Harry wasn't allowed to shower or inspect the quarters because Poppy ordered him to immediately get ready for bed. At least they promised him that he will be allowed to leave bed tomorrow and that they will show him the quarters then. They had left him alone in the bedroom to make themselves ready for the night. There wasn't much to look at in the bedroom. Harry was laying in a very big king-size bed. It was very comfortable, with a continuous mattress, so Harry didn't have to sleep on a crack. The walls were painted in a very light blue and the bedsheets were also blue, but in a richer tone. A big cupboard, a commode and the two night tables made the room complete.

Madam Pomfrey came back, dressed in a purple bathrobe. She carried a tray with some potion vials over to her night-table and arranged them on it. "So, ready for the night, Harry?"

Harry looked shyly at her. "Are you sure I can't have a shower?" He felt very uncomfortable that he had to sleep in one bed with the two adults without being clean. He hardly could suppress the urge to smell his armpits. Madam Pomfrey surely wouldn't like to see me doing this.

"Yes, I'm sure about this Harry. I assume you don't want one of us to watch you while showering, and I can't leave you alone in the shower in your condition," Poppy explained calmly.

Harry blushed deeply, only the mention one of them watching him while showering caused him to blush.

Seeing Harry blush, Poppy had to laughed. She ruffled his hair and said, "At least here you are a normal teenager. I hope we can bring you to act like one in other situations as well."

Harry smiled shyly back at her. "I feel a little sticky."

"Do you want me to cast a cleaning spell on you? It isn't necessary because I cast one while I examined you, but it won't hurt if you would feel better," Poppy offered.

"Yes, please." Harry sighed, relieved.

Soon after Poppy had performed the spell, the door opened and Alastor and Severus came in. Alastor was dressed in pajamas with gray stripes, and Severus was in his usual teacher robes. Oh, Merlin, I hope they won't bring him to sleep here as well, Harry thought, a little scared. Professor Snape will definitely not be so understanding and forgiving like Alastor and Poppy. Alastor came over to the bed and started to get into it.

"Albus and I have spoken with your relatives, Mr. Potter. They have been informed that you won't come back to them. I tried to gather your belongings from the house, but couldn't find anything." Severus looked closely at Harry and raised his eyebrow. He knew from Harry's Occlumency lessons that Harry wasn't happy with his relatives and that they had hurt him, but the fact that there were no belongings of Harry's was disturbing.

Harry blushed and looked down. "You saw what they were like in my mind, Professor."

"Yes, I did. After seeing them face to face, I can't believe that we thought about sending you back there. Even when we would have brought you back like it was planned, we couldn't have left you there. That house isn't one to live for you, it was just a house to survive." Severus said, deep in thought. He shook his head to clear it. Pity wouldn't help the boy. He looked sternly at Harry. "Don't think that this will change that the first moment these two will let you out of sight, we will have a very serious conversation about your stupid stunt. Is that clear?"

Harry looked fearfully at his Potions professor.

"Severus Snape, what have I told you?" Poppy glared furiously at Severus and moved in his direction.

Severus backed away and Harry could see fear in his eyes. He definitely tries to play the strong in front of me, but some things are just too scary to overplay them; Madam Pomfrey is one of these things. Harry tried hard to suppress a grin.

"You will leave Harry alone, Severus. If I get wind of you harassing him, I swear you will regret it." She was standing straight in front of Severus, warningly raising her finger in front of his face.

Severus tried hard to look not frightened, but when he spoke his voice was breaking. "You cannot mollycoddle him for what he did, Poppy. He needs to understand that it was a great and stupid mistake. Pity won't help him."

"I know very well what helps him and what not. He knows that it was a mistake and he promised to not do it again." When Severus snorted at this, she gave him a chuff on his arm. "Severus, I warn you. You didn't even let him explain anything to you and just jump into conclusions. Right now there isn't the time for you to speak with him, and it will be my decision when the time has come. If you don't want to join us in the bed, you should leave now."

"Oh, yeah,"- he grinned -"that's the good thing about this all. Now, you have someone else to cuddle and will let me be."

Poppy looked clearly at him and said, "I wouldn't be so sure about this. There is plenty of space in our bed."

Severus face dropped. "I think I will go now. I have a potion to attend." With that he fled the room, only pausing shortly in the door frame to say his goodnight.

Poppy came over to the bed and climbed in. "You could have said something as well, Alastor." She looked sternly at her husband.

Alastor just grinned. "You managed quite well, my dear." Seeing that she was still glaring at him, he added, "I will speak with him tomorrow. You know him Poppy. His bark is worse than his bite. He is worried about Harry, and that is his way to express it. Did you see his look when he told Harry about the visit at his relatives? "

"Yes, I have, but that doesn't change that he often has an odd way to show people his concern." She turned her face from Alastor to Harry. "I hope you will learn to read between the lines when you interact with Severus."

Harry thought it would be a good idea to ask the question he had on his mind since supper. "May I ask what you relationship is with Professor Snape?"

"That's a little complicated, Harry. Maybe it's not the best time to discuss it," Poppy said.

"But maybe it is better to explain it now than having him run into Severus in boxer shorts next morning on his way to the bathroom," Alastor objected.

Poppy looked thoughtfully, and Harry held his breath. All these little hints made him so damn curious. He was sure he couldn't sleep at all without knowing what is going on here.

Poppy sighed. "Where shall I begin?" She looked to Alaster for help.

"Maybe you could tell us what you know about Severus. You have seen some of his secrets while in your Occlumency lessons, right?"Alastor asked Harry.

"Yes. I saw some memories of his childhood and some of the meetings with Voldemort, but I have never seen something about you or his life here at Hogwarts," Harry said. Now, when he thought about it, he thought it is quite unusual that he had seen absolutely no memory of Professor Snape and anyone here at Hogwarts.

"Severus has placed some memories in a Pensieve, to keep them secret from you. I spoke with him when he came back from your relatives, and he knows that you now will find out more about him. We can not hide this from you while you are here. He still goes to the meetings with Voldemort and often comes back hurt. He has his own quarters in the dungeons, but he hardly sleeps or spends time there. In our quarters, he has his own rooms: a bedroom and an office. He often prefers to work here than in the dungeons. He doesn't speak about why and we don't push him. We just give him a place to feel safe and fine. It's unavoidable that you will see him coming back from a meeting with the Dark Lord while he is hurt and emotionally on edge, Harry. I don't know how much you have seen of these meetings, but they are very nasty. Severus decided to sleep here since we first had to cuddle him after a nasty meeting. He tries to be grumpy all the time to not show so openly that he feels fine here. We really hope you two will cope living together. If there are any problems you can come and speak with us. It isn't sneaking, Harry. Severus is complicated, and from time to time you will need help to understand him and his reactions. He is a good man, and he is very concerned about you. You have a lot in common. He tried to convince me to go against your will, when we spoke about your relatives the first time, and get you away from your relatives. I stopped him because I thought you should be the one to ask for help. Maybe I was wrong, and we have waited too long," Alastor said sadly.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to feel bad about it. My relatives weren't the reason why I did it. I was even looking forward to going back to them because they would offer me pain," Harry said in a small voice.

"Maybe, but if we decided earlier to take you in, you wouldn't have tried to kill yourself. But back to Severus. He lives here, and he is a private person while he is in the quarters. He agreed that you can call him by his first name in private. I'm sure you two will see how similar you are and will cope quiet well living with us here." Alastor smiled reassuringly at Harry.

"Professor Snape was already very helpful and kind the last weeks. I'm very grateful that you took me in, and I'm sure I will find a way to live with the Professor."

"That's good to hear, but for now that was enough talking. You have to sleep, Harry," Madam Pomfrey said friendly but determinedly. She tucked him in and stroke his hair affectionately. "Do you want me to read a little to you?"

Harry smiled. "That would be great." He had no intention of sleeping at all. He knew what would happen if he did, and he was planning to make sure that this won't happen. Under no circumstances will he let them see him trash, scream and cry because of one of his nightmares.

Poppy read for half an hour, and then she put her book aside. Alastor was snoring slightly, but Harry was still awake. "Not sleepy already? You should be quite tired." She looked closely at him.

"I'm not tired. Can I ask you a question?"

Poppy sighed. "You should sleep and not talk Harry, but ask your question. I hope it will help you rest after you know the answer to it."

"What was the room I landed in? How did I get there, and how did you know I was there?"

"That is three questions, Harry, not one." She looked at him and raised her eyebrow. "You are trying to play for time. Why is that so?"

Harry averted his gaze, ashamed that she had caught him. "I don't want to sleep, Madam Pomfrey."

"It's Poppy, and why don't you want to sleep? You must be really tired, right?"

"Yes, I'm tired, but I don't want to dream." Tears were forming in his eyes, and he felt a heavy weight on his chest. The bad feeling overwhelmed him, and there was a small flare of the need to hurt himself again.

Seeing his depressed reaction, Poppy said, "You don't have to worry about dreaming Harry. Tonight I will give you a potion to sleep without dreaming, but this isn't a solution for the future, okay?"

Harry nodded, relieved. When he saw her grabbing for one of the vials on the night table, he asked, "Will you still answer my questions? I'm really interested in them."

Poppy smiled. "Okay, Harry. The Headmaster has charmed all the towers. Whenever someone jumps from them, his fall will be dampened, and he will land in the security room. The fall cannot be stopped or prevented completely. The room doesn't give any opportunity to hurt yourself. So even if none of us could reach the person in it fast enough, he would still be safe from himself. It is near the hospital wing so that I can reach it very quickly. So I'm spared the long way down the grounds and spared the patient a long time without help. I have an alarm in my office and my quarters for incidents like this; as does the Headmaster. So we were there only minutes after your fall."

"And the Patronus?" Harry said quickly when Poppy opened the vial.

"Harry," Poppy said warningly.

"Just this one question. Please, Ma...Poppy," Harry pleaded.

"This one and then you will drink the potion, Harry." Seeing him nod, she continued. "It was my Patronus. I send it to Severus in the dungeons, because I hadn't stocked up my potion lab because of the upcoming holidays. And now is the end of 'I-question-Poppy-to-not-have-to-sleep'." She handed him the vial and looked sternly at him until he had drowned the content. Harry grimaced at the taste.

"Why does it always have to taste so awful?" Harry said while his eyes already started to fall shut.

Poppy didn't answer his question. She just watched Harry drift into sleep. Her face started to get severe and sad. It is time that the damn monster called Voldemort gets out of our life. Now we have two sons who suffer from this man. She looked at Alastor who snored and looked so relaxed. She liked seeing him like this and started to smile again. I have the best man I can wish for at my side. We will make it. We will give both of them something to live for.