anything he could do. Anything at all. He could shoot red sparks into the air...yeah! He smiled, "Hey....if you can hear me, you'll be okay. I know what to do." He drew his wand and was about to shoot the red sparks into the air when suddenly, someone shouted at him.

He looked up and yelped, backing away and instantly, his hair turned white with fright, not yet having mastered his Metamorphamagus powers yet. It was a girl, at least....he thought it was a girl. It sounded like a girl. But from this far away, he couldn't be certain of the gender. "N-no!" He called up, "I've got it! Don't come d-" But it was too late. Now all three of them were down here with no way to get back up unless by climbing and Genis couldn't climb very well at all.

"I already did." He said softly, "He's alive. His pulse is pretty strong, he'll be okay for now." And he backed away, aiming his wand up into the air he then paused, "W-wait.... animals might want to see what those red things are.... m-maybe we shouldn't shoot anything into the air." And he moved closer, bending down as Severus groaned and moved, then opened his eyes and started talking. That was a good sign! He knew where he was, he knew the girl and he was able to speak coherently. "He's okay." He said softly "Well.....mostly." And he moved to Severus' side. "Hey.....I'm going to check for other injuries.....bear with me okay?" He warned and gently started to run his hands over Severus' side, pressing only slightly. He nodded and then frowned "O...okay....a ....few...b-broken ribs b-but on the plus side, I don't think you have any internal injures....but those can be tricky. I sent up warning sparks....someone should be here soon."

and he looked across to the girl, "Lita isn't it?" He asked and when she confirmed her name he said, "Make sure he stays awake. If he's concussed, you don't want him falling asleep. Keep him alert. Even if you have to be mean to him and pinch him or something, don't let him fall asleep." He got to his feet and pointed, "I'm going over that way just a bit, to see if this cliff levels out or something or if there's an easy place one of us could climb up and go get help." and he was off, his hair already turning back to its usual silver. "Lumos!" He whispered and headed off, making sure to stay within sight of the others, both for their benefit and his own. He scanned the cliff side and then sighed and headed back over. "Not over here." He muttered and went to the other side. He came back a few minutes later "And not over there either." He sighed "Why hasn't anyone come for us yet?" He asked, sounding a little frightened, it was only getting darker and more and more dangerous.

"There are things in these woods that are really really smart.....they might be able to find us and....and ....and then we're....." he shook his head, trying to over come his fear. "F-f...first things....first." He said, and then drew his wand and muttered an incantation, fiery red marks started appearing in the stone, 'There are three of us. One has minor injuries. We went-' and he stopped writing, ".....Which way should we go?" He asked, "We....should also not use a lumos spell unless we have to now that's really really dark. Animals would be attracted to the light."

He was shaking all over, his hair starting to turn white with little streaks of yellow in it. "I.....I....I'm scared." he finally admitted, as if it wasn't obvious enough. "...B-b-but the longer we stay here the... the more likely it is that.....that we'll be discovered b-by.....by the creatures in the forest. C-...can you walk Severus? I think that ....judging by the slope of the hill...our best bet to finding a level spot to climb up.....would be...." and he pointed, "That way. I think it's .....east. B-....but I can't be.....s-sure." He stammered, trying to stay calm and not be a frightened little kid.

[lita]

one more day down these stairs, his room is cold now and it hurts like hell. he holds tight, he stares. it’s almost over and it’s running through his head. they don’t know me, they don’t know more than i show.

--------------------

Simply glaring at the boy as he stammered and mulled about, she only took a moment to stare at his changing hair with interest before she moved back to Severus. His low groaning had her gasping slightly, and she pet his hair more gently, a "shh"ing sound pressing through her lips. His voice was hoarse, and a little dry sounding - nothing unusual about someone who had just been through a traumatic experience. Who could say this wasn't traumatic? A bunch of Gryffindor boys had just basically left Severus for dead, and nobody would have thought anything of it. They wouldn't have known. They wouldn't have cared. The thought made Lita's stomach flip, and she leaned into herself slightly, not realizing her face had gotten closer to Severus' - the only thought in her mind right now was not to vomit all over the boy in her lap... or, y'know, start bawling her eyes out. Lita's blue's were already brimming with tears, threatening to spill over and down her cheeks... but she wouldn't embarrass herself like that. She couldn't.

Listening to Genis with half an ear, the youth sighed, gazing up at him as he stumbled over words and explain how Severus was, the girl merely quirked a brow... and then nearly wrapped her arms around the dark prince's shoulders at the mention of warning sparks. Oh, she knew this wasn't going to go over well with Severus. He wouldn't be happy in the slightest. Forcing herself to simply sit still (although she still tensed in preperation of his outlash in frustration), she continued to run her hand through his hair, stroke his face, try calming him down. To distract the boy more, Lita thought back to Severus' question, and allowed herself to answer it without openly admitting too much. "I'm here to help you, silly." she cooed gently, offering a tiny smile behind her concerned expression. "You didn't think I'd leave you out here on your own, didja?"

Really, she was rambling... but it was more for all their benefits for comfort than to really make sense.

He was so obviously in pain that it had Lita adjusting her position, and moving Severus' head more comfortably in her lap. She wanted to make sure he was perfectly comfortable before they tried moving him. He needed a moment to relax, get rid of the dizzies. The groans had the blonde sighing lightly, forcing back whimpers as she stroked the hair back from his face and ears. "Shh, just relax." Glancing up at Genis as he announced he was gonna take a look around, she mouthed a small "thank you" before nodding and turning her attention to their surroundings. Staring up the cliff side, Lita was surprised with the fact she had so willingly brought herself down here. If it were anyone else at the bottom of the hill, she'd have probably just raced off to find a professor - the fact it was Severus down here all broken and what-not... well it had set off that stubborn streak in her that most Slytherins seemed to possess.

It didn't appear to level off anywhere, and as Genis returned talking about animals showing up and that nobody had come for any of them... fear, indeed, did set in. They were only kids - Genis younger than Severus and herself, but they were still kids, and kids had fears. Like getting forgotten about in the woods. Lita could have laughed in any other situation about the irony of that statement... forgotten about in the Forgotten Woods. Now? This was no time for jokes. Lita swallowed hard, nodding slightly as if she knew what had to be done, and the only thing that stopped her from completely breaking down and hyperventilating was Severus' low groaning. Broken ribs... he was complaining about his wrist. Broken? Oh, Gods. "Okay, okay. Uhm." Stay cool, stay calm. Stay collected. Severus needs you now, girl, don't be afraid. "Let's see what we can do for this then, huh?" Moreso talking to herself than to anyone else, as she allowed Genis to look around and talk all frightened-like.

Taking in a deep breath, the girl shifted herself slightly, pulling her light cotten sweater off from over her head and gripping at the fabric with a concentrated expression - good thing the sweater was too light to be of any real use for keeping warm... she managed to find a snag, and with all her might and a small grunt, the girl ripped strips of the beige fabric and lay them beside her. The idea of Brackium Emendo popped into her head, however she had never used it before and didn't want to make the same mistake another student had, repairing the bone incorrectly. Instead, Lita gave a sympathetic glance to Severus before rubbing his arm gently. "I promise you, this is going to hurt like bloody hell." Reaching for his broken wrist, Lita handled it as gently and carefully as she could, swallowing down the bile that rose in her throat at the shattered and rubbery feel of the limb. As carefully as she could, the blonde wrapped his wrist, taking extra care to make a sling for over his neck as well.

With the spare strips of beige sweater fabric, Lita wrapped some deeper gashes on his arms, and used one to wipe what dirt she could from his face and neck. The mumbles from Severus broke the girl's heart, and she did what she could to make him comfortable again after she figured she had done a well enough job wrapping him up. "You mean those Gryffindor bastards purposely knocked you down here?" a sickening snarl ripped through the girl, and she glared up the cliff wall, snorting and nearly snapping at Genis as he admitted his fear of the situation, Lita glowered at the earthy floor beneath them, then shifted herself to gaze over her shoulder. The longer they stayed... yes, the longer they stayed, the more chance some creatures would find them. It was getting darker, and it was getting much more dangerous as time wore on. "Don't you think I realize that?" she sneered, running a hand through her hair. "I'm scared too, but this is no time to be a wuss. I'm not gonna be some creautres dinner."

Sighing, trying to keep her composure, the girl searched frantically along the cliff side, finally laying her eyes in the area Genis announced looked a little better to get up from. "Good, we'll go there. Help me get him up." One final stroke of his cheek, and Lita was in stubborn Slytherin mode. Gazing down at Severus, Lita coughed a bit, furrowing her brow and sighing. "This is gonna hurt too." Lifting herself a bit, she motioned for Genis to take Severus' other side so they could lift him up to a standing position. "Take a moment to let your body adjust, Snape. No use blacking out on us again."

--------------------

she’s walking up to him so slowly. it’s about time, it’s about time to fly away, but wait; this one is different cause she’s lonely. fold your wings, you’ll need them more one day.

---

TAG; severus snape and genis sage
NOTES; lita = not impressed
SONG MUSE; n/a yet.

[severus]

Severus didn’t need anyone telling him what was wrong with him- it made him that much more afraid. Broken ribs, a snapped wrist- what was he supposed to do? Maybe he just needed to suck it up and get to his feet. Even if he was in pain, well, he was used to that kind of thing, wasn’t he? All his ‘training’ with his father and with the various assholes of Hogwarts, he ought to have been immune to pain entirely. But nothing had ever been on this scale. This sucked. Throw in the fact that it was getting dark, he was stuck with a child he didn’t really like, and they were trapped in a forest and, well, they had the makings of a horror movie.

And he was cast as the first to be eaten by the monster in the woods.

His only comfort came in the form of the young girl doing her best to relax him. The potions prodigy looked up at Lita, nodding slowly as she started to figure out what to do. He didn’t know- he didn’t even know if he had his wand on him. It could have gone flying in the fall, for all he remembered. Had he been holding it when he was struck in the back? He couldn’t quite recall. Everything was such a mess, the only things he could really remember was how much it had hurt and how weird it had felt to be flying through the air like he was some kind of bird. That had almost been cool. Too bad the landing had ruined the experience. Gravity- what a bitch.

He watched as she ripped up her sweater, frowning. Well, he was going to have to pay her back for that. A weird thought to have, given their situation, but he knew he would have to think about something to get his mind off the pain. The pain she, unfortunately, brought back to attention almost immediately after he started trying to distract himself from it. It would hurt? Oh… she was going to wrap his wrist. Yeah, that was going to hurt, he imagined.

And it did.

Though he made sure he didn’t make too much of a fuss as she worked on securing the limb, not wanting to cause any more panic with moans and groans. If he made too much commotion, it might frighten the two there with him even more, and they needed at least some clarity if they were going to think of a way out of there. Anyway, he didn’t want some kid and a girl he liked talking to thinking he was a baby, now did he? So he was surprising mute when it came to expressing pain, managing to hold it in until he could breathe a sigh of relief when she had finished. When they were done, for the moment, he relaxed again, listening to the rage passing through her tone as she asked about the Gryffindors. She seemed very angry for someone who had only just met him. Was it just because they had been picking on someone from Slytherin? She didn’t seem the type to have that kind of house loyalty, though. Not to such an extent. So… she was really upset for him, then? That… didn’t happen very often.

“I don’t know,” he said lowly, trying not to fall to sleep again, “I don’t think they meant for me to fall down here… but they did mean to hit me… probably knock me out and leave me in the forest, or something.” There was no way to know what they would have done with him once they stunned him. If he had to guess, it would have been humiliating. Maybe being at the bottom of a hill, wounded, wasn’t wonderful, but there was a small silver lining in knowing their plans had been put on hold because of what had happened. At least he wasn’t naked or tied to a tree or something.

See? Plus sides.

His attention turned on the youngest there- the boy didn’t seem to be dealing with the situation very well. But he was a kid, and it was a scary situation to be in. If he wasn’t in such a haze, he might have been more frightened as well. They really did need to focus on getting out of there, and possibly without running into anything with sharp teeth or claws.

“Lita’s right,” he mumbled faintly, “we have to keep calm… we won’t be dinner if we get moving quickly.” Ugh, that meant a world of pain for him, but he’d have to deal with that. They needed to move.

The two there with him didn’t deserve to fall into trouble just because they wanted to help someone like Severus Snape, who wasn’t worth it.

When Lita moved to help him up, Severus took on a similar stubborn Slytherin nature, struggling to get himself to a standing position with their help. It made him feel like throwing up, moving, but he swallowed it down to spare their shoes, closing his eyes against the spinning forest in an effort to calm his raging stomach. No time for feeling sick- he needed to keep it together. She was right about the passing out thing. It would not do them any good if allowed the black spots in his vision to cloud over completely. So he opened his eyes and blinked them back, standing in his pain, despite how much he wanted to just plop back down and let them do all the work. Being a victim wouldn’t help anyone.

“I’m okay,” he assured her weakly, leaning against her a bit for the support and the comfort, “let’s… try that area.” The longer they waited, the more likely he was to lose his strength all over again.

Onward!

[geniskloitzsage]

Nervously, Genis watched as Severus got to his feet, swaying and looking as if he wanted to be sick. He nodded at him "Good." He said, "We can do this.....together we'll be okay." He moved off to the rock and used the same spell to carve words into the rock as before, only he drew an arrow instead. "There." he was still freaked so he took a moment to compose himself. He told himself that this wasn't as bad as when he, Raine and Lloyd had discovered their mother. Nothing was a frightening or upsetting as that.

He nodded firmly and said "We should keep our voices down, and we shouldn't use spells unless they're the kind that don't produce lights." the smaller boy muttered as he walked behind the other two, just in case Severus fell backward or something. "We're going to be okay. We just have to keep our heads and stay calm." he peered around the area and frowned slightly. "Severus.....if you start feeling any worse you let us know. This isn't a time to be all macho and tough or anything. By keeping quiet about something you'd make things worse in the long run." he told him softly, hoping he hadn't just gone too far.

The young boy started to look all around as he walked, trying to find something, anything that would be of some use to them, but there wasn't really much. If they had some rope, then he would be able to use it to climb back up the hill, all tied together so that neither of them could fall, but then he figured Severus wouldn't be able to make the climb so he put that idea out of his mind.

He walked along in silence, peering about and then something hit him and he muttered "What we need is a bird's eye view." He said, "If either you or I could climb a tree Lita, the other could stay down here with Severus and the one up the tree could look out for a way out or something that'd be useful." he looked up at the trees, there were a few that even he could climb and he presented his thoughts out loud as he came up with them. "Of course there could be creatures living in the trees that wouldn't like an intruder and you or I might be attacked. Or .....whatever might be living in the trees could raise a commotion and bring curious .....things to us. That wouldn't be good at all. But the more time we spend in here just walking around....the more likely we are to get in trouble anyway."

He then used a cutting spell on one of the trees, making another arrow. "To mark our trail, both for us and anyone who might come looking for us. If anyone comes at all." He added and looked up at Lita "What do you think we should do? Should both of us stay on the ground and just keep heading in this direction or should we climb a tree? Because I really doubt that whatever tree we climb would happen to have some sort of animal in it."

That was it! He'd just stumbled on the answer "I'm going up." He said softly, "The odds of an animal big enough to cause us trouble living in the tree I'm going to climb are pretty slim. It's worth it." and he bent down, rubbing dirt into his hands to help his grip and then, sprang up with both hands in the air. He nabbed the top branch and with a small grunt of effort, began to climb. He planned his route as he went, making sure he could easily climb back down when it came time to do so. He didn't want to have to be rescued like some idiot cat.

Once he'd climbed high enough, he peered down through the branches, his eyes narrowed as he tried to look for something, anything and then he smiled a bit and climbed back down. "The ground levels out a little bit in the direction we're traveling. I reckon if we just keep on walking past it, the ground will level out even more. We just don't want to go to far to the right, because there seems to be another drop off and the last thing we want is to fall down it." and he started to walk, making their trail with a cutting spell every few yards.

[lita]

one more day down these stairs, his room is cold now and it hurts like hell. he holds tight, he stares. it’s almost over and it’s running through his head. they don’t know me, they don’t know more than i show.

--------------------

Of course Lita felt bad about inflicting pain on Severus, seeing as he was already in enough pain already - but the wrapping needed to be done. She wasn't completely confident on her spell casting, and as such, she figured she may as well bring him to the nurses - they'd know what to do. Err, well. They could fix it properly. Lita knew what to do, just wasn't so... y'know. Confident. Surprisingly, Severus was rather mute during the wrapping - Lita assumed he was holding his breath and choking back moans of pain, due to his twitching every so often and tensing of his muscles.

When Severus began speaking, lowly so Lita had to nearly lean over him to hear, his words sank in, but the anger that was ever present in her was still flaming - the conclusion had only fueled the licks of flames, and Lita growled again, wanting to lash out at whatever was nearest. Nearest thing to her though was Severus' injured body... and she couldn't ever hurt Snape. Not ever. "Nasty little pukes." she grumbled, huffing an irritated sigh and picking at some dirt absently. It took a moment for Lita to click into the fact Genis was speaking again, as she had been so attentive to Snape, that when his statement about climbing trees was brought up, the girl nearly sneered. Instead, she swallowed back a scoff and threw on a concerned expression upon her features. "That might work..." Listening to Severus' mumbles, however, the girl only stroked his hair a little more before the plan was set to motion.

When they stood, Genis was already gone, climbing up one of the trees to check out the area with a birds eye view. "You be careful! I don't wanna drag you both out of here!" she barked, an almost strict motherly tone taking her as she wrapped an arm around Severus' waist, the other placing his own arm across her shoulders. "Don't be afraid to let some weight onto me. I'm stronger than I look." Lita offered a small smile at the tall, dark boy. Reaching up to grab onto his hand that was over her shoulder, taking the brunt of his weight so he didn't have to trouble himself too much. When Severus spoke again, the reasurring weakness that was Snape's tone had her sighing, and she just clutched the boy more steadily around the waist. Listening to Severus, the girl hardly hesitated to take a step in the direction he mentioned... however, Genis bounding towards them with news had her freezing.

Hearing of the ground leveling out ahead, sky blue's trained on Genis' face for a moment. Listening. Intently. Nodding, she followed Genis carefully, keeping her pace slow... but even. Severus was in no good condition - this much she knew. To force herself to stay cool and collected, Lita busied herself each time they stopped. Whenever they paused so Genis could mark their trail, Lita pulled twigs and leaves out of Severus' hair... brushed the dirt off him, checked on his bandages. Motherly care was something that came surprisingly natural to the blonde; especially over someone she really cared about.

--------------------

she’s walking up to him so slowly. it’s about time, it’s about time to fly away, but wait; this one is different cause she’s lonely. fold your wings, you’ll need them more one day.

---

TAG; severus snape and genis sage
NOTES; lita = not impressed
SONG MUSE; n/a yet.

[severus]

The walk through the forest wasn’t really that pleasing for Severus- it was pain in every damn step. Still, it seemed like they had found a good path and were making decent progress. With Genis bouncing around the trees and marking a trail for them, it seemed they could avoid getting hopelessly lost in the woods. Which was good- he had probably filled his ‘time in the Forbidden Forest’ quota for the month. For the year. Really, he didn’t need to go back into the Forbidden Forest ever again. It felt like he was going to be scared of the place after what had happened. Rolling down that hill had not pleased him, in the least.

He was just glad it was over.

Slowly, he moved with Lita, pretty much letting her dictate when they stopped and when they continued on their journey. Normally, he might not have liked someone fussing over him so much, cleaning him up and making sure he was doing alright, but in this situation it seemed more welcomed than displeasing. He was glad someone was there to help him along, as he knew he wouldn’t have been able to deal with the pain and find an escape route on his own. They had managed to lend him a big hand, which was both good and bad. Now he owed them. More Lita than anyone else, but still. How was he going to make for something like this?

During the trip, he didn’t have a lot to say, even though he knew he probably needed to thank them at some point, at least. Pain kept him from being especially talkative, the boy focusing more on putting one foot ahead of the other over anything else. If they needed some information from him, they weren’t going to get it.

He spent the majority of the time completely zoned out, though that was probably something to be expected given how much he was dealing with. Some small feeling of shock wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, was it?

Nope.

When they started to move up the best portion of hill they were going to find, Severus felt like his chest was going to explode. Moving at an incline, no matter how small of one, seemed to make everything a million times worse. Though he felt bad for it, he had to lean more against Lita than ever during that portion of the trip, more or less depending on her not dropping him in order to get by. It was probably pathetic that he needed so much of her help, but there was hardly anything he could do about it. The longer they took, the more he wanted to pass out, meaning the less his legs seemed willing to move. Even with the frequent stops to assess their position and give him a bit of a rest, he was lagging. It felt like he needed to just pass out and leave the rest of the journey to them. But he didn’t do that, of course, as that would have been very rude of him. Somehow, he managed to hold himself together to some degree.

The walk was long an exhausting, and it was very dark by the time the forest started to thin. The fact that it was indeed getting thinner, however, was more important to Severus than anything else. They were finally getting back towards the castle- he could even see it in the distance. Which was really just… fabulous. So fabulous, in fact, that the sense of relief that washed over him was somewhat over-powering.

“Ugh… Lita…” he grumbled, before his dizziness got the better of him and he stumbled beside her, collapsing forward to the floor. Since he was still with his arm around her, he was fairly certain he had probably dragged her to the floor right along with him, though everything went black too quickly for him to find out for sure.

He really needed the nap.

[geniskloitzsage]

He didn't very into the tree before Lita was calling up to him, frowning, Genis looked down and put a finger to his lips, then shook his head. The last thing they needed was for things to be attracted to all the noise and make trouble for them. Up and up....and up he went. As he scouted out the land, he searched his mind frantically for a solution to the problem. They were moving at a snail's pace and maybe.....if one of them was stronger, they could have carried Severus out of there instead of making him walk.

Once Genis was on the ground, he marked the trail again and then, things got even worse. He heard Severus mutter something, "Lita don't let him stop, use a spell to give him some water an-" But he heard a small rustling thud and turned to see both of them on the ground in the dirt and leaves. "Uh-oh." He muttered and hurried over, checking for a pulse again. He was still alive. That was good. But he was also out cold. That was bad.

"Can....you conjure up a stretcher?" He asked, his tone was a forced calm and as he looked Severus over he muttered, "Well look on the bright side Lita." he looked up at her with a wry smile, it was obvious he didn't really find any of it funny. "At least now we can move faster." and once a stretcher was created and levitated he headed off again, "Come on. We have to keep moving. Your boyfriend will be okay." He didn't say it in a mean tone or anything, it was just a matter-of-fact tone, he thought that Severus and Lita were together from the way Lita interacted with him.

As he moved he muttered, "See? The ground levels out here. Enough at least for us to hike up. It's kind of a good thing Severus passed out because in his condition.....I doubt he'd have been able to make it up the hill." And up he went, his short little legs moving quickly. It was a challenge, even for him without any injures at all, and his heart was pounding, sweat coating his forehead as he forced himself to keep moving. The hill was at a punishing angle and it was huge, but it was the fastest, safest way out of the forest and with a spell, the stretcher was kept level and high enough to prevent it hitting the ground, but low enough to keep Severus from injury should he roll off.

Once at the top of the hill, Genis stopped a bit and bent over with his hands on his knees, panting to catch his breath. He stayed like that for only about thirty seconds before he walked forward again. By the time they left the forest the grounds were empty and no one was in sight. "Ahh man....my sister is gonna kill me." He grumbled to himself and hurried toward the Hospital Wing.

He hesitated for a moment before heading in and then, Madam Pomfrey swooped down on them like a buzzard. She took over Severus and made them to sit down, for which Genis was grateful. As she checked over Severus, the boy looked to Lita ".....For not being boyfriend and girlfriend......and being 'just friends'" He said giving the girl a skeptical look, "You sure were quick to do the kinds of things girls do when they're more than friends with a boy their age." he smiled at her, "Don't worry. I won't tell Severus or anyone else about your crush on him." he laughed lightly and then, it was his turn to be administered to.

The Healer worked on the scrapes, bruises and small cuts he'd gotten from stumbling down the hill and climbing up the tree, scolding him for being so reckless and once she'd been assured Lita was alright, she went back to check on Severus. Genis blinked owlishly for a moment or two and then looked back at Lita "....You realize we're probably in trouble for going into the forest like idiots instead of going to get Professors like intelligent people right? That's going to be their logic, no matter what our story is." he whispered, "So. We either have to think of a lie real quick and hope we don't blow it or tell the truth and take whatever punishment might come our way."