A/N: Sheesh you guys, you all review quickly.I'm starting this on friday,
the day of the CoS premiere. I was sitting in line today for almost 4
hours to get my tickets to the CoS premiere. I was the second person in
line!!!!!! And I got my tickets and started writing this chapter while I
was sitting outside and freezing my tail off and now I'm killing time in my
blissfully warm dorm room until it's time to go and see the movie So I
hope this chapter doesn't suck too much. So I'll stop babbling now and get
on with the chapter since I'm sure that's what you all want!!
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 29
Just before 3 o'clock Remus followed closely behind Sirius into the entrance hall where they were met by Dumbledore who immediately smiled and said,
"Hello Remus, Sirius. Please come with me to my office."
Sirius knew better than to argue and followed the aged Headmaster. Once they were settled down into chairs with a cup of tea Dumbledore began.
"Well you two obviously know that Harry is awake now. But Sirius I need to tell you something before you go see him. Harry has undergone a lot of physical changes. He doesn't look the same as he did the last time you saw him."
Sirius was confused and said,
"But why? Why would he look different Albus?"
"Well it's for 2 main reasons. First he had to be removed from the Dursleys care this summer because it was discovered that they were abusing him."
Sirius jumped up out of his seat and roared "WHAT?!"
"Sirius please sit and calm down." Albus ordered and Sirius complied.
"Now please don't interrupt me because there's more to it than that. Severus was the one to get him after receiving a letter from Harry asking for help. He brought him back here for treatment and then watched and took excellent care of him for the rest of the summer holidays after being released from the Hospital Wing. It was also discovered at the beginning of term that Severus is in fact Harry's father."
Sirius sat in stunned silence for over a minute then said,
"You're lying. I don't believe you."
Remus spoke up and said,
"Sirius, he's not lying. Lily wrote me a letter and told me that Severus was. The parental identification potion was done and confirmed that Severus is in fact Harry's father. You knew that they were married for some time after we finished school Sirius. So stop being a dolt and accept it!"
Sirius thought for a moment and said,
"All right I accept it. So what happens now? I was planning on fulfilling my promise to Harry and have him live with me now that my name's been cleared."
"Severus has informed me that you are still going to remain Harry's godfather because it was also Lily's decision. You can speak to Severus when you see him when you leave here."
Sirius said,
"All right Albus. Now can I go see Harry?"
"In a moment Sirius. You should know what you're going to see when you get there."
Sirius nodded and Albus began.
"He's doing much better now but he's still nowhere near being back to normal. He's had some problems with his saturation levels from being asthmatic and is still on oxygen intake to help that. His chest is bandaged pretty tightly from some damaged ribs and his upper arms are bandaged to protect the burns that he received. He's still pretty weak because he lost a lot of blood, he doesn't have a lot of energy either. He'll have short spurts of it but tires extremely easily and sleeps a lot. He's on iv medications and a machine to monitor his brain waves to make sure there's not any damage."
"Why would there be any damage Albus?" Remus asked
"Before Harry destroyed Voldemort he held him under the cruciatus curse for over 5 minutes."
Remus and Sirius paled simultaneously at the information.
"There doesn't appear the be any but Harry hasn't been awake much to actually see if there's any long term or permanent damage but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Remus and Sirius both nodded and Dumbledore rose from his chair and said,
"Well gentlemen, let's go see Harry now."
Remus and Sirius stood and the group left the office and made their way to the Hospital Wing. Harry had apparently woken up for a bit but had fallen back asleep because he was now laying on his right side facing his father in the same position that he was in when he was at Saint Andrews.
Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore walked in to see Harry in that position and Severus lightly running his fingers through Harry's long locks while the boy slept. The other Gryffindors and Mrs. Weasley had made their excuses earlier and had decided to let Harry and Severus have some alone time.
The group could see that Harry had been crying. While Dumbledore and Remus took seats on the couch, Sirius walked over and stood by Severus' chair who looked up and had a look that Sirius never expected to ever see on the man's face. It was the expression of a man who had no idea what to do. That really shocked Sirius because he never expected to see that on the man's face. Severus slid part of his mask back on and said,
"Black. I'm glad and know that Harry will be glad that you're here. He's been very upset, as I'm sure you can see."
Sirius simply nodded and gently stroked Harry's cheek and called his name. Harry woke up and felt somebody put his glasses on and looked up to see a healthy Sirius. He summoned all of his strength and launched himself into Sirius' arms.
Sirius hugged Harry back trying not to squeeze him too hard. Without letting go since Harry was making no indiction of doing so Sirius said,
"Hey kiddo, how ya doin'?"
"Okay, I guess." Harry mumbled indifferently
"Harry I know about you and Snape and I'm going to tell you that I'm not going anywhere. Your father has already said that I can stay your godfather and I intend to fulfill that promise. It doesn't matter to me who your parents are, just that you're here."
:Harry slightly tightened his hold and started to cry a bit. Sirius kept a hold of Harry and rubbed small circles in the boy's back. Sirius could feel the tight bandages beneath the boy's shirt. After it seemed that Harry was all cried out Sirius said,
"Harry I need you to do something for me okay?"
Harry nodded and Sirius continued,
"I need you to get better and listen to your father. As soon as you're better and things get back to normal again we'll talk about what's going to happen now that this is all over."
Harry nodded and loosened his grip sort of signaling that he wanted to lay back down. Sirius bent over and gently lowered Harry to the mattress and they finally released eachother. Sirius brushed Harry's bangs back and inwardly frowned at Harry's hot forehead as Harry closed his eyes to take another nap.
Sirius looked to Severus and said,
"His forehead is really hot, has he had anything for it."
"I believe the medication for that is in his iv bag." Severus said and looked over to see that the bag was pretty much empty and said,
"Well there's the reason. The bag is empty."
Severus stood up and went to get Madame Pomfrey who promptly changed the bag and turned on the flow. Also noting the time and Harry's level she decreased the intake a little bit more. Within minutes Harry's fever was down again. Sirius went and sat down in the other chair, looked over to Severus and said,
"So what is the plan now? Where do the 3 of us go from here. Where are you two going to live next summer and what are you planning for christmas?"
"Well the plan right now is just to get Harry better and back into a normal routine again. I don't plan on cutting out any possible contact between you two. You are his godfather and I'm not going to interfere with that." Severus paused for a moment then continued
"As to what I'm planning for Christmas I was planning on spending it here and have Harry stay down in my rooms since he does have his own room down there. I'm currently having my ancestral manor made habitable again. I haven't lived there in a long time since I had no reason to but now that I have Harry I want him to have a home away from Hogwarts. I was going to bring him there and show him the place during the Christmas holidays.
"As for the summer I'm sure that Harry will want to spend a couple of weeks with you and I know that he usually goes to the Weasleys for at least the last week of the summer holidays to spend with them."
Sirius nodded and said,
"It's just as well that you two are spending christmas here because I still have to go through all of the technical aspects to get everything ready. The ministry still has my manor under their posession and it'll take some time to get everything ready to be habitable again. It'll probably take at least until the summer to do that."
Severus nodded and the two lapsed into silence. Remus had kept his mouth shut during this entire time as had Albus. An hour later Madame Pomfrey came in to check Harry's levels. She was just about to leave when Remus said,
"Poppy, how long do you think it'll be before Harry's taken off of oxygen completely?"
"Well he's on 50% intake now and is doing fine. As long as nothing else happens I would say in the next 12-24 hours." Madame Pomfrey responded
Remus nodded and MadamePomfrey left the room. Remus looked over to Severus and said,
"What did she mean when she said 'as long as nothing else happens' ?"
"There have been several problems in regulating Harry's levels. It seemed that just when we decreased his intake that the level would drop again and the intake would have to be increased again. We found out that it would decrease when he would have a spasm from the cruciatus aftereffects but he's been given a potion to counter the effects so he hasn't had any problems since he's been given it." Severus responded
"All right, I understand. How long will it take the potion to completely run its course?" Remus pressed.
"The potion has to be given in 2 doses every 12 hours for a small exposure, which would be a minute or less. But because he was held under it for so long I anticipate that he'll need to multiply that dose by 5 to do its job. He's had 2 already and is going to be given another one at 8 o'clock tonight so it'll be a while before that has run its course. But by that time his breathing will be fine hopefully. It's been getting better but his asthma is aggervated very easily so there's a number of factors that could make it remain a problem."
Remus nodded and said "I see."
Just then everybody's attention snapped to Harry as he started to shift around restlessly and moan while squinting his eyes tight and breathe laboriously. Severus figured that Harry was having a nightmare and put both of his hands on each side of Harry's thrashing head to still it and whispered in the boy's ear trying to get him to calm down. However; Harry would not be calmed. His breathing got more and more ragged and Severus knew that he was going to hyperventillate and have an attack if this continued for much longer.
Severus looked to Sirius and said,
"Go get Madame Pomfrey and tell her to bring a dose of calming potion, he won't wake up and if he doesn't calm down he'll have another attack."
Sirius nodded and bolted from the room returning very quickly with Madame Pomfrey who had another filled syringe in her hand. Remus by this point had moved over to Harry's bed and was trying to hold him down to keep him primarily from ripping out his iv but Harry was trying to struggle as best he could against the two and had started to wheeze.
Madame Pomfrey gave Harry the shot and almost immediately Harry's thrashing stopped but his breathing remained ragged and shallow. Harry's levels had again dropped and Madame Pomfrey increased his intake as she sighed and slightly shook her head and retreated from the room.
Just after she left Harry's eyes snapped open and his eyes darted around for a moment before they rested on his father's who was still holding his head. He still remembered the nightmare and it scared him. His fearful eyes looked into his father's concerned ones who said,
"Want to tell me about it?"
Harry took a shuddering breath and began.
"I dreamt basically that you had betrayed me and taken me to Voldemort and that you helped him torture then kill me, and I'm not talking about the cruciatus curse either when it comes to torturing."
Severus paled and then gathered Harry into a hug who returned it and said,
"Harry I would never ever betray you and you know that. I'm sorry that you had to dream that but know that I would and will never betray you or anybody in this room. All right?"
"All right Dad, I'm sorry." Harry said meekly
"Harry you have nothing to be sorry about. You can't help what you dream. It's not your fault and I'm not mad that you dreamt that and you shouldn't be mad at yourself because it was out of your control." Severus said sternly but gently.
Harry nodded and tightened his grip on his father. Severus squeezed Harry and the two of them lapsed into silence and Harry eventually fell back to sleep. Severus lowered Harry back down onto the bed and brushed the boys bangs back lightly.
Sirius watched with shocked astonishment. He would never guess that Snape would do a complete 180 in his attitude. He also had to admit to himself that he knew next to nothing about his godson's father. Just that he had been a bit of a git in school.
Remus was slightly shocked at Severus' reaction and attitude towards Harry. He knew that the two of them had gotten closer but Severus had had to keep up his facade that he hated Harry and the rest of the staff. Now since the threat of Voldemort, Death Eaters, his students parents and his parents were out of the picture he could finally be free to show who he was and start over in effect.
Albus was quite amused. He saw Sirius' reaction. He was one of the few if not the only person who could truly say they knew Severus Snape. The REAL Severus Snape. So it was quite amusing to him to see Sirius' and even Remus' reaction. He knew that Remus knew a little more than Sirius but still nowhere close to knowing the real Severus Snape.
Severus looked up and saw the shocked look on Sirius' face and said,
"What? Surely you didn't think that I'd just sit by and not do anything."
"No, it's just that I never expected that."
"Black, one thing you have to understand is that my entire life I had my father pushing me to be the 'perfect little death eater'. I was forced to join Voldemort and then when I started spying I had to keep up my act that I hated Gryffindors and when Harry got to school that I hated him because he had caused my 'master' to fall." Severus paused for a moment and continued
"That's because the majority of my Slytherin students were keeping a very close eye on me and if I showed anybody but my Slytherins favor my students would tell their Death Eater parents and get me killed. So I was saving my own hide as well as Harry's and the rest of the Wizarding World as a whole." Severus rubbed his eyes wearily
To say that Sirius was shocked was an understatement. He had no idea that it went as far back as their childhood. He looked over to Severus and said genuinely,
"I'm sorry Severus. For everything. I had no idea."
"Nobody had any idea Black so it's not just you. This school is going to get one heck of a shock in a very short amount of time. I no longer have to act and I don't intend to do so either."
Sirius nodded and said,
"Understandable. We really need to call a truce, for Harry's sake at least. I know it'd help him especially because it's quite obvious that he cares a lot about you and I know he cares about me and I the same for him."
"All right Black. It's a truce. I don't see why two grown men can't get over a simple childhood grudge. Harry will always be my priority and come first, above anything else."
Sirius nodded and the group lapsed into silence. After the truce Albus made his excuses and left. Remus mumbled something about needing to get some work done before classes. Sirius hung around for a little longer but said that he needed to run some errands and would owl in a day or two if he couldn't come by.
Just after Sirius left Ginny arrived. She saw with a pang of sadness that Harry's oxygen had been increased again which meant that something had happened but she didn't know what. She looked to her professor and said,
"Professor, if I may ask. What happened to Harry so that his oxygen intake had to be increased again?"
"He had a nightmare. I won't go into details but let's just say he was very upset by it." Severus responded
"But Sir, has anything happened like this before? If you don't mind me asking."
"I don't mind you asking, you should know about this if you're going to be involved with him. Yes, this has happened before. His first ever attack happened because he had a nightmare. His are rather bad and often have extremely adverse effects on him. Since visions of Voldemort's activities are no longer a threat I'm going to develop a potion for Harry that'll diminish the effects of his nightmares on him."
"But Professor Snape, wouldn't it just be easier for Harry to take a dreamless sleep potion every night?"
"No, because that potion can very quickly become extremely addictive." Severus responded
Ginny nodded in understanding and the professor and student lapsed into silence for a while. Ginny then looked up and said,
"Sir, how much longer do you think Harry will be here?"
"Harry is a pretty quick healer but this was a huge ordeal for him. The spasms and aftereffects of the cruciatus will not be a threat after he has completed the treatment for it. With that completion hopefully his breathing and energy issues will be resolved."
"What caused him to be this weak? Nobody told me or any of us anything about what exactly happened to Harry out there."
"I'll go ahead and tell you because you should know just what he has been through. He'll need yours and your brothers and Miss Granger's support just as much as he'll need his godfather and I's support."
Ginny nodded and Severus began,
"I don't know specifically what curses except the cruciatus he was hit with. It looks as if he was hit with a bone breaking curse in a few places because his arm and ankle along with some ribs were broken. His arm and ankle were healed but the ribs can't be healed by magic so they're bandaged. He has burns on both upper arms. He lost a large amount of blood which is why he's so weak, he's still building it back up. He had also stopped breathing between me getting to him outside and bringing him here."
Ginny paled. She never knew that it was that bad. She had known that it was bad but never had a clue that it was that bad. She had been told that Voldemort was very cruel but she had never experienced it first hand. And now Harry had suffered twice at his hands. Severus saw the begininngs of what could be pity and said,
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Harry absolutely detests being pityed. What he needs is understanding, not pity."
Ginny nodded and said,
"I understand sir, I just can't help but feel bad for him."
"I know Miss Weasley. But feeling bad and feeling pity are completely different."
"Yes sir, I know sir." Ginny said
Severus nodded and Ginny made her excuses and made her way down to the Great Hall to eat dinner. Madame Pomfrey came in at 6 o'clock with a tray of food for Harry and Severus. Severus quickly ate his food and let Harry sleep then woke him so he could eat. He went through the same routine as the night before and soon Harry had eaten and was asleep again.
At 8 o'clock Madame Pomfrey came in with another dose of the potion for Harry. After administering it she made a note on Harry's chart and retreated back to her office after bidding Severus a good night.
Severus stayed awake for another couple of hours and then fell asleep on the couch again.
A/N: I'm sorry if that chapter moved kind of slowly and it was a bit long. I've been watching Chamber of Secrets every night since it opened on friday. I honestly still get scared during the basilisk scene and can only watch some of it but it's better than the first night. I love that movie and am going to see it 2 more times this week with more people who haven't seen it yet. I can't get enough of this movie!!!!! Those kids, especially Dan did an absolutely phenomenal job on this movie. God I fell in love with them in Sorcerer's Stone and I'm just head over heels for them now, those kids put out absolutely phenomenal performances. I didn't think those kids could do better than the first movie but from what I've seen 3 times already I was really wrong about that assumption. Those kids are absolutely incredible and I can't get enough of them. I'm sorry this chapter was a bit slow getting out but I've been out a bit and have been sooooooo excited and talking with my friends so much about the movie that it hasn't left a lot of time for me to write. I really hope that chapter didn't suck but I think it was a bit boring but necessary. Now push that little button in the left hand corner and tell me what you think and don't forget that flames will be used to roast marshmallows for s'mores! :-P TTFN!!!!!!
Chapter 29
Just before 3 o'clock Remus followed closely behind Sirius into the entrance hall where they were met by Dumbledore who immediately smiled and said,
"Hello Remus, Sirius. Please come with me to my office."
Sirius knew better than to argue and followed the aged Headmaster. Once they were settled down into chairs with a cup of tea Dumbledore began.
"Well you two obviously know that Harry is awake now. But Sirius I need to tell you something before you go see him. Harry has undergone a lot of physical changes. He doesn't look the same as he did the last time you saw him."
Sirius was confused and said,
"But why? Why would he look different Albus?"
"Well it's for 2 main reasons. First he had to be removed from the Dursleys care this summer because it was discovered that they were abusing him."
Sirius jumped up out of his seat and roared "WHAT?!"
"Sirius please sit and calm down." Albus ordered and Sirius complied.
"Now please don't interrupt me because there's more to it than that. Severus was the one to get him after receiving a letter from Harry asking for help. He brought him back here for treatment and then watched and took excellent care of him for the rest of the summer holidays after being released from the Hospital Wing. It was also discovered at the beginning of term that Severus is in fact Harry's father."
Sirius sat in stunned silence for over a minute then said,
"You're lying. I don't believe you."
Remus spoke up and said,
"Sirius, he's not lying. Lily wrote me a letter and told me that Severus was. The parental identification potion was done and confirmed that Severus is in fact Harry's father. You knew that they were married for some time after we finished school Sirius. So stop being a dolt and accept it!"
Sirius thought for a moment and said,
"All right I accept it. So what happens now? I was planning on fulfilling my promise to Harry and have him live with me now that my name's been cleared."
"Severus has informed me that you are still going to remain Harry's godfather because it was also Lily's decision. You can speak to Severus when you see him when you leave here."
Sirius said,
"All right Albus. Now can I go see Harry?"
"In a moment Sirius. You should know what you're going to see when you get there."
Sirius nodded and Albus began.
"He's doing much better now but he's still nowhere near being back to normal. He's had some problems with his saturation levels from being asthmatic and is still on oxygen intake to help that. His chest is bandaged pretty tightly from some damaged ribs and his upper arms are bandaged to protect the burns that he received. He's still pretty weak because he lost a lot of blood, he doesn't have a lot of energy either. He'll have short spurts of it but tires extremely easily and sleeps a lot. He's on iv medications and a machine to monitor his brain waves to make sure there's not any damage."
"Why would there be any damage Albus?" Remus asked
"Before Harry destroyed Voldemort he held him under the cruciatus curse for over 5 minutes."
Remus and Sirius paled simultaneously at the information.
"There doesn't appear the be any but Harry hasn't been awake much to actually see if there's any long term or permanent damage but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Remus and Sirius both nodded and Dumbledore rose from his chair and said,
"Well gentlemen, let's go see Harry now."
Remus and Sirius stood and the group left the office and made their way to the Hospital Wing. Harry had apparently woken up for a bit but had fallen back asleep because he was now laying on his right side facing his father in the same position that he was in when he was at Saint Andrews.
Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore walked in to see Harry in that position and Severus lightly running his fingers through Harry's long locks while the boy slept. The other Gryffindors and Mrs. Weasley had made their excuses earlier and had decided to let Harry and Severus have some alone time.
The group could see that Harry had been crying. While Dumbledore and Remus took seats on the couch, Sirius walked over and stood by Severus' chair who looked up and had a look that Sirius never expected to ever see on the man's face. It was the expression of a man who had no idea what to do. That really shocked Sirius because he never expected to see that on the man's face. Severus slid part of his mask back on and said,
"Black. I'm glad and know that Harry will be glad that you're here. He's been very upset, as I'm sure you can see."
Sirius simply nodded and gently stroked Harry's cheek and called his name. Harry woke up and felt somebody put his glasses on and looked up to see a healthy Sirius. He summoned all of his strength and launched himself into Sirius' arms.
Sirius hugged Harry back trying not to squeeze him too hard. Without letting go since Harry was making no indiction of doing so Sirius said,
"Hey kiddo, how ya doin'?"
"Okay, I guess." Harry mumbled indifferently
"Harry I know about you and Snape and I'm going to tell you that I'm not going anywhere. Your father has already said that I can stay your godfather and I intend to fulfill that promise. It doesn't matter to me who your parents are, just that you're here."
:Harry slightly tightened his hold and started to cry a bit. Sirius kept a hold of Harry and rubbed small circles in the boy's back. Sirius could feel the tight bandages beneath the boy's shirt. After it seemed that Harry was all cried out Sirius said,
"Harry I need you to do something for me okay?"
Harry nodded and Sirius continued,
"I need you to get better and listen to your father. As soon as you're better and things get back to normal again we'll talk about what's going to happen now that this is all over."
Harry nodded and loosened his grip sort of signaling that he wanted to lay back down. Sirius bent over and gently lowered Harry to the mattress and they finally released eachother. Sirius brushed Harry's bangs back and inwardly frowned at Harry's hot forehead as Harry closed his eyes to take another nap.
Sirius looked to Severus and said,
"His forehead is really hot, has he had anything for it."
"I believe the medication for that is in his iv bag." Severus said and looked over to see that the bag was pretty much empty and said,
"Well there's the reason. The bag is empty."
Severus stood up and went to get Madame Pomfrey who promptly changed the bag and turned on the flow. Also noting the time and Harry's level she decreased the intake a little bit more. Within minutes Harry's fever was down again. Sirius went and sat down in the other chair, looked over to Severus and said,
"So what is the plan now? Where do the 3 of us go from here. Where are you two going to live next summer and what are you planning for christmas?"
"Well the plan right now is just to get Harry better and back into a normal routine again. I don't plan on cutting out any possible contact between you two. You are his godfather and I'm not going to interfere with that." Severus paused for a moment then continued
"As to what I'm planning for Christmas I was planning on spending it here and have Harry stay down in my rooms since he does have his own room down there. I'm currently having my ancestral manor made habitable again. I haven't lived there in a long time since I had no reason to but now that I have Harry I want him to have a home away from Hogwarts. I was going to bring him there and show him the place during the Christmas holidays.
"As for the summer I'm sure that Harry will want to spend a couple of weeks with you and I know that he usually goes to the Weasleys for at least the last week of the summer holidays to spend with them."
Sirius nodded and said,
"It's just as well that you two are spending christmas here because I still have to go through all of the technical aspects to get everything ready. The ministry still has my manor under their posession and it'll take some time to get everything ready to be habitable again. It'll probably take at least until the summer to do that."
Severus nodded and the two lapsed into silence. Remus had kept his mouth shut during this entire time as had Albus. An hour later Madame Pomfrey came in to check Harry's levels. She was just about to leave when Remus said,
"Poppy, how long do you think it'll be before Harry's taken off of oxygen completely?"
"Well he's on 50% intake now and is doing fine. As long as nothing else happens I would say in the next 12-24 hours." Madame Pomfrey responded
Remus nodded and MadamePomfrey left the room. Remus looked over to Severus and said,
"What did she mean when she said 'as long as nothing else happens' ?"
"There have been several problems in regulating Harry's levels. It seemed that just when we decreased his intake that the level would drop again and the intake would have to be increased again. We found out that it would decrease when he would have a spasm from the cruciatus aftereffects but he's been given a potion to counter the effects so he hasn't had any problems since he's been given it." Severus responded
"All right, I understand. How long will it take the potion to completely run its course?" Remus pressed.
"The potion has to be given in 2 doses every 12 hours for a small exposure, which would be a minute or less. But because he was held under it for so long I anticipate that he'll need to multiply that dose by 5 to do its job. He's had 2 already and is going to be given another one at 8 o'clock tonight so it'll be a while before that has run its course. But by that time his breathing will be fine hopefully. It's been getting better but his asthma is aggervated very easily so there's a number of factors that could make it remain a problem."
Remus nodded and said "I see."
Just then everybody's attention snapped to Harry as he started to shift around restlessly and moan while squinting his eyes tight and breathe laboriously. Severus figured that Harry was having a nightmare and put both of his hands on each side of Harry's thrashing head to still it and whispered in the boy's ear trying to get him to calm down. However; Harry would not be calmed. His breathing got more and more ragged and Severus knew that he was going to hyperventillate and have an attack if this continued for much longer.
Severus looked to Sirius and said,
"Go get Madame Pomfrey and tell her to bring a dose of calming potion, he won't wake up and if he doesn't calm down he'll have another attack."
Sirius nodded and bolted from the room returning very quickly with Madame Pomfrey who had another filled syringe in her hand. Remus by this point had moved over to Harry's bed and was trying to hold him down to keep him primarily from ripping out his iv but Harry was trying to struggle as best he could against the two and had started to wheeze.
Madame Pomfrey gave Harry the shot and almost immediately Harry's thrashing stopped but his breathing remained ragged and shallow. Harry's levels had again dropped and Madame Pomfrey increased his intake as she sighed and slightly shook her head and retreated from the room.
Just after she left Harry's eyes snapped open and his eyes darted around for a moment before they rested on his father's who was still holding his head. He still remembered the nightmare and it scared him. His fearful eyes looked into his father's concerned ones who said,
"Want to tell me about it?"
Harry took a shuddering breath and began.
"I dreamt basically that you had betrayed me and taken me to Voldemort and that you helped him torture then kill me, and I'm not talking about the cruciatus curse either when it comes to torturing."
Severus paled and then gathered Harry into a hug who returned it and said,
"Harry I would never ever betray you and you know that. I'm sorry that you had to dream that but know that I would and will never betray you or anybody in this room. All right?"
"All right Dad, I'm sorry." Harry said meekly
"Harry you have nothing to be sorry about. You can't help what you dream. It's not your fault and I'm not mad that you dreamt that and you shouldn't be mad at yourself because it was out of your control." Severus said sternly but gently.
Harry nodded and tightened his grip on his father. Severus squeezed Harry and the two of them lapsed into silence and Harry eventually fell back to sleep. Severus lowered Harry back down onto the bed and brushed the boys bangs back lightly.
Sirius watched with shocked astonishment. He would never guess that Snape would do a complete 180 in his attitude. He also had to admit to himself that he knew next to nothing about his godson's father. Just that he had been a bit of a git in school.
Remus was slightly shocked at Severus' reaction and attitude towards Harry. He knew that the two of them had gotten closer but Severus had had to keep up his facade that he hated Harry and the rest of the staff. Now since the threat of Voldemort, Death Eaters, his students parents and his parents were out of the picture he could finally be free to show who he was and start over in effect.
Albus was quite amused. He saw Sirius' reaction. He was one of the few if not the only person who could truly say they knew Severus Snape. The REAL Severus Snape. So it was quite amusing to him to see Sirius' and even Remus' reaction. He knew that Remus knew a little more than Sirius but still nowhere close to knowing the real Severus Snape.
Severus looked up and saw the shocked look on Sirius' face and said,
"What? Surely you didn't think that I'd just sit by and not do anything."
"No, it's just that I never expected that."
"Black, one thing you have to understand is that my entire life I had my father pushing me to be the 'perfect little death eater'. I was forced to join Voldemort and then when I started spying I had to keep up my act that I hated Gryffindors and when Harry got to school that I hated him because he had caused my 'master' to fall." Severus paused for a moment and continued
"That's because the majority of my Slytherin students were keeping a very close eye on me and if I showed anybody but my Slytherins favor my students would tell their Death Eater parents and get me killed. So I was saving my own hide as well as Harry's and the rest of the Wizarding World as a whole." Severus rubbed his eyes wearily
To say that Sirius was shocked was an understatement. He had no idea that it went as far back as their childhood. He looked over to Severus and said genuinely,
"I'm sorry Severus. For everything. I had no idea."
"Nobody had any idea Black so it's not just you. This school is going to get one heck of a shock in a very short amount of time. I no longer have to act and I don't intend to do so either."
Sirius nodded and said,
"Understandable. We really need to call a truce, for Harry's sake at least. I know it'd help him especially because it's quite obvious that he cares a lot about you and I know he cares about me and I the same for him."
"All right Black. It's a truce. I don't see why two grown men can't get over a simple childhood grudge. Harry will always be my priority and come first, above anything else."
Sirius nodded and the group lapsed into silence. After the truce Albus made his excuses and left. Remus mumbled something about needing to get some work done before classes. Sirius hung around for a little longer but said that he needed to run some errands and would owl in a day or two if he couldn't come by.
Just after Sirius left Ginny arrived. She saw with a pang of sadness that Harry's oxygen had been increased again which meant that something had happened but she didn't know what. She looked to her professor and said,
"Professor, if I may ask. What happened to Harry so that his oxygen intake had to be increased again?"
"He had a nightmare. I won't go into details but let's just say he was very upset by it." Severus responded
"But Sir, has anything happened like this before? If you don't mind me asking."
"I don't mind you asking, you should know about this if you're going to be involved with him. Yes, this has happened before. His first ever attack happened because he had a nightmare. His are rather bad and often have extremely adverse effects on him. Since visions of Voldemort's activities are no longer a threat I'm going to develop a potion for Harry that'll diminish the effects of his nightmares on him."
"But Professor Snape, wouldn't it just be easier for Harry to take a dreamless sleep potion every night?"
"No, because that potion can very quickly become extremely addictive." Severus responded
Ginny nodded in understanding and the professor and student lapsed into silence for a while. Ginny then looked up and said,
"Sir, how much longer do you think Harry will be here?"
"Harry is a pretty quick healer but this was a huge ordeal for him. The spasms and aftereffects of the cruciatus will not be a threat after he has completed the treatment for it. With that completion hopefully his breathing and energy issues will be resolved."
"What caused him to be this weak? Nobody told me or any of us anything about what exactly happened to Harry out there."
"I'll go ahead and tell you because you should know just what he has been through. He'll need yours and your brothers and Miss Granger's support just as much as he'll need his godfather and I's support."
Ginny nodded and Severus began,
"I don't know specifically what curses except the cruciatus he was hit with. It looks as if he was hit with a bone breaking curse in a few places because his arm and ankle along with some ribs were broken. His arm and ankle were healed but the ribs can't be healed by magic so they're bandaged. He has burns on both upper arms. He lost a large amount of blood which is why he's so weak, he's still building it back up. He had also stopped breathing between me getting to him outside and bringing him here."
Ginny paled. She never knew that it was that bad. She had known that it was bad but never had a clue that it was that bad. She had been told that Voldemort was very cruel but she had never experienced it first hand. And now Harry had suffered twice at his hands. Severus saw the begininngs of what could be pity and said,
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Harry absolutely detests being pityed. What he needs is understanding, not pity."
Ginny nodded and said,
"I understand sir, I just can't help but feel bad for him."
"I know Miss Weasley. But feeling bad and feeling pity are completely different."
"Yes sir, I know sir." Ginny said
Severus nodded and Ginny made her excuses and made her way down to the Great Hall to eat dinner. Madame Pomfrey came in at 6 o'clock with a tray of food for Harry and Severus. Severus quickly ate his food and let Harry sleep then woke him so he could eat. He went through the same routine as the night before and soon Harry had eaten and was asleep again.
At 8 o'clock Madame Pomfrey came in with another dose of the potion for Harry. After administering it she made a note on Harry's chart and retreated back to her office after bidding Severus a good night.
Severus stayed awake for another couple of hours and then fell asleep on the couch again.
A/N: I'm sorry if that chapter moved kind of slowly and it was a bit long. I've been watching Chamber of Secrets every night since it opened on friday. I honestly still get scared during the basilisk scene and can only watch some of it but it's better than the first night. I love that movie and am going to see it 2 more times this week with more people who haven't seen it yet. I can't get enough of this movie!!!!! Those kids, especially Dan did an absolutely phenomenal job on this movie. God I fell in love with them in Sorcerer's Stone and I'm just head over heels for them now, those kids put out absolutely phenomenal performances. I didn't think those kids could do better than the first movie but from what I've seen 3 times already I was really wrong about that assumption. Those kids are absolutely incredible and I can't get enough of them. I'm sorry this chapter was a bit slow getting out but I've been out a bit and have been sooooooo excited and talking with my friends so much about the movie that it hasn't left a lot of time for me to write. I really hope that chapter didn't suck but I think it was a bit boring but necessary. Now push that little button in the left hand corner and tell me what you think and don't forget that flames will be used to roast marshmallows for s'mores! :-P TTFN!!!!!!