Harry awoke feeling like his throat was on fire and his head was going to explode. He opened his eyes and then snapped them shut against the blinding light that poured in through his window. He debated to himself whether it was worth the effort to go to the bathroom for a drink of water. In the end, he knew he had to get up eventually anyway.

Shielding his eyes, he opened them and let them slowly adjust before he threw his blanket back. He shivered against the sudden chilled and pushed himself upright. He groaned and waited a moment before standing and he wondered how he could be hot and cold at the same time. He shuffled into the bathroom and used the spare glass that always sat near the sink. His throat hurt when he wallowed but the cool water did soothe the fiery feeling a bit.

Harry took the glass of water back to his bedroom and took an occasional sip as he slowly got dressed for the day. A bright spot was that he had all his new clothes to choose from. If the headache hadn’t been bringing him down, he might have been positively giddy.

When he got downstairs, breakfast was already set on the table and Snape was sitting with the Daily Prophet in one hand as he waited for him. Snape folded the paper and set it aside when Harry sat down.

“Good morning,” Snape greeted. Harry managed a tight smile in return. He examined the food on the table, gauging what he thought wouldn’t pain his already sore throat on the way down. He must have taken too long because his thoughts were interrupted by Snape’s voice.

“Nothing to your liking?”

“No, it’s not that. I must have spaced out. Sorry,” Harry replied, shaking his head and instantly regretting it as it felt like he just smashed his head with a hammer several times. Hiding his wince, he reached for a few orange slices and scooped some oatmeal into a bowl for himself.

He could feel eyes on him the whole time he ate, only sucking the juices from the orange slices and then wrapping the dehydrated pulpy mess in a napkin as discretely as possible. He avoided eating the oatmeal and just stirred at it with his spoon.

“If you’re not going to eat on your own, what was the point of using a potion to get you back on track?”

Harry cringed. He put that man through so much trouble taking care of him and now he thought Harry didn’t care and was letting the effort go to waste. It made him feel so guilty.

“I…” He thought of just telling him that he wasn’t feeling well, but he didn’t want to be more of a burden.

“What is wrong?”

“Nothing. I must still be tired. I’m just a little distracted.” Harry then picked up his spoon and ate some of the oatmeal, cringing as he could feel each and every lump scraping it’s way down his throat.

Severus could see that something was definitely off about Harry. He obviously felt bad enough that he wouldn’t eat, but apparently not enough that he felt the need to inform anyone. Severus decided he would let Harry alone until the boy brought it up so that it wouldn’t seem like he was smothering the child.

“Very well,” he sighed. Then he smiled lightly. “What do you have planned for today?”

“Mmm… thought I’d finally go outside. I don’t even know what this house looks like from out there. Maybe I’ll get some flying practice in… not above the house, I remember.”

----

After breakfast, Harry went upstairs to get his Firebolt and then remembered that he shrank it at the end of the school year so that he could fit it in his trunk. Snape had already gone into his office to work on the syllabi for the coming school year and thought he left the door open a crack, Harry was still reluctant to bother him. More reluctant even, to bother him while he was behind a desk… it was much too reminiscent of school.

He decided that he would forget about flying and just go outside so he could look around and get a better feel for the place he was currently residing in. He could just ask Snape to un-shrink the broom at another time.

Since Harry didn’t know where the back door was or if there was one, he went out through the front door near the staircase.

The fresh air felt so good on his warm skin and a slight breeze ruffled his hair and soothed his headache a little. He decided that was what his problem must have been… cabin fever. Maybe his throat would stop aching after a while too.

The front yard was huge. Harry couldn’t even see if there was a road beyond it or not, but that could be due to the line of trees in the distance. There was a small stone path that went from the door to a small dirt driveway that he doubted was made for cars. He followed the path to the driveway so that he could see the whole house. He was right about the driveway. He could see that it had wheel marks worn into it. They looked to be about the same width as the carriages from school. Finally he looked up to the house.

It was very nice, in his opinion. It was cool gray stone with green granite outlining the windows and the door. Dark green shutters matched the roof. Harry could tell that the building was very old and the shutters and other things were newer additions to it. It looked so big too and the grass and the shrubbery were so green and Harry almost felt guilty about treading on the grass, but he did anyway. He took his time walking around the house to get to the back, basking in the sunlight on his way.

Behind the house, he saw a stone patio that connected to a sunroom that Harry hadn’t seen from the house and Snape had neglected to tell him about. There were stairs on each side and to the center of it so Harry had access to the patio from where he’d come from.

Once he was standing on the patio, he was able to see just how extravagant the yard was. The stairs from the center touched down on a stone path with rose bushes on each side. The path was straight until is spread out into a large oval with benches surrounding a large statue. Harry followed the path to the statue and saw that it was of Salazar Slytherin. From the oval, there were two more paths. Both went to the lake, One was to a large dock with a two wooden seats and near it was a bonfire pit. The other path led to a boat launch for the lake.

It was so beautiful that Harry felt like he would be breaking some sort of rule if he wandered outside of the designated paths. And so he decided to just follow the one that went to the dock. Relaxing in one of the seats over the lake seemed like a great idea to him.

He was right. The seats had to have been spelled for comfort because his muscles relaxed and he sighed with pleasure once he sank into the shaped wood. He watched serenely as the wind created little ripples in the water. The sound of small waves hitting the shore was like the most relaxing background music to him.

Harry didn’t even realize he’d fallen asleep until he blinked his eyes open and noticed that the sun was in a different place in the sky. Judging by how far west the sun had moved, he guessed he missed lunch and that dinner was soon approaching. He didn’t mind much about missing lunch since his throat still hurt, but he knew his guardian wouldn’t be too happy with it.

He pushed himself out of the chair and groaned when the headache slammed back at full force. Too much sun, he saw sure of it. He’d felt bad before after spending too much time working on the Dursley’s yard in the sunlight. He trudged back to the house, deciding to try out the back entrance to the sunroom that he’d seen before.

Inside of the room, he saw that the ceiling was all glass so that the sun lit it up. There were a few wicker chairs and a small table in the center of the room. The rest of the room was filled with plants. Some he recognized and other looked too strange to be real. He figured they must be for potions ingredients; after all… he was living with a Potions Master.

He found another door that connected the sunroom to the rest of the house and opened it to find himself in the hallway where the lab and the storage room were located. Now that he thought about it, he remembered seeing this door before but had assumed that it was just a closet and not another actual part of the house.

Now that he was inside, the smell of food assaulted his senses and he walked toward the dining area where the smell was coming from. His stomach gave a small lurch despite how delicious the smell was. His headache was definitely having an effect on the rest of his body. The longer he stayed standing upright, the shakier he felt. He hurried the last few feet to the dining area and he saw Snape setting down a plate of kabob skewers filled with peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and beef. Snape looked up when Harry entered and a small smile quirked at his mouth.

“Oh good. I was just about to go find you. Have you been outside this whole time?”

“Uh yeah… totally lost track.” Harry’s voice was quiet and breathy as his breathing sped up to join in with his increasing heart rate. Harry quickly sat down before he could fall down, feeling a lot better just with that small action. He helped himself to the frosty jug of water and poured himself a large cup, sipping enough to coat his parched sore throat. He waited until Snape sat down and served himself before he took a skewer for his own place. He grabbed a bread roll and picked at it a bit, avoiding eating anything.

“I lost track of time also, I admit. I trust you helped yourself to lunch while I was in my office?” Snape asked as he emptied a skewer onto his place and stabbed at a mushroom with his fork.

Harry paused in his break picking. He knew the other man wasn’t too happy with the meager breakfast Harry had managed to swallow so he’d probably be more upset if he knew that Harry’d skipped lunch also. But Snape had just handed Harry the perfect opportunity to lie straight to his face.

“I missed lunch” The lie had been right there and ready, but the truth beat it’s way out of Harry’s mouth before he could stop it and it made him cringe slightly.

“Harry, you barely at your breakfast and you’re barely eating now. Why did you skip lunch?”

“I didn’t mean to. I was out by the lake and I fell asleep.” He could feel Snape’s piercing gaze on him as he went back to playing with his food.

“It won’t happen again?”

It sounded like a question, but Harry could hear the period shoving the question mark out of it’s place.

“No, sir.”

“Good. We’ll not have you wasting away while you are under my care. Eat your dinner.”

A couple thoughts ran through Harry’s mind about how Snape only cared because he didn’t want to seem like a bad guardian. After all, the way he said that last sentence… it sounded almost as if he wanted Harry healthy only because he was under Snape’s own care, but Harry could waste away anywhere else and Snape wouldn’t mind a bit. But… Snape didn’t mean it like that, did he?

Harry’s own thoughts were confusing him and the shaky feeling was back again and this time an intense and sudden heat accompanied it. Harry could feel his head start to bead with sweat as his body tried to cool itself down.

He was trying to focus on the place in front of him so he could center himself, but his thinking was getting more muddled and it was getting harder for his eyes to see anything. It was like someone was pulling layers of white sheets over his eyes. He could also hear a voice speaking to him… oh yes, Snape. He couldn’t pick out the words over the roaring of his ear and then it was quiet.

----

Severus watched Harry after he’d spoken and waited for the child to finally start eating his meal, but he didn’t. Harry’s hands had stayed limp on the table as he stared at his food. Severus dropped his own fork when Harry’s face suddenly lost all it’s color and the ghostly white skin started to glisten with sweat.

“Harry?” he asked, concerned. Harry didn’t make any indication that he’d heard him.

Severus pushed his chair back and quickly approached the pale boy.

“Harry, what’s wrong?”

Then Harry started sinking to the side and Severus grabbed at him before he could fall of his chair and he gently guided Harry’s body down onto the floor. He leaned down and pressed his cheek against Harry’s forehead, trying to ignore that the child looked like death and he was almost surprised when the head felt cool against his skin instead of feverish like he’d expected. Harry’s skin was so clammy and moist. He grabbed Harry’s wrist and found the pulse racing and then everything fell together in his mind.

After a minute or two, Harry’s pulse slowed down enough for Severus to set his wrist back down and he watched for awareness to seep back into the boy. It wasn’t long before Harry’s eyes blinked open and Severus could see the confusion in them. Harry blinked again and then focused on Severus’s face.

“Snape? Uh… s’rry…. Professor…” Harry corrected himself

“Snape is fine if you prefer. How do you feel?”

“Um.. I don’t know. How did- why am I on the floor?” Harry moved to sit up and Severus quickly wrapped his arms around him and lifted him up. As soon as Harry was standing again, his face blanched once more and Severus hurried him over to lay down on the couch in the sitting room.

“You passed out. Too much sun and not enough fluids.

“Really? It didn’t feel like I passed out. I just… it was like I couldn’t see or hear anything. It was confusing.” Harry frowned.

“And how do you feel now?” Severus repeated the question he’d asked before. He took Harry’s wrist and checked his pulse again.

“Better… well better when I’m laying down. Not so good when sitting or standing.”

“You are dehydrated and your body is having a hard time getting blood to your head while you’re standing so it uses any means to get you lying flat so it can circulate blood where it is needed.” Severus explained in the simplest way that he could. Harry nodded slightly and winced. Severus pulled out a small potion bottle and handed it to him.

“For your head. I’ll get you some water.”

Severus went to the kitchen and filled a bottle and then charmed it to refill whenever it emptied. When he returned, Harry was half asleep already.

“Harry,” he roused him slightly. “I want you to drink this… not all at once. You’ll make yourself sick. Drink it throughout the night. I’ll let you rest for now.”

He left Harry to fall asleep again and he went back to the table but was unable to continue eating. He put everything away in the fridge as leftovers and spent the rest of the night in the living room, reading and watching over Harry until he carried the sleeping child upstairs and then retired himself for the night.