Chapter 6

Somebody is tucking me in bed and stroking my hair. I open my eyes.

"Hi professor, how do you feel?" Harry, again. Why does the boy waste his time with me?

"Why are you here?" I ask rudely.

"I think you already know that. Are you going to answer my question?" I ignore him.

"So where is your boy?" I ask and he frowns.

"I told you this morning, he is with his mum. Now are you going to answer me?" He asks again. I sit with my back in the headboard.

"This morning? I don't know what time is it, nobody tells me. We had that conversation yesterday. How did you send the boy to his time? I thought you cared for him, I thought you loved him! I'm that unlovable? Even as a child? And why did you send me those things? Are you trying to humiliate me? Fine, I don´t want them so take them away right now because I DON'T WANT THEM!" I say.

Wait, am I shouting? Wait, wait, what have I just said? He won't take away April, will he? And who is the idiot that I hear crying? Harry comes closer and he puts his arms around me. I'm going to tell him to go away when I find I can't talk. The idiot who is crying is me.

"Shh, hush now Severus. I know you don't mean that. There is no need to overwork yourself." He rubs circles in my back, lulling me like a little baby. I bury my head in his neck, right now I don't mind if I'm going to be ashamed later. "I'm going to answer your questions, but answer mine first. How are you feeling?"

"Cold." I say in a shaking voice.

"Good, we can do something about it." He says, and he comes into the bed pulling me onto his chest. A blanket comes flying, he must have accio-ed wordlessly. "Now, I'll answer one of your questions and you'll answer one of mine. Which one do you want me to answer you?" He asks softly, still rubbing my back with one hand and stroking my hair with the other.

"I don't know what I've said. Start from the first one." I admit embarrassed. Merlin, what am I doing with myself?!

"Fine, I think the first one was if we talked about the boy this morning or yesterday. It wasn't yesterday, I came here late in the afternoon, and Dumbledore told me he was worried about you. We broke the wards and entered. By that time, you were tossing in bed with a very high fever. You were having a nightmare. Dumbledore tried to wake you up but you only started shouting. Finally, it was me who woke you up. I gave you the potions and you fell asleep holding my hand and telling me not to leave you. We had similar scenes during the night, you had a lot of nightmares. In the end, I decided to climb into bed with you. Dumbledore helped me to leave the bed this morning without waking you. Today your temperature was not as high as yesterday, so I suppose you remember our conversations." He says, rubbing my back. It feels so good that I have to fight to stay awake.

"Now, it's my turn. Do you need a potion for the headache?" He asks.

"No, I'm good now." I answer.

"Fine, next question. I loved the child. He was great, YOU are great. So, I think that answers your question of being unlovable. But he belongs with his/your mother, he can't live here. It would be very confusing for him knowing that you are the same person that he is." He says.

"Right, because he would have discovered he will grow into a despicable person." I say, with disappointment evident in my voice.

"No, you are not despicable. But this isn't his time. This is your time." He says.

"He will suffer." I say

"We can't change the events in the past, it's very dangerous. But I told little Severus that he can play with the girl who lives near his house. And I cast a spell so your father can't harm him physically." He says smiling.

"Thank you. My father was not a kind person." I say.

"No, he wasn't. Little Severus had a lot of nightmares when he came. He always told me what were the nightmares about before falling asleep in my bed. And I saw the marks in his back." He says.

"Did anyone saw them?" I ask ashamed.

"No. We had our own room. Nobody heard when he had a nightmare, and nobody saw him shirtless." He says. "Now my question, why didn't you go to Poppy when you started feeling bad?"

"I thought it was just a flu." I say.

"Four days without improving?" He asks. "Why didn't you tell someone?"

"It's not that I have someone to tell."

"Are your open to friendship?" He asks.

"What kind of question is that?"

"You say you didn't have someone to tell you were feeling ill. That means you need a friend. So, I'm willing to be that friend." He says.

"Are you?" I say frowning.

"Yes, or I wouldn't have said it. What do you think?"

"Don't you have enough friends?"

"Hermione is a great friend; and I can call Draco my friend now. That's all, I would be happy to have you as a friend if you'd like." Harry says

"I… Yes, that would be acceptable." I answer hesitantly. Could he be willing to be my friend? "But wait, you've said Draco, what about Weasley?"

"He was jealous of little Sev. He offered to take care of him once. I found Ron trying to get him drowned in the lake by the Giant Squid. I arrived just in time. Do you remember that night when we meet to discuss what to do with him? I brought him with me because he was scared. I don't talk with him since then. I believe the last thing he told me before I punched him was 'It's not as if the old greasy git would have died too if this one drowned, and you would have had time for me again!' I earned myself a week detention with McGonagall for punching him in the face. He is still in detention for trying to kill a child. He's not expelled because the Ministry couldn't be involved since you were the little kid. It would have been hard to explain."

"Thank you." I say. "For saving me and everything. And for the presents. And for being willing to be my friend."

"You're welcome Sev. Sleep now."