disclaimers: not mine, none of the trademarked things are either.

warnings: boy x boy love

Chapter 3

Harry yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He glanced at the man beside him, holding his breath for several seconds. He leaned closer, green oculates focusing in on the blurry face. The urge from the potion was irrestible. He was inches from pressing his lips to Severus's. His mind was heavily protesting the act but the forsaken potion was clouding his better judgment.

And suddenly, he was clutching his nose in pain. He winced as warm blood covered his fingers. Severus was awake, fully, and he apparently wasn't a morning man. Oh no, the scowl on Severus's face rivaled any that he produced in classes. "You stupid boy!" Severus barked, rising from the bed and crossing the room to the bathroom. "What the hell were you thinking?! You NEVER sneak upon any Death Eater when they're SLEEPING! Put this on your nose!" he snapped, flinging a cold towel at Harry who nimbly catched it.

"I..I...it wasn't my fault!" Harry retorted, applying the cloth to his injured appendage.

"Not your fault?!" Severus threw his arms in the air, giving up on the arguement. "Whatever Potter. We're going to the Infirmary." He took Harry's arm tightly in his hand, leading him out into the corridor. He was spewing the entire way. How dare that idiot boy get that CLOSE to him! There was most certainly nothing going through the brat's brain. Soon, very soon, the antidote would be found and Severus could return to normalcy. Yes...only a little while longer...

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!!!!!" a screech came from the top of the stairs. Sirius, nearly starkers except for a robe falling provactively from his shoulders, stood agape and the Severus fancied he could see the steam misting from the man's ears. Sirius roughly took Harry from Severus, inadvertently causing a spasm of pain to shoot through both Severus and Harry.

"Give him back!" Severus growled, taking hold on Harry's other arm. He let out a shuddering breath as the pain died. Harry de-attached himself from Sirius, pursing his lips. Severus brushed past Sirius. They almost made it to the top when Sirius's banter resurfaced.

"I swear to every god in every culture that you'll pay with your life should Harry EVER be hurt again." Sirius glared, shoving past the two, completely unaware that in his tirade, his robes had come untied and his body was nude. Such a wonderful image.

Severus shuddered. "That is a part of your godfather I would have done better without seeing." Harry agreed with a small nod. Okay, so Harry wasn't expecting Severus to be exactly...companionable but damn, the man was infuriating! Harry was convinced he was bipolar. Uh oh, Harry sweatdropped, as Severus's mouth opened to speak the dreaded question. "And just why were you that close to me to begin with?"

"Thepotionwasmakingmewanttokissyou," Harry blurted in a string of words.

Severus understood, to Harry's extreme displeasure. "You couldn't have resisted those urges? Ugh, teenage hormones must be adding to this entire lot." Harry had never thought of that way. What..what if got the desire to, Merlin forbid, have SEX with Severus. He couldn't live with himself and the older wizard would kill him before that would happen. Okay, no having sex with Severus anytime soon. That was good news, right? Of course it was! How silly to think otherwise. Another big sweatdrop.

Madame Pomfrey blinked at Harry as they came inside. "Harry! Oh dear, are you alright?" Harry was about to speak but Severus took his time.

"What does it look like? He's got a broken nose."

She huffed, intending to seperate the death grip on Harry's arm but a warning glare from Severus changed her mind. "Lets get you looked at." Harry sank onto one of the beds, Severus joining at his side, keeping in touch. Poppy waved her wand over Harry once, the red mist indicating that indeed, Harry's nose was fractured. "How did this happen?"

"Not your business," Severus responded coldly.

Poppy frowned, taking a potion from a cupboard. "Take a drink from this once-" A clearing of Severus's throat informed Poppy that she didn't need to tell Harry how to take it for Severus would be doing that himself. Trying not to get angry, Poppy set her wand on Harry's nose. In one swipe, the bone reset itself. Harry yelped, taking the vial of pain potion and swigging more than the alloted measurement. Severus was forced to bear Harry's pain, all in all making one snarky Potion's Master even more mad.

"That is quite enough!" Severus growled, taking the tube from Harry with a reprimanding glowwer. Without a word to Poppy, they tromped from the Infirmary. "You should have known better than taking that much of the potion. Don't you pay attention at all in my class?"

The all to uncommon Harry sense warned him not to answer this one. "Um...ow..." He murmured. "Professor, are you going to be helping the Headmaster research a cure?"

"What do you think?"

"...I'd like to help too."

A look of surprise crossed Severus's visage. "What?"

"Its just, if there were more of us working on it then it would be faster to find the cure."

"Fine."

Harry was in better spirits; the sooner the cure was found, the better and he would be playing a part in the process!

~ ~ ~

Short, I know but at least its an update.

Thanks so much for reviewing, it makes me happy! ^-^

Answers to requests/thingies/and a note

~Did I make Sirius act a little bit more like he would have? ^^ I wanted to keep Sirius as one of the light hearted individuals. This story is going to take a HUGE turn for the dark side. I've been writing WAY too many happy fics. I know I should have explained the potion better but they dont know what it is yet, just the legend behind it. I dont think anyone caught the subliminal message in the Paolo and Francesca thing. .