Harry woke up to the sun shining through the bedroom window. Feeling rested for the first time in weeks, he was sure the last couple days were all just a horrible nightmare. Grabbing his glasses from the desk, not even sure when he'd taken them off, he put them on and looked at the clock.

7:30?! I missed making breakfast

Groaning, he got out of bed, feeling the dull ache in his right hip... Nope, definitely not a horrible nightmare.

He changed his clothes and was ready for the day in record time. Deciding on the same jeans from yesterday - they were his best looking ones after all - and a blue t-shirt that was very much oversized for his small frame. Walking downstairs slowly, he jumped in surprise to see a man with short blonde hair sitting at the table with his back towards Harry. The man was wearing a light green button down shirt and black trousers. He was reading the paper ignoring the scared look from Harry's cousin sitting across from the man.

"M- morning H- H- harry," Dudley stuttered.

"What's up with you?" Harry questioned.

"Um..." His cousin didn't answer, instead he stared ahead at the mysterious man.

"Excuse me," Harry approached the man feeling annoyed that his cousin was useless, and let out the breath he'd been holding when he saw the familiar face.

"Professor Snape?" He asked bewildered. In front of him was the same glamoured Snape from yesterday. "You could have said something. Dudley looks like he's about to have a heart attack."

"Interesting. I was just setting down some ground rules for my upcoming stay," he slowly said. "I have no control over his reaction to said rules."

Harry rolled his eyes and sat down, grabbing a piece of toast from a plate on the table.

"You need to eat more than that," Snape lectured handing Harry the bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate. Pausing for a second and then deciding Snape wouldn't actually poison him in the broad daylight of his kitchen, he put a small portion on the plate with his toast, then started eating.

"Where's Aunt Petunia?"

"Your aunt didn't feel the need to be here this morning ," Snape tried to smirk, but it didn't give the same sinister look from his glamoured face, "so I sent her for some supplies."

"You sent her sir? And she went?"

"As you know, I can be very convincing. She wasn't given much of a choice. Now finish up, we have to go." Snape stood up and left the room abruptly with the folder of Harry's paperwork from the hospital.

"He's st- staying with us?" a very pale Dudley asked. Harry had no doubt he was thinking about his rough encounters with wizards.

"Unfortunately. At least for a little bit anyway." Harry wasn't sure if this was good or not. If Snape could send his aunt out for errands and he was able to eat, then it may be worth putting up with him. Maybe.

"You'll be fine Big D and if not I'll see you as potions ingredients next term," Harry smirked at the thought. He stood up to head out with Snape and grabbed the edge of the table when a dizzy spell hit him.

Satisfied he wasn't about to topple over, he set his plate in the sink commiting to do the dishes when he returned. He walked out of the kitchen to the front door where his professor was waiting.

"I have your school truck upstairs in the room your relatives are grudgingly letting me use," Snape said, taking his own wand out and pointing it at Harry, who somehow managed to only flinch slightly. Once he felt the glamour back on, he opened the door.

"Ready professor?"

Harry landed at the apparation point feeling only slightly disoriented and did not have the urge to lose his breakfast. Though proud of himself for the successful apparation, he still liked that form of magical travel the least.

As they walked towards the hospital Snape casually asked, "Have you thought anymore of treatment options? Healer Smithe will want to get everything in order quickly."

Trying to keep a steady pace so it didn't seem like he was thrown off with the question he answered, "Actually I have."

They walked the rest of the way in silence and just before entering the doors Snape looked over at him, "Care to share it with me before we go in? I don't wish to be blind sided if I have any concerns."

Giving a hard sigh, Harry went to sit on a bench right outside the door. It made sense that Snape would want to know, but he really hoped to avoid the topic completely.

"I just don't want to disappoint anyone," he finally said, hating his shaky voice. "I know this is my decision; it's my body and my life, but sometimes it doesn't seem like it."

"At the end of the day, I'm responsible for your medical care. I need to know what your wishes are regardless of if I agree with them," Snape said, feeling like he was in for a fight. "This is why we should discuss it before we go upstairs."

Taking a deep breath, Harry admitted, "I want to do the muggle treatment."

Snape's head shot up, clearly not expecting that answer. "And you're sure?"

"I know Professor Dumbledore will be disappointed, but it feels like it's the right decision to make. I don't know why, but it does." Harry was confused when he'd realized himself which option he wanted to do. If nothing else, he felt like he had some control this way instead of the magical way.

"Maybe with a stronger magical core than most who do chemotherapy, I won't lose too much magic. And if I do, well, then someone else will have to deal with Voldemort." He felt more relieved than he would say out loud by admitting that. "Can we go now?"

"You'll hear no arguments from me," Snape turned back towards the door. "This is why I'm here," he whispered so quietly he thought Harry couldn't hear, but instead Harry walked behind the man looking very puzzled. If Snape agreed, maybe he needed to rethink his decision.

They were back up in Healer Smithe's procedure room, glamours now removed, much sooner than Harry had hoped. He remembered the painful bone marrow test from yesterday and felt anxious about what was going to happen.

"First we're going to do what's called a spinal tap," Healer Smithe explained after Harry had taken his shirt off and was waiting for the test to start. "It should be relatively quick and what we're checking is to see if any of the cancer cells have spread to your spinal cord and subsequently your brain. Unfortunately, it's a very common occurrence for this type of cancer.

"For this test, I'm going to have you lean forward," he handed Harry a pillow, "onto this pillow. If it's ok, Professor Snape will help hold the position. I'm going to numb the spot, but it's very important that you sit extremely still for this test."

Harry nodded in understanding. Snape was going to be temporarily living with him, so he'd best get used to the man's help. Though he was still wary of the reasoning behind that help.

"Ok, here we go," he'd heard the healer say behind him and felt something cold on the lower part of his spine.

Overall the procedure went pretty well considering he had the bone marrow biopsy fresh in his mind. The most difficult part was knowing Snape was over his bent body and he couldn't move. Hopefully, he'd not have to repeat that anytime in the near future. He put his shirt back on and they all walked over to the healer's office.

Once the door was closed and everyone was seated, Harry noticed a lot of paperwork across his desk.

"I've received the medical proxy papers from Albus this morning. Harry, are you comfortable with the new arrangements?" Healer Smithe waved his hand towards Snape as he asked. It's not like he had much of a choice, but it felt good to be asked.

"Erm, yes sir. Professor Dumbledore came over to my relatives' house last night and explained everything," he was nervous, but not about Snape being responsible for him. This whole process was getting to him; he was scared to think there would be a time it would be considered normal.

"Ok, just checking. And have you both discussed the treatment options?"

"There wasn't much to discuss," Harry explained. "Professor Snape agreed with the option I wanted to go with."

"That certainly makes things easier," Healer Smithe was pleased. "And which route are you wanting to take?" From his conversation with the professor yesterday, he already could guess but wanted Harry to say it out loud. The more patients use the words, the easier it was to believe the reality.

"The chemotherapy sir," Harry said looking downward slumping his shoulders. "It sounds like there's more success that way."

Snape had a small smile creep up on his face. He knew it would be a long road for them both, but in the end it would be worth the risks.

"Perfect, that was my recommendation too. Unfortunately the magical world just doesn't see this enough to have the right potions available. Maybe with more research, someday we can be there, but that day is not today."

A paper appeared on his desk. Healer Smithe picked it up and examined the results. He looked pleased which made Harry feel slightly better about everything.

"Your spinal tap was clean; no cancer in the spinal cord. This means you'll just be doing some specialized preventative chemo to make sure it stays that way," his kind eyes made Harry feel like he did something right even though he ultimately had no control over almost anything anymore.

"That sounds like a promising start," he felt stupid saying but Harry thought he should say something about it.

Healer Smithe chuckled, "Yes, yes it is Harry. As for the other ways we treat your leukemia, it's done in 3 primary phases - induction, consolidation, and maintenance. I'd like the focus today to be discussing the induction phase; we have plenty of time to go through the long-term timeline, but we need to get started as soon as possible on the induction chemo."

"Of course," Harry said. "One question though, how long is each phase?"

The healer took a longer than normal pause before answering, "Well it obviously varies from person to person and a lot that depends on how well induction therapy goes. Our goal there is to get this into remission or where there are no more cancer cells in your bone marrow. The first phase will be 29 days followed by a week break. Most of the time it will go into remission after this. If not, then we start another round of induction chemotherapy. "

"Oh, well that doesn't sound too bad," Harry said. If he was lucky he'd be done by the start of term.

"I don't want to oversimplify this Harry," the healer warned, "it's a hard 29 days. Then, if remission is reached, we start consolidation which can last as long as 6 - 9 months, and if you're still in remission, maintenance starts. If it all goes smoothly, the whole process lasts 3 years." Seeing Harry's face start to panic he quickly continued, "but we'll take it one phase at a time."

This sounded like he was about to climb a mountain and he was sitting on his arse at the base. Plus there was an evil dark wizard who was going to try to kill him while climbing this mountain. He tried to push that last thought out of his mind, it was too much.

"Oh, ok." Harry felt Snape's eyes on him probably for his less than eloquent response.

"I've consulted with one of our pediatric oncologists, which is a doctor that specializes in cancer in children and adolescents, on your treatment schedule and to get you started," he pulled out a folder and opened it. Then looked over at Snape and said, "She's a muggle, but has a brother who is a wizard so she's familiar with our world. I know Albus wants as few people as possible directly involved, but at some point she may need to be more hands on. Right now, she knows I'm taking the lead - which I'm perfectly qualified to do," that last part was directed to Harry before turning back to Snape, "and that it's a magical child, but she doesn't know the identity of the patient. I highly suggest you, Poppy, and Albus meet with her to go over his files though and familiarize yourselves with the treatments."

"Madam Pomfrey will be involved in all this?" Harry really wanted to leave his Hogwarts life separate.

Snape jumped in to answer, "Since you'll be doing treatments back at school in the fall, she absolutely will be. Your 'medical team' will be me, Healer Smithe, and Madam Pomfrey for your primary care. Albus obviously knows, and your professors will need to know as you will be missing classes at times."

This sounded so much more complicated than he thought it would be. That's not even counting his friends and the other students who will inevitably find out.

"Harry," there was Healer Smithe's calm voice and kind eyes again, "this is not something you should be ashamed of or try to hide. You will do significantly better overall if you have people who support you and care for you around to help. You should not try to do this alone."

Harry glared out the corner of his eye at Snape. Both of them knew Harry historically didn't do well asking for help. Not to mention he was going to be starting this process at his relatives' house with a professor who hates him. Although thinking more about that last part, he wasn't so sure anymore.

"I'll try sir." That was the best he could commit to at the current moment.

Talking to Snape the healer added, "I also understand that you want to do as much of the treatments at his home?"

Wait, what? Harry's head shot up.

"Excuse me..."

"Mr. Potter, you're at the top of the Dark Lord's list to hunt down and kill," Snape was never one to sugar coat things, "the less you need to leave your aunt and uncle's house, the better."

That's fair... No reason to go through all this to save my life just to have Voldemort get me.

"So given that you won't be doing treatments here, you need to either have a catheter or port inserted," Healer Smithe handed Harry 2 papers - one on catheters and the other on ports. "Both options make getting the chemo, any other medications, or tests extremely easy. My recommendation is the port which is a small device inserted near your collarbone and it's completely under the skin. It's accessible with a small needle, but not nearly as bad as getting an I.V. each time. They can also last for the entire treatment phases, and because it's under the skin you can shower and bathe as normal."

Given the choice, the port sounded the easiest option too, "What's the bad part of the port?"

"The big downfall is that it needs to be surgically inserted. You'll be under general anesthesia during the procedure," the healer didn't seem too concerned about it, so Harry didn't ask. He wasn't sure how much more information he could hold in his brain.

Noticing Harry was getting overwhelmed, Snape added, "We can go over this again if you need to."

Did he really miss the chance to insult my feeble mind?

"So this port will let me get my chemo done from my aunt's house?" he really just wanted to get back on track.

"Exactly. I'll be coming by your house for each treatment," Healer Smithe explained and Harry thought about how inconvenient that must be for the man. Handing Snape another set of papers he continued, "Here's a list of the over the counter medications he'll need as well as other general supplies, some basic recommendations, and how to help keep his surroundings clean. We'll be monitoring his blood cell count, but especially because he'll be home you should try to limit his exposure."

Harry had no idea what they were talking about and he hated to admit that he'd just ask Snape later to explain it. This was all over what could concentrate on.

"I see we're losing you Harry," the healer smiled at him.

"Sorry sir."

"It's a lot of information. You should read through the pamphlets I'm sending home with you and you're lucky to have Professor Snape proficient in the medical field; he can help walk you through any of this too."

Yeah, lucky me he thought sarcastically.

"We'll finish up so you can go rest. We can't get the port done today, so you'll need to come back tomorrow. The chemo schedule we've put in place is going to be roughly 4 times a week and will start this Sunday. You'll have a daily steroid to take, starting today, which you'll take orally; I've sent over the prescription which should be ready before you leave. We can go through the detailed schedule when I'm there Sunday for the first dose."

If Harry felt like his head was spinning before, it was nothing compared to now. This was too much. Hermione would relish in all these small details, but he really didn't.

"Sorry if this isn't the right thing to say but...," he met Healer Smithe's eyes and saw sympathy within them. He hated people feeling sorry for him so he looked back down at his trainers,"...I know you said we would take this one phase at a time, but can we do it - I don't know- one week at a time instead?" There, he'd basically admitted he was a "dunderhead" in Snape's words.

"Of course," his head shot up so fast he felt dizzy. Was that really Snape that answered him. "We can go through each week on Sunday mornings so you know what to expect."

"Oh ok, thank you sir."

"I'm going to send you home with some more paperwork to look through about the port. And I recommend reading through what I sent yesterday,"

Was it that obvious I didn't read it?

"Surgery is scheduled for 10 am tomorrow morning and if it's ok with you, I think it would be beneficial to do the first Intrathecal treatment since you'll be under anesthesia."

"I agree," Snape said when it was clear Harry wasn't going to answer. He was supposed to help make these decisions anyway wasn't he?

Standing up, his hip still sore, he was just about to leave when Snape put his arm out to block the doorway.

"Forgetting something?"

"Erm..."

Harry felt the glamour being placed back on him.

"How do you manage to remember things like that?" It was a rhetorical question, but leave it to Snape to answer anyway.

"It's my job to remember the little details. Most of the time my life depends on those little details," Harry wasn't expecting Snape to answer, but he definitely wasn't expecting an honest answer. "Let's go. We need to stop by the pharmacy."

Oh yeah...his medication he was starting today, before the surgery tomorrow, and then something that was happening 4 times a week. He was exhausted and it was barely lunchtime.

~~~~SS~~~~

It had been a long couple of days for Severus. As Harry's official medical proxy, he was hoping it would help gain some of the trust back between them. There was a lot of ground to make up and he knew it was going to be anything but easy.

Leaving the hospital, he looked at the address on the list of prescriptions to go to the pharmacy. Taking Harry's arm, noticing that he had a small tremble in it, he disapparated them to an alleyway near the pharmacy.

"It's here," he pointed to the door on their left walking out of the alley. Harry nodded and walked in behind Severus, a little bell ringing after each one entered.

They walked slowly to the back of the pharmacy, to the small window where a young woman was waiting.

"Picking up for Harry Evans," Snape said casually knowing Harry wasn't used to his pseudonym.

He looked over his shoulder and Harry was sitting exhausted on the chair next to the drop off window. Waiting for the pharmacist to locate the order, he thought back to how this Harry had almost no reservations choosing the Chemotherapy instead of the Potions treatment. While it seemed too simple, he was fully aware - after reading through all the pamphlets last night - that this process was not going to be easy on either of them.

Ultimately, he wasn't sure how realistic it was to keep him at his relatives' house through this, which caused him to think back to his conversation with Albus after leaving the Dursley's last night:

Severus arrived back at Albus's office after they floo'ed from Mrs. Figg's house.

"Lemon drop?" Albus asked before Severus could even sit down.

"Absolutely not."

"As you wish. Shall we discuss the summons first," Albus was referring to his earlier summons to the Dark Lord. Both men were now sitting in the chairs side by side.

Jumping right in Severus said, "He's asking a lot of questions about Harry's summer location and specifically when he's typically moved. I was able to piece together that he does, indeed, have the location to his relatives home.

"He's planning something and I can't tell if he wants Harry to stay put or be moved. I also haven't figured out who is leading it all, but it's not me and that alone causes some concern. With the Order directly overseeing his living arrangements, I would expect to be more involved than I am, especially if that is where the Dark Lord is intending to take him," Severus was nervous and Albus was really the only person he would ever admit that to.

"Do you think your position is in jeopardy?" It was a realistic concern he would have to start to consider. Even with the memories from this world, it was a lot to sort through and he hadn't been as prepared for the summons as he should have been.

"I don't think so yet, but I'll keep a closer listen in as I can. In the meantime, I think we need to be prepared to move Harry with short notice, which is not something that will be easy once his treatments start."

"What a great transition," Albus looked pleased, "do you have any inclination of which treatments young Harry will ultimately want to go with?"

"No idea. If I were a betting man, I'd say the muggle chemotherapy, based off the rant he made about doing what's 'required of him'. I have a feeling in the end, your less than subtle manipulations will work against you."

The Headmaster looked perplexed, which isn't something that happened often. "That's assuming you think I want the Potions, but alas my boy, even I know we are between two impossible options. I'll have to trust Harry's opinion whichever way he wants to go." Severus didn't believe that for one second.

They both sat in silence for the next several minutes until Albus finally said, "I'll start working on alternate living arrangements for the summer should we need them.

"In the meantime, keep Harry home as much as possible, try to do most of the treatments there if you can. I'll contact Healer Smithe if you need me to. I can also see when Poppy plans to return and send her to help if need be."

Severus nodded in agreement and after another pause Albus added, "Any idea on how last minute the new arrangements need to be?"

"I'll make sure to get you as much time as I can, but plan on no notice at all."

"Mr. Evans?" Severus heard his undercover name called to the pharmacy window. "You're all set, is there anything else you'd like to add to your purchase today?"

He looked over at Harry who had fallen asleep in the chair. Not wanting to leave him for too long, he asked, "Can you show me where to find the following?" and handed over the paper he'd received from Alton.

"Of course," the young lady, Melissa according to her name tag, said stepping out. She peeked around and saw Harry sleeping too. "Let's get this quickly so you can get him back home." She looked kindly at Severus.

Less than 5 minutes later, they were back at the pharmacy counter; Harry was still sleeping in the same uncomfortable position. As he paid for the lot of medications Melissa said, "Your son's going to be just fine. I have a sense about these things."

Severus was taken aback and for a second couldn't think about what to say. There was no way she could understand the depth of her statement and what it meant to him. Maybe it would be ok and maybe someday Harry could feel like his son again.

"Thank you."

He walked over to wake Harry so they could head back to his aunt's house and eat lunch. It was becoming obvious Harry was starting to lose a significant amount of weight. After reading through the chemotherapy side effects, Harry would need to keep all the weight he could to begin with. The young wizard's face was pale and drawn, and no matter how much he slept the dark circles under his eyes looked like 2 bruises. Just taking a quick look at the too-small boy, anyone could guess he was ill.

"Mmmhmm." Harry mumbled. His eyes squinting against the harsh light of the pharmacy as he opened them. "Oh, sorry sir, I didn't know I fell asleep."

"It's of no consequence. Let's get you back and have some lunch," Severus held out his hand to help stabilize Harry as he stood.

"Best of luck to you both," Melissa called out as they walked slowly out the door.

~~~~HP~~~~

Once again, Harry woke up feeling like his head was full of cotton. Would there ever be a time when he wouldn't feel like this?

Finally feeling a little more clear headed as they approached their apparation point, Harry noticed, for the first time, the large bag Snape was carrying.

"What's all that?"

Snape gave him a looked that clearly said 'are you really that stupid' so he clarified his question, "I know it's my medication, but why are there so many?"

"Ah," Snape said, understanding, "I've been told that it's not advisable to use potions during chemotherapy because your magic will be taxed enough and we should not overload it.

"The rest of this is pain relievers, both prescription and over the counter, an antiemetic - like a muggle stomach calming draft-, an antibiotic, am antiviral, vitamins, and a prescription numbing salve for the port. Plus an extra soft toothbrush." Snape counted off making sure he wasn't forgetting something.

All of that sounded horrible. Except for maybe the vitamins, he probably should have been taking those every summer anyway for how little he usually ate. He could work on forgetting the stomach calming medicine and the numbing salve for now, not wanting to even think about why he would need them. Plus at least 2 kinds of pain relievers. He committed to reading up on the chemotherapy tonight so he could at least have an idea of what to expect.

That night was Snape's first night at Privet Drive and Harry was nervous about how it would go. Getting back to aunt and uncle's house was overall easy and unfortunately Snape didn't let him get away without lunch. He wasn't really hungry, but wanting to avoid the death-stare he was sure to receive from stating such fact, made him at least eat half of the chicken salad sandwich Snape had made for him. Snape also made sure he took his first set of medications which in his mind officially started his cancer treatment.

Picking up the chore list Uncle Vernon had left for him on the table, he noticed it was three times as long as usual. At least half of them he could easily knock out before suppertime, which calmed some of the nerves inside him. Snape had gone back out to grab some things and he could use the distraction for the afternoon.

He'd made it through cleaning the kitchen (counters, sink, refrigerator, and floor), sitting room, and was moving onto vacuuming the sitting room when he felt a deep sharp pain in his right leg. It had been duly aching on and off for the last week or so, but now it was almost unbearable. He fell to the floor clutching his thigh hoping that if he got off his legs for a minute, it would pass.

Unfortunately, this was the position Dudley found him several minutes later as he was trying not to let any tears fall.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked when it was clear that Harry was laying on the floor in pain.

"None... of your... business," Harry managed to say through clenched teeth feeling like his leg was being stabbed with a hundred needles.

He could see an internal struggle in Dudley's mind, which surprised Harry; he was sure Dudley didn't have enough brain power to think of another living being besides himself. Just when Harry thought his cousin was actually going to help, he turned around and continued walking to the kitchen. It shouldn't have surprised him, but it did. It hurt almost as much as his leg did that he could just walk away.

He finally managed to get himself up onto the sofa with his leg propped up on the armrest. Closing his eyes, he tried to breathe through the pain, feeling a cold sweat breakout on his forehead. Pressing down on his eyes with the palm of his hands, he suddenly felt something cold rub across his forehead.

"What the-" he started to yell and jumped when he opened his eyes and saw Dudley with a wet tea towel hovering over his forehead.

Harry met Dudley's eyes, confused by the gesture. As he was about to say something about this strange action, the door opened and Snape came in the doorway.

Dudley jumped up and said, "Pro-fffe-ssor, there's something wrong with Harry."

Snape - back in his normal Snape form but still in the light green shirt instead of white or black - walked briskly into the sitting room.

"What's going on?"

Harry went to speak when another pain ran through his thigh. He clenched his teeth in pain.

Sounding scared, Dudley said, "I don't know. I came in and he was on the floor."

"Just... my leg..." Harry managed to say, "... sir," he added.

Snape kneeled in front of the sofa to examine Harry's leg. Turning to Dudley, he commanded, "There's a small bottle of pain reliever in the bag in the upstairs lavatory. Fetch it for me."

Dudley did what Harry could only assume was his best to run out of the room. He could hear the loud thundering of his steps up the stairs.

Waiting for Dudley to return, the professor looked down at his student, "Did you injure it in any way?"

"No," Harry took a deep breath, " it's been aching... But now it's sharp."

Dudley finally came back with 2 small bottles and held them out to the Potions Professor. Picking the Paracetamol and depositing 2 tablets in his hand, he then pulled his wand and summoned a glass from the kitchen. He caught the glass and tapped his wand on lip, filling it with water. He then helped Harry sit up against the armrest of the sofa and handed him the 2 tablets.

"Take these," he said quietly, "they'll help." He was about to hand Harry the glass, but saw his shaking hands and decided to bring it to his lips instead. Harry was about to protest, but let the professor help him sip the water to take the tablets.

Helping to lay him back down on the sofa, Snape picked up the wet tea towel Dudley had brought and placed it over Harry's forehead.

"It will get better soon. Alton said this was very common with Leukemia, it's the cancer cells building up in your bone marrow," Snape explained less clinically than Harry expected. "Until those levels start going down, we'll manage the pain with the muggle pain medication."

If Harry's eyes had been open, he would see two people that he was positive had hated him, looking down at him with concerned faces. As the medicine started to work and the pain was subsiding, Harry felt himself starting to fall asleep. He couldn't believe how tired he'd been since all of this started.

"Sir," he said, sleep heavy in his voice.

"Yes Harry?" the low baritone voice said back.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome Harry."

It's back to Harry... I like that.

"You call'd me Harry," he slurred his speech a bit as he was falling asleep.

Harry felt his stomach rumble as the smell of chicken wafted over to his nose. Cracking an eye open, it was almost dark outside which meant he slept another afternoon and Uncle Vernon was going to be angry. Groaning, he felt around for his glasses and then quickly abandoned that until he could at least open his eyes for more than half a second. Maybe it's best just to ignore the food, and sleep instead, everything felt better when he was sleeping.

He drifted in and out of a light sleep until he heard Snape's voice quietly say, "You need to eat."

Harry's eyes shot open. He stared at his ceiling willing himself to be anywhere else besides his bedroom. If he was in his bedroom then Snape was in his bedroom and if Snape was in his bedroom, it was only a matter of time until the Slytherins knew about it. He was never going to live this down, Harry bloody Potter lived in a room no better than a prison cell. Possibly more important, how did he get to his room? Last he remembered, he was laying on the sofa in the sitting room.

"Why are you in my bedroom? And how did I get here?" Harry leaned over to grab his glasses from the rickety desk besides his bed. Putting them on, he saw the always-stoic face of Snape, black hair curtaining his pale face. He could never tell what the man was thinking, but it couldn't be good. Sitting on his desk was a plate of chicken, applesauce, and carrots plus a glass of milk.

"You have surgery in the morning," the professor reminded him while ignoring both of Harry's questions. "You can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight, so you need to eat now." He held the plate out for Harry

Leaning up on his elbows, he grabbed the plate placing it on the bed in front of him. "You didn't answer my questions."

"Clearly, you're in your room because I brought you up here from the sofa downstairs, and I'm here to make sure you eat."

Yeah, he could have guessed both of those now that his head was clearing out. None of the Dursley's would have brought him upstairs. At the time they seemed like appropriate questions.

Snape's cold onyx eyes were looking at him as he ate, "Why are there locks on your door?" Harry froze. He held up his hand before Harry could answer. "Let me rephrase that, why are there locks on the outside of your door?"

"Erm... My uncle doesn't like when I wonder at night?" That didn't sound convincing even to Harry's ears.

"Try again." Snape's eyes narrowed.

"You obviously already know, so why are you asking!" Taking another bite of chicken, he couldn't believe he was eating his 3rd meal for the day.

"I've had a talk with your aunt and uncle. For all intents and purposes, you're in my care now, they have no say so over what it is you do." That didn't sound much better, but Harry knew not to say so. "Have you read through any of the materials yet?"

"Not quite... I decided to do my chores first and then, well, you saw what happened." He paused, "Thank you, by the way."

"You already thanked me," Snape said quickly, "do you have any questions about what's going to happen tomorrow?"

Am I supposed to have questions?

"What exactly is going to happen?" He took a sip of milk which felt good on his dry throat.

"Did you hear anything that was said this afternoon?" Now Harry felt stupid for asking such a question.

"I do listen-"

"I wasn't being cross," Snape interrupted him. "I just want to know how much I need to go back and explain." Oh, now he felt stupid again.

"I'm getting a port inserted here," he pointed above his right collar bone, "and it's going to be under my skin and it's to help get chemo."

"Precisely. They'll make an incision-"

"Wait a minute, I don't need that much detail," it was Harry's turn to interrupt. He put his half eaten dinner plate back on his desk. "Specifically, what does being under general anesthesia mean?"

"It means you'll get a medicine that will put you to sleep. They'll insert the port while you're sleeping and when you wake up, you'll come home." Snape made it sound so easy. If it was that easy, why did he have to be put to sleep for it? "In the long run, this is the best option."

"And they're doing chemo then too? I thought they needed the port for that?" Here is where he started to get confused. Harry rubbed his right temple as he felt a headache coming on.

"The first intrathecal chemo, yes. That's the preventative one that goes directly into your spinal cord," Why couldn't Snape explain potions class like this? "It's done in the same manner as the spinal tap they did today, but instead of taking fluid out they'll put it in."

Was that only today?!

"At least I'll sleep through that one."

"Don't worry, you'll get plenty more if you feel like you're missing out." Snape didn't seem as amused as Harry would have expected. "We'll go through the schedule, in as much or little detail as you'd like, on Sunday before Alton gets here."

"Sir, what's going to happen with my relatives during all this? I doubt they want me staying here," this wasn't exactly the conversation he wanted to have but the question was sitting like a brick in his mind.

"Right now the headmaster and I agree that this home is the safest place for you. He's working to make other arrangements, but ultimately you need the blood ward protection at least a little while longer."

That didn't exactly answer the question, in fact it sounded more like a distraction from the actual question he'd asked. Too tired to push it, he sat up all the way to start getting up from bed.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"If you must know, to the loo sir," Harry rolled his eyes annoyed, "Or do I need permission to brush my teeth and take a piss?"

Harry could see Snape literally hold his tongue back likely from some snide remark. Not caring, Harry got up and walked right past his professor and out the door into the loo taking notice of his school trunk standing in the corner of the small room as he left.

He took a minute to take in his appearance in the mirror. The exhaustion across his face was the most obvious sign something was not right in his body. He touched the dark purple circles under his eyes as if he'd expected them to disappear with his touch. He then noticed how thin his face was, his cheeks were sunken in more prominently than in the past.

After deciding on a quick shower and then brushing his teeth, he walked back to his room hoping Snape had gone to bed. Of course, he wasn't that lucky. No, instead his professor was examining around the room As a spy, he would have expected the man to be a little more subtle with his snooping.

"What do you think you're doing?" He snapped at the professor in front of him.

"Determining what still needs to be done to your room," he explained as if that meant anything to Harry.

Shaking his head slightly, annoyed he asked, "Can you leave?" That was about as nice as he could be right now.

"As you wish. We need to be at the hospital at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Don't forget, no food or drink."

That was too easy.

"Got it sir," was the last thing Harry said before rolling over in bed and falling asleep.