Potions Master in Need

Severus woke up in the middle of the night, freezing.

'Why on earth is it this cold tonight?' he mused, throwing a warming spell on his bed. He turned around trying to fall asleep again but failed to do so.

After a while sweat started to build up all over his body and he cursed about the obviously misdirected warming spell removing it right away. Unable to find a comfortable spot in his bed which was neither to warm nor to cold, he kept tossing and turning around for a few more hours until his alarm went off and it was time for him to get up. Reluctant to leave his bed since he was still awfully tired, he slowly sat up at the edge of his bed only to note that a nagging ache had built up in his head.

Longing for a headache potion he quickly got up regretting it instantly as a bout of dizziness overcame him. With short, slow shuffling steps he made his way into his living room carefully looking around for any signs suggesting that he just had a little too much fire-whiskey the night before and just had forgotten about it. But he couldn't find an empty glass standing around and the bottle on his shelf still looked untouched. So with a short detour to his private lab where he quickly downed a headache potion, he slowly made his way into the bathroom to have a hot shower.

Both did not have the expected effect. A glance into the mirror reflecting an even paler than usual version of himself that looked oddly ill. He fiercely tried to figure out what possibly could be wrong with, him re-evaluating the past few days…

Four days ago Minerva had collapsed right after the staff meeting with a very high fever caused by the wizards-flu. She had not been feeling well for a few days, but she knew that Poppy was looking forward to a two week healer seminar to gather some additional skills and to meet some old friends and colleagues. If Poppy had found out that Minerva was ill she would not have left. So Minerva had hidden her illness until Poppy had left, to avoid her friend staying and fussing over her. When Minerva finally had collapsed, Poppy was already gone and Severus had taken over the hospital wing while she was away. He had sent Minerva to bed right away and as soon as he diagnosed the wizards-flu he had started brewing potions; the flu-potion for Minerva as well as an antidote for the students and staff to prevent everybody else from getting sick as well. The house-elves had mixed the antidote into the pumpkin juice that was served with dinner that night and the headmaster had ordered everybody to drink at least a full glass of it.

For the past four days Severus had been looking after a very ill Minerva trying to get her fever down and to make sure she took her potions on time. Yesterday afternoon her fever had finally broken and he had allowed Pomona Sprout to take over the hospital wing for the night so he could catch up on some sleep.

Still contemplating about his reflections in the mirror and the fact that he did not feel well at all, Severus tried to figure out what exactly was wrong with him.

'Maybe I caught a cold somehow…?' he mused. This would explain the headache and the sore throat he had. On the other hand he felt that the fever he was obviously running, causing his head to spin and his muscles to ache, was too high for a simple cold and was more the sign of the flu.

'But how did I catch the flu despite the antidote?' he pondered, when it suddenly dawned to him, that he had been too busy trying to bring Minerva's temperature down, that he had not attended dinner that night and had missed out on the pumpkin juice with the antidote and had completely forgotten to take it otherwise.

And now, he had to pay for his forgetfulness. He had gotten himself the flu from Minerva. He started to panic.

'Albus will scold me, if he finds out, as he always pesters me about not taking enough care of myself…and Minerva will too. Not to mention Poppy when she comes back…What for heaven's sake can I do?'

Then a plan slowly started to develop in his mind. If he just took the flu potion he had brewed for Minerva as well as pepper-up potion and fever reducers he should be able to get over it in a few days. In the meantime he would just throw concealing charms on himself and try to get as much rest as possible. Since it was already Friday he would just need to get through today's classes and he would excuse himself for tonight and the weekend pretending he had to brew some really important potions. This should do the trick and nobody should notice how bad he actually felt.

So he threw a charm on him, that would make him look healthy but just a little tired, which could be explained by taking care of a sick Minerva and fitting his slower mind better than being perfectly healthy. Then he added charms masking his scratchy voice as well as the coughing that just had started. These charms would also take care of any stuffiness and sneezing in case they would occur. The last charm he threw on himself was a cooling charm so nobody would notice the fever he was running.

Severus wasn't hungry at all so he decided to skip breakfast and just do a quick check on Minerva before heading for his first morning class. Minerva was doing a lot better. Her temperature had come down nicely and Severus promised to release her to her own quarters later that day if the temperature did not rise again till then.

xx

His first morning class passed uneventful. He sat down at the teacher's desk pretending to grade essays while the class was brewing a rather simple potion which was unlikely to be blown up even by the worst dunderheads. During the second morning class he had to leave his desk several times to prevent cauldrons from getting blown up and potions spluttering all over the students. Every minute he had to spend concentrating on these events and not sitting at the desk made him feel worse. At lunch time he just felt awful and decided to take a quick nap until afternoon classes started. He set the alarm and went to bed, sighting in relief when his aching head hit the pillow.

When the alarm pulled him from his fitful sleep, he groaned and pulled all his strength together to get out of bed. He downed another round of potions and slowly dragged himself into the potions classroom after making sure he put up all his charms again.

The potions kicked in and the first afternoon class passed almost as quiet as the first class in the morning. However, he felt a lot worse than he had felt then. His head was throbbing, his throat felt like it was set on fire, breathing hurt his chest and the world around him seemed to be moving.

'One more class and I'll be able to lie down peacefully in my quarters and sleep this thing off for the next 60 hours…' Severus tried to encourage himself to hang on.

As soon as the students for his last afternoon class entered the class room he groaned inwardly, realizing that it was the class around Potter and Longbottom.

'These two dunderheads almost always manage to blow up their cauldrons…please let this lesson be an exception!' he pleaded silently.

The class started brewing a very easy potion while Severus sat at his desk, pretending to be grading essays again. But sure enough, after a while Harry's potion started to hiss angrily and grey smoke escaped from the cauldron. Thankfully Hermione was quick enough to throw a stasis charm on Harry's cauldron preventing it from exploding. Severus shot up from his place behind the teacher's desk and strode over to Harry, menacingly glaring at him, before he took off ten points from Gryffindor for Harry's carelessness. He just finished scolding, when Neville's cauldron exploded with a big bang all over Neville and the students around him. Severus turned around and continued his rant now taking fifty points off Gryffindor for Neville being such a dunderhead, as he voiced it. With a flick of his wand he cleaned up the mess, being glad he had chosen a healing salve for brewing which would not harm the students even if it exploded all over them.

Finally, Severus turned around again and strode, as fast as possible, with robes angrily billowing behind him, back to his desk. However, an increasing dizziness, caused by an again rising temperature, made Severus sway a little as it felt for him like the room was spinning and the floor was made from cotton wool. Steadying himself by holding on to the desk he had already reached, he was hoping that the little swaying had gone unnoticed by the students. He quickly turned around and released the students five minutes early with the most menacing glare he could still muster.

While the students left the room, he did not dare to move, as he felt more and more lightheaded and was afraid he would just faint in front of them when he tried to change his position only the slightest bit. As soon as the last student had left the room he closed and locked the door with a flick of his wand, before he let himself sink to the floor. He just felt like dying. With the last bit of strength he summoned a fever reducer from his private lab, downed it and lost consciousness for a few minutes. When the effect of the potion finally kicked in he slowly got up, dragged himself to his private lab to down another round of the other potions as well, before heading to the infirmary to check up on Minerva one last time, before he could finally allow himself to fall into his bed and to sleep off this damned flu.

However, his plans should not quite work out as he was hoping.

xx

His swaying in class in deed had been noticed – by no one else than Neville Longbottom. The reason why he had blown up his potion was that he was observing his professor who was just not himself today. Neville had noticed that Severus never turned a page of the essays he pretended to be grading, and continued to observe the teacher pretty closely. Therefore, he saw the swaying and was wondering if the professor was sick, even if he just looked a little tired. And the fact that Professor Snape had only taken house-points for Harry's and his lack of brewing skills and had not imposed detention for the two of them, as he usually did, had added to his suspicions.

Since Madame Pomfrey was not around and his Head-of-house was in the infirmary with the flu Neville turned to the one professor he knew he could completely trust and report his concerns to – Professor Sprout.

Neville hesitantly knocked at her door and was called in immediately. Once the professor saw the concern laced with a little bit of fear, she kindly asked Neville about the reason for his visit. When Neville told her about potions class and the observations he had made, she thought back to the morning, when she saw Severus as he checked on Minerva.

'He did look tired but not ill…' she mused, but also remembered that Severus did not like to be fussed over and usually did everything possible to hide any kind of weakness, as he usually phrases it.

Alarmed, she promised Neville that she would check on Professor Snape. Assuming that he would check on Minerva once more, since he had promised her this morning to release her from the infirmary, she went straight to the hospital wing and found her assumption to be the case. Severus just finished casting his diagnostic spells on Minerva and allowed her to relocate to her own quarters, if she promised to stay in bed for at least another 24 more hours and only start working again after her temperature was back to normal for an entire day. Minerva eagerly promised and left through the flo for her quarters.

Severus turned around to Pomona.

"What can I do for you, Pomona?" he asked qietly.

"You could tell me what's wrong with you…" she suggested softly.

Severus gave her a puzzled look and Pomona continued "You look pretty tired and I was informed that you seemed not to be yourself today. You would tell me if you were sick and you wouldn't hide it; would you Severus?"

"I assure you, I'm fine Pomona! I'm just a little exhausted from taking care of Minerva and brewing a lot of potions! If you would excuse me now, I'll retire to my quarters to brew another potion and then have a good night's sleep now that Minerva is feeling better…"

He tried to emphasize his words by turning around quickly and striding out the door with strong steps, but failed awfully to do so. Turning around quickly made him so dizzy that he had to hold on the bed right next to him to not fall over. Pomona was at his side in a blink to steady him as well, but he shook off her hand.

"Leave me alone! I'm fine!"

"I can see how fine you are…" Pomona snorted.

She raised a hand to feel his forehead for a fever. For a moment Severus thought about to swat her hand away, but as he remembered that, due to the cooling charm, his face would not feel hot and feverish, he let her continue, hoping she would let him go when she could convince herself, that he did not run a temperature. However, this made Pomona even more suspicious. He never let someone feel his forehead willingly.

"Are you happy now, Pomona?" he asked sheepishly. "If you are…then I would like to retreat to my quarters!" With that he tried again to pass her and leave the infirmary, swaying again, as another wave of dizziness overcame him.

"No, I'm not happy, Severus!" Pomona told him sternly, while she pushed him down on the bed which was pretty easy as Severus had not much strength left to prevent it. This was the final hint for Pomona that Severus was really ill. She looked at him apologetic and whispered a soft "I'm sorry, Severus!" before she waved her wand at threw a "Finite Incantatem!" at him, reveling a very ill looking Severus.

Pomona gasped at the sight and gently pushed Severus down into a lying position quickly exchanging his robes with a soft pyjama before gently tucking him in. Severus just didn't care anymore. He felt way to exhausted and worn out. His entire body was aching and the soft bed was what he was longing for all day. When Pomona finally produced a thermometer sticking it under his tongue, he was almost asleep. He didn't even notice her frown, when she took the thermometer back, noticing that his temperature almost reached 41°C (105°F).

When she conjured a cool cloth and started bathing his burning forehead, he mumbled a hardly audible "Thanks!" before he succumbed to a much needed sleep. Pomona adjusted the cool cloth to his forehead, softly stroke his hot cheek, whispered a warm "You're welcome, Severus!" and started to ponder, while she was watching his peaceful sleeping form, if she should ever tell him that it was Neville Longbottom of all students who alerted her of him being in need of help…

The End

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This is my first fanfiction ever. I originally wrote it for Healer Pomfrey when she was very sick. It is sort of inspired by her February writing challenge.

Before I forget...Disclaimer: I own none of the characters and just loved borrowing them to carefully play with them before safely putting them back.

I'd love to hear your comments on this story, especially since it is my first and English is not my native language.