Just as an alarm went off in Poppy's office to let her know there was a problem in Snape's quarters, Snape himself was waking up to the sounds of Potter having a nightmare. Poppy quickly got out of bed and as fast as she could, got herself to the mini Hospital Wing.
"Potter, wake up. Please wake up Potter," Snape said gently as Poppy walked through the door.
"Professor?" Harry whispered in the darkness, "Did I have another nightmare?"
"Yes, you did Mr. Potter. Would you like to talk about it?" Snape asked as Poppy looked on from the edge of the room.
"If its not too much of a bother. I never had anyone to talk to about them. But we can we just talk alone?" Harry whispered so that only Snape could hear him.
"Poppy, would you like to do a quick check of Mr. Potter before you retire again?" the Potions Master asked in a gentle tone that didn't hide his tiredness.
The Healer gave him an odd look but ran a quick check of their patient before she ran a check of him. Harry's throat infection was doing a lot better but his concussion was still on the mend, while Severus' latest injuries were far from being healed and still running the risk of infection in the wounds.
"I suggest that you two don't stay up too late discussing whatever it is you want to discuss. You both need to rest to heal. I'm willing to overlook the fact that you got out of bed this time Severus but if I find out you did it again, you will find yourself with a sticking charm, understood?" she told them in a very stern voice.
"Yes, ma'am" they responded together.
Once the Healer had left the room, Severus quietly conjured a comfortable armchair for himself and settled down next to Harry.
"Sir, why did Madame Pomfrey come back from London early?" Harry whispered in the darkness, clearly curious.
"I had to go to a Death Eater meeting and returned injured, Albus felt it was best that I not try to take care of you as well as myself. Did you have a vision, Harry?" the Potions Master asked.
"Yes, I did. How can you go back to him time after time knowing that you risk serious injury every time you do?" Harry responded, his voice now carrying a tone of disbelief.
"Now is not the time for this discussion, maybe when we are both feeling better perhaps we can discuss that. Tomorrow we are going to discuss the vision you had. I want you to tell me what your nightmare was about," was the strict reply, although Harry could detect that his ferocious teacher was in pain and wanted to go back to bed dearly.
"Sir, we can talk about my nightmare tomorrow if you want. I think you should go to bed, sir, you sound very tired. I don't want to be a burden, sir," the student encouraged.
Sighing, Snape stood up and agreed, "You are right, I should go to bed. But don't think that this is going to get you out of having to discuss this. If you have a problem, the alarm around your bed will alert me or you can shout, understood?"
"Yes, sir. Thank you for taking care of me sir, but don't forget to take care of yourself," Harry responded as Snape left the room, whispering the last part so his professor couldn't hear it. Harry, however, did listen to Snape's footsteps, noting how loud and clumsy they sounded compared to his usual very graceful walk.
Severus Snape had always been an early riser but on Sunday morning he slept until Poppy came to do his morning check-up at nine.
"Good Morning, Severus. How are you feeling?" she asked as she waved her wand to do a complex diagnostic spell.
"Sore," he croaked, not opening his eyes to look at her because it hurt to move, even the slightest movement.
"That's what happens when you ignore Healer's orders and get out of bed in the middle of the night. Yes, it was for a good reason – this time," she scolded, "but maybe this will teach you to let me do my job? Do you feel feverish?" she asked, with a concerned look developing on her face as the small letters appeared in front of her.
"Don't know," he admitted, missing the astonished look on the Healer's face because his eyes were still shut. It was extremely rare for him to not know exactly what his condition was, he often second guessed her methods and frequently they got into verbal duels.
"Severus, what is wrong that you feel so bad you can't even tell if you are feverish?" she asked in a small voice, sitting down on his bed. Diagnostic spells could tell the technical details of injuries but it often was the patients own words that helped her the most, especially when that patient was Snape.
"Everything hurts, wounds don't feel any better," he mumbled.
"May I have a look at your back, please?" she said in a soft voice, careful because her patient obviously had a bad headache at least.
"Yeah," he managed to get out through his sore throat, completely oblivious to the fact that he had used the slang word that he so often yelled at his students for using.
The Healer very gently rolled the Potions Master on his back and lifted up his shirt to expose the wounds. While some looked a little better, a few of the deeper ones still looked fresh. She gently applied the cooling salve to every wound and when she was satisfied with her work, she carefully rolled him back over.
"Does that feel a little better, Severus?" she asked as she smoothed the blankets around him.
"Back hurts less but chest still hurts," he mumbled right before he had another coughing fit.
"According to my diagnostics, it looks like you have caught an upper respiratory infection, and your injuries have only made that worse. You are on bed-rest for the remainder of the day, however, you don't have to sleep the whole time. In fact, why don't I move you into Mr. Potter's room so that you two can keep each other company, would that be alright?" she warned in a stern but motherly voice, "First, I am going to go get you some potions. I am correct that you probably do not want a student to see you in this condition?"
"Yes," came the reply, this time he sounded a little more like the Snape the Healer knew.
She quickly went and got a pain potion, a Pepper-Up potion, a fever-reducer and an infection potion from the cabinet in Harry's room, noticing that the student was still peacefully asleep.
"Bottoms up, Severus," she said as she handed him the vials, trying to get even a small smile out of the stern man. Over the years they had developed a friendship of sorts, often debating well into the night about certain types of healing potions or methods. She knew that on the inside he could be a very caring man, but he was also a very private man.
Once he had swallowed every last disgusting potion, he felt much better. The pain and congestion in his chest had most cleared, the daze that had surrounded him the night before and this morning, gone.
"Thank you, Poppy. I feel remarkably better," he said, showing some true gratitude to the Healer who treated him like a son and was always there to heal him after he came back from his Death Eater meetings.
Within a few minutes, the Potions Master found himself and his bed next to Harry's bed in the newly enlarged mini-Hospital Room. Knowing the Healer was going to order him to eat breakfast if he was awake, he decided to get some sleep before she returned from her office.
The next time the Healer stepped through the yellow connector door, both of her patients were asleep. First, she cast a nutrient potion in Harry's stomach, then repeating the process for Severus and finally, casting a quick alarm that would go off if either one woke or was distressed, she went back into her office to get a couple hours of sleep before Dumbledore came to pester her about visiting again.
AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed or put this on Story Alert. Please continue to review!! If you have any ideas for this story or their discussion, let me know please! Sorry about the wait.