Caring for a Raven – Chapter 3
"Are you ill?" Petunia queried.
"I probably caught a cold," Harry croaked.
"Oh well, then it's good we're leaving in five minutes; wouldn't want to catch anything from you." With that, Petunia left the room, causing Severus to let out an angry growl, which unfortunately came out as a coughing fit.
'She has nothing in common with Lily,' he thought angrily.
"Are you all right?" Harry asked worriedly, taking him back out of the cage.
'Yes, I am,' Severus thought, nodding, 'but you aren't.' He looked at the boy's face, noticing that his cheeks were feverishly flushed, and motioned him with his eyes to follow his look.
Slowly getting used to the bird's antics, Harry sensed the raven wanted him to take him somewhere and slowly carried him towards the door and out into the hall.
"Where is it you want to go?" he whispered, and followed the bird's eyes' movement into the bathroom.
Severus made the boy open the closet and examined the contents closely until he found what he was looking for. Making Harry extend his arm to the closet by leaning off his arm, he stepped onto a shelf and opened his beak, carefully picking up a Muggle thermometer, which he let fall into the boy's hand, before he stepped back on his finger.
"Are you finished here?" Harry queried, looking surprised from the thermometer to the bird.
The raven shook his head and made Harry move his arm towards another shelf that was filled with towels. Pulling a small towel out with his beak, he shoved it into Harry's hand as he made himself comfortable on his arm.
Harry realised that he was feeling horrible and wanted nothing more than to return to his bed and rest for a while before he had to get a head start on his chores. However, Severus wasn't finished yet. He made Harry take a small bowl filled with cold water with him and motioned him back into his room. Putting the thermometer and the towel on his night table and the bowl next to his bed, wondering how he could help the raven using these things, he lay down on his bed, laying his left hand on his chest for the raven to get off his hand.
'What do you think you're doing, you imbecile?' Severus mused, glaring at the boy.
"I'm sorry, I just don't feel so well. Let me rest for a few minutes, and then I'll try to do what you want me to do," Harry told him, closing his eyes for a short while.
After a few minutes, he felt slightly better. "I'm sorry, what can I do for you? Do you think I can take your temperature with that?" he asked, pointing to the thermometer. "Under your wings or where?"
'Of course not mine. I don't know how to take that, but yours, you dunderhead,' Severus replied, throwing the boy a menacing glare as he forcefully turned his head towards the boy, wincing immediately at the additional pain.
"Be careful; don't move your head so forcefully. You know it hurts," Harry said softly.
'I know,' Severus thought miserably, sighing in exasperation. He slowly stepped down to the edge of the bed, reaching for the thermometer with his beak and thrust it into the boy's hand, once more moving his head towards Harry.
"You want me to take MY temperature?" Harry asked in surprise, causing Severus to nod in relief.
'Finally!'
"No, I'm fine. As I told you I just have a cold, but it's not so bad, Harry replied lightly, cringing under the glare he received from the raven. "Fine," Harry sighed, switched the thermometer on, and placed it under his tongue, shooting the raven a completely annoyed glare as a violent shiver shook his body at the icy cold feeling of the glassy thing in his mouth.
Severus settled down on Harry's left shoulder, watching in concern as the numbers on the digital display increased, until it finally stopped and let out a beeping sound.
"Thirty-nine point two," Harry informed him. "Happy now?"
'No.' Severus shook his head. 'Now please take a fever reducer and the flu potion without making me force you. I'm knackered.'
"All right. Let me give you the next dose of potions. I'll take a fever reducer as well, and then I'll head to the garden for a few hours," Harry decided and fed the raven his potions.
Making sure Harry took three spoonfuls of the fever reducer, Severus finally allowed Harry to look after his wing.
"As you know I don't know anything about birds, but I have the impression as if your wing was healing nicely," Harry said thoughtfully, closely examining the wing, before he gently bathed it in Murtlap Essence.
'Feels good,' Severus thought, sighing in relief.
As Harry gently dried the wing with a soft towel and finally wrapped it in gauze, he threw the bird a piercing look. "It's now three days since you broke your wing and came down with the flu. Do you feel any better at all?"
'Yes, my wing feels a bit better I think, and my throat isn't as sore as it was anymore. But my head hurts as much as before, and I still feel feverish,' Severus replied to himself, before he lightly nodded his head.
'Hmmm, that wasn't too convincing,' Harry realised. "What exactly is better? Your wing? Don't nod if it hurts, just blink once for yes and twice for no," he added quickly, not wanting to cause the bird unnecessary pain.
Severus blinked once.
"Very well, and your headache?"
Two blinks.
"Your fever?"
Three blinks.
"Your coughing and sneezing seems a bit less than yesterday, but I guess you're not sure about the fever," Harry said thoughtfully.
Severus blinked once.
"Do you have any idea, what I could do to help you?"
Two blinks.
Harry sighed. "Do we just have to wait until your wing is well enough so you can transform back?"
Severus blinked once. 'Unfortunately, yes, but thanks for your concern. I really appreciate it.'
"I have to do my chores," Harry decided, "so I'm going to leave you alone for a short while. Where do you want to stay? In the cage, on the bed, or on the table?"
Severus rolled his eyes and stepped from Harry's hand onto the table, taking Harry's quill in his beak, carefully adjusting it to the empty parchment. 'YOU – BED' he wrote in untrained, but somehow readable letters.
"Wow, you did that really well," Harry commended the professor in total amazement, before the meaning of the words penetrated his foggy mind. "No, I'm fine, and I have to do my chores, if I still want to be alive when the new school year begins." With that, he stood up from his chair, leaving the raven on the table. He fetched the glass of water from the night table as well as a small bowl of owl treats, knowing from experience that the Dursleys hadn't left any food for him, leaving both on the desk for Severus, and headed to the door when a thought crossed his mind.
"I know what I'm going to do. If your headache is bothering you so much, I'm going to brew a headache potion. Since the Dursleys are away, I can use the kitchen. I can take you with me so you can watch if you don't trust me." With that, he pulled his cauldron and his ingredients out of the wardrobe and skimmed his fourth-year book for the headache potion.
Severus sighed, taking the quill in his beak again. '392,' he scribbled on the parchment.
"Page 392?" Harry queried, opening the page. "Potion for concussion," he read in surprise. "You think you have a concussion from your fall the other day?"
Severus blinked once.
"Oh well, that makes sense." Harry quickly skimmed the recipe, confirming he had all the ingredients, and asked, "Do you want to come?"
The raven stepped on his finger, throwing Harry a doubtful look. During the next hour, Severus watched from Harry's shoulder how the boy professionally brewed the potion for him. He observed his every move, remaining close to his cheek, so he could pinch him in time if he was going to make a mistake.
'No, you imbecile,' he thought once and was just about to pinch the boy when Harry noticed right in time he had to stir counter clockwise and corrected himself.
'Don't give me a heart attack,' Severus mused, trying to relax.
However, only a few minutes later, Harry suddenly turned away from the cauldron in a fast movement, only to let out a few forceful sneezes.
'Don't frighten me like that,' Severus thought, sighing in relief as Harry finally bottled a flawless potion.
Harry took a spoon and immediately offered a spoonful to the raven. "I hope it'll help with your headache. If you really have a concussion, you should better rest than sit on my shoulder, so I'll take you back into my room now, before I'm going to clean up here," he said hoarsely, taking the phials and a clean spoon with him. Gently placing the raven into Hedwig's cage, he returned to the kitchen to clean up, feeling utterly exhausted and ill by the time he returned to his room.
Seeing the raven seemed to be peacefully asleep, Harry couldn't resist the urge to lie down for a while, drifting off into a light slumber. A coughing fit brought him back to reality, and Harry scrambled out of bed, stepping over to the cage, seeing the raven had woken up too.
"I'm sorry for waking you," he whispered, glancing back at his alarm clock. "It's probably time for your potions anyway though."
'Probably,' Severus agreed, blinking once.
Harry gently fed the bird his potions and placed him back into the cage. "I have to go and begin with my chores."
Two blinks.
"Sorry, but I have to. Do you want to stay in the cage?"
One blink.
"All right. I'll be back in two hours at the latest," he promised as he slowly dragged himself out of the room.
'Stupid boy,' Severus thought angrily. 'How can he go out to work in the garden with the fever he's spiking, let alone in that weather?'
When Harry returned to his room two hours later, he looked worse for wear. However, he turned to the cage to look after the raven right away, causing Severus to groan. The raven stepped onto the boy's hand and pulled at his wet T-shirt, throwing Harry a murderous glare.
"I know, I have to change," Harry understood and placed Severus on the table, before he dragged himself into the bathroom to change into his pyjama bottom and a dry T-shirt.
'I hope he only caught the flu from me and doesn't have a cold turned into pneumonia,' Severus mused worriedly as he observed Harry lie down on his bed in exhaustion, breathing heavily.
tbc...
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.