Chapter 21

Monday - 6:39 am, January 13, 1992

Why was there a Harry on his chest?  Severus looked down in confusion at the black hair of the boy laid out partially on top of him.  His Harry should be in bed, blissfully ignorant of the deathly ill girl beside them.  

Unaware that he was projecting the same thoughts that Harry had been worrying over only a few hours earlier, Severus frowned in slight annoyance.  Why hadn’t Cadillac stopped him?

As if sensing his concern, Harry shifted against him before opening sleepy green eyes toward him. 

“Papa Pa!”  Harry enthusiastically proclaimed.  Instantly the boy pushed himself up higher on Severus’ chest and kissed his cheek. 

“All rough again, Papa Pa,” Harry announced with a nod, bringing his small hand up to touch Severus’ face. 

Blinking, Severus pulled them both up into a sitting position against the pillows behind him. 

“Why are you not in your bed, little one?” Severus asked, opting for the direct approach. 

“Had a bad dream, Papa Pa,” Harry said, nodding. 

His eyes narrowing, Severus asked, “Why did you not tell Cadillac?”

Harry, his legs tucked on either side of Severus’ body, leaned back and wrung his hands.  “Did, Papa Pa!  Did!  But you were s’posed to be in your room!  And you weren’t!  And you were s’posed to be!”

Severus caught Harry’s hands and said gently, “Another needed me, little one.  Should I have ignored her plight?”

“No!” Harry very nearly screamed, yanking his hands away in frustration.  “But I needed you and Caddy said I couldn’t go to you!”

“Because I was busy, little pup. You would have only been in the way, and quite possibly would have distracted me enough to make a mistake.”

“But-But, we hads a bad dream, Papa Pa,” Harry whispered, his shoulders slumping. He hastily knuckled away a tear.  “And you were s’posed to be there.  And you weren’t.  And we needed you.”

“Who is ‘we’?”  Severus asked, pulling out his handkerchief to wipe Harry’s face off. 

“Me and Goldie,” Harry said in a small voice.  “We dreamed about our mummies dyin’.”

“You saw her dream as well, little one?” Severus asked, his eyes narrowing in thought.

“No,” Harry said.  “Yes.  Maybe?”  He chewed on his lower lip and wrapped his hands around ‘Fessor Snake’s plush middle. 

“What did you see?” Severus’ voice was hushed as he pulled Harry in closer.  Small hands reached out for the front of his robes, and he tucked the boy’s head under his chin.

Harry relayed the bits of his dream that he remembered as best he could.  It was muddled as most dreams tended to be, but the scariest bits stuck out rather strongly and while it wasn’t very hard to recall them, it was a bit more difficult to relay them to another person. 

There was a dark creature leaning over Mother’s still form, sucking her blood . . . laughing his cold cruel laughter . . . a wand in his face . . . a stick of magical wood had killed her . . . fear, terrible horrible icy feeling in the pit of his/her stomach . . . hiding in the bushes, hiding in his cupboard, hiding away from sight from the man—the monster—that still stalked them.

He was trembling by the end of his recitation and could just barely feel Severus’ warm hand stroking itself up and down his back.  He pressed his face more firmly into his Papa Pa’s chest, thankful that he had not yet had an opportunity to retrieve his glasses from the side table. 

“Do you have dreams like this very often, little one?” Severus’ voice rumbled against his head.

Drawing in a shaky breath through his nose, Harry nodded.  “Most times me and Goldie just hug and sometimes my Vince wakes up and talks ta me too.  But,” His voice cracked and squeezed his eyes shut against the insistent tears. 

“But?” Severus’ voice rumbled.

“You was s’posed to be there this time, and I wasn’t s’posed to be myself this time.  And my Goldie said I could ask my Hogwarts for a way here, and she did and I found you and it was okay, wasn’t it?  Are you mad at me?”

He felt his Papa Pa sigh. 

“I would have liked for you to have obeyed me, but I didn’t know that you’ve been dreaming of the Dark Lord.  Not like this.  What do you think happened to the wards I set up around your bed in the dorms that were supposed to alert me to your nightmares?”

“They tickled,” Harry said in a small voice. 

“So they’re not there anymore?”  Severus asked softly.

“Is that okay?”

Strong hands pulled him up so that his head was resting on his Papa Pa’s shoulder.  Harry took a deep breath of the suddenly cooler air and wrapped his arms around Severus’ neck. 

“I wish I knew how you were doing it,” Severus admitted in a low voice.

He shrugged, uncertain of how to explain it.  He could feel them on his skin and around his bed, and didn’t like them.  So he had scratched at them with his magic and they had left him alone.  Maybe too alone. 

Their moment of contemplative silence was broken by a warm nose prodding his leg. 

Blearily, Harry lifted his head from Severus’ shoulder and looked down at Goldie. 

“What is it, Goldie?”  He asked aloud.

‘I have the baby in my head.’

He blinked several times and caught Severus looking at him strangely in his peripheral. 

“What did she say?” Severus asked.

Harry pursed his lips and reached out to grab his glasses.  His Papa Pa shifted carefully under him as one of Harry’s knees came dangerously close to knocking into his groin.   

His glasses retrieved, he turned back toward Goldie and asked, “Pardon?”

‘The girl in the bed beside you.  She was pregnant, but the poison killed her child.  It is with me in my head now.’

Listening more carefully, Harry realised that there was a strange pulse behind her words that had not been there previously. 

“Harry?”  Severus prompted again with a bit more command in his voice. 

Looking at the wall just beside his Papa Pa’s head, Harry said in a strained voice, “There’s a baby in my Goldie’s head.”

“A what!?”  A woman’s voice exclaimed behind him. 

Both Severus and Harry turned to see gobsmacked Madame Pomfrey standing on the other side of the sick girl’s bed. 

“Auntie Poppy!”  Harry greeted with his arms outstretched. 

After spending at least an hour in the infirmary every week soaking in the essence of murtlap, Harry had found himself very comfortable in Madame Pomfrey’s presence.  He had even renamed her as an auntie; replacing the negative image in his mind with someone more wholesome. 

Poppy made her way over to him carefully, her small feet making nearly no sound on the infirmary floor. 

“Kiss?”  Harry asked, turning his face toward her. 

Dropping a kiss on his cheek, she returned his hug with a tight squeeze around his middle.  Then she pulled up the chair next to the sick girl’s bed and dropped it into with a weary sigh.  She waved her hand questioningly at them and then dropped it back into her lap.  She had been up half the night and was in no mood to decipher the strange situation in front of her. 

“Where would you like us to start, Poppy?”  Severus asked, mildly unnerved by the woman’s continuing silence.

“I take it that you two are more than just teacher and student, hm?”

“Oh!” Harry exclaimed, bouncing slightly until Severus put out a hand on his leg to still him.  “My ‘fessor Snape is my Papa Pa now!”

Despite the trust between them, Harry had never found a way to tell Poppy that his professor meant more to him than anybody else. 

“I thought as much, from the way you talked about him, Harry,” She said, giving him a wink.  “Now start from the beginning and tell me why there is a unicorn foal in my infirmary.”

His Papa Pa told the story of Harry and Hermes venturing out into the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night.  Harry did his best not to cringe under the watchful gaze of his Poppy, but he couldn’t deny that he felt bad for making his Severus so upset.  He hadn’t ever heard the entire story from his point-of-view, but each passing remark had him sinking lower and lower until he was very nearly behind his Papa Pa. 

“Harry James Potter!”  Poppy’s voice had the effect of making him shoot up against his will from his hiding place.  Her tone brooked no argument. 

“Auntie P-P-Poppy?”  He stuttered, clutching his ‘Fessor Snake tightly. 

“You promise me that you will never do such a foolish thing again without one of your trusted adults with you!” 

His tongue now hopelessly tied, Harry nodded his head up and down emphatically.  Seeing no further admonishments from the fearsome infirmary witch, he sunk back down beside Severus and stuck the end of ‘Fessor Snake’s tail in his mouth. 

Seeing that Harry was a little more than undone, Severus asked Poppy, “Was Ms Murphy pregnant?”

“Yes,” Poppy admitted unhappily.  “But the baby wasn’t far enough along to be delivered yet.  There was nothing you or I could have done.”

Severus said nothing to her answer, but swallowed hard at the news.  Silently, he pulled Harry upright and wrapped his arm tightly around his shoulders. 

“And what of Harry’s announcement that his unicorn has a baby in her head?”  Poppy asked him.

Severus shook his head.  “I haven’t the faintest.”

He glanced at Harry and saw that his plushie’s tail was back in his mouth again.  He mentally thanked the designers of the toy for coating the last few centimetres of the tail in some kind of hard rubber.  He didn’t want to imagine the kind of germs that a saliva soaked plushie snake could generate. 

Or the smell, he thought with a mental shudder.

. . .

6:47 am, January 13, 1992

“This is serious, Albus,” Amelia Bones said with a scowl over the edge of her teacup.  They were seated beside one another in his office. 

“I know, my dear,” Dumbledore answered sorrowfully. 

“You should be happy that I managed to talk Fudge out of making an entrance here this morning.  You know how he is; any chance to make the papers and all that,” She said with a roll of her eyes.  “As it is, I am fully in charge of this investigation. Not you. Not your professors.  The DMLE.  Do you understand me, Albus?”

“You shall have my full cooperation.  Whatever you need of me or Hogwarts; we are at your disposal,” Dumbledore replied.  The twinkle in his eye was dimmed considerably. 

Just prior to the meeting, he had been informed that the girl had been pregnant, but was no longer.  He had relayed the information to Amelia, but other than a muttered curse, the woman had yet to say anything of it.

“I want a meeting with all of your faculty and staff this morning.”

“Should I cancel classes, do you think?”

“For the morning, at least.  Perhaps you should tell the students that Elizabeth Murphy is critically ill, and if anyone has any information, they should speak with me.  Or the professor of their choice,” She added in a contemplative tone. 

“It will be done.”

“Albus, I appreciate your helpfulness, but you should know that I would prefer honesty to pure arse kissing.  That said, if I find you going against my words in any way behind my back, I will not hesitate to bring in Fudge.  Do you understand?”  Her eyes were steely. 

. . .

7:12 am

Both Poppy and Severus looked up at the phoenix patronus that abruptly appeared in the middle of the infirmary.

At Severus’ side sat Harry, somewhat oblivious to what had caught the two adults’ attentions.  His mind was still on the worry that Severus had felt when he and Hermes had gone into the Forbidden Forest. It was strange to think that someone had worried so greatly about him being in danger.  Hearing Severus reiterate it to his Poppy had merely increased his guilt. 

He was also feeling some anxiety, but after much introspection, he had determined that the feeling was coming from his Goldie. 

‘Whatcha worried about, Goldie?’ He asked mentally.

‘I’ve never heard of a unicorn having a human baby consciousness in their mind.  And neither has your Papa Pa.’

Harry glanced up at his distracted Papa Pa with interest.

‘Can you see his thoughts too?  Why can’t he hear yours?’

‘I think it’s because he hasn’t yet asked me any questions.  I can hear his thoughts, even with his barrier.’

Harry frowned.  Barrier?

‘What do you mean by that, Goldie?’

‘He has a wall around his thoughts to keep other humans from looking in.’

‘People can do that!?’ Harry didn’t like that idea at all.  Not one bit.  He shoved ‘Fessor’s Snake’s tail further into his mouth and chewed on it distractedly.

“Harry?”  His Papa Pa was looking down at him with worry in his dark eyes.

He blinked up at his Papa Pa and slowly waved.

“Are you all right?” Severus asked him. 

He pulled his snake out his mouth to speak, but no words were willing to come out.  He sighed.  Sometimes talking was too much trouble.  He wished he could talk to his Papa Pa like he talked with his Goldie. 

“Has he been sleeping at night?”  Poppy asked his Papa Pa. 

“Not as much as I would have liked,” Severus admitted, pulling Harry back into his lap proper.

“Harry dear, I’m going to run a few diagnostic scans over you with my wand.  Is that all right?” Auntie Poppy asked him softly.

He shrugged and then nodded when he caught his Papa Pa watching him with a raised eyebrow.

“You know how I feel about shrugging, Harry,” Severus admonished.

He nodded. 

Poppy raised her wand and Harry watched her with some interest.  She wasn’t saying much, but her spells seem to be checking out every part of him.  He sighed again and turned his face into Severus’ shoulder.  He didn’t like the sensation of her magic looking so closely at him.  It wasn’t uncomfortable per se, but it felt strange. 

“He’s exhausted, Severus.  He’s also running a low grade fever, which may or may not be a result of the exhaustion.  Thankfully, the headmaster has cancelled classes for this morning, but I don’t want him out of bed today at all.”

Harry tightened his grip on his Papa Pa’s robes.  He didn’t want to go back to the dorms.  He wanted his Papa Pa. 

“Perhaps some Dreamless sleep should be in order for you, little pup,” Severus suggested lightly. 

Harry sighed again. 

“Would you like to stay in my quarters for the day?”  Severus asked.

Harry perked up and grinned widely at his Papa Pa.  He nodded emphatically and hugged him tightly around the neck.

“With you?”  He mouthed, poking Severus in the chest lightly. 

“Unfortunately, I can’t be there very much, little one.  The headmaster has called a meeting for all faculty and staff at 8 this morning. We have just enough time to get you situated before I need to leave again.”

Harry scowled but hid it against Severus’ shoulder.  Then he wrapped his legs and arms more fully around his Papa Pa and glanced up with a hopeful expression.

“You want me to carry you?”  Severus’ tone was teasing.

Harry nodded happily. 

“Oh I suppose I could manage.  Somehow,” Severus said, standing up and dropping a wink at Poppy. 

Harry giggled and kissed his Papa Pa’s cheek. 

At least he would be at home.

. . .

7:53 am

It had taken some doing, but Harry was finally able to let Severus go to his meeting.  His Papa Pa had put him in his big bed, and spelled cushioning charms on a section of the floor for Goldie.  Then Hadwyn had been invited over so Harry wouldn’t be entirely alone. 

A vial of Dreamless Sleep had been put on the table beside the bed, with a warning that if he didn’t take it, Hadwyn would make him.  Harry had scowled at that, but had nodded anyway.  Then his Papa Pa had ruffled his hair, tucked him in and left for his meeting. 

Harry waited for a moment before clambering back out of bed.

‘Where are you going?’ His Goldie asked him, her amber eyes following him across the room.

‘To get something,’ He answered vaguely.

‘You’d best do what your Severus said,’ She admonished.

‘Am!’

Harry went into his Papa Pa’s bathroom and headed for the laundry bin.  It was emptied out every Tuesday and Thursday—and sometimes Saturdays, depending on the week—but today was Monday, and so he was able to find what he was looking for.  With a grin, he pulled out a set of his Papa Pa’s robes and examined them for any potion residue. 

Deciding that the only thing wrong with the robe was some sweaty scents around the armpits, Harry gathered it in his arms and carried it back to his Papa Pa’s bed.  Awkwardly he climbed in with the robe, tripping over the material at least twice before he got himself situated. 

He draped it around himself and then pulled the covers up to his chin.  Leaning over, he grabbed the vial of Dreamless Sleep and drank it down in one shot. 

“Bleah!” He grimaced aloud, but the potion was too good and very soon he felt himself drifting off.

‘I got . . . my nest now, Goldie,’ He thought with a smile, curling up in a ball. 

‘Sleep well, little friend,’ Goldie answered. 

. . .

9:02 am

Minerva left the room to go inform the students in the Great Hall of the cancelling of classes for that morning just Amelia Bones asked the question they were all wondering.

“How did she get her hands on Atropa belladonna anyway?  Is it grown on the campus?  Is it found in the forest?  Is it used in your potions class, Professor Snape?”

Severus could feel the headache building behind his eyes as the attention of the room suddenly focused itself on him. 

“We only use Atropa belladonna in my fifth year potions class and above.  I don’t trust anyone younger than that with the ingredient,” He said with a sneer. 

“Is she in your class, Professor?” Amelia asked icily. 

“Not this year.”

“How many of her classmates are in your class, Professor?” Kingsley Shacklebolt asked in a low baritone. 

“Her housemates, you mean?” Severus answered, striving to keep a bored expression on his face. 

“All of the above,” Amelia snapped at him before Kingsley could respond.

“It’s a good thing I have my class roster memorized then, isn’t it,” He scowled.  A few others nodded in agreement with him. 

“Terence Higgs,” He said, beginning to tick them off on his fingers.  “Jubilant Gevries, Melvin Shingleton, Penelope Clearwater, Eric Blane, Damien Edgecombe, Oliver Wood, and Percy Weasley.  The final two are both Gryffindors.”

Severus looked up after his recitation to see Albus and Amelia in a fierce discussion on the other side of the room. 

“Ah, excuse me,” Albus said, waving a hand of apology to them.  “I was merely reminding our dear Amelia that none of Hogwarts’ staff is under suspicion for what happened to Miss Murphy.”

“Hear hear!” Squeaked Filius. 

“Of course we aren’t blaming anyone here,” Kingsley soothed. 

Not yet, was left unspoken, but it hung in the air between the occupants of the room.

“My apologies if it seemed that any of you were under undue suspicion,” Amelia said stiffly.  “However, it’s only a matter of time before the Daily Prophet starts weaving its own stories about what happened here, and I for one would very much like to get to the bottom of it before that.”

“If each of you would speak with your respective students,” Albus said, giving a nod to Severus, Filius, Pomona and the newly returned Minerva, “I’m sure Amelia and the other aurors assigned to this case would be much appreciative.”

“As to your other questions, Amelia, I believe that I can answer them myself with the help of Severus.  Everyone else is dismissed.  Severus, if you wouldn’t mind?” Twinkling blue eyes turned in his direction, and it was all he could do to refrain from sighing aloud. 

“Of course not, headmaster.”