Unfortunately for Harry, he woke up on the morning of his birthday feeling absolutely dreadful. Since Snape still had to work with Malfoy in the afternoon, Mrs. Weasley would be stopping by to stay with him. Even though Snape didn't agree, he'd told her that Ron and Hermione could join her at Harry's insistence. Being able to see his friends on his birthday would help him forget how sick he was feeling after having a day like yesterday and knowing Ron and Hermione, they would want to be here with him regardless of how sick he was.

So that morning, once he had a small breakfast and his healer left, Harry excused himself to try to get some sleep. With only two days left of his induction chemo, he really just wanted to do whatever he could to get through it; and right now that meant sleeping as much as possible and getting to visit with his friends. Snape was keeping a closer than normal eye on the young wizard picking up on the fact that Harry was feeling frustrated for the seemingly backwards step in his recovery.

He awoke right around lunchtime to the smell of flowers, specifically lilies, in his room. He could hear whispering throughout the room that could only be his two best friends. Peeking his eyes open, Hermione and Ron were sitting on the floor beside his bed and appeared to be reading, and discussing something Harry couldn't make out; neither aware that he was awake.

"Hey guys," his voice cracked as he sat up on his elbows. If possible, he felt worse than when he fell asleep.

"Harry!" Hermione called out standing up so quickly the book on her lap crashed to the floor with a loud bang. Harry cringed at the noise echoing against the stone walls.

"Calm down 'Moine," Ron laughed at her customary hysterical greeting.

"I've just been so worried and it's so good to finally see you," Hermione handed Harry his glasses then sat down on the bed right next to him, "I've been researching all about Leukemia and Harry it's so rare for a wizard to get."

"Yeah," Harry half smirked instantly feeling more comfortable with his two best friends next to him, "I think I've heard something like that."

"Of course you have," she sounded embarrassed, "I didn't mean..."

"It's fine Hermione, seriously."

"Happy birthday Mate," Ron said standing up and pulling a chair next to the bed. "We wanted to have a small party, but Mum said it wasn't a good time. Once you're feeling better though, we'll make it up to you."

"I don't doubt that," Harry was playing with a small thread from his bedspread, "I have a feeling Snape wouldn't be too happy with the Weasley clan filling up his quarters anyway."

"You're probably right... The git," Ron laughed lightly.

"What were you guys doing?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject.

"Can you believe Ronald hasn't even started on his summer assignments?" Hermione lectured completely appalled that he hadn't even looked at them.

"Oh c'mon," Ron whined, "I'm sure Harry hasn't started his either!"

"Well, he has a good reason, don't you think."

"Actually," Harry interrupted, "I have all of them at least started except Potions. And that's only because I didn't want to start an essay when I might not get into the NEWT class."

Hermione glared at Ron, then they all started laughing. Harry held back a grimace from the pain; it felt so good to laugh, he didn't care that it hurt to do so.

"Oh, Harry you reminded me-" Ron groaned at Hermione's exclamation, "Have you gotten your O.W.L. results yet?" Leave it to Hermione to ask about schoolwork and test marks on his birthday.

He shook his head going with his standard answer, "I don't think they're going to know where to send them. And it's not like they matter too much anyway, I don't even know what classes will look like for me now."

"Don't say something like that Mate," Ron laughed, "Hermione might have fit."

"Seriously," the bushy haired Gryffindor said, "we got ours this morning, I bet yours either got here this morning too or will be here tomorrow."

She seemed way too excited to Harry, but he knew this was the kind of thing she lived for so he didn't comment on it.

"I take it you did amazing?" Harry asked.

Hermione blushed, "Well..."

"Of course she did!" Ron interrupted with a hint of pride in his voice. "She got O's on 'em all."

"No. I only got an E in Defense."

Ron just rolled his eyes at that. The three Gryffindors sat around talking and Harry tried to make it feel like it could have been any normal day, except it was far from normal. Ron had to help to get Harry to the loo and back, which was a significant improvement over Mrs. Weasley - he couldn't quite relax enough with her sitting outside the door listening in on him. Then, when he started getting nauseous and sicked up a couple of times, Hermione was right beside him with a glass of water so he could rinse his mouth; all the while amazed at how Snape managed to charm the bucket to self-clean.

They had lunch with Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen and Harry was surprised to find that he was disappointed Snape wasn't there. He assumed the professor was likely having lunch with Malfoy, a thought that made him angry for reasons he could not yet figure out.

Once they finished lunch, Hermione helped Harry to the sitting room where she was introduced to Healer Smithe and proceeded to pepper the poor healer with questions on muggle medicine in the wizarding world. What was it like being an adult wizard, but living in the muggle world? How could one get a dual healing/medical mastery, does it require separate studies? And probably the most important to Harry, how will they monitor how his magic is handling the chemotherapy effects? That was probably something he should have asked when they started all of this. The answer was that they intended on doing "status checks" on it throughout his treatment, so that was something to look forward to.

At least I'll know pretty early on when I lose it.

Hearing that thought in his head was the hardest part of the day. Regardless of what Snape said, he couldn't help but think something bad was bound to happen to the magic within him.

He tried to play a game of wizard's chess with Ron, but he had to keep stopping when he was sick and losing his concentration. Today it was like his insides were trying to burn their way out of his body and no matter what he did or which medicine he used, it just wouldn't stop.

"Are you ok Harry, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked when Harry was leaning against the sofa holding his side instead of making his next move.

"I'm sure... it's fine," Harry replied worry seeping from his voice no matter how hard he tried to contain it.

"Are you nauseous?" Hermione kneeled down in front of Harry examining his eyes. She reached her hand out and lightly touched his forehead checking for a fever having read about how easy he could get sick.

Harry just shook his head side to side; it wasn't nausea this time around.

"I think we should call Professor Snape," Hermione added. "You don't look well Harry."

"No," Harry said firmly. He didn't want to interrupt Snape from whatever he was working on with Malfoy. "I never look well anymore Hermione. It'll be fine, let Professor Snape be."

"Ronald," Mrs. Weasley eventually said while keeping her eyes focused on Harry, "put the game away and let Harry try to get some sleep. You have plenty of school work to keep you busy the rest of the afternoon."

As nice as Mrs. Weasley's intentions were though, that didn't mean that Harry could rest. Only fifteen minutes later, he was laying on his back on the couch, small moans escaping his lips.

"Isn't there something you can do for him Mum?" Harry could hear the worry in his friend's voice too. This was far worse than any of the other times Ron had seen Harry sick.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head, "He can't have potions and I don't know anything about muggle medicine. I'm calling Severus and hopefully he can get the healer back here."

After squeezing the sphere, Snape came bustling into his quarters in the same manner he usually did on the first day of classes. He had a scowl on his face as if he was angry to be interrupted. Harry felt the familiar anxiety filling his chest from just the sight of the man in front of him.

"What is it," he demanded walking up to the sofa where Harry was laying.

"Not sure... Sir. It feels like... burning," Harry managed to say.

Snape narrowed his eyes at the teen clearly in pain for some reason or another. He looked to Mrs. Weasley as if she was the one that should be caring for him right at that moment.

"Can you call the healer?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "Unless there's something else he can take."

Rubbing his forehead, Snape just stared between Harry and Mrs. Weasley questioning in his head why this was happening today of all days. Unable to find another solution, he went to the floo and threw down the floo powder with more force than necessary to call Madam Pomfrey and Healer Smithe.

"Ron dear," Mrs. Weasley said calmly, "Can you and Hermione help Harry to his bedroom? I imagine he'd be much more comfortable there then out here on the sofa."

Harry nodded, but it was more because he didn't want to be in the same room with the irate potions professor than for his physical comfort. He was going to feel this pain no matter where he was, but he could avoid the explosive anger he was bound to be subjected to in the sitting room.

"What's up with that greasy git today?" Ron exclaimed the moment Harry's bedroom door was closed. "And where is he going every afternoon my mum is here?"

Harry closed his eyes as he leaned against his pillows, "It's something... for the order."

While Snape never explicitly said he couldn't tell his friends, Harry naturally assumed no one should know about Malfoy and his situation. He also couldn't handle Ron's inevitable outburst when he found out about it.

"He's in pain," Hermione said seemingly out of nowhere.

"Clearly!" Ron gestured to Harry who was still writhing on his bed trying to find a position that didn't hurt his insides.

"I don't mean Harry," Hermione sighed looking over to Harry, worried about her ill friend, "Professor Snape - it's obvious he's in pain. I'm guessing from whatever he's doing for the Order."

What could Malfoy do that could possibly injure Snape? Or was there something else he was working on that he didn't tell Harry about? There was bound to be loads of things he wasn't aware of and it was better to think about those possibilities instead of his bad mood due to Harry's condition inconveniencing him.

A soft knock was heard outside his door and Hermione went to open it. In bustled Snape, Mrs. Weasley, Healer Smithe, and Madam Pomfrey; Harry felt like a zoo exhibit yet again. Ron and Hermione were pulled away from Harry by Mrs. Weasley to the other side of the room.

"They should leave," the Potions Master spat at Mrs. Weasley.

"We don't want to leave!" Ron stood up taller to appear less intimidated by the professor. If Harry weren't lying on his bed in pain, he would have been proud of his friend for standing up to Snape like he did.

"This isn't about what you want Mr. Weasley," Snape growled before yelling, "now leave!"

Hermione pulled on Ron's arm and they both left for the sitting room.

"After accompanying them home," Snape said to Mrs. Weasley, "I need you to return." The professor didn't want to say so in front of his young charge, but he was in no condition to look after him today.

"Of course Severus," the motherly redhead said with more compassion than he deserved, "I'll be right back." She looked over to Harry with a heavy heart as the healer and medi-witch were working over him.

Harry could feel all sorts of diagnostic scans running through his body. Some of them simply scanned the surface while others he could feel deep into his organs and bones. Healer Smithe took several vials of blood to examine via muggle tests back at his office. The whole time, Snape stood right behind the two as they worked.

"I told you, I don't think he is having a normal reaction to the chemo this time," the man was angry that his previous concerns had gone unheard.

"Severus," Healer Smithe started to explain, "there's no real normal when dealing with a situation like this. Nothing on the scans are showing anything that would cause a reaction like this besides the side effects from the chemotherapy."

Harry could almost see the fumes coming off of the professor. He didn't think he'd seen the man this angry, not even after the pensieve incident.

"Are there stronger pain medications you can give him? Or can he cease the rest of the continuous chemo?"

"With only a day and a half left, and having it more or less under control before now, I'd like to see if we can get him through it," the healer kindly said, pressing his fingers across his forehead. "I'll be back with a stronger dose of Morphine, but it's the absolute highest I feel comfortable prescribing for him. If this doesn't work in a relatively short amount of time, we'll cut the chemo early and reevaluate."

If he didn't feel like he was being ripped apart from the inside out, he would have been relieved at the thought of all of this ending early. He was vaguely aware of the healer leaving and returning only a short time later. There was a rustling next to his bedside as the bag of medication was prepared, and at some point a wet flannel was placed across his forehead which had beaded up with sweat.

The next thing he knew, the fire inside of him was dying out and he could breathe a little easier with each breath he took. His eyes started to grow heavy and he didn't know if it was the new pain medicine making him drowsy or the fact that his body was completely physically exhausted now that the pain was subsiding. In the end, it didn't matter because he wasn't going to stop the blissful sleep that was overcoming him.

~~~~SS~~~~

It had to be today that Severus felt, for the first time since the Privet Drive attack, his dark mark burn. The summons came right after Harry had gone to rest before the Weasleys and Miss. Granger came over. Thinking quickly, the former spy went to the floo and asked Albus to come through to discuss their options. The Headmaster arrived in a modest set of dark red robes and a smile on his face that immediately faded once he heard the reason behind the visit.

"At this point, I think it's best not to answer the summons," he explained to the leader of the Order. "If the Dark Lord has not wanted an explanation by now, it's unlikely I'd be given much time for one if I appear before him."

"I must say I agree with Severus," Albus sadly confirmed pacing in front of the fireplace. "Do you have a way to handle the effects when it goes unanswered?"

The Potions Master shook his head, his black hair falling across either side of his face. "Unfortunately even a high dose pain draught won't stop that of the dark mark. I'll have to start modifying the formulation or else I'll lose my sanity before long."

"Of course," Albus nodded his agreement. "Please do not hesitate to let me know if you need assistance securing any specialized ingredients you may need. I'm sure Pomona would be more than willing to help."

Severus gave a calculated look at the older wizard. The last thing he wanted to do was explain to one of his colleagues why he needs speciality class plants grown that would never be used inside a standard classroom. While each professor was allowed to use the school's resources for non class related projects, most of the time it was professional research work, not personal.

"I heard you had a rather exciting day yesterday," Albus continued quite idiotically in Severus's opinion, "I take it young messrs. Malfoy and Potter have gotten reacquainted?"

"Obviously, otherwise we would have had no issues. I told you it was not advisable to have them both here at the same time." Severus wanted Draco to stay at Grimmauld Place and it would have prevented that very occurrence.

"You worry too much Severus," the headmaster casually commented, "I don't see any issues in allowing some camaraderie to grow."

"Camaraderie? Are you mad? They're going to kill each other," Severus threw his hands in the air as if giving up.

"Hardly so. Harry cannot do magic right now."

"That's a technicality. So then Draco will simply kill him," Severus was still not amused; while fighting the pain in the dark mark was not the time to have this conversation.

"Not if he wants our help," the Headmaster smiled. He decided to change the subject, "I've been thinking about your unique predicament Severus, and if there's any way we can use it to our advantage."

The Potions Master narrowed his eyes and frowned, "I told you, in my reality the Dark Lord hadn't even come close to coming back, so how can my situation be of any help? Trust me, if I knew how to kill the evil bastard I would have told you by now."

"Yes, I do believe you would have, but you're missing a key part of your statement my boy," Albus's eyes twinkled, "you prevented his rebirth and I can't help but wonder if you arriving here can in some way help us with our Voldemort problem."

And so they spent the morning going through the differences between key moments in the timeline and they always ended up back to the same conclusion. The fact that Severus had been a constant, stable adult for Harry was the difference in preventing Voldemort's return. However, no matter how many times they went through it, they could not think of how Severus being in this reality could help against Voldemort - besides the obvious that had he not been here, Harry would likely be almost dead from the Leukemia.

Eventually, Mrs. Weasley arrived with Ron and Hermione, so they needed to table the discussion for later. Albus stayed to have a cup of tea with the Weasley matriarch while Severus moved to his laboratory to start developing some way to ease the pain of the dark mark which had not lighted up at all.

He wrapped the mark in a charmed bandage to stay cool, however trying to focus through the burning was not only difficult, but it put him in a foul mood. He ruined two attempts at a revised pain potion and one attempt at a revised burn paste by making mistakes that would rival Longbottom, which only added to his rage. Training with Draco hadn't gone any better. While Draco handled the almost-too-aggressive Legilimency appropriately, the professor still felt the need to lecture Draco on his abysmal performance and went into great detail about how likely he was to get himself killed.

It was in the middle of their observation training, when the sphere glowed red, the color to indicate a severe problem, and given Severus's mood he took his anger out on everyone that walked in front of his path. While Alton had been assuring him that Harry's reaction to the chemo could be classified as normal, Severus didn't believe him and now his young Gryffindor was writhing in pain on his bed. It took all his might not to rip out all the lines currently running into Harry's body just to end his suffering - ironically, something he could not do for his own situation.

With all the scans showing no abnormalities, there wasn't much else Alton could do besides increase the morphine. Severus hated that there wasn't anything they could do to stop the cause of the pain, but with only a day and half of the chemo left for this round, hopefully Harry's frail body would be able to recover enough next week to re-stabilize. At this point, Harry was asleep and Mrs. Weasley had agreed to stay while Severus was locked away in his bedroom because it was obvious he wasn't clear headed enough to safely aid Harry should he need it.

The dark mark didn't cease burning until dinnertime. Harry hadn't woken up once during that time and Severus found Mrs. Weasley on the sofa knitting a green jumper in the sitting room when he finally escaped from his bedroom.

"Everything ok dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked once he was seated in the armchair to her left. Having taught all of her children, it was always odd to be reminded that she was, indeed, older than him.

"Hopefully with time," he said honestly holding his head in his hands. "How is Harry?"

"Still sleeping, thankfully," she said looking back towards his bedroom. "What do you suspect was going on?"

"No idea, but if nothing is physically wrong I'm leaning towards it being something magical," he hated to admit what was going through his mind. "Maybe his magic has been fighting against it all along and this was its one big push...I don't know. It's really anyone's guess, but I'll discuss it with Albus. If anyone can find something, I'm sure he can."

"Poor thing," Mrs. Weasley mumbled, secretly referring to both the professor and student.

~~~~HP~~~~

His whole body ached as if he had been under the Cruciatus Curse. That was the first thought he had when consciousness came back to him. Trying to think back to what happened he could only put bits and pieces together - it was his birthday, Ron and Hermione were here, Snape was angry, he was in pain. Thankfully he was in less pain now, but ached everywhere instead.

Opening his eyes, his room was dark; there was only one small lantern lit on the other side of the room. Immediately looking to the enchanted window, he was confused to see it completely blank.

Why would someone turn it off?

He reached over and grabbed his glasses unceremoniously shoving them on his face and saw the sight of his professor sleeping slumped over in the armchair beside the bed using his robe as a blanket. In the man's lap were several pieces of parchment, the topmost reading Draco Malfoy with Albus Dumbledore directly beneath it. It was obvious that they had tried to visit and Snape had either ignored or slept through the alert.

He cleared his throat, happy to see a glass of water on the desk. Sipping the water was pure bliss on his parched throat and the first indication he'd been asleep for longer than he normally slept.

"Severus," he called out to no avail. The man was completely passed out, but his chest rising and falling at least showed a sign that he was alive.

Harry really considered just going back to sleep, but he had to use the loo really bad. His port and IV were still attached and he couldn't really use the crutches and pull the stand at the same time. He sat up, swinging his legs across the bed, trying to ignore his aching muscles in the process. He looked around for the sphere, but it was nowhere near him.

What the hell happened?

"Severus," he called a little louder but again it went unnoticed. That was the wrong thing to do because he barely had time to grab for the pail next to his bed before he vomited mostly bile from his empty stomach.

Suddenly, a figure appeared at the door and picked his head up to see, his face went into an immediate scowl. It was Malfoy.

He's like a cockroach, I can't get rid of him!

"How did you get in here?" He demanded quietly, so as not to wake Snape although he doubted he could if the professor had slept through everything so far.

"The headmaster let me in. After Professor Snape didn't answer any of our messages; we were worried," the blonde teen explained.

"What happened to him?"

Malfoy shook his head, "I think he took a sleeping draught. All I know is when we got here you were both passed out like this."

"And Dumbledore left you here? Alone?"

"Of course not," Malfoy said highly offended, "Professor Dumbledore was here with me until a couple of minutes ago. I have to say, your timing really is awful."

Harry thought about his options, if he didn't get to the loo soon he'd have far more things to be embarrassed about than asking Malfoy for assistance.

"It's not like I had a choice in it," he spat back. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes he asked, "Can you at least give me a hand to the loo?"

The horrified look on Malfoy's face was almost worth having to ask him for help.

"All I need you to do is follow me in with this-" he held onto the stand next to him, "-and then leave once I'm in there. The room is small enough for me to get around."

Malfoy looked from Harry to the lavatory door and back.

"Fine, Potter" he spat, "but if you tell a single person, I'll make your life a living hell."

Harry shook his head confused and grabbed his crutches from next to the bed being careful not to wake Snape. It was a short awkward walk to the lavatory, but it really was necessary and Malfoy at least had the foresight to wait for Harry outside the door, sparing him another awkward request.

The small field trip had completely exhausted the Gryffindor physically, but mentally he was too awake to sleep. Not wanting to interrupt Snape, he grudgingly asked Malfoy to help him to the sitting room. He was laying on his spot on the sofa while Malfoy sat on the armchair Snape did not use; leading Harry to believe that Malfoy had not only been in the professor's quarters before, but often enough to know which was "Snape's chair".

"How long was I asleep?"

Malfoy looked over at him placing the book he was reading onto his lap. "Well, I don't know when you fell asleep, now do I?"

"Erm..." Harry thought back, "it was the afternoon of the 31st."

"Oh, well then about a day. It's two o'clock in the afternoon on the 1st."

Malfoy gave him a questioning look, but Harry didn't care; he had only 17 hours left of the continuous chemo and then he'd be done for at least a week. While he didn't doubt the next phase wouldn't be anymore pleasant, he would be happy to, hopefully, be making some progress. Maybe they could try to test out some of his magic just to make sure he could still function.

"Earth to Potter," he heard Malfoy call to him.

"Shove it Malfoy," he said and picked up his Charms book to redo the essay Snape transfigured into a bandage.

The two teens sat in the sitting room with an uneasiness between them. Neither could fully concentrate on the work he was supposed to be doing and instead kept peering over to either the fireplace, Harry's bedroom, or the other boy.

Several hours later, Harry had given up on Dumbledore coming back and he assumed the next person would be either Healer Smithe or Madam Pomfrey to change out his medications. That was until he heard someone loudly curse from his bedroom. Snape must have woken up and Harry was not in his bed.

"Harry!"

"In here sir," he called out to Snape as the man uncharacteristically ran out into the sitting room.

"Good morning Severus, it's nice to see you too," Malfoy sarcastically replied. "Or I guess I should say good evening since it's nearly supper time."

Snape glared over at Malfoy, "How did you get in here?" He sat down in the other armchair across from the blonde Slytherin.

"That seems to be a popular question today," he narrowed his eyes to Harry. "I came here with the headmaster, but he had to leave right before Potter woke up."

"I apologise," the professor said to Harry. "I took a pain potion that I hadn't realized was laced with a sleeping draught. It was completely unacceptable."

Harry turned away, "S'ok sir."

"No, it's not ok," Snape's face became angry, before his mask covered it back up. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok," he lied. The last thing Harry wanted was to cause more guilt for his professor and he questioned to himself when he started to care so much. "What caused that reaction sir? I mean, at this point I know what to expect but that was so... different."

The professor looked over at Malfoy and chose his words carefully, "Professor Dumbledore has a couple of ideas. Hopefully he'll find something to help so that does not happen again."

Of course the headmaster would know and not tell him. It was only his body going through all this, why should he have any idea what to expect? Going down that train of thought soured his mood instantly and he hardly heard Snape say he was going to prepare dinner for the three of them.

Harry didn't know why he thought to ask, probably because misery loved company and he was desperate for someone else to be as miserable as he was. Whatever the reason, he almost couldn't believe when he heard himself ask Malfoy, "When are you getting the dark mark?"

To his credit, Malfoy didn't fall into a raging fit, but instead looked almost as exhausted as Harry was.

"Monday," he replied quietly, "I go back home Sunday and then Macnair is coming to get me for the initiation."

"I'm not saying I believe you," Harry said skeptically, "but if you don't want to get marked, why are you? I doubt it's to help the Order like you claim."

"Ha!" Malfoy gave a sadistic laugh, "you make it sound like I've ever had a choice. Sure, maybe I used to want this, but from where I'm sitting today, my father's in Azkaban when the Dark Lord could have easily gotten him out by now. And you know what the ironic part of that is? That he's probably safer in Azkaban than out here. What does that tell you about the respect the Dark Lord gives his followers?"

"It's not like you didn't know what kind of manic Voldemort was before now. It's been kind of obvious."

There was no way Harry would feel bad for Malfoy. The Slytherin knew exactly what he was getting himself into before now. Harry on the other hand had always been just thrown into these situations for reasons he had no control over. Sure, he could never imagine what it would be like going against your parents' wishes, but that was because the person the Malfoy's worshipped killed his parents before he was ever given that chance. Malfoy may have Dumbledore fooled into believing he's changed, but Harry definitely wasn't.

"So what's your story?" Malfoy asked, nodding his head towards Harry.

"There's nothing to tell," Harry spat back, not caring what Snape said the other day, he would die before revealing to Malfoy a single piece of information about himself. The last thing he needed was Voldemort knowing he was on his way to becoming a squib.

"You think I believe that Potter?"

No, Harry did not believe that. He wasn't stupid, he knew what he looked like. However, he also had the advantage that while any muggleborn would clearly know what was wrong with him, the Death Eaters and their children would most definitely not know anything about muggle illnesses.

"I'm sure Hermione has a book she'd lend you, all you have to do is ask her."

Friday finally arrived and Harry was more excited than when he won his first Quidditch match. Having had such a strange sleeping schedule, both Harry and Snape stayed up most of the night and Harry had finished his Charms and DADA assignments which Snape was in the process of reviewing. Harry spent the early morning hours thinking about Malfoy and the conversation they had. Was it possible for two people as different as him and Malfoy to find themselves in similar situations? Were they both living a life where they found themselves without a choice - Harry with his cancer and Malfoy with the dark mark? It was a lot to think about.

He ended up back at the hospital wing that morning where Harry was given a muggle calming draught - which made him feel completely out of it even if he wasn't sleeping - and had another Intrathecal chemo done along with another bone marrow biopsy to check the status of the leukemia. For some reason Harry hadn't thought that they'd have to do the biopsy again when checking once the induction chemo was completed. It was a very good thing he had the muggle calming draught because both of those at the same time would have practically killed him.

By the time he was back at Snape's quarters, he was too exhausted to do anything but go to sleep. Not wanting to sleep too soundly and further mess up his sleep cycle, he slept out on the sofa waking only for a couple rounds of vomiting and then immediately going back to sleep. Snape never said a word about his unorthodox sleeping location, but he also had a feeling the man was still angry with himself for both his attitude and the potion mishap from the other day.

Healer Smithe stopped by late afternoon with Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore which not only caused Harry to wake up a little more suddenly than usual, but caused him to get extremely nervous. This would be the first time seeing his Head of House since all of this started.

"Oh Harry," she sympathetically said immediately upon seeing him which was about what everyone sounded like lately, "I'm so sorry to hear about everything you're going through. I'll be here for you in any way that you need."

"Thank you Professor McGonagall," Harry said, hoping to move whatever this was along.

Professor McGonagall summoned and transfigured the appropriate number of chairs so that everyone was sitting together in a circle. There were introductions for Healer Smithe and Professor McGonagall, and small talk regarding the submissions to the Board of Governors for each curriculum. Apparently Snape was being called in to discuss his suggested curriculum, but he just waved it off saying that "they're always looking for something to complain about." It was obvious the professor had done this before.

"Ok," said Healer Smithe bringing the group's attention to him, "Harry, I have your results back from the bone marrow biopsy we did this morning and I'm happy to report that there was no sign of the Leukemia in your bone marrow. The induction chemo did it's job and you are now considered in remission."

Harry wanted to jump up with excitement, but his foot was in the cast and he still was a touch nauseous from the chemo that morning. He did feel the start of tears in the corners of his eyes, which he quickly swept away.

"That's great," he settled with instead. "So, why are there so many people here?"

"We're going to discuss the next phase, which will lead into the school year," he said handing out papers to each person, "I thought it best to include your Head of House and headmaster in addition to Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape. It will be less times you need to explain it."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Even though the test results show no more cancer in the bone marrow" the healer went into his lecture-mode voice, "it doesn't mean that it's not still there. Unfortunately, because it was there at some point, if we stop treatment now, it will come back. Consolidation is used to keep killing off any possibility of that happening.

"Consolidation itself is done in 3 phases and will run about 7 months in total if everything goes smoothly. We'll take it one at time again, so it doesn't overwhelm you. The first part will be a total of 8-weeks, and is done in 2 rounds of 4-weeks each."

Harry was brought back to the appointment when they first discussed his treatment. Even though it was only a month ago, it felt so much longer and he was surprised at how comfortable he was with the terminology and accepting what would be happening to him. He remembered sitting in the healer's office scared out of his mind and consolidation seemingly so far away. As he turned his head around the room he also noticed how many more people were here for him. The day of his diagnosis, he was so alone but seeing everyone here helped make him feel stronger even if only a little.

"We're going to start next week and each Saturday you'll have an Intrathecal done and then chemo through your port. For the first 2 weeks, it will be 5 hours on Saturday followed up with another 4 hours each day Sunday , Monday, and Tuesday. The last 2 weeks will only be 2 hours on each Saturday giving you the week completely free. That cycle will repeat once to make up the full 8 weeks. We'll also be adding a daily chemotherapy tablet to take plus you'll still need to take the vitamins, antiviral, antibiotic, pain reliever, and antiemetic."

To Harry, he pretty much said: awful first 2 weeks, better second 2 weeks, repeat once... Extra tablets.

"So that will get me to, when... October?" Harry asked, calculating quickly in his head, "Will I be able to go to classes? I'd like to at least stay caught up in the theory if I can."

"Unfortunately, I'm recommending you stay out of classes at least through this part of consolidation," Healer Smithe said looking not only at Harry, but the headmaster as well. "At least two of these medications can be hard on the blood cell counts. We'll keep close monitoring of your blood counts and hopefully by mid-October, they'll be stable enough to attend classes again."

A month and a half - he'd miss at least that much of school. How was he going to keep up with classes if he couldn't attend them?

"How will that work? I mean, not even counting the fact that I can't do magic, how will I even keep up with the theory if I'm not in class?"

It was Professor McGonagall that spoke up this time, "I'll be working with your professors to set up a tutoring schedule, plus you'll be assigned a student tutor for each subject to assist you."

Harry felt his face flush; as if he needed any other reason for the rest of the school to think he was getting special treatment.

Picking up on his discomfort, Snape added, "It's what would be offered to any other student with a disability preventing him or her from attending regular classes. You are not special in this."

Strangely, that made him feel a little better, but he doubted his classmates would see it that way.

"Will I be staying here with Professor Snape the whole year?"

"Actually Harry," it was the Headmaster this time, "you can have some say in where you go this year.

"With the death of your relatives, it unfortunately has left you without a guardian. As your Head of House, the fastest option to keep you out of the Ministry's control was to get Professor McGonagall assigned as your guardian until you turn 17. That means if you'd like, we can move you to a set of guest quarters off of hers. Similar to Mr. Malfoy's situation here, it would technically be a space all your own but with Professor McGonagall having direct access to it."

Harry was more than surprised by that offer. Not only could he get away from the dungeons, he'd only have to see Snape for his tutoring in Potions; if he even got into the class to begin with.

"But if Professor Snape is my medical proxy, shouldn't he be overseeing my treatment?"

The Headmaster didn't hide his smile or the twinkle in his blue eyes when they met Harry's still dull green ones.

"Well, you see Harry," the eldest wizard started, "with your relatives no longer your guardians, there isn't really a need for the medical proxy. Minerva is more than capable of overseeing your care and making decisions in your best interest if you so desire her to. However the medical proxy agreement has not yet been dissolved, so should you like to keep the arrangement with Professor Snape you certainly can do so. He does have the benefit of having some healer training."

Harry couldn't believe he was getting to make a decision like this. It's exactly what he'd always asked the courtesy of - but which did he want? He could put the last month of Snape behind him and yet he couldn't jump at the chance now that it was right in front of him.

Turning to face Snape, the man looked completely defeated. Harry was sure he was thinking back to how he acted the other day in his fit of rage and indiscretion with the potion. Even still, he's learned so much about his mum from the professor and he's learned about a whole different life the man had lived before showing up here. In fact, if it weren't for that other life, where would Harry be right now? Probably at the Dursley's miserable and dying without even knowing it.

Everyone was waiting on him to answer and he flushed when noticing all the eyes on him.

Wetting his lips, not taking his eyes off Snape, he said "If it's ok, I'd like to stay here with Professor Snape as my medical proxy." He quickly added, "It's not that I don't trust you Professor McGonagall, it's just..." He trailed off not knowing how to put what he was thinking into words.

"Don't worry about it Harry," Professor McGonagall reassured while leaning over to pat his shoulder. "Severus is a very wise choice to oversee your medical care."

The young wizard nodded turning again towards Snape, but this time meeting the professor's eyes. Deep within the obsidian eyes he could see confusion and relief. It was the first time Harry had publicly shown that his relationship with the man was indeed changing and Harry was anxious to see where this would lead the both of them individually, together, and as part of the war effort against Voldemort.