Severus continued to hold Harry in his arms until the child went completely limp. The popping sound that was made, when Poppy reset Harry's shoulder, resonated in Severus' skull. The child's wailing still ringing in his ears. As much as he despised the boy, never did he wish harm to him. It brought up too many memories that he'd care never to have resurfaced in his mind.

Severus was brought out of his musing by a hand resting on his cheek and slightly raising it. He looked up to a concerned looking medi-witch. In the briefest of moments, she could see the worry in the Potion Master's eyes. Knowing that they needed to now deal with the fluid in the child's lungs, Poppy wanted to get Severus out of his head and back to the situation at hand. No words were needed. Severus looked up at the matron, closed his eyes and slightly leaned his head into her cupped hands. Giving the smallest nod of his head, he opened his eyes and, very carefully, lowered the child back on the bed. As Severus was lowering Harry to the bed, Poppy gave his back a small rub before going to her array of potions phials, looking for a particular one. 

Harry began to moan from the lack of warmth that calmed him after his shoulder felt like it was on fire. His forehead scrunched as he tried to move. A hand on his chest, slightly moving, seemed to calm him.

“Sleep child,” a baritone voice said, soothingly. “You need to rest.”

Harry wanted to open his eyes to see who was speaking so calmly to him. He tried to hold on and hear those soothing words over and over. For some reason the tone made him forget about the pain he was in. Harry tried to open his eyes, but they felt like someone put tape over his lids.

Severus could see that he was struggling, wanting to wake. Leaning over the boy, placing his hand over Harry's eyes, Severus began speaking to the child.

“Rest Harry,” he soothed. “All will be well soon. Don't fight it. Sleep.” Severus continued those comforting words until Harry seemed to melt into the mattress. Severus held his position until he was sure that Potter was in fact asleep. When he felt that the boy would not wake back up, Severus sat up.

Poppy put her hand on Severus' shoulder. “Why don't you set and splint his fingers while I deal with his pneumonia?”

He carefully cradled Harry's wrist in his palm, looking closely at the fingers that were gradually turning more and more purple. As he looked the fingers over, he wanted to be sure that they weren't just jammed, which he hoped was the case. Pulling out his wand, he cast a spell that would allow him to look at the bones in the boy's hand.

Severus lowered his head and sighed.

“We're going to have to do his hand last,” Severus said.

“Why? What's wrong?” Poppy asked, looking up from what she was doing.

“Not only are his fingers broken, but some of the bones are crushed. What they did to this child? I haven't a clue.”

“What's the damage?” Poppy asked, walking over to the side of the bed.

“The distal phalanges and the intermediate phalanges are crushed in three of his fingers, and the proximal phalanges are jammed into his metacarpals. It must be done last. It will take more work.”

“All right, I’ll need Skeleton Gro, as I am out in my stores. Oh dear, with his hand is that damaged, we’ll have to start from the beginning.”

“What?”

“We'll have to vanish the bones in his hand and have to grow them over. It'll be painful, but he'll be able to use his hand by tomorrow night.”

“Why am I just hearing about this now?” Severus asked, irritation in his voice.

“Severus.”

“That wasn’t on the list that you gave me the beginning of Summer.”

“Will you calm down,” Poppy said, her tone firm, but not yelling. “I was going to tell you later, but since this is an emergency, seeing as I didn’t expect you to bring Mr. Potter to me needing it. Besides, it is only three weeks into Summer break, meaning that I still have another two months before the students come back which is enough time for you to brew me more potions.”

Severus looked at Poppy and just blinked. He didn’t know why he was feeling the way that he was. Why was he so agitated? He looked down at the child laying on the bed. He didn’t understand what was going. Why was he angry with Poppy? He’s never felt anything like this towards the matron. Why now? How could he be so idiotic and rash to raise his voice at her? Poppy has always stood by him. Just as much as Minerva. Both women have been the best thing that happened to him, and he raises his voice to her.

“Severus.”

He was let out of his musing by a hand on his cheek, lifting his head.

“Get going,” Poppy said. “The faster you get started, the faster you’ll get done, and we can finish. I'll work on his pneumonia. Once you're back, we'll work on his hand.”

Severus nodded, got up and walked to the Infirmary doors.

“Oh, Severus,” Poppy called out before the Potion Master left. “Bring your anti-cruciatius potions as well.”

A dip in his head, let Poppy know that Severus heard her. She was now alone with Potter. She looked down at the child, combing her fingers through his messy hair.

“Rest easy, child,” Poppy said. “We'll get you right as rain again.” 

The matron waved her wand over Harry's chest. Reading Severus' scan gave the basics of what was wrong with Harry. But she was about to do a more detailed scan of his lungs and overall chest to see what the internal damage was.

The Floo flared when the last of the diagnostic scan was completed. Poppy saw Minerva walking out of the hearth.

“How did it go?” Poppy asked, studying the results.

“How is he?” Minerva asked, standing next to Poppy.

“Just like Severus,” Poppy said, lowering the parchment paper to her side, looking at the child.

“I was afraid of that,” Minerva sighed. “Where is Severus?”

“Brewing me some Skeleton Gro. We’re going to have to redo the bones in his hand. The damage is too great.”

Poppy stepped away from Minerva and started getting her salves together that will help with Harry’s pneumonia.

____000____000___000___000

Severus walked down to his lab upset by his behavior towards Poppy. Never had he raised his voice to her. She did not deserve that. Walking to is stores cupboard, he gathered the ingredients that he needed to both potions: Skeleton Gro and a Nerve healer.

The Potions Master worked tirelessly to finish both potions in record time. Being a skilled master, he knew how to cut corners and what would speed up the process. These things he would not teach the dunderheads in this school as to do this it takes precision. No, he retracts that last thought. There is a pair of students that he could show this method to and they would brew it, flawlessly. He smirked a little as he thought of a couple of students and how they came under his tutelage.

Severus ladled both potions in separate phials and left his lab. While he was brewing, he didn’t think about much, only completing his task. Now that he was walking back to the Infirmary, his guilt of how he acted towards Poppy was coming back to the surface. He didn’t know how he would be able to clear things up with her again.

He hated this feeling. He didn’t like the scared “what if” feeling that was eating away at him. All too soon, he walked into the Hospital wing and paused. His mother was sitting on the side of Harry’s bed.

Severus knew how much Poppy and his mother talked. They were best friends. During the earlier part of the adoption, Severus rarely saw them separated. When he was in the hospital wing, recovering from something, be it a foul prank, his father, or a meeting, Minerva and Poppy stayed at his bedside.

He knew he would probably get an earful from both of them before the night was out, waiting until they were through healing Potter before chastising him.

“You’re finished?” Poppy asked, bringing the Potions Master out of his musing.

“Yes.”

“Well, come on,” Poppy said, walking over to Harry’s bed. “Let’s get started.”

Severus sighed as he followed Poppy over to the bed. Severus was so lost in thought that he didn’t see the questioned look from Minerva or the slight shake of Poppy’s head.

“Let me have the phials, Severus. I want you to hold Harry like you did when we set his arm. To make sure that I only remove the bones in his hand, I need for him to be perfectly still. If any part of his forearm is removed, I’ll have to remove the whole thing.”

Severus nodded and sat at the head of the bed. Carefully, he cradled Harry’s head in his hand and lifted the child up, wrapping his arm around the boy to give him support. Poppy sat on the other side of the bed to get a closer view of Harry’s hand. Severus had Harry leaning against his chest, the child’s head buried in the crook of his neck with Severus’ hand on his forehead.

“Okay Severus,” Poppy said. “Try to keep him as still as you can. Once I vanish the bones in his hand, wake him up.”

___000___000___000

After what seemed like what was promising to be an overcast day, the sun started to peak through the clouds, shining down on several areas. The walk was a pleasant one even coming from his gloomy destination. Being around the dark creatures surprisingly didn’t bother him as much as it did many others. He had learned from an early age how to block away from those feelings that trigger the dark creatures to attack. When he was a teenager, he was convicted of a crime that caused him to spend five years in Azkaban. The first year was hard, but he learned to control his emotions. Now, Dementors don’t bother him. While he was in Azkaban, he would hear the cries of other inmates when the dementors would pass by. At first, he would keep his head down when they passed. Soon he got bold when they would come into his cell. He would face them. He would stare into the dark pits that were their eyes, and he would feel nothing. He’s seen several people get Kissed and it didn’t phase him in any way. Some would think that he was dead inside, but it wasn’t true. He just knew how to hide his true feelings. He could show love, compassion, anger, hatred, and being in the presence of a dark succubus that ate away happiness and joy did nothing.

He walked into the small tavern and headed to the back. He had a prearranged meeting, and he was due to give a report as to what happened. He knew that his employer would not be happy learning that his plan had failed, but it wasn’t a total loss.

“Did you do it?”

A hooded person was sitting in the far corner of the nearly deserted tavern. The man sat across from him without answering.

“Well?” The hooded person asked.

“The dementors arrived at Surrey.”

“And?”

“He had help. They were deflected away.”

“Who?”

“I couldn’t see clearly who it was, but I saw the Patronus. A doe.”

____000____0000____0000____000

Again, it took Severus a longer time to release Harry from his grip. He didn’t understand why he felt the need to comfort the child. When he sat behind Harry, he cradled the boy in his arms. Gripping the wrist and extending out Harry’s arm, he tried to keep the child as still as he could. When Harry woke up, he tried to pull away from the firm grip on his wrist but didn’t have the strength.

“Harry, listen to me,” Severus soothed, trying to calm the boy in his arms.

“P’fessor,” Harry whimpered.

“The bones in your hand needs to be regrown.” A sob escaped Harry’s lips. “The damage was too great.”

“Sir,” Harry sobbed.

“Try to stay calm, Harry,” Severus whispered.

“Harry,” Poppy said, sitting down next to Harry on the bed, facing him. “Look at me.”

Harry complied.

“You remember when we had to regrow your arm?”

Harry nodded, slowly.

“This time I don’t want you to spit it out,” Poppy said. There was a small smirk on her face.

“I’s hurt.” Harry’s voice was low, unconsciously leaning back in Severus’ arms.

“Yes, Harry,” Poppy soothed. “It will hurt. I can’t give you anything for it, as I have to monitor the progress of your hand.”

Poppy brought the phial towards Harry’s lips, but before Harry opened his mouth, he turned his head and whispered into Severus’ ear. Minerva and Poppy saw the shocked look on Severus’ face when Harry turned his head back, opening his mouth to take the potion.

The teen shuddered as he drank the viscous liquid went down his throat. A low groan escaped his lips as the potion started to work. Harry wanted to pull his hand away, but the grip that Professor Snape had on his wrist made it impossible. Turning his head towards the crook of Severus’ neck, Harry's shoulders shook as his hand began re-growing the bones.

Unlike Harry’s second year when he had to regrow his entire arm, Poppy had to monitor Harry’s progress. Because of the damage that Harry sustained that caused the injuries to his hand, she had to make sure that the swelling of the muscles and tendons didn’t cause a problem with the bone re-growing process. She waved her wand over the teen’s hand so that she could see the bones regenerate. Once it was finished, she put a salve over his hand to help with the swelling.

They worked on Harry for what seemed like hours, but it was less than thirty minutes. Both Severus and Poppy were sitting at the child's bedside. Poppy sighed as she put Harry’s now wrapped hand on the bed.

“Harry’ll probably sleep for a while,” Poppy said, standing up. “Why don’t we go to my office. I’ll order tea.”

Poppy walked away from the bed. Minerva, who said nothing while they worked on Harry, stood up and walked over to Severus, who was still holding Harry in his arms.

“Come, Severus,” Minerva said, laying her hand on his shoulder. “Tea will calm you.”

Severus looked at his adoptive mother walk into Poppy’s office and sighed. Very slowly he extracted himself from under the teen. Very gently, Severus lowered Harry back on the bed. He looked down at the teen and pondered why he was feeling the way he was. As he walked away from the bed, Severus thought about what Harry whispered in his ear: “Please, don’t leave me.”

Severus stood in the doorway of Poppy’s office and saw both Minerva and Poppy already sipping on their tea, murmuring to each other. Instantly, he felt like he did when he was younger, and they would try to get him to talk about the bruises he came to school with. That feeling only amplified the horrible feeling of how he disrespected Poppy earlier.

“Poppy, I apologize for my behavior earlier,” Severus said.

“Nothing to apologize for,” Poppy said, sipping her tea. “Come, sit,” waving her hand at the empty chair across from the two witches.

“What’s going on?” Minerva said looking from the matron to her son.

“Nothing that needs repeating,” Poppy said, looking at Severus. “It’s fine.”

Severus sat down, and Poppy handed him a cup of tea. Poppy knew that Severus was beating himself up about what happened earlier. Even though Severus doesn’t ordinarily show emotion, she along with Minerva could always see when something was bothering him. It broke her heart when Severus was younger, and he came into the Infirmary broken and bruised. Minerva may have legally adopted Severus it didn’t mean that Poppy didn’t see Severus as her own, too.

“So,” Minerva said, bringing Poppy out of her thoughts. “What are we going to do about Harry?”

Poppy sighed as she remembered Minerva asking the same thing about Severus.