There was no way that Dumbledore was going to win that argument with Harry. Harry never left Snape's side, and he was more jumpy than usual (Just like Dumbledore had observed) What Hermione said had put him on the edge, but Harry also knew that Voldemort might send death eaters, to finish Snape off, if they learned that he was alive. Harry was snape's only line of defense. He sat with his back to a wall, being able to see Snape and watch the door. His wand was either in his hand or his lap at all times. He was ready if they came.

Harry had stayed by Snape's side for days, with little progress in Snape's health. Harry had no idea how long he had been sitting in that hospital room, for he had lost track of the days. What he did know was that Snape was slowly getting better. His vitals had raised a few points, but they were still fairly low. His organs were still shutting down. His lungs were the latest organ to fail and now, it was just a matter of time till his heart failed as well. He also had contracted an infection from his burns causing his temperature to skyrocket.

There was good news in everything. Somehow, Snape's kidneys and liver had come out of their failure and began to work properly again. Healers had no idea how this was happening. They were sure that if Snape got over the shock before his heart failed, then he would be more likely to survive. That was the silver lining in the entire situation.

Harry prayed that  Snape would pull out of his shock before his heart failed. It had to happen, he needed Snape. He needed the potion master's help. That was the main thing that went through Harry's mind as the days passed. Snape had to get better because Harry needed him.

Harry talked to Snape daily, sometimes even reading the prophet to him. Harry felt strange doing it but he knew that it was helping Snape. Before Harry stopped talking he would add, "Keep fighting Professor because I need you." Harry had to hope that Snape was understanding what Harry was saying, and that he would continue to fight.

He only had higher brain activity when Harry, and Harry alone, spoke. Snape responded to no one else. That fact alone worried doctors because if he only responded to Harry, doctors were unsure if Snape was going to wake up. But Harry knew better. Snape was still in there, fighting, and he would wake up. The healers hoped that by allowing Snape to control his own breathing, there would some improvement in his brain function. They removed the magic that had been controlling the Professor's breathing. It had been two hours since Professor Snape could breathe on his own, but there was no improvement in brain activity. Harry was in the room, reading the evening edition of the paper to Snape.

"Oh god, Professor, listen to this. ‘Mass Breakout At Azkaban, Second In Six Months.' That's what the headline says. ‘Thirty inmates break out of Azkaban, half as many from the last breakout six months ago. Reports say that the thirty inmates, which include former ministry official Lucius Malfoy and notorious death eaters Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, broke out earlier this afternoon. Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimagour, refused to comment on the specifics, only saying "A full investigation will happen and those responsible will be held accountable." For more on the mass breakout turn to page four' Well that's great Professor. Looks like Dumbledore was right"

There was a loud bang as the lights went off and the emergency lights came on.

"Lumos." Harry whispered, picking his wand off his lap and standing up.

There weren't many people at the hospital because it was the middle of the night. Many of the healers had gone home for the day.

"Are you alright, Mr. Potter?" Nurse Beth had asked at the opened door.

"What was that?"

"Power outage. Do not worry, someone is fixing it now." She answered before walking away to check on other patients.

"Great. Everything's good Professor." Harry whispered as he sat down.

There was another bang that caused Harry to jump out of his seat and stand. When his feet planted firmly on the ground, he felt someone punch him. He was surprised, but didn't fall down. There was a whirl of blonde hair and a wand pointed at Harry's chest.

"Malfoy." Harry growled, his voice full of malice.

"Potter, we meet again." Lucius Malfoy spoke as he inched closer to Snape.

"How'd you escape?"

"It doesn't matter how I escaped. What matters is whether you are going to live or die, so be a good boy and just stand right there."

 "I don't think so." Harry thought. "Expellarimus."

"Protego." Malfoy countered, and the fight ensued.

"Crucio!" Malfoy spat and Harry fell to the ground, like the had been hit by lightning.

Harry laid on the floor, catching his breath, as he heard footsteps approach the other side of Snape's hospital bed. Harry jumped up, realizing that Malfoy was going to try to kill Snape.

"Stup-" Harry shouted, but Malfoy blocked it with a lazy flick of his wand.

"Sectum-."

What happened next could only be deemed miraculous. Someone flew at Lucius Malfoy, knocking him to the ground. For a few seconds, they fought for control of Malfoy's wand. Then they stopped.

"When did you know?"

"It doesn't matter." Malfoy spat

"Stupefy."

The room flashed red. Malfoy's body gave a shudder then ceased to move. The mystery person stood up. It was strange because this person's back was covered with a large bandage which engulfed the entire thing. The person turned around. It was Snape. No, it couldn't be.

Harry didn't even have time to rationalize what happened because he was falling. It seemed to take a long time for Harry to hit the ground. As he fell, Harry felt strong arms encase him and lower him to the ground. He looked up and saw Snape's face. He had to be hallucinating. He had lost so much blood that this had to be a hallucination of Snape being awake.

"Harry, please stay awake." Snape shouted, looking down at the boy before looking to the door. "I need a healer in here now!"

Snape took Harry's wand from his hand and started tracing the wound with it. Harry grabbed Snape's hand.

"What is it, Harry?" Snape questioned, running a bloody hand through the boy's hair.

"You're alive." Harry whispered with a smile creeping across his face.

Then darkness enveloped Harry.

The boy was bleeding. Harry fell fast and Snape barely had enough time to catch Harry, in order to lower him to the ground. He wrapped his arms tight around Harry, propping the boy up on his knee.

"Harry, please stay awake." Then he looked up. "I need a doctor in here, now!" and then he went to work

He did not have his own wand, so he grabbed the boy's wand from his hand and began to trace the wound. He was attempting to heal it. Then Harry's hand grabbed his own.

"What is it, Harry?" He questioned.

Something wasn't right. The glow from Harry's green eyes was beginning to dissipate. He ran a bloody hand through the boy's hair.

"You're alive." Harry whispered with a smile.

Then his eyes closed.

"Harry, please wake up!" Snape shouted, shaking the unconscious child.

Snape continued the task of healing the unconscious child, despite his own depleted magical core. Snape had almost healed the wound completely when nurse Beth appeared in the doorway. She had a look of surprise on her face.

"Mr.Snape!" She exclaimed.

"There is no time for this. You need to grab some blood replenishing potion and help me with this boy." Snape ordered as he repositioned the boy in his arms, looking down at him.

"Wait, this isn't right. Something's not right." Snape thought.

Harry's chest wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. The boy had stopped breathing.

"Right now, Nurse Beth. Don't touch him." He ordered as Nurse Beth motioned towards the unconscious form of Lucius Malfoy.

Snape had a sudden urge of energy, lifting Harry in his arms and carrying him to the bed.

"He's stopped breathing." Snape informed as Nurse Beth approached with a vial of blood replenishing potion.

She spelled its contents into Harry. How much blood had Harry lost? Snape looked over to where he and Harry had just been. There was a large, unhealthy amount of blood lying on the floor. Why had this made him stop breathing?

"Why is he still not breathing?" Snape questioned the nurse as he took Harry's hand in his own.

"I've cleared the airway." She mumbled more to herself as she flicked her wand.

There was tense silence for a few precious seconds.

"Come on, Harry, breathe. Come on, breathe god dammit." Snape said.

Those precious seconds continued to tick by. If Harry did not breathe soon, he would not make it out unscathed.

"Come on, Harry." Snape said forcefully. "Please, God. Spare this child." Snape thought. "Come on,Harry. Don't you dare leave me."

It stayed silent for a few more seconds. Harry had only a few seconds left before serious and irreparable damage happened.

Then, Harry's chest gave a great big heave and he gasped for air.

"Oh, thank god." Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Beth, I need you to contact the ministry. They have an escaped convict I think they want back. Afterwards, you need to talk to Armando Dippit's portrait. Have him tell Dumbledore that there is an emergency and he needed to be at St. Mungos five minutes ago. Go now." Snape ordered.
Nurse Beth ran out of the room to fulfill the orders that Snape had given her. When she left the room, Snape turned to Harry, whose breathing had evened out.

"I swear to god, Harry, if you ever scare me like that again, I will ring your neck myself." Snape growled at the unconscious boy.

Snape sat back in his chair, letting go of Harry's hand and taking three deep breaths. His heart was pounding out of his chest, he had been so scared. His own breathing had evened out by the time a glint of silver had caught his eye. It had been sitting next to Harry's right hand. It was Snape's lucky coin.

He reached forward, noticing that he was having difficulty extending his arm. That was not a good thing. When he went to pick up the colin, Snape also noticed difficulty bending his fingers. He had nerve damage in his arms. Snape looked around, knowing that Harry had been wearing his invention when he was first released from St. Mungos. He had not seen it on Harry when he was injured, so where could it be?

Looking toward the only other chair in the room, Snape saw it sitting on the ground. Snape stood up as best as he could. He was tired and his knees were knocking together. He took a step and his knee buckled, causing him to fall to the ground. What the bloody hell was wrong with him? Why had he fallen? Why was he so tired? Snape tried to move his legs, but they wouldn't respond. Why couldn't he move his legs?

He was forced to sit on the ground and wait for someone to walk by. He hated feeling like an invalid. He understood why he was so tired. His magical core was depleted and he had just come off a rush of adrenalin. The rush of adrenaline could also explain why Snape had been able to move while he was helping Harry, but what caused him to not be able to move now?

"Mr. Snape, the... Are you okay?" Nurse Beth asked, quickly changed subjects when she saw Snape on the floor.

"I seem to not be able to move my legs."

"I will be back." Nurse Beth ran across the hallway and produced a wheelchair for Snape.

"I most certainly do not..." Snape stared to protest, but he was cut off.

"You most certainly do, Mr. Snape."

"And why is that?"

"You've suffered an injury to your spine." She answered, helping him into the wheelchair.

"And what other injuries have I suffered?" Snape asked with a snarky, snapeish attitude.

"You will have to wait for Healer Anderson. He is currently on his way as well as the Aurors and Headmaster Dumbledore. Why were you trying to walk?"

"I wanted to get that contraption." Snape answered, pointing to his invention. " I know that I have suffered nerve damage and it helps my body...cope with the damage." Snape chose his words carefully, for he did not want everyone to know about the contraption.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Snape. You can't where it till your burns have healed properly. I need to change your bandages before Healer Anderson comes to see you." She summoned three large rolls of bandages."Healer Anderson thinks that I will not have to re-wrap your arms or legs." She explained as he unwrapped the bandages around his arms.

Snape watched as she freed an arm from the bandages.

"It's healed very nicely."

His left arm was red. Not dark red, but bright red. The skin was pulled tightly over his arm and most of it was scar tissue. Nurse Beth began to unwrap the other arm, which gave Snape enough time to look at his forearm. The greyish dark mark could still be seen, but one would have to strain to see it. It was also deformed. It no longer looked like a dark mark and only someone close to Snape would know what it was.

It was almost as if the others were trying to burn the mark off of him. He was no longer a death eater. He no longer had to put his life on the line. What was he going to do now? His life, up to this point, was about playing double agent. Now what was he suppose to do?

His other extremities were the same as his left arm. It could have been worse than it really was. His chest was still bad. The burns were scaring over, which mean that he had scabs all over his chest. Nurse Beth put some burn salve on the scabs and covered them with a fresh bandage. She was almost done when there was a sound of multiple people running down the hall.

Four people came running into the room, two stopped at the unconscious Lucius and the other two running at Snape.

"What happened?" They all asked at once.

"Are you okay?" Anderson asked.

"What happened?" An auror questioned.

"What's the emergency?" Dumbledore inquired.

Snape held a hand up for silence.

"That man." He said, pointed to Malfoy. "tried, with malicious intent, to kill me and that child lying on the bed. You will notice that he is Lucius Malfoy and he escaped Azkaban earlier today."

The aurors had no more questions. They proceeded to drag Malfoy from the room. Snape turned to Dumbledore.

"I'll deal with you later." He snapped before turning to speak to Anderson. "To answer your question Anderson, you tell me if I am okay because I have no idea what injuries I have suffered."

"I understand that you are displeased..." Anderson commented with an intent to continue, but Snape cut him off.

"I am a little more than merely displeased. I wake up to find someone torturing Harry and that man almost kills me.Then I find out that I have nerve damage in my arms, burns over forty-five percent of my body, and I have a spinal injury which makes my legs bloody useless! I am more than a little displeased." Snape warned.

"Very well and I would expect nothing less from you." Anderson commented as he grabbed Snape's chart.

He looked through the notes quickly before handing them to Snape.

"I can't hold on to it, you stupid imbecile." Snape growled.

Anderson nodded his head, took a deep breath and began to read the notes.

"Brain damage evident which later repaired itself. Burns to forty-five percent of the body. Shock. Dehydration. Three shattered ribs. Two collapsed lungs. Spinal injury caused by compressed vertebrae. Internal bleeding. Multiple organ failure which righted itself. Multiple broken bones. Lacerations to back. Status: Critical. Likelihood to survive: unlikely." Anderson looked up. "That was when you first got here. You also had no higher brain activity and low vital numbers. We only saw higher brain activity when Harry spoke to you."

Snape sat there, nodding his head at what he heard.

"Healer Anderson, can you please vacate the room for a while?" Snape asked coolly.

Anderson walked out of the room, knowing that this request was for his own safety.

"Albus, may I ask you something?"

"You may." Dumbledore answered calmly.

"What, in the name of Merlin's beard, were you thinking leaving Harry alone tonight?"

"Severus, had I known that he was in danger, he would have never been left alone."

"Did you think that they might try to finish me off here?"

"I did think that they would attempt to kill you, but I did not think it would be here. We had Death Eaters rounded up after we rescued you."

"Did it cross your mind that Harry was in danger when you learned that Death Eaters had escaped?"

"I did not learn of it till I got back to Hogwarts, and even then, I thought they would take time to collect themselves. I made a mistake and , it seems, luck was on our side."

Snape sat there, searching for words. Albus seemed truly sorry, but something wasn't right. His words were measured, calculated, even though he answered fluidly. Maybe Snape was overthinking it, but he had this gut feeling. Dumbledore was hiding something, just as he had been ever since this all started. He would have to wait a little longer to question Albus on what he was hiding.

"Is there somewhere you need to be?" Snape questioned, seeing how eager Albus was to leave.

"As a matter of fact, before I got your message, I was about to handle a very urgent matter with the minister."

Dumbledore stood and bid Snape good night.

Snape sat in his chair, waiting to see if Anderson would come back. Snape was so tired that, during his wait, he fell asleep.