Harry was not a happy person. Not when he was serving detention at five in the morning, with his least favourite professor in the forbidden forest of all places.

The sun hasn't dared to peek through the trees yet, the canopy of leaves have left the woods looking as dark and as gloomy as they did at night, broken twigs and roots, fallen leaves and various herbs, all covered the ground, crushed under the boy's heavy footsteps.

He was extremely sleepy, he couldn't remember the last time he was this tired. Last night was a restless one and he couldn't help but feel that fate was laughing at him for being so miserable.

Hermione did tell him that he shouldn't have pulled that prank on Snape, but he couldn't just help himself. The git humiliating him in potions was one thing, he really didn't have any talents or lost love for the subject, but for the bat of dungeons to insult him in his favourite subject, defence against the dark arts...

Now that was another matter completely. He couldn't let Snape abuse him in a subject Harry had taught himself.

Harry and Ron were still snickering after the incident for hours, going over the not so funny pun, over and over again. Their bushy head friend just rolled her eyes and reminded Harry that he had to get up for his detention at five in the morning. Enough of a damper to stop him snickering, but not enough to make him regret it.

And she was right, here he was, groggily trailing after the professor, half wondering if Snape has decided to kill him in the woods.

"Potter! Don't slack off!" the man barked over his shoulder, and kept on striding. Harry groaned inwardly but quickened his pace. He was told, that they were supposed to find some sort of poisonous herbs here that only bloomed in the sunrise.

Tough luck, Harry thought sarcastically, the man probably expected him to get poisoned and die, doing a victory dance over his dead fuming corpse.

Harry wrinkled his nose. That was not a pretty image.

"Potter! Are you deaf as well as blind?!" Snape actually turned, grabbing Harry by the elbow before Harry could crash down into the bile of sharp-looking twigs and brambles.

Harry's eyes widened, he sidestepped the pile. That would have been a painful landing. "Thank you, sir," he said grudgingly, trying to keep his eyes open.

Snape rolled his eyes and sneered at him over his nose. "Only you can trip on nothing and die, Potter." He didn’t necessarily sound as if that fact aggrieved him, but rather he sounded as if it was a minor annoyance. A hurdle in his daily life.

Harry didn't grace the man with an answer, probably didn't need another detention served in an ungodly hour.

"What are we doing, sir?" he asked timidly, hoping that speaking might keep him from falling sleep on his feet. It was dark and early, and Harry’s eyes were drooping.

"I thought you have read your detention slip Potter?" the man jeered, not sparing him a second glance. Harry gritted his teeth.

"I forgot, sir." he had actually torn up the slip out of anger without bothering to read it first, but who cared? Snape didn’t have to know that.

"Of course Potter is now too perfect to read his own detention slips, isn't he? I even bet Granger woke you up this morning."

Harry bit on his lip to prevent the cuss word he knew he was about to say. Swearing in front of Snape was the last thing he needed. ‘Remember Hermione, Harry. she said that he's only trying to provoke you. Don't satisfy him.’ He told himself and hoped that it would be enough.

"I really forgot sir, what ingredient are we collecting?" he bit out, trying to keep his tone as polite as possible without choking the man to death from behind. The height would be an issue, but Harry was angry and tired enough to manage it if he really wanted to.

"So you have amnesia as well, oh joy. What a saviour." The potion master drawled, looking at his sides before heading right and out of the trail.
That didn’t look like a good sign. No one would find Harry’s body if they got that far off the trail.

"We are collecting Cestrum nocturnum, otherwise known as the deluded night jasmine. Potter, this is third-year material." the man said dryly, sighing heavily. He seemed disappointed with the air around Harry as equally with the boy himself. Harry brooded, the man wasn't even a potion professor anymore, what was the purpose of collecting such a dangerous herb?

"Just to remind your dusted brain Potter… One sniff of the herb can kill quicker than the killing curse. In sunrise, however, the effects are more enduring."

"Just knocks the person unconscious?" Harry guessed, trying to remember the herb's qualities. That's what most poisonous herbs did anyway.

Snape’s shoulders hunched even more. Harry had the impression that the man was physically in pain from Harry’s lack of knowledge. It bothered him more than he cared to admit.

"No Potter,” Snape said, surely rolling his eyes, “it's like a drug hit. It causes Delusions. It's named the deluded night jasmine for a reason."

Harry cursed, perfect. Just peachy. He could just imagine himself getting poisoned by that thing, or worse, Snape poisoning him with it on purpose, which he isn’t allowed to do, but still.

"The effect will wear off after an hour, so don't worry about your dignity Potter. It won't be wounded. Much." the man smirked, coming to a sudden stop.

He kneeled carefully, Harry cautiously crouched down behind him.

"Watch your fingers and don't smell the flower Potter. Do you hear me? Don't smell the flowers."

The boy-who-lived nodded mutely, gulping as he saw thin sharp thorns sticking out of the plant and its soft blue petals allured Harry right away. The colours looked magnificent. Harry leaned in instinctively, his mouth open in wonder as he reached out to touch the shimmering blue petals. They looked soft and furry.

A rough hand tore his wrist away from the flower and Harry stumbled back, landing on his bum unceremoniously.

"What...?" he looked over at Snape, glaring murderously in his direction, pure hatred shining in his eyes.

"What part of ‘don't touch the flowers’ you did not understand Potter?” he growled, “Is your mind so deluded to believe my warnings as a joke or do you see yourself above the rules?!" the man looked genuinely angry, even ready to spit in rage. Harry stammered, and got to his feet clumsily, brushing his hands off the small twigs.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, regarding the flower with a suspicious glare.

Snape sneered once more before turning away, detaching the flower's leaves carefully, Harry thought he heard him muttering about ' irresponsible dunderheads ' under his breath. Oh, whatever.

Harry walked to the bush of flowers, subconsciously holding his breath as he neared the thing.

"If you don't intend to kill yourself, Potter, at least pay attention. Do you see that white vein in the leaves? Grab the said leave carefully and extract the vein with this." he handed out the small prongs, putting the tall white strings in a vial. Harry nodded and took a deep breath, he leaned down.

Harry grabbed the first string and delicately pulled it out, careful not to touch the flowers, as tempting and as fluffy as they looked. He bet they felt soft and comforting. He bet he could sleep in a pile of them.

After the forth extracted vein, Harry started to feel a little dizzy. he looked over to Snape, working on another herb a few feet away, and rubbed his nose. He felt extremely sleepy, and there was this sweet smell fogging his brain. Must be the lack of sleep, Harry thought and continued his task.

After the tenth, Harry couldn't take it anymore and threw the prongs aside. Faster than Snape could react to his sudden impulse Harry leaned in and scooped the flower, sniffing the smell as hard as he could. Small round wisps of blue dust rose to the air, Snape cursed and rushed over to Potter, he knocked the flower out of his hands and immediately took a jar out of his pocket.

"Potter?"

"Potter can you hear me?" he caught the boy as he was about to fall headfirst to the ground and dragged him to an empty tree trunk. Potter looked out of it, giggling like a loon, his brilliant green eyes were glazed over and his glasses were askew. Severus cursed and unscrewed the jar.
The sheer idiocy.
There was a reason why he told Potter not to touch the petals, was the boy daft?! He had just intentionally scooped up a poisonous herb and sniffed it in! Snape shook his head in disgust and grabbed Harry's hands, applying the soothing balm to the burning palms. Of course, Potter wouldn't be able to tell or distinguish pain in his dazed state.
Severus can slit his throat with the prongs he had handed the boy and Potter will die laughing.

His palms would hurt eventually, once the boy came back to his senses.

"Potter?" he snapped his fingers in front of the boy's eyes and Potter’s giggle got louder, apparently liking the action. Severus stood up and cracked his back. At this rate, there wasn't anything he could do.

The boy's had a good sniff out of that jasmine. One hour be damned. He would be in this state for days. But alas, even Poppy couldn't do anything about it. He just had to tire himself out. Severus abhorred the scolding he would get from Albus already.
He hadn’t meant the stupid boy to snif in a handful of the herbs he intended to extract for a pain-relieving potion. It was obvious that Severus wouldn’t be able to give Potter any more detentions after this. Maybe that’s why the moron did this in the first place.
To get Severus into trouble.
"Ohhh! Ahhh!" the boy cried out in wonder as he saw a bird perch on a twig above him. Severus bit his lips. The boy isn’t that smart or cunning. Purposefully hurting himself to get back at Severus, as foolish as it seemed, was too complicated for Potter, who didn't even seem lucid.
Should he return to the castle, or maybe he should wait here with Potter? Someone, Hagrid, perhaps, was bound to navigate the woods for them eventually. Using Magic on Potter was not something Severus favoured doing at the moment, and he was too heavy for Severus to carry all the way back to the castle.

He looked over the white shimmering strings laying on the ground and bent over to pick them up.

He should just wait it out, Severus thought, might as well get his job done too. Hagrid would find them eventually, carry Potter to the infirmary, and Severus would get his chiding in due time. No need to rush his demise.

He spared another glance at Potter. "I see bunnies." the boy muttered, craning his neck to catch the bird hopping from one branch to the other.

Snape stifled a snort and turned his back, continuing his work as peacefully as he could manage with Potter giggling.

"Loopy Droopy Hooky." the boy sang and Snape stiffened, sighing in irritation. He still managed to make things insufferable even in his state. Dear Merlin.

"Keep the mindless babbling down, Potter." he snapped, even though he knew the chances of the boy actually doing that were low. He had to make do with what he had.

"I like bunnies. And cotton candies. They're fluffy." the boy chirped in response, on all fours and sniffing the tree with great interest. He was embarrassing himself and Severus was in no way enjoying the cringe-worthy show.

"I have gathered as much." the potion master replied dryly, taking out his wand to banish the flower and moving to the next one.

"I like doggies too. Huff huff! Doggie!" the boy roamed around the area on all fours, imitating a dog.

To be honest, Snape was enjoying himself, contrary to his earlier thought. He was enjoying too much to stop Potter from making a fool out of himself. Oh merlin, how much he wished that he had a camera right now. This would be priceless to capture.
It sounded cruel, and he wasn’t about to deny that.
"Snapey, do you like Bambi?" Harry looked at him with doe-like eyes, with a trust that a toddler put in a parent. So rare and uncommon to see it on Potter. Snape realized with a jolt.

"Bambi?" he distinctly recalled a muggle baby fawn strolling in the jungle with a bunny.

Harry nodded, giggling. "Baby Bambi, I am baby Bambi." he confirmed, and laid down on his back, looking up at the sky, giggling like a mad wizard after hours of torture. The kind of mad laughter that prompted the involvement of mind healers.

"What makes you think so?" he asked before he could stifle his curiosity. Merlin be damned if the boy thought of him as the bunny.

"I'm Bambi." The boy laughed again, hysterically giggling, due to the flower's relaxing qualities, Potter should be feeling a little too relaxed. Snape realized, his limbs must feel heavy by now.

Severus stored the veins and fastened the vial’s lid firmly.

"Potter? Get up, it's time to head to the castle." Maybe Potter would be coaxed into walking by himself. It was getting colder and the winter chill was settling in as the sun rose above them. Severus didn’t fancy Potter catching a cold on top of his ailment. On the other hand, returning to the castle now would mean that everyone would see the boy wonder speaking gibberish during breakfast. Potter wouldn't like that at all, loosened tongue wasn't the only side effect after all.

"Bambi and Mommy, in the woods, Bambi and Mommy running." the boy repeated happily, acting as if he hadn't heard his teacher. Snape stared at the boy for a few moments before checking the boy's head for a concussion. Maybe an injury was aiding the hallucinations.
Severus hated himself for getting into this mess in the first place. He didn’t mean to get himself into any trouble in his pursuit to teach Potter a thing or two about misery and hardship.
Potter cried out suddenly, and Severus leapt back, startled. Potter started crying in earnest as if Snape had just hit him. This wasn’t a good sign.

"Potter?" he asked tentatively, outstretching a hand to the boy's head.

"Mommy gone Bambi, Mommy gone! Run Bambi, Run Bambi, Run!" Snape watched horrified as Potter trashed weakly against the invisible threat, repeating the sentence like some kind of mantra.

He approached the boy hesitantly, his every move low and deliberate.

"Potter?"

"Bambi!" the boy hissed out in protest, scratching at his hands. Snape lunged forward and grabbed the boy's hands.

"Alright, Bambi!" the man barked, keeping Potter's hands down. He had to admit, for a drugged teenager, Potter sure was stronger than anticipated. Apparently, stature wasn’t everything. Potter might be tiny but he was strong when it came to inconveniencing Severus.

"Bambi?! Bambi where's mommy? Bad doggie, bad 'man' killing Mommy." the boy sniffed pathetically. Snape cursed. He had no idea what the brat was sniffling about, who was this Bambi? Surely Potter wasn't reliving a muggle character's life? A fawn's life?

His guts sank as he heard the boy repeat that sentence. Badman, killing mommy. Was the boy referring to the dark Lord? Or to Bambi himself?

As soon as Potter had started crying he stopped, he suddenly began laughing again, the tears streaking his face were forgotten as Potter laughed in genuine mirth.

Severus frowned. Maybe he should run back to the castle and get Poppy. Leaving Potter in this state left a bitter bile in his mouth.

"Potter?"

"Bambi! I'm Bambi!" the boy glared at him, pouting like a petulant child. Snape sighed in resignation.

"Alright, Bambi? Get up, we need to get you to the castle." he couldn't use magic on the boy, any ounce of magic placed on the brat would be fatal at this stage, especially when Potter was as affected as it was. He would've carried the boy, but he didn't think Potter was that light, and Severus did have back problems for a while now.

"Bambi?" he gritted his teeth, every time he called Potter that wretched name. He couldn't believe that Potter was playing with him even in this state! He swore that the boy was actually enjoying himself.

"Bad doggie, the prince, Bambi helps the prince!" the boy was overexcited again, even from where Snape's hand rested on the boy's ribs, he could feel Potter's heart beating frantically.

"Bambi? Potter damn it! Get up!” it sounded like such a hard task to ask of the boy. “We need to go back to the castle!"

Potter looked at him blankly for s moment before he sighed in relief. "The meadow?" he asked softly, almost meekly, his trashing ceased and he relaxed. Snape shook the boy.

"Boy? Get up, we need to go, now. "

Potter muttered incoherently, and his face broke into a wide yawn.

"What?" Snape lowered his head near the boy's mouth.

"Spring. Wake me up then," he muttered, his nose wrinkling as Severus's hair brushed on his face.

"Sto' ticklin' me." the boy muttered, looking already half-sleep. Severus exhaled in defeat. There was no other way, he had to send out a Patronus for someone to come and help him with the boy. Waiting for Hagrid would take too long. He cast a quick Tempus. It was seven already. Severus cleared his throat and fished out his wand. Potter followed his hand with his eyes lazily, his head rolling back and forth.

"Keep your calm Potter," he ordered the boy before waving his wand. A delicate doe shot out of the wand and Potter jolted up with flailing limbs.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Snape held the boy back.

"Go to Albus and tell him to send help. Potter is poisoned." the doe nodded and nudged Harry’s face with a delicacy reserved for flowers before disappearing in the woods. Potter turned back and started hitting him.

"Why did you do that?! Why did you send her away?!" he kept beating Snape with his fists.

"Potter calm yourself!" the man snapped impatiently. Potter had a heavy hand.

"Bambi! I'm BAMBI!" The boy trashed and yelled, and Snape held on just as firmly.

"Where's thumper? Thumper?! THUMPER?!!" the boy craned his head around, looking for the fictional character.

"Where is he?"

"Potter?! Harry calm down! He's fine! Thumper's fine!" Potter slacked in his arms immediately. As quiet as a deer caught in the headlight.

Snape didn't dare make a sound as they stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Until Severus heard sniffing again.

"Harry?"

"Dudley called me Bambi, I don't want to be Bambi." the boy whimpered, sniffing every now and then.

"Potter?" this statement sounded more coherent and sound than the previous ones. The effects couldn’t be wearing off already, could they?

"Vernon called me baby Bambi too, he said... He said, where's your mama baby Bambie? Where's your mama? Is she dead?” his lip curled. “They made me watch it. Over and over and over again." the boy said this with such a feverish tone, that Severus actually pitied him, he had seen those wrenched relatives in Potter's mind last year. He had seen as he was belittled and beaten, as he was locked in a dark confined space for days.
He had reported accordingly back to Albus. To no avail. Never to any avail. Severus couldn’t help him just as he couldn’t help Lily. It was always easier…hating the boy instead of pitying him.

"Harry?" he slowly circled the body and sat down next to Potter's head.

"I want cotton candy." the boy requested suddenly, looking at him with hard demanding eyes. Snape gaped, the boy wasn't serious, was he? It struck Severus how Potter might have no idea what Severus was saying to him. Severus had not seen the effects of the herb first hand before, and for the first time in years, he felt hopeless in his lack of knowledge.

"Potter, do you understand me? How many fingers am I holding up?" Potter titled his head, narrowing his eyes in concentration.

"One, two, three, four?” he counted off, and Severus sighed in relief. That was progress, not much, but at least something, “Is that your only hand Snapey?" the boy looked at him with confusion and pity. Severus gritted his teeth and held up his other hand.
Potter gasped, eyes as wide as snitches.

"You have two! You have two hands!" the child exclaimed, examining the hands in wonder. Severus rolled his eyes.

"You have two as well, Potter. Gawk at your own hands." Potter did so, wiggling his fingers above his face, laughing with the sort of mirth that only a child could muster. Severus watched the boy, perplexed and a little awed.

He had not seen that face on Potter since the boy had flown on a broom in his second year. His first day back. He had never seen the face so happy and so in peace.

"Severus?! Harry?" McGonagall raced toward them, Poppy hot on her tail. Snape snapped out of his trance and nodded at them.

"Ohh! A kitty!" Potter smiled widely, looking at McGonagall. The transfiguration professor paused, looking mortified. Her eyes trailed from her student to Severus’s grimace-ridden face.

"Severus, why is he...?"

Poppy cut her off and levitated a stretcher down next to Potter.

"He's drugged, Minerva. Ignore what he says. He might be embarrassed later." the woman said whilst checking Potter for further injuries.

"Are you an owl?" Harry asked the matron innocently, tilting his head up to see her face clearly.

"Potter for your own good, you better be drugged." she threatened back, helping him on the stretcher with McGonagall's help.

"The clouds look blue." the boy rambled out loud, pointing at the sky as he was being carried out of the woods.

Severus followed closely behind and spared a look at the sky.

Indeed. They did look blue.