~*~

"Change back, Harry," Severus ordered again.

When the pain had ebbed a bit, Harry transformed.

"Oh, thanks Merlin, I have you back," Alastor whispered and hugged him tightly again.

Harry winced in pain, and Poppy immediately cast another Calming Charm on Alastor. "Remember that he is in pain, Alastor!"

"It is out?" Harry croaked. He wondered if anyone understood him because his voice was so broken.

"Yes, it is out and destroyed, Harry," Albus said and looked worriedly down on him.

Harry sighed, relieved. After drinking the many potions Poppy gave him, Harry drifted off to sleep as the pain lessened.

~*~

When Harry woke up, Severus was sitting beside him, watching him closely.

"How do you feel?" Severus asked Harry, worried.

"Fine. How is Alastor?" Harry tried to sit up and winced in pain. Harry could remember how worried Alastor was and that he had cried.

"I can see that quite clearly," Severus said sarcastically and grabbed for one of the vials on Harry's night table. "I want you to answer my question truthfully and in detail. How do you feel?"

Harry lied back and sighed. "Everything hurts, and I feel tired. But I don't want a Sleeping Potion. I want to know everything about the extraction and how Alastor is."

"Do you feel dizzy?" Severus asked professionally, and Harry wondered for the first time why Poppy was not there to ask him these question.

"No, I don't feel dizzy, but why isn't Poppy here? Is Alastor okay?" Harry asked, panicky.

"Harry, I will answer all of your questions when you have answered all of mine concerning your health. Poppy would have my head if I did not help you as quickly as possible. Let us get this over with and I will tell you about Alastor, who is resting with Poppy at the moment. It is 3am," Severus said as if he was talking to a small child.

"I feel pain everywhere. I'm not dizzy or nauseous or whatever," Harry said seriously.

"Can you see clearly?"

"I don't have my glasses on." Harry looked around and finally found them on the night table. He fumbled for them. Severus picked them up gently placed them on Harry's nose.

"Better?" Severus asked calmly.

"Everything is clear. So, I'm okay?" Harry asked hopefully.

"We will see. This is a pain killer," Severus explained as he opened the vial.

Harry tried to grab for it, but suddenly realized why he was unable to pick up his glasses a moment ago. His hand was shaking violently. Why didn't I realize it before? This looks horrible, Harry thought and started to panic.

"Calm down, Harry," Severus said and grabbed Harry's outstretched shaking hand with his free one. "This is normal. Nothing to worry about. It will go away in a few hours. Sleeping will help." Severus glanced at the vials on the night table.

"No, not now please," Harry said. Severus' hand around his wrist had stopped his hand from shaking fiercely. There was still a slight tremor. Harry did not dare to look at his other hand.

"You are still not quite conscious, Harry. It would really be better for you to sleep. We can talk in the morning. I will be here when you wake."

"But-" Harry started to protest, but Severus stopped him.

"Harry, you did not even realize that your hands are shaking until they were right in front of your face. You need rest," Severus said gently. "Drink the pain killer first."

After Harry had swallowed the bitter concoction, Severus pushed him gently back into the cushions. "Alastor is fine. You just witnessed that he is not the fearsome wizard that he tries to make us believe he is. You scared him a lot, and he feared that he had lost you. Poppy put two Calming Charms on him and gave him a Dreamless Sleep Potion. Exactly what I would like to give you now as well. We can talk about everything in the morning."

"But what about you?" Harry asked while Severus already opened the vial of Sleeping Potion.

"I will transfigure this chair into something more comfortable and sleep," Severus said, and without giving Harry the chance to say something more, he pressed the vial to his lips.

Harry swallowed the liquid without protest and fell asleep immediately.

The next time Harry woke, Severus was still sleeping in the comfortable armchair he had conjured. Harry cautiously sat up and fearfully lifted his hands to look at them. They still had a tremor, but it was hardly noticeable. The pain had diminished to a dull ache.

"Better?" Severus asked as he straightened up.

"Yes, the pain is manageable. My hands are also better, look," Harry said and held his hands in Severus' direction.

"Yes, that looks better. Do you want another Pain Relieving Potion?" Severus asked while leaning over to look closely in Harry's eyes.

"Err...." Harry said, becoming nervous at Severus' glance. "If that would be okay?"

"Stop being stupid, Harry. Of course you can have another potion. You do not have to play the hero."

Harry took the vial gratefully from Severus and gulped it down. He sighed when he felt the immediate effects. "Thank you. That's much better."

"It's six in the morning. Do you want to sleep a bit more?" Severus asked tiredly.

"I don't think I could sleep now. I would like to hear what happened yesterday, but if you would like to sleep a bit longer-?" Harry asked, seeing how tired Severus seemed to be.

"I can sleep the whole day. Nothing for us to do. Poppy will come around eight to check on you, and I think we should have all your questions answered by then because they would prefer to forget about it as soon as possible."

"Okay, so could you tell me what happened from the moment I changed into the hellhound? I can't remember much," Harry said.

"When you transformed, you immediately started to breathe very quickly, and we thought we would not get very far. Albus wanted you to at least experience the chains, and so he shackled you very shortly after you transformed. When he had reached your back legs, I thought you would break down from hyperventilating. Your whole body shook. Unfortunately, I was too...you know my problem with werewolves, Harry, and you looked a lot like one. I could not help you. Alastor was worried about you, but he saw how hard you fought to stand your ground, so he went over to you and spoke to you."

"Yes, I can remember that. It helped a lot," Harry mumbled.

"I realized that it helped you, and that is why I came to you after Albus had shackled your head. It was not because I feared that you would bite me if your head was not secured. I just needed a moment."

"I understand, Severus. You don't have to worry or apologize."

"I know the feeling of claustrophobia and knew that you had problems but wanted it to be successfully over. I tried to help you to focus. You managed it very well, and because you wanted us to go on, even Alastor, who was white like a sheet, agreed that we should start. Your Occlumency shield broke the moment the pain overwhelmed you. I tried to talk to you, but the hellhound had taken over, and I could not reach you."

"Yes, it was hard. The hellhound was furious and wanted the pain to stop and be free of the shackles. And then this overwhelming sadness came over me, and I had to fight so hard to put up my Occlumency shield. But the pain was still there, and I tried to calm the hellhound. I was scared that it wouldn't work because I didn't feel one with the hellhound."

"Yes, normally you are one with your Animagus, but maybe your control of your mind made you think separately from it. That is a good thing because so you can think more clearly while being an Animagus," Severus said seriously.

Harry was relieved. He had feared it was a bad thing.

"I felt that you had managed to put up your shield and that you only had to struggle with the physical pain. I had to hold Alastor back because he wanted to stop. He accepted your wish, and so Albus went on, but the moment your legs gave out we wanted to stop. However, exactly at that moment, Voldemort's soul was beginning to come out of you. Albus went on, and Alastor was screaming his lungs out for him to stop; I had to hold him back. When Albus announced that he had stopped and destroyed the Horcrux, Alastor went over to you, and I called for Poppy. Alastor was beside himself, and I feared he had lost his mind. Poppy could not even come close to you when you were back in your human form. She had already placed one Calming Charm on Alastor so that I could check on you, and she had to place another one on him to let go of you the moment you had changed back. I hope that answers all of your questions."

"I still don't understand why Alastor was crying. I mean, he's always so strong. I thought we had failed," said Harry.

"He is quite fond of you, Harry, as is Poppy. Losing both of us would kill them," Severus said deep in thoughts.

"Then we should see that we both don't die," Harry said, determined, and looked at Severus to see his reaction.

"And again, we are at our sensitive issue." Severus sighed. "But we were talking about Alastor. I have only seen him like this once. He blamed himself for not stopping it sooner, and if you had lost your mind, he would have never forgiven himself. When I held him back, he fought me only half-heartily. I think he knew that you wanted to continue, and so he failed to put up much of a fight." Severus paused shortly. "It was what you wanted, right? It was right that we did not stop?"

Looking at Severus' very worried face, Harry said reassuring, "It was exactly what I wanted, Severus. Don't rack your brain about it. It was bearable, and I would have been very disappointed if you had stopped."

Severus leaned back in his chair and relaxed. Maybe this was the reason he looked so tired. He could not sleep because he was worried that they had overtaxed Harry. Now that he knew they had made everything all right, a huge burden was lifted from his chest.

"Maybe you should go to sleep in your own bed, Severus. You look very tired. I'll try to sleep until Poppy comes."

"I will sleep here until Poppy takes over," Severus said, determined. He moved the back of his armchair further down and lay back. "However, sleep sounds very good." Severus closed his eyes, and Harry did the same.