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Chapter 5 – Games of Power
The sound of a quiet conversation woke him. "Shouldn't he have woken up by now?" Minerva asked with concern.
"His body is very weak. He needs as much rest as he can get."
The hospital wing again, he thought as he tried to remember the reason he was where he was. I slept like a stone, so they must have given me a sleeping draught, he mused. But then the image of Albus Dumbledore leaning over him and all the memories of the last day came back to his mind.
Oh no, I'm not ready to face them right now, he thought. I'll just keep my eyes closed so they will not recognize that I'm awake.
"Albus was here an hour ago to check on him. He will come back when his meeting with those Ministry officials is over," Poppy explained to Minerva.
"I will stay until then. When will Alastor come back?"
"He was here the whole morning, but he left with Albus for the meeting. He said that he would come back in the evening," Poppy explained.
Oh, fantastic. How many people are fussing over me this time? I really must be in trouble if Mad-Eye Moody is watching after me, Severus thought desperately.
A warm tingle covered his body. Damn diagnostic spell, he cursed inwardly.
"Feigning sleep, Severus?" Poppy asked, amused.
Groaning, he opened his eyes. "No, I was just hoping to fall back asleep again, but it was impossible with your babbling."
She took his wrist in her hands to check his pulse and peered into his eyes closely. "How do you feel, Severus?"
"Fantastic. When can I leave?" he asked impatiently.
She sighed, put his wrist down, and felt his forehead. "We already had this discussion yesterday, Severus. Don't you remember?"
"Yes, I do." He shrugged his head away from her hand. "But now I'm feeling much better. There is no need to hold me here any longer."
"Severus, be reasonable! Let Poppy do her work," Minerva said while sitting herself on the bed. One of her hands rested on his left leg in the hope that this would calm him.
But he only glared at her and angrily said, "Why are you here? Don't you have work to do?" He forcefully pulled his leg away from her touch. Behaving like a stubborn child was not something he enjoyed, but he felt so embarrassed that he just wanted to be left alone.
Unfortunately for him, Poppy was not the kind of person that would let something like that happen. "Don't speak to Minerva like that. We can do this the hard way or you can cooperate. If you even try to get out of bed, I will restrain you. Everyone is concerned about you, and you will not bite them away just because you feel uncomfortable."
She rummaged through a drawer in the small night table and found what she was looking for. "As you don't want me to touch your head, you will take this. Open up so that I can put this in your mouth," she ordered, brandishing a thermometer.
"This is ridiculous. I'm feeling perfectly fine!" he stubbornly said as he turned his head away from her.
"Okay, there is more than one way to take your temperature." With that she waved her wand. Pure horror was written all over Severus' face when he felt his nightshirt go up and his pants lowered. Only the bed clothes where covering him from the gaze of the two witches. In a panic, he grabbed his pants through the bed clothes and tried to pull them up again, but they would not move. His eyes were shifting from one woman to the other. Poppy had a stern look on her face and Minerva a lightly bemused expression. She even looked with curious interest at the place where his private parts were only covered by the thin bed sheet. Quickly, he covered his front with his hands over the blanket. Of course, he knew she could not see what was under the bed clothes, but he nevertheless he turned red like a tomato.
"Poppy, please stop! You cannot do this." The panic in his voice was obvious. "I use the bloody thermometer. Please, I swear! I will do whatever you want me to do, but please stop!" he pleaded with her.
"That was my last warning, Severus. Do we understand each other?" She threatening moved her wand in front of his face.
"Yes, I'll do whatever you say Poppy, I promise!" he said, frantically nodding his head.
"Okay, then. Open up, young man." She put the thermometer under his tongue.
When she did not move to reverse the spell, he stared pleadingly at her and wildly gestured with his head to his lower body. His hands were still trying to cover himself.
"Oh no, you'll like this until I have the results of the reading. Maybe you will learn from this!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest and made clear that that was her final decision.
His face was burning and he closed his eyes in embarrassment. When the thermometer finally beeped, he was relieved beyond imagination. He opened his eyes to look at Poppy. Her expression made it clear that she was not happy with the results.
"Feeling well, Severus?" Her eyebrows lowered to form a line as she angrily looked at him. "Your temperature is even higher than yesterday." She placed the thermometer on the nightstand and observed him closely. When he remained silent, she placed her hands on her hips. "I'll ask you again: how do you feel?"
"Poppy, please cancel the spell," he pleaded.
"I will once I have the answer I need. So?"
"Okay, okay. I feel a bit sick and I'm very tired. And my head hurts," he described. "Please, Poppy, reverse it."
"If I had known that this would work so well on you, I would have done it much earlier." With on flick of her wand, his pants were back in place and his nightshirt was lowered as well. Another flick and the headboard moved up until his back was resting against it. "You need to eat something, then I will give you something for your headache."
"No, Poppy, I just told you I'm feeling sick. I can't eat anything. I just want to sleep a while."
But Poppy was not paying any attention to his pleading. She was already ordering something from the kitchens. "The meal will be here soon. It's just a light chicken soup and some fresh bread, Severus," she explained while putting a bed tray over his lap on which he could eat. Then she looked at the Transfigurations teacher. "Would you please help him eat, Minerva? Make sure that he eats at least the soup and half of the bread."
"Of course, Poppy." Minerva said cheerfully, smiling at Severus.
Why the hell is she so happy about helping me eat? She smiles as if she's just received a Christmas present, Severus thought, confused.
"I don't need help. I'm not a child," he said defensively.
"We will see, Severus." Poppy said as she handed Minerva two potion vials. "I have to go and check on Hagrid. He burned his hand yesterday and I want to make sure it's healing properly. Please give Severus this potion after he eats. It's for his headache." She pointed her to the smaller vial with a light blue liquid in it. "If he starts to get sick while eating, give him a spoon from this vial. It should settle his stomach enough for him to finish his meal without an accident." She pointed at the bigger vial with brown thick liquid in it.
Then she turned to Severus. "And you will behave, Severus. Remember, you do not want to make me get cross with you again."
Even the memory of it made him blush again.
"I will be back soon. If he gives you any trouble, inform Albus via the Floo. He will still be in the meeting, but he said that we can call for him nevertheless. He will at least send Alastor if he isn't available at the moment."
"Yes, I will do, but I'm sure there won't be any trouble." Minerva said with confidence.
"Please stop talking about me as if I'm not in the room!" Severus scowled at both women. Call Albus or Alastor? And what shall they do? Put me over their knee and spank me?
"I'm on my way." With one last warning glance towards Severus, she left the hospital wing to check on Hagrid.
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