A/N: I'm sorry for the late update, I haven't been feeling well this week...

Severus wrung his recently healed hands against each other. He still had no news on Harry's condition, and it took him a lot of effort to not pace around the hallway of St. Mungus.

Potter and Black were there too, after being severely burned when Severus' magic exploded in flames to protect Harry, but he didn't spare them a single thought.

Instead of worrying about Harry's condition, he decided to reflect on how their relationship had changed over the years.

He had thought nothing of the kid the first time they met almost eight years ago. Severus assumed he would be as insufferable, reckless and arrogant as his father, only to be proven wrong again and again during his years at Hogwarts. He had noticed the kid had some sort of admiration for him, and for some time, he felt good about it as if he had won James Potter over something.

But soon he had completely disconnected the child from the father. Harry grew to be his own person; generous and kind as a Hufflepuff, brave and headstrong as a Gryffindor, ambitious and resourceful as a Slytherin, and as smart and curious as a Ravenclaw. He came to understand why the kid had spent almost six minutes under the Sorting Hat until it eventually said an uncertain "GRYFFINDOR".

Severus had learned to love him way before he had any interest in him.

If Harry hadn't been so honest and straightforward, Severus might have never moved from that. He would be content in watching him growing up, finding a partner and forming a family, never aware that another possibility existed.

But Harry had said the words, and although his voice had faltered, his eyes shone brightly with truthfulness. Severus remembered turning his back on him, incapable of maintaining a stoic expression when those eyes burned his soul.

It was hard to admit his feelings (he was twenty years younger, dammit!), but eventually he had to. Lily had helped a lot, even though he hadn't told her the whole truth. He was a Slytherin, after all.

Severus told himself repeatedly to wait until after graduation and he wouldn't do anything improper that they might regret later.

Silly him. He should have known that Harry wouldn't let that happen. He smiled fondly at the memory, even though it was tainted with a bit of shame for letting himself get carried away.

The healer came back and Severus leapt to his feet, all the anxiety returning immediately.

"How is he?"

"Mr. Potter will be fine," the healer said, and Severus let out a relieved breath. "He's sleeping, you can see him as soon as he wakes up."

"Which spells he was hit with?"

"As incredible as it may seem, it was two healing spells: one lightning spell to reignite the heart, and one to increase blood pressure. It's good that he's so young, these spells might be dangerous for someone older."

Severus felt himself shaking in anger. The bastards were trying to murder him.

"How's your hands?"

"They're fine," he snapped. "The fire was spreading from them, not on them."

"If you feel any pain, you should contact us. Accidental magic like that might leave some residue."

Severus only nodded and sat at the bench again, ready to wait for his partner to wake up.

"As for Mr. James Potter and Sirius Black-" the healer started, but Severus held a hand to stop him.

"I'm not interested. Call his wife if you need to."

The healer nodded and left.

It felt like hundreds of hours had passed, yet no time at all, by the time the healer called him to see Harry. He hurried to see him and entered the room to his partner smiling softly at him as if there was nothing wrong in the world.

The first thing that came to mind was to promptly berate his partner for being so bloody Gryffindor, but he was so small and pale on the hospital bed that Severus hadn't the heart to do it. Instead, they just hugged and Severus apologized, and then apologized again when Harry said there was no reason to.

They didn't notice Lily had arrived until she cleared her throat at the door, and they broke the hug to look at her.

"May I have a word with my son, Severus?" Lily said with hard, unforgiving eyes.

Severus stood, uncertain.

"Everything you have to say, you can say it in front of him, mom. We're together."

"Yes, I've heard," she said, giving Severus a long and hard stare.

Severus thought it would be best if he left, but Harry clung to his hand and didn't let him leave.

"Harry," Lily said, sitting at his bed and looking at her boy desperately. "You're barely out of school. Don't you think you're rushing things a little to enter into a relationship so soon?"

Harry rolled his eyes. Did his mom think he couldn't read between the lines?

"If I was dating Ginny you wouldn't have a problem with it, would you?"

Lily pursed her lips. "She's at least your age…"

"So the problem is only the age difference, mom?"

"Severus is a good man," she admitted, "but you two are on very different pages. I don't want you to get hurt."

Severus couldn't miss the opportunity. "Anyone can hurt someone without meaning to, Lily. This is not related to age or social position, it just happens," he repeated her sentence to her, word by word.

"Sly move, Sev," Lily said with a glare, and Harry choked at the nickname. "I think you failed to mention something about the boy you were interested in."

Severus only shrugged, unashamed of his actions. "I needed an unbiased opinion."

Lily looked back at her son. "Can't I convince you to have a few years free and single before committing to him?"

"Afraid not, mom. You should know I'm just as stubborn as dad."

She couldn't hold back a smile at the memories of James incessant attempts to woo her. "Alright. I just want you to be happy and not to miss anything in life, you know."

"I know," Harry said with a smile, and pulled Severus closer to hug him. "I'm happy with him, trust me."

That was the moment James chose to show up at the door, Sirius right behind him.

"Take your hands off my son right now, you bastard!"