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Saturday, 25th December 1999

Severus loudly cleared his throat to grab the attention from the group of young adults sitting around the fireplace of the small sitting room in his and Harry's home on Spinner's End - where they had spent most of their first summer together making the necessary repairs on the dilapidated home - knowing Harry would instinctively excuse himself to meet Severus in the kitchen. At first, the former professor wanted to leave this milestone night for only the two of them; excited that it marked the end of this long journey, yet knowing Harry might not feel much like celebrating it. At Harry's final appointment before his final IV chemotherapy treatment earlier this month, Dr Swanson spoke separately with Severus to explain that while caretakers of cancer patients may feel like celebrating the momentous occasion, for the patient it could be a very scary time; almost as scary as the unknown on the day of their diagnosis. As the days passed and the tablets inside Harry's last prescription bottle dwindled down, he could feel the unease radiating from the young wizard about his life when treatments finally ended.

Harry's Maintenance Phase wasn't without its own set of issues, as with every other phase he battled. The first year was spent getting Harry's bouts of accidental magic under control. Each time it happened - most of which was in a destructive form after his IV/IT treatments - it caused more anxiety in Harry about how much magic he'd have left at the end of all this. Originally, Severus had no intentions of going back to teach at Hogwarts, but found himself back in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that September as a way for Harry to easily work with Albus on the magical exercises to limit his accidental magic. It was also the last year that Harry's friends would be at the school, and while Severus would never admit to keeping the Golden Trio intact one final year, it had some impact on his decision. In the end, it helped keep Harry's spirits lifted - especially when he completely lost his hair again less than a year after it had regrown back - and the training put an end to the accidental magic he'd been doing.

That had been Severus's last year teaching and he had no desire to ever go back. While packing up their quarters in June of 1998 had been more emotional than he'd expected it to be, the former professor had been anxious to start his new position working for the Malfoy Apothecary on their latest development to treat cancer in witches and wizards. So far, his team was making progress - working from where Matthew had left off in the new formulation - yet there was still so much to explore. Pulling from what he'd learned during Harry's chemotherapy, they were trying to attack the cells from different angles in hopes of finding something with better success than even the muggle medications.

The next year, Severus and Harry battled a couple of bad illnesses, one of which left the young wizard hospitalized in the muggle hospital in Surrey for ten days. Dr Swanson had said that while Harry's blood counts wouldn't necessarily be low enough to warrant quarantining, he was still considered immunocompromised and more susceptible to illnesses. Luckily, it didn't push back his chemotherapy schedule - not that Severus cared if it had, but Harry was very cognizant of how long he had left - and he eventually made a full recovery. Ironically, Draco had been working with Dr Swanson at the time, in preparation for his family's newest wing at St Mungo's: The Malfoy Center for Muggle Diseases in the Wizarding World, which helped Severus stay somewhat sane during those late nights by Harry's bedside.

This last year was the best, by far, and outside of daily chemotherapy tablets and monthly outpatient treatments - along with a day to recover from the side effects - Harry had hardly seemed sick. His hair had fully regrown around March of this year and while it was not the same texture as before, it was still as black and messy as they both remembered. In May, he'd undergone another surgery when he made the decision to have his port removed before his chemotherapy was completed. This meant that at each monthly treatment the young wizard had an IV in his hand for the medication, but it gave him the ability to walk away without any other 'to dos' after that last IV treatment. As the year went on, Harry had more energy than he previously had and his weight was finally catching up to where it should be for a healthy nineteen year old boy.

With the return of his physical health, it made sense that Harry's friends had wanted to have a small get together tonight to celebrate his completion of chemotherapy, without realizing how Harry was mentally feeling about the milestone. At first, the friends had wanted it to be a surprise party for him, and Severus had only managed to hear about it ahead of time at work; through Lucius to be exact. He later was able to convince Draco to change the plans to have only a small gathering at his home and phrase it as a Christmas party. The friends, Ron - who was no longer dating Lavender much to everyone's relief - Hermione and Draco, and Dudley and Susan Bones, hadn't spent nearly as much time together as they'd hoped after Hogwarts and this was the perfect time to catch up.

"Last one," Severus said, dropping the single tablet into Harry's hand and vanishing the empty bottle to the rubbish bin.

Harry stared at the tablet in his hand as if this last one may be the one that would poison him. Starting tomorrow, he would no longer take any chemotherapy medications, and his eyes shifted over the tablet as he stood in front of Severus thinking about what that meant.

"What if it's not gone?" He lifted his eyes to meet Severus's when he asked the question that would continue to plague them both. They had to place their trust in the fact that his blood tests continued to look good, but technically tomorrow would not be any different than today and yet they had to believe it was; that the cancer wouldn't return after this last tablet.

"Dr Swanson said your results are extremely promising for long-term remission," Severus reminded him, "plus you'll have follow ups to check that it isn't coming back. But if it does, Harry, we'll know as early as possible and we will handle it, just as we always have."

Harry nodded and whispered, "Last one," before taking his last chemotherapy tablet.

Now that it was all said and done and Harry treatment was finally over, the young wizard had gone through over 70 IV treatments and a countless number - thousands - of tablet medications, and he would have to trust that it was enough to rid the Leukemia from his blood forever. Without thinking twice about it, Severus pulled Harry into a hug hoping he could ease any of the young wizards fears he had about his future. Someday, he wouldn't have it hanging over his head any longer. Someday, this would be a time they both looked back on and hopefully they would be able to find the things to be grateful for in the last three and half years; how this disease literally tore them apart in one reality and brought them together in this one.

"When can I test out my magic?" Harry asked in a small voice.

"After the New Year," Severus confidently replied having already talked to Alton about the right time to restart Harry's magical education. "It will give some time for the medications to clear from your body."

Harry nodded his head. "I should get back," he said and then paused with a frown, "you can join us, y'know. You don't have to stay banished to the kitchen."

"Thank you," the former professor replied, giving Harry a warm smile. "But go and enjoy the time with your friends and cousin. I have some things to work out before we start your lessons next month."

"Thank you, Severus," Harry told him, "for everything you've done for me."

With another quick hug, Harry left the kitchen, not as excited as his friends would expect, but with more determination than Severus could hope for. Severus sat down at the small kitchen table - trying not to listen in on the conversation in the other room, through the rounds of laughter - feeling like he was the luckiest man in the world and knowing this was exactly where he was supposed to end up all along; proving that all the choices they'd made had been the right ones after all.

The End