October 1996

It was mid October and time for one of Harry's bimonthly check ups to see how the potions were doing at clearing the Leukemia. August's check up showed a slight decline in the Leukemia cells, so they chose to stay on course and were hoping today's tests would show a more significant decrease.

Harry had Quidditch practice that morning, so they were not due at St. Mungo's until two o'clock in the afternoon. Harry was always sore after the bone marrow biopsy that was done to check his progress and, as the Quidditch Captain, he arranged for an early practice to accommodate. Severus was relieved with the later schedule because it gave him time to catch up with an old friend, Alton Smithe.

"Why do I have a feeling this isn't a social call?" Alton said warily as he came through the floo. Living in the muggle world meant he had to arrange for floo travel ahead of time, which is exactly what Severus did for this occasion.

"Maybe because I am not a social person?" Severus replied only half joking.

The healer laughed while accepting the cup of tea Severus offered and taking a sip, "So what's the emergency?"

"No emergency," the Potions Master explained, "I just like to be prepared and I'd like your professional opinion on the matter."

He handed over a stack of parchment to his friend containing all of Harry's medical tests and potions regimens to date.

"Harry has a check up test this afternoon and the last one wasn't bad, but it also wasn't where I'd hoped we would have been at that point," he leaned over, placing his elbows on his knees. He took a deep breath and asked the question that had been plaguing his mind all week, "If today's shows no decline in cancer cells, do you think Harry would still be a good candidate for the chemotherapy?"

Alton placed down his cup of tea and lowered his brows in concentration. When Harry was diagnosed with Leukemia earlier this year, Severus had contacted Alton about the muggle chemotherapy option, but in the end Harry flat out refused because it would start to erase his magical core, so they had gone with a full magical Healer to oversee his potions regimen. Cancer was so rare in the wizarding community that there wasn't enough research done to know if the potions would cure it, which is why Severus stayed in close contact with Alton throughout the whole process.

"I'm going to be honest Severus," Alton said, "it would be a difficult process at this point. While the potions have been more effective than I would have expected, to get the Leukemia low enough we'd need to be extremely aggressive and start quickly. He'd likely need to be admitted at least for the start of treatment.

"If it were an option I'd suggest a bone marrow transplant, however the best matches are siblings or biological parents, which he - unfortunately - does not have. We can try the registry, but there has been almost no research done on the effects of using full muggle marrow in a complete transplant for a wizard. Who knows what kind of reaction he could have?"

Severus thought hard about what that meant for today's appointment; if things were looking good, then they could continue on the same path. Yet, if the cell count was climbing, he needed to act quickly to start Harry on the chemotherapy.

"If I let you know tonight," Severus asked, his voice full of desperation, "when can you get him started?"

"We could admit him as early as tomorrow morning to do the couple extra tests the chemotherapy requires and we could start treatment first thing Monday morning. You should plan on him staying in the hospital for as long as 8 weeks, depending on how treatment progresses."

Severus nodded in agreement. Now he at least had a contingency plan should the news today be bad. He would somehow need to get Harry onboard with it though.

"How's Mary doing?" Severus asked, hoping to distract himself until it was time to go to St. Mungo's.

"Stop bouncing like that," Severus told Harry who was bouncing his left foot on the floor while they were waiting to hear the results of the bone marrow biopsy.

"I hate the biopsies," Harry complained, rubbing his back as if to make a point.

"Unfortunately, there is no magical way to test the bone marrow," the Potions Master said slowly as he placed his hand over Harry's left knee to hold it down. "Sit. Still."

It was only another five minutes until the Healer walked into the room and immediately Severus knew it was bad news. Their healer, a middle aged woman named Chelsea Walker, pulled over a stool and sat down across from Severus and Harry.

"I'm so sorry to say," Healer Walker started pulling out a piece of parchment with Harry's results, "the Leukemia has increased significantly since August's test."

Severus felt his heart drop to his stomach at the same time Harry's head fell into his hands.

"But I'm feeling good," Harry said sadly.

"Yes," Healer Walker turned to Harry, "the potions you're taking will help alleviate the side effects of the cancer itself which is why you're not experiencing the same symptoms from last May, but at this rate even those won't be enough."

Looking at his son, Severus could see him swiping at his eyes not wanting the two adults to know he was crying.

"What do I do now?" The teen asked.

"I have a list of recommended changes to your current potions, as well as two new ones," she said, handing the list to Severus.

Exploring the list, it became evident that they were increasing the level to which Harry's magical core could help fight the cancer. While it wasn't enough to cause permanent magical signature loss, he would have a significant decrease in magical power while taking the potions.

"I spoke to Alton-" he started but was immediately interrupted by Harry.

"No," the Gryffindor said defiantly, "I'm not doing the chemotherapy. I read about what it could do not only to my magic, but my body. It's like a poison! I won't be able to attend classes, play Quidditch, or do anything. If this is killing me, I'm not living whatever time I have left like that."

"Harry," Severus said calmly, "think about this for a minute. Alton says with an aggressive enough treatment, we still have a good chance of beating it. We had a few good months on the potions, but we have no way of knowing how well the next few months will go. It's too much of a risk."

"I'll give you both some time to discuss this," the healer said professionally. "Take your time and please stop by my office to let me know what you choose. Either way it needs to be fast."

"I'm not doing it," Harry stubbornly said once she had left. "And you can't make me."

"It's not worth it Harry," Severus tried to explain yet again. How could this child, HIS child, not understand how precious his life was? Does he have no idea what would happen to Severus if he lost his son?

"I'm 16 years old Dad," Harry said, calming down knowing by now that arguing with Severus was not going to convince the man to see things his way, "if it came down to it, I'm close enough to an adult that they would let me choose."

Severus grimaced knowing he was right. If Harry were choosing not to treat the cancer at all, he would have more say, but this would simply just delay the treatment more than Harry had time for. Picking up the recommended changes and potion additions, he quickly validated their recommendations; it all added up and theoretically it could work.

"Ok," he finally conceded. "I'll start making the changes tonight."

Harry stood up from his chair and gave Severus a big hug, something he did not do as often anymore; Harry always said he was getting too old for that stuff.

"I wish it had been better news," he said into Severus's shoulder.

"Me too Harry," he replied. "It's just a hurdle in the road and we'll get through it as we always do."