Caring for a Raven – Chapter 2
'Oh no! What am I going to do now?' Severus mused, terrified. 'I can't transform back yet, but I don't want Potter to know I'm the raven.' On the other hand, he felt utterly ill and wanted nothing more than to get better as fast as possible.
He looked straight into the boy's green eyes and gave him a sharp nod, wincing at the pain the small movement caused.
"You're an Animagus?" Harry asked in disbelief, causing Severus to nod lightly.
"Are you a member the Order?"
The raven nodded lightly.
"From the colour of your eyes I'd guess Professor Snape?" Harry queried softly, groaning inwardly at the raven's nod.
"Very well. I want to help you, but I'm not sure how. Do you need Pepperup potion, or would you like to look at the potions I have here and choose what you need?" Feeling slightly uncomfortable to show his private potions stock to the professor, he added, "I brewed all these potions during the last school year, but you don't have to worry, sir, Hermione helped me and checked all of them. They're all right."
Noticing the raven was trying to pull his finger in the direction of the potions, Harry carefully placed him on the table and showed him each phial.
'Thank God; that's probably what I need,' Severus mused as he recognized the potion for the wizard's flu in one of the phials. He lightly knocked against the phial with his beak, throwing the boy an expectant look.
"You need the flu potion? Are you sure?" Harry asked worriedly, causing the raven to nod lightly.
"Well, that explains why I can't get your fever down," Harry mused aloud. "I'm sorry, but I don't have a spoon, and I'm not sure how much I can give you. I'll just use my finger like before, all right?"
'Yes please,' Severus thought, opening his beak to lick the potion from the boy's finger.
"Enough?" Harry queried, causing Severus to lightly shake his head.
They repeated the procedure, before Harry administered the fever reducer as well, noticing that the bird's feet cooled down a little.
Unable to keep his eyes open anymore, Severus relaxed on Harry's finger, against better knowledge, ruffling his feathers before he closed his eyes.
"It's all right to sleep, sir. I'll keep you here on my finger for a while, before I put you back in Hedwig's cage, so I can monitor your temperature," Harry said softly. "I'll give you another dose of the potions before I go to bed."
Severus slowly drifted off to sleep, while Harry set to work on his summer assignments, worriedly watching the bird on his finger cough, sneeze, and shiver from time to time. 'He seems to be very ill. I hope the potions will work. It'll surely take a few more days before his wing will be healed enough so he can try to transform back,' he thought in concern.
Before Harry went to bed, he woke Severus up and gave him the next dose of his potions, before he placed him into Hedwig's cage for the night.
"I'm sorry, but I have to cover the cage again. I'm afraid in your raven form you wouldn't survive an encounter with my uncle," Harry explained regrettably. "Do you have the impression the potions work?" he asked, very concerned about leaving the sick teacher alone in the cage while he went to bed.
'Yes, if I try not to think about who brewed them, I feel a bit better. They won't last as long as a whole dose you give to a human being though,' Severus mused, slightly nodding his head.
"Thank God. I'll check on you again in a few hours," Harry said soothingly, but hurriedly covered the cage as the noise of the dozen locks at his door being unlocked sounded into the room. "Sorry," he whispered as he quickly sat down at his desk.
Severus heard the door being opened and a female voice hiss, "Bathroom!"
"Thank you, Aunt Petunia," Harry replied politely as he went to quickly use the bathroom.
Only minutes later, the sound of the locks being closed again penetrated the raven's ears, causing the teacher to muse if he was delirious for the second time that day.
However, during the night, things only seemed to become worse. Severus had only just drifted off to sleep when he woke up by Harry's shouting, "Sirius! No!" followed by several loud slaps against the door and Vernon's angry voice, "Shut up, you freak! How dare you wake us up?"
"I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied politely, sighing as waited until the Dursleys' bedroom door closed before he scrambled out of his bed and made his way over to Hedwig's cage. Gently lifting the cover, he saw the raven was awake and apologized again. "I'm sorry for waking you up."
'This wouldn't have happened if you had tried to learn Occlumency,' Severus thought but merely threw the boy a dull glance from his glassy eyes and unconsciously made a step in the direction of Harry's hands.
"You want me to take you out again?" Harry whispered, noticing that the bird's feet were very hot and the raven was shivering violently as he took him onto his finger. "Maybe I should take you to bed with me and keep you warm," he mused aloud, glancing at his alarm clock. "It's three hours since I gave you the potions. Do you think it's too early for the next dose?"
Severus lightly shook his head, and Harry administered the next dose of potions to the bird, before he lay down on his bed, placing the raven on his chest. "Don't worry, I'm not going to sleep again tonight," he explained in a soothing voice. "Make yourself comfortable."
Feeling hot and cold at the same time, Severus was glad to have the body contact but couldn't decide if he wanted to sit on a hot or a cold spot. He took a few steps and rested in the boy's armpit for a while, before he felt too hot and took a seat on Harry's chest, only to return to the armpit a few minutes later.
"You're feeling absolutely horrible, aren't you?" Harry whispered, observing the heavily breathing and sniffing raven in concern. "Maybe you should drink some water." He carefully reached out for the glass of water he had brought from the bathroom and placed on his night table earlier, holding the glass in front of the raven, who greedily took a few sips.
"Slowly, birdie," Harry admonished him lightly, feeling slightly relieved when the bird seemed to relax a little after drinking a huge amount of water.
'That was good,' Severus mused, 'I should have thought of drinking something earlier. I hope this is just the peak of the flu and will be better tomorrow. I can't keep the boy from his sleep all the time.' With that, Severus slowly drifted off in a light slumber, feeling uncomfortable, as he couldn't bring himself in his proper sleeping position with his head on his back due to his broken wing that was wrapped in a thick layer of gauze.
Harry watched the raven sleep, worriedly feeling the bird's feet every now and then. 'If I only knew what I could do to make him feel better,' he mused as he put both hands to his head and slowly massaged his temples in an attempt to get rid of the headache that had begun to bother him earlier. 'Maybe I caught a cold after spending days out in this everlasting rain,' he thought.
Shortly before it was time for his aunt to get up and order him to make breakfast, Harry woke Severus up, noticing from the temperature of his feet that his potions were wearing off anyway. He gave him the next dose of everything, renewed the gauze on his wing, and placed him into the cage, soothingly whispering to the bird the whole time.
"I'm sorry, but I have to put you back in here, because my aunt might come in shortly," he apologized in a small voice.
Severus gave him a short nod in understanding, grateful as he felt the potions take effect.
Only a few minutes later, Petunia opened the door and ordered Harry to make breakfast.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Harry replied and waited a short while until his aunt's footsteps had vanished, before he stood next to Hedwig's cage and whispered, "I might be away for a while doing chores in the garden, but I'll come back every three hours, since your potions seem to wear off by then." With that, he hurried downstairs to make breakfast.
Severus sighed as he pondered his situation. 'Of course I happen to get so ill with a broken wing on top of the wizard's flu when I'm in my raven form and together with Potter without a way to escape. And the worst of all is he knows I'm the raven. I can be lucky he didn't throw me out or leave me outside in the first place. I probably wouldn't have made it through the night. During all these years, I must have a completely wrong impression of Harry Potter. Apart from his outer appearance, the boy has nothing from his father. He behaves exactly like Lily.'
Severus carefully tried to move his injured wing just a little bit, regretting the small movement immediately. 'Would Poppy be able to mend a broken wing just with a spell?' he mused, uncertain about his colleague's competency concerning birds. 'I only know that Hagrid sometimes looks after owls with broken wings, and I'm quite sure I heard it took a week to heal. Oh well, I have to be patient. I just hope the wizard's flu won't take as long.'
Like on the day before, Harry returned to his room to look after his patient every few hours, noticing that the raven's feet seemed cooler and he was more alert during the day. However, in the evening, the bird's condition worsened again.
This time, Harry had worked very hard and somehow managed to finish all of his chores, but by the time he returned to his room after making dinner, he felt all over sore and was sneezing and coughing continuously. He quickly changed into his pyjamas, eager to get out of his soaked clothes and gulped down a dose of Pepperup potion, before he stepped to Hedwig's cage, from where the raven was silently observing him.
"Hi there, how are you feeling?" he queried softly, allowing the bird to step on his finger as usual.
'I'd feel better if I knew you were taking better care of yourself,' Severus thought in concern. 'I won't be able to help you if you get ill, and if your aunt comes in every now and then to keep you in bed because you're sick, you won't be able to help me either.'
"Are you feeling worse?" Harry asked in concern as the raven didn't show any reply to his earlier question, causing Severus to lightly shake his head, before he gave him a reproachful glare.
"I'm sorry," Harry said, confused. "Are you angry at me? Did I do something wrong? Oh, I wish you could tell me what I can do to help you. Can't you use Legilimency on me, sir?"
Severus shook his head. 'No, I can't do any magic in my Animagus form,' he thought, sighing as he used his right foot to scratch his achy head. 'I wonder if I added a light concussion to my ailments when I fell onto the ground yesterday.'
"Does your head hurt?" Harry queried, and seeing the raven nod, continued, "I believe it's time for your potions anyway. Shall we bathe your wing first, or do you want your potions first?"
'Just go on with whatever you think,' Severus thought, but unnerved by the splitting headache pointed his head in the directions of the potions box.
"Today, I brought a small spoon with me," Harry whispered, spooning a small amount of the pain relieving potion into the raven's beak, followed by the flu potion and the fever reducer.
"Better?" he asked softly, gently stroking the bird's head feathers, noticing that the raven relaxed under his hand.
'Feels good, but I must be delirious, allowing Potter to pet me,' Severus thought, worriedly looking up as Harry let out a few harsh coughs.
"I'm sorry, it's all right. I just have a bit of a cold," Harry apologized, causing Severus to throw him a knowing look.
'You should go to bed,' Severus thought, pointedly turning his head to look at the bed.
"I should wait until they let me out to use the bathroom to brush my teeth, but I have too much a headache to study tonight," Harry thought aloud, before he turned to the raven. "I have to sleep for a while, at least until I wake up from the nightmare again. Do you want to stay in the cage while I'm asleep, or shall I take you with me? I hope I won't move too much in my dream."
'I don't mind, but maybe I can wake you up before your uncle comes and kills you,' Severus thought, pointing his head towards the bed, knowing he would be able to do a few small jumps if the boy moved too violently. 'It's my fault too that he didn't learn Occlumency,' he mused, 'because I let my hate towards his father take control over our lessons.'
Severus woke up when Harry began to thrash around. Knowing the boy was having a nightmare and was likely to cry out again, he gently nipped the boy's finger, causing Harry to jerk awake.
"Huh? Oh, um... sorry," Harry breathed, letting out a few coughs. "Thanks for waking me up before my uncle woke up," he whispered. "Sorry for waking you. How are you feeling?" He worriedly felt the raven's feet, noticing in relief that they weren't as hot anymore as during the night before.
"Your fever seems to have broken," he whispered, causing the raven to shake his head in annoyance.
'It hasn't, but your hands are warm due to your elevated temperature,' Severus thought, annoyed to not be able to properly communicate with the dunderhead.
Harry quickly fed the raven a spoonful of each of his potions, glad he had been thoughtful enough to place them on his night table when he went to bed earlier.
'You should take a fever reducer too,' Severus tried to communicate to the boy by trying to make signs with his head and eye movements, but the boy didn't understand what he meant.
Suddenly feeling very dizzy, Harry closed his eyes and slowly drifted back to sleep, not noticing that the raven threw him a concerned look, taking in the beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
HP
In the morning, Harry managed just in time to put the raven back into Hedwig's cage, before Petunia entered the room, thrusting a list of chores at him. "Vernon, Dudley, and I are going on a trip. We'll be back in two weeks, and I expect all of the chores to be finished by then."
"All right, Aunt Petunia," Harry replied, shocked at how hoarse his voice sounded.
tbc...
Thank you for your kind reviews that made me post the second chapter so fast. The story is alredy finished and will have four chapters.
I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them.
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.