A/N: Well you guys I had some time so I decided to start chapter 26! Aren't
you all happy?! In response to Selina's note Lei's birthday is August 17th
and potter1984 I'm making the chapters as long as I possibly can and
they're all over 1000 words so they're really not that short, I know and
have read some fics where chapters are only 100-200 words, now those kinds
of chapters you can say need to be longer but not if the chapter is over
1000 words. That and I can't write longer chapters, I stop where it's a
logical stopping place and when my brain can't come up with any more to
write. Call it writer's block or whatever but I personally think my
chapters are just fine in length. Now that I've finished that stuff I'll
shut up now and give you your chapter and the battle. Just be patient with
me because I've still got a ton of work to do and it's getting to be the
crunch time in my semester and I need to concentrate on my projects and
work. I'll stop rambling right....................now. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 26
The rest of September breezed by much too fast for the Trio, especially Harry's, liking. They had the quidditch tryouts and now Ron was the new keeper and Ginny was the new chaser. Harry was particularly impressed with Ginny's playing because he had never seen her fly before. Lei and Professor Flitwick had quickly finished the spell and Harry was hard at work with Severus learning it.
The visions had more or less subsided for Harry but he continued to take the potion that his father made for him. His nightmares had also lessened much to Harry and Severus' delight. Harry's schedule had become incredibly hectic. Training every night and quidditch practices after training 3 days a week combined with having to do homework and attend to his prefect duties left Harry exhausted.
By the evening of October 30th Harry had just mastered the spell that would finally destroy Voldemort. He had a particularly hard time learning it. He thought that learning the summoning charm the year before had been hard, this was nothing compared to that. Harry was getting scared about the upcoming battle and he had no problems in showing it around his father. By this stage in the game Harry just felt like curling up into a ball and disappearing so that he wouldn't have to deal with the situation. He knew that he couldn't though. He also knew that one way or another, the next evening it would be all over.
Harry was sitting on his father's couch, staring off into space. Suddenly he said,
"What if the spell doesn't work?"
"It will work, Harry. You know it, and you know that I won't let Voldemort win."
Harry turned and looked into his father's eyes and said,
"Yes, you're right. I know that it'll work. I'm just scared about tomorrow."
Severus put his arm around Harry's shoulder and said,
"I know you are, I expect you to be. I'd be scared if you weren't. Now it's getting late, you should be getting back to Gryffindor. You should go to bed early tonight."
Harry stood up, stretched and said,
"You're right, I could use the sleep."
Severus pulled Harry into a hug and kissed the top of his head and said,
"Don't worry about anything, it'll be okay in the end now sleep well."
Harry separated and walked towards the door and said,
"Night dad."
"Good night Harry."
Harry left the quarters and made his way up to Gryffindor Tower. He entered the tower and made a beeline for the prefects area. Just as he was passing Hermione's room she opened the door and said,
"Hey Harry, what are you up to?"
"I'm pretty tired Herm so I'm going to go to bed early."
"That sounds like a good idea Harry, you've looked pretty tired lately. I'm off to the library to work on Professor Flitwick's essay so I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay Herm, have fun. See you tomorrow."
Harry disappeared into his room as Hermione disappeared down the corridor. Harry quickly and silently got into his pajamas and got a goblet full of potion and did his usual thing and was soon asleep.
****************************** (Here we go)
The next morning Harry woke up with a feeling of dread. Knowing what was going to transpire that night. Harry went through his classes that day in a daze and much too soon for his liking Harry was walking through the doors of the Great Hall. Harry was too nervous and scared to notice the, as always, magnificent decorations. Harry could hardly eat that night and Hermione and Ron couldn't help but notice their friend's change in attitude. Hermione finally couldn't take it anymore and said,
"Harry what's wrong?"
Harry snapped his head up and said,
"What? Oh..nothing's wrong."
"Harry I know you're lying now tell us, what's happening."
Harry sighed and figured he might as well come clean. He took a deep breath, leaned forward and started to whisper.
"Don't tell anybody about this but Voldemort is going to attack the school sometime during the feast, that's why I've been having all those training sessions with Snape, it's all for tonight. Please guys, if anything happens to me know that you were my first and best friends and I love you both for everything you've done for me."
Ron and Hermione had identical looks of shock on their face. Hermione merely nodded and Ron's mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. Harry hissed,
"Guys stop it or people are going to think that something's up."
Ron and Hermione snapped out of their reverie and no sooner than they had than Harry's scar had started to burn. He hissed, looked up to the head table at his father and nodded and quietly slipped out of the hall as his father and the rest of the staff, save for a few teachers slipped out of the side entrance.
Dumbledore stood up and raised his hand to signal for silence. As soon as he got his wish he said,
"Student I beg you to stay calm after I tell you what is happening. Voldemort is about to attack the school. I want you to stay in the hall no matter what you may hear. I want all prefects and the Head Boy and Girl to maintain order but nobody is to leave under any circumstances. If it is needed I will call for students 6th year and above to help but I do not anticipate the need. I do not want to hear about any trouble going on in here. I don't think you all need to be reminded just how serious this situation is."
With that said Dumbledore also left through the side door. Walking out into the entrance hall he was met with the rest of the staff, the entire order of the phoenix, several aurors, mediwizards and witches, and Harry. Dumbledore gave out orders and they walked out of the doors. Voldemort was standing in front of an army of no less than 150 death eaters.
Harry, Dumbledore and Snape stood together in front of their group. The sides were pretty much evenly matched. Voldemort's death eaters were the first to fire spells. Unforgiveables and spells that were barely legal were thrown liberally.
After a while Harry and Voldemort were facing off in typical duel style. Harry was getting exhausted and had scratches, scrapes, cuts, bruises and burns all over himself and his robes were torn and bloody. Voldemort wasn't looking much better than Harry and you could tell that he was starting to tire as well. After being held under the cruciatus curse for 5 minutes Harry trained his wand on Voldemort and mustered up the strength and uttered the spell. The sound coming from Voldemort as his body and soul was destroyed was a sound that Harry and nobody that was within earshot, wished to hear again as long as they lived. The last thing Harry saw before he succumbed to the darkness that was gathering at the corners of his brain and vision was his father turning him over, leaning over him, frantically calling his name.
(The battle from Severus' POV)
I looked around and surveyed my former fellowship and felt no regret. Quickly I cursed and hexed several of the death eaters while getting hit quite a few times myself. I saw Harry and Voldemort dueling, both getting hit and blocking spells.
I saw Voldemort cast the cruciatus on Harry and just at that time I was hit with a curse from a death eater. I stunned him and started to fight my way towards Harry. I saw Voldemort release the curse and Harry cast the spell on Voldemort. The sound that erupted from Voldemort's mouth caused everybody to pause and look over at him and Harry.
As soon as the screaming stopped the rest of the staff and order members stunned the remaining alive deatheaters and I ran over to Harry, calling his name. For a second Harry's eyes locked onto mine and then fluttered closed.
I swept Harry into my arms and took off towards the castle. Dumbledore was giving orders to the Aurors and order members to take the remaining death eaters back to the ministry while the mediwizards got to work on the injured.
(end Sev's POV)
Severus ran with Harry up to the hospital wing and was met at the doors by Madame Pomfrey who immediately took Harry and told Severus to wait outside. It was worse for Severus to wait than the time that Harry was at Saint Andrews.
Fortyfive minutes later Madame Pomfrey came out looking pretty bad. Severus immediately stood up and said,
"How is he?"
"I won't lie to you Severus. It's bad. He stopped breathing for a moment but he started back up but barely. Dumbledore was able to get a life support and breathing apparatus so he's on one now. His levels are extremely low. He also got hit with a number of curses though those were easily dispelled. His arm and ankle was broken, he has several bruised ribs, lost quite a bit a blood and has a fever."
Severus paled, swallowed and said,
"Thank you Poppy, can I see him now please?".
"Of course Severus, just as soon as you're taken care of. It looks like you've been hit a bit yourself."
Severus knew that there was no use arguing with the matron and sank onto the nearest bed. He had been so concerned about Harry that he didn't noticed the pain that he was in. Ten minutes later and Severus had the curses dispelled and his cuts mended and Severus made his way to Harry's room.
As he drew closer to the room he could hear the gentle beeping of a heart monitor and a ventilator. Severus had to pause in the doorway to his son's room to steady himself. Harry was almost as white as the sheets but his cheeks were flushed with fever and a trickle of sweat was running down his temple. In addition to everything else he was on Harry also had an electrode attached to his temple to monitor his brain waves and 2 ivs set up giving him blood, nutrients and medication
Severus swept over to Harry's bedside and took the limp hand in his and rubbed the back of it and took his other hand and smoothed Harry's bangs back and stroked his cheek. Dumbledore walked in to see this. He walked over to Severus and laid a gentle hand on the younger wizard's shoulder and said,
"How is Harry and yourself doing?"
Severus kept his eyes trained on Harry and said,
"I'm fine Albus. Harry, as you can see, is not."
"That I can see my boy, you should be incredibly proud of him. That was an incredibly difficult thing that he had to do. It was also difficult for yourself and I'm proud of you for that."
Severus briefly looked into the Headmaster's eyes and gave a weak smile and turned his eyes back to Harry. Severus squeezed Harry's hand and was surprised when he got a barely felt squeeze in return. Dumbledore sighed and said,
"Well I must go back to the Great Hall and address the students. I will be informing Ms. Granger and the Weasleys so don't be surprised if they come up here very soon. They naturally will want to see and be with Harry."
Severus merely nodded and Dumbledore left the room. Thirty minutes later Severus heard the Hospital Wing door fly open and Madame Pomfrey's indignant cry and several pairs of feet running and a pause at the door to Harry's room. Severus looked up after he heard a stifled sob and several sharp intakes of breath.
Hermione and Ginny, Fred, George and Ron Weasley were frozen just inside the door. Hermione and Ginny had tears flowing down their cheeks and the boys looked to be on the brink. Hermione said in a very uncharacteristically small and shaky voice,
"Professor? What's wrong, is Harry going to be all right?"
Severus sighed and waved the Gryffindors into the room and motioned for them to sit down on the couch and 2 other chairs that were in the room. He took a deep breath and began.
"It's bad, but knowing Harry he'll pull out of it and will be fine. The question is how long will it take."
"What exactly is wrong with him Professor." George asked
"The main problems are his saturation levels. They're extremely low right now. Madame Pomfrey told me that he actually stopped breathing for a moment. Also he lost quite a bit of blood. He was also held under the cruciatus curse for 5 minutes so there's no telling what kind of mental state he's going to be in when he wakes up."
The group all paled at the mention of the curse. Ginny, who was seated in the chair on the other side of Harry's bed took a hold of his hand, being mindful of the iv and squeezed his hand lightly. She jumped slightly when she felt the slight squeeze of her own hand. Hermione leaned her head next to Harry's ear and said
"Harry, it's me Hermione. Ron, Ginny, Fred, George and your father are all here. Just get better, wake up and come back to us Harry, we miss you."
Harry's eyelids and fingers twitched but was missed by Ginny, Fred and George who were staring in shock at Hermione and then their Potions Master. Severus nodded and said,
"It is true. I am Harry's father. We were forced to keep it a secret until now because of my position as Spy. Only Hermione, Ron, Lei and the Staff knew and they were all sworn to secrecy. We were planning on telling the students after the battle, no matter what the outcome. But now that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are no longer a threat Harry and I can finally stop living a lie."
Ginny, Fred and George all nodded. They understood. The Gryffindors switched off every once in a while sitting in the chair by Harry's bed, holding his hand and talking to him. At 9 o'clock Madame Pomfrey came in and told the Gryffindors that they had to return to their Tower and that they could come by the next day and see Harry.
Severus didn't budge from his spot. In the short time that Harry has been on the ventilator his levels had really improved which made Severus feel a lot better. Dumbledore came in just after the Gryffindors had left and was pleased to see Harry doing better. He walked over to Severus and said,
"I'm cancelling classes for the next 2 days, several of the teacher's were injured and you all could use the rest. And you could also use the time to be with Harry since I know you won't leave until he's woken up anyways."
Severus looked into Dumbledore's faintly twinkling eyes and said,
"You know me too well Albus."
"I hope you don't consider that a bad thing." Dumbledore joked
Severus smirked and said,
"Why would I?
Dumbledore faintly chuckled and looked at Harry's pulse/ox machine and said,
"He's doing better I see."'
Severus nodded and said,
"A little bit better. Miss Granger and the Weasleys just left. I expect that they will be back tomorrow since there will be no classes."
"I would expect it as well. Severus, you know from the last time Harry was in a similar predicament like this that he will not wake up the first night so I want you to get some sleep. If you don't want to go back to your rooms then make sure you get some sleep on the couch."
"All right Albus, I'll sleep on the couch. But you know that I'm not going to leave Harry alone."
"That I do Severus, have a good night."
Albus reached over and laid his hand on the top of Harry's head and lightly squeezed it and turned and left the room quietly. Severus leaned over and kissed Harry's forehead and went over to the couch and conjured a blanket and pillow. Bedding himself down on the couch Severus threw one last sad glance at his son and fell asleep.
A/N: WHEW!!! That chapter took me about 7 hours off and on to write and now my brain feels like a wrung sponge. I hope that it was an okay chapter. Please no flames you guys and I hope that that chapter was long enough for those of you who wish my chapters were longer ;-) Now hopefully that chapter will be enough to hold you guys over until I have more time to write again. This coming weekend is the premiere for CoS in the USA and I'm planning on going to see the movie 3 times with 3 different groups of people on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night so I don't know when I'll have time to write again but it'll hopefully be no more than a little over a week for me to get the next chapter up. I'll have to see how much time my work load will permit me to work on chapters. Now push that little button in the lefthand corner and tell me what you think of this chapter. Tell me if it absolutely sucks and needs to be re-written ;-) TTFN everybody! Don't forget to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!! :-D
Chapter 26
The rest of September breezed by much too fast for the Trio, especially Harry's, liking. They had the quidditch tryouts and now Ron was the new keeper and Ginny was the new chaser. Harry was particularly impressed with Ginny's playing because he had never seen her fly before. Lei and Professor Flitwick had quickly finished the spell and Harry was hard at work with Severus learning it.
The visions had more or less subsided for Harry but he continued to take the potion that his father made for him. His nightmares had also lessened much to Harry and Severus' delight. Harry's schedule had become incredibly hectic. Training every night and quidditch practices after training 3 days a week combined with having to do homework and attend to his prefect duties left Harry exhausted.
By the evening of October 30th Harry had just mastered the spell that would finally destroy Voldemort. He had a particularly hard time learning it. He thought that learning the summoning charm the year before had been hard, this was nothing compared to that. Harry was getting scared about the upcoming battle and he had no problems in showing it around his father. By this stage in the game Harry just felt like curling up into a ball and disappearing so that he wouldn't have to deal with the situation. He knew that he couldn't though. He also knew that one way or another, the next evening it would be all over.
Harry was sitting on his father's couch, staring off into space. Suddenly he said,
"What if the spell doesn't work?"
"It will work, Harry. You know it, and you know that I won't let Voldemort win."
Harry turned and looked into his father's eyes and said,
"Yes, you're right. I know that it'll work. I'm just scared about tomorrow."
Severus put his arm around Harry's shoulder and said,
"I know you are, I expect you to be. I'd be scared if you weren't. Now it's getting late, you should be getting back to Gryffindor. You should go to bed early tonight."
Harry stood up, stretched and said,
"You're right, I could use the sleep."
Severus pulled Harry into a hug and kissed the top of his head and said,
"Don't worry about anything, it'll be okay in the end now sleep well."
Harry separated and walked towards the door and said,
"Night dad."
"Good night Harry."
Harry left the quarters and made his way up to Gryffindor Tower. He entered the tower and made a beeline for the prefects area. Just as he was passing Hermione's room she opened the door and said,
"Hey Harry, what are you up to?"
"I'm pretty tired Herm so I'm going to go to bed early."
"That sounds like a good idea Harry, you've looked pretty tired lately. I'm off to the library to work on Professor Flitwick's essay so I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay Herm, have fun. See you tomorrow."
Harry disappeared into his room as Hermione disappeared down the corridor. Harry quickly and silently got into his pajamas and got a goblet full of potion and did his usual thing and was soon asleep.
****************************** (Here we go)
The next morning Harry woke up with a feeling of dread. Knowing what was going to transpire that night. Harry went through his classes that day in a daze and much too soon for his liking Harry was walking through the doors of the Great Hall. Harry was too nervous and scared to notice the, as always, magnificent decorations. Harry could hardly eat that night and Hermione and Ron couldn't help but notice their friend's change in attitude. Hermione finally couldn't take it anymore and said,
"Harry what's wrong?"
Harry snapped his head up and said,
"What? Oh..nothing's wrong."
"Harry I know you're lying now tell us, what's happening."
Harry sighed and figured he might as well come clean. He took a deep breath, leaned forward and started to whisper.
"Don't tell anybody about this but Voldemort is going to attack the school sometime during the feast, that's why I've been having all those training sessions with Snape, it's all for tonight. Please guys, if anything happens to me know that you were my first and best friends and I love you both for everything you've done for me."
Ron and Hermione had identical looks of shock on their face. Hermione merely nodded and Ron's mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. Harry hissed,
"Guys stop it or people are going to think that something's up."
Ron and Hermione snapped out of their reverie and no sooner than they had than Harry's scar had started to burn. He hissed, looked up to the head table at his father and nodded and quietly slipped out of the hall as his father and the rest of the staff, save for a few teachers slipped out of the side entrance.
Dumbledore stood up and raised his hand to signal for silence. As soon as he got his wish he said,
"Student I beg you to stay calm after I tell you what is happening. Voldemort is about to attack the school. I want you to stay in the hall no matter what you may hear. I want all prefects and the Head Boy and Girl to maintain order but nobody is to leave under any circumstances. If it is needed I will call for students 6th year and above to help but I do not anticipate the need. I do not want to hear about any trouble going on in here. I don't think you all need to be reminded just how serious this situation is."
With that said Dumbledore also left through the side door. Walking out into the entrance hall he was met with the rest of the staff, the entire order of the phoenix, several aurors, mediwizards and witches, and Harry. Dumbledore gave out orders and they walked out of the doors. Voldemort was standing in front of an army of no less than 150 death eaters.
Harry, Dumbledore and Snape stood together in front of their group. The sides were pretty much evenly matched. Voldemort's death eaters were the first to fire spells. Unforgiveables and spells that were barely legal were thrown liberally.
After a while Harry and Voldemort were facing off in typical duel style. Harry was getting exhausted and had scratches, scrapes, cuts, bruises and burns all over himself and his robes were torn and bloody. Voldemort wasn't looking much better than Harry and you could tell that he was starting to tire as well. After being held under the cruciatus curse for 5 minutes Harry trained his wand on Voldemort and mustered up the strength and uttered the spell. The sound coming from Voldemort as his body and soul was destroyed was a sound that Harry and nobody that was within earshot, wished to hear again as long as they lived. The last thing Harry saw before he succumbed to the darkness that was gathering at the corners of his brain and vision was his father turning him over, leaning over him, frantically calling his name.
(The battle from Severus' POV)
I looked around and surveyed my former fellowship and felt no regret. Quickly I cursed and hexed several of the death eaters while getting hit quite a few times myself. I saw Harry and Voldemort dueling, both getting hit and blocking spells.
I saw Voldemort cast the cruciatus on Harry and just at that time I was hit with a curse from a death eater. I stunned him and started to fight my way towards Harry. I saw Voldemort release the curse and Harry cast the spell on Voldemort. The sound that erupted from Voldemort's mouth caused everybody to pause and look over at him and Harry.
As soon as the screaming stopped the rest of the staff and order members stunned the remaining alive deatheaters and I ran over to Harry, calling his name. For a second Harry's eyes locked onto mine and then fluttered closed.
I swept Harry into my arms and took off towards the castle. Dumbledore was giving orders to the Aurors and order members to take the remaining death eaters back to the ministry while the mediwizards got to work on the injured.
(end Sev's POV)
Severus ran with Harry up to the hospital wing and was met at the doors by Madame Pomfrey who immediately took Harry and told Severus to wait outside. It was worse for Severus to wait than the time that Harry was at Saint Andrews.
Fortyfive minutes later Madame Pomfrey came out looking pretty bad. Severus immediately stood up and said,
"How is he?"
"I won't lie to you Severus. It's bad. He stopped breathing for a moment but he started back up but barely. Dumbledore was able to get a life support and breathing apparatus so he's on one now. His levels are extremely low. He also got hit with a number of curses though those were easily dispelled. His arm and ankle was broken, he has several bruised ribs, lost quite a bit a blood and has a fever."
Severus paled, swallowed and said,
"Thank you Poppy, can I see him now please?".
"Of course Severus, just as soon as you're taken care of. It looks like you've been hit a bit yourself."
Severus knew that there was no use arguing with the matron and sank onto the nearest bed. He had been so concerned about Harry that he didn't noticed the pain that he was in. Ten minutes later and Severus had the curses dispelled and his cuts mended and Severus made his way to Harry's room.
As he drew closer to the room he could hear the gentle beeping of a heart monitor and a ventilator. Severus had to pause in the doorway to his son's room to steady himself. Harry was almost as white as the sheets but his cheeks were flushed with fever and a trickle of sweat was running down his temple. In addition to everything else he was on Harry also had an electrode attached to his temple to monitor his brain waves and 2 ivs set up giving him blood, nutrients and medication
Severus swept over to Harry's bedside and took the limp hand in his and rubbed the back of it and took his other hand and smoothed Harry's bangs back and stroked his cheek. Dumbledore walked in to see this. He walked over to Severus and laid a gentle hand on the younger wizard's shoulder and said,
"How is Harry and yourself doing?"
Severus kept his eyes trained on Harry and said,
"I'm fine Albus. Harry, as you can see, is not."
"That I can see my boy, you should be incredibly proud of him. That was an incredibly difficult thing that he had to do. It was also difficult for yourself and I'm proud of you for that."
Severus briefly looked into the Headmaster's eyes and gave a weak smile and turned his eyes back to Harry. Severus squeezed Harry's hand and was surprised when he got a barely felt squeeze in return. Dumbledore sighed and said,
"Well I must go back to the Great Hall and address the students. I will be informing Ms. Granger and the Weasleys so don't be surprised if they come up here very soon. They naturally will want to see and be with Harry."
Severus merely nodded and Dumbledore left the room. Thirty minutes later Severus heard the Hospital Wing door fly open and Madame Pomfrey's indignant cry and several pairs of feet running and a pause at the door to Harry's room. Severus looked up after he heard a stifled sob and several sharp intakes of breath.
Hermione and Ginny, Fred, George and Ron Weasley were frozen just inside the door. Hermione and Ginny had tears flowing down their cheeks and the boys looked to be on the brink. Hermione said in a very uncharacteristically small and shaky voice,
"Professor? What's wrong, is Harry going to be all right?"
Severus sighed and waved the Gryffindors into the room and motioned for them to sit down on the couch and 2 other chairs that were in the room. He took a deep breath and began.
"It's bad, but knowing Harry he'll pull out of it and will be fine. The question is how long will it take."
"What exactly is wrong with him Professor." George asked
"The main problems are his saturation levels. They're extremely low right now. Madame Pomfrey told me that he actually stopped breathing for a moment. Also he lost quite a bit of blood. He was also held under the cruciatus curse for 5 minutes so there's no telling what kind of mental state he's going to be in when he wakes up."
The group all paled at the mention of the curse. Ginny, who was seated in the chair on the other side of Harry's bed took a hold of his hand, being mindful of the iv and squeezed his hand lightly. She jumped slightly when she felt the slight squeeze of her own hand. Hermione leaned her head next to Harry's ear and said
"Harry, it's me Hermione. Ron, Ginny, Fred, George and your father are all here. Just get better, wake up and come back to us Harry, we miss you."
Harry's eyelids and fingers twitched but was missed by Ginny, Fred and George who were staring in shock at Hermione and then their Potions Master. Severus nodded and said,
"It is true. I am Harry's father. We were forced to keep it a secret until now because of my position as Spy. Only Hermione, Ron, Lei and the Staff knew and they were all sworn to secrecy. We were planning on telling the students after the battle, no matter what the outcome. But now that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are no longer a threat Harry and I can finally stop living a lie."
Ginny, Fred and George all nodded. They understood. The Gryffindors switched off every once in a while sitting in the chair by Harry's bed, holding his hand and talking to him. At 9 o'clock Madame Pomfrey came in and told the Gryffindors that they had to return to their Tower and that they could come by the next day and see Harry.
Severus didn't budge from his spot. In the short time that Harry has been on the ventilator his levels had really improved which made Severus feel a lot better. Dumbledore came in just after the Gryffindors had left and was pleased to see Harry doing better. He walked over to Severus and said,
"I'm cancelling classes for the next 2 days, several of the teacher's were injured and you all could use the rest. And you could also use the time to be with Harry since I know you won't leave until he's woken up anyways."
Severus looked into Dumbledore's faintly twinkling eyes and said,
"You know me too well Albus."
"I hope you don't consider that a bad thing." Dumbledore joked
Severus smirked and said,
"Why would I?
Dumbledore faintly chuckled and looked at Harry's pulse/ox machine and said,
"He's doing better I see."'
Severus nodded and said,
"A little bit better. Miss Granger and the Weasleys just left. I expect that they will be back tomorrow since there will be no classes."
"I would expect it as well. Severus, you know from the last time Harry was in a similar predicament like this that he will not wake up the first night so I want you to get some sleep. If you don't want to go back to your rooms then make sure you get some sleep on the couch."
"All right Albus, I'll sleep on the couch. But you know that I'm not going to leave Harry alone."
"That I do Severus, have a good night."
Albus reached over and laid his hand on the top of Harry's head and lightly squeezed it and turned and left the room quietly. Severus leaned over and kissed Harry's forehead and went over to the couch and conjured a blanket and pillow. Bedding himself down on the couch Severus threw one last sad glance at his son and fell asleep.
A/N: WHEW!!! That chapter took me about 7 hours off and on to write and now my brain feels like a wrung sponge. I hope that it was an okay chapter. Please no flames you guys and I hope that that chapter was long enough for those of you who wish my chapters were longer ;-) Now hopefully that chapter will be enough to hold you guys over until I have more time to write again. This coming weekend is the premiere for CoS in the USA and I'm planning on going to see the movie 3 times with 3 different groups of people on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night so I don't know when I'll have time to write again but it'll hopefully be no more than a little over a week for me to get the next chapter up. I'll have to see how much time my work load will permit me to work on chapters. Now push that little button in the lefthand corner and tell me what you think of this chapter. Tell me if it absolutely sucks and needs to be re-written ;-) TTFN everybody! Don't forget to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!! :-D