When he arrived back in his office, Dumbledore turned to wait for Snape. When he appeared from the flames he looked at him for a moment, the usual twinkle in his eyes non existent.
'What is it, Albus?' he asked, slightly sharper than he normally would have. The headmaster said nothing just raised an eyebrow a fraction.
'Well, I'm not like you. I can't just look at some one and know almost every thing you need to know.'
'that all depends on your perspective. I don't actually know. I am just really good at reading peoples character and guessing their responses from what I find. I have had many years to perfect the art. Even I still get it wrong.'
'Like with Potter.'
'Yes Severus, like with Harry. All these years and I never have even though of the notion that there could be anything wrong with him living with those muggles. He never really gave me any clue that it went beyond that odd episode of locking him in his room with no dinner.'
"oh, hurry up and finish old man. What is it with you doing this." Snape thought viciously. Dumbledore stopped and looked at him for a second, his face taking on a slightly know-all expression and his eyes got a part of their sparkle back. 'But I am sure you will be needing to get back to those potions I know you have to do for Poppy and others.' He said chuckling. Snape glared at him for a second as the fire flared again before turning on his heel and using McGonagall's entrance with the screeching owls to stalk out of the room.
'I will see you tomorrow.' He sent back over his shoulder as he stepped onto the stairs and descended out of sight.
His first though was to head straight to his private quarters but after a minute found himself walking down the corridor to the hospital wing.
"Well, I might as well find out what potions I need to replace those used on Potter." he thought, though deep down inside he knew that this was not the only reason. A terror-filled whimper brought him to a complete stop just outside the polished double doors. After a pause he strode forward, sharply thrusting the nearest of the doors open and letting it swing shut behind him. A quick glance told him that there was no one new in the wing. As he approached the door to madam Pomfrey's office the sound of movement from the only curtained off bed caught his attention.
"Poppy?" he called, expecting an answer from the same direction. The absolute silence met his question broken only by slightly ragged breathing. Snape carefully moved forward to look through the curtain. Potter had managed to uncover him self and was sprawled on top of his sheets with a pained expression locked on his face. Snape went to drop the curtain back into place and as he moved potter started to twitch and after a moment his convulsions became so violet that he would have fallen if it wasn't for the protective barrier. Snape stood and watched, completely unsure of what to do. He had never had to deal with children like this. A little healing like what he had done earlier was the only time that he had any physical contact with the students and even then he had a specific goal in mind. All other human contact had involved pain on his depart.
There was a puzzle, the boy had drunk a heavy dose of dreamless sleep as well as one of the strongest pain relief potions he had on hand. There was noway that he should be moving abut, add that to the fact that they had used almost all of his remaining energy reserves in healing him, leaving just enough for his body to function and you have a situation that some people would not see the end of! Let alone wake from less than three hours later. Another, slightly shrill whine brought him out of his thoughts. Moving quicker than he normally would have Snape turned on his heel and marched into madam Pomfrey's office as he had originally intended. At the sight of the empty room he called for her again. Some one behind him coughed behind him and he spun around to see the portrait on the back of the door watching him expectantly. When he made no move she sigh exaggeratedly and flicking her hair over her shoulder recited a note.
'Madam Pomfrey is currently unavailable. She received a message via the floo network from her sister who required a midwife and as she was the most convenient would have no one else. She shall be staying with her sister after the birth to ensure nothing goes wrong with the infant and to rest before returning.'
'Are you sure that was the exact message you were given.'
'Of course I am sure. I even wrote it on the inside of my frame just in case.'
'That would be the only way that you could remember anything.' he said sarcastically. 'I don't suppose she left any other messages that you happen to remember, nothing about her other patient?'
'What other patient?'
'Fine then,' he sneered. 'do you know wether she made a list of what potions need to be made?'
when she started to look at her frame he roughly opened the door on which she was set and left without another word. in the main wing all noise had once again stopped. Snape sighed in relief but couldn't help peeking in the curtain as he passed. That glimpse was enough for him to find himself standing against the inside of them watching as the boy slept. This time he had managed to get himself jammed up against the bed head, lying on his half healed collarbone. His breathing was still fairly harsh and sweat was beading on his face. After a few minutes it was clear that Potter had managed to knock himself into a deeper sleep and was not about to move himself out of it. Looking out of the curtains he checked that no one had come in before moving over to the bed. carefully, he reached out and hesitantly he picked the boy up and without changing his position too much laid him back down in the middle of the bed.
"That wasn't so bad." He told him self almost laughing in relief. A sudden thought hit him though as the face in front of him flinched slightly. He would move again in a few minutes and have to be put back again. Automatically he began to think of alternatives, more potions were out of the question as the boy had ingested quite enough already and much more would be dangerous. Maybe an ordinary sleeping draught? No, but what else could he do?
When his wondering thoughts turned up nothing of use he tried looking at the problem in a different perspective. Why was he moving in the first place? The answer to that would make it much easier to prevent its continuance. The potions were certainly not the problem, he had brewed them himself and he had never failed a potion before. Maybe it was how much had eaten. Did they work as well on an empty stomach? Or a completely empty digestive tract? maybe his gut wasn't functioning well enough to absorb the concoction. Damn it! This just had to happen now of all times, with the dark lord back and gaining power rapidly. His lord! Could he have given the boy something that would react with the dreamless sleep? He though back over what potions he had prepared for the dark lord since his return, several things turned up but each as unlikely as the last. Snap sighed profoundly and ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair. He needed help, someone who had some idea of how to deal with this because as much as he wished it weren't, this child was at this time his responsibility. It just had to be this boy too didn't it? The whole situation would be a lot easier to deal with if it wasn't the son of the chief tormenter of his school days. Even a Hufflepuff, or another Gryffindor would have been alright and that was saying a lot. A foot step behind him made him jump to the present and realise that the boy was once again twitching. He turned to see who it was that had entered with out him knowing. He was not all that surprised when Dumbledore stuck his head though the curtains and looked curiously at the trembling boy. As the ocean blue eyes turned towards him he quickly wiped the look of relief off his face, replacing it with a blank mask.
'Do you know why Mr potter is doing that?' Dumbledore asked.
'No, I don't. he has been given dreamless sleep potion as well as a strong pain reliever and blood replenishing potions. By all means he should not be waking for at least another four hours but anywhere up to ten…' his voice trailed off.
'I see.' the elderly headmaster said thoughtfully. 'There is no way that this could be caused by the combination of the potions them selves, is there?'
Snape's mask slipped and a look of frustration took its place. 'To my knowledge all the potions that Poppy and I used were meant to be used in the same combinations are we did. Most don't react anyway and as I brewed all the potions my self I highly doubt mistakes. I have already tried every combination of little errors and such like that that I could think of and none of them would cause this reaction.' Through out this little speech Snape's voice had risen to almost a shout.
'I see.' Was the only response that he got and by that time Potter had managed to contort himself s he was laying on several of his major injuries. After a decent pause he stepped forward with a little snarl and laid the boy flat again.
'He is going to end up redoing some of the damage that we managed to heal at this rate and he hasn't got the reserves for us to fix him up again. He was too far gone by the time we had patched him up for us to get him to eat anything and a nutrient potion was out of the question so he isn't going to be betting much strength back anytime soon.'
'I see.' Snape growled quietly at this. 'is there any way to immobilise him gently?'
'Don't you think that if I had thought of a method then I would have already tried it? And if you say "I see" one more time I am going to loose it.'
Dumbledore chuckled but refrained from saying it. 'what would be wrong with a body bind and a monitor charm or alarm of some sort to let you know when he awakens?'
'That would mean that I can't start any potions or retire for what sleep I could get anytime soon. But other than that I suppose it might work.'
'Good, in that case I will leave it in your capable hands. Oh, by the way, why are you here instead of poppy?'
'Her sister required her and will most likely not be returning for two or more days.'
'I see. I'm sure you can handle it until then, good morning.'
With that he turned and left the fuming potions master with his charge. As soon as he heard the hospital wing door close Snape vented some of his frustration in a series of muttered insults and obscenities at the situation in general and buried the rest under his usual mask. A quick scan let him know that Potter had not done him self any serious damage and was not under much stress from pain. The monitoring spell would have to focus specifically on when he was rising through the last level of sleep so he could floo up release the spell before the boy was fully alert. He would also have to set proximity alarms on the doors and fire place. With all of this done and the body bind set, he followed the headmaster's path and left the hospital wing, making his way down to the dungeons and his private quarters.
