Severus' and Harry's Family Experience
by Healer Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC! sick!Harry, sick!Severus
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you so much for your kind reviews!
"Ah, I'll go immediately. I just wanted..."
"And that probably was just enough," Poppy returned in an extremely upset voice. "Albus, you will Floo back into your office immediately, and you will remain in your office or your private quarters until I tell you otherwise. Is that completely clear?"
"Yes, Poppy," Albus replied obediently, his eyes not void of their usual twinkle yet. "I can talk over the fireplace to anyone, can't I?"
"Yes," Poppy answered icily, and the headmaster retreated to his office.
"He still doesn't believe it," Severus chuckled, causing Harry to groan.
"How could he be so stupid?" he wondered aloud, joining Severus' laughter.
"Well, fortunately, he doesn't have the antidote for the scarlet fever in his reach," Poppy replied, shaking her head, causing the other two to laugh even more.
"I'll tell you now that he will get lonely and bored and will visit us at least once a day," Severus groaned, ending up in a coughing fit.
"I will keep him in bed," the healer promised and proceeded to check on Harry. "Well, I couldn't have expected you to get any better by now, could I?" she mumbled more to herself than to Harry, while she applied the healing cream to his mouth, ignoring that he was trying to push her arm away with both hands.
When Poppy was finished looking after Severus, she threw both patients a stern glare. "I knew that it was important that you vanquished Voldemort, but from this instant onwards, I will not allow you out of bed until you're completely recovered. All right then, good night, Harry, Severus."
"Good night, Madam Pomfrey, and thanks for everything."
"Good night, Poppy."
HP
Harry and Severus both fell asleep quickly; however, they kept waking up frequently due to their cough or accidental bites on the pox, which hurt immensely. At midnight, Harry woke up feeling so awake that he just couldn't go back to sleep. "Dad, are you awake?" he whispered after Severus let out a few harsh coughs, wincing at the pain they caused.
"Yes, Harry, what's wrong?" Severus asked in concern.
"I can't sleep. Can we play chess?"
"Chess? Didn't you listen to what Madam Pomfrey said? You mustn't get up."
Harry groaned. "And why not? It's a bit over midnight, and Madam Pomfrey will be peacefully asleep by now."
"Ah, I'm not so sure," Severus replied, "but well, I don't mind playing chess. Let's do it at the table over there."
Severus sat on the bed and Harry on the chair, watching astonished as his father waved his wand over the chess set. "Dad, what are you doing?" he asked curiously.
"That was merely a spell to make the chess set invisible to everyone except us. So in case Poppy came, she would only see us sitting here but wouldn't know what we were doing."
Harry couldn't help chuckling at the thought of Poppy watching them sitting in front of an empty table talking to the table. "She won't come at that time of the night anyway," he said calmingly, before he ordered a pawn to make the first move.
Half an hour later, Harry just realized that he was going to lose again, when they heard the fireplace flare, announcing that Poppy would arrive shortly. "Put everything down and hurry into bed," Severus hissed to Harry, and mere seconds later both Snapes were lying in bed, feigning to be fast asleep.
Shortly later, Poppy quietly bustled into the room and quickly waved her wand over one after the other, before she spelled a potion into Harry and silently left the room.
Harry couldn't help giggling as soon as he heard the fireplace flare to announce that Poppy was departing.
"All right, shall we continue?" Severus suggested tiredly.
"Um... I'm losing anyway, but yes, why not?" Harry chuckled and the two took their positions at the table once more.
Ten minutes later, the game was over. "Can we play once more?" Harry asked eagerly.
"No Harry, I'm sorry, but I'd prefer to lie down; I'm a bit dizzy," Severus replied and returned to his bed.
"Do you want to sleep, or shall we play something here then?" Harry asked, still feeling wide awake.
"I know something that we can play," Severus replied thoughtfully. "Let's do a Potions quiz. You may begin if you wish."
Harry nearly choked when he asked back, terrified, "A Potions quiz?" He raised both eyebrows, giving Severus an unbelieving look.
"Well, you have your Potions OWLs in six months; so the idea is not too absurd now, is it?" Severus croaked, smirking.
"It is," Harry groaned. "You know that I love Potions, but I'm sick and it's two o'clock in the morning. Can't you think of anything better than a Potions quiz?" He whined, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that he had a terrible headache.
"The only other things to do I can think of is to sleep or to take a headache potion," Severus gave back in an equally whiny voice.
"Ah, that's a good idea, the headache potion I mean. And then I promise I'll try to sleep again."
Severus summoned two phials from his potions lab, glad that he had left all the doors ajar, and both of them sighed in relief when the potion took effect. "Maybe playing chess was not the best idea," Severus mumbled when he drifted off to a light slumber, not knowing that it would be disturbed several times by his adoptive son, who just couldn't sleep.
HP
In the morning, Poppy threw a temper tantrum, seeing that Harry's fever kept climbing up in spite of the fever reducer she had given him in the middle of the night. Unbeknownst to the boy, she gave him a sleeping potion, before she told Severus, "Your pox have stopped getting worse. Therefore, I expect that you'll slowly begin to feel better during the next few days. However, Harry is still getting worse. Well, his case seems to be worse than yours."
"Does this have something to do with the fact that he hasn't reached his magical majority yet, and his magic can't help him in a way like mine can help me?"
Poppy remained thoughtful for a moment, before she slowly replied, "I don't think so. His general condition is worse than yours, probably due to his upbringing at the Dursleys until last year. Remember, when you were both de-aged, he was ill for a much longer time than you."
"Is there anything I can do for him?" Severus enquired, giving the healer a hopeful look.
"Nothing that you're not already doing anyway, Severus," she replied gently, before she ordered him to use the time while Harry was asleep to get some rest as well. "Who knows what ideas he might get once he is awake again?" she mused aloud, causing Severus to wonder if he should laugh or groan in anticipation.
Knowing that Harry would be out for at least four hours, he decided to simply obey and closed his eyes. However, when he was just drifting off to sleep, he heard the fireplace flare, announcing that Albus Dumbledore would be coming over seconds later. Suddenly wide awake, a terribly annoyed expression on his face, he quickly reached for his wand and summoned another potion from his private lab.
Severus hurriedly gulped down the sleeping potion, and when the headmaster entered his bedroom a minute later, he had already joined his son in the land of dreams.
Seeing that Severus and Harry were asleep, Albus made himself comfortable at the table conjuring a cup of tea and a small bowl of lemon drops, placing both on the table. Unfortunately, the cup just came to sit on top of the pawns that had magically placed themselves back into their original position for the next game. Albus quickly scourgified the table from the tea that was leaking out of the cup, which had fallen sideward on the table. 'Something's strange with that table,' Albus mused. 'There must be something on it, which is invisible.' Fortunately, he was alert enough to remember where he was and didn't raise his wand to cancel the spell.
Absentmindedly, he unwrapped a lemon drop and popped it into his mouth, letting out a huge gasp as he noticed how much the sour sweet hurt the pox that were already spreading all over his mouth and throat. He quickly swallowed the drop, nearly choking on it, before he ended up in a coughing fit. Suddenly feeling very exhausted and feverish, he decided to head back to his own quarters and go back to bed. Glancing over to the two Snapes, he wondered how they could sleep so well in spite of being so ill. 'Well, they are very young,' he mused, quickly leaving the room, deciding to come back later when Severus and Harry would be awake.
HP
Harry woke up in the early afternoon, noticing that his father seemed to be fast asleep and that something was placed on the chess board. 'What's that?' he mused, lazily reaching out for his glasses, before he scrambled out of bed and walked around the bed to the small table. 'Lemon drops!' he realised, horrified. 'That means Dumbledore was here.'
An instant later Poppy walked into the room, after the charm she had placed on Harry had alerted her to the fact that he had woken up. "What do you think you're doing, Harry?" she asked sternly, seeing that he was not in his bed where he had to be.
"I'm sorry, Madam Pomfrey. I just woke up and saw that something was on the table; so I wanted to see what it was. Lemon drops," he grinned, pointing to the bowl of sweets. "I guess Professor Dumbledore paid my father a visit, while I was asleep."
"Your guess is probably correct," Poppy agreed grimly. "He should know better than to suck lemon drops in his condition, but I suppose he'll realize soon." She quickly checked on Harry, spelled the potions into his stomach, and told him sternly, "Harry, I cannot give you any more sleeping potions until tomorrow. However, your condition is still much worse than it should be, and I really need you to rest. Please stay in bed and try to get some more sleep." Not wanting to wake the older Snape up for his healing salve, she quickly placed an alert on Severus in order to return as soon as he woke up, before she left the room.
Harry obediently tried to sleep some more; however, he soon noticed that it was impossible. He walked over into the living room, scanning the bookshelf for an interesting book. 'Everything is about Potions,' he groaned after a while. 'I think I've seen enough of potions for the moment. Well, on the other hand, Dad was right, and I really have to start learning for the OWLs.' Making up his mind, he grabbed the fifth year Potions book from his father's office, heading back to bed with the book.
Harry read the first chapter in the book, before he suddenly had a better idea. He once more returned to the living room, grabbing parchment and a quill as he went, and began to write a long letter, which he only finished quickly to hurry back to bed when he heard the fireplace flare, announcing that Albus Dumbledore was going to visit. He slid the parchment into the pocket of his robe, which was draped over the chair next to his bed, and lay down, feigning to be asleep.
However, Harry couldn't prevent his eyes from cracking open when he heard the headmaster mumble incredulously, "Are they still asleep?"
"Hello Professor," Harry croaked, grudgingly sitting up.
"Hello Harry, my boy. Are you feeling better?" he asked kindly.
"Yes Professor, and you?" Harry returned the question, tying to keep any sign of annoyance out of his voice.
"Well, except for the fact that I can neither sleep nor enjoy lemon drops at the moment, I feel fine," the headmaster replied, smiling at Harry.
"Ah, by the way," he suddenly remembered what he wanted to speak about with Harry, "I talked to the minister, and he promised to adjourn the press conference to next week, when we'll both be back to full health."
"Press conference?" Harry asked, getting slightly upset. "I thought my father already told you that I'm not going to participate in a press conference."
"Ah but Harry, I know that your father is a very private person; however, I really think..."
"No!" Harry interrupted the headmaster in a very angry voice. "I share my father's opinion completely, and I'm not willing to participate in any press conference, demise party, or such."
"Harry, do you have to shout?" Severus mumbled tiredly, waking up by Harry's shouting that was followed by a coughing fit.
"Yes Dad. Otherwise, Professor Dumbledore won't believe that I'm not going to join him for the press conference."
"Albus," Severus groaned. "How dare you make Harry so upset with that annoying press conference? I'm sure Poppy would have your head if she knew that you anger her patient, apart from the fact that she told you to remain in bed and sleep just like us."
"Exactly," Poppy's angry voice could be heard. Their voices had been so loud that none of them had heard the fireplace flare and the medi-witch enter the room.
"I'm sorry Poppy, but I had something urgent to discuss with Harry here," the headmaster apologized hoarsely.
"Neither you nor Harry will be going anywhere for at least a week; therefore, I can't believe how anything could be important enough to ignore my orders. Albus Dumbledore, I don't want to catch you here again. Take your lemon drops with you and floo back to your room right now if you don't want me to take you with me to the hospital wing!"
Mumbling something about annoying medi-witches and even more annoying parents into his beard, the headmaster quickly made his way back to the fireplace and floo-ed back to his own quarters.
"You took a nice long nap, didn't you?" Poppy asked conversationally, while she was checking on Severus.
"Ah, well, I heard that Albus was coming through the Floo this morning and preferred to be asleep at that time," Severus admitted, chuckling.
"Did Albus tell you that he's going to end school this weekend instead of next? He's giving everyone an additional week of holidays because of Voldemort's demise," Poppy explained, seeing her patients' questioning looks. "If I might suggest something to you," she continued hesitantly, "Why don't you leave the castle from the weekend onwards and go on holidays for a short while, so that nobody can bother Harry with events like press conferences or such until after Christmas."
"That's a good idea, and frankly speaking I had already been thinking about something like that," Severus replied pensively. "However, will Harry be well enough on the weekend?"
Poppy sighed. "He won't be contagious anymore; however, I'm not sure if he'll be well enough. I already feel a bit sorry for Albus. In fact, as soon as he announced that school would close on Friday, and the students were going to take the Hogwarts Express on Saturday morning, Minerva, Rolanda and I decided to take holidays for a week only to return on Christmas Eve. After that Albus fell ill, but we've already booked our holidays." She sighed. "If you don't mind sharing your holidays with three old ladies, you're welcome to join us by the way. We're going to a magical holiday resort on Ibiza Island in Spain."
"Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun," Harry chuckled. "But wouldn't you mind having us with you?"
"Of course not; the more people we are, the more fun we'll have," Poppy replied. "Our apartment has three rooms, but I don't mind sharing one with Minerva or Rolanda, so that you can have the third room. Albus won't be able to contact us there." She turned to Harry. "Professor McGonagall and Rolanda Hooch were my best friends when we were students. We were in the same year at Hogwarts."
"All right," Severus agreed, glancing at his excited son. "If you ask Minerva and Rolanda and they really don't mind, then we'd like to join you."
HP HEALER POMFREY HP
Severus and Harry spent the rest of the evening talking about the holidays that were going to start in a few days. "Oh, that will be so much fun. I just can't wait," Harry said excitedly. "I've always wished to go to the seaside."
"Have you never been to the sea?" Severus asked in disbelief.
"No, of course not," Harry replied, yawning.
"Well, let's see that we'll be well enough to go on Saturday. Good night, Harry."
"Night Dad," Harry mumbled, already half asleep with a happy smile on his lips. During the night, however, Harry couldn't sleep at all. He woke up at midnight and thought about all that had happened during the eventful week until Poppy came to check on them an hour later.
"Go back to sleep, sweetie," she told him in a soft voice before she quietly left the room.
Feeling fully awake however, Harry had other ideas and silently left their quarters, heading out into the cold dungeons.
Harry quickly headed up to the owlery, handing his letter over to Hedwig. "Can you take this to Hermione in the morning, please?" he asked gently, receiving an affirmative nip at his earlap in return. Harry stayed a few minutes, telling his familiar about the travel he was going on with his father, before he headed down to the library in order to search for a book containing information about Spain or Ibiza in particular.
Two hours later, Harry was back in his bed, feeling quite exhausted from his trip through the castle and from inefficiently searching the library. 'Well, why should a magical school have information like Muggle guide books?' he reasoned when he gave up his search. However, back into bed the thought 'How can I get information about Ibiza?' didn't leave his mind, and Harry decided to ask Dobby. He scrambled out of bed again and sat down on the sofa in the living room as not to wake up Severus, before he called Dobby.
"Hello, what cans Dobby does for Master Harry Snape, sir?" Dobby asked sleepily, nearly tripping over his ears as he bowed.
"Dobby, don't bow please," Harry replied gently. "Are you able to buy Muggle books? I would like to have a guide book about Ibiza."
"Ah, yes, they have guide books at the bookstore, Master Harry Snape, sir. Dobby wills goes and buys a guide book about Ibiza Island as soon as the bookstore opens in the morning," Dobby promised and snipped a finger at Harry, before he popped away yawning.
'Oh poor Dobby; it's only four o'clock in the morning,' Harry realized, all of a sudden feeling very tired. Before he could even think about heading back to the bedroom, he drifted off to a deep sleep.
HP HEALER POMFREY HP
When Severus woke up three hours later, he was horrified to see that Harry wasn't in his bed. 'What has he done now?' he thought, getting up in utter annoyance. "Harry, why are you sleeping on the sofa?" he asked astonished.
However, Harry didn't wake up. Even when Poppy stepped through the Floo a few minutes later, Harry slept on peacefully. "Why is he asleep here?" she asked surprised.
Severus raised an eyebrow, sighing. "Poppy, I have no idea."
The Medi-witch shook her head, but decided to let the boy sleep. She quickly checked on him and spelled his potions into his stomach, before she said, "I'm surprised that he is so fast asleep. But well, he needs it if he wants to go on holidays the day after tomorrow. He still has quite a fever." She was just ushering Severus back to his bedroom, when Dobby arrived.
"I is sorry, Master Professor Snape, Mistress Pomfrey; I made Harry Snape sleep, because he is been wide awake during the night and is callings Dobby at four o'clock in the morning to send Dobby to buy a guide book. I has buyed the guide book now, and shall I wakes Harry Snape up?" he asked in his usual, excited manner, averting his big eyes to Poppy and Severus.
"No, just let Harry sleep please," Poppy decided. "And that was a good idea to make Harry sleep; thank you, Dobby."
While she checked on Severus, she muttered, "Who knows what Harry has been doing during the night? He's still much worse than you. But on the other hand," she sighed, "Albus behaves much worse. He is like a toddler in his condition. Sometimes I wished Minerva was able to look after him and would be staying with him. I know that sounds evil, but..." She trailed off and held out a phial for Severus.
"I know exactly what you mean, Poppy. I'm still angry that he came here to bother Harry several times," Severus replied calmingly, handing the empty phial back.
When Poppy came to check on her patients the next time, Hedwig was sitting on her shoulder, hopping off in Harry's direction as soon as they entered the living room. She pecked Harry a few times, causing him to stir.
"Ah Hedwig," he whispered, lazily taking the huge envelope from her. "Is this from Hermione?" he enquired, sighing contentedly when his owl gave him a confirming shoo-hoo.
'Hello Harry,' the letter that was attached to the pile of notes said.
'Here is a copy of all my notes from the last two weeks. Please study them carefully, but don't overdo it. Remember to listen to your father and to Madam Pomfrey at all times. I have charmed the notes, so that they look like a comic to everyone except you. All right; I have to hurry; Transfiguration is going to start soon. This letter is charmed too, by the way.
Love Hermione'
Harry carefully hid the letter between the notes and tiredly walked back into the bedroom, placing the pile of notes on his night table, before he lay down. Poppy quickly waved her wand over him and sighed in exasperation. "Harry, you need absolute bed rest, you know that, don't you, especially if you want to be well enough to travel on Saturday."
"I know, I only went to the living room to call Dobby without waking Dad up, and suddenly I became so tired that I fell asleep before I could return here," Harry explained tiredly, already closing his eyes again as soon as Poppy finished applying the healing cream. During the rest of the day, Harry remained asleep, not noticing that Severus took the comic from his night table and engrossed himself in the reading, chuckling every now and then.
Only during the night when Severus was asleep and Poppy had just applied the healing salve seeing that Harry had finally woken up, Harry began to look at the notes Hermione had sent him. 'The Colabri Transfiguration is one of the easiest spells in the area Transfiguration of non-magical animals into magical animals. It was discovered by Leo McNeill in the fifteenth century when his daughter...' Harry groaned. 'Leave it to Hermione to write each single word McGonagall said. They won't ask who invented which spell under which conditions in the OWLs now, will they?' he mused, completely annoyed by his friend's overzealousness.
Harry struggled through Hermione's Transfiguration notes for two hours, until he noticed that he was getting a headache and put the notes aside. He lay back and, suddenly shivering under his covers, cuddled close to Severus to crave the warmth of his body, who automatically pulled the boy into his arms without waking up. However, as Harry was tossing and turning around in his arms, unable to sleep, Severus lazily opened his eyes.
"What's wrong, son?" he asked tiredly, worriedly feeling Harry's forehead.
"I just can't sleep," Harry replied in a whiny voice, totally annoyed to be awake again during the night.
"All right then; do you want to play chess?" Severus enquired, glancing over to the table.
"Okay," Harry agreed immediately and scrambled out of bed, taking his covers with him.
They only played one game, before Severus sent Harry back to bed, seeing that he was shivering in spite of being huddled into his covers. They had just returned to bed and Severus confirmed with a glance to his alarm clock that it was five o'clock in the morning, when they suddenly heard the fireplace flare and announce that Albus Dumbledore was going to come over.
"No!" Severus shouted angrily. "Harry, take your wand. You have to help me throw a strong locking charm at the door, so that the headmaster won't be able to cancel it."
"Okay," Harry replied tiredly, taking his wand, and incanted the spell together with his father.
Soon enough, they heard the headmaster's voice in front of their bedroom door. "Severus, Harry, are you there?"
"We are here, but we have nearly recovered from the Grindylow pox and don't want to catch them again from you," Severus replied in a gentle but stern voice, motioning Harry to be quiet.
"But I need to speak to Harry," the headmaster insisted.
"Harry is asleep and in no condition to get up at that time of the night to speak with you."
"Then please tell him to fire-call me as soon as he is awake," Albus replied, sounding very annoyed.
"I don't know if Poppy lets him out of bed, Albus. Harry is still confined to absolute bed rest, and I believe Poppy told me that you are in a similar condition," Severus said sternly, throwing a silencing charm at Harry, who couldn't help giggling.
"All right; I will speak with Harry later," the headmaster told his younger colleague and retreated to his own quarters.
"I will have a stern word with Albus later," Poppy said angrily, when Severus told her about the headmaster's early visit. "Severus, you may get up for a while; however, I don't want you to do any kind of work, and I want you to rest. Harry, you will stay in bed and try to rest."
Harry slept for a while, before he continued to read Hermione's Transfiguration notes. "Harry, I don't think that you're supposed to read," Severus chastised him gently, when he entered the room to look after his son, wondering why Harry's expression was so stern while he read something as funny as that comic.
"I know but I can't sleep," Harry whined. "Can you read something to me then?"
"All right," Severus agreed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "What do you want me to read? The comic or the Ibiza guide book?"
"The comic, once more from the beginning please," Harry pleaded, eager to know what the comic was about that had made his father chuckle all the time.
HP HEALER POMFREY HP
At lunchtime, Poppy showed up with Minerva in tow. "Poppy told me that you're not contagious anymore, and I thought I'd come and look after you," Minerva said softly.
Severus put the comic back on Harry's night table, causing Minerva to gasp. "You're reading your son a Muggle comic?" she asked incredulously.
"Ms. Granger sent that to Harry a few days ago, and it's really funny; it's a comic about the time of the Romans," Severus replied, while Harry's face turned white. 'McGonagall knows Hermione too well, she'll never believe that,' he mused anxiously.
Noticing his expression, Minerva asked, "May I have a look?" and carefully examined the comic. "Very good Charms work here," she commended a minute later, placing the comic back. "I assume these are Ms. Granger's notes?" she asked Harry.
"Yes," he acknowledged in a small voice, causing Severus to glare at him angrily.
"What do you think you're doing, Harry? Don't you want to go on holidays tomorrow or why are you aggravating your condition purposefully?"
"I'm not aggravating my condition on purpose, but I have to take my OWLs in less than six months," Harry replied stubbornly. "And I only read the notes for about an hour."
