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Chapter 4

A/N Also I do not own Harry Potter at all or any of the characters; they are not mine.

Ron could not believe his luck, because when he got back to the dormitory Professor Malfoy was there waiting for him. The Professor informed him that he had to live in a guest room in the Professor's quarters at Hogwarts. Malfoy insisted that Ron bring out his trunk with his school things. Lucius shrank the trunk with a wave of his wand and gestured to Ron to follow him. When they arrived at Lucius rooms, he showed Ron to the guest room and had him sit down.

He brought out Ron's trunk, enlarged and opened it. Ron yelled that he could not go through his things without his permission. Malfoy replied that Madam Pomfrey had asked him to see if there were anything Ron could use to burn himself with. When Malfoy finished searching the trunk he had taken out two lighters, four packs of matches and one candle that could light itself magically. Professor Malfoy found a box and put all those things in to it, and locked it with magically and in the muggle way.

He turned back to Ron and said "There are to be no closed doors while you are here. You can close them to the point where there is a crack but nothing less than that. There is one bath and shower, and it is the door to the right of your bedroom for now. My son knows he can come down. However, he is to sleep in the dorm room, but you might see him. If you ever want to talk or have bad dreams, you can always come to me. I have been in your shoes and I have the scars to prove it. I did see you do not have quality robes or books. While you are under my care I will get you those things. With that all said, it is late and you should be in bed. You can unpack tomorrow as you will have a sick day for the next 3 days so you can get settle in. You could be here for a little bit."

Ron entered his room get in his pajamas and went straight to bed.

Meanwhile in the hospital wing with Hermione…

Hermione was not having much luck. At first the withdraw was not that bad. Then she started to get all shaky and started to sweat and to have stomach cramps. She laid down on her side on her bed. About two and a half hours into it, she could not imagine it getting any worse. About then, Madam Pomfrey entered, asking how she was feeling. Hermione looked up at Madam Pomfrey and said, "… I feel…. I feel like I'm on a one-way ticket to the underworld, and I want it to stop," she groaned.

Madam Pomfrey took a chair and sat next to her patient's bed, setting a bucket beside the nightstand just in case it was needed. "Hermione, you might not remember all of this. I will go through it again when this is all done. I want you to know there will be no closed doors at all when you are with me. You will be living in a guest room in my quarters and not in the dorm rooms. I have gone through your trunk. Before you ask, I have every right to do so. I taken all your drugs and thrown them out. For now, that is all you need to know."

Hermione began yelling things like "you had no right" and "it's my life, I can do what I want." Before she got far into her rant, she went green. Poppy helped her to sit up, putting the bucket underneath her chin just in time.

Hermione went from a minor withdrawal to a major one. She kept getting sick, felt hot, and was just felling out of it. She was in a lot of pain and was so tired of it all. She just wanted to scream. When she was about to give up, Madam Pomfrey took her hand and told her "It's ok to scream and to squeeze my hand when in a lot of pain. It does help sometimes." She cast a cleaning charm on the vomit that missed the bucket. She then cast cooling charms on the blankets and pillows for Hermione.

With Madam Pomfrey by her side and laying in the recovery position she fell into a painful but still sleep. What she would not know is that Poppy would not leave her side and kept singing songs, reading aloud, stroking her hair when she made a sound, cleaning her lips when she threw up in her sleep.

Poppy said quietly, "You are not that much different from me. I wish I never had to do this to a student here at Hogwarts and I never wanted it to be a first year. Now that I do, I will help you because I might not know why you get high but I have done that before."

Hospital wing with Harry

Severus examined Harry, covered in sweat and scars, with bruises in different stages of healing. He thought how different Harry is from what he expected and how scared he must be. He also knew that many of the bones still needed to be reset, and how painful it would be for him. They had only been able to do his ribs that night.

He looked at the scars on Harry's arms and noticed that some were deeper than others were. Snape knew that Harry had been doing this for a long time. With that last thought, he took the washcloth that was in cold water and put it on Harry's head to cool him down just a little bit more. Harry opened his eyes.

Harry looked around the room trying to discover where he was, but it was hard because it was dark and because he was so hot. He could make out a faint outline of a person. It all came back to him. He was in the hospital wing, and Professor Snape was with him. As Harry tried to rise out of bed he felt really sick to the stomach and throw up all over himself and the sheets.

Snape took out his wand so he could clean the bed and his student. Before he could, Harry whimpered, "I'm sorry, I'll clean it up. It won't happen again," and he tried to get out of the bed. Severus looked Harry in the eye and called his name. It took three times with him calling to him for Harry to look up.

Once Harry heard him, Snape said "I am not mad that you were sick. It happens, I know that. I will clean it up with magic; it will only take a few seconds. For now I have to run you a nice cool bath so you can get clean. Do you think you could stand on your own or do you need help?"

When Harry tried to get out of the bed he almost fell on his face. Professor Snape took him by the shoulders and waist and led him into the bathroom, sats him down on the toilet seat and told him to undress from the dirty gown while he fills up the tub. When Snape finished that he helped Harry into the tub and told him to get clean, reminding him that the door cannot be closed.

Severus left to clean the bed and returned to Harry. He returned Harry back to bed and brought along a bucket in case Harry got sick again. Harry looks up at Professor Snape and said "thank you for all your help," and fell back into an unrestful feverish sleep. Throughout the night, Snape wiped Harry's head with a cool cloth. He tried to help with the feverish dreams the best he could, and learned a lot about what has happen to Harry over the years.