Disclaimer : The work « Harry Potter », along with all of the characters and terms (magical or other) of this universe are the exclusive property of JK Rowling. I don't earn any money. I'm only having fun!

A/N: Big thanks to Tentainokonton for the english translation! hug hug 3

Chapter 1 : Life is a long, nightmarish river

Despite his closed eyes, Severus could feel that the light was too strong. Eyelids closed resolutely, the last thing he wished to do was open them. The pain behind his eyes and his pounding temples didn't allow him any respite, and he asked himself if he had been hit or if this could be the consequences of a secret torture Voldemort had, or just another explosion in the Potions room. After all, this wasn't the first time! After the catastrophe that was Neville Longbottom, nothing could surprise him anymore.

But strangely, he didn't remember anything at all

Besides reflecting on that and despising the insufferable hammering in his head he didn't know much about where he was. If he was in his bed, or if he wasn't…and if he wasn't, he didn't know where he was laying, if anywhere.

After a few long moments of intense concentration, some pictures formed in his mind.

The last thing he remembered was being seated behind his desk, in his class, correcting parchments lacking any sort of intelligence even though his second year students were preparing the simplest potion. Even a house elf would have been able to do it!

But then? Nothing more.

Despite the fact that his body cried for him not to stir, he opened his eyes. The sharp light violently pierced his dilating black pupils while a strong rush of blood ran its way through his veins to his brain. His metabolism had difficulty in regulating the small physical issues at hand and he found himself in groaning in pain.

He instantaneously fell backward, feeling something fleshy soften his fall as he attempted to control his jerked breathing. This couldn't get any worse!

He raised his arms—why did they feel like they weighed a ton?—and planted his hands against his burning face to reassure himself. His last memory was definitely that of his class, because if he were near the Dark Lord, he would not have been able to move. He had blocked it enough times to know the difference.

Suddenly he felt something warm press against his shoulders, and his muscles twitched reflexively. He knew right away that they were hands, soft and comforting, without the slightest bit of hostility. The touch changed to a gentle, nearly unnoticeable friction.

"Severus?" said a voice. "Don't worry. Everything's okay now."

Madame Pomfrey?

"I turned the light above your bed in the other direction. You can try to open your eyes now."

The Potions master didn't move, feeling inexplicably embarrassed, and wished that the Hogwarts nurse thought him still asleep. It appeared to him that his reaction wasn't entirely thought through, but he didn't have a way to change it.

"Oh! I really thought that you were going to wake up this time. Merlin! It's been too long…I'm starting to worry, here."

Oh. If Madame Pomfrey was worrying about him, then meant that he must have been in a really bad state, and that made things better. He decided to slowly open his eyes, noting with relief that he was no longer bothered by the light that was floating above his bed. He stirred slightly, and the hands on his shoulders stopped moving before quickly removing themselves.

"Severus?"

Opening his eyes some more, he didn't have to take more than a second to notice that he was in the Hogwarts infirmary. He turned his head a bit and saw that it wasn't Madame Pomfrey but one of her assistants seated in a chair nearby. The worry that was apparent on her face had overtaken the comfort.

"Who…?" said Snape in a raucous voice.

"Severus."

He raised a brow questioningly, intent on finding out more but before he could say anything she asked him:

"How do you feel?"

Before replying, he remarked the pain in his head, his aversion to the light, and thus a brief feeling of nausea fluttered through his heart. He responded:

"As if I had been drinking and that I'm too old for this sort of thing…"

"I imagine. But don't be too hard on yourself! You're in the primetime of your life, my dear Severus."

"What happened?"

"Well, there was a deflagration during one of your classes. We don't know exactly what happened just yet but one of the cauldrons you were preparing exploded. You got into the mindset of protecting the students before sending them outside of your class…and then you took the explosion and were injured."

It was strange. He didn't remember anything at all! Had he made an error during his preparation? Impossible! He never made those. One of those snotty-nosed little brats must have put something in it while it…

"None of your students were injured. You were extremely brave. You're a hero! I—"

"Miss Aymard!" Madam Pomfrey cut in, sounding irritated. She made the poor young girl jump. "I had asked you expressly to alert me the minute Snape woke up. It's standard procedure, you know it."

It was rare to see Pomfrey so irritated and he watched the young girl fidgeted in her chair, avoiding crossing the stern look of the head nurse. She didn't get up, though. Severus' head didn't really appreciate the volume of her voice; he was under the belief that everything resonated inside, and he failed to jump in surprise when Pomfrey nearly attacked her poor assistant in order to put her back on the sidelines.

"I…I'm…going to see the little girl who fell from her brush this morning."

"She's over there. Go do it, then," Pomfrey replied in a cold tone. Icy, even.

What's going on ?

Perplexed, Snape raised his head, but it was pushed back by a firm hand on his pillow.

"You know," she continued in the same tone, "you would do well to also clean and arrange the reserve. That'll keep you occupied for a few hours."

The Potions master wasn't an expert when it came to the way Pomfrey spoke to her helpers, but it appeared to him that she had never used such an icy tone. Usually, she was patient and of a rather exemplary gentleness that she showed to every one of her patients, or to the persons that came in. But that…

He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that she didn't seem to stop being fidgety around him: fluffing up his pillow; continuing to rub his chest with a cloth; asking him if everything was to his convenience. He noticed her round cheeks were slightly pink, and something intrigued him.

"Tell me, how long have I been in here? Let me guess: a month? A year? Longer? I'm anguished? Or is it something else? Don't tell me that the Boy Who Lived came to visit me?"

"My dear friend, what are you saying?" said Pomfrey, running a hand through his jet-black hair.

Hang on a moment. They smelled much like the wild lilies of the valley. The wild lilies of the valley?

At that moment, Severus knew that something wasn't right. Never had Madame Pomfrey involved herself in the personal life of her patients, and she wasn't going to do that now.

He blinked eyes stupidly while Pomfrey continued to smooth its hair, and then started to caress the side of his face, going down slowly towards his neck as if she was taking his pulse. The only problem was that he knew the procedure well, i.e. he was placed under magic control and something inside of him warned him that this wasn't right.

He felt like an animal taken to a trap and he didn't like that.

"I think that I can go back to the dungeons now," he barked. "I'm fine!"

"Severus," Pomfrey murmured, moving closer to him, "the tests that you underwent were normal, but there's just a little thing that bothers me and I'd prefer it if you stayed in the infirmary tonight."

Oh no ! He surely wasn't going to stay there! Staying meant that he was in a much more dangerous area, if he interpreted the signs well enough. It was worse to be put under Crucio or to jump into a volcano. He wasn't going to sit here and be molested by this old bat and not do anything!

"But you said that everything was all right!"

"That's true, but I would prefer it if I could keep an eye on you for a bit longer."

Apparently not. His headache had become the least of his worries right now. His biggest concern was to avoid those curious fingers that were going all over the place on his body. Ugh. He had never felt so humiliated in his life!

After a few twists and turns he found himself on the other side of the bed, still facing Pomfrey. Rectifying himself, he had noticed that he was showing the behavior that one gave to patients in hospitals, and he didn't dare imagine the look she would give if she saw his bare back, or even his butt.

Merlin's beard! He was really going to be sick if this nonsense continued.

No. He was exaggerating. Madame Pomfrey wasn't like that. Maybe he wasn't well? Who knew what the potion had done to him? Without a doubt, hallucinations had to be one of the symptoms of this unfortunate accident.

But he couldn't prevent himself from shuddering in spite of everything, not with the threat that her hands represented.

"Madame Pomfrey…oh, is he awake?"

Saved by Dumbledore!

"How do you feel, my little Severus?" the Headmaster of Hogwarts asked.

"He surely tell you that he's find but I have my doubts."

Oh no! Not again ! He needed to make Dumbledore understand that he was fine, before she could say something that would make him have to stay in the infirmary another night. He couldn't handle it!

A daring hand on his thigh interrupted his thoughts, and he felt a wave of panic flush over him. It was true that it had been a long time since he had practiced playing the game of seduction in any form, but he couldn't be mistaken. Pomfrey wanted to have her way with him. Right here and now, and in public nonetheless. In front of Albus Dumbledore!

He repressed the feelings of despair in his throat. But his efforts were disturbed by the intrepid nearly caressing his illustrious Snape family jewels.

Who knew how long he had been lying there at her mercy? He became pale as a sheet, and then red as a tomato, at the thought.

"You see?" Pomfrey said, removing her hand and placing it on the center of the bed. Snape awaited another assault but luckily, it didn't come. "He's still weak. I'd like to keep him here a bit longer and limit his number of visitors."

"Let's see, Poppy…this boy appears quite healthy to me!"

Surprised, Severus looked at Dumbledore who, he noted, had a bit of color in his cheeks.

"You know, I find that he's quite well. I haven't seen him like this in a long time. He looks well rested, full of energy! Now, I'd like you to release him immediately so that I can take him to my office so that he can tell me what happened this morning."

Relieved, Snape laid back down and said, "You see? You're the only one who thinks I'm still ill."

Pomfrey appeared quite irritated, hesitating before turning herself toward the Headmaster in a very stiff way. He could see that her look had changed completely. He was surprised to see her warm and friendly eyes transform into a look of which a cold predator had.

Oh no.

"All right, Albus. But only if Severus really wishes."

Turning herself in his direction, she leaned forward and placed a gentle hand upon his face, while her facial expression relaxed into a smile. She murmured to him: "Don't go too far, Severus. I'm counting on you. If not…"

What in the devil was going on here?

The Potions Master watched Madam Pomfrey move away in a manner similar to a rolling gait, giving Dumbledore a dark look. She didn't walk like that normally…her backside moved from side to side in a sensual manner. He had escaped it!

Or maybe not! Ugh. He didn't know for sure if she had profited from his unconsciousness. And if that were the case, and he remembered, he would make himself suffer from the same sort of memory loss of that imbecile Lockhart, if only so he would forget this horrible moment for the rest of his life. It was humiliating. Shameful. Perverse and without an equal. And humiliating! …He was being repetitive, wasn't he?

"Thank you, Albus," Severus said, exhaling sharply.

"It's nothing my boy," Dumbledore whispered close to Severus' ear.

He was so close to him that he started some. He hadn't been paying attention to his relief. The old wizard had taken Pomfrey's place, and he tightened his hand on Severus' shoulder sympathetically. Then he tapped the spot before rubbing it gently.

"Nothing at all," he replied in a more profound voice.

He caressed his shoulder! He caressed his shoulder! And he hadn't done it in the manner of a father or a friend. This wasn't possible. Albus would never dare to have such a misplaced gesture…right?

Not wanting to believe it at all, Severus decided to take the bull by the horns and shot his glance in Dumbledore's direction.

It faded when he noticed that their faces weren't but a few centimeters apart. But the final blow had been struck almost violently when he noticed the small glare of lubricity in Dumbledore's pupils.

I'm dreaming! Severus told himself. Dumbledore has a lubricous look in his eyes…

And that glare intensified so much that he didn't know where to put himself. Where was the savior when one needed him, hmm?

The hand on his shoulder moved and threaded under the nightshirt. He shuddered violently at the contact of their skin and recoiled while nausea invaded his insides.

The old coot wouldn't dare!

"Albus?" stuttered Snape.

He knew he was going to weaken if the old crouton continued to touch him like that!

"Severus," Dumbledore murmured excitedly with a small half smile, his wrinkled lips approaching dangerously close to Snape's. "Don't play the startled virgin…"

NOOOOOO!

TO BE CONTINUED