Even Through Sleep
Seven years passed in relative quiet. There was no new Dark Lords, as of yet. Every witch and wizard was reluctant to take up that position. Especially with one Harry Potter, savior of the Wizarding World, still around to defend its great nation. That didn't stop the dark wizards from plotting and refining their technique. Many still tried to kill the savior, but none were brave enough. None but one soul full Wizard, and here is where our journey begins.
There was a man, in a white room. Many knew this man. Few liked him, majority feared him, some hated him. But he was a man nonetheless. A good man. A man who had fought in the war. A man who went to great lengths to retain his position as double agent. But that was not all. He was a hero in his own right. A conquerer; a saviour. He was none other than Severus Snape. Sadly, Snape had been in a coma for a little over three years. His godson, Draco Malfoy, had found him in the Shrieking Shack, bloody and unconscious. It was rumored that a great snake had decided that Snape was for lunch and tore out a section of his throat. No one questioned why the snake was only hungry for a portion of the man's throat, or why nary a scar was on the rest of the man's body.
They just went with the gossip and decided that it must be accurate; after all, the 'Daily Prophet' itself reported it, and 'Rita Skeeter' never lied. And so the world went about its business. The few sent roses to Snape's hospital room. No one visited, but there were pictures sent, and newspaper clippings, and even panties from women with names on them. Snape would scoff big time when he saw this trash, but for now, they sat at his bedside. None of that was enough to bring the once dour man from his coma. It wasn't even enough to bring him back to a semi awareness. No, that spot was reserved to this insistent tugging the unconscious man felt somewhere in his consciousness. The first time it happened, it was only a little tugging that sprung up at random times of the 'day'.
Over time, however, it had become insistent. It was like this little nagging feeling. Sort of like that feeling you get when you think you left the burner on. It made Severus' paradise look nothing more than a sham of rippling water and he growled in frustration. This was a nice place and he liked it. He had decided that after everything he had done for the war, and after all the sacrifice he had made, he deserved to live in peace. He had decided a long time ago that this would be his paradise. With the blue of the ocean so deep, they reminded him of rain, and trees so tall they made him feel short in comparison. But even as he gazed at his paradise, Even as he watched the birds fly by on this beautiful 'day' he knew that after seven years; seven long years, he knew that it was finally time to get up. And begrudgingly, the unacknowledged hero opened his eyes.
After seven long years.
The sight that greeted him, mad the old sneer paste back to his face. Nurses rushed around, dividing them self between him and another patient in another room with which Severus had no care. Not once and surely not a dozen times had he heard a nurse say, "It must be fate, for him to have woken at a time like this." It wasn't the first time that a nurse said they were glad for his awakening, for 'he' needed Severus. It wouldn't be the last time he heard someone mutter about being so close for him to be asleep, being so close to pulling the plug. No one found it weird that Severus woke straight up, after four years of four years of nothing but stillness. Not even a twitch. So Severus ignored them all.
Even this 'him' everyone spoke of often. At first, no one would let him up. No one would let him move or use the loo. No one would let him breathe. But that insistent tugging on his nerves was steadily driving him mad. He needed to know what it was. Why it was there. He finally got his chance when an alarm sounded and doctors and nurses from every part of the hospital ran to the room across from his. Severus quietly slipped out of bed, intent on finding where this annoying tugging was coming from. He was surprised when the tugging lead him to the room across from him. The room that many a doctor and nurse were in. He peeked past then to the still figure, he watched as every healing charm and spell in the book was fired at someone in the bed repeatedly. Severus shook his head, realizing that with this level of incompetence, he must be in St. Mungo's.
With a high level of irritation, Severus headed back to his room, never noticing how the tugging stopped when he entered, or restarted when he left, that room. Several days passed and the tugging came back. More urgent somehow, and he was out of the bed before he could think. He ignored the protests of the witch, who was currently his nurse maid in this understaffed sorry excuse for a magical hospital, and made his way to where the tugging was leading him. Paying attention today he noticed that as soon as he entered this room the tugging stopped.
Curious.
He felt as if he needed to be here. His nursemaid trailed behind him as he peered into the bed only to stumble back in shock. Harry potter laid on this bed. He was as pail as stone, and his breaths were ragged and shallow. It looked like he hadn't seen the sun in years, and he was unnaturally thin. Severus wondered if these incompetent fools forget to feed there patient and nearly spelled some into him when his nurse maid suddenly cried out.
"Don't hex him. He's ill. He's been in St. Mundo's for a month, fighting off the poison. Please, don't hex him."
Severus stared at this woman incredulous. What did the stupid chit take him for? A fool? Severus merely arched his eyebrow, resisting the urge to lean against the wall for his tired limps as he said as calmly as he could.
"I wasn't going to hex him, you bint , I was going to spell some food into him."
The woman flushed at the insult before huffing indignantly.
"You can't. He'll just throw it all up and what ever potion the doctor supplies to heal him."
Severus arched an eyebrow.
"Poison you say," he muttered while reaching into his robes.
The witch nodded and Severus pulled out a vial of ember looking liquid, questioning the stupidity of the witch/wizard who didn't search his robes. The nurse maid cried out as Severus uncorked the lid and dumped it into Potter's open mouth. The man sputtered for half a second before breathing normally. Not that ragged breathing of before, but normally. Slowly the color he had been losing bled back into his face, and the witch cried out when Potter heaved a deep breath and sprang up from the bed. She scrambled out of the room, forgetting Severus and her duty to him in favor of Harry Potter. 'Figures,' Severus scoffed. After about a moment, Harry regained his barrings and looked Snape square in the eye.
"I knew you'd save me," Potter said with a smile.
"It seems Mr. Potter, that even through the beyond I shall be here to save you."
"Nah," Harry replied, "You were just asleep."
"Even through sleep then," Severus amended.
"How did you know that potion was good?"
Snape gave him that look, with which spoke of an illiterate child.
"I didn't," he said simply.
Before Potter could reply, a swarm of doctors and nurses alike piled into the room. While they fussed over Potter, Severus made his leave. Slipping back into the hospital bed. The tugging was gone, but a new one called, and he slipped back into 'Dreamland.'
The End