The low murmur of voices woke Severus and he opened his eyes to find Albus, Weasley, and Granger standing beside the bed. Granger looked as if she'd been crying and Weasley's face was unusually somber and concerned.

Severus turned at once to Harry, but the boy was asleep. The others noticed that the Potions Master had woken and Albus asked, "Severus, are you all right?"

"Well enough," he replied in a quiet tone.

They all gazed at Harry and Granger whispered, "Has he woken up?"

Severus nodded and sighed. "Yes, but he...doesn't seem to be aware of anything."

"Is his mind affected?" Weasley looked horrified.

"He has not suffered any brain damage, if that's what you mean," Severus answered wearily. "But he seems to have shut himself off, to have shut out the world."

"No wonder. The world's never done anything but hurt him," Weasley said bitterly.

"Yes," Severus agreed. He looked back at the child beside him and felt an aching lump settle in his throat. He swallowed hard to banish it. He could not indulge in weakness now. Harry needed him to be strong.

He felt a light touch on his arm and turned in surprise to see that Granger had come around to his side of the bed and had laid a hand on his arm.

"Professor Snape? I want you to know that when we first learned that Harry had had to become your slave, we were very upset and to be honest, a bit frightened for him. We didn't think that you would physically abuse him, but we were worried that you would be horrible about it all and would make Harry miserable."

"Thank you very much, Miss Granger." Severus kept his voice low so as not to disturb Harry, but he couldn't prevent the snide undertone. He refused to let himself remember that in fact he had been harsh and cold to Harry when they'd first learned about the spell, not to mention the years before that when he'd continuously mistreated the boy.

Granger shook her head. "But we were wrong. You've been really good to Harry. You've protected him and cared for him, and Ron and I want to thank you for that."

If she had proposed marriage to him, Severus wouldn't have been any more shocked. He stared at her for a long moment before finding his voice.

"But I haven't. Look at him. This wouldn't have happened if I had cared for him as I should have." Severus himself was surprised at the raw pain that bled through his words, but he simply couldn't hide it any longer.

Granger's dark eyes filled with tears, but she said firmly, "This isn't your fault, sir. Harry is hurting. Of course he is, much more than we even knew. But it isn't your fault. You didn't want him to be a slave. Harry's told us a few things...how you've let him keep all his old things in his room and use them like he wants, how you've sat up with him when he had nightmares, and..."

She hesitated before finishing. "He told us about the day before you enacted the spell, how he went out to the lake and was sitting there crying, and you came and found him. He said that you promised that you would always see him as a person, not a slave, that you would always treat him with respect. And he said that you held him in your arms for the rest of the afternoon."

To Severus' further shock, Granger took his hand, gave it a squeeze, and stared into his eyes. "That's the only reason why Ron and I didn't take Harry and run off to Australia."

"Because we'd have done it, too, if you'd ever harmed Harry," Weasley said, his blue eyes perfectly serious. "But Hermione is right, sir. This isn't your fault. We've seen you with Harry and you're good with him. No one else could have done more."

Their absolution completely bewildered Severus and he found that he had no idea how to respond. Finally he just nodded and mumbled something that might have been thanks.

"Why don't you try to go back to sleep, Severus?" Albus suggested. "I'm sure you need the rest after your own narrow escape. We will wake you if there is any change in Harry's condition."

Severus wished they would go away and let him be alone with Harry. He didn't want to sleep in front of an audience. But he knew it was no use. Weasley and Granger wouldn't want to leave their friend, and Severus was really too weak and tired to fight off sleep much longer. He sighed again and acquiesced, lying back against the pillows and settling his arm around Harry without a word. He was dimly aware when the others conjured chairs, but that was the last thing he was aware of before exhaustion overcame him.

***

The next few days crawled by with agonizing slowness. Severus gradually regained his strength. Weasley and Granger were a constant presence in the infirmary. From what Harry had told him, Severus knew that Granger was continuing her studies in advanced training, and that Weasley was working at that infernal joke shop with his brothers. The twins planned to open a new branch in Hogsmeade in another year or two...as a professor, Severus could barely suppress his dismay at that news...and have their younger brother run it. In the meantime, Weasley was helping them with the Diagon Alley store, learning the business and gaining experience.

But apparently both of Harry's best friends were willing to put their lives on hold to stay with him. Severus couldn't help but feel a grudging admiration for their loyalty and devotion.

Harry's physical wounds healed. Severus insisted on caring for him himself. Several times throughout the day he would gently smooth dittany salve on the cuts and re-bandage them. Whenever he tended to the injury on Harry's left arm, where the boy had cut off the slavery mark, Severus always pressed a light kiss to the bandage and thanked Harry for saving him, for saving everyone, from Voldemort.

The first time he did this, he sensed Weasley and Granger staring at him in shock, and he raised his head and glared at them. But then he realized that they weren't mocking him. Granger's eyes were soft and warm, and Weasley looked thoughtful.

They talked with Harry too. Severus refused to give up his spot next to Harry, but Weasley and Granger took turns sitting on the other side of the bed next to him, while the other pulled a chair as close as it could possibly get. They thanked Harry too, for the sacrifice he had made to save them all. Granger caressed his hair and kissed his cheek, and Weasley held his hand.

They were all awkward around one another at first, but Severus had decided that for once he wasn't going to hold back. He couldn't afford to with Harry so shattered. It might be difficult and embarrassing for him to show his love and affection so openly in front of the others, but he wasn't going to let their presence keep him from giving Harry what he needed. Weasley and Granger must have come to a similar conclusion.

Amazingly enough, after a while, it wasn't awkward anymore. Severus realized that Weasley and Granger weren't going to laugh or poke fun when he held Harry in his arms and stroked his hair. They didn't see love as a weakness. They loved Harry too, perhaps as much as Severus himself did.

And at some point, Severus wasn't even exactly sure when it happened, they ceased being ‘Weasley' and ‘Granger' and became ‘Ron' and ‘Hermione'.

***

But in spite of all the tender care and loving attention, in spite of all their efforts to reassure Harry that sacrificing his freedom had been a brave and heroic thing, Harry's emotional state did not improve. He slept for long hours...or at least he lay still and kept his eyes closed. Severus sometimes wondered if he were truly asleep. When he was awake he simply gazed into space with blank unseeing eyes. Harry never spoke or made any sound at all. He ignored Dumbledore's entreaties and Poppy's pleas. The medi-witch was forced to resort to spelling his medicines into him and had to begin giving him nutritive potions as well, since he wouldn't eat.

Severus discussed bringing in mind-Healers from St. Mungo's with Ron, Hermione, and Poppy, but the slavery spell was still a secret from most of the world and they all knew that Harry had been terrified of the public discovering it.

"I don't know how much good a mind-Healer could do without knowing the whole story," Ron spoke quietly.

"Mind-Healers do take an oath of secrecy..." Poppy began, but Severus, Ron, and even Hermione immediately rejected that idea.

"Normally I'd have already sent for a mind-Healer, but Harry didn't even tell us about the slavery spell for the longest time," Hermione said. "He hates the idea of anyone else knowing. If he knew that we had told anyone, even a mind-Healer, I think it would finish him."

"He'd never come back to us," Ron agreed.

Severus nodded. "They're right. And I believe that Ron is correct that a mind-Healer would not be much use without knowing the cause of Harry's despair. It is up to us to help him."

They had gathered a short distance away from Harry's bed. Now Ron and Hermione went back to him, cuddling close and murmuring to Harry in soft, soothing voices. Severus watched them even as he spoke to Poppy.

"Harry's physical injuries are healed, aren't they, Poppy?"

She nodded. "Yes, though I'd feel better if we could tempt him to eat some solid food. Nutritive potions are adequate to sustain life, but they aren't as beneficial as real food."

"I'd feel better if we could tempt Harry to come out of this state he's in," Severus said heavily. He looked at her and said. "And on that note, I want you to release Harry from the infirmary, Poppy. I want to take him home."