Chapter 6

"There's been an explosion, in the Dungeons… Harry's alright…" No! I shouldn't scare him! "Harry's not hurt but there was an explosion… Harry's fine!"

Hermione's thoughts were a jumble as she climbed the steps to Sirius' rooms. He had to know, these things travelled with lightning speed. It would be better if he heard it firsthand.

"Harry's ok," she murmured, "but there's been an explosion… I mustn't scare him, Sirius would die if something happened to Harry." Another flight of stairs, rather temperamental, that one.

"Oh, stay PUT!" cried out Hermione, gasping for breath. Surprisingly, the staircase obeyed her. She climbed the steps two by two until she reached Sirius' door. She knocked loudly and was about to do so again when the door opened to reveal a groggy, barefooted Sirius wearing the bottom part of a tracksuit.

"What?"

"Harry… there's been an explosion…" Hermione wheezed.

All colour left Sirius' face in record speed. He held onto the doorframe for support.

"Harry's fine! He's in the Infirmary but he's fine!" Hermione cried out.

"Where did it happen?" somehow Sirius knew already.

"At Potions. Parvati's cauldron exploded. We were all too busy checking up on Neville and didn't see that coming. Harry fell on her and then Professor Snape fell on both of them…"

"Get out, let me get dressed."

The girl stepped out and Sirius closed the door. He leaned against it for a moment, shaking uncontrollably. Severus! He'll be fine! He has to! The voice in his mind was weak.

He emerged in jeans and a T-shirt and started running down the stairs leaving a panting Hermione behind. People bumping into them in the corridors could clearly see something was wrong. The man was deathly pale and the girl's robes were singed.

They got to the Infirmary via a passage Hermione had never seen before. Even after all these years it seemed that Sirius still knew Hogwarts like the back of his hand. It is no wonder that he created the Marauder's Map, thought Hermione, feeling her way carefully not to scrape her face on the rough walls. Once more she marvelled at that dichotomy of a man. Devised the Marauder's Map, carried through his idea to become an Animagus then helped the rest of them yet he'd never made much of all that potential. Mediocre marks – Remus had produced one of Sirius' report cards when Sirius had dared exercise godfather duties in regards to Harry's academic performance – no further education… well, there was a war going on when he graduated… Hermione chased away the random thoughts. Her whole body ached and there was no end of the passage in sight.

She was about to collapse gasping "Mobilicorpus or just shoot me, whatever you prefer," when she felt strong hands dragging her out. She heard a loud curse as the portrait they had gotten out from swung back into place.

"I remember you, Black!" the dead wizard screamed, rubbing at the back of his head. "You'll pay for this! I swear!"

"Stuff it, Jigger!" yelled Sirius without turning.

"Who's that?" gasped Hermione.

"My Potions Master. We had a hate-hate relationship."

Hermione looked around to get her bearings and maybe sneak in a breath. The strong hands grabbed her again and pulled hard.

"This way."

The Infirmary, thought Hermione. We're here. I can breathe again.

The door was half-open. Sirius pushed it hard and made a beeline for Madam Pomfrey.

"How is he?"

"I'm…" came a voice from the right.

"How's Severus?"

"…fine" finished Harry.

Sirius turned to his godson. "I… Hermione told me that you…" fuckfuckfuckfuck

Harry put his arms around the trembling Animagus, understanding all too well what was going on. "He'll be alright," Harry whispered in Sirius' ear, feeling him relax in his embrace. Harry stroked at Sirius back until he saw that his godfather had regained his composure.

Sirius pulled back and took a good look at Harry. He was in a hospital gown. His left cheek was blue as though covered in war paint.

"It's skin-grow," Harry explained. "Doesn't hurt a bit, only itches a little. I snuck a peek and Snape is covered in it. I mean, in case they let you see him I must warn you, he's like a smurf."

"A what?"

"Nevermind."

Pomfrey approached them. "Back to bed, Harry," she scolded the young man gently.

"In a moment."

"How is he, Poppy?" Sirius turned to the mediwitch, holding on to Harry's hand so hard Harry feared he'd soon need skele-grow as well.

"It isn't as bad as it'd appeared at first. He'll be alright. He's gotten through worse."

"Can I see him?"

"Albus is with him now," the mediwitch said gently. "It's odd, isn't it?" she added in a neutral tone. "You used to be the one who would send him here when you were students. I'd never imagined a scenario in which you would come to visit him."

The little colour that had gotten back on Sirius' face upon hearing that Severus was going to be alright left again. He took a step back as though the stout witch had slapped him. In a way she had, of course.

"It wasn't always my doing," the Animagus said weakly. "And I can remember many times when one of his hexes would send me here."

Pomfrey was about to say something in reply to this when her eyes fell on Harry. "You! Go lie down. I won't say it again."

A Norwegian Ridgeback would probably go to bed faced with the compact fire that the mediwitch was at that moment. Harry gave his godfather a reassuring pat on the shoulder and extricated his hand with some difficulty, feeling the brittle bones get back into place.

Pomfrey took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about this, Sirius," she said softly. "You didn't deserve it. Not now. And not in front of Harry. It's just that… he's been through too much!" her voice broke. She took a deep breath. "He'll be alright. He's gotten burned before. Goes with the territory really."

Sirius nodded abjectly. "Can I see him?"

Pomfrey turned to the sound of the opening door.

"He's asleep." Dumbledore looked every one of his 150 years.

Pomfrey nodded. "It was about time. I'd given him enough Tranquillus to knock down a giant." She went to check on her patient, leaving the two men alone.

"I should have made him take some time off," Dumbledore said sadly.

Sirius found that the last thing he wanted to say was 'I told you so'. "He looks stronger than he is," he said gently. "Did he say anything?"

"He asked whether any of the children had been hurt."

"Have they? Besides Harry, I mean."

"Parvati Patil has a couple of broken ribs from the force with which Harry and Severus fell on her to protect her."

What were they thinking? I lost Remus, do they think I can afford to lose either one of them as well? –Should they have let her die? – I don't care! – Oh, that's very mature!

Pomfrey's hand on his shoulder pulled the Animagus out of his internal argument.

"Go stay with your godson," she said kindly but firmly. "You may see Severus later when there will be no chance of anyone finding you in his room. Severus will have my hide if I let this happen.

Sirius nodded and went to join Harry, Ron and Hermione in Harry's room.

After a while the young couple felt that Harry wanted to be alone with his godfather and left with a weak excuse that Harry acknowledged with a nod and Sirius missed completely.

Sirius sat at the edge of Harry's bed. He took a deep breath. "I suppose you want to ask me about what Madam Pomfrey said."

"You don't have to give me any explanations."

Sirius buried his face in his hands, rubbing tiredly at his forehead. "She made me into some sort of bully. I… he provoked me. All the time. We were no match in physical strength and he couldn't control his magical strength well enough. I didn't know it then but he'd started school two years earlier. Shit. I made him sound like a defenceless little urchin…We hated each other right from the start…" like you and Malfoy, Sirius had wanted to add but couldn't bear to remind Harry of the blond Slytherin's tragic death. That wound had taken a long time to heal if it had healed at all.

"When I got to know Snape a little better during the war, I realised that there had been more to the Shrieking Shack and to his reasons for hating my Dad and the rest of the Marauders so much," Harry said quietly.

Sirius raised his head from his hands. "Don't ask me for the full story, I don't think I can manage it, not now."

Harry leaned and covered Sirius' hands with his own. "You don't have to tell me anything."

Something broke in Sirius. He took a deep breath fighting for his composure and winning by a thread. "I will tell you one day," he said weakly. Just not now, I can't have you hate me now.

They steered the conversation towards safe subjects, one of them involving how Ron and Hermione were already acting like an old married couple. At some point, waiting for a reply Sirius saw that Harry was out. He leaned and removed the boy's glasses then ruffled affectionately the black hair. It was dark outside. It surprised him that the boy hadn't fallen asleep earlier.

He stepped out of Harry's room. The Infirmary was empty. He approached hesitantly the door on the other side of the corridor. He took a deep breath then entered the room.

The figure in the bed was breathing regularly. For a moment Sirius was transported back to the nights he had spent with Remus waiting for the inevitable. He shook away the memory. The light was low but Sirius could see that most of  Severus' face was covered in blue goo. He wondered what the appearance of the skin underneath it would be.

Foolish, brave man. You didn't survive Voldemort to have one of your students off you.

The Animagus leaned over the sleeping man, a smile playing on his lips as Severus crinkled his nose giving out a little whimper. Sirius let his lips brush against a patch of pale skin showing at Severus' right cheek, the strong chemical smell of Skin-grow making him wince. He fell on his knees next to the bed, resting his head on Severus' pillow. His hand stroked on the slim chest lightly, encountering a bundle of bandages that, as he realised with a start, was Severus' left arm.

"Stupid git," Sirius whispered. "Pig-headed bastard."

The man on the bed stirred, giving out another whimper.

The dream was very vivid. Someone was with him, a gentle hand tracing abstract patterns on his chest, a warm breath against his cheek, a clean, sharp scent tickling his nose. He wanted to respond to the touch, wrap himself on the warm body he guessed next to him, but his limbs weighted around a ton not to mention that his cruel logic would take dream-Remus away if he tried to touch him. The hand was persistent, stroking gently, almost reverently and the breath came nearer.

Severus' eyelids fluttered. Under his thick lashes he made out a vague form. No dream then, someone was in bed with him. Gentle caresses, mindful of Snape's injuries, soft hair tickling against bare skin, broken whispers.

Snape's body remembered the touches, the voice, the unusual terms of endearment. Remembered and reacted, much to his dismay. A shiver ran through him. He refused to open his eyes and tried to will the threatening erection away.

Tell him to get out, to leave you alone. What made him think you wanted to see him?

Severus forced himself to relax, desperate to stop the waves of arousal that were about to prove he wasn't asleep anymore. He felt tears of frustration prickle his eyelids when he failed.

Just go. Let me be. The voice in his mind was begging now.

Sirius could count the man's ribs if he wanted, even over the thick cotton of Severus' nightdress. Like a bird's chest, a sparrow or more likely a malnourished crow, staying still, too afraid to move under Sirius' touch, its little bird heart beating madly.

Sirius did not fail to notice that Severus' heart was beating much too fast for a sleeping man, as well as a suspicious bulge on the bedcovers. He ached to touch it, confirm that it was real but he stopped himself, thinking of the quick heartbeat and carefully regular breathing. Only thing missing was a fake snore. If that was the way Severus wanted to play it, Sirius would not argue.

Twisted like a letter s, occupying as little space on the bed as possible and fighting not to cling onto the other man nor fall off the bed was not conductive to a good night's sleep yet Sirius could count that morning as one of his few and cherished moments of pure happiness. Skin-grow on his chin and neck itched like hell. Eventually, fake sleep had given its place to the real thing again for the injured man in bed with him and Severus' face had fit perfectly in the crook of Sirius' neck.

Sirius turned reluctantly at the sound of the opening door.

Pomfrey's eyes met his. He acknowledged her with a nod. She didn't have to tell him that even though the students would not be flocking to visit the Potions Master it would not do to have anyone find him in bed with another man. Or woman, coming to think of it. The poor dears would get the shock of their lives.

"Nothing happened," he muttered as Pomfrey wiped carefully the skin-grow off his face.

"I should think not. With the amount of Tranquillus in his system that would be near impossible."

Sirius decided to keep for himself the fact that he had gotten a noteworthy reaction from the other man. Mediwizard journals would have to get the information from elsewhere.

The gauze with which Pomfrey was cleaning up his face was soothing on his inflamed skin. "Have a good wash when you get to your rooms," she murmured. "How you could stand the itch is beyond me."

"When can I see him again?"

"It's up to him."

Forget it then. There's no way he'll ask to see me.

Puppy eyes didn't work on the mediwitch. "I shouldn't have let you into his room yesterday either. Under Tranquillus he was in no condition to agree to see you or not. If he wants to see you I'll send for you. Now shoo, off to your work so I can do mine!"

Off to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling while Oliver Wood coaches the children and does a far better job than you could ever hope to do. Off to continue enjoying your vacation from your made-up teaching post.

Pomfrey's expression softened. "You know how he is, Sirius," she said gently. "If you really want this, give him some time. I'll put in a good word for you."

If you really want this. If you're not playing with him. If you won't hurt him, you big Gryffindor bully.

"Thank you," Sirius whispered. "I don't think it will do any good but thank you."

Pomfrey checked outside to protect her patient's reputation. At 6:30 am there was no one there to see an unshaved, dishevelled Sirius Black leave the Potions Master's room.