A/N: Geeze you guys! Glad you all liked that chapter and if I've said it
before and I'll say it again LEI WILL NOT FIND OUT IN THIS FIC. Sorry if
this disappoints you but it's too far in the future and I established this
fact in the prequel to this story. Lei did not visit Harry in the Hospital
Wing because I made it so that only Hermione and the Weasleys and Staff
could get in so this way Harry's not swamped while he's trying to get
better. I'm sorry that I missed putting that in but that's the thing.
Also, anybody who's not supposed to be at Hogwarts can't get into the
castle for that reason. I also made it so that nobody else could get into
the castle to come see Harry for the same reasons. The last thing he wants
or needs right now is the attention. That last chapter I felt wasn't the
greatest because I wrote it when I was physically and mentally exhausted
but I just couldn't stop until I finished. This is NOT going to turn into
a sappy love story, I'm just not like that. I don't have a lot of
experience in the relationship field so I'm not really going to focus on it
but I figure it'd be nice to throw that in there since Ron and Hermione are
in a relationship as well. This way it's evened out. Now here's the next
chapter and I'm in a very good mood because I just found out that the one
class that was keeping me from graduating in may is not a class that I have
to take so it looks like I'm not going to have to delay my graduation for a
whole year as I originally thought so I'm very very very happy now!!!!!
And I found out that my little neice and nephew are going to be at my
grandparents house for thanksgiving this year with their parents who happen
to be my favorite brother and sister in law!!!!!! So I'll stop babbling
now and get on with the chapter since I'm sure that's what you all want!!
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 28
Harry woke up a little after 7 o'clock and was happy to see that Ginny and his father was still there. His body spasmed again and Harry gasped from the pain and squeezed his father's hand who in turned squeezed back. The spasm caused Harry to gasp for air again and his level dropped a little bit again.
Ginny took Harry's hand and Severus detatched his and swept out of the room after telling Harry that he was going to talk to Madame Pomfrey and would be back in a moment. Severus approached the Matron's office and knocked on the door and said,
"Poppy is there anything you can give Harry to take away the cruciatus aftereffects? He just had another spasm and I have reason to believe that's what's causing his levels and temperature to fluctuate so much."
Poppy set her quill in an inkwell and stood up from her chair and said,
"I could inject the potion into him, that should do it but it was too risky to do it while he was still unconscious."
"All right, because he just woke up and almost immediately had another spasm."
Poppy nodded and strode over to a cabinet and opened it. She took out vial and a syringe and filled it and left the room with Severus. She entered the room and saw that Harry was awake and holding onto Ginny's hand who was gently running her fingers through Harry's hair trying to comfort him as his body jerked with another spasm.
Madame Pomfrey approached Harry who turned his pained green eyes to meet hers as she said while Severus sat back in his chair,
"Harry I'm going to give you something that should take away the spasms. All right?"
Harry nodded and watched her insert the needle into his iv connection and give the shot.
"Thanks Madame Pomfrey."
"You're welcome Harry, are you hungry?"
As if on cue Harry's stomach loudly grumbled and said with a slight grin,
"Does that answer your question."
Madame Pomfrey smiled and shook her head thinking 'at least he's kept his sense of humor'
"I'll go get you something to eat, it won't be anything very solid because your stomach won't be able to handle it from being on iv nutrition for so long."
Harry nodded and Madame Pomfrey left the room. Harry looked back to his father and said,
"Dad, what's going to happen now?"
"Well right now, you're going to get better. After you get better we're going to tell the school about us."
Harry nodded and then his eyes widened a bit and said,
"Dad, can Sirius still be my godfather?"
"Of course Harry. Your mother also wanted Sirius and I am not about to take either of you away from the other."
Harry smiled and then his eyes widened and said,
"Oh no! Sirius doesn't know about this?! What's he going to say?!"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it Harry. Don't worry about it for now, all right?"
"All right." Harry conceded
Madame Pomfrey chose that exact moment to walk back in with a tray with a bowl of broth, some mashed peas and carrots and a piece of bread. She set the tray on a rolling table and helped Harry sit up on some more pillows and rolled the table in front of Harry and said,
"I want you to eat as much as you can, if you want more just send your father or Miss Weasley here."
Harry nodded and tucked into the meal. He was very hungry and wanted to wolf it all down but he still was pretty weak and couldn't eat very quickly. Harry finished the meal in about 30 minutes and slumped back. He was full enough that he knew he couldn't eat more but now he was tired again. Eating took more energy out of him than he originally anticipated.
Severus took the table away and was about to take away all of the extra pillows when Harry said,
"Dad leave 2 of them, I can breathe a little easier when I'm higher up."
"All right Harry." Severus said and left 4 of the slightly flatter pillows up while Ginny helped Harry stay up. Severus and Ginny both lowered Harry back onto the pillows. Harry smiled and you could tell that his breathing got a little bit better and he said,
"Thanks."
Severus lightly squeezed the top of Harry's head while Ginny pecked him on the cheek. Harry smiled again and fell asleep before he could say or hear another word. Severus took Harry's glasses off and set them on the small table by the head of Harry's bed.
At 8:30 Madame Pomfey came in to take out the, now empty, tray and to check on Harry. She discontinued the flow of the bag containing Harry's iv nutrition supplement since he didn't need it anymore.
Just before 9 o'clock Ginny left to go back to Gryffindor Tower but she didn't leave before she brushed a light kiss on his cheek. Harry stirred slightly and let out a little sigh of contentment but stayed completely asleep.
Severus pulled out a book that he had gotten earlier in the week and had been reading off and on. He immersed himself in it and kept a light hold on Harry's hand.
By 10 o'clock Harry was completely asleep, breathing evenly and Severus was practically falling asleep himself so he slid his hand out of Harry's and carefully and softly brushed the boy's bangs back and lightly kissed his forehead. Harry did what he had done when Ginny had done it and Severus went over to the couch and repeated the process he was well accustomed to.
Severus woke up at 7am the next morning and found that Harry was still down for the count. Severus walked over and read Harry's pulse/ox monitor and saw that Harry's levels had gone up to 97% which was much better than where they had been the previous day.
Severus went through his, by then normal, routine. He came back in to find Harry stirring which meant he'd be awake in the next few minutes. Harry woke up and blinked the remaining sleep out of his eyes, he searched around the blurry room and couldn't see anything but because it was an unfamiliar room so he couldn't distinguish. He thought he was alone so he got scared and said in a small voice,
"Dad are you here?"
Severus walked over to Harry and gently put his hand onto Harry's cheek and said,
"Yes Harry, I'm here."
Harry at first slightly jumped from being surprised but then realized who it was and relaxed and slightly leaned into the touch. Severus quirked a little smile as he reached over and grabbed Harry's glasses and set them on his face. Harry smiled when the world came into focus.
"Harry?" Severus said.
"Yeah Dad?"
"Just how bad is your vision?"
"I'm pretty close to blind actually. That's why my lenses are so thick." Harry responded
"I see. I always wondered I just never got around to asking." Severus replied
Harry nodded and the two lapsed into silence. Since it was saturday (a/n:I put the battle happening on a saturday so it's a bit easier) Severus had told the students and Molly to sleep in and come later since they had been getting up very early to be with Harry but since he was now awake there really wasn't any immediate need for them to constantly be there. Harry would need the quiet time to concentrate on getting better and they didn't need to worry about Harry waking up alone anymore.
Madame Pomfrey came in at 8 o'clock and brought Harry a bowl of porridge for breakfast which Harry ate as quickly as he could. After Harry had finished eating Madame Pomfrey came in and gave Harry another injection of the counteractive potion and made more notes on Harry's chart. She left the room again and Harry turned to his father and said,
"Dad I'm bored."
"I was wondering when you were going to say that." Severus said with a smirk
Harry grinned and said,
"I figured that but seriously, I'm bored. I'm sick and tired of just laying here."
"Harry you have only been conscious for 18 hours and actually awake for about 3 of those 18 hours. How can you be bored?" Severus said trying to be serious.
"I just want something to do, because I'm not tired but I know I can't move around yet because I don't have the energy."
"Well do you want a book to read?" Severus offered
"Don't I have any homework to make up? You said that I'd been out all week."
"Well you're right when I said you'd been out all week but the Headmaster cancelled all classes because the students were pretty upset and some teachers were injured and hadn't fully recovered yet so he thought it best to cancel classes for the week." Severus responded
"Okay. Dad, where's Sirius? And Remus for that matter. I know I caught a glimpse of them before the battle but why aren't they here now."
Severus knew that this was going to come up and he didn't know how to break it gently because Harry was still recovering. He thought it best to just get it overwith and help deal with the consequences. He took a deep breath and began,
"Harry you're right that you did see them but they were hurt pretty badly, to what extent I don't know. Professor Dumbledore informed me that they had been taken to St. Mungo's for treatment."
Harry slightly paled and his eyes widened and said,
"But why didn't they get taken here? I mean I was."
"That is true Harry, but you were the first person, I grabbed you and brought you here as soon as you had killed Voldemort and the battle was still going on for at least a few minutes after that and Madame Pomfrey is a very capable mediwitch but she could only handle one critical patient at a time and you were very bad when you got here. It would have been too much for her alone to have to take care of you and Lupin and Black."
Harry nodded and looked down at his lap and said,
"Dad, how bad was I? And please be honest."
"Harry you should know that I would never lie to you. I don't tolerate lying."
Harry nodded and Severus put his hand on Harry's shoulder, rubbed it lightly and continued with a kind of far off look in his eyes.
"To be completely honest Harry, I thought you were dead or almost. You were a mess to put it bluntly. There was dirt and blood everywhere and what little clean skin there was was very pale because you lost a lot of blood. Somewhere between me bringing you in from the outside to here you stopped breathing completely." Severus paused for a moment, swallowed, and took another deep breath and continued,
"You arm and ankle was broken and you also had some bruised ribs along with a concussion. Other than the fact you stopped breathing and your levels being very low after, we were very concerned about your mental status because of the length you were kept under the cruciatus."
Harry's head snapped up and met his father's eyes and said,
"How long was I under it?"
"I think it was about 5 minutes. I can't be totally sure though." Severus said after a minute
"It felt like forever." Harry mumbled to his lap
Severus immediately knew what Harry was talking about. He took his other hand and lifted his chin so he could look directly into his eyes and said,
"I know Harry. Believe me I know."
Harry snorted and said,
"Yeah, I suppose you do."
Severus smiled and ruffled Harry's messier than usual hair.
"Dad is there any way I can take a bath. I feel really nasty."
I don't think you'll be able to actually get into a tub since you're still on oxygen and an iv but you should be able to have a sponge bath so that way you're clean again."
Harry nodded and Severus left the room to go ask Madame Pomfrey. He came back 5 minutes later with 2 basins, a washcloth and a bottle of combination shampoo and conditioner.
He set 1 basin on the bedside table and the other on the rolling table and brought it next to Harry's bed. Harry had already successfully unbuttoned his shirt but couldn't get it off because of the arm that had the iv on his hand. Severus however; figured out a way to get around it.
He simply took the shirt off of the other arm then partially off the arm with the iv. Severus took off the bandages that were wrapping around Harry's chest because of his damaged ribs then carefully washed Harry. After Harry was clean, bandaged back up and in a fresh pair of pajamas he was pretty tired and dropped off for a nap.
At 9:15 Mrs. Weasley arrived and 9:30 Hermione and the rest of the Hogwarts Weasleys arrived. Harry's levels had gone up enough that Madame Pomfrey decreased his oxygen intake a bit. Everybody was very happy when the level stayed at its current level.
Harry stayed asleep until just before lunch. Everybody opted to eat lunch in the room with Harry. They didn't know what was up with him but they knew he was upset about something.
Harry hadn't said anything since his father had told him about Sirius and Remus because he was really upset about it. Harry felt like he had almost everything he wanted. The key word being almost. Harry really wanted to see Sirius. He had wanted to see him before the battle but he couldn't because he was gone on a mission until the day of. Then he didn't have any time right before the battle. He felt bad for not being able to spend more time with Remus outside of class but he had been so busy with training and everything else that was going on.
Everybody pretty much ate in silence while sneaking glances at Harry, being careful to be discreet about it. They wanted to know what was wrong but they really didn't know how to go about asking. Hermione finally figured out a way and said,
"Harry have you heard from or contacted Sirius?"
Harry's head shot up and met his friend's eyes as his got slightly glassy and said,
"No 'mione. I haven't had the energy to write a letter and he hasn't sent any." Harry said dejectedly
"Well do you want to say what you want written and I'll write it for you?" Hermione suggested gently
"No, that's okay. I'll write him another time. But thanks for offering" Harry said softly.
Hermione looked over to Severus and he gave a look that plainly said that he'd tell them later. Hermione quickly dropped the subject. Harry still was pretty weak and tired easily so he quickly dropped off to sleep. After Severus was completely sure that Harry was asleep he said
"If you're wondering what's wrong with Harry he's upset. He asked me about Sirius this morning when he woke up and I had to tell him that Sirius and Remus were injured very seriously and that's why they hadn't been to see him." Severus paused for a moment and continued
"I don't know any details just that they were injured and taken to St. Mungo's. Harry's a bit upset about the obvious but he's also upset that they weren't brought here because he was and Madame Pomfrey doesn't have the means to care for more than 1 critical patient and you all know just how bad Harry was. I think he feels like he's responsible for the reason that they're not here."
Everybody sat in shocked silence. Severus finally said after a minute
"I really don't know what to do at this point. I don't know exactly what to say to make Harry feel better about this. He's got so much on his plate right now that I'm not exactly sure how to help him deal with this."
"Well first off it might help if Harry knew how they were doing too. I mean when was the last time Dumbledore told you anything?" Hermione gently suggested.
"That night, after he came to see how Harry was doing." Severus responded
"Then surely something could've happened by now. You should go ask him." Ron spoke up.
"All right, I'm going to go find Dumbledore. If Harry wakes up and asks where I am just tell him exactly that and I'll be back soon."
Everybody nodded and Severus swept from the room. He made his way to Dumbledore's office and once he got to the stone gargoyle he gave the password and ascended to the door. Upon being given permission to enter he stepped inside. He walked up to the desk and said,
"Albus has there been any word about Sirius or Remus or both if possible."
"Yes Severus, there has. I didn't want to tell you earlier because of Harry but now that he's awake I'm sure he's curious about them."
Severus nodded and waited for the Headmaster to continue.
"I received word on tuesday that they were awake and I got a letter yesterday saying that they were fine to be discharged and are both at Remus' home right now. They were just waiting for word that Harry was awake and they'd come. I assume you told Harry?"
Severus nodded and said,
"Yes and he is very upset about it. He hasn't hardly said anything since I told him this morning. He's been sleeping a lot though. Have you sent word to Lupin and Black yet."
"Yes, I just sent a letter late last night so they should be here soon."
Severus nodded again and said,
"Well I'll be getting back to Harry. He was asleep when I left but he might wake up."
"All right Severus, I'm going to wait in the Entrance Hall for Remus and Sirius so this way I can speak to them before they come to you and Harry. Do you want me to tell them about yours and Harry's relationship?"
"I would actually prefer that Albus, though Lupin of course already knows but I think it'll be more believable with you and him telling than coming from my mouth."
"All right Severus, now go get back to your son and I'll see you later on. I'll come with Remus and Sirius when they arrive, I'd like to see Harry again as well."
Severus nodded and said,
"All right Albus, See you later on then. Good day."
"Good day Severus."
Severus left the office to go back to Harry.
A/N: I think that's a good stopping point. It's about 10 till 2am here and I'm exhausted but I wanted to finish this chapter and as soon as ff.n goes back up *glares at 'cannot display page' on her computer screen* I'll post this. I'm camping out to get tickets to see the premiere tonight and then I got suckered into playing my clarinet for my school's pep band for our crappy football team on saturday so I'll be doing that, I'll hopefully have another chapter done by saturday and it'll be posted by then. I'm going with a different group of friends to see the movie again on sunday so maybe if I am feeling inspired I'll write another chapter but no promises since it is premiere weekend! *jumps and dances around the room with glee* But then I'll have a week and a half to go until thanksgiving break then I'll have 5 glorious days to write but I also have to work on my piano literature contextual analysis project so I don't know how much time I'm going to have to actually write because I really need to do a good job on this project if I have any prayer of passing this class. So please be patient with me, I'll have at least 1 chapter up this weekend. Now you all know the drill, push the little button and leave me a review and tell me what you think. And you all know the rules, no flames. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows to make my ever so yummy s'mores! TTFN!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 28
Harry woke up a little after 7 o'clock and was happy to see that Ginny and his father was still there. His body spasmed again and Harry gasped from the pain and squeezed his father's hand who in turned squeezed back. The spasm caused Harry to gasp for air again and his level dropped a little bit again.
Ginny took Harry's hand and Severus detatched his and swept out of the room after telling Harry that he was going to talk to Madame Pomfrey and would be back in a moment. Severus approached the Matron's office and knocked on the door and said,
"Poppy is there anything you can give Harry to take away the cruciatus aftereffects? He just had another spasm and I have reason to believe that's what's causing his levels and temperature to fluctuate so much."
Poppy set her quill in an inkwell and stood up from her chair and said,
"I could inject the potion into him, that should do it but it was too risky to do it while he was still unconscious."
"All right, because he just woke up and almost immediately had another spasm."
Poppy nodded and strode over to a cabinet and opened it. She took out vial and a syringe and filled it and left the room with Severus. She entered the room and saw that Harry was awake and holding onto Ginny's hand who was gently running her fingers through Harry's hair trying to comfort him as his body jerked with another spasm.
Madame Pomfrey approached Harry who turned his pained green eyes to meet hers as she said while Severus sat back in his chair,
"Harry I'm going to give you something that should take away the spasms. All right?"
Harry nodded and watched her insert the needle into his iv connection and give the shot.
"Thanks Madame Pomfrey."
"You're welcome Harry, are you hungry?"
As if on cue Harry's stomach loudly grumbled and said with a slight grin,
"Does that answer your question."
Madame Pomfrey smiled and shook her head thinking 'at least he's kept his sense of humor'
"I'll go get you something to eat, it won't be anything very solid because your stomach won't be able to handle it from being on iv nutrition for so long."
Harry nodded and Madame Pomfrey left the room. Harry looked back to his father and said,
"Dad, what's going to happen now?"
"Well right now, you're going to get better. After you get better we're going to tell the school about us."
Harry nodded and then his eyes widened a bit and said,
"Dad, can Sirius still be my godfather?"
"Of course Harry. Your mother also wanted Sirius and I am not about to take either of you away from the other."
Harry smiled and then his eyes widened and said,
"Oh no! Sirius doesn't know about this?! What's he going to say?!"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it Harry. Don't worry about it for now, all right?"
"All right." Harry conceded
Madame Pomfrey chose that exact moment to walk back in with a tray with a bowl of broth, some mashed peas and carrots and a piece of bread. She set the tray on a rolling table and helped Harry sit up on some more pillows and rolled the table in front of Harry and said,
"I want you to eat as much as you can, if you want more just send your father or Miss Weasley here."
Harry nodded and tucked into the meal. He was very hungry and wanted to wolf it all down but he still was pretty weak and couldn't eat very quickly. Harry finished the meal in about 30 minutes and slumped back. He was full enough that he knew he couldn't eat more but now he was tired again. Eating took more energy out of him than he originally anticipated.
Severus took the table away and was about to take away all of the extra pillows when Harry said,
"Dad leave 2 of them, I can breathe a little easier when I'm higher up."
"All right Harry." Severus said and left 4 of the slightly flatter pillows up while Ginny helped Harry stay up. Severus and Ginny both lowered Harry back onto the pillows. Harry smiled and you could tell that his breathing got a little bit better and he said,
"Thanks."
Severus lightly squeezed the top of Harry's head while Ginny pecked him on the cheek. Harry smiled again and fell asleep before he could say or hear another word. Severus took Harry's glasses off and set them on the small table by the head of Harry's bed.
At 8:30 Madame Pomfey came in to take out the, now empty, tray and to check on Harry. She discontinued the flow of the bag containing Harry's iv nutrition supplement since he didn't need it anymore.
Just before 9 o'clock Ginny left to go back to Gryffindor Tower but she didn't leave before she brushed a light kiss on his cheek. Harry stirred slightly and let out a little sigh of contentment but stayed completely asleep.
Severus pulled out a book that he had gotten earlier in the week and had been reading off and on. He immersed himself in it and kept a light hold on Harry's hand.
By 10 o'clock Harry was completely asleep, breathing evenly and Severus was practically falling asleep himself so he slid his hand out of Harry's and carefully and softly brushed the boy's bangs back and lightly kissed his forehead. Harry did what he had done when Ginny had done it and Severus went over to the couch and repeated the process he was well accustomed to.
Severus woke up at 7am the next morning and found that Harry was still down for the count. Severus walked over and read Harry's pulse/ox monitor and saw that Harry's levels had gone up to 97% which was much better than where they had been the previous day.
Severus went through his, by then normal, routine. He came back in to find Harry stirring which meant he'd be awake in the next few minutes. Harry woke up and blinked the remaining sleep out of his eyes, he searched around the blurry room and couldn't see anything but because it was an unfamiliar room so he couldn't distinguish. He thought he was alone so he got scared and said in a small voice,
"Dad are you here?"
Severus walked over to Harry and gently put his hand onto Harry's cheek and said,
"Yes Harry, I'm here."
Harry at first slightly jumped from being surprised but then realized who it was and relaxed and slightly leaned into the touch. Severus quirked a little smile as he reached over and grabbed Harry's glasses and set them on his face. Harry smiled when the world came into focus.
"Harry?" Severus said.
"Yeah Dad?"
"Just how bad is your vision?"
"I'm pretty close to blind actually. That's why my lenses are so thick." Harry responded
"I see. I always wondered I just never got around to asking." Severus replied
Harry nodded and the two lapsed into silence. Since it was saturday (a/n:I put the battle happening on a saturday so it's a bit easier) Severus had told the students and Molly to sleep in and come later since they had been getting up very early to be with Harry but since he was now awake there really wasn't any immediate need for them to constantly be there. Harry would need the quiet time to concentrate on getting better and they didn't need to worry about Harry waking up alone anymore.
Madame Pomfrey came in at 8 o'clock and brought Harry a bowl of porridge for breakfast which Harry ate as quickly as he could. After Harry had finished eating Madame Pomfrey came in and gave Harry another injection of the counteractive potion and made more notes on Harry's chart. She left the room again and Harry turned to his father and said,
"Dad I'm bored."
"I was wondering when you were going to say that." Severus said with a smirk
Harry grinned and said,
"I figured that but seriously, I'm bored. I'm sick and tired of just laying here."
"Harry you have only been conscious for 18 hours and actually awake for about 3 of those 18 hours. How can you be bored?" Severus said trying to be serious.
"I just want something to do, because I'm not tired but I know I can't move around yet because I don't have the energy."
"Well do you want a book to read?" Severus offered
"Don't I have any homework to make up? You said that I'd been out all week."
"Well you're right when I said you'd been out all week but the Headmaster cancelled all classes because the students were pretty upset and some teachers were injured and hadn't fully recovered yet so he thought it best to cancel classes for the week." Severus responded
"Okay. Dad, where's Sirius? And Remus for that matter. I know I caught a glimpse of them before the battle but why aren't they here now."
Severus knew that this was going to come up and he didn't know how to break it gently because Harry was still recovering. He thought it best to just get it overwith and help deal with the consequences. He took a deep breath and began,
"Harry you're right that you did see them but they were hurt pretty badly, to what extent I don't know. Professor Dumbledore informed me that they had been taken to St. Mungo's for treatment."
Harry slightly paled and his eyes widened and said,
"But why didn't they get taken here? I mean I was."
"That is true Harry, but you were the first person, I grabbed you and brought you here as soon as you had killed Voldemort and the battle was still going on for at least a few minutes after that and Madame Pomfrey is a very capable mediwitch but she could only handle one critical patient at a time and you were very bad when you got here. It would have been too much for her alone to have to take care of you and Lupin and Black."
Harry nodded and looked down at his lap and said,
"Dad, how bad was I? And please be honest."
"Harry you should know that I would never lie to you. I don't tolerate lying."
Harry nodded and Severus put his hand on Harry's shoulder, rubbed it lightly and continued with a kind of far off look in his eyes.
"To be completely honest Harry, I thought you were dead or almost. You were a mess to put it bluntly. There was dirt and blood everywhere and what little clean skin there was was very pale because you lost a lot of blood. Somewhere between me bringing you in from the outside to here you stopped breathing completely." Severus paused for a moment, swallowed, and took another deep breath and continued,
"You arm and ankle was broken and you also had some bruised ribs along with a concussion. Other than the fact you stopped breathing and your levels being very low after, we were very concerned about your mental status because of the length you were kept under the cruciatus."
Harry's head snapped up and met his father's eyes and said,
"How long was I under it?"
"I think it was about 5 minutes. I can't be totally sure though." Severus said after a minute
"It felt like forever." Harry mumbled to his lap
Severus immediately knew what Harry was talking about. He took his other hand and lifted his chin so he could look directly into his eyes and said,
"I know Harry. Believe me I know."
Harry snorted and said,
"Yeah, I suppose you do."
Severus smiled and ruffled Harry's messier than usual hair.
"Dad is there any way I can take a bath. I feel really nasty."
I don't think you'll be able to actually get into a tub since you're still on oxygen and an iv but you should be able to have a sponge bath so that way you're clean again."
Harry nodded and Severus left the room to go ask Madame Pomfrey. He came back 5 minutes later with 2 basins, a washcloth and a bottle of combination shampoo and conditioner.
He set 1 basin on the bedside table and the other on the rolling table and brought it next to Harry's bed. Harry had already successfully unbuttoned his shirt but couldn't get it off because of the arm that had the iv on his hand. Severus however; figured out a way to get around it.
He simply took the shirt off of the other arm then partially off the arm with the iv. Severus took off the bandages that were wrapping around Harry's chest because of his damaged ribs then carefully washed Harry. After Harry was clean, bandaged back up and in a fresh pair of pajamas he was pretty tired and dropped off for a nap.
At 9:15 Mrs. Weasley arrived and 9:30 Hermione and the rest of the Hogwarts Weasleys arrived. Harry's levels had gone up enough that Madame Pomfrey decreased his oxygen intake a bit. Everybody was very happy when the level stayed at its current level.
Harry stayed asleep until just before lunch. Everybody opted to eat lunch in the room with Harry. They didn't know what was up with him but they knew he was upset about something.
Harry hadn't said anything since his father had told him about Sirius and Remus because he was really upset about it. Harry felt like he had almost everything he wanted. The key word being almost. Harry really wanted to see Sirius. He had wanted to see him before the battle but he couldn't because he was gone on a mission until the day of. Then he didn't have any time right before the battle. He felt bad for not being able to spend more time with Remus outside of class but he had been so busy with training and everything else that was going on.
Everybody pretty much ate in silence while sneaking glances at Harry, being careful to be discreet about it. They wanted to know what was wrong but they really didn't know how to go about asking. Hermione finally figured out a way and said,
"Harry have you heard from or contacted Sirius?"
Harry's head shot up and met his friend's eyes as his got slightly glassy and said,
"No 'mione. I haven't had the energy to write a letter and he hasn't sent any." Harry said dejectedly
"Well do you want to say what you want written and I'll write it for you?" Hermione suggested gently
"No, that's okay. I'll write him another time. But thanks for offering" Harry said softly.
Hermione looked over to Severus and he gave a look that plainly said that he'd tell them later. Hermione quickly dropped the subject. Harry still was pretty weak and tired easily so he quickly dropped off to sleep. After Severus was completely sure that Harry was asleep he said
"If you're wondering what's wrong with Harry he's upset. He asked me about Sirius this morning when he woke up and I had to tell him that Sirius and Remus were injured very seriously and that's why they hadn't been to see him." Severus paused for a moment and continued
"I don't know any details just that they were injured and taken to St. Mungo's. Harry's a bit upset about the obvious but he's also upset that they weren't brought here because he was and Madame Pomfrey doesn't have the means to care for more than 1 critical patient and you all know just how bad Harry was. I think he feels like he's responsible for the reason that they're not here."
Everybody sat in shocked silence. Severus finally said after a minute
"I really don't know what to do at this point. I don't know exactly what to say to make Harry feel better about this. He's got so much on his plate right now that I'm not exactly sure how to help him deal with this."
"Well first off it might help if Harry knew how they were doing too. I mean when was the last time Dumbledore told you anything?" Hermione gently suggested.
"That night, after he came to see how Harry was doing." Severus responded
"Then surely something could've happened by now. You should go ask him." Ron spoke up.
"All right, I'm going to go find Dumbledore. If Harry wakes up and asks where I am just tell him exactly that and I'll be back soon."
Everybody nodded and Severus swept from the room. He made his way to Dumbledore's office and once he got to the stone gargoyle he gave the password and ascended to the door. Upon being given permission to enter he stepped inside. He walked up to the desk and said,
"Albus has there been any word about Sirius or Remus or both if possible."
"Yes Severus, there has. I didn't want to tell you earlier because of Harry but now that he's awake I'm sure he's curious about them."
Severus nodded and waited for the Headmaster to continue.
"I received word on tuesday that they were awake and I got a letter yesterday saying that they were fine to be discharged and are both at Remus' home right now. They were just waiting for word that Harry was awake and they'd come. I assume you told Harry?"
Severus nodded and said,
"Yes and he is very upset about it. He hasn't hardly said anything since I told him this morning. He's been sleeping a lot though. Have you sent word to Lupin and Black yet."
"Yes, I just sent a letter late last night so they should be here soon."
Severus nodded again and said,
"Well I'll be getting back to Harry. He was asleep when I left but he might wake up."
"All right Severus, I'm going to wait in the Entrance Hall for Remus and Sirius so this way I can speak to them before they come to you and Harry. Do you want me to tell them about yours and Harry's relationship?"
"I would actually prefer that Albus, though Lupin of course already knows but I think it'll be more believable with you and him telling than coming from my mouth."
"All right Severus, now go get back to your son and I'll see you later on. I'll come with Remus and Sirius when they arrive, I'd like to see Harry again as well."
Severus nodded and said,
"All right Albus, See you later on then. Good day."
"Good day Severus."
Severus left the office to go back to Harry.
A/N: I think that's a good stopping point. It's about 10 till 2am here and I'm exhausted but I wanted to finish this chapter and as soon as ff.n goes back up *glares at 'cannot display page' on her computer screen* I'll post this. I'm camping out to get tickets to see the premiere tonight and then I got suckered into playing my clarinet for my school's pep band for our crappy football team on saturday so I'll be doing that, I'll hopefully have another chapter done by saturday and it'll be posted by then. I'm going with a different group of friends to see the movie again on sunday so maybe if I am feeling inspired I'll write another chapter but no promises since it is premiere weekend! *jumps and dances around the room with glee* But then I'll have a week and a half to go until thanksgiving break then I'll have 5 glorious days to write but I also have to work on my piano literature contextual analysis project so I don't know how much time I'm going to have to actually write because I really need to do a good job on this project if I have any prayer of passing this class. So please be patient with me, I'll have at least 1 chapter up this weekend. Now you all know the drill, push the little button and leave me a review and tell me what you think. And you all know the rules, no flames. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows to make my ever so yummy s'mores! TTFN!!!!!!!!!!!