Harry couldn't remember a time he'd been ill as a child. Days where he hadn't felt well? Sure. Actually ill, as in, having a temperature and needing to be looked after? Not as far back as his memory would go. Perhaps, it had been his magic, or just good luck. Certainly, Dudley had suffered numerous real and (fake illnesses) while growing up, resulting in Harry having to spend time waiting on his cousin when his aunt was busy. As neither trusted him with taking care of "Ickle Dudleykins," he'd mostly been relegated to errand boy. Not that he minded all that much. A sick Dudley meant a Dudley who couldn't try to beat him up, after all, and if he had to be running around, better to be taking treats to his cousin or changing the channel on the TV than dodging Piers and the others.

All the same, Harry had, on occasion, wondered what the Dursleys would do if he really became ill. Based on the fact that they didn't care much about him, he'd decided that they'd likely lock him in his cupboard until he got better. At best? Let him stay in Dudley's second bedroom and give him chicken soup and, maybe, muggle fever reducing medicines, all the while telling him what a burden he was.

He certainly wouldn't get of the pampering that Dudley had received, that had been certain.

Harry knew, when he began to feel the immediate symptoms of both the surgery and the horcrux removal, that Sirius did not consider him a burden. If anything, his godfather seemed to be looking forward to pampering him, something even Snape had commented on. However, Harry soon discovered that the care that Sirius and Remus had in mind for Harry made the Dursleys' treatment of Dudley look stingy by comparison.

Snape had hardly left Grimmauld Place before Sirius scooped Harry up in his arms and carried him to their bedroom.

"Do you mind me carrying you, pup?" Sirius asked, and Harry just shook his head as he gave his godfather an amused look.

Sirius took him up a flight of stairs, with Remus following a few yards behind him.

"Don't trip!" Harry cautioned, looking over his shoulder.

Sirius started to scoff, then let one hand go from Harry so he could hike up his robes before resuming his grip.

"Probably wouldn't have, mind you," Sirius began, with a grin, "but you can't be too careful."

"You could have floated Harry, you know," Remus pointed out, chuckling.

"That's too impersonal," Sirius protested, now laying Harry down on the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit cold," Harry admitted.

"That's easily remedied!" Sirius tucked him into bed, which contained three thick blankets, and fluffed his pillows before propping a few extra around Harry.

Harry moved over on his side, still feeling cold, but perhaps the warmth would come over time. No point in bothering Sirius about it...yet, anyway. While keeping the rest of Harry tucked in, Sirius removed the blankets from his feet and began to massage them.

"That feels nice," Harry murmured, his eyes beginning to close.

Sirius chuckled. "I'm glad. I'll keep this up until you fall asleep, and stay with you while you rest. Perhaps, a bit of food after you wake up?"

Harry wasn't hungry, but in spite of the chill, he was beginning to feel very relaxed. Sirius' hands were warm, too, and the chill must not have reached his feet.

"I'll try," he promised.

"That's all I can ask. Now, try to rest," Sirius commanded lightly, working around Harry's heels for a bit before moving onto his toes.

Harry obeyed, but wished he felt a bit warmer. Still, he was able to quite enjoy massage, which must have continued for at least an hour. Might have been longer, too, except Harry fell asleep. When Harry awoke, Sirius was still there, and a tray of chicken soup, crackers, some sort of ginger juice, ice cream, and another potion for pain relief were by his side.

"Hungry?" he asked, by way of greeting. "It's about dinner time."

"A bit," Harry admitted, with an attempt of a smile. "Did you already eat?"

"Yes, we finished about a half an hour ago," Remus answered. "In your bed, because Sirius didn't want you to wake up and find he was gone."

Harry smiled for real. "Thanks, but you didn't have to do that."

"Wanted to. Besides, pup, you need the extra heat."

That was certainly true. The chill had returned when he had woken up, but he didn't think it had become worse. Harry felt rather tired, and had a mild headache, but other than that, he felt fine. Really. He swallowed the potions Sirius gave him, though, without complaint. When Sirius went off to take a shower, Remus took a seat next to Harry on the bed.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" he asked, his face showing his concern.

Harry shrugged. "Not great, but not too bad."

It was true, too. He had felt worse before, on numerous occasions. This was more of an inconvenience than anything else.

"Really?" At Harry's pause, Remus continued, "Harry, you just had surgery. More than that, a horcrux was removed from your head. I know that this kind of operation is unconventional, but I expect you aren't feeling entirely yourself."

Harry sighed, wishing the chill would leave him. "Well...my head hurts, or it did before the potion. Um, I feel rather cold."

Remus looked surprised, at least at the last bit. "You're cold? Under three blankets?" At Harry's reluctant nod, Remus said, "Well, I will fetch you a couple more blankets, and let's see if that helps."

Harry nodded, managing a smile. "Thanks."

Remus placed a hand on his shoulder and disappeared, returning a moment later with a very large blanket and an extra quilt. He tucked both around Harry, who felt a bit of warmth seep back into him.

"That helps. Thanks, Remus," he said.

Remus paused, then asked, "Shall I perform another warming charm on them?"

Harry nodded again, and Remus pointed his wand at the blankets. Again, a bit of warmth crept into Harry.

"Remus?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject. "Can I ask you something?"

"Certainly," Remus answered immediately, taking a seat next to Harry.

"Do most witches and wizards use nonverbal magic a lot?"

Remus considered the question, and after only the briefest pause, put an arm around the younger wizard.

"Some do. It can take a bit more focus, at first, even when you know how to. Speaking the words makes it clearer what you mean, you understand?" Remus asked.

"I think so," Harry murmured, nodding.

"Sirius said you're getting quite good at it," Remus praised.

"I reckon. He was a great teacher, during the holidays. We spent a lot of time working on the easier ones that I had known for years before moving on to harder ones," Harry explained.

Remus gave a small smile. "Yes, we discovered that way works best, but it's not the way the Hogwarts staff tends to teach it. I understand your first Defense class with Professor Snape was using a Shield charm."

"Yeah, that's right. Only Hermione and I knew how to do one. Hermione because she's really fast like that," Harry added.

Chuckling, Remus nodded. "Hermione was certainly the most clever wizard of her year that I ever met. Smarter than your mum, even."

"I told Slughorn that she was the best in our year when he was sort of talking down about muggle borns. Back in the summer when Dumbledore had us go to his house," Harry recalled.

"He's not quite at the Malfoy or Black level of malice towards those without wizarding parents," Remus agreed, "and perhaps it's not a hatred as much as a bias frequently found in the wizarding world. On the other hand, Horace tries to collect students, and he certainly won't dismiss a talented muggle born." Remus gave Harry a rather sly smile. "I understand he has been trying to recruit you into his club."

Harry groaned. "Yeah, I had to attend two of those. The first was okay, but the holiday party was a lot of meeting people who had succeeded. One was an author who wanted my life story."

Sirius, hair still damp from his shower and more straight than curly, entered the room in time to hear the last part.

"Hedging their bets that you'll kick the bucket soon, eh?" he half grumbled, taking a seat on the other side of Harry under the covers. Giving his hair a tousle, and then a proper hug, he added, "Not if I have anything to say on the matter."

"Nor me," Remus assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Which was about the best he could do, as Harry was nearly immobilized in his godfather's arms.

Also, feeling almost warm.

"I expect they'll want several volumes," Sirius teased. "Early years, after destroying Voldemort, early middle years, middle years..."

"Sirius!" Harry protested, laughing. "According to Hermione, I am already in several books."

"Sure, but none that you've written. I dunno, I think that author might be right. The Chosen One must not abandon his readers!" Sirius teased, making the last sentence especially dramatic.

Harry didn't want to wriggle out of Sirius' grip, so he settled for huffing and turning his head towards the pillow.

Sirius smoothed his hair. "Tell you what. We'll stop teasing, and you'll have a nice, long sleep.

Harry didn't bother to hide his yawn.

"Stay with me?" he asked, turning towards Sirius.

"I promise." Sirius continued to stroke his hair with one hand, then placed a kiss on the top of Harry's head. "Wake me if you need anything, all right?"

Harry nodded, and let himself fall into a deep, though rather uneasy, sleep.

Things became worse the following day. At first, the blankets simply didn't feel warm enough, or barely warm enough, even when his godfather joined him. It was just a shill, in the beginning.

Harry woke up with his teeth chattering, feeling the chill deepen into a freezing cold that no amount of blankets could remove. He also couldn't hide it very well.

"How about a hot bath?" Sirius suggested, after three extra blankets did nothing.

"C-could I h-have a shower?" he asked through chattering teeth.

Sirius and Remus exchanged glances, and Sirius nodded, forcing a smile. He practically carried Harry upstairs into the bathroom, with the admonition to take as long as he liked.

To Harry's relief, he did feel much warmer in the shower, even though he had to make the temperature nearly as high as it would go, and his skin was red for nearly a half an hour afterwards. But, at least, he was warm. The chill didn't return for a full hour, either, and it was more of a chill than freezing cold.

"Up for a bit of breakfast?" Sirius asked, once Harry was carefully tucked in.

Harry nodded, and Remus prepared a bowl of porridge while Sirius remained with Harry, holds him close and even--to his embarrassment--helping him eat. His arms trembled too much to even hold the spoon.

"You'll be doing this for me in another hundred and fifty years. I am holding you to it," Sirius playfully admonished, more than once.

The teasing helped take away Harry's discomfort.

The cold didn't worsen on the second day, but it only improved when Harry took a hot shower. He would have remained under the hot (Sirius said it was scalding) water the whole day, but his godfather didn't want him to turn into a prune. Anyway, he still had to eat. So, they agreed on two long showers to warm Harry up, one in the morning and one at night, and Sirius would massage his feet afterwards. This felt nice and had the added benefit of keeping some of the heat in his body.

When Harry woke up shivering on the third day, and still with a headache, Sirius was concerned enough to Floo-called Snape.

The Potions master arrived immediately, and while he wasn't a Healer, he seemed to have all the same tools at his disposal as Madam Pomfrey. Harry felt too cold, too drained, to care much that the Potions master was seeing him at his weakest. After running various tests with his wand as Harry lay wrapped under blankets, he merely said that Harry was recovering well enough, given what could have happened to him, and if this continued post the day after Christmas, they should let him know.

Christmas was only three more days away, and Harry honestly hadn't given it much thought, what with having his scar cut out of his forehead.

At least, the bandage was off. Snape's work left almost no mark, and he'd told the three of them that Harry would have no scar at all from his work.

"What about his lightning scar? Won't people notice it's gone?" Remus had asked, mildly.

"Apply a glamour every morning, or draw it in once he's gone back to school. Perhaps, both," Snape had suggested.

After this meeting, they began to do so. There was no reason to delay, after all, and while Christmas would only be the three of them, the Weasleys had invited them over to celebrate the New Year. Since Harry wasn't supposed to know about the horcruxes at this point, it would do no good for him to come back to Hogwarts without a scar on his head.

That would certainly attract unnecessary attention.

Fortunately, the chills disappeared the day after Snape's visit. Harry had never been so relieved to wake up feeling almost suffocated by blankets, and in a pile of his sweat. He did feel a bit bad for Sirius, who was sleeping next to him at the time.

"I'm sorry," he said, once his godfather had awoken and noticed the change.

"Nonsense, this means you're getting better. Let's get you into the tub, clean you off a bit, and I'll clean and change the sheets and blankets. We'll stick to three, if that sounds all right?" Sirius asked, running a hand through Harry's hair.

The bath did wonders to revive Harry, and when Sirius made up the bed with new blankets and served him a hot bowl of porridge, he felt almost as good as before his operation.

He still fell asleep immediately after breakfast, but was a lot more energetic upon waking up.

"Let's say I give you a nice, long back massage," Sirius suggested, "and you can see how you're feeling."

Harry grinned. "You're offering because you hadn't been able to before now."

"Partly," Sirius admitted. "Is that a yes?"

Harry nodded.

By that evening, Sirius, noting Harry's increased energy (and restlessness) let him move about the house freely, as long as he dressed warmly. Harry still become tired after an hour or so, and had resumed his wardrobe of casual robes with an extra warm sweater on top. Sirius remained always at his side, ready in case he so much as stumbled, but his attention had gone from extreme pampering and mollycoddling to simply very attentive and affectionate.

"I think the worst is behind us," Remus murmured, as Harry lay in bed, warm under two blankets, as Sirius gently ran his hands through his hair.

"I hope so," Sirius agreed, speaking softly. "I was worried for awhile."

The next day, Harry was almost completely back to normal.

"When do you think we'll be able to resume Potions and visiting the Pensieve?" Harry asked on Christmas Eve, curling up against Sirius under the covers.

"Let's see how you feel tomorrow," Sirius offered. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather have you visit one of my memories before we start mixing up ingredients for complicated potions."

Harry had agreed-especially since he hadn't really fancied the idea of making potions on Christmas, of all days.

He was very glad to be feeling more like himself, and found himself looking forward to being able to celebrate Christmas with his guardian.

Next up: Harry and Sirius celebrate Christmas with Remus, and Harry gets a rather surprising gift from Sirius.