Disclaimer: The characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

Pairing: Severus/Harry.

Rating: R

Summary: For as long as he lived Harry was never going to forget the sight of those black eyes in pain. The light hit Snape from the side and then it seemed to cover him as he turned in it to face the boy he had protected so many times before. And it looked like he was melting...

Author's note: Be warned...this is one of my pet projects so update may be erratic.

Thank: Ook for the shaviing, Jadzia 7667 for the IV drip and Superbondo for the feeding tubes (PEG - percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. NG - nasal gastric.) that may or may not make an appearance.

Author: Spirit

o

The Cinderman's Kiss

o

CHAPTER 5

o

When Severus awoke the next day it was to be faced with an anxious looking Harry holding a can of shaving cream and a razor.

"So you know the way I told you that I'm a Healer in training?" Harry asked, launching straight into a conversation without any prerambling or polite greeting. He didn't even allow Severus the opportunity to even consider answering. "Well I made a few phone calls yesterday to Healers and Muggle doctors and today I'll be holding a consultation. Here. In this house."

If Harry had looked nervous before he immediately began to fidget also, looking very uncomfortable in his own skin.

"My mentor says that I've always been a good Healer and so as soon as I explained your case hypothetically to her she thought it a brilliant idea to make it my final thesis. So congratulations Professor you're going to be my official patient under St. Mungo's permission and the means by which I can get my Healing stature. I hope you don't mind, because if you do I could always get you a real and proper Healer. I mean I know I told you that I would take care of you and heal you, but I'll understand if you want someone more competent. In any case, like I said there will be a few people coming over today to sit around and discuss you in the most impersonal manner so if it iritates you just tell me and I'll think of something. Which of course is why I have these. Thought you might want a shave. I mean I know magic works best but I'm not sure if I can hold my wand properly right now and -"

'Potter.'

The voice in Harry's head cut his frantic words short. His mouth snapped audibly closed. He hung his head in silence and awaited a lecture of some sort on how unprofessional he was and how Snape would probably rather crawl to St. Mungo's than stay in his care now.

'You are right, magic would work best but as I haven't the means in which to do it myself, it is not distasteful to me to have you do it. As for the visitors, I never expected you to keep my presence a secret. Intabescopestis is not a simple curse. I hardly expected you to try and brew the potion without assitance of some sort.'

The quiet words calmed Harry's nerves. They were so gentle that Harry wanted to close his eyes and envision them flowing through him like a calm stream. Once again he was reminded of how much Snape was different. This wizard had learned what humility was and although there was still basic pride and strength in him, Harry could sense the emotion behind the words. They were tired words, but not angry or hurtful. Just words.

"Sorry," he apologized softly. "I didn't mean to ramble. How are you feeling anyway?"

The mismatched eyes gazed up at him unmoving. The amber one shone in the candlelight, burning a caramel glow while the ebony one was like a glass marble that no light could truly penetrate. Harry was really beginning to love looking into them as he tried to decipher what laid beyond Severus' guarded thought-speech.

'I will live.'

"Are you hungry?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer but needing to know anyway.

'That is an unfair question of which an answer will only cause you guilt. The fact that I cannot eat is not your fault and I would never blame you for it.'

Harry could not hide the guilt he felt however as he nodded his understanding. "Daryll is coming today too. As a physiotherapist I wanted him to be a part of this discussion. He tells me that he has a temporary solution, if all else fails."

'And what is this solution.'

Harry made a face. "An IV drip. It will provide all the nurishment you need via your bloodstream."

'How does it work exactly?'

Harry explained in much more details and he felt, rather than saw, Snape wince at the mention of the needle. Which of course made him wince. He wasn't too thrilled about having needles stuck into his arm even for that brief period of time it would take to insert the intravenous catheter, but he did trust Daryll and knew that the doctor would do the best he could professionally. Option number two would have been a PEG (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) feeding tube. Harry wasn't even going to mention that option until it was really necessary and there really was a more permanent need for it.

"We'll cross that bridge when Daryll gets here." Harry tried to cheerfully change the subject, rendering the other wizard silent once more. "In the meantime, how much do you trust that I won't hurt you?"

Snape's eyes flickered to the items that Harry was holding up for him to see. He recognized them enough that if he could have, he would have shrugged nonchalantly.

'You can hardly hurt me more than I already am Potter.' He said soundlessly.

Harry's eyes immediately narrowed his displeasure at such a statement, but instead of responding to such a bait, he rested the can and razor beside Snape on the bed. Without words he indicated that he needed to prop Snape up. Of course he didn't expect a protest at that point and in fact he did not receive any.

A few minutes later Harry was kneeling on the bed, his bottom lip firmly tucked between his teeth as he concentrated on his task of not nicking the jutted chin and sharp jawline. He was so close to Snape that the warmth of Snape's breath sent almost imperceptible waves of air onto his face. The mismatched eyes never left the sight of the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. After a time Harry could even ignore the way his skin tingled from having those indescribable eyes so focussed on him. Harry watched in idle fascination as the pale face was rid of the little stubble that had grown overnight. It just seemed such a waste to use a shaving spell when he could do it himself. After all, the man probably craved contact and Harry had to admit that he kind of craved some form of contact himself if he was expected to spend the day surrounded by his superiors. Besides, it was just the left side of Snape's face, and he could handle that.

"Okay. All done," Harry said softly when he was indeed finish.

He traced the side of Snape's face to check how good of a job he had done, and was pleased with the smooth texture beneath his fingertips. He leaned a bit further upon inspection as his fingers crossed over to the right side of Snape's face where the skin was crinkled. He had not seen the damage quite so close up before so it was easy to become enthralled as he reverently traced the ridges and valleys there too. He spent a few seconds comparing the two sides. They were like midday and midnight. The colors were different and the texture was different. It seemed slightly strange that both skins belonged on the same face. Harry had a vision of covering the difference with a half mask like the Phantom of the Opera. That made him chuckle. Snape would make a good Phantom actually. He could even hear the snarl of words leave the lips that were lucky enough to have escaped damage. Lips that were a little too thin but up close, not as disgusting as Harry had alway thought. Snape had a nice mouth actually.

And that was the thought that sent Harry crashing back to reality as he realized just how much he was crowding the other man. In fact he had overtaking all of Snape's personal space. The wizard was barely breathing as it was and Harry had been trying to share his breathing space. Not to mention the fact that he had practically been holding Snape as prisoner to his gaze. Snape couldn't move and if he could have then he would have no doubt shoved the inquisitive younger wizard out of his face.

Harry muttered a line of expletives as his own face burned in embarassment. He shuffled backwards as quickly as he could.

Waving his wand he cleaned up the foamy mess he had made on the bed and then grabbed the two other items he had brought into the room before springing up from the bed, making quite an uproar as he stumbled towards the door. "Sorry. Damn! I'm so sorry. I'll be back with...with...something to help. Need to put these back. You probably just...God, I'm so sorry professor."

He made it out of the room unharmed, ending up slamming the door very loudly. He leaned against its hard surface and slid into a heap onto the floor. He hid his face in his hands, still cursing his faux pas in his head and wished the earth would swallow him whole.

"Oh bugger!" he swore again before prying himself off the ground.

He still needed to fetch Snape the expensive electric wheelchair that he had been saving all week. It was a good excuse to gather his thoughts and the whirl of emotions that he was left feeling that he burned an even brighter shade of red for when he realized that they were all his. Snape was incredibly silent in his mind still. Harry figured that he had probably shocked his ex-professor into said silence.

o

Strangely enough the first person to tumble out of his fireplace was Hermione.

Harry was slowly making his way back to the guest room with the wheelchair floating behind him. He had taken longer than he should have in his efforts to forget about what had happened in the room and so it was only after a respectable time had passed that he figured he could go back. The floo in his living room flared to life as he walked by it on his roundabout route back upstairs. As soon as he spotted his best friend, Harry let go of all and sundry.

They walked into each other's arms and embraced tightly.

"Hullo," Harry whispered.

Hermione chuckled. "Hello to you too stranger. I missed you."

"Missed you too."

They held on some more, ignoring the way the floo flared green again in indication that someone else was on their way in.

"What? No hug?"

Harry laughed as he extracted himself from one best friend to be engulfed in the arms of another. Ron seemed a little more muscular than the last time that Harry had seen him but now that he was a fully trained Auror it seemed only right that he would toughen up.

"Are we the first ones?" Ron asked looking around the place and of course realizing that the silence could only mean yes.

Harry nodded anyway. "Yes you are. Make yourselves comfortable as I'm sure the others will be getting here soon. I have to go get him mobile."

Ron made a face, but held his tongue. Hermione had a small smile on her face that Harry chose not to try and decifer. They and Daryll were the only three people to know that Snape was alive and in residence in Harry's house. As his three best friends, Harry intended to keep them and them alone informed. For everyone else who would be arriving for the day, Harry already intended to cast a complicated little glamor charm that would obscure Snape's identity.

Harry levitated the wheelchair again, leaving his two friends to greet each other in a far too personal manner.

"I have something for you," he declared as soon as he swept into the guest room again.

Of course Snape had not moved in the half an hour that Harry had disappeared for, but he did not seem to mind the absence. He merely reacted the way he always did when Harry slipped his arms beneath his arm-pits, by wrapping his right arm around Harry's neck. They had never tried to move Snape off the bed before so it was a little difficult as Harry shuffled Snape's full weight from the immediate tangle of sheet across the short distance to where he had rested the chair. He couldn't help the way Snape fell heavily into the cushoned seat. Both men winced.

"I'll get better at that," Harry immediately promised.

Snape responded in a very uncharacteristic manner by trailing his fingertips along the length of Harry's arm quickly. Just a light stroke. "I know you will."

Harry smiled, feeling forgiven for what had occured earlier. At least Snape did not think him strange or worse. He dropped to his knees, keeping the palm of one hand splayed across Snape's chest so that he could prevent Snape's body from slumping forward or slipping from the chair. Using the other hand, he strapped in each of Snape's ankles. Rising, he attached the straps for Snape's chest and one arm then he gently positioned Snape's head in the headrest. He gave him a quick overview as to how the machine was supposed to work before he adjusted the adjustable arm for the straw before he slipped the piece into Snape's mouth.

"So let's see if it works," Harry said gently.

Man and machine moved a short distance away before stopping and turning. Harry resisted the urge to cheer. Instead he pointed out the one thing he had added that had taken him so long to unveil the wheelchair to his patient. On the left arm of the chair was a silver plated disk that was at the distance where Snape could rest his palm. It was very plain looking but Harry was very proud of it.

"Hover your hand over it. Up makes it go up and down of course is for landing," Harry instructed with a smile. "It's a levitation spell but I centred it on the disk so that you can control it. It's wandless since I have yet to get you a wand, but in the meantime it should work. Try it, but go gentle. The faster you raise your hand is the faster you will rise and if you lower your palm too quickly you might crash. You can use it when you get tired of sucking and blowing to move. It's a bit like a magical remote. You can use it to change direction while in the air, only you can't use it to stop. I couldn't figure out a way to do that so the straw will have to do."

Snape seemed to hesitate. Harry waited as he felt tiny streams of Snape's inner struggle break through. Harry ached inside for him and for a second he wished with all his might that he could make this entire experience go away, but he was doing his best and he had to be strong and not break down like a stupid child who was too immature to understand.

Long fingers uncurled slowly. Harry chewed on his lower lip as he watched the fearful way that Snape stretched his palm out towards the disk. Even though he knew it should work he found himself silently praying that it did indeed work and nothing had happened to Snape's magic. Because he realized that this was what Snape was afraid of; the idea that he had lost his magic as well as everything else he had already lost.

When the chair began to rise, Harry felt tears prickle his eyes.

Green eyes met the mismatched ones and neither wizard said anything. Instead emotions flowed between them in silence. It was almost involuntary the way they made their inner feelings mingle. For some reason there was no doubt in Harry's mind that Snape could feel his thoughts even though the link was not supposed to work both way.

Fear. Anger. Relief. Joy. Gratitude. Hope. Respect.

It was just the two of them in that space and once again they had shared something else that not many would have understood. It was like they had reached out and held each other's hand, trusting only each other. Knowing that no matter what happened they were going to have to get through everything with only each other.

"Ready?" Harry asked, breaking the moment.

'Yes,' Snape responded just as confidently as always.

o

Wizards and Squibs arrived in quick succession of each each other. The name of Harry Potter still held quite a pull it seemed and the exciting nature of the case meant that all twenty medical professionals who were invited, showed up enthusiastically in the midst of Harry's living room.

Harry greeted everyone with a smile and a handshake, then watched as everyone greeted Severus. There was no way that Harry was going to leave him alone with the hungry gazes in everyone's eyes as they looked on him. Each person was seeing a different individual of their choosing, but no matter what features they were seeing, it all amounted to rapt interest as each person walked around the wheelchair, taking in the IV drip that Daryll had set up. Most of the doctors made a show of inspecting it while the healers drew their wands and began to cast simple diagnosing spells.

And since everyone knew each other, the discussions began right there near the fireplace, interupted only when another person would stumble out of the dancing flames.

Harry had chosen his panel very carefully. They were all liasions in the medical field as each muggle had a parent or relatives who were magical and the wizards each came from non-magical families like Hermione, or had married muggles. Not that Hermione was a Healer. She did research in rare and new magical disorders and was quite adept at creating new spells. Her goal was to introduce potions for those serious illnesses that muggles were not making progress on. Ron was there as the only Auror to ensure that the legal aspect of the gathering was brought across as each person was require to sign a Confidentiality Agreement. Something which restricted them by magical means to ever talk about the case except in consultation with each other.

As for Daryll, looking over at his friend, Harry barely recognized the man. Once upon a time Daryll had been a child prodigy, finishing his bachelor's degree at the age of fourteen and by nineteen becoming one of the youngest practicing doctors. He had later specialized in physiotherapy and that was how he had met Harry. Harry had been on a path of destruction to test his seeming immortality. The two of them had fallen into a relationship and only later realized that they made better friends than they did lovers. Daryll could live his life at the pace he should have through his friendship with Harry. And although they were five years apart, they both knew that Harry's burden was so much heavier. Somehow they had made a pact to keep each other sane. But now there was none of that joviality in the twenty-six year old as he answered as many questions as he could about what little he had observed in 'Doe' and he shook as many hands as Harry. Two prodigy in one room, the crowd could hardly contain itself.

Suggestions flew back and forth as everyone settled down.

No one had a definite solution but the healers had spells and potions that they wanted to be tried and the doctors had medication and excercises that could work. They had two problems to solve. One was to prevent the curse from engulfing 'Doe' and that meant slowing it down enough to spare the man his face. If possible it would have also been uplifting if they could get his neck moving again because once they could do that they would know what route to take. The other problem was in getting the patient to swallow again. Upon everyone's inspection the curse was deemed to be the problem and so it didn't seem worth worrying that 'Doe' would begin to asphyxiate in their presence. Instead they would need to unravel the effects enough to allow swallowing. Already the pale/tanned/dark skin of the patient's arm showed brusing of the veins. A wizard was not meant to walk around with a hollowed plastic tube in his arm, they all agreed.

Each time a potion or spell was discussed Harry would let Snape's thoughts on the subject be known. No one asked what 'Doe's' profession had been as they were all eager to stay as a part of the panel. No one even thought to breach the privacy clause regarding the patient in the statement that they had signed. But they all knew that when it came to potions, Harry Potter was not as knowledgeable as he was suddenly appearing. What Potter was, was a damn good Healer, even without his Healing stature and they all listened when he made his opinion known. The noise level rose and fell, arguments broke out and there was even a bit of laughing at absurd suggestions or jokes.

Nevertheless, Harry focused his attention on the wizard at his side.

When Snape showed signs of fatigue and his right hand began to tremble slightly from the effects of having a catheter in an arm that was too magical for something so muggle, Harry signalled Daryll to take Snape upstairs away from the uproar and perhaps to take out the IV drip, for a while. He couldn't resist reaching for Snape's left hand and giving the fingers a light squeeze and softly explaining that Daryll was going to take him back to the room while he showed the rest of the group all the changes he had made in the house and the recovery room that he had built.

'Thank you,' Snape said softly.

Harry resisted the urge to point out that he hadn't really done anything. Instead, as soon as his patient and his friend were out of sight, he gathered everyone else and then proceeded to walk them upstairs and down the hallway from the four bedrooms, to the equipment filled room.

o

Hours later, after Harry opened up a floo for the last Squib of the group, he found his best friends in quiet discussion in the middle of the guest room. Snape was peacefully sleeping.

Hermione and Ron beamed at him as soon as he entered while Daryll retreated to the side of the bed so that he could inspect Snape's arm one last time. Harry rolled his eyes jovially to show that the little conference was really all in a day's work.

"Do you need us to stay the night?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "No. The two of you should go home. You've paid your friendship dues enough for today. Don't let me interupt your evening as well."

Hermione caught him in a tight hug, kissing him on the cheek. "You will never be an interuption Potter. Remember that."

And Harry laughed softly as he kissed her back. He released her into the arms of her fiance, intending to only shake Ron's hand in farewell. Ron growled rather convincingly, called Harry a 'sodding prat' and pulled him into a three-way hug.

"Owl if you need anything," Ron commanded.

Harry nodded with a grin. "Of course. Now go. You two barely find enough time alone as it is."

Convincing Ron and Hermione to leave left Harry with Daryll and Snape as his only companions. He turned towards the bed to be greeted with chocolate brown eyes that looked at him with an expression that Harry had seen enough times in Daryll's eyes to recognize. But he also knew that he had nothing to worry about. Daryll cherished his friendship just as much as Harry cherished his.

"So we can't keep using the IV drip." Daryll broke the silence. "Come here and look at this."

Snape's arm was a field of bruises. The three veins that the needle had been inserted into thoughout the course of the day were lines of purple. The arm was warm as Harry cradle the damaged fingers in the palm of both his hands. The bruises would heal of course, but he had to agree that there was no way he was going to put Snape through the torture of another day with needles and catheters stuck into an otherwise fragile hand.

"We could try a feeding tube."

"A PEG?"

Daryll considered for a bit. "Well that depends on how long you plan on taking to figure out the way to get him swallowing again. We could just use an NG tube (nasal gastric) in the meantime and hope that it won't take weeks. No use creating a huge hole in him just yet."

Harry nodded. "As long as you show me how, I can do it for as often as it takes to get it right."

"Yeah I figured." Daryll gave Harry a small smile as the younger man's attention shifted to the sleeping figure on the bed. "Wizards are such wusses though. Are you sure you can handle it?"

Harry snapped his attention back to his grinning friend. He shoved him, hard. Daryll laughed, reaching out to pull Harry into a tight hug.

"I've decided to become his physiotherapist. I figured that you could use the help," he whispered against raven tufts of hair. "So for five hours of the day I will be at both your disposals. That will give you enough time to pretend to know what it takes to brew a proper potion."

Harry hugged back, albeit less enthusiastically. "Thanks mate."

One hour later, Daryll bid his farewell and made his way out the door, leaving Harry alone in the silence of the room.

"I'm sorry about today. I promise you that I will never put you on display like that again," he said, dropping into the wooden chair he had set up at the side of the bed.

He curled forwards, allowing his forehead to rest lightly at the centre of Snape's chest. He didn't even notice when Snape's eyes opened. But he felt the fingers that slid into his hair, stroking gently through the strands. Harry didn't have the energy to be startled so he revelled in the way it felt amazingly good to be beneath kind touches of those fingers.

'It was necessary Potter.'

Harry sighed. "Yeah, but it was still a bother. And the IV drip... I hurt you more."

'Pain, I've come to realize is quite necessary. I've learned to be grateful for the little things in life and the fact that I can still feel in my right arm or anywhere else on my person, is something to be grateful for. I may not be able to move them, but at least I know they are still there.'

"I'm sorry anyway," Harry whispered back tiredly but no less determine. "I'll get better."

'I know,' Snape responded for the second time that day.

Harry fell asleep in the most uncomfortable position, with fingers threaded in his hair. But when Dobby popped into the room to make a final check on Harry Potter and the Professor, he did not even think of magiking Harry into his own room. Instead he snapped out the candlelight in the room and conjured up a blanket which he draped over his master's back.

Then he apparated back to his home in Hogwarts, leaving the two figures and the tableau of care that they seemed to be creating.

oXo

Glossary (quoted and paraphrased from Reference dot com Encyclopedia)

PEG - (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy) A tube inserted through a small incision in the abdomen into the stomach with the aid of an endoscope that is passed through the mouth and down the esophagus/throat.

NG - (Nasal Gastric feeding tube) A tube, inserted into a nostril of the nose, into the throat, down the esophagus and into the stomach.