Harry was coughing, and Severus watched him with concern. Three days in and out of icy water in the middle of November was enough to cause anyone an illness, and with no possibility of treatment in the near future, Severus knew they were facing the possibility of pneumonia. It would not have surprised him in the teen's weakened state. Since they'd made it into this room the day before, Harry had done nothing but sleep, mumble about the water and not wanting to go under again as he dreamt, and cough when he was awake.

"Tell me what you're feeling," Severus said when Harry woke up coughing violently, and gasping for breath in the end.

"It hurts," Harry said miserably.

"Your lungs?"

"Yes."

"Only when you cough?"

Harry nodded then and wrapped himself up in his own arms. He was freezing too. The icy water around them was making the entire castle chilled. His hands were so cold they hurt. It also didn't help that he didn't have robes on, just jeans and a t-shirt.

"Can we make fire?" Harry asked, wondering if there was a way like the fire Hermione often made in a jar when they had to go outside in the winter.

"I have nothing to put fire in," Snape said, sounding tired.

"Can we use Accio?" Harry wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it before. He should have accio'd his broom while he was out on the grounds in the water or in the tree.

"It will not bring things to us from the water, and Accio does not allow objects to go through closed doors."

"Oh," Harry said, sounding defeated.

Harry was startled then when a moment later Snape reached out a hand across the table and felt his forehead. Harry startled and shied away from the touch.

"You have a fever," Snape observed dryly. The last thing he needed was for the Gryffindor brat to get sick when he had no way to take care of him.

Harry had another coughing fit then and when it was finally over he allowed himself to shiver with his arms still around himself. "Doesn't feel like it. I'm f-freezing."

"Your warm body is reacting to the cool air around it and making you think you are cold."

"So cold," Harry said in between more coughs.

Severus could think of three dozen potions he could brew to help a fever or cough right off the top of his head, but felt useless with no way to brew them. He was also useless when it came to Muggle medicine and healing, and did not know what to do for the child, so he sat in silence as Harry's coughs grew worse as the day wore on.

* * *

It was around dinner time when Severus withdrew his wand, anxious to do something to stop the boy's incessant coughing. He knew there were inhalers in the dungeon and in the Hospital Wing full of potion to help students with asthma or pneumonia breathe better, but he had no way to access them. The Hospital Wing was on the same floor they were on and was likely also flooded, and unless Madam Pomfrey had taken all of her supplies up to a higher floor with her, then there was no way Severus could summon one of the inhalers to him.

Harry lay on the table on his side alternating between coughing, gasping for breath, and shivering, with little beads of sweat on his forehead.

Making up his mind Severus said loudly, "Accio red inhaler," and aimed his wand at the open archway in the wall. He waited for long moments, and then lowered his wand. If it didn't come to him, then he would have to try to make his way through the castle alone to get help. In the brat's feverish state, he didn't think it the wisest decision to leave him there alone surrounded by water. Severus sat and waited.

* * *

In the library, Poppy Pomfrey turned from where she was tending to one of many sick students in her makeshift infirmary, and tried to locate the source of the noise she was hearing. It was like a faint knocking.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Ginny Weasley asked. She had been there the first night of the flood to be treated for a broken wrist, and hadn't left, deciding to stay and help with the other sick and injured students.

"There's a noise," Poppy said. "See if you can help me find it."

Ginny listened intently and then began opening boxes of healing potions and other supplies along with Madam Pomfrey, until suddenly a box was opened and a little red inhaler flew out and to the closed library door.

"What's that?" Ginny asked. "I wonder what it's doing."

"It's one of the inhalers. How odd. Albus, look at this."

The elderly Headmaster came over from where he'd been sitting and reading to several frightened first years from different houses, and watched as the inhaler repeatedly hit the closed door and then backed up to try again.

"It's one of the medicines for asthma and difficulty breathing. We sometimes use it for pneumonia."

"Interesting," was all he had to say about it, and Poppy frowned.

"Well what should we do about it?"

Albus looked around the library full of students and staff that had been made into a hospital and makeshift dormitory, and said, "Many of us are still unaccounted for. I can only assume that someone is stuck in a part of the castle they cannot get out of and is in need of medical assistance. I suggest we open the door and let it go."

"Should we follow it?" Poppy asked as Ginny moved to quickly open the door.

"There is no way that we can," Albus said then. "We will have to wait until the water abates."

They watched the inhaler zip away, and Ginny thought about Harry and wondered if he was still alive somewhere, or if perhaps he'd been swept all the way out to sea. They still had no idea where the water had come from, or how far it stretched across the land, and worse still, they didn't know when it would go away.

* * *

It was with some shock and surprise that a little red inhaler flew into the room and hit Severus in the side of the head half an hour later, and he looked down to the table where it had fallen and now lay still. So there was an air path between them and wherever Madam Pomfrey and the medical supplies were, he surmised. He dare not try to call a potion in a glass phial to him because he knew it might shatter, but at least this was something.

"Harry, sit up."

Harry clenched his eyes open and shut several times, trying to figure out what was being said to him. Someone had called him by name but there was no one there but Professor Snape, and he never used his name. Someone lifted Harry to a sitting position then and put something into his hands.

"It will help you breath. Have you ever used one before?" his Professor asked him.

"What is it?"

"An inhaler with potion. I believe you have pneumonia. It will help open your lungs up."

"What do I do with it?"

"Put the opening in your mouth and seal your lips around it. Squeeze the top and take a deep breath, holding it in for as long as you are able."

Harry tiredly did as he was told, but only succeeded in coughing violently and releasing the potion out into the air.

"Again," Snape instructed him. "Breath in as you push the button down."

It took Harry three more tries before he finally got the potion down into his lungs, and felt like he could breathe again without such an urge to cough.

"There is a minimal amount of healing potion in what you just took. I do not know if it will be enough to kick the illness you are fighting."

"Why am I taking it then?" Harry asked.

"It will work for a short time to keep your lungs open. I cannot call other potions to me because they are all stored in glass containers."

"Can you try calling some food?"

Severus nodded and performed the spell reciting various foods. The spell needed a specific item to call, so simply asking for sustenance was not enough. After an hour of calling for food, an apple finally flew into the room, and Severus woke Harry to give it to him.

"What about you?" Harry asked, but Severus gave him a stern look. "I will survive. You will not."

Harry hated eating it in front of him, but he did it anyway because he couldn't help himself. It was good to have something in his stomach, something to give him some energy. After the apple was gone however, Harry was unable to get back to sleep, and spent the next several hours coughing. The inhaler worked a little, but Severus informed him that the more one used it, the less effective it would become.

Around midnight there in the darkened room, Harry finally sat gasping for breath and fumbling with the inhaler there on the table trying to get it up to his mouth with shaky hands. He was surprised when Professor Snape took his hand and helped it to his mouth so that Harry could depress the button and release the medication.

"Can't-" Harry gasped out. "Not- working." He felt panicky and wanted to cry, but he was so intent on breathing at the moment that he could do little else. He gasped again before a hand came to his back near his shoulders and began rubbing small circles.

"What-" Harry asked between gasps, but Severus shh'd him.

"It will help the potion get into your lungs. Do not try to speak."

Harry brought his knees up to his chest and put his head down in them, trying to block everything else out and force himself to breath, but the soothing rubbing on his back wasn't letting him focus. It was several more long tense moments before Harry was finally able to draw in a deep breath. After four more deep breaths he began to shake violently and broke out in tears.

"You're ok," he heard Snape saying behind him, but Harry continued to sob. Why was this happening? Why were they surrounded by water? Why had no one come for them? Why couldn't he breath? Why was Snape being so nice to him? None of it made any sense. Snape was just like the Dursleys... he hated Harry and yet there he was trying to help Harry breath, and actually comforting him. Was this what it was like to be a Slytherin? Was he nice to everybody but Harry? Harry didn't know, but he just couldn't take it anymore. Everything had come to a breaking point, and he wasn't strong enough to fight it.

"You will be fine," Severus said, not having the heart to find something to berate the boy about as he sat there crying in the darkness, surrounded by the ever present water. "I will not let anything else happen to you." Severus thought that his words would have comforted the Gryffindor, but they succeeded only in making him cry harder.

Seeing that Harry was shivering hard, Severus felt his forehead again and knew that the fever was gone and that the teen really was cold, so he moved closer and, God help him, wrapped his arms around Harry Potter. Harry cried well into the early morning.