InsaneJournal

Letters - Ch. 10
Hard to believe that it's been more than a year since I updated this. Well... here's to finishing WIPs! Look for more chapters of "Letters" in the coming weeks, as well as chapters of my Remus/Harry fic, "Calling."

Title: "Letters"
Character(s): Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter (eventual dm/hp pairing)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers for OoTP, otherwise AU.
Summary: Severus makes another appearance
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Notes: I got this plotbunny from hpjunkie35 on passthebunny. See the "letters" tag for a complete list of the chapters.



Chapter 10: Healing

Severus ripped the leather thong from his hair and flung it to the counter top. His greasy tresses immediately swung forward into his face and he flicked them back over his shoulder irritably. He’d take the time to bathe after he finished this errand... his eyes darted to the clock above his workbench and he frowned. He was running late today; something that he did not do. He grabbed the recently filled and still warm flask, stoppered it deftly, and dashed out the door.

**********

“Ah, Professor Snape! Here again, I see! If you would just give me that potion, I would gladly –”

“Unhand me, you ghastly woman!” Severus snarled, trying to escape the clutches of the young nurse standing guard on St. Mungo’s fourth floor. “Have I let any of you so-called Healers administer this potion once in the last two weeks? What makes you think I would start now?”

She snarled back. This one had fangs, she did. “I’ve had extensive training Professor Snape, and I am more than capable of –”

“This is a very delicate tincture and I refuse to let you touch it!” He held the flask above his head, oblivious to what a childish prat he was acting.

The nurse turned red in the face and made another grab for the potions flask. When he just held it higher, she began to hop up and down, reaching for it with all her might. “Stop – acting – like – such – a – baby!” she whined.

Snape just continued to hold it high. “I have brewed it, and I will administer it! If you think that your staff can make a potion of equal standards, then go ahead and throw me out, but I will not have the effectiveness of my work ruined by an ill-informed, government-trained –”

She’d stopped hopping and was now glaring at him spitefully “Well, fine then! Just go right ahead and give it to him yourself! Heaven knows why I’m here, when uppity gits like you barge in, wanting to do our jobs!”

Severus tried not to smile as the nurse, a Hogwarts alum by the unfortunate name of Marcy Smoosh (if he remembered her correctly), stormed off. Being known as a horrible git had its perks, and he’d been allowed access to Potter’s room these last two weeks without much resistance... except in this particular nurse’s case.

He huffed haughtily to himself and then pushed through the doors to the private section of St. Mungo’s fourth floor. That little altercation had cost him valuable time, and if he didn’t get this potion down Potter’s unconscious throat in the next ten minutes, the entire treatment would have been useless. He picked up the pace as he walked.

Nine minutes... eight...

He didn’t bother to knock as he burst through the last door on the ward. He had to get this whole dose down the brat’s throat without choking him – a delicate procedure that had taken him at least ten minutes in the past – and he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he was almost entirely across the room before he noticed something amiss.

“Professor Snape?” a hoarse, hesitant voice rasped.

The flask with his carefully prepared potion slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor.

“Potter?!”

**********

It took two entirely undignified minutes for Severus to catch the bouncing potions flask. He may have been a bit exuberant with the Unbreakable spell he’d cast earlier... Draco hid a smirk in Harry’s shoulder while Severus fumbled around the room trying to catch it and Harry yawned repeatedly.

Finally, with the flask in hand, Severus turned back to Harry’s hospital bed. “Potter! You’re awake – what is the meaning of this?” The professor was staring back and forth between them, eyes narrowed in suspicion and rescued potions flask clasped tightly in hand.

Draco stayed right where he was, quite comfortable in Harry’s arms despite his professor’s discomfort, and waved towards the potion lazily. “Aren’t you a bit late with that?”

Severus scowled. “I’ll have you know that I still have four—now five—minutes to administer it. If that dragon at the front desk had just let me pass, I would have been here much sooner. As it is,” he waved dismissively.

Draco just nodded and held a hand out for the potion. Severus ignored it and moved to Harry’s bedside.

“Swallow this all down, Potter. I wouldn’t want your entire treatment to have been in vain.”

Harry took the potion flask and uncorked it. “Sure thing, Professor,” he said.

Severus watched closely as Harry gulped the contents of the whole flask and then nodded in satisfaction. “Two more weeks of a strict potion regimen and you should be as good as new. I take it that you are still suffering from feelings of lethargy and shortness of breath?”

“Erm... yeah,” Harry was just now beginning to realize how odd this whole situation was. He looked down at Draco, snuggled up against him, and sighed. “Why are you helping me, anyways?”

Severus retrieved the now empty potion flask and averted his eyes from the couple on the bed. He thought he’d been doing well to keep his composure so far (especially after that catastrophe with the bouncing flask), but he felt the color rising in his cheeks now. “I... I read your letter. I appreciate what you said about me, and I just wanted to do what I could to... help you recover from your ordeal.” His eyes darted back to meet Harry’s. “It’s not every day that somebody defeats the darkest wizard of your time, after all.”

Harry blushed at that, and Severus smirked.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to it. Don’t do anything too... strenuous.”

Harry choked, but Draco only smiled from his refuge in Harry’s arms. “Bye, Severus!” he called, once Severus was mostly out the door.

Severus just shook his head and let the door fall shut behind him. Who would have thought that those two would be able to make it after all they’d been through... He just hoped that Draco wouldn’t find out the role that he himself had played in manipulating him and the boy wonder before the final battle. He had a feeling that Draco’s wrath would be something to behold – and to avoid at all costs.

tbc