When Severus and Harry were alone, Harry whispered, "I'm sorry."

"You are sorry very often lately, Potter. And unfortunately, I'm always the one to suffer." Severus said bitterly.

"I don't know why I did it. Maybe it was one of the potions," Harry tried to explain.

"Or you just became pudding in Alastor's arms and told him everything," Severus said harshly.

What should Harry say now? He could not say anything because it was the truth. Guilt is my second name lately, he thought bitterly. I don't think I can fall asleep tonight. He almost jerked up when Severus spoke again. It was not a harsh voice. It was calm and conciliatory.

"I have lived with them long enough to know that it is impossible to keep something from him when you are in his arms. Just let us pretend to sleep when he comes back, Harry."

Harry sighed, relieved. A heavy weight was lifted from his chest by those words, and he finally drift into sleep.

~*~

When Harry awoke, Severus was still pretending to sleep. Poppy and Alastor were talking in low voices. Poppy fumbled for her wand on the night table the moment she realized that Harry was awake. "How are you?" she asked when she faced him.

"Still tired and my head hurts," he said while already feeling the familiar tickle of the diagnostic spell. His eyes wandered over to Severus, who was facing the wall.

Alastor, who had followed his glance, said, "He is still pretending to be asleep."

Harry looked uncertainly at Alastor. Is he still angry with him? "What about Albus?" Harry asked, worried.

"He will stay away from you until I say he can train you again. No twilight training until Poppy says you have fully recovered. I will assist you with the spell training from now on, and Severus can join us when he is healthy. Nevertheless, you still need the okay from Poppy before we start."

"And I won't give it before you have rested and eaten properly, Harry," Poppy said sternly.

Harry hissed when she adjusted the IV. "Do I really need this?"

"Yes, Harry. You have been very dehydrated, and you have strained your magic. This will help you to gain more energy," Poppy explained.

"I have spoken with Poppy, and she agrees that your Animagus training will have first priority. She will tell you when you may start it again."

Harry's eyes lit up. "Really?" He looked, surprised, from Poppy to Alastor.

"Yes, really," Poppy said and rolled her eyes. "We will all eat in bed today."

"Twinky?" Alastor called and a house-elf popped into the room. "Bring us breakfast, please."

"Yes, Master Moody."

Poppy made her way over to Severus. "Stop pretending to be asleep, Severus, and turn around!" she ordered.

Without saying anything, Severus turned onto his back and let Poppy cast her diagnostic spell. After she had finished the examination, she said, "And now we will talk." She waved her wand and a Silencing Charm was placed around them. Harry could not hear anything, but he saw that Severus tried to turn stubbornly away from Poppy. Everything ended with Poppy leaning over to bury her face in his shoulder. Uncertain, Severus laid his arm around her.

"It was good that you lifted your demand, Harry," Alastor said, and Harry was forced to avert his glance from the scene between Severus and Poppy. "We all don't want to lose him, but he has to decide for himself to come back. Otherwise he would have blamed you your whole life."

Harry sighed and said sadly, "But now he won't come back."

"We will see," Alastor said and arranged breakfast for them all. He brought the last tray over to Severus, who was still holding Poppy. "Come on, Poppy. Let him breathe."

With a last kiss on Severus' forehead, she stood up and came over to Harry again. Breakfast was eaten in silence, and half an hour later Poppy and Alastor left the room. "No brooding over how to kill You-Know-Who; just resting!" Poppy ordered while closing the door.

Severus had already faced the wall again. Harry glanced over to him. "Severus? Are you sleeping?"

"Yes," Severus answered grumpily.

Harry crawled out of his bed and tiptoed over to Severus'. The IV bottle hovered beside him. Carefully, he sat down on the bed and touched Severus' shoulder.

"Do I have a sign on that says, ‘Touch Me,' or why is everyone putting their hands on me today?"

Harry pulled his hand back as if he had burned it. "Poppy should have allowed you some coffee. You are unbearable."

"That was her way of punishing me," Severus said and finally turned around. "At least go and get your bed covers or you will catch a cold."

A few minutes later, Harry sat on Severus' bed, cuddled in his bed clothes. "Alastor said he will train me until you can join us, and he said he spoke with Poppy. I can start the Animagus training as soon as possible."

"Of course they want you to start the training. When you are no longer a Horcrux, there is no reason for you to take part in the battle. They will lock you in your room until the war is over," Severus said bitterly.

"No, they won't. Alastor wants to train me. Why would he if he wants to lock me in?"

"He only wants you prepared for an emergency, not for the final battle with the Dark Lord."

"No, he told me it was good to let you decide for yourself to use the emergency Portkey or not. He loves you, but he would never force you to stay if you want to go back to Vol-the Dark Lord."

"We will see," Severus said, deep in thought.

Harry felt cold and snuggled the covers closer around him. "Ouch," he cried out when a sharp pain shot through his arm.

"Damn, you moved the needle. Poppy will have your head," Severus said while holding Harry's arm.

"Poppy will have both your heads," Alastor growled from the door and then stuck his head out to call for Poppy. "Back to bed," he barked when he came over to Severus' bed.

Harry hardly had time to stand up before Poppy came into the room. "What's going on?" One look at how Harry held his arm and she knew what was wrong. "Into bed with you, Harry," she ordered strictly.

"It was an accident," Harry tried to explain himself.

"An accident that will hurt you and not me, Harry," Poppy said and guided him in the bed. She grabbed for his arm and Harry winced.

"Can't you leave it out?"

"No, Harry." She removed the needle and cleaned it. She examined the back of Harry's hand before sticking the needle in.

Harry made a face. He hated the IV.

"Maybe I wasn't clear enough. You both are on bed rest today." She glared from Harry to Severus and back to Harry. "Be careful with this, Harry, or next time I'll have to insert the needle in a more painful area." After tucking Harry in, she faced Severus and glared at him.

"I did not leave my bed, and even if I did, I am an adult." Seeing in her face what she thought about that, he added, "And I am not ill. I do not understand why I have to rest the whole day."

"Oh, I would love to explain that to you," Poppy said sarcastically and went over to him. "Why don't we start with the obvious? You stole out of bed the last nights even so you knew that you need all the sleep you can get." She ignored Severus eye-roll and went on. "Or maybe I should mention that you have lost a lot of blood playing your martyr game with You-Know-Who and that his sick fascination with the Cruciatus Curse has inflamed your nerves. Shall I go on?"

"No," Severus said sullenly and turned away from her.

"Good. Now, you two will rest. No talking! I will place a charm on the room, and believe me, you two don't want to cross me today."

________

One day later, Harry and Severus were finally allowed to sleep in their own rooms again. Poppy removed the IV, and Harry was allowed to train to become an Animagus. As he was not allowed to speak with Severus, Harry has asked Alastor to give him a book about magical creatures and normal animals. He wanted to find out what his Animagus form was. These were the books that lay on his bed. He had found a few animals that looked as if they could be his Animagus form, but as Harry only had saw his paw, he was not sure.

Harry managed to transform his hands and feet before eating lunch. He only ate because he could feel Poppy's watchful eyes on him, but his thoughts were with his Animagus training. After two more hours of training, Harry was very exhausted and rested for a while. He did not want to risk a drawback.

When he woke up from his nap, he had still two hours until supper, and so he tried to transform completely. He tried hard and was very frustrated. Finally, he almost broke down and lay panting on the floor. His tongue was lolling out of his mouth. No, wait, it was lolling out of his muzzle. Harry blinked, confused. The room smelled different, and he could hear the birds from the Forbidden Forest as if they were in his room. Harry tried to stand up, but lost his balance. After several attempts, he stood, spreading all his four legs shakily. Carefully, he padded over to his mirror. His Animagus looked back at him.

He was big, maybe one and a half meters high. Dark gray fur covered his whole body. Only his chest was white, and he had a black line on his back. The most breathtaking thing was his eyes. They were red. Harry had seen this animal in Alastor's book. It was a hellhound. Harry studied his paws again. They were as big as Poppy's plates, and Harry loved to expose the deep black claws. Harry went closer to the mirror and growled. White teeth were flashing. Oh, yes, he loved his Animagus form. It was powerful and dangerous. Voldemort had better watch out.