A/N: I absolute love all of your guesses! But so far none of you have gotten it just right! Thank you so much for all the support!

25: (same day)

Severus stood shocked where he stood for a few moments before following Harry out of the room. He'd be hoping to illicit a reaction, not to make the other man furious. By the time he exited his workroom, Harry had already disappeared, and the corridor was deserted. Knowing that Harry had hardly anywhere to go besides the Infirmary, Severus headed there first, but when he got there, it too was empty.

Hesitantly, he knocked on Poppy's office door, which was uncharacteristically shut. She opened it with a sad smile. "Ah, yes I was expecting you when Harry stormed through muttering about 'that bastard'." She chuckled.

"Yes, well," Severus replied, peering over her shoulder and seeing no one there and feeling a sinking feeling in his gut, "where's he gotten off to?"

"He's gone to the Tonks' to play with Teddy, I suspect. He doesn't like to go through the gloves, but I think it calms him to be around the boy. He certainly seems more centred when he comes back from it when he goes during your therapy."

Severus winced at the word 'therapy' but consoled himself by thinking of it as a scowl. He hated it when she called his appointments that. He hadn't known, though, that Harry visited Teddy while he met with the mind healer. Vaguely he wondered what she'd meant about gloves, but at the moment he had more pressing matters.

He grasped a bit of floo powder and whirled away to find Harry. When he arrived in the Tonks' tea room, the first thing he noticed was that Harry was actually playing with Teddy. It was nothing like that last time he'd been here when Harry had simply sat next to the boy. Instead Harry was lying flat on his back, balancing the boy up in the air on his feet while the child shouted "Aeroplane! Aeroplane!" Neither of them seemed to notice his entrance, but Andromeda looked up from where she was knitting on the couch.

The second thing he noticed were the thick dragonhide gloves that Harry was wearing. The tot could only get his chubby hands around one of Harry's fingers to steady himself in midair, but he didn't seem to find the gloves unusual as he was laughing hysterically.

The third thing had to be pointed out to him. As he watched, Teddy let go of one of Harry's fingers and pointed down at his face. "Pa-Ha, why're you crying?"

"Hm?" Harry used the hand Teddy had let go of to wipe his face, "I'm not, Teddy Bear."

"It's not right to lie to children," Severus mused, drawing their attention to him.

Harry made a face, lowering Teddy to the floor. "It's not right to be a-" he hesitated, looking at the child. "Oh, if he weren't here, I'd rip you a new one."

"A new one what?" Teddy asked innocently.

"Oh all right," Andromeda interrupted, standing and offering her hand to the little one. "I think it's about snack time, don't you?"

Teddy followed her out the door as Harry stood to face Severus, "If you knew, why didn't you just say so? Why do that to me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshite!" Harry tried to keep his voice low, but he was getting angry. "Throwing stuff at me, asking me to help with stuff; I've told you for months: I can't."

"No, I don't know what you're talking about. What are these even for?" He asked, gesturing to the gloves, "I-"

"You overheard Draco and I weeks ago. Don't tell me he didn't tell you."

"He didn't. I-"

"I turn everything to rot." Harry blurted. "That's what these are for. I burn through these so I don't touch anything else. Everything I touch just disintegrates. I ruin everything. Everything! Look!"

Harry's hands had curled into fists as he'd talked, but now he uncurled them and shoved them out to Severus. The palms and fingertips looked worn on the gloves, but they simply looked like an unremarkable pair of gloves to him.

"These are brand new. I just got them out of the package before I came here. I'm no good for anything but destroying things!"

Harry was getting hysterical, and Poppy's comment from the day when Harry had brought the Wolfsbane over here by himself came back to Severus: 'Harry, dear, you need to calm down, you know it only makes it worse.' It was true, too, Severus saw. Even as he watched, the gloves became more threadbare on the palms of Harry's hands. Hands, Severus noted, that were shaking almost as badly as his always did now.

Severus was still in shock from the outburst, and Harry pushed past him to the fireplace. He fumbled with the wooden box containing the floo powder, and it started to rot. Suddenly Harry's shaking hands knocked it to the floor and the powder exploded everywhere. Harry snapped an apology to Ted Tonks who was sitting in a rocker in the corner, watching the whole exchange over the top of his newspaper - Severus hadn't even noticed he was there before - and suddenly Harry was gone with a pop.

Severus was wide-eyed and bewildered. He had no idea where he'd gone or how he was going to fix what he'd done. All he knew was that this time, he'd really messed up.

"He'll be back," Ted told him so quietly that Severus' damaged hearing almost couldn't pick it up. "It's hard for him, but he'll be back."

A/N: I love Ted Tonks. I don't remember if it's canon or fanon that he dies or if most people just forget to write him when they write about Andromeda and Teddy, but he lives here because I think he's just so calm and collected for a muggle thrown into a world like this. Anyway, I know that the conflict isn't resolved yet, but hey! Now we know what's wrong with Harry! In case ir wasnt clear: Harry does turn everything to rot by touching it; more detail to follow in chapter 28! 10 points to whoever guessed it, and don't worry, Ted's right: he'll be back, and they'll come out stronger for it. Last but not least, thank you again to everyone who is leaving feedback and to all of you continuing to read. It means a lot!

-faceless