An hour after the accident, Dumbledore ordered Madam Hooch to check over the Quidditch equipment with the help of Professors Flitwick and McGonagall. Not too long afterwards, they found the Dark Mark carved deeply into the bludger that struck Harry. Without a doubt, every professor knew that somehow either Voldemort himself or a follower of his had carved that mark. Therefore, they destroyed every bit of their school Quidditch equipment. The golden snitch took an Incendio. The quaffle and subsequent bludgers exploded with a well-placed Bombarda. The beaters' bats shattered from a freeze charm. Dumbledore then placed a temporary ban on Quidditch until the next year in order to ensure that no one else would be hurt.

It had been three weeks since the bludger hit Harry. There still was no change in his condition. He was still lying on the cot in the Hospital Wing comatose. And according to Pomfrey, he would be for quite awhile as his head healed. Throughout the entire three weeks, Harry had one constant companion who stayed the entire night with him until sunrise.

"Hey," a voice whispered as the person stood behind Snape. "Is there any change yet, Severus?"

"None," he replied quietly. He sounded completely exhausted. Then again, it was around one am. He sighed heavily. She must have just finished with her first year class.

"If you want to—"

"No," Snape snapped. "I cannot leave him, Aurora."

"All right," she responded before kneeling in front of him. "Severus, I know you don't want to talk about it, but I can't just stand by and let you suffer. Tell me what it is. Tell me why Harry's affecting you so much. Is it because of Lily?" He didn't respond. He only stared at her with that same look that he had worn for three months now. "If you're blaming yourself because you didn't stop that bludger, then stop, Severus. It wasn't your fault. You didn't carve that symbol into it. You didn't cast that spell. Severus, you didn't do anything wrong."

"I was supposed to protect him, Aurora."

"Severus," she said softly before gently holding his hands. "Please stop blaming yourself."

"Before his game, I spoke with him in your tower. He did not wish to play that day, but I…I told him that it'd be a way for him to reconnect with James." Aurora stared at him, but said nothing. "I could have just let him quit, but I didn't. I foolishly pushed him to play."

"Severus, you couldn't have known about any of this," she whispered softly. "Dumbledore didn't even know." She then gently rubbed her thumbs against the back of his hands. "Please, Severus. Please tell me what else there is. I can see it in your eyes that there's more. Severus, what is it?"

"He's mine," Snape whispered so softly she couldn't hear him.

"Severus, I—"

"He's my son," he repeated a bit louder.

"Oh," she cried before biting her lips. She closed her eyes and hung her head. "You're not going to lose him, Severus. Please believe me. Harry's going to wake up. I promise."

"You can't promise me that, Aurora. No one can." He then glanced towards Harry. "I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't believe it. I never was with Lily like that." He shook his head before swallowing harshly. "I was at a manor in the outskirts of Nottingham on Harry's supposed night of conception. I can clearly recall that night. I can even smell the acrid stench of death after I had killed a young girl on his orders. I can hear Bella's laughter as the girl screamed for her to stop." His whole body shook as he desperately held his emotions back. "He can't be my son, Aurora. He just can't be."

"Did you have Madam Pomfrey examine you? Maybe those are implanted memories."

"She couldn't find any evidence of that. According to every scan she did, I was in Nottingham."

"Then perhaps Syrene is behind it," Aurora responded quietly. "Either way, Severus, you won't lose him. Harry's a fighter." She then sighed. "I take it that Harry knows you're his father?" Snape nodded curtly. "Then he has even more reason to wake up, Severus."

"I told—I told my son I didn't—I couldn't be his father. I told him to continue believing James was his father. Why would he wake up to me after that? I pushed him away as if he meant nothing."

"I'm sure he'll understand." She then glanced towards the young Gryffindor. "He's a beautiful boy, Severus. I'm sure Lily would agree if she were alive." She lovingly carded the boy's messy hair.

Soft groans from the little lion quickly brought Snape to his feet. He glanced towards Aurora before glancing at Harry. His heart beat rapidly in his chest. In fact, it felt as if it was about to explode from his chest. His son was waking up.

"Harry, sweetheart, can you hear me?" Aurora softly whispered as she leaned towards him. More groans came from the young Gryffindor. She then glanced towards Severus before deciding it'd be best for her to get Pomfrey. She wordlessly left to do just that, leaving Severus with Harry.

"Harry?" Snape quietly spoke. The boy's head rolled back and forth on the pillow as he slowly regained consciousness. He gasped for air before leaning towards his son. He gently touched Harry's face to try to keep the boy from moving so much. It didn't take long before Harry leaned more into his hand, craving more attention. He couldn't prevent the soft smile from curling his lips upwards.

"Dad?" softly Harry whispered.

Snape's hand instantly recoiled as if something burned him. He stared at the boy before whirling around. He knew he was being a coward, but he couldn't deal with this yet. When Harry had spoken that one word, it felt like a punch to the gut for Snape. He was certain Harry couldn't be talking about him. They weren't to that point yet, and Snape wondered if they ever would be after what happened.

Snape glanced back at Harry one last time before pulling out an envelope that he had meant to give the child, his child, on the first night of his vigil. Silently, he placed the envelope next to all of Harry's well wish gifts. He stared at his son and closed his eyes. He wasn't ready to face Harry yet. He thought he was, but now that the time had come, he knew he wasn't. He accepted that Harry was his son based on DNA. He had run the tests himself and received the same results as Madam Pomfrey. However, he didn't and couldn't accept the possibility yet that he had been with Lily and created that amazingly beautiful child of theirs who was slowly regaining consciousness. He would have thought he'd remember at least part of Lily and his time together, but he couldn't recall anything. He drew in a breath and briskly walked towards the doors. Before he could leave, though, he walked past Aurora and Pomfrey. Both witches stared at him in disbelief. However, he didn't allow them time to say anything. Within seconds, he was gone.