A/N: Mah, Kyer #grins# I was left the most hilarious review. So I decided to update on a spur of the moment to make my reviewers happy! And to reassure, the fic isn't nearly done and I'm not nearly done either. It's been pouring out of me like water. So fear not…there's more where this came from!

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise. All HP characters and places belong to JK Rowling.

Just What I've Never Wanted

Chapter One

Albus Dumbledore loved intrigue. He liked to weave mystery around himself like a shroud and speaking with double meanings and in riddles. But for once there was a mystery and it had nothing to do with him. Rather it had to do with his currently unconscious Potions professor and admitted, favourite student, Harry Potter.

It had been a week since the Final Battle and they were the last two within Hogwart's Infirmary. Everyone with more serious injuries had been sent to Saint Mungo's and the less seriously injured, healed and discharged. But though Harry and Severus seemed to have nary a scratch on them, they had been in a coma for the past week.

And as if that wasn't enough of a mystery…his blue eyes looked over Harry appraisingly. Poppy had said that Harry's magic was growing wildly, as if a deeper well of power had been unleashed inside him. That was the reason given for his magical coma, his body was adapting to the influx of power he was receiving. But where was this power coming from? Inside him? Or from exterior influences? Whatever the answer, there was no doubt about it though. Harry Potter was now the most powerful wizard in the wizarding world by far. Just being near him while he was asleep was making the Headmaster's beard stand on end.

But the magical coma wasn't going easy on him, Poppy had said. For as much power as was being adapted to his body, there was more with no where to go. So it was being sealed away until his body became ready for it. When he woke from this coma he would have to be retrained in constraint to stop himself overdoing the simplest of spells. And with his seventeenth birthday coming up his majority would bring a major spike of that magic out…

'Oh Harry. It's not over yet my boy.' Albus' eyes dimmed. Though his malnutritioned body had grown he would need to be made as healthy as possible for his majority…or it might not go well.

And on the other side of the mystery, one of his most troublesome students and one he thought of fondly like a son, Severus. Just looking at the man Albus was stumped. He couldn't explain how what his eyes saw could be true after…after the war their world had just been through…but, well. He wore glasses but they were mainly just for style to add to the aura he'd created for himself. His eyesight was perfect.

He sighed looking at the Potions Master. 'For all you claim Harry to be a troublemaker, you know my boy, you were more so.' Harry's condition was at least partially explainable. It could have had something to do with his connection to Voldemort. On breaking it perhaps it had released some hidden talent or magic…? What could he say for Severus?

Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger's spell had worked perfectly, shielding Severus from the backlash of the Dark Mark's master's extermination. Though even he had been worried about the spell, though he had researched with Harry for hours out of precious days, it had worked splendidly on the field. But then as soon as Voldemort had fallen and Harry's inhuman scream had filled the ground…Severus had started screaming too. Why had Severus screamed too?

Why had they passed out together? Why were they both still unconscious? Even if Harry wouldn't wake yet, why didn't Severus? 'Could he not wake until Harry did?' Albus pondered. 'Previous reflections would lead to that conclusion.' But what did that then mean? Severus and Harry shared some connection of some sort…?

"Ah. Mister Weasley and Miss Granger are coming." He decided to leave to deal with some issues that needed attention. After all the war might be won but there was aftermath to fix. He decided to make use of the still damaged wards of Hogwarts and with a slow, forced 'pop', Disapparated from the Infirmary.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

"Ssh." Hermione hissed back quietly over her shoulder as she eased open one of the Infirmary doors. "I don't see Madam Pomfrey…"

"Then let's go in! They've had no right to keep us from seeing Harry! He's our friend!" Ron said a bit loudly, pushing in the door.

"Weasley! Haven't you ever heard of subtlety?!" Draco whispered harshly, pulling him back. "I'm worried about my godfather too but you don't see me barging in, shouting, probably to wake him from much needed rest!"

Ron gritted his teeth, agreeing in his mind but sulking externally. "Fine."

"Good. We shall enter quietly and calmly and be out in five minutes if they're sleeping." Draco held the door open. "Don't try to wake him on purpose Weasley."

"I won't Malfoy! But if you don't stop acting like a snotty, spoiled brat I'm gonna sock you one in the…"

"Ron! Stop being an idiot and just go inside! Harry might be awake and waiting for us!" Hermione finally growled. "Just go inside!" And with that she gave him a push.

Now Ron was a Gryffindor but even he knew caution was the better side of valor in here.

"Hello?" He whispered as he tiptoed further into the Infirmary.

"Where's that legendary courage Weasel?" Draco smirked as he followed Hermione in.

"Draco!" Hermione glared. "You're not helping either! What happened to 'for Harry'! This truce is for Harry and if the two of you ruin it…!"

"Four-eyes will never forgive us. Yes, yes." Draco wandered down the path between the beds until he reached the farthest. Hermione and Ron followed, their eyes scanning to see if Harry was in any of the beds.

"Here." Hermione said softly stopping before the last bed on the right. Ron stepped up behind her and looked down at Harry.

"He looks so…still."

"Something's different though. He's…he's still but he's not weak, magically I mean. I, he feels…" Hermione stuttered to a halt as Draco gasped.

"Hell…"

"What? Snape?" Ron turned to look and gasped too. In the torchlight Snape looked…ethereal. The usual pallid, yellowish-gray of his complexion had turned to pale, creamy white, pure and unblemished. His eyelashes laid like fine, silk threads on the tops of his cheeks and his hair was untangled and cleaned, spread like an ebony banner across the white pillowcase. In short he looked nothing like he'd been just through a war.

"Bloody hell!" Ron gaped open-mouthed at the Potions Master as Hermione too, looked and gasped.

"What happened to him?!" Draco asked incredulously, tempted to reach out and touch.

"I've no idea…is this-is this really Professor Snape?" Hermione queried hesitantly, leaning in to peer closer. The body on the bed wasn't bone thin, but slender and, from the V-neck of his hospital gown, Hermione flushed, lithe.

'Who else could it be? Black hair, though not greasy. Tall and pale, though, he'd not been ho-fairly good-looking!' Ron edited his thought desperately, 'before. And he was the only teacher missing. The only adult not accounted for at St. Mungo's or somewhere within the school. So it had to be…that this was Snape.'

"But bloody hell…" Ron whispered.

"You said that already." Draco shook his head. "Something's wrong! Why is he so drastically…different!?"

"Perhaps, perhaps saving him from the Dark Mark had some kind of…unforeseeable effects? Perhaps after Voldemort's influence was lifted he…I don't know. Became what he would have been if he'd never taken the Dark Mark?"

"Morgana, Sev would have been peeling the ladies off him if he'd never taken the Mark!?" Draco stared at the still figure on the bed. "Wow. Now there's a campaign for not going dark."

"Hey now. We can't jump to conclusions. We should research! Suppose…suppose the side effects aren't done yet or it's not all positive? We need to find out more about the spell we created! See how it did this. Maybe some of his family history or something!" Hermione turned away and paced to Harry's bed and then back to the other side. "We can do it while we try to find out why Harry's still in a coma."

"Granger…Hermione. I think you're getting ahead of yourself. Pomfrey said they were both fine. She would surely know if this were some kind of…side effect of our spell." Draco lifted a hesitant hand to his godfather's brow and felt it. Normal. "If we can say the only thing wrong with him is that he looks too good, I don't think that's much of a complaint."

Ron scowled suddenly. "Only he could go into a war looking like a troll and come out smelling like perfumed roses. He probably likes war. Maybe it gives him power like those Vikings…"

"Oh Ron! Don't be an idiot." Hermione turned back to Harry's bed angrily. "If you can't say something helpful, say nothing! I still think we should do some research though…"

"Well I'm not for prying into Severus' life. He's my godfather yes but I know he's a private person. He wouldn't appreciate it."

'Does he appreciate anything!?' Ron groused internally. "Didn't we come to visit Harry?"

"Well, he's still asleep. The only thing we can do is try to find out why…" Hermione trailed off staring at her still friend. 'Perhaps if I can find out…about this strange power I feel from him.' "Well if neither of you is going to help me I'll just do it myself! And Draco I'm still going to do the research on Professor Snape too but I'll start off slowly and we can wait and see if anything…bad happens."

"Fine. We're not going to be able to stop you researching anyway." Draco waved her off. "Let's go."

Ron and Draco left together, bickering, leaving Hermione to give her research projects one last look. She'd find out what was going on!

A/N: Ta-daaaaaaa!

Now, is there anything else I have to say? Hmm...ah! Here's a handy tip. It is okay to steal white eggs and toilet paper from the grocery store. Why? Because if it's all white, it's all RIGHT!