AN: Everything is still JK Rowling's!
"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked as Harry zoned out for the sixth time as they tried to study in the common room. Potions had been cancelled that morning and Hermione guessed that Harry knew the reason why.
"I'm fine, Hermione. I have just been thinking about some things," He replied, still staring out the window.
"What's up, mate?" Ron asked from the other side of the table. He had been attempting to write a History of Magic paper but would rather be doing anything else.
"I think I will go see if I can find Madame Pomfrey, I have a question I need to ask her," Harry replied, ignoring Ron's question, as he got up and threw his bag over his shoulder.
"Hey, wait up, Harry! We will go with you" Ron called but Harry gave him no heed.
Harry entered the Hospital Wing and called for Madame Pomfrey.
"Mr. Potter! What are you doing here?" she questioned as she walked out of her office.
"I was just wondering how Professor Snape was faring?" he asked quietly so as to not to be overheard.
"Would you like to visit him? He was awake just a second ago," came her cheery reply.
"That would be great, thanks" Harry responded.
"Good Morning, sir" Harry quietly stated as soon as he walked through the yellow door and saw that his teacher was sitting up in bed reading the Daily Prophet.
"Good Morning, Mr. Potter. What brings you here?" Snape said without any of his usual sarcasm or sneer.
"I just wanted to come by and make sure you were doing alright--," he started to say before he was cut off.
"Eloquent as ever, Mr. Potter. I can assure you that Madame Pomfrey is taking care of me," he said sternly before quietly adding, "Thank you. What was the real reason," as he finished with a friendly smirk.
"I wanted to see when you thought we could talk about nightmares and possibly my mother, sir," Harry added, now understanding why the man acted the way he did.
"It would probably be beneficial for you to talk about those things, however, "he paused as a coughing fit overtook him, "as you can see, I am not fully recovered. Next weekend would probably be best, although there is a meeting on Friday which you are aware of. Would Saturday evening suffice?"
"Yes, sir. I know that he mentioned a Revel that is scheduled for Friday night but I am not sure what that is. Will he torture you again, I would hate to see you in that much pain again," Harry wondered, not realizing that he was thinking aloud.
Upon seeing his professor's shocked look, "Shit, I did not just say that aloud," Harry said before covering up his mouth.
Snape looked at him for a moment before he started laughing. "Mr. Potter, I believe you just made my day."
"Glad I could be of service," Harry mumbled under his breath as Snape continued to chuckle.
"To answer your question, a Revel is a party that the Dark Lord holds where he offers us female services, basically he turns his hideout into a whorehouse for the evening. I personally hate them, but he expects all of us to go. And, no, I will not be tortured, although I maybe slightly grouchy in the morning" Professor Snape answered as soon as he had recovered from his laughing fit.
"Thank you, sir. I'll leave you to get some sleep," Harry said as he turned to leave.
"Mr. Potter, would you mind staying? I wouldn't mind some company and we could play chess if you have some time," the bed-ridden Professor softly asked.
"I'd like that, sir. I have a free period after this one. I'll warn you though, I am horrible at chess," Harry responded with a smile.
"If you are as good at chess as you are at potions, then I shouldn't have to worry. Poppy?" the elder man gave his trademark smirk. Their weekend seclusion had taught each of them a lot about each other and they were starting to realize that they could get along if they had some understanding about one another.
"Yes, Severus? Oh Mr. Potter, you are still here? You two haven't been fighting have you?" she asked in her usual stern voice.
"No, Ma'am" they both responded in unison before Severus continued, "Could we please have the chess board again?"
She quickly retrieved the board with her wand and before she left again, ran a quick scan on Snape. "You still have a fever, Severus, so take it easy. I don't want you getting weaker again," she said before she left.
They both quickly got absorbed in their chess game, but also had a good conversation while their game was going on.
"Have you ever thought about getting Potions tutoring?" the professor asked as he took yet another one of Harry's pieces, "Or for that matter, Chess tutoring?"
"No, sir, I didn't realize that Hogwarts had a place that you can get tutoring. Hermoine tries to help me but she doesn't always explain things very clearly. I hope you realize that I do try in class, but I tend to be very distracted while I brew."
"And why are you distracted?" came the reply as another one of Harry's pawns was destroyed.
"I have trouble focusing on a specific task with so many people around me. It seems weird because I can do it in Quidditch, but I feel safer on a broom," Harry responded without thinking, he was more focused on how to capture his teacher's castle.
"Would it help you if you could brew alone? I understand a feeling of insecurity around many people, it probably stems from the fact that the Dark Lord has been after you since you were born," Snape responded after a few minutes.
"Could we try it for a lesson, sir? Do you have a room that I could use for brewing?" Harry responded as the Potions Master's knight beheaded his queen.
"I'm sure it could easily be arranged. Come early to Wednesday's class, I will set you up in an empty storage room off of the main classroom. I will set up a one way window so that you will be able to see and hear my lecture but none of your classmates will be able to see you or know that you are in there. Does that sound acceptable to you? Checkmate, by the way." the teacher offered.
"More acceptable than the fact you just took my king," Harry responded with a smirk.
Just then the bell went off, signaling that Harry should go to his next lesson.
"I hope you feel better soon, sir. I will see you in class tomorrow?" Harry asked as he picked up his schoolbag.
"Don't tell anyone this, not even Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger, but I won't be teaching your class tomorrow. I will have a substitute, it's a surprise. Have a good day, Mr. Potter," Snape responded as he reset their playing area."
"Good day, sir," Harry said as he left the room. He waved goodbye to Madame Pomfrey but missed the smile on her face.
The rest of the day, Harry was in a much better mood, and he even stayed awake in all of his classes.
As they were walking out to the Quidditch changing rooms, Ron asked, "Where did you this morning, mate? After you didn't come back this morning, we checked the map and you weren't on the map anywhere,"
"Interesting, that room isn't on the map, probably because the room was created after the map was made," Harry thought to himself before he answered Ron, "I was in the hospital wing, like I told you. Madame Pomfrey just wanted me to lie down for a little while."
"Are you sure you're up for practice?" Ron asked with concern.
"That was my question; she cleared me this morning for it. She just wanted me to take a nap because she thought I still looked a little pale. Nothing to worry about, and I probably wasn't on the map because I was in that special little room that I was in over the weekend. Just don't mention that room to anyone else, okay? Let's just focus on a good practice?" Harry asked, praying that Ron wouldn't get into a fight with him before practice.
"Sure thing, mate" Ron said as he slipped into the changing rooms.
Later that night, Harry found himself thinking about his chess game with Snape that morning. Just as he closed his eyes to go to sleep, he found himself pulled into a vision with the Dark Lord again.
AN: Thank you for your patience! Please review and let me know if you have any suggestions about what should happen during the vision or the next weekend or anything else. Sorry about the delay. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the story so far.