-II-

The last person he was passed to was Albus, and the moment Severus was on his lap, he collapsed in his embrace. Severus was tired and just wanted to sleep. He felt his whole body covered in a bubble of magic. Albus' magic was overpowering. It was nothing like the other magic types. Severus' core was filled completely, but he felt so tired that he could not move anymore. He was lifted out of Albus' lap and carried to his room. Through the cloud around his head, Severus realized it was James who was carrying him and he felt Maria's presence close by. "Did I pass?"

"That was not a test for you to pass, Severus. You need to sleep now," James explained and tucked Severus in.

"Will he teach me?" Severus mumbled.

"Sleep, sweetie," Maria said and stroked his hair. Then everything went black.

-II-

"So?" Severus asked when he stormed into the living room were Alastor, Poppy, and Radgarid were sitting.

"So what?" Radgarid asked, amused, while Severus was pulled beside Poppy for a short check-up.

"Will you teach me?"

"I already told you I would teach you. We were just looking for candidates to feed you magic."

"And did you find one?"

"How are you feeling?"

"What?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Now tell me-"

"If you feel fine, I must have found at least one feeder, right?"

"Oh, come on. Please tell me."

Radgarid chuckled. "They are all capable. Some more, some less. They have very different magic. I would suggest Professor Flitwick and Professor Lupin as casual feeders. Go to them if you feel you need more magic beside your daily feedings. The most powerful feeds will be the ones from Albus and Alastor, but your body reacts best to Professor Sprout's magic. So she will feed you three times a week. Your regular feed will be before breakfast. You need to go to their private quarters each day at seven. They said you know where their private quarters are from your time as a professor. Can you remember?"

Severus checked for the information in his mind. "Yes, I can."

"Good. So Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday will be the days you will see Pomona. Tuesdays and Saturdays will be Albus' days, and Thursdays and Sundays are Minerva's."

"And Alastor?" Severus asked, surprised. "You said his magic is one of the most powerful, and I would feel much more comfortable with him than with any of the others."

Radgarid smiled. "Yes, I thought so. Alastor will be the one to give you a small doze of magic each evening before you go to sleep. That will refill you magic core completely and stimulate your channel system to heal and build new connections during night. With a bit of luck, we will soon see a positive result."

"What if not?" Severus asked fearfully.

"Then we will find another way."

Severus looked puzzled at Radgarid but then he slowly started to smile. The man had said it with such determination that Severus believed him. It was not the end, even if this did not work. "Where is Harry?"

"In Hamid's room. We eat supper in half an hour, Severus. Don't forget the time."

"Hey," Severus said when he entered Hamid's room.

"How are you? You should have seen it. The air was flickering with all the magic in the room," Harry said, excited.

"I'm fine." Severus looked timidly over to Hamid. He did not like that the boy had seen him so weak.

"My master robbed me of my magic several times to teach me the feeling of refilling your magic core from your surroundings. I know how you felt."

"Oh," Severus said. That made the situation less embarrassing.

"Master wants me to work together with you. I managed fire and water, and now I'm training in air. Earth is the hardest for me, so I fear I can't help you much, but I can help you with the basics."

"I want to learn too!" Harry said and looked pleadingly at Hamid.

"I don't know. I'm not allowed to give away my knowledge without the allowance of my master."

"Nobody has to know. Severus could teach me what he learns. Radgarid hasn't told you to not tell anyone, right?" Harry asked Severus.

"Not yet."

"So maybe he won't. Then you could teach me and Hamid could teach you. So we all will learn, right?"

Severus shrugged and looked at Hamid.

Hamid nodded insecurely. "When will the master scan and clear your mind?"

"I completely forgot about that. I need to ask him."

"Wait for us; it's supper time, anyway."

/

It was eight o'clock, and Severus sat nervously between Albus and Radgarid. Alastor and Poppy were sitting on the opposite couch like bodyguards.

"We will both go into your mind, Severus. Albus will watch me while I sort through your memories and lock some away. As he has known you for a very long time, he can help me decide which memories to set away for the time being."

Severus looked fearfully at Albus. "You will not put important ones away, right? I want to be able to remember my potions and my spells and-"

"Severus, your mind has already placed many of your potions and spells away. We cannot leave them all on the surface."

"But we will try to leave information like that at the front of your mind. We will place old memories of your classmates from your first time at school and memories of your schoolmates that were once your students behind a door as well as most of your memories of your time as a Death Eater. You will still be able to remember the content when you concentrate hard, but there will be no emotions or detailed information connected with the memories. Just basic knowledge. If we have enough space left, I will try to leave all your spells and Potions knowledge at the surface for easy access. You can trust us, Severus. I will open every door when you wish for me to. You just have to come to me if something is troubling you. Remember, you will still be able to remember those locked things, just in a very unemotional and superficial way."

Severus nodded and bit his bottom lip nervously. "It's highly possible that you will get a headache from this. Poppy will give you a potion when we are finished to make you sleep until tomorrow. Don't be worried by that. It's normal, so try to stay calm. You won't see what we are doing, but your head should feel cleaner and lighter the farther we progress." Albus took Severus' hand and stared into his eyes. Then Severus felt Radgarid place his hand on the back of his head, and a headache started to form in his head. After some time, the pain became worse, and after around ten minutes, Severus felt tears run down his face. Albus squeezed his hand reassuring. The pain was horrible, and Severus felt sick.

"I...I think I have to throw up. My head..." Severus could not close his eyes, and so he could not blink away the tears. His surroundings were blurred and he sobbed when Radgarid finally took his hand from his head. Albus pulled him on his lap. Quickly, Poppy was all over him and pressed a vial to his mouth. Then he fell asleep.

/

"Wow," Severus said when he woke up in the morning. For the first time, his head did not feel like it was stuffed with cotton. He could think clearly.

"What's going on? Are you all right?" Harry asked, sleepy.

"Yes, my head. It's so weird. It feels a few pounds lighter and I can think straight."

Harry smiled at Severus and sat up. "That sounds good. So it worked."

Severus looked puzzled at Harry.

"Ehm...the resorting Radgarid and Albus did with your mind. For the elemental magic training. You remember?"

Severus racked his brain and found the information. "Yes, I remember." He smiled at Harry.

"Wow, they must have brainwashed you. It's early in the morning, you had no hot chocolate, and you are smiling. That's not Severus."

Severus threw his pillow at Harry and then ran out of the room. In no time, he was at Alastor and Poppy's bedroom door. He knocked shortly and then stormed in. As it was five o'clock in the morning, his adoptive parents were still asleep. Or, rather, they had been asleep until Severus had almost knocked their door down and jumped in their bed.

"It worked. It's all clear now," Severus said, excited, and looked from one parent to the other.

"That's great, Severus," Poppy said, trying hard to orientate herself after being pulled out of sleep so abruptly.

"Yes, fantastic, but it still would have been as fantastic if you had told us two hours later," Alastor said after a short glance at the clock.

Severus let himself fall on his back between Poppy and Alastor. "Maybe I can learn better now. I have the feeling there is more room in my head. I woke up and immediately felt like learning something."

"How about learning to sleep two more hours, Severus?" Alastor asked and pulled the blanket over Severus.

"Okay," Severus replied, defeated. He had told them the great news and now there was no reason to stay awake.

The door squeaked, and Harry stuck his head in the doorway. "Can I come in, too?"

"Sure, the bed is big enough, Harry. Come in," Poppy said and pulled the bed covers aside for Harry to slide in. Quickly, the little family was asleep again.

/

Of course, Severus' problems were not gone, even though he had a hoped they would have diminished just a little. Transfigurations made him face reality. Even though he could concentrate much better and felt more awake, he still had problems getting his magic to work. After class, Minerva asked him to wait.

"You look better today, Severus, and you seemed to be more concentrated."

"But I still wasn't able to manage the spell."

"Transfigurations never was your favorite class, and you are still healing. Albus told me the resorting of your memories went well. How do you see it?"

"I feel much better. There is more room in my head," Severus said, tapping his head. "It's easier to concentrate and I feel more...alive. I can't describe it. But I wish my magic would work."

"Give yourself time, Severus. One month ago, we all feared you would never be able to live a normal wizard's life. Now it is just a question of time."

"But I will always need magic feeds," Severus said sadly and looked down.

Minerva lifted his chin. "Some people need potions, others need mental or physical therapy, and you need magic feeds, Severus. That's nothing bad. You have enough people around you who would love to help you."

Severus shrugged. It was useless to talk with the adults about it. They would never understand him. Only Harry could. He hated his dependence on potions as well. "I need to go to the Great Hall or Poppy will send a search group for me."

Minerva smiled sadly, knowing full well that he just wanted to avoid further conversation. "All right, Severus. On your way then."

Harry was waiting for him outside the classroom. "Everything all right?"

"You should spell that sentence on a sticker and just tap it to let me know you are asking. That will spare you at least an hour of talking a day."

"So she gave you trouble and you are in a grumpy mood again." Harry started to walk in the direction of the Great Hall.

"No, she just asked me about yesterday. And I'm just frustrated that Transfigurations didn't work for me again."

"It will. I can't wait until you've had your first lesson with Radgarid so you can teach me what he taught you."

"Who says I will even manage to learn it? Maybe I won't be able to teach you anything."

"Maybe you will be able to. Don't see everything so negatively, Sev," Harry said and looked cheerfully at his brother. "So three o'clock, right? Where will he teach you?"

"In the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom."

"We'll do our homework afterward, right? I'll wait for you. We have to write the essay for Astronomy."

Severus groaned. "I forgot."

"That's why you have me."

Severus was glad that they had reached the Great Hall. "Why haven't you been with Hamid?"

"He wanted to go and speak with Radgarid before lunch. I hope he is back. I'll go look for him. We'll see you at home." With that, Harry was gone, running to his friends. Severus watched Harry sit down beside Ron, who patted his shoulder. It was good to see Harry still had his friends. But it also made him sad that his friendship with Charlie, Tonks, and Kingsley would never be the same.

"Hey, Severus," Oliver called for him and pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked over to Oliver, who was enthusiastically waving him over to their house table. Alicia was smiling at Severus and he felt good again. He had new friends, and his old friends were still there for him even if they did not have the same relationship as before.

/

History of Magic was horrible again. Even though Severus was able to concentrate, Binns' monotone voice made him fall asleep again. As if Binns was waiting for it, he floated over to Severus and ran his ghostly hand through Severus' head. That made Severus sit up. "Detention, Mr. Snape. Five o'clock."

"It's Mister Moody," Severus said, frustrated.

"That's detention with Mr. Filch on Saturday afternoon in addition."

"For what?" Severus protested.

"For insubordination."

"Half of the class is sleeping. Why are you picking me out?" Severus became louder and louder and did not even realize that he had stood up.

"Out this instant. Go to the headmaster and inform him about your misbehavior. I will send a note to his office."

Severus grabbed his book and his bag, fuming, and left the room. What did that old bastard think? He never cared if any other student slept in his class. Severus was so angry that he did not realize that Filch was standing in the hall before he collided with him.