Summary: The war is over for everyone but Harry. He is still fighting just to survive, but he won't make it on his own. Just when he's given up, help comes along.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, but I do own my imagination which takes me on wonderful adventures.

Chapter 13: Treatment

A week later, Severus woke Harry up at 7:30. "I have set up a schedule for the treatments. I would like you to get dressed as you normally would for your strength training and then come into the living room."

They sat facing each other on the couch about a quarter of an hour later. "Okay, I have devised a 12-hour rotation which I believe to be the best method. You will wake up each day at this time and proceed to your normal training. That will be followed by a hearty breakfast. Then you will bathe in the antibiotic solution. You must be completely immersed in it all at once for a full three minutes each time. To that end, I have borrowed an oxygen tank like the kind used by scuba divers to allow you to breathe while submersed.

"Once the soaking time is up, you will have to allow the solution to air dry on your skin – no towelling off. That should take about 15 minutes. Then you will take the most promising version of the magiglial restorative. As it works best when sleeping, I have added a sedative component to allow you to sleep for 6 hours through the process. We will do another active magic scan after five days to determine if this version seems to be working. If it is not, then I will switch it out with one of the others.

"When you wake up, it will be mid-afternoon. You may shower if you wish at that point. You will then have about 4 hours to yourself to do whatever you want. That schedule will repeat itself every 12 hours for the next ten days. I realise that it will throw off your usual sleep-wake cycle, but it is the best I can come up with. The idea is to get it all done in one unrelenting 10-day session to prevent the possibility of a new mutation from occurring."

"Alright. I can see how that schedule would be best as well. Okay, so, training, breakfast and then the bath, yes?" Harry stood, followed by Severus.

O-O-O-O-O

And so it was, over the next ten days, Harry immersed himself in an antibiotic bath every 12 hours. Severus took a skin sample each morning and owled it to Poppy to check for immunity. Each afternoon, she sent back the results of her observations through the microscope for Severus to record. There didn't seem to be any problem – each viewing showed more improvement towards the 'norm'.

During the same time, Harry also tried the first of the three different formulations of the regenerative. This version contained an obscure reaction Severus remembered after reviewing what Harry had discovered while creating his charts and he felt it was the most promising.

Poppy came by on the fifth day. The three repeated the live magic scan they had performed a few weeks earlier. It was clear just from Harry's responses, that his magic was coming more easily and did what it was supposed to do, although there were still issues with sustainability and strength of his casting. After viewing the results in the pensieve, they all determined that there had been enough of an improvement to the magical filament shielding to justify continuing the treatment with this version.

Finally, the 10-day period passed and both cures had been completed.

Poppy came to breakfast at the weekend. When things had been cleared away, she brought out a few micrograph images. "I have been taking photographic images through the microscope of the progress of your skin cure," she told Harry as she laid out three images on the table. Pointing at this first set of images, she explained, "These are the original samples for each of us." Harry nodded, clearly distinguishing his sample with the purple, oblong shapes from the pale yellow, round ones in Severus' and Poppy's samples.

Then, she set out another set of images – all three showing the pale yellow, rounded skin cells of a normal sample. "Your skin sample now matches ours – you cannot even see a difference."

Harry sat down. "It worked. I can't believe it. I just…," he trailed off, swallowing hard. "Excuse me." Harry rushed out of the house.

A few minutes later, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder giving him support. He turned around, wrapping his arms around Severus. Poppy was standing a few feet away. "I don't know what to say. There are no words to express how I feel right now." He stepped back. "You have both given me back my life."

"Now we can call you 'the boy who was brought back to life'," Severus deadpanned.

"Oh, no! Not another name," Harry was horrified. They all chuckled.

"Come," Poppy said. "We have one more test to do."

A third live magic scan showed marked improvement in Harry's ability to cast and maintain a spell. His spell strength also kept to an accepted level for each successive casting with minimal variance. The after-scan viewing showed solid and continuous shielding as well for every magical filament that stretched out from his core.

"I think we should test out your ability to do some spells we hadn't tried before, such as whether you can hold a glamour, cast a shield or apparate," Severus suggested.

"I can understand why I would need to protect myself and to apparate, but I don't need the glamour anymore, do I? I thought I looked different enough."

"You do, however, it is a spell used on yourself by yourself."

"Yes, that would be a good test and it is easy enough to reverse if it should go wrong," Poppy agreed.

"Okay. Let's see. How about this…" Harry aimed his wand at his left hand and performed engorgio on it. His had promptly doubled in size. "Finite incantatum." He looked up, excitedly, "It worked!"

Severus made another suggestion. "How about changing the hair colour on your arm? Then leave it so we will be able to have some indication of how well your spell casting endures."

"All right. Colovaria capillum violeta," Harry turned his arm hair purple. "This way, it's obvious and I can see when it starts to fade."

"Cast a shield. I will send through some spells at you starting with weaker ones and moving up."

"Protego."

"Tarantallegra. Rictusempra. Diffindo. Expelliarmus. Impedimenta. Flipendo. Stupefy. Confundo."

"Not bad. Let's try apparition before you get too tired. I will lift the wards for a few minutes. Apparate to your room and change your shirt." A few moments later, Harry was standing in front of them in a button-down shirt.

"Accio the book I left on the coffee table." Harry handed Poppy the book on skin infections she had been reading. "Now send it back."

"Okay, let's see. Conjure a plate, break it and then fix it."

Harry continued through the various additional tests suggested by Severus and Poppy. Finally, an hour later, Poppy pointed out that the hair on Harry's arm had lightened to lavender.

"That is a perfectly normal time span. I think that we can definitely celebrate your complete cure," she noted, "and we can do that by attending the Renaissance Faire this weekend. How does that sound?"

O-O-O-O-O

Almost at the end. How have I been doing?