The Days Of A Flower

".. I'm pretty sure there's a rule against this."

Severus looked up from where he was watching Harry. He had given Harry the revised potion an hour ago and already he could see some color coming back into the baby's skin.

All around him, the Werewolves growled.

"Well, you are the head Medi, so I'm sure you would know," Severus smirked at Jacob.

The Medi-wizard sighed, jumping when one of werewolves stood up and bared its fangs.

"Ummm...?" Jacob trailed off nervously, briefly wondering if he would have to sound for security.

"Mutt, tell them to stop scaring the help," Severus ordered Fenrir before turning his attention back to Harry.

Fenrir grunted at the growling wolf which laid back down, yellow eyes still staring intensely at Jacob.

Jacob carefully picked his way through the wolves toward Harry's bed. He was still wary about them, but then it had only happened three days ago.

"No."

"But—"

Jacob paused outside the closed door with a slight frown. It wasn't because the door was closed; he knew that Severus didn't like it open. Jacob supposed it made the man feel vulnerable in some way. No, it was the strange voice on the other side of the door, neither Lucius nor Narcissa's.

"Mutt, if I have to say 'no' more time, I will hex you and your walking rugs out of this room!"

A dog-like whimper made Jacob blink. Before he knew it, he was opening the door.

"Severus, is—"

Several furry heads swung his way, jaws full of sharp teeth opening to snarl at him. Jacob would later deny the unmanly squeak that escaped him at that moment.

"Who the hell are you?" asked a gruff voice.

Jacob looked up at the man - werewolf! A large, half-naked man with long, wild, silver hair and feral golden eyes, eyes that were glaring at him, snarling fangs baring themselves threateningly at him. Jacob said nothing, his eyes moving away from his assailant to the pack of wolves surrounding him and growling at him, and then back to the man whom Jacob guessed was their Alpha. Then he noticed the wolf cub held by the scruff of its neck in the Alpha's hand, dangling over Harry's bed.

Finally, Jacob looked over at Severus who was staring at him. The black eyes were blank, but Jacob had a feeling the younger wizard was silently panicking as he waited for his reaction.

"How did you all fit in here?" Jacob heard himself ask.

Severus snorted then and Jacob had the feeling he had said the right thing.

"His skin color seems to be coming back," Jacob said, pulling himself from his memories as he examined Harry. He ignored both the Potions Master and the alpha wolf who hovered behind him. "The fever's still the same, but it's too soon to tell."

"How long before you can tell?" Fenrir demanded.

"We'll check him every hour," Jacob answered.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"That's because I don't have an answer."

"Then what—"

A soft cooing sound interrupted what was sure to become an argument; all eyes looked down as Harry opened his. A pair of big, green, feverish eyes blinked up at them.

"Harry?" Severus said.

The baby sneezed.

Harry got better after his third dosage, his fever slowly going down. The werewolves, who only came at night, had left for good after Severus threaten to disembowel every last one of them when they had scared the night nurse who had come in to check-up on Harry. (It had taken a lot of convincing to stop the woman from calling the Aurors).

Jacob made his way down the hall. It was past midnight and he had finish the last of his rounds, but he wanted to stop by Harry's room one last time before he left for home. There was a smile on his face because Harry was going to be able to go home soon. The Medi-wizard's smile grew when he remembered the look on Severus' face when he told the man the good news.

"Severus?" Jacob said quietly as he entered the room.

The room was dim; the Medi-wizard could barely make out the bed and Severus in his chair. Moving closer, he found the Potions Master in a deep sleep with a book open on his lap and felt a surge of relief. Ever since Harry had been admitted, Jacob knew that Severus hadn't slept for more than an hour at a time. He hadn't slept at all when he started making the potion. Jacob had wondered more than once if he was going to have to sedate the man at that time. After checking on Harry, he turned his attention back to Severus.

Glad I don't have to, he thought as he got the spare blanket from the other chair in the corner. He took the book off of Severus' lap and replaced it with the blanket. After bookmarking the page, he closed the book and set it on the table. Once done, he turned around to leave only to come face to face with wine red eyes.

Only one person had those colored eyes.

"Holy Jellybeans!" Jacob cursed.

Voldemort blinked and laughed.

~.~

"Holy Jellybeans?" Lucius inquired.

"Shut up," Jacob grumbled as he downed his whiskey. It wasn't his fault he had learned to censor himself, what with being around small and impressionable children all day long.

The blonde chuckled and beside him, Severus gave an amused smirk. Frankly, they both thought Jacob was taking things pretty well, meaning he wasn't screaming bloody murder.

At the moment, they were in Jacob's office. Severus had all but carried the man there after waking up to the sound of Voldemort laughing, a sight rarely seen. Once there, Jacob had brought out the whiskey.

"My... apologies for startling you," Voldemort said. "I thought that everyone had left or at least was away from Harry's room at that moment."

Lucius tried not to flinch at the hardened gaze sent his way. How was he supposed to know the Medi-wizard wanted to make a quick stop just when he and the Dark Lord had snuck in?

"It's fine," Jacob said before downing another shot of whiskey. Voldemort - freakin Voldemort! - the Dark Lord was apologizing to him!

The Medi-Wizard took a long swig of whiskey, this time straight from the bottle.

Voldemort studied the man that both Lucius and Narcissa had spoken highly of. Even Fenrir had said he liked Jacob. The Medi-wizard had shaggy, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. His features were handsome, but not nearly as god-like as Lucius. Voldemort couldn't sense any powerful magic emanating from Jacob, but still, there seemed to be something... about him.

"If you drink anymore, you won't be able to make it home," Severus said.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Jacob replied, his eyes a little cloudy as they looked at Voldemort and then back at Severus.

"You know, I've heard the rumors about you," he added. "How you were the right-hand man to the Dark Lord. I ignored them. After all, rumors were just rumors. Besides, anyone who's that cute when handling a baby can't be all bad, just a little strange."

Voldemort coughed to hide his laughter at the dark scowl Severus gave Jacob for being called cute; Lucius didn't even bother to hide his laughter.

"Then came the Malfoys, werewolves, and now this!"

Jacob giggled when he leaned forward and nearly fell out of his seat. He pouted when Lucius took away his bottle of whiskey.

"That's mine," he whined but did nothing to retrieve it. Instead, he continued talking, "Is Merlin going to appear in a pink tutu next?"

The other three wizards laughed.