Harry could barely hear Severus, but he did feel the hand patting him. He felt a curious mixture of joy and sorrow. Joy because Severus was awake and trying to communicate and sorrow because of the guilt he felt for causing the accident which had injured the Mind Healer. Tears ran down his face and onto the sheet. He tried to speak, but all he could manage was, "Sorry . . .I'm sorry . . ."

Severus managed to turn his head slightly, so he could see Harry, who still would not look at him, but continued sobbing into the mattress. For some reason, the boy was upset and it bothered Severus, so he just continued patting his head and stroking his hair. He couldn't figure out why Harry was saying sorry over and over, Severus could remember nothing of the previous day, it was all a blur. That being so, he just whispered, "Shh . . . shhh . . .don't cry . . ." in a hoarse voice, hoping to calm the child down. Whatever Harry had done, Severus knew it wasn't something that warranted this hysterical reaction.

Just then the door opened and a graceful woman with beautiful emerald eyes and a fall of fiery auburn hair entered carrying a large banana split with two spoons in it. "Harry, here's your ice cream," she announced cheerily. Then she saw that Harry was not in his bed and turned to look over at Severus and saw what had transpired.

Lily nearly dropped the entire dish of ice cream, saving it at the last second with a levitation charm. "Oh, sweet Merlin singing!" she gasped, a huge smile lighting up her face. "Sev, you're awake! Do you remember who I am?"

She sent the ice cream floating over to Harry's nightstand and approached her beloved. His eyes stared right at her and she saw him blink and then come back from that place where he had been wandering. "Sev," she whispered, caressing his face. There were tears in her eyes.

He opened his mouth to speak her name. But it wouldn't come out. "I . . . I . . .k-know . . . you . . ." He struggled to talk, his tongue felt thick and heavy, it was not responding the way it ought to.

Lily waited patiently, moving over to pat Harry on the back. "It's okay, Harry. He's going to be okay soon. It's okay," she crooned.

"No it's not!" Harry whimpered. "He can't talk right."

"Honey, he's just woken up. And with head injuries, sometimes speech is affected." Lily explained. "At least he remembers you, right?"

Harry nodded, lifting his head up from the mattress to stare with teary eyes at the Mind Healer. "But will he be able to talk like he did before?"

"In time, Harry." Lily soothed.

Severus reached out a hand and brushed the tears from Harry's cheek. "I . . . w-will . . .no . . .crying . . ." he managed to say, though words didn't sound right in his ears. He looked up at Lily. "I . . . know you." He tried to put his tongue between his teeth. "Llll . . . .L-ll-i-ll-ly." He managed to say.

"Lily! You said my name!" Lily was smiling at him.

He smiled back as much as he could. There was something wrong with the right side of his face, he could tell. He touched his face then said, "My . . .face . . .not . . . right . . ."

"You're right," Lily said. "Your mouth . . . it's a little bit . . .droopy."

The corner of Severus' expressive mouth drooped down like a clown frowning. Then he said, "What . . . happened?"

"You had an accident, Sev. You hit your head while you were flying and got a bad concussion and your brain had a bleed on it. Poppy Pomfrey had to operate on you and you've been asleep for four days or thereabouts," Lily told him. "We . . . weren't sure when you'd wake up . . . or if you'd remember . . . anything." She sniffed sharply.

Harry, on the other side of the bed, cringed. He didn't understand why his mum was not telling Severus the entire truth, that he had been the cause of Severus' falling, because he was playing about with a mini tornado he'd conjured for fun. It wasn't that Harry wanted to tell about it, but that Severus deserved to know what had really happened.

Severus' brow crinkled. "I . . . don't . . .remember . . . falling . . ." All he could recall was a sharp crackling sound and then . . . nothing until opening his eyes this morning. "What . . . day?"

"It's October, Sev. October 16th," Lily said. She couldn't stop smiling at him, she was so very relieved that he had come awake and seemed to remember her and Harry. And that he could speak, even if his speech was slurred and hard to understand, he could talk.

Harry, however, saw it differently. He thought Severus wasn't going to recover and would always talk that way, and he wanted to scream. Snape's cultured velvet-soft voice was now a harsh croak, and the words once spoken so precisely were slurred as if he were drunk. Harry wanted to beat himself senseless, though on second thought, he'd already done that. Feeling very low, he went and sat on his bed and looked at the tall wizard and his mother.

He saw again that connection between them, Lily seemed to know what Severus wished before he could vocalize it, and brought him a cup of water. After a few sips, Severus lowered the glass and said, "Call . . . Poppy . . ."

"Of course, Sev." Lily said. She turned to Harry. "Harry, go on and eat your ice cream before it melts." She went to inform Poppy that her patient was awake.

"Okay, Mum," Harry said, though he was no longer hungry for ice cream. He began to eat quietly, though the sweet didn't taste quite as good as usual, because he was so upset. Once he had eaten half the ice cream, he pushed the dish away. He thought about telling Theo and Lucy, but couldn't seem to muster up the enthusiasm to do so. Instead he flopped on his bed, and tried to sleep, for he felt rather drained.

Lily returned with Lucy and Theo, who greeted Severus happily.

Severus had to think a bit, but then he recalled his housekeeper and young ward, and hugged them.

Theo was so happy he cried as well, but not for long, because he saw that it made Severus uncomfortable. Lucy almost burst into tears as well, but managed to restrain herself. "Thank God and Merlin!" she kept saying. "'Tis a miracle!"

When Poppy arrived, she ran a number of diagnostics on him, and found that while his speech was impaired and some of his memory, much of his brain was undamaged. "You were extremely lucky, Severus. Now, I'm going to ask you some questions, please answer as best you can."

She asked him the standard ones. He knew his name, what he was, and where he was. He knew the people around him. He did not know what had happened to him before the accident, he had no memory of the flight at all. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his bed after taking care of Theo, who had been sick.

Theo's eyes went wide. Severus didn't remember his transformation! He didn't remember Theo could become a cold drake! He looked over at Harry to see how he was taking it, and found Harry with his eyes squinched shut, looking like he was in pain.

"Hey, you all right?" he asked his friend.

Harry groaned realistically.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, but . . . I thought maybe you'd like to know that Severus' awake."

Harry yawned. "I know. I woke up and he was looking at me," Harry said. "Does he . . . remember you?"

Theo nodded. "I'm so glad. He could have died."

"I know. But now he can't talk and how can he work like that, when we can hardly understand him?" Harry asked softly.

Theo looked pensive. "I dunno, Harry. Maybe he'll get better."

"He has to get better, Theo. He has to." Harry said desperately.

"He will. He's strong." Theo said confidently.

Harry wished he could believe that the way Theo did.

Meanwhile, Poppy was telling Severus she wanted him to start on a speech regimen and maybe a little later, in about a month, he could try some memory retraining, since memory took longer to recover and needed time and patience. "You, of all people, know that, Severus."

Severus nodded. It was very frustrating to try and speak when his words came out garbled and unclear. He knew his colleague was right, but it didn't alleviate the frustration. "I . . . need . . a . . . qwu . . . qeh . . ." he stumbled over the word quill and grew aggravated and pointed at a quill lying on a table.

"Severus, do you want to turn on the light?" Poppy guessed.

"No!" Severus growled, but his voice came out like a squeak instead of a roar.

"Pick up a cup?" There was a cup lying on the table.

Severus shook his head. "No! Qwuaah . . ." He motioned again to the quill.

Lily and Poppy looked mystified.

Severus gestured angrily and again tried to speak, but the more angry he was, the more the words came out wrong. Finally, he mimed writing, hoping the pantomime would jog their memories. He was beginning to feel as if he were in a foreign country with idiots.

Suddenly, Harry said, "Mum! He's writing! He wants something to write with."

"Like a quill!" Theo cried.

"Verrah good!" Severus nodded and clapped awkwardly at the two boys. His motor skills were still functioning, as was his sarcastic wit.

"Oh! Sev, I'm so sorry!" Lily apologized. Now she felt like a dunce. How had she missed that? She brought him a parchment notebook and a quill filled with ink.

Severus grasped the quill in one hand and began to write. His writing was choppy, but not too bad, and he wrote, How long before speech returns, Poppy? Approximate. Then he handed the paper to her.

Poppy read it and replied, "It's hard to say, Severus. Not everyone recovers at the same rate. It could be several weeks or months, it all depends. But you know that a speech therapy regimen is a must, as well as some physical therapy as well. Can you move your legs for me?"

She had him lift each leg off the bed and flex his foot and toes. He had full range of motion in both legs, feet, and his hands, though his left hand was slightly weaker than his right. He then wrote, Exercise for left hand and arm.

Poppy raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me how to do my job now, Severus Snape?"

His eyes glinted and he nodded sharply. He pointed a finger at himself and said, "Mmind Healah too!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I've heard Healers make the worst patients."

Poppy snorted. "We do. Because we think we know what's best for us. As you can see."

Severus wrote, But I'm right and you know it!

The Healer sighed. "Unfortunately, you are, you bloody stubborn perfectionist." Then she smiled. "Though I supposed you've earned it. I'll come back and write up a regimen for you, and Lily can help you with it."

Severus sighed, he so hated waiting to get well again.

"Are you hungry, Sev?" asked Lily.

Severus considered. "Yes." That came out pretty good.

"Lily, we can start him on a diet of liquids then move up to solid food," Poppy said. "We don't want to overload his poor stomach. So how about infused chicken broth, some juice, and maybe a peanut butter vanilla smoothie for dessert?"

"That sounds lovely, Poppy," Lily agreed. "Don't you think so, Sev?"

Severus made a face. Then he wrote, I feel like I'm an infant. But go ahead. You know best, Poppy.

Even without being spoken, the sarcasm in that last was plain.

"Glad you admit it, Snape. Now take it slow and don't be a grouch. Lily is trying her best to help you and so am I."

Severus scowled and scribbled, I know that, woman! But you have no idea how frustrated I am. I hate being stuck in bed like this!

Poppy frowned. "Well, until your brain mends, you'd better get used to being in bed a great deal of the time. You can get up and walk to the loo, but no more than that until you have the exercises down."

Severus rolled his eyes. I'm not overstressing myself walking down the hall or into the kitchen.

"You don't know that yet, Severus." said Poppy sternly. "I'm just being cautious. You ought to be grateful I'm not making you use a bedpan."

Severus' eyes flashed and he shook his head violently. "I'mm . . .able to w-walk . . . my . . .self!" When his words started tripping, he stopped talking. He would rather have silence than to have to talk to everyone in creation with his damaged mouth. Then he wrote, I assure you, I have no need to use one, so get the idea out of your head.

Poppy smirked, thinking she now had something to blackmail him with if he became too ornery.

Severus ignored the smirk and added, Tell St. Mungos and make sure my patients are covered, please.

"That's already done, Sev," Poppy told him, more gently. "Healer Amiline is covering your cases. And all of the Mind Healer staff and the Accidental Damage staff has been praying for your recovery. So you see, Mr. Stoic Snape, we care for you very much."

"Humph!" was all Severus said, though he did swipe at a particle of dust in his eye.

Poppy shared a smile with Lily and Lucy. All three women knew that inside his tough exterior was a soft-hearted wizard, else he'd never have lasted in his field so long, nor gotten such great results with patients.

"You know, Severus, you need to set a good example for Harry over there," she indicated the eleven-year-old, who was resting on his bed. "He got a concussion too from falling off his broom."

Severus' eyes widened. "Harry . . . all righ . . .?" he drawled.

"He will be, if he rests and takes his potions," Poppy said, rather severly. "Would you like a pain potion? I have a potion you need to take that will reduce a bit of the swelling in your cranium."

Severus nodded, for his head and neck did ache considerably.

Poppy gave him a pain reliever and also the potion to reduce the swelling on his brain. Other than that, there was very little he could take to help his recovery, mostly it would take time.

Severus swallowed them without protest, grimacing afterwards.

"There! Now you rest too, and I'll see you in the afternoon." Poppy said. She looked at Lucy and Lily. "Best of luck, girls!"

Lucy went downstairs to make the broth and called Theo to help her, leaving Lily with Severus and Harry. She sensed that the redhead wanted some time alone with the newly awakened Severus.

Harry pretended to sleep when he saw Lily reach out and draw Severus to her, cradling his head to her bosom, and then kissing him slowly on the lips. No, he did not need to see that!

Lily's moss green eyes were shimmering with unshed tears as she kissed her beloved with all the tenderness and passion she possessed. "Sev! Sev, I almost lost you! Damn you, don't ever scare me like that again!" she scolded, but her words were feeble reprimands because she was crying and laughing at the same time. In the next instant she was kissing him again.

He had never felt so cherished as when Lily held him. Her kiss was all sweetness and fiery desire and had he been well, he would have matched her measure for measure. She made his blood heat and he longed to make love to her. But he knew he was weak as a kitten from the ordeal he couldn't remember, and he couldn't even speak words of love properly.

Lily kissed his whole face, butterfly kisses light as thistledown and more potent than firewhiskey. "I love you, Severus Snape!" she murmured. "I never realized it before, but now I do. I love you!"

All at once she buried her face in the hollow of his neck and shoulder and began crying.

Severus wrapped his arms around her and whispered. "Sshh . . .sshh . . . my love . . . my Ll-ill-ly." Oh, how he struggled to speak her name! For some reason his tongue refused to pronounce her name correctly and it gave him fits. He patted her head and just let her cry. She needed it and needed him, and he was very grateful she was not weeping over a corpse. And his heart sang at the fact that she loved him at last.

Page~*~*~*~Break

Three days later:

Lily had finally allowed Harry to get out of bed and walk further than the bathroom. He was now allowed to walk into the den and sit there with Theo, doing quiet things. Sometimes his head ached when he read a book for more than twenty minutes, or concentrated hard on something, like a game of chess.

Sometimes he felt a powerful urge to run through the cottage yelling like a maniac, but he controlled himself. He knew his mother was only trying to help him, the way she was Severus. And Severus was much worse off than he was.

Severus was confined to bed except to use the bathroom, and was having therapy three times a week from Poppy and four days a week with Lily. Poppy worked with him doing exercises on his left arm and hand as well as a general range of motion so he didn't stiffen. She also did several speech exercises with him to try and get his speech back to normal.

Some of them seemed rather ridiculous.

"Now, Severus, let me see you smile," Poppy said, coaxing him. "Come on, you stubborn ass, it's only me! Smile! I'll bet if Lily asked you, you'd do it."

"Thas diff . . . diff . . .rent . . ." he scowled.

Poppy laughed. "Not so much. Come on, smile for me."

Severus forced his mouth into a smile, though it felt fake and unnatural.

"Good! Now pucker up, Snape!"

Severus gave her a glare. Was this some sort of joke?

"Severus, if I were Lily, you'd be in heaven. Now blow me a kiss, you handsome devil!"

Severus blushed and did as he was told, for Poppy was right, much as he hated to admit it. He wouldn't have minded doing either of those things with Lily.

Poppy had him move his tongue about in a circle in his mouth, touching the upper, lower, and corners of his teeth. They did this two or three times and then moved on to sticking his tongue out to touch the tip of his nose, and opening and closing his mouth rapidly.

"My, you're lucky you have such a long nose, Severus!" teased Poppy.

Severus rolled his eyes. He had already heard all the jokes about his nose as a child.

Next came repeating several sounds, such as ma-ma-ma and la-la-la. Or ka-ka-ka. Sometimes Severus felt like he was a raven or a parrot, repeating those syllables. He thanked God no one else was observing his lessons except Lily. The boys were usually shooed away from the room before his speech lessons began.

Finally there was pushing at a spoon with his tongue and pretending to lick a popsicle.

They were simple exercises, yet he felt worn out when the sessions were over.

One week later:

Severus made slow progress with his therapy. Lily always encouraged him to talk rather than write, and with her he didn't mind quite so much sounding like an idiot. When she asked him to stick out his tongue, she playfully touched it with her own.

They kissed when they were doing the circle tongue exercises, and when she had Severus repeat the lalala sound, she sang along, laughing. "We sound like a pair of demented sparrows, Sev! My singing's nothing to write home about. You . . . on the other hand . . .have the voice of an angel."

Severus shook his head. He doubted that. He knew his voice at the moment sounded like a rusty nail being scraped down a blackboard. But he worked hard on the L sound, trying to make his tongue remember how to form the sound from endless repetitions. It was a long slow process and sometimes he grew frustrated and wanted to bang his fist through the wall. He wasn't used to failing to master what he'd set out to, and his miniscule (at least to his mind) progress was aggravating.

His memory was still patchy, and he still could not recall what had happened that day at all. Even when Theo told him about his transformation and offered to show him, it still did not spark a glimmer of recognition. He was very proud of the boy, however, and said so as best he could. But an instant later the child sobered and told him that he had gone flying in his drake form without permission, which was how this whole mess started.

"Harry and I, we just wanted to have a bit of fun. We . . . we didn't mean for you to crash into the tree and get hurt, honest!"

Severus blinked. "You . . .w-were flying . . . too?"

Theo nodded. "Yeah. Me in my cold drake form for the first time and Harry on his broom. You found out and came up and were waiting for us . . . you were really ticked off. Harry and I were racing and it was Harry who crashed into you. Then you hit the tree and fell and Harry fell and I grabbed Harry since I was closest to him and Lily caught you with a charm."

"I . . . see . . ." Now even though he couldn't recall the memory, Severus could understand Harry's covert glances at him and sad guilty looks. The child clearly blamed himself for what had happened. As did Theo. Severus closed his hand on Theo's and said, as clearly as he could. "Don't blame . . . yourself, Theo. Not your fault." He stared earnestly into the boy's eyes.

"But . . .we broke the rules. We should have waited."

"Yes . . . but . . .not . . .intending to . . ."

"I'm still sorry for what happened," Theo murmured. "Look at you now, Sev."

Severus' eyes flashed. "Be . . . fine! Don't . . . pity me, boy!"

His sharp tone caused the child to start crying. Sighing, the Healer sat up and pulled the boy to sit down on the bed next to him, so he could hold the child. "Theo . . ." he began, but knew he couldn't say all he wanted to without becoming frustrated. So he just held his ward and hummed softly. Though his speech was impaired, he could still hum, ironically.

While Theo leaned on him, he wrote with his other hand upon the hovering parchment notebook.

Sorry I snapped at you, but you know I can't stand pity. Like you, I prefer to work through my disability and what occurred was an accident and not something you should feel guilty over forever. What you did was wrong, but not unforgiveable. This problem I have is not your fault, Theodore. It could be much worse. And I WILL get better. It's just taking more time than I thought it would.

He handed the paper to Theo to read.

Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, Theo took the outstretched notebook and read. He gave his foster father a tentative smile. "Aye, I do know. Feeling sorry for tha self gets thee nowhere." He paused, still leaning against the Mind Healer. "Mayhap tha ought to tell Harry this also?" He waved the notebook around.

Severus nodded. "If . . . I can . . . find . . . him."

"I know where he is. He's brooding down by the pond. Or by the table rock on the moor. Shall I fetch him, Sev?"

Severus considered. He wanted to alleviate Harry's guilt, but at the same time he knew forcing a confrontation was not good either. Harry had been avoiding him these past few days. "No. He . . . must . . come . . . on his own."

But Harry didn't. Not until another week had gone by. Poppy pronounced the eleven-year-old fully recovered and said Severus was doing well also. Lucy made a special dinner to celebrate, but Harry could barely choke it down. He quickly excused himself to his room, his gut was churning, and lay down on his bed.

Severus was sleeping and did not hear him come in.

Harry knew he should have been ecstatic that he was well again, but somehow his triumph seemed hollow when Severus was still mending. He shut his eyes and tried to sleep, but he kept reliving the accident. Suddenly his stomach rebelled and he tried to dash for the toilet, but tripped on his discarded trainer and fell on the floor inbetween the two beds. That proved too much for his stomach and he puked all over.

Severus woke and saw what was going on. He eased himself out of bed, and came to help the poor boy, who was crying and vomiting. He placed cool hands on either side of Harry's head and murmured, "Sshh, child . . . sshh . . .okay . . . you're sick . . ." He debated on whether he should call Lily, but then decided not to. It wasn't as if he hadn't dealt with this sort of thing before.

He helped Harry stand and guided him into the bathroom. He rubbed Harry's back and held his head over the toilet. Harry threw up again and groaned. Severus croaked softly, "Okay . . . re . . .llax . . ." Severus suspected the boy wasn't sick from a virus as much as sick from guilt.

Leaving the boy for the moment, he went over to the cabinet where he kept his healing potions and pulled out a Stomach Soother. He shook it to mix the contents and then walked back and touched Harry on the shoulder.

When Harry looked at him, he handed the child the vial and said, "Drink this."

Harry obeyed. His stomach calmed then and he rinsed his mouth and followed Severus back to the room. When he saw the mess on the floor, he flushed. "I'll get Mum to clean up." He knew Severus didn't use his wand yet because he couldn't speak well enough to cast spells. And Harry didn't know the Cleaning Charm yet.

But when he would have left to find Lily, Severus stopped him. "Not yet. Talk first."

"But . . ."

"Sit, Harry." Severus ordered, pointing to the side of the bed.

Harry sat, looking at the ground.

Severus sat next to him. "Llook at me."

Harry reluctantly did so. "Sorry I sicked up all over."

Severus shook his head. "It . . . doesn't matter. You're not sick here." He pointed to Harry's stomach. "But here." He laid a hand on the boy's chest.

He picked up his quill and began to write. Like Theo, you feel guilty over the accident. You shouldn't. Accidents happen.

"You don't understand," Harry said.

No? Tell me then.

Harry did, then asked, "Don't you remember anything about it?"

"No." Severus said.

"How come you're not mad? You were before. You looked like you wanted to spank the daylights out of me."

"That's diff-rent." Severus said. He began to write rapidly.

Harry, I can't be angry without remembering what went on. You telling me isn't the same thing as me remembering it. I have nothing to connect me to the story emotionally. It's all a blur. Understand?

"I . . . guess so." He wasn't exactly sure what the Mind Healer meant. "So . . . if you do remember . . will you be mad then?"

"Maybe." Severus said.

"Will you punish me then?"

"Maybe." Personally, Severus felt Harry was punishing himself more effectively than he could. He patted the boy on the shoulder before flipping back a page and showing Harry what he had written to Theo. "It goes . . . for you . . . too."

Harry read what was written. He couldn't believe that Severus would forgive him for what he did. He didn't feel like he deserved it.

Severus could tell just by looking at Harry that the boy didn't understand. He began to write again. You need to learn how to control your magic, Harry. Otherwise accidents like this will keep happening. What did your mother say about punishing you?

"Uh . . . she said that you could punish me, seeing as you were the one most affected by my mistake."

Severus nearly groaned aloud. Wonderful, Lily! Make me the bad guy. "Ah." He wrote more. Fine. However, as I said before, I cannot punish you over something I can't remember.

"But I remember."

Yes, but there's a certain mindset I need to be in before I spank you or revoke privileges and it's just not here. I need to feel justified in doling out punishments, otherwise it feels wrong. If I remember what happened . . . it'll be different. Then I can punish you with a clear conscience. Do you understand?

Harry nodded slowly.

Now, might I suggest you go and lie down? Beating yourself up over what has happened serves only to make you sick, so stop it.

He waited until Harry had gone back to lie down in his bed before ringing the small bell Lily had provided.

Lily came immediately. "Sev, what do you need?"

"Not me. Harry."

Lily went to see her son and noticed the mess on the floor. "Oh! You poor thing!" she quickly cleaned up the mess with a charm then moved to feel Harry's forehead. "You feel a little warm. Does your stomach still hurt?"

"No. Severus gave me a potion for it, Mum."

She took his temperature with a spell. "Hmm . . . no fever. Maybe you just overdid it today. Take a nap, love. I'll bring you some ginger ale to sip." Severus always kept some on hand, as he enjoyed drinking it.

"Mum . . . I'm fine!" Harry complained, he hated being fussed over. He shot a glare at Severus, who was smirking.

"Fine doesn't leave vomit all over the carpet, Harry James," Lily said crisply. She fussed some more, casting a Cooling Charm over the sheets and tucking him in. Then she Summoned a glass with a straw and ice and a can of ginger ale. After pouring it in the glass, she insisted on helping him sit up and drink some.

"Mum, I feel better. I don't need to stay in bed," he protested. Having the talk with Severus made him feel somewhat better. Not all the guilt was gone, but he knew it would linger until Severus rememberedand gave him a proper punishment.

"Never mind you feel fine, Harry James," Lily scolded. "You are staying in bed and resting. You may not be entirely recovered from the accident and this is your body's way of telling you that. No arguments, young man."

"How can I have an argument when you won't let me talk?" Harry grumbled.

"And none of your cheek either." Lily ordered. She turned from her son and asked Severus, "How are you feeling, Sev? Would you like some dessert?"

"What kind?"

"It's vanilla and chocolate ice cream with whipped cream."

"Yes. Thank you."

"I'll be right back." Lily gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried away.

Harry turned around and glared daggers at Severus. "Real nice! You know I'm not really sick."

Severus smirked, the right side of his mouth was now working, and gaining back some muscles. Then he wrote, Consider it part of your punishment if you'd like.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You're terrible! Unleashing my mum on me like that."

Severus held up the notebook again. Grin and bear it, Potter.

But when Lily returned with the ice cream, which Severus insisted on eating without help or supervision, he shared part of it with Harry, as a peace offering.