Part 10 – Repercussions

Severus mumbled the password that let him into the Slytherin common room. Stepping through the door he saw, to his horror, that the room was full of students. He had lost track of the time and was dismayed to find that everyone was not in the Great Hall eating dinner.

He quickly shuffled across the room with his head ducked down. Please don't let anyone notice me he silently pleaded as he hurried towards the staircase.

But whilst Severus had been invisible to the students when he wanted them to notice him, now he found that the opposite was true.

"Severus! What happened?" Bella stood on the staircase blocking his escape.

"Nothing," he muttered as he tried to sidle past her.

"But look at the state of you." Bella moved to block his path again.

Severus stood silently looking down at the floor. He couldn't look Bella in the eye for fear that the tears that had so recently stopped would flow again, this time without the rain to hide them.

"Well?" Bella pressed on.

Severus remained silent as he heedlessly continued to drip muddy rainwater on the grey stone floor.

"I'll go get Lucius," she decided. "Wait here."

Severus didn't wait more than a second. As soon as his path was clear he ran up to the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

Five minutes later he heard Lucius bang on the door. He didn't bother to reply and it wasn't long before Lucius decided that dinner was more important than a stubborn first year student and he left Severus alone.

Severus missed dinner that night. He could not face the smirking face of James Potter or the snide comments of Sirius Black. After cleaning himself up he went straight to bed and pretended to sleep when he heard his fellow students come into the dormitory a few hours later.

The next morning Severus woke up feeling distinctly unwell. His head ached and when he tried to stand a wave of dizziness came over him. Sitting back on his bed he clutched at the headboard. The dizziness seemed to have passed. But when he tried to stand he felt the nausea return. Sitting back down he rested his head against the cool headboard.

"You okay Severus?" called Martin as he passed him on the way to the showers.

"Yeah," Severus mumbled. He watched Martin continue on his way but still hadn't moved from his bed when the other boy returned a short while later.

"Aren't you coming down to breakfast?" asked Martin.

"Later," answered Severus. Thankfully it was Sunday. He only had a History of Magic essay to write for Monday and that could wait until later. Laying back on his bed he shut his eyes and listened to the sounds of the others as they began to stir and starting moving about the room. His head was pounding and he felt too ill to move.

He didn't know when he fell asleep or how long he had slept for. The next thing he was aware of was someone carrying him somewhere.

Voices seemed to alternately come from far away or echo in his head.

"The bed at the end Hagrid please." That sounded like Madam Pomfrey. He realised in a distant sort of way that he was in the hospital wing again.

"Right yer are" Hagrid's deep tones echoed in Severus's mind. When did he get back? Was it Sunday evening already? He tried to give voice to his thoughts but couldn't.

"How long has he been like this?"

"Don't know. Young Avery said he was acting funny-like this morning but he was talking and sitting up."

"Did he eat any breakfast?"

"No." Severus recognised the voice of Professor Slughorn, the head of Slytherin. It seemed to come from far away.

Severus felt a cool hand placed on his forehead. "He's running a high fever." Madam Pomfrey sounded confused and concerned.

"He came inside yesterday evening soaking wet." Bella's voice seemed to drift towards him from the doorway.

"What?" Professor Slughorn questioned.

"Covered in mud and soaked through," Bella repeated.

"Did he say what happened?"

"He wouldn't say anything."

"Could he have fallen in the lake?" Madam Pomfrey sounded worried as she voiced that thought.

Severus opened his eyes and tried to turn towards Bella where she stood in the doorway. He thought he saw the girl shrug her shoulders before he closed his eyes again. The voices became quieter and he slept again.

The next time Severus woke he heard the sound of whispers from across the room. He opened his eyes and lay silently watching the doorway.

"I don't like to leave him Minerva," Madam Pomfrey said in hushed tones.

"That's okay, quite understandable," the sharp tones of Professor McGonagall were softened slightly.

"If you wouldn't mind taking care of Remus again next week…?" Remus? Severus wondered.

"Of course," agreed McGonagall. "So you think Severus will still be here next week?"

"Hard to tell really." Madam Pomfrey sounded unsure of herself. "His illness isn't magical in origin and 'though there have been advances in magical cures for muggle illnesses he was too ill for the simple cures by the time he was brought to me. I can't give him Pepperup Potion with the fever he's running…far too dangerous. I've tried all the regular methods of bringing his temperature down but…"

Her voice trailed off though Severus couldn't tell if she had stopped speaking or whether he was simply too far away or too groggy to hear her.

"Well don't worry about Remus," Professor McGonagall said as she opened the door to leave.

"Thank you Minerva." Madam Pomfrey breathed a sigh of relief. "That's one less worry at least."

Professor McGonagall stepped through the door and closed it quietly behind her. Madam Pomfrey turned back towards Severus. He shut his eyes quickly so that she would not know that he had been watching and listening to their discussion.

When Severus next woke his fever had broken and although he was still weak he felt much better. He was shocked when Madam Pomfrey told him it was the following Sunday and he had been in the hospital wing for week.

One of the house elves brought breakfast for him and he found that his appetite had returned as he polished off his toast and eggs.

Madam Pomfrey was an attentive nurse and with no one else in the hospital wing Severus found that he was getting her undivided attention and she was a first class worrier. She was also a talented hairdresser and spelled his hair back to its usual length in a matter of minutes. Severus was relieved that she didn't ask him what had happened to his neat shoulder length hair although she covered just about every other subject available as she went about her duties.

As lunchtime approached he desperately grasped for a subject to take her mind off of his paleness and slightly scrawny appearance.

Although he didn't feel up to studying he decided that his missed schoolwork was a safe enough topic to bring up.

"Such a studious young man," she smiled. "Don't worry dear, Lily said she would stop by with notes from your classes later today."

"Lily's been here?"

"Been by every day after classes, she has."

Severus smiled at the thought of Lily taking the time to come and see him every day. He'd been making the effort to speak to her every day but had still worried that they were growing apart. He smiled wider at the thought of Lily making the effort to see him, just as he had made the effort to see her.

"Really?" he asked.

"Every day." Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Didn't you see the card there?"

Severus looked around and saw that there was indeed a card sitting on the end table at the side of his bed. He hadn't even spotted it before. Reaching across he picked it up and read the message inside. It was a simple get well soon card signed from Lily Evans. He put it back on the stand and smiled again.

"I hadn't noticed," he said. "Has anyone else been here?"

"No, just Lily." Madam Pomfrey turned back to her office at the end of the ward leaving Severus to once again wonder at why, when he was in trouble, once again Lily Evans was the only one to be there for him. Why hadn't Martin or one of the other Slytherin students been to check up on him since he'd been taken ill?

Severus passed the rest of the afternoon watching the moving paintings on the walls and becoming increasingly restless with the lack of activity.

Finally, just as he was finishing his dinner, he saw the door open and Lily herself strolled into the room with books and notes piled high in her arms.

"Severus! You're awake!" she called as she rushed across the room and deposited the books and parchment on the end of the bed.

Severus was not used to the sort of enthusiasm he was seeing from Lily, at least not when it was something to do with him. She'd always been a little shy and reserved, even when they'd been alone together. Unsure what to say he nodded towards the books. "Madam Pomfrey said you'd been taking notes for me."

"Er, yes," Lily flushed prettily. "I expect your friends in your own house have taken notes for you too. I just thought that since you're in my study group I would take some too."

"You still want me in your group?" Severus wondered if she had heard about his poor showing against James the previous weekend. If she had she wouldn't want him helping her with Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Of course" answered Lily in a puzzled tone as she rummaged through the rolls of parchment for the one she was looking for. "Here we are" she exclaimed at last. "We finally started the practical in Charms this week."

"Practical?"

"Oh have you already started that? We take it with Hufflepuff and I didn't think that we might be behind your class. After all Ravenclaw students do tend to pick up things quickly, and you're with them."

"No, we've not started the practical yet"

"Good," replied Lily with a grin. "Want me to demonstrate what we did?"

"Okay," Severus agreed and settled back to watch.

For the next half hour Lily demonstrated charm after charm, her graceful movements making feathers float and parchment roll itself up. She loaned Severus her wand to try one of the simpler ones himself but try as he might he could not seem to emulate Lily's grace and his jerky movements could not complete the charm.

He eventually gave up for the day and passed her wand back when he saw that he had another visitor. Bellatrix had decided to pay him a visit.

He quickly moved the notes Lily had brought him onto the side table, making sure that the card was hidden in the process. He didn't know why, but he was sure that he didn't want Bella and the other Slytherins knowing that Lily had sent him a card. Only then did he realise that he had not even thanked her for it.

"I'll come by again tomorrow?" Lily made her comment a question and Severus realised that she had seen what he had done and a feeling of guilt washed over him. He flushed as he nodded and Lily gathered her own books and hurried past Bella.

"What was she doing here?" asked Bella as soon as the door had swung closed behind Lily.

"She just brought me the class notes," Severus replied.

"That's all?" Bella questioned.

"What else would she be doing here?" He laughed shakily and shrugged.

"Nothing," she agreed. "Just be careful. You don't want to be mixing with her type if you don't have to."

"Her type?" Severus frowned and schooled his expression to one that he hoped gave the impression of confusion. He knew exactly what Bella was referring to.

He recalled the day that Lily had asked him whether her being a muggle-born made any difference. Even then he'd known that to some people it would. His mother had married a muggle, and her own status in the wizarding world had dropped. As a half-blood himself he had come across the prejudices before he'd ever arrived at Hogwarts. He'd been reluctant to shatter the dreams of his best friend…his only friend…by telling her the truth. So he'd lied to her, told her it made no difference. He wondered if she still believed that or whether someone like Bellatrix had shattered the illusion.

Bellatrix looked as though she was about to reply but at the arrival of Madam Pomfrey she quickly changed the subject to general chatter about what had been happening in his absence.

Bella only stayed a short while before leaving and Madam Pomfrey did not move out of earshot during the rest of her visit so Severus did not get a chance to find out whether she had discovered the truth about Lily's parentage. Something told him that her animosity was more than the usual Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry although he hoped that he was wrong.