Daniel was lying on his bed; he had dimmed the lights in his room because his head felt like it was about to split open and his eyes had started to hurt from the bright light. His chest felt constricted, and he wished that he could breathe without his chest hurting. He also wished there was someone at his side right now, but as usual, his adoptive parents were busy.

The beginning of their arrangement had been wonderful. He had finally felt like he belonged to a family, as if they cared for him as if he was their son. He could still remember their calm support when he went to take his entrance exam for the London School of Art.

Flashback.

Daniel had been trying to sleep for hours now. Jasmine, his new mother, had told him to go to bed early so that he was rested for the next day. After all, he needed to be at his best to take such an important exam. Dani hadn't really argued, but he had the feeling he wouldn't be able to sleep any time soon. And he had been right. It had been nearly three hours since he had gone to bed, his mother had even come up to whish him goodnight, something she didn't do very often. And yet, the nerves were getting the best of him. He so wished to be admitted at the prestigious school. Never before had he had to take an entrance exam for anything, and he wondered how the other students could stand the tension. He was so deep into his musings that he didn't hear the door of his room open and his father walk silently into the bedroom. He was startled when he felt the bed dip in as his father sat next to him.

“I thought you would be sleeping already, Daniel.”

Harry leaned into the hand that started to pet his hair. “I can't sleep.”

Richard chuckled slightly. “Nervous?”

Dani nodded and smiled slightly. “More like terrified. What if I mess this up?”

The older man shook his head slightly. “You won't.” He raised his hand when his son opened his mouth to argue. “And even, if for some reason, you didn't get accepted, it would still not be the end of the world. I'm sure there are quite a few other schools that would be happy to have you.”

Harry relaxed into his pillow. Of course, his father was right, even if he wasn't accepted at the London School of Art, there were plenty of other schools that would offer a good education. And yet, the thought of failure didn't sit well with him. What would his parents say if he messed up? Never before had he been worried about parental approval. The only thing the Dursleys ever cared about was whether he did better than Dudley in school, and after starting Hogwarts, they didn't even want to know what he was doing. So, now he found himself in a situation that he didn't know how to deal with. He also felt silly at asking his father if he would be punished if he failed the exam. He still remembered from his old school how some of the children were grounded if they failed too many exams. Severus and Minerva, both being teachers, didn't seem like they would let such a thing go by without comment.

While his father's words had managed to calm him down a bit, these new thoughts made him tense once again. Severus, who had been sitting silently at his side, shook his head.

“You're thinking too much, Daniel, what are you worrying about now?”

The boy nervously peeled at his blanket. “Will you and Mum be very disappointed if I don't get in?”

Severus remained silent, looking down at the boy intently. Even though the room was darkened, he could still discern the anxious expression on the boy's face. Taking one of the small, nervous hands into his larger one, he squeezed it gently, hoping he would be able to reassure his child.

“Jasmine and I always expect you to do your best, Daniel, but we're both aware that this particular exam is going to be difficult. Linda made sure to tell us just how few students managed to get in each year, so that we would know that you not getting in doesn't mean you don't have talent. Personally, I think you can get in, but I'm not an art expert so I could be wrong. If you don't get in, Jasmine and I will only be disappointed in you if you give up, OK?”

Harry moved closer to his adoptive father. “So, if I fail the exam, I just have to try at another school?”

Snape hummed slightly. “Indeed. If you fail, we'll just get a list of schools from Linda and you'll try out at one of them.”

Dani smiled in the darkness. Knowing that his parents were going to help him took a great deal of pressure from him. Severus seemed to sense his relief and he gently brushed a hand over his cheek.

“Try to sleep now, child, I'll stay until you're asleep.”

Harry closed his eyes, a peaceful smile over his lips. “Thanks, Dad.”

End flashback.

Dani smiled slightly while he remembered that sweet memory. After he had taken his exam, his parents had taken him out to have dinner to celebrate, even though they didn’t know the results yet. A shiver shook his thin frame and he wrapped the blanked tighter around him. Everything had been going so well, and yet, it didn’t last long. Minerva had soon found a job as a teacher in a nearby school. It was a small school and the people who worked there formed a close-knit group that had accepted the woman with open arms. Jasmine, who had always led a quiet and secluded life at Hogwarts, had grasped her second chance at youth with both hands and had started to spend more and more time with her new friends. Severus, on the other hand, hadn’t changed much, he continued to get lost in his world of potions and often Harry didn’t see him in days.

More and more often, every time Harry wished to speak with either of his new parents, he found himself pushed aside. ‘Not now, Dani, they’re waiting for me’ or ‘Later Daniel, I have a potion I must tend to right now’ had become the most frequent cries when he needed his parents. In the end, he stopped going to them. They had once again proven to him that adults where just unreliable and that he would have to take care of himself alone.

A sharp cough made his whole body shudder, stopping the river of thoughts that had been running through his head for what seemed like hours. Closing his eyes in pain, he turned to his side and tried to get comfortable. He just needed to sleep. Everything would be better then.

After a night filled with coughs and cold shivers, Daniel listened as his watch went off. His parents hadn’t returned home that night, so Dani hadn’t been able to ask for something to help with his illness. Not that he thought he would have asked had they come, but maybe one of them would have heard him and cared enough to give him something. Since that hadn’t happened, he had barely been able to sleep that night and now he didn’t feel up to going to school. He knew he shouldn’t miss classes, they were expensive enough, and yet he really couldn’t bring up the energy to get up. Finally, his watch stopped ringing and silence reined through the house. Harry dozed from time to time, trying to get enough energy to get up and get something to eat. He hadn’t eaten anything since the day before yesterday and he really should get something down, even though he wasn’t hungry at all.

At noon he finally managed to fall in a deep sleep from sheer exhaustion, buried deep in his blankets, so he missed Minerva’s arrival.

Jasmine hurried up the stairs to her son’s room. The school had called asking why Daniel hadn’t gone to school that day. She hadn’t been at home the night before, spending the whole night with a group of her friends, so she had no idea why her son had not gone. At first she had been angry at the teenager for not going, thinking he was just skipping lessons. She had decided to deal with him after her lessons. And yet, there was something wrong with the picture. She knew Dani loved those lessons; he always talked about how much fun it was and how much he learned there. She ignored the little voice in her head that asked just how long ago it had been since she had listened to what he had to say.

Suddenly feeling a bit uneasy, she had decided to check on the boy during her lunch hour. If it was just a show of teenager rebellion, she would leave it for the evening, but if it were something else… Seeing the closed door, she silently opened it, not sure what she would find.

The room was filled with darkness, and that was the first sign that something was really wrong. Dani still had trouble sleeping and couldn’t sleep beyond six or seven o’clock each morning. Silently, she entered the room and walked over to where she knew the bed was. In the dim light, she managed to make out the slight form of her adoptive son wrapped tightly in blankets. Frowning, she reached out to his shoulder, and sharply drew back at the heat that met her hand. Cursing softly, she reached towards the boy’s forehead. As she had expected, it was hot to her touch. Frowning, she waved her hand towards the drawn curtains and opened them. The light that filled the room drew a weak whimper from the feverish boy, who turned and tried to bury his head in his pillow.

Jasmine sat down on the bed, trying not to jostle the teenager as her weight settled on the bed. Gently, she tried to turn the boy away from the pillow, softly calling his name. The gentle voice finally managed to awake the young man enough so he could turn over and look up groggily to his adoptive mother.

“Mum?”

The soft, longing voice went straight to her heart and caused the slight guilt she had been feeling at the back of her mind to come forth with full force. “Yes, Dani, it’s me.” She remained silent for a long moment, just carding her hand through the boy’s damp hair and trying to think what she should do next. First thing was to make sure her son was as comfortable as possible, and the next thing would be to get Richard here as soon as possible.

Daniel watched from his bed as his mother rose and drew her wand. She waved it once around the room, erasing the feeling of illness of the room. Next she drew the curtains open, allowing light to come into the room. The boy quickly closed his eyes with a soft whimper as the sharp, midday, light shone through the room. Quickly looking down to him, Minerva waved her wand once again to dim the light so that it would not hurt her son’s eyes. Next she turned to him and muttered a charm over the prone teenager.

Her frown deepened, the fever was very high and her son seemed to be in the full throes of the flu. She quickly charmed the blankets so that they would keep the boy at a right temperature.

“Dani.”

The soft voice caused the dozing boy to open his eyes once again, relieved that the light had been turned down somewhat. He gently turned his pounding head on the pillow so he could stare at her.

“How long have you been feeling ill?”

The teenager frowned slightly, trying to remember when he had first started to feel bad. When he finally decided on a date, he opened his mouth to answer, but a sharp cough rocked his whole body, causing him to moan slightly in pain. Minerva was at his side in an instant, helping him to sit up and rubbing his back comfortingly. After the worst of the coughing fit passed, she encouraged the boy to lean against her shoulder with a gentle touch and summoned a glass of water. Harry drank almost desperately from the glass. In the last few hours he hadn’t felt up to getting up and getting water.

Minerva watched worriedly as the boy drank up the whole glass in barely a few seconds. Once the glass was drained, Dani passed his tongue over his still dry lips.

“More?”

Silently Jasmine complied, but this time she held the glass and forced the boy to drink the water much slower. Once done, she set the glass aside, ignoring the longing look the teenager sent to it. Gently, she petted his hair and waited until his attention was once again focused on her. She didn’t want to be insistent, but she really needed to know.

“Can you tell me now, Dani?”

The boy sighed. “A week, but it wasn’t too bad.”

Minerva frowned, a whole week and she hadn’t noticed. She tried to recall how many times she had seen him this past week, but the only instance she could remember was when they had had supper on Monday evening, and she had to admit she had spent the whole supper talking to Anne through her cell phone.

“When did it get bad?”

Dani shifted a bit. “Yesterday at school. The evening teacher didn’t come and we were allowed to go home, else I don’t think I would have made it through class.”

Jasmine frowned. “You should have told one of your teachers, they would have called either Richard or me.”

Harry closed his eyes reluctantly. “Didn’t want to bother you.”

Minerva lowered her eyes, a pained expression flitted through her face but Harry didn’t see. He was once again dozing tiredly. Silently she moved from under the boy and settled him back into bed. The movement drew a weak whimper from the boy and the blue eyes opened to splits.

“Please, don’t leave.”

Tears filled Jasmine’s eyes at the weak, childlike voice. Gently, she carded a hand through his hair and bent over to kiss his feverish forehead. “I’ll be right back, I promise. I need to call your father, the school, and a doctor so that he can look you over. It’ll only take about ten minutes.”

Dani looked up at her, and unsure expression on his face. “Promise?”

A strangled yes came from the witch’s mouth before she tucked to boy in tightly and left the room. Dani closed his eyes and relaxed against the pillows. His mother was here now. He hoped she would really take care of him now. Anyway, there was nothing he could do if she didn’t.

Jasmine practically ran down the stairs and over to the phone. She quickly dialed the school’s phone number and quietly explained that her son was ill and she would need to take a few days off. The headmaster wasn’t very happy about it, but Jasmine didn’t care, her son needed her. A small voice at the back of her mind informed her that Daniel had also needed her during the last few weeks and that she hadn’t been there for him, but she tried to ignore it, knowing she would have to deal with her guilt later on. The next one she phoned was Richard. She had forced him to always have a cell phone with him. Not that she ever called him, but she wanted to know that she could reach him at any given moment. To say that Severus hadn’t been happy about it was an understatement, but he had finally had given in, under heavy protest. She only hoped that the irascible man kept the phone loaded. Three rings went off before her supposed husband’s voice came through the phone.

“What is it? I’m in the middle of a very important…”

She quickly cut through his preferred speech. “I need you to get home.”

His tone of voice was a bit softer. “What’s wrong?”

She swallowed loudly as she looked up the stairs. “Dani. I was called from his school today, he didn’t go. When I got here I found him bundled up in bed with a high fever and a horrible cough.”

After a minute of silence, Severus sighed softly. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Don’t do anything till I’m there.”

Minerva frowned slightly. “I wanted to call a doctor.”

Her husband shook his head, even though she couldn’t see it. “That’s not necessary, I have some medical training. I think I’ll be able to take care of him.”

Jasmine sighed. “Alright, but be here quickly.”

With a sharp ‘I will’, Jasmine heard Richard hang the phone up and after doing the same, she quickly walked up the stairs.

Daniel was staring intently to the door and seemed to relax slightly when she walked in. She returned to her spot on his bed and sat back down.

“Your father will be here in ten minutes.”

Dani didn’t answer, not sure about how he should feel now. He didn’t feel well, his head was pounding and he was confused. Why was his mother suddenly so worried? Sure, he was ill, but that hardly seemed like a very important reason to stop doing things. He was sure his mother had some kind of meeting this evening but it didn’t look like she meant to go. Maybe once his father was there she would leave. Not that he needed a minder. He just needed a bit of medicine and rest and he would be fine again, there was no need to fuss.

The strained silence was broken by the sound of the front door. Jasmine gently kissed her son before she stood up and went to greet her supposed husband. Severus met her halfway up the stairs, a worried frown in his dark blue eyes.

“How is he doing?”

Jasmine shrugged slightly. “His fever is still high and he seems to be in pain. Probably a headache; he has been dozing on and off since I arrived but he seemed to be quite lucid when I talked to him.”

Richard nodded and walked past her.

“Rick.”

The man turned around slightly and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “We’ll need to talk later.”

The eyebrow rose a bit more. “What about?”

Jasmine looked away. “About the situation we’re living in right now. It’s not working.”

Richard looked slightly alarmed at that, he had thought everything was working perfectly fine. “What makes you think so?”

Jasmine looked up at him seriously. “When was the last time you really talked with Dani?”

The man opened his mouth to answer but found he couldn’t remember. He recalled a few times in which Daniel had tried to ask him something, but he didn’t have the time. At the time he had told himself that the boy could talk to Jasmine much more easily that to him, but a sharp look at the woman’s face showed he had not been the only one ignoring the boy.

“I can’t remember.”

Jasmine nodded in agreement. “Me neither.” She looked up to the closed door of her son’s room. “He has been feeling ill for a week and didn’t say anything. He told me it got really bad yesterday. I get the feeling he hasn’t eaten since then and he barely had anything to drink if his thirst was anything to go by.”

Severus cursed under his breath and quickly walked up the remainder stairs. He agreed that he and Jasmine would have to have a serious talk later, but he needed to check on the boy first.

Daniel had his eyes closed when he entered the dim room. Walking over to the bed, he bent his long frame to place a cool hand on the boy’s feverish forehead. The teenager’s eyes snapped open when he felt the cold touch.

“Shhh, it’s alright, it’s just me.”

Daniel blinked before his burning eyes focused on his father.

“Dad.”

The older man nodded and waved his wand over him.

“Yes. How are you feeling, Dani?”

The boy blinked startled, his father never called him that. “I’m fine. It’s just a bit of a fever.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “I somehow doubt you’re feeling well at all. Lay still for a bit and let me check you over.”

Dani didn’t even have a chance to answer before Severus had started to mutter charms over him. The boy closed his eyes as he felt his father’s magic cover him. It had been quite a while since he had been exposed to magic and it felt a bit like coming home. The warmth from his father’s spells enveloped him and soothed him into a deep, peaceful sleep. When Severus finished with the string of spells, he saw that the teenager was sleeping peacefully. Trying not to wake him up, he opened his black bag and selected a few potions. He mixed a few of them in a glass and then turned to the sleeping wizard. Gently he raised the boy’s head slightly, getting an annoyed whimper from the sleeping teen.

“Shhh, it’s alright, I just need you to drink this, it will help you feel better and then you can sleep all you want.”

Richard didn’t know how much his son heard, but the boy calmed and allowed him to feed him the mixed potions. Once Dani had swallowed the potion down, he vaguely felt himself being settled back into his pillows and tightly tucked in under the wonderfully cool blankets. He was just slipping under a deeper sleep when a wash of magic covered him once again.

Once Richard finished casting the monitoring charm over the boy, he gathered his things in his bag and silently left the room, leaving the door open so that they could hear teenager from downstairs. He made his way down to the kitchen where he found Minerva talking to the phone. He quietly started some tea while his supposed wife spoke to the person on the other side of the phone.

“I’m sorry, Alan, but I really can’t make it tonight.” A short pause was followed by. “No, I don’t know if I’ll be available tomorrow either. Actually, I don’t think I’ll be able to come around for a few days. I don’t want to leave my son alone.” Minerva rolled her eyes in annoyance at whatever the other man was saying. “Look, Alan, I know you reserved those tickets months ago but it really cannot be helped.” Annoyance started to turn into anger. “I’m not about to leave Dani alone even though he’s sleeping! What if he wakes up?” She clenched her fist on the table and Richard had enough. Before she could reply once again, he took the phone out of her hands, just in time to hear the last words of the man’s sentence.

“…. That idiot husband of yours.”

In a deadly voice, Severus replied to the insult. “I suggest you watch who you call an idiot, but of course it would be too much to ask for someone with such a small brain like you to grasp the concept of the word no. Jasmine is not going to make it tonight, nor anytime soon either. At least I hope she would not lower herself to accompany such a brainless idiot like you.”

Leaving the other man sputtering on the other side he hung up and returned the phone to the stunned woman.

“Really, Min, whatever possessed you to get involved with such a moron?”

Jasmine sputtered before gathering her composure back. “I’m not involved with him!”

Richard gazed down at her. “No?”

The witch looked him straight in the eye. “No. Not with him and not with anyone.”

The man nodded and returned to the tea. “Why not?”

Jasmine chocked in shock. “What do you mean, why not? You…”

The wizard finally turned around with two cups of steaming tea. “What about it? It’s not like we are involved. We barely even pretend to be.”

Minerva shot him an odd look. “I thought you wanted to try.”

Richard raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I wanted, but it’s obvious that neither you nor I were as prepared to try it out as we thought. We barely see each other, Min.”

“That’s not my fault!”

Rick nodded slightly. “It’s not only your fault. I’m not saying it is. It’s both our faults.” He shot a glance towards the stairs and sighed. “If it was only about us, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Minerva looked down at her untouched cup and pressed her lips together. “How is Dani doing?”

Richard took a sip of his own tea. “He’ll be fine, it will take a bit, but he’s going to be ok.” At her questioning look, he elaborated. “He has an ear infection. That was what caused the high fever. There aren’t potions to treat the infection immediately. It’s too close to the brain to risk using the common potions against infection, that’s why it will take a bit for the less stronger potions to take effect.”

Jasmine finally sipped from her cup of tea. “But he’ll be fine?”

Richard nodded. “Physically, yes.”

Minerva winced at those words, knowing that she had messed up quite badly. Seeing the dark look in her companion’s eyes she knew he felt that way too. “We have failed him.”

Sighing, the man nodded again. “Like so may others before us.”

They remained in a strained silence, each wondering how they were going to solve the situation they were in. It wouldn’t be easy, Harry had probably lost his faith in them and it would be hard to regain it from the young boy. Severus tiredly brushed his hair aside. “Any ideas on what we should do now to try and repair the damage?”

Jasmine raised her head. “I don’t know, why are you asking me?”

Richard snorted. “Come on, Min, you may have regained your youth, but you were head of your house for more than fifty years. You surely have more experience than I do in something like this. You were quite close to some of your students.”

Minerva shrugged slightly. “It’s not quite the same.” Before Richard could reply she continued. “I would suggest we talk to him.”

Richard blinked. “Yes, well, I doubt that will help much. We promised him we would take care of him, and we’ve been doing anything but that.”

Jasmine shot him an annoyed look. “I know, I know, that’s not everything. After that we’ll have to prove it until he believes us. It’s going to take quite some time.”

Rick nodded with a sigh. “I assumed as much. We’ll have to reach an agreement between the two of us before this is going to work.”

The woman nodded with a pained look on her face. “I was thinking on resigning.”

Richard looked up sharply. “That’s unnecessary. Dani is at school when you are teaching, it would be useless for you to be cooped inside here unless you wish to. And I doubt you would want to sit around here all day doing nothing.”

Jasmine nodded slightly, and yet, she knew she would have to stop seeing her friends. Seemingly to read her mind, Richard spoke once again. “There’s also no need to stop seeing your friends. I would only ask you to limit a bit your time with them. I would suggest we work out some kind of schedule so that Dani is never alone.”

The woman snorted. “That’s not going to go over well, Rick. Dani is anything but stupid, he will notice at once and he’s going to hate it. He told me he hadn’t wanted to tell us he was feeling ill because he didn’t want to bother us.”

Richard snorted. “Not that he had much chance to tell us even if he had felt inclined to do so.”

Minerva nodded, conceding his point. “I think that what we should try is to really act more like a family.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “How so? It hasn’t been working very well so far.”

Jasmine looked at him a bit startled. “You can’t really tell me you feel we’ve been trying.”

Richard looked a bit unsure. “No, and yet I don’t have a clue as to how to remedy this situation. My family was not exactly an example I would wish to follow.”

Minerva nodded a bit sadly, but knowing that he wouldn’t want to talk about it, she pressed on. “I think we need to establish a few rules. For example, we should try to always have dinner together, a bit like a family moment. And no working or going out on weekends unless it is together. There are many places we could take Dani that would be enjoyable to us too.”

They talked late into the evening about the things they had to change. They realized they had been acting more like teachers around the boy and not really like parents should, excluding both the boy and each other from their private lives.

At dinner time, Severus went up the stairs while Minerva cooked a light dinner for them all. The Potions Master found his son still sleeping soundly even though his flushed face showed that the fever was once again back. Gently moving to the bed he placed a cool hand on the teenager’s forehead and softly called him.

“Dani. Come on, son, wake up for a bit.”

Groggy blue eyes opened at the same time that an annoyed whimper announced the boy’s displeasure at being waken from such a deep sleep. Severus chuckled lightly.

“Shhh, I know you’re tired and want to go back to sleep, but I need you to eat something and after that you need to take your potions again.” He petted the damp hair. “You’re burning up.”

Severus drew back a bit and summoned a glass of cool water. Helping the boy sit up he gave it to him and while Harry drank down the contents, Richard moved the pillows so that the boy could lean comfortably against them.

“Could I have some more water?”

The boy’s voice was scratchy and Severus winced slightly at the pain it must cause him to speak. “Not right now, your mother is making some dinner, you need to eat a bit and then you can have more water.”

Dani frowned, eyes still glassy from fever. “I’m not hungry.”

Richard nodded. “I imagine you’re not, but I would like you to try and eat a bit. The potions will work better on a full stomach. Besides, when was the last time you ate something?”

There was not even reproach in the man’s voice. He was very well aware that it was his and Jasmine’s fault that the boy had been unable to eat.

“The day before yesterday. I wasn’t hungry yesterday, I just wanted to sleep.”

Severus sighed. “You should have told someone that you were feeling so bad.” When the boy opened his mouth to reply, the older man waved his hand slightly. “We’ll talk about that when you’re feeling better. There’s actually much we need to talk about. But now is not the time.”

The former head of Slytherin stood up to go see how far along his wife was when a soft voice reached him.

“Please, I’m sorry, don’t leave me alone.”

Startled, the man turned around sharply and hurried back over to the bed. The boy’s feverish eyes were looking up at him pleadingly and with a pang, he started to understand just how much damage his and his wife’s thoughtlessness had caused. He silently embraced the boy and gently pressed his warm head against his chest.

“Neither Jasmine nor I intend to leave you alone. I just wanted to go to the kitchen and see how dinner is coming along.”

Harry nodded in understanding, but slim arms came around his waist and clutched tightly at him. They remained in that position for a long time until Minerva entered the room with a mug filled with soup.

With soft, gentle murmurs, the two adults fed the boy his dinner, gave him potions and tucked him back in bed. At Harry’s timid request, Jasmine sat with him until he fell asleep.