Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.

I'm not a native speaker of English!

Thanks a lot to my wonderful beta, saiyanwizardgurl, for correcting my mistakes.

Dear readers,

I'm leaving soon for vacation but I wanted to upload this before I leave. The story is complete now. Please leave me a review so that I have a lot t read when I'm back. It would really make my day. I hope Healer Pomfrey will like this story because it was written for her June challenge.

Sunny

Chapter 4 – The End

Hermione had collapsed in her bed after taking care of Severus, and they all slept until it was late in the evening. Molly checked on Hermione first. She was relieved to see that her fever was down. The girl woke up and she told her the good news.

"Then you can get help for Professor Snape now, Mrs. Weasley."

"No, my dear. Your fever is down now, but you will have a phase of changing condition between total exhaustiveness and feeling healthy. You are in great danger of fainting for the next 3 or 4 days, and so I cannot leave you alone. You could hurt yourself badly while I'm away. I can't risk that. You have to rest a lot."

"He woke up while you slept, and I checked his temperature. He gargled again, and I gave him the soup," Hermione explained to a stunned Molly.

"And he let you do all this?" Molly asked, surprised.

"What choice did I have? You were snoring like a walrus, and there was no possibility of waking you up," Severus said teasingly.

"Oh, you are awake, Professor," Hermione said happily.

He glared at her. "And why are you making that ridiculous smile again?"

"Severus, really," Molly scolded him while coming over to his bed.

Hermione still smiled. She knew now that his sniping comments were not real. "I'm smiling because I'm happy that you feel better. Last time, you looked so unfocused and now you can even try to be your old self."

He persisted in his glare at her and became worried when it continued to not work. Hermione just replied, "Whatever you say, Professor." With that, she settled back to see what Molly would do with him.

Severus stared open-mouthed at her, and Molly took the opportunity to shove the thermometer in his mouth. He adjusted his scowl to the older woman in the room. "No need to play the bad Professor before you are both back at the castle, Severus."

He rolled his eyes and leaned back into his cushion.

"39.4°C. You should take the next two painkillers. How are you feeling?" Molly asked.

"Better. The painkillers help, but my throat is killing me. Do you still have any soup?" Severus asked hopefully.

"Of course I have, but this first." She pressed the gargling mixture into his hand. He groaned, sipped at it, and spat it in the bucket.

"Severus, I warn you," Molly said dangerously. Hermione never thought that Mrs. Weasley was capable of such a tone.

Severus lowered his eyes and then took another bigger sip and really gargled. "That's much better, "Molly said in her soft voice again. "I will go and fetch the soup for you."

When Severus had spit out the mixture and glared at Hermione, she made a movement as if to zip her mouth shut.

"I hope you will remember that when you next meet your little friends. However, my hopes are very low." Exhausted, he leaned back in his bed and closed his eyes. He almost jumped when he felt the mattress dip beside him and a cool cloth found its was onto his forehead.

"You don't know me very well if you think I would break my promise to you, Professor," Hermione said calmingly while she bathed his face.

His onyx eyes were boring holes into her. "Why are you doing this, Ms. Granger?"

"Because you still have a fever. The cool cloth will—"

"Perhaps I should clarify. Why are you worried? Do you think I am unaware of what you all call me? The bat of the dungeons. You hate me."

"I don't hate you, Professor." She spoke to him like a child. "And I never said anything like this about you. You have to be harsh in Potions because it is a dangerous subject. I don't know why you favor the Slytherins or why you seem to not like Gryffindors, but I'm sure you have a reason for it. You came to help me and the other students because of this illness, so why shouldn't I help you?"

He looked stunned at her and did not know what to say.

"Back into bed, Hermione," Molly ordered as she entered the room again. "I brought you a bowl of soup as well. I hope you are hungry."

"Yes, thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said and took the bowl from the tray. "It's really delicious."

Molly helped Severus to sit up. This time, he was capable of eating alone. After finishing the soup, he nervously glanced over to the girl in the other bed. Seeing that she still was occupied with her soup, Severus leaned closer to Molly, who was still sitting beside him on the bed. "I need to use the toilet. And don't even suggest the bucket, Molly, or I swear I will use all my power to strangle you."

Molly chuckled. "You wouldn't even have enough energy for that, Severus. You definitely won't manage to reach the toilet, let alone make the trip back. There is no other way."

"Molly," this time it was a really desperate plea. He knew he would never make it to the toilet alone. He feared that Molly would be right and that he would not even make it there with help, but he would prefer to die on his way to the toilet than use the bucket. He grabbed at Molly's arm as if it was his anchor to sanity.

"Calm down, Severus," Molly said gently and laid a hand on his arm. She turned to Hermione. "Hermione, dear, why don't you check on your parents? Take their temperatures and change the compresses until I join you, okay?"

Of course, Hermione had noticed the muffled conversation on the other bed. She was glad to leave the room. Hermione could perfectly understand her professor's worries, and she did not wanted to make it all more complicated for him. "Okay. Mrs. Weasley." With a slightly red face, she left the room.

"Damn, she knows exactly what this was all about." Severus threw himself forcefully back in his cushion. "I will not do it."

"If you want to wait until Hermione is back, that is no problem for me," Molly said challenging.

Severus glared at her. "I cannot do this. Let me at least try to reach the toilet."

"Severus, I have absolutely no problem with it. I won't let you try because I know that you won't make it, and then I have the problem of getting you back into bed. So there is only this option or you pee in the bed, and that would give me much more work than the bucket."

Her voice made Severus wonder if she was related to Poppy. "Maybe I can hold on until Ms. Granger is well enough so that you can leave us to get help."

"Next time you fall asleep, you will relieve you bladder in the bed, Severus. That's all I can tell you. And then it will be with Hermione in the room." She sternly looked at him. He looked as if he was fighting back tears. "Severus, really. It's nothing to worry that much about. You are worsening your condition." She gently stroked his cheek.

"You will leave me alone?"

"Of course, Severus. I will wait outside until you call me in, okay?" He nodded and she left the room.

It was a big struggle for him. Even though he knew that no one would come in, he had to close his eyes and force himself to relax. With his face burning from embarrassment, he called for Molly and she removed the bucket without comment.

When Hermione and Molly came back, Severus had turned on his side facing the wall and refused to look at them. Molly sighed and guided Hermione to her bed. "Maybe we should all sleep."

The next morning, they all pretended that nothing had happened. Molly went to check on Hermione's parents. She tried to keep Hermione away from them as long as possible because she worried that her parents might worsen Hermione's condition.

Hermione helped Severus by taking his temperature and changing his compresses. "You are getting better, Professor. Maybe you will be back to good health before me." She slumped her shoulders, exhausted.

"Are you feeling well, Ms. Granger?" Severus asked, worried by her behavior.

"Yes, I am. I'm just so worried about my parents. Will the antidote really help them? Even after they had been like this for so long?" Her eyes filled with tears and she looked worriedly at him.

"Hermione." He used her first name because she seemed so lost. "It doesn't matter how long your parents are in this condition, Molly makes sure that they stay as healthy as possible. The moment we are able to contact someone, we will get the antidote for them and they will get better. No need to worry."

Severus was shocked when she threw herself on him and sobbed hard into his shoulder. "Ms. Granger, you can not hug your Potions professor."

"I'm not hugging my Potions professor. I'm hugging Severus Snape," she sobbed.

"Using my own saying against me, girl? How very Slytherin," he said teasingly, but carefully lowered one of his hands onto her shoulder. "You really should stop, Hermione." When he lifted his eyes, he saw Molly watching them from the door frame. Severus immediately threw his hand back from Hermione's shoulder as if he had burned it.

Molly rolled her eyes. "Don twist you knickers about it, Severus. I already know that you are human. You are a real softy under those thick layers."

The glare he threw at her would have made the entire student body at Hogwarts faint in fear, but Molly just chuckled and helped the totally exhausted Hermione into her bed.

"Gargle, Severus. I will get something to eat for you."

______________

Two days later, Severus was healthy enough to take care of Hermione and her parents for the time Molly needed to Apparate to Hogwarts and get help. Forty minutes later, Albus and Poppy were standing in the small guest room at the Grangers. While Poppy checked Hermione, Albus struggled with his reluctant Potions Master. "Albus, I don't have to go back to bed now that you all are here to take care of her. I can leave now."

"You will not leave, my boy, before Poppy has checked on you." With a gentle firmness in his voice and movement, he maneuvered Severus back into his bed. After that, he sat down beside him. "Molly told me that you were very cooperative and helped her a lot."

Severus glared at Albus. "I wasn't in any condition to help her. One of those imbeciles you call students infected me with this damn illness." He pointed forcefully at his throat.

"No reason to poke a hole in your throat, Severus," Poppy scolded him while taking Albus' place to check on Severus. After checking him thoroughly, she said, "You are still ill and will rest a few days in the hospital wing. Ms. Granger can be watched by her parents after I gave them the antidote. If they aren't well enough to watch over her, we have to take her with us, Albus," she said to the Headmaster.

"Of course, Poppy," Albus answered.

Half an hour later, Severus and Hermione were placed in beds in the hospital wing at Hogwarts to rest until they were healthy again.

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