Dependence

SSJP Fan Fiction

Harry Potter

ObsessiveDevil23

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I am not making any money from this.

Chapter 14 - Information

When James awoke it was to a pounding headache. He just barely opened his eyes to slits to take in his surroundings, and let said slits rest on Sirius, who was sitting next to where he was laying, fast asleep. Although James didn't have his glasses on and the world around him was blurry, Sirius was close enough that James could see he had frown lines across his usually smooth forehead, and was slouched heavily in his chair. James moved his eyes, widening them a little further, to try and figured out where he was.

The room was dark and had a smell common to hospitals, and the drapes hanging semi-closed around the bed he was lying in gave away that James was in the Medical Wing. The messy haired boy sat up in bed, trying his best to ignore the pain in his head, and felt around for his glasses. Locating them, he slipped them on, and momentarily reveled in the fact he was able to see again. That was, until he heard a stumble outside his semi-drawn curtains, and was instantly on edge.

He grabbled around for his wand, and when the curtains were pulled back he was ready; pointing it towards the intruder and thinking up the best curse to use. His mind pulled up no results, however, when he came wand to face with Severus Snape.

"Put your wand away Potter." The Slytherin hissed, stepping into the small, dark area and placing down a bottle of something foul looking next to Sirius' sleeping form. The Slytherin glared down at James. "How do you feel?" he asked, a slight edge to his voice that betrayed how ridiculous he felt asking that question. James nodded dumbly, shuffling to put his wand away. His body felt like it was on fire, and he was slightly afraid to admit that he knew the sensation all too well.

"Fine." he responded, voice raspy and dehydrated. Snape pulled up a chair next to Sirius; something which was so strange that when James glanced at it, he had to look again. But sure enough, Snape was sitting next to Sirius like it was an everyday occurrence. Sirius may have had something to say about it if he were awake – but James got the impression it was well past curfew, and Sirius had had a long battle with Pomphrey in order to stay and look out for his friend in the medical wing during the night.

"Do you feel dizzy, sensitive or hot?" Asked the Slytherin, leaning forward slightly in his chair. The lanky-haired boy gave a yawn, covering his mouth as James coughed, wary to admit he felt like he was going up in flames.

"Do I look hot?" he asked, trying to sound scathing and knowing he was failing miserably.

"Yes." Was his short reply. James chuckled lightly, despite the vibrations going through his head and intensifying his headache.

"I always thought you had a thing for me." He replied jokingly, before realising what he'd said and blushing; avoiding eye-contact. Luckily, Snape decided to let his cocky comment slip, possibly because he looked too tired to think of a scathing comeback.

"Here." He said stiffly, shoving the vial he'd brought in with him into James' hands. The boy took it with a slight fumbling, and stared at it with a look of pure disgust. It was yellow.

"If this is that Love Potion…"

"It's not." Interrupted Snape, it was obvious he could barely hide his amused smirk at James' comment. "You drank all that. This should stop your fever." he added. James shot a slightly disgruntled look between Snape and the potion, and ultimately decided that it must be trustworthy, as he uncorked it and gulped it down. He shivered and scraped his teeth along his tongue to try and rid it of some of the disgusting taste.

"It's awful." He said, and was met with silence. Snape, obviously exhausted, had fallen asleep in his chair. James gave himself the privilege of sending the lanky haired boy a soft smile. Since there was no one there who could see him. No one who was awake anyway.

"Prongs?"

James jumped out of his skin, swiveling his gaze towards where his curtains were slightly open. However, there wasn't anybody there. James bit his lip, glancing back at his sleeping companions. He was certain he'd heard something. But there was no one there, and Snape and Sirius were both still soundly asleep. Then he heard a loud crash on the other side of the room, which had him diving under the covers. Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone, for he was a Gryffindor after all, but Hogwarts was an old castle full of ghosts and things that went bump in the night, and he'd read one too many Muggle horror stories to fully ignore them all.

He emerged from underneath the white duvet the Medical Wing supplied, and shot Sirius and Snape another look, before throwing away the covers and stepping out onto the cold floor. He was barefoot and it sent shivers right through him, but he continued to feel dizzy as he stumbled his way towards the curtains. Snape's painkiller wasn't doing as much good as it had done in the past.

He dragged his feet out of the Medical Wing and looked around the surrounding area. He spotted the swish of someone's robes as they rounded the corner, and made his way after them, determined to find out who it was, and whether they'd seen his interaction with Snape. He got to the corner and steadied himself against it. The mysterious person was already out of sight. There was no way he'd ever catch up to him. Besides, he still felt inhumanely hot.

He struggled down the dark hallway; sweating and stumbling and keeping his hand on the wall to keep himself upright. The heat was getting incredibly intense again, and he wasn't entirely sure where he was going, now that he obviously wasn't following the mystery stranger anymore. Before he knew it, he'd made his way down to the entrance hall, though he wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed to get down the stairs. His vision was beginning to go blurry.

It was fairly obvious now, that he shouldn't have left the Medical Wing. He was in desperate need to medical attention. He hated to admit it, but he was burning up. He needed someone to help. He'd come to depend on Snape being there with his little miracle cures, yet now where was Snape? Back in the Medical Wing. And he'd snuck out to go chase after some random person he didn't even know. Really, he'd brought this upon himself. And it was so, so hot again. And this time, Snape wasn't there to help him out.

He stumbled out of the great doors which lead to the outside. It was a fairly cool night, with rain clouds threatening to spill. Yet it did nothing to cool him.

He fell to his knees, slamming his palms into the ground to try and break his fall. Mud sprayed up into his face, and he felt something snap in wrist; the result of the angle his wrist connected with the ground at. It was accompanied by a sickening crack. Pain shot up his arm, but it was barely noticeable compared to his high fever. He painfully slowly stood back up, hacking dryly and cradling his arm against his chest. He was only very faintly aware of any sort of movement behind him, and then he moved on towards the forest, and Hagrid's hut, in a hopes of finding someone he could lean upon for a few minutes.

"James?" Came the faint shout in the distance from a voice that was vaguely familiar to him. It was coarse, presumably from shouting. "James?" the voice asked again, much closer now, and James realised that the owner of the voice must be right beside him. The voice was breathy, like he'd been running. Was someone that worried about him? James thought offhandedly as he slipped in and out of awareness. He looked towards where he thought the voice was coming from, yet found his vision was too blurry to even see the outline of whom ever it was.

The next moment he found himself, once again, rushing towards the ground at an alarming rate, and cradled his wrist protectively, faintly remembering what had happened last time he'd found himself in that situation. He knew he was mere centimetres from the ground when strong arms wrapped themselves around him securely, breaking his fall and drawing him into a lightly muscled chest. He felt himself being lifted up, and supported with ease, as if he was nothing more than a kitten. Yet, he couldn't find the strength in him to thank his saviour. He felt a jog as he was rearranged in the man's arms and was carried back into the castle.

"I'm sorry James… This is all my fault." He heard as he slipped into unconsciousness.

They had just made it back into the castle when it started to rain.

- X -

The mysterious stranger walked as quietly as he could down the hallway, walking fast so as not to be caught up by the boy he knew to be following him. Not that he really needed to walk so fast, he realised, as the boy was barely able to keep himself conscious, let alone be an effective tail. Really, it was pitiful.

He turned the corner; pulling his wand from his pocket and lighting the dark area. He was on the fourth floor, so took the short-cut behind the tapestry down to the entrance hall, and crossed the hall with an air of arrogance. He flung open the large doors and stepped out into the cool night, only to duck behind some large bushes minutes later when the doors were opened again; this time with nowhere near as much force.

His shadow from earlier stumbled out, looking flushed and dizzy. How had he'd got down to the ground floor so quickly? Even if he knew some short-cuts, in his condition it seemed impossible that he could get from one end of the hallway to the other without collapsing.

"Gryffindor? I thought we said not to bring your stupid friends."

The mystery man squeaked, turning round to lay his eyes on a tall man with long blonde hair. Lucius Malfoy.

"I didn't!" The boy protested. "He followed me here! Besides, in his condition he can barely stand. He won't find us." he added, looking at his feet. Behind Lucius was Narcissa, checking over her nails as if she was bored with the whole scene. She looked up at his words.

"He managed to follow you here didn't he?" She said, looking over his shoulder at James – who had just fallen to the floor and let out a pitiful sob.

"Yes, but…"

"Enough." Broke in Lucius, glaring down at the Gryffindor. "What information do you have for us?"

Peter Pettigrew swilled his gaze to look at where James had been standing, then turned back to the Slytherins.

"This is… this is all to help us all, the marauders, stay close?" He asked, although he'd asked it many times before. Lucius nodded along anyway. Peter cleared his throat. "James is ill. He needs to depend on Snivellus to keep him well."

As he spoke the two Slytherins were watching over his shoulder at where Severus Snape was striding out of the castle purposefully, shouting as he went, calling for the Gryffindor. They watched as he found James, caught him round the middle as he was once again falling to the dirt, and lifted him up in his arms – carrying him back into the castle like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold.

They looked down at Peter again.

"Well done Gryffindor – this will help a lot."

- X -

"Prongs? Prongsie? James! What the hell did you do Snape?" Asked a voice James knew he recognized.

James felt himself being deposited down onto a soft bed, and the blankets being drawn up around him. Then his head was tilted up and something disgusting was tipped down his throat. He didn't have the strength to complain, and this person had looked after him so far, so he just swallowed.

"What happened?" Asked the same voice, anger laced in his tone at being ignored, and James heard a mumbled reply. "What was that?" The voice asked.

"I said I gave him the wrong potion. I'm sorry." Someone replied. James faintly registered that this person must be the person who had carried him and looked after him. He let a tiny smile grace his lips. The person seemed annoyed and awkward at saying what he did. He got the feeling 'sorry' wasn't a word that was used very often by his saviour.

"So what? You gave him the right potion now right? He's going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine."

James heard someone let out a huge sigh of relief, and the scraping of chairs as his two companions sat down. He still couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.

"Thanks… You know… For going to get him."

James mustered another smile. It seemed both his companions were awkward around each other. Yet here they were, together, because of him. Was that supposed to make him happy or sad? He couldn't quite tell, he decided, as he slipped back into unconsciousness.