The day went by in a blur for Harry. He didn't wake until his treatments were halfway over and spent the other half bent over the basin either throwing up or fighting off the near constant bouts of nausea. When he could he dozed to escape the nausea, thankful that every time he woke Severus was there to get him whatever he needed.

"Severus?" Harry cracked an eye open when he felt cold hands against his chest.

"Yes?"

"Your hands are cold."

"Sorry," Severus whispered as he finished connecting the TPN bag.

Harry looked down at his chest. One lumen was looped and taped to his stomach, and two were connected to something, but besides the TPN what else was being pumped into his body? The chemo had ended hours ago so it wasn't that. "What am I hooked up to?"

"Besides the TPN, you're getting another unit of blood. Your test results came back indicating anemia and low platelet counts, which isn't surprising considering you've slept on and off for over twenty-four hours," Severus pulled the covers up to Harry's chest.

"Is that bad?" Harry rolled onto his side to face his professor.

"No, it's expected," Severus laid the back of his hand onto Harry's forehead to check his temperature. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Harry yawned.

"No pain?"

Harry shook his head. "Am I drugged out of my mind?"

"Do you feel like you are?"

"No." Harry looked across the room to make sure he wasn't seeing anything out of the ordinary. "At least, I don't think I am."

"Good." Severus wrote something down in his chart.

"Can I go back to sleep, or do I need to stay up?" Harry asked as his eyes started to droop shut.

"You may, but you need to take your medications first." Severus pulled him up before placing the plastic cup filled with pills in his hand.

Harry groaned, but downed the pills and glass of water quickly so he could slide back down into his warm nest. 

*~AIE~*

Severus dreaded the day before he ever crawled out of bed. It was Friday and that meant it was time for Harry's second intrathecal chemo injection. Miss Adamson was up in the Hospital Wing with Poppy setting up for Harry's procedure. Severus, meanwhile, sat at the table with a cup of strong coffee, willing the caffeine to wake him up.

"I can't read this one." Harry slid an essay across the table.

"Hufflepuff, Finch-Fletchley, first year." Severus grimaced at the horrendous handwriting of a child not used to using a quill.

Harry had woken around 4 AM with enough nervous energy to power Harrods at Christmas. After convincing his son to try to sleep for two more hours, Severus woke up at six to find Harry sliding the last book onto his bookshelf from his trunk. Harry's desk was already cleared of the supplies Severus had bought him, and the wardrobe door was open to reveal Harry's clothes hung in order according to the colors of the rainbow.

Before Harry could think of any other unnecessary organizing projects, Severus had sat him down at the table with a huge stack of essays. As part of Umbridge's "reforms", professors were required at the end of winter term to send the OWL and NEWT taking students' essays to the Ministry's education department for student and professor evaluations. The Ministry examiners were supposed to have read the essays and use them as ten percent of the student's exam scores. In theory it was a good way to reward the students who put effort into their essays. However, the Ministry's intentions weren't to read the essays and factor them into the test scores but use the essays as proof a professor was incompetent and should be replaced. Of course as soon as Umbridge was ousted from Hogwarts so was the new procedure, leaving Severus with years worth of essays to reorganize and file.

"How do you have all these? You always return our essays to us." Harry scrunched up his forehead as he picked up one of his own failing essays.

"Duplication charms. We're required to save student work incase a parent or student disputes his grade." Severus refilled his coffee cup. "Finish your juice."

Harry drank the remaining apple juice from his glass. "I'm not dehydrated you know."

"You need the extra Vitamin C," Severus lied.

"I already take Vitamin C in the mornings." Harry dropped the essay in his hands as Severus saw something click in Harry's mind. "You slipped something in my juice!"

"A mild anti-anxiety drug," he rushed out. "Don't tell me you aren't calmer. I couldn't get you to sit still for five minutes without a sticking charm when you first woke up." Severus waved his hand to replace the empty glass with a new glass of water.

"I was a bit fidgety, wasn't I?" Harry covered his left hand with his right to stop the tapping his fingers had started once he no longer had an essay in his hand.

"A bit?" Severus cocked an eyebrow. "You organized your wardrobe by color in the middle of the night."

"I-" Harry paused before shrugging. "Did the Ministry really need our essays from first year?"

"Umbridge deemed it necessary that the examiners have access to every essay with the claim that the OWLs and NEWTs are cumulative tests so therefore the essays taken into consideration must be a sampling from each year."

"That's stupid. What I didn't know in first year shouldn't be an indication of what I know now." Harry crossed his arms and started pulling at the sleeves of his hoodie.

"Harry, it'll be okay." Severus walked around the table to squeeze Harry's shoulder.

"How can you say that?" Harry jumped up and away from Severus. He stumbled, but grabbed onto the table before he fell. "You aren't the one about to get a huge needle stuck in your spine!"

Severus took a step forward, but Harry's hasty retreat to the end of the table halted his steps. "If it wasn't necessary I wouldn't make you endure the procedure, but there's credible evidence from studies that if you refuse intrathecal injections, the leukemia will spread to the spinal fluid despite a clean spinal tap upon diagnosis."

"Isn't there some way Miss Adamson can magic the injection into my back?" Harry's grip tightened on the chair. "Madam Pomfrey has used magic to put potions in my stomach before."

"Your stomach is a large target compared to your spinal canal. You would not want Miss Adamson to miss her target if it was even possible to utilize magic for the injection." The Potions Master glanced towards the clock on the wall. They were due in the Hospital Wing in ten minutes.

"I could be paralyzed?" His child sunk into the chair, one hand tugging at his hair.

A large patch of hair fell out of Harry's hands and onto the table. Harry froze, his eyes fixated on the raven locks.

"Harry," Severus whispered as he approached his son from behind. "Look at me, child."

Harry twisted in the chair to look up at him. A look of disbelief was plastered onto his face.

"You pulled too hard," Severus lied. They both knew it was the start of Harry's hair falling out. He'd been expecting it and mentally prepared himself for it, but Harry looked beyond shocked. "Let's go."

"But-" Harry looked back at the lost locks.

"Later." Severus tapped his child's shoulder. "One thing at a time."

"Okay." Harry blinked.

Fifteen minutes later, Severus entered the Hospital Wing with Harry stumbling beside him. He didn't trust that Harry wouldn't pick up any germs from the floo, and his child's energy levels had crashed halfway up the staircase leading from the Entrance Hall. After Harry almost tripped on a stair despite leaning against Severus, the Potions Master had scooped his child into his arms and carried him with Harry protesting the entire way until they were right outside the Hospital Wing's doors.

"Good morning." Miss Adamson smiled. "Harry, you can go right into the procedure room, sweetie. You'll need to take off your top and roll down your pajama bottoms a few times. I'll give you a few minutes to get situated, and then we'll be in."

Harry nodded and continued to the procedure room at the back of the Hospital Wing.

"Severus, I need you to sign these forms," Miss Adamson handed Severus a clipboard. "With Harry's nerve damage, I might need to place Harry in a body bind from his armpits down to ensure he doesn't move. I'll give him another tactile test before I inject the local anesthetic, but if he can't handle my hands on his back, I won't be able to get the local anesthesia administered without a body bind."

"You'll likely need the body bind." Severus nodded his assent. Harry always twisted or jumped away from him when he applied the salve to his child's lower back. The nerves were sensitive to touch even when Harry wasn't registering any pain.

"The IV bag of caffeine we were hoping would arrive in time came just before I left. With any luck, the caffeine will work to stave off a spinal headache like he experienced last time. Were you able to slip Harry the anti-anxiety pill?"

"Yes. Will today's chemo be administered here or my quarters?" Severus had shrunk several books and journals incase he and Harry would be in the Hospital Wing all day.

"Here. My co-workers are covering my other cases for me today. I'd like to keep a close eye on Harry today to make sure the injection or his other chemo doesn't affect his nerves in any unexpected ways and also closely monitor his pain levels as the day continues to see if we need to adjust his medication levels." Miss Adamson took the clipboard back from Severus. "If there was anything you needed to do, this afternoon would be a good time."

"I'm fine." Severus straightened up as he suppressed a yawn. He wasn't about to leave Harry alone in the Hospital Wing.

"Of course." Miss Adamson smirked. "Let's not keep Harry waiting."

*~AIE~*

Harry sat on the edge of the procedure table with one of the purple striped blankets wrapped around his shoulders. What was taking Severus and Miss Adamson so long? If he had to get a needle shoved into his back he wanted it done and over with.

"How are you doing today, Harry?" Pomfrey sat on a rolling stool beside the table.

"Fine." He looked towards the door. "Are they almost done?"

"Almost. Professor Snape had to fill out a few consent forms. Did you have any questions about the procedure today?"

"How long will it take?" Harry's eyes never left the door.

"About twenty minutes, but a lot of the time is prep. The needle won't be in you but for a few minutes at the longest, just enough time to collect some spinal fluid and then insert the chemo." Pomfrey squeezed his hand. "The procedure sounds worse than it is."

"That's what Severus said." Harry chewed on his lip.

"How are your nerves? Miss Adamson and I have been discussing some different physical therapy techniques that might be beneficial to you."

"The same." Harry held out his hands. They trembled, and as much as he tried he couldn't do anything to stop it. "Severus bought me some Muggle pens and pencils that are easier to write with. I wasn't getting anywhere with a quill."

"I'd imagine so." Madam Pomfrey laid her hands under Harry's. "Squeeze my hands."

Harry squeezed her hands until his fingers cramped up. "Like that?"

"Exactly like that." Pomfrey took his right hand in hers and started to massage his fingers. "Your grip is weak, but not horribly so. We'll work on getting your muscles strengthened and that should help with your control. Are you having any problems with clasps or tying your shoes?"

"No," Harry shook his head. While it was the truth, it wasn't completely true. Harry hadn't needed to slip on any shoes besides his slippers since his treatments started so it was possible he'd have trouble tying them, not that he'd admit that to Pomfrey.

"Good. Relax your hand for me."

Harry relaxed his hand. He hoped the physical therapy would help. It was rather embarrassing to worry about spilling his glass or reaching out for something and seeing his hand shaking.

Pomfrey let go of his right hand and picked up the left one. He flexed his right hand, feeling the loosened muscles and realizing how tight the muscles had been. He hadn't been in pain, or at least any pain that he could feel. Severus made sure he took his morphine on time. But were the pain meds working that well or was there any pain to feel? Quidditch proved his muscles could be tight without feeling any pain.

As Pomfrey finished, Severus and Miss Adamson walked through the door and any feelings of relaxation Pomfrey's ministrations had given him were gone. Severus had a forced look of reassurance on his face. He hadn't realized he could read Severus' expressions before, and it was a horrible time for it to dawn on him considering he could really use a bit of reassurance from his professor. If Severus wasn't truly calm about the procedure, how could he expect Harry to be?

"Ready, Harry?" Miss Adamson's voice was as chipper as ever.

Harry shrugged to hide his fear, wondering if Miss Adamson was ever less than optimistic. Did she tell her patients they were dying in that chirpy tone, too?

"Can you lie down on your side for me? I need to run a few scans first, and then we'll get started. Okay?" Miss Adamson walked over to him.

Harry felt the tingle of magic over his skin as he lied on his side. Severus replaced Pomfrey on the stool and Harry reached for the Professor's hand.

"Try to relax." Severus brushed the hair away from Harry's eyes.

"I can't." Harry closed his eyes, willing the injection to be over.

"I know."

"Alright, sweetie, the scans look good. Can you pull your knees up to your chest and angle your neck forward?" Miss Adamson helped push his knees up. "Perfect. Hold still now."

Magic rippled through his body, locking his body in place, and Harry snapped his eyes open. "Severus?" the timbre of Harry's voice jumped up an octave.

"Don't panic, Harry." Severus cupped his chin. "The body bind is temporary and to ensure you don't move. Miss Adamson will reverse it once the procedure is over. You can still move your arms and head. See?" The Potions Master held up their entwined hands.

"I hate this." Harry hugged Severus' hand close to his chest.

"It'll be over soon."

"I want it over now," Harry whined. He didn't care if he sounded like a spoilt brat. He hated feeling confined. It reminded him of all the times the Dursleys locked him in the cupboard and later in Dudley's second bedroom.

"Hold on. You can squeeze my hand as hard as you need to. Miss Adamson and Madam Pomfrey are scrubbing in, and then they'll start."

"I want to go home," Harry said before realizing what slipped out. "I mean to your quarters."

Severus' quarters were more like a home than he'd ever had. They were the only place that he had a room that felt like his, and the only place he'd ever fully unpacked. The Dursleys didn't count since the clothes and things they gave him weren't really his, but his cousin's castaways.

"It's your home as well, and we'll return home as soon as Miss Adamson lets you," Severus promised.

"Harry, Madam Pomfrey is going to hook you up to a few things, and then I'll begin, sweetie. I'll need to know if you're feeling any pain," Miss Adamson informed him.

"Okay," Harry croaked as he shut his eyes and squeezed Severus' hand between both of his.

"You're alright," Severus whispered in his ear.

Harry tried to hang onto the reassuring timbre of Severus' voice, but Miss Adamson's hand on his lower back ensnared his mind until all he could focus on was the pain. He whimpered and the hand remained, but its pressure lessened.

"Hurts." Harry tried to curl up further into a ball, but his torso and legs remained locked in position. "Let me go."

"Shh." Harry felt Severus' breath tickle his ear while the Professor's free hand cupped the back of his head, holding it in place.

"No!" he cried feeling something cold spread on his back. "No!"

Severus' hold on his head disappeared for a moment before holding him in place once more. "Stay with me, Harry."

A needle pierce his skin and intense pain flared down to the tips of his toes and up to the top of his head and out to his fingertips, so intense he struggled to breath. He coughed and gasped, his lungs searching for air. The beeping in the background sped up and a mask was shoved over his nose and mouth.

"Breathe, child." Severus' soothing tone broke through his panic, and Harry coughed once more before inhaling the oxygen that streamed through the mask. "That's it."

Harry took deep breaths, the oxygen saturating his lungs. The beeps steadied, and he opened his eyes to meet Severus' gaze. The pain had faded, but an uncomfortable tingling sensation remained throughout his body. Harry reached up to pull down the mask, but Severus stopped him.

"She needs to numb the other side of your back," Severus explained, his voice strained.

Harry shook his head. He couldn't handle that amount of pain again. The pain was worse than the Cruciatus from Voldemort he suffered under at the end of fourth year.

"I'm so sorry," Severus whispered as he nodded to Miss Adamson.

Pain blinded him. He felt millions of miniscule needles sinking into every pore on his body. Harry screamed.

"Shh." Severus wiped the tears that leaked out of Harry's eyes.

Harry's screams turned to whimpers as the pain receded to a manageable level. He kept his eyes shut and his hands wrapped around Severus' right hand. Tears slid down his cheeks, but he ignored them. 

Harry chewed on his lip, a metallic taste filling his mouth, until the pain in his back morphed into a blissful numbness. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. The numbness was welcome, but he didn't want to have to go through that ever again to completely eliminate the pain from his back.

"The worst is over, child. You shouldn't feel anymore pain." Severus removed the oxygen mask, propping it up so it could continue to blow extra oxygen across Harry's face, but Harry didn't feel as confined.

"I hate you." Harry whimpered. Severus had lied to him. He had said it wouldn't be that bad, but the procedure was torturous in Harry's book.

"I know."

"I need you to hold still now, Harry." Miss Adamson's fingers ghosted over his spine.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut. He felt an uncomfortable pressure on his spine, but no pain. He relaxed the tiniest bit and tried to call up the calming wave sounds from his mural.

"She's almost done." Severus pressed a cool cloth to Harry's bleeding lip.

Harry laid still as Miss Adamson finished collecting a sample of his spinal fluid and injected the chemotherapy. The needle was withdrawn and Miss Adamson put pressure on the lumbar puncture site before sticking a bandage over it.

"All done." Miss Adamson sighed in relief, releasing Harry from the body bind.

Harry pulled his knees further to his chest as his right hand rubbed at his scar, a steady pounding escalating behind his forehead.

*~AIE~*

Severus tucked the silver blanket charmed to help soothe the pain from nerve damage around Harry, settling the child into the Hospital Wing bed. He wrung out a soft cloth in a basin of cool water and wiped the tears from his son's face that continued to leak from his eyes.

"It's over, child," Severus whispered, needing the reassurance for himself as well as his son.

The procedure went worse than Severus could've predicted. He expected Harry to feel a bit of manageable pain when Miss Adamson injected the local anesthesia into Harry's back, but he would've never allowed the procedure to happen without fully sedating Harry first if he had had any idea of the pain it had just caused his child.

"I'm sorry." Severus couldn't apologize enough. The procedure was necessary, and he hated that Harry had to go through it. Furthermore, Severus had learnt his lesson. He'd see to it that the procedures needed, as part of Harry's treatment plan would be done as painlessly as possible. Harry may be close to adulthood and expected to endure a bit more pain than younger children, but Severus wouldn't allow Harry to feel that pain if it could be prevented.

"How is he?" Miss Adamson walked to the end of the bed.

"Asleep, passed out, pick one," Severus snarled. "I won't tolerate a repeat of that procedure."

"Neither will I," Miss Adamson bowed her head. "There was no reason he should've felt that much pain even with the nerve damage."

Severus shook his head. Something had happened during the procedure that he couldn't explain. He could've sworn he saw Harry's emerald eyes shift to a reddish tone for a split second right before the first shot of local anesthesia. He didn't want to begin to think of what that meant. The Potions Master would need to discuss the possibilities with Albus. As much as he hated the man at the moment, The Headmaster was the only one who knew the depth of the connection between his child and the Dark Lord.

"You could use some rest yourself, Severus," Miss Adamson motioned to the empty bed beside Harry's.

"I'm fine," Severus insisted. He wasn't going to leave Harry now when he couldn't be sure the Dark Lord wasn't lurking around waiting for Severus to leave Harry unprotected. He could enter Harry's mind if the Dark Lord decided to attack again and force the evil bastard out, but he couldn't do that while he slept.

"You aren't doing that boy any good if you don't take care of yourself," Poppy harped on him from across the room. "Don't make me use your own potions to drug you into sleep, Severus Snape. You're too stubborn for your own good."

"I said I'm fine," Severus growled. He didn't trust Poppy or Miss Adamson to detect the signs of a mental attack, not after it had happened before when he entrusted Poppy to look after Harry. And if he did anything to leave Harry's side, it would be to talk to the Headmaster so they could figure out how to solve whatever had happened to Harry and prevent it from happening again, not sleep. That's what Pepper-up potion and caffeine were for.

"Would you rather I fetch Minerva or Molly?" Poppy sighed.

Severus smoothed down a patch of Harry's hair that was sticking straight up. He couldn't do two things at once, and he certainly wasn't going to discuss the possibilities with the Headmaster in the Hospital Wing where Harry had a chance to overhear them. At the same time, Severus needed to be there when Harry woke.

"How long will he be asleep?"

"The sedative should wear off in a few hours." Miss Adamson checked the infusion pump.

Severus had insisted Miss Adamson give Harry a stronger sedative than the one Harry received during the procedure as soon as the bandage was stuck onto Harry's back. His child needed an escape after the trauma of the injection, a chance to recover comfortably.

"Will you ask Minerva to come sit with Harry?" Severus turned to Poppy.

"Of course." Poppy turned to leave.

"Do you require a sleeping aid?" Miss Adamson added an extra blanket to the foot of the adjacent bed.

"I'm not going to sleep." Severus traced a finger over Harry's scar. "I must speak with the Headmaster."

"As you wish."

"When will you be starting his chemo?" Severus didn't want Harry to face the infusions without him. They went fine yesterday, but whatever had happened during the injection could rear its head again during Harry's chemotherapy infusions.

"Once he wakes and I've examined him. I want to make sure there aren't any lingering effects first."

"Don't start without me." Severus pulled the extra blanket from the adjacent bed and spread it out over Harry.

"I won't."

Severus nodded and turned back to his son. He checked Harry's temperature with a scan and watched the magical display of numbers showing Harry's stats. All the stats indicted Harry was fine, but Severus knew something in connection with the Dark Lord wasn't right. What he saw wasn't a mental attack or possession, but something he hadn't seen before.

"Severus?" Minerva squeezed his shoulder.

"I must speak with Albus." Severus tucked the covers around Harry tighter before standing up. "I want to know the moment Harry starts to stir."

"Of course. I won't move from this chair." Minerva sat down with an owl-order catalogue with pictures of quills and textbooks on the cover.

"Thank you."

"Go speak with Albus. The sooner you go the sooner you'll return." Minerva waved him away.