Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.
~~~
Saturday, February 19, 1994
"Severus!" Remus shouted, running through the Great Hall to the High Table near the end of breakfast. The few students who remained watched in surprise, as they'd never seen their Defense teacher so worked up.
"What's the matter, Remus?" Severus asked, concerned. Remus thrust a piece of parchment into his friend's hands. It was the Marauder's Map.
"Look by the gates," Remus told him, pointing at a flickering black dot.
"Sirius Black," Severus murmured in shock. "Remus, what does the flickering mean?"
"It means he's barely alive. Severus, I know you never liked Sirius, but please, help me get him up to Poppy." Remus gave Severus a pleading look, and Severus agreed. The two ran out of the castle, to the gates.
In front of the gates was what looked like a pile of black robes. As the two men looked closer, they found a body hidden beneath the torn, tattered robes. It was a man with black hair. He was thin; as thin as Harry had been when he returned to Hogwarts after the summer.
Severus removed the robes from the unconscious man, revealing an old, thin shirt that was stained with blood, and thin black pants. While Severus tried to heal the various cuts and other open wounds, Remus took an inventory of injuries with his wand.
"Broken ribs, concussion, fractured arm, broken leg, dislocated shoulder, punctured lung? Merlin, Severus, we have to get him to Poppy now."
Remus conjured a stretcher, and Severus levitated Sirius onto it. The two quickly took Sirius up to the hospital wing, ignoring the stares of students. Madam Pomfrey ran to the bed when Severus put Sirius on it.
"Oh, my-- Is this--" she stuttered.
"Sirius Black," Remus said, shakily. "He has broken ribs, a concussion, a fractured arm, a broken leg, a dislocated shoulder, and a punctured lung. That's what I found, but I'm sure there's more." Severus pulled Remus aside as Pomfrey began to take care of Sirius.
"I'll get someone to cover your classes for the day," Severus offered. Remus nodded his head.
"Thanks, Severus."
"You're welcome. I have to get to my class now, but I'll come by later and see how he's doing."
Severus reached his classroom just as it was time to start. The third-year Slytherins and Gryffindors took their seats, and Severus sat at his desk, rummaging through his books for a few moments.
"All right. Read Chapter Twelve in your textbooks, and write an eighteen-inch essay on the ingredients outlined in the chapter. That will be your homework for the weekend. Please work on it in class."
"Something's wrong," Harry whispered to Draco. "He's never given us so little work." Draco agreed.
"Should we ask him?" Before Harry could reply, Severus spoke again.
"Mr. Snape and Mr. Snape, please come into my office." All three Snapes went into the small office room behind Severus's desk, and they sat at the table that was in there.
"Something wrong, Dad?" Draco asked. Severus leaned back in his chair, taking a breath and tapping his fingers together.
"Harry, do you remember having a nightmare in which a man was collapsed in front of the gates?" Harry slowly nodded his head. "This morning, Remus and I found a man unconscious outside. We brought him inside, and he's upstairs in the hospital wing with many broken bones, a concussion, a punctured lung, and Merline knows what else. It didn't look good for him when I was up there."
"Who is he?" Harry asked, quietly. Severus didn't answer right away. "Dad, please, tell me who he is." Severus sighed.
"Sirius Black." Draco's eyes widened, as Harry's face paled. "Remus and Madam Pomfrey are doing all they can for him right now. I'm going back up later to see how he is. I just wanted to tell you two, because... Well, you had the right to know. But as of now, there's nothing that you can do. All right? Now go back out there. If you can't work on your essay right now, at least fake it."
Draco nodded and took Harry by his arm, gently leading him into the classroom. The older boy glared at the students who stared at Harry as they went back to their desks.
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked, quietly, when Harry sat next to her; Draco sat on the other side of Harry.
"Fine..." Harry mumbled. Hermione glanced at Draco, who shook his head, silently telling her not to ask questions. Hermione just reached over and squeezed Harry's hand, then went back to her work.
~~~
Near the end of class, Remus came into the room. He looked a little pale and shaky as he leaned over to speak to Severus.
"Sirius is awake," Remus said, softly. "Barely, but he's awake. Poppy fixed his lung, and we've done everything in our power, for now. I talked to him for a few minutes and explained what I knew about the situation, and he's pretty coherent. He knows he's at Hogwarts, and he was asking about Harry. I thought he might like to see him." Severus nodded and called Harry up to the desk.
"Harry, would you like to see Sirius? Remus says he's awake and asking about you." Harry nodded. Remus placed a hand on his shoulder and took him up to the hospital wing.
"Sirius?" Remus said, quietly, as he sat on the edge of Sirius's bed. Sirius slowly opened his eyes. "Sirius, Harry's here to see you." Sirius's eyes brightened a little as Harry took Remus's place next to him.
"Hi, Sirius," Harry said, shyly. Sirius smiled weakly and tried to reach up for Harry's hand. Harry placed his hand in the older man's and squeezed it.
"Oh, Harry..." Sirius whispered. "It's been so long... I missed you..." Harry smiled. "Oh, you were just...a baby..."
"How are you feeling, Sirius?" Harry asked, softly. To himself, he said, I feel so bad, I don't even remember the man. What am I supposed to say?
"I feel great…" Sirius murmured with a small smile. Remus chuckled. "I'll be just fine…in no time, Harry…"
"When you're allowed out, I'll take you out to lunch or something, all right?" Harry suggested. "We'll catch up on the past twelve years." Sirius nodded.
"I'd like that," he mumbled, sleepily.
"Sirius, Harry has to go back to class for the rest of the day," Remus said. "All right?" Sirius nodded again.
"I'll come back later this afternoon," Harry promised. He squeezed Sirius's hand one last time, then left the hospital wing and headed for his Charms class, only to find that it was cancelled for the day. Harry and Hermione went down to the Great Hall and sat at a table.
"What's the matter, Harry?" Hermione asked, softly. "You look upset." Harry sighed, running his fingers through his hair, and told Hermione the whole story about Sirius.
"So I just went to visit him for a while in the hospital wing," Harry said. "His eyes lit up when he saw me, and he talked about how much he missed me... I just can't remember anything about him, Hermione, and I feel so bad because he has know idea what's been going on since he disappeared." Hermione placed a comforting hand on Harry's.
"Things will be explained to him, sooner or later, Harry," she assured him. "I'm sure everything will turn out just fine. But you just have to give it time." Harry nodded, then suddenly groaned as he heard Draco behind him.
"Hey, Harry, hey, Hermione, what's up?"
"Obviously your mood is," Harry muttered, good-naturedly. He winked at Hermione. "Actually, Draco, I was just informing Hermione of how you are hopelessly in love with her."
"What?!" Hermione and Draco both exclaimed. Harry just gave an amused smile, shaking his head before burying it in his arms on the table. Draco sat next to Harry, resting a hand on the younger boy's back.
"How'd it go?" he asked, softly.
"Sirius is doing better than Dad thought," Harry replied. "He was awake and talking to me for nearly twenty minutes. But he looks really bad, you know? He's really thin, and there's cuts and bruises all over..."
"So basically, he's either you or me when we came to Hogwarts this year?" Draco guessed. Sighing, Harry nodded his head, and nobody spoke about that topic anymore.
"Why aren't you in class, Draco?" Hermione wondered.
"Dad couldn't get anyone to cover the Defense class this hour, so we have it free," Draco explained. He looked at Harry, who had closed his eyes. "You, my dear brother, look like shite."
"Thanks, Draco," Harry mumbled. "I love you, too."
"You sick or something?" Draco wondered. Harry shook his head.
"I'm not getting sick, I'm not tired, and I'm not missing any more classes this year," he said, defiantly, before launching into a coughing fit.
"Not only do you look like shite, you're full of it, too," Draco joked. Harry glared at him, then began to cough some more.
"Harry, maybe you should go to the infirmary, just in case," Hermione suggested as Harry covered his mouth. He shook his head, coughed a little more, and uncovered his mouth.
"No. See? I'm fine." Hermione just stared at Harry's mouth, as did Draco. "What are you looking at?"
"Harry, get your arse up. We're going up to the hospital wing now." Draco pulled Harry up by his arm, but Harry jerked away. Draco then made his brother touch the corner of his mouth and showed him his finger. "Do you see that, Harry? That's blood that you just coughed up. Now if you don't cooperate and come upstairs, I'm going to stun you and take you up there myself."
Harry only stared at the blood on his finger, then suddenly began to cough even more, releasing more blood.
"It's a good thing I'm still a lot bigger than you are," Draco sighed. He carefully lifted Harry up into his arms. "Damn, you're light... Try to hold still, all right, Harry? If you don't, I'll drop you." Harry didn't reply; he was completely silent. "Harry?" Hermione ran to Draco's side, looking at Harry's face.
"He's out," she said, and they rushed upstairs. Madam Pomfrey met them at the door, frowning when she saw Harry.
"What's he done now?" she sighed, leading them to a bed. Draco lowered Harry to the mattress.
"I thought he looked sick," Draco explained. "But he insisted that he was fine, until he started coughing. He didn't really stop until he passed out, and he coughed up some blood."
"Oh, dear," Pomfrey murmured, examining Harry. "I swear to Merlin, by the time this boy gets out of Hogwarts, he'll be more than qualified for my job."
"He may as well take up a permanent residency in here, Poppy," Remus said, coming out from behind the curtains around Sirius's bed.
"So what's wrong with him?" Draco wondered after a few minutes.
"Pneumonia," Pomfrey replied. "Not too severe, I don't think. He should be all right in a few days; a week, at most."
"Draco, go let your dad know," Remus instructed him. Draco nodded, and he and Hermione left.
"I need to go to my tower before lunch," Hermione told Draco. "So I'll see you later, all right?"
"Wait," Draco said, suddenly, as he grabbed her hand. He leaned over and gently kissed her lips. Pulling away, he smiled shyly. "Yeah, I'll see you later." With that, Draco ran down to the Potions classroom. Severus noticed his son as he stood in the doorway.
"What's wrong now, Draco?" he asked. Draco smiled, innocently.
"What, can't a boy just come to his father's class to visit?" he asked. Severus glared at him. "No? All right, then. Um, Harry's kind of-- Well, he's sick. He was coughing real bad in the Great Hall, and he coughed up some blood, so I took him upstairs; he passed out on the way to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey says it's pneumonia, and he should be out for a week, at most. Remus told me to tell you."
"It's always something with that boy, isn't it?" Severus sighed. Draco nodded his agreement.
"Madam Pomfrey said that by the time Harry leaves Hogwarts, he'll be more than qualified for her job," he told his father, smiling a little. "Oh, but his visit with Sirius went well!"
"Well, there's one thing good that happened today," Severus muttered. "I don't have anymore classes after this one, so I'll go up and see him at lunchtime." Draco nodded. "Now, don't you go getting sick, too, all right?"
"I'll try," Draco promised, grinning. "I'll see you later, Dad." With that, he went back to the hospital wing.