Searching for Wellness by DesertPlanet

It was several more hours before Harry woke again, his head feeling much more clear than it had in over a month. He didn’t know which hospital he was in, but wherever it was they were doing a fantastic job. Normally he had to stay in hospital for several days to feel this way. Or had it been several days already and he didn’t know it?

Whatever the case may be, he felt stronger than he had in a long while. After moving his head experimentally, he found he was less dizzy as well. Nowhere near where he had been before getting sick, but it still was a drastic improvement.

Slowly, he sat himself upright. How odd, there were no bedrails to assist him. Nor was there a call light. Or an IV pump or pole. What an odd hospital this was.

“Oh good, Mr. Potter. You’re awake!” a voice sounded from a desk near the otherside of the room. The maroon lady from earlier came over. What was her name again?

“Whe-” Harry started hoarsely before swallowing and rubbing his mouth, trying to get some sort of moisture in it. “Where am I?”

“You are at Hogwarts in the Hospital Wing,” the lady answered, pouring him a very small glass of water and holding an emesis basin up for him to spit into.

Harry quickly rinsed his mouth, being careful not to try to swallow any of the water. The last time he tried to swallow any liquid, he found himself violently ill for several hours as his stomach simply did not want to move anything through.

“Hogwarts?” Harry asked, he’d never heard any of the doctors speak of such a place. They had spoken at length with Aunt Petunia about different specialists and hospitals around the nation when he began to require more frequent transfusions. She, of course, had turned it all away. She only wanted the attention and pity for herself, the sicker he was the better.

“Yes dear,” the woman continued. “You know about Hogwarts don’t you?”

“No, ma’am. I’m sorry. This is a beautiful hospital though.”

“No, no, darling!” she said, both sadness and mirth in her eyes. “This is a boarding school for people like you.”

“Hospital school?” Harry asked, continuing to be confused. He had briefly attended hospital school before, but that was in the hospital he was admitted to at the time. He had never even heard of a hospital boarding school.

“I’m sorry dear, for young witches and wizards,” Madam Pomfrey said, surprised when Harry immediately raised his eyebrows and looked at her like she was crazy.

“What?” Harry asked.

“Didn’t your aunt and uncle tell you about your parents? Or about yourself?” she gasped, covering her mouth.

“My parents were drug addicts who died in a car crash. I’m a freak who could easily go down that same path,” Harry recited, knowing his lines from memory after having had them beaten into him when he was very little.

“Oh my, no! Lily and James Potter were heroes who gave their lives to save you from the most evil wizard of the modern era! You are the boy-who-lived!” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. How could this poor boy be so uninformed about his own past?

Harry shook his head in confusion, bracing himself as the dizziness raced over him for a thankfully short period of time.

“Harry,” Poppy was looking at him slightly concerned. “Are you ok.”

“Just a bit dizzy. I’m much better though!” Harry said, smiling slightly.

“Your eyes seem a bit unfocused.”

Harry looked around for a second, when he was unable to see the glinting of the light off his glasses frame, he looked back at the matron.

“Have you seen my glasses anywhere?” Harry asked quietly. “It’s really hard to see without them.”

Poppy quickly looked through the bag of medical supplies Harry had been sent with and was dismayed to find a pair of glasses which had been rather crushed under the cans of tube feeding he was sent with. Easy enough to fix, though the fit wouldn’t be right if the boy wasn’t wearing them at the time they were repaired.

“I’m sorry, they seemed to have gotten rather crushed. Put them on and I can fix them up for you!” Madam Pomfrey said, handing them over.

Harry took the glasses and looked at her in confusion before gingerly unfolding them and placing them on his nose as she pulled out the stick she had been waving around yesterday.

“Oculus reparo,” Madam Pomfrey said, flicking her wand right in front of Harry’s nose.

Harry’s eyes were so wide they looked almost unearthly on his gaunt face. Slowly, he removed the glasses and started turning them over in his hands.

“What?…. How?” Harry stumbled over his words as he put them back on his face and revelled in the clarity of having non-scratched lenses for the first time in years.

“Magic, dear. And soon you’ll be able to do that and more. We just have to get you feeling better,” the matron said, waving her wand over Harry’s body and casting a plethora of diagnostic spells.

“What did you just do?” Harry said in utter amazement. “Was that to make me better?”

“No, child. Those were diagnostic spells. They make it so I can know what your body is doing so I can make adjustments in your care.”

Harry nodded. Vital signs: he knew them well. He was just glad he wasn’t hooked up to a machine to get them done. He always hated when the blood pressure cuff wouldn’t read right and would keep puffing up. And the nurses would have to check them all the time. Day or night, if he were asleep or awake, they would come in and strap the machine on him.

With magic, however, it seemed he didn’t have to get woken up each time at least! And if it was that easy to fix his glasses, maybe it would be that easy to fix him!

“Are they ok?” Harry asked, hope shining into his voice.

Madam Pomfrey smiled, “They’re much better than when you came in. And your haemoglobin is now in a safe range. Your blood was essentially water when you came in.”

“Sorry,” Harry said, ducking his head. “Aunt Petunia doesn’t like taking me to my appointments unless I’m really bad off.”

Madam Pomfrey had to reign in her temper almost immediately. There was definitely something more going on than she initially thought. Severus would be good for the boy. He always had such a gentle touch with the abused and neglected children who came in.

“Harry, do you think you will be awake for a little longer, or do you want to go back to sleep?”

“I want to go to the toilet,” Harry said, blushing a bit. “But I don’t know where it is.”

“The toilet is all the way in the corner. I would prefer if you didn’t get up just yet, however. You are far too weak and I cannot keep my wand trained on you and help you walk at the same time,” Madam Pomfrey said, another flick of her wand and his lower abdomen had the strange sensation of suddenly being empty.

Harry gasped and looked down at his belly.

“Did you just...?” Harry asked, motioning at his groin.

“I made the contents disappear, yes.”

“They won’t reappear will they?”

“No,” Madam Pomfrey laughed at the thought. How miserable would that be?

Harry sighed with relief. He was worried as soon as she said the toilet was on the other side of the room. This ward was enormous compared to the other wards he had been in. There had to be at least twenty beds with plenty of space to move around each of them. He knew from experience that, even though he was feeling better, he would have to stop several times on a trip of that length in order to catch his breath. Walking was exhausting for him.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I don’t remember your name,” Harry nearly whispered.

“I am Madam Pomfrey,” Poppy said gently. “You were still quite confused when I first introduced myself.”

“Thank you, Madam Pomfrey,” Harry said, courteously. “I think I can stay up for a little longer. Can you make the bed so I’m not laying down? Sitting like this makes me tired, but I don’t want to go back to sleep yet.”

Poppy smiled sadly and with a flick of her wand, the head of the bed cranked itself to a more natural sitting position.

“Thank you,” Harry said, relaxing back and pulling the covers up to around his neck. He was starting to feel cold again.

“I shall return shortly. I need to call the headmaster and our potions master. They both want to speak with you about the future and your… illness. Please stay in bed.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Harry said politely as he snuggled down more into the blankets until only his eyes were visible between the cap and the blanket.

Poppy walked into her office and quickly sent a note via floo that Harry had finally woken up and was stable. No more than a minute later, both men were standing in her office. Quickly she filled them in on what she had learned from her brief conversation with Harry and what her beliefs were as to the Dursley’s treatment of the boy.

Albus had a grim look on his face when they finished and Severus was utterly flat in his expression, but one look at his eyes and you could see how enraged he was. How dare they treat this child like he was a free meal ticket! The fact Petunia had even sent the letter she had was a damn miracle.

“He can never return there,” Severus stated murderously.

“He isn’t safe here in his current state either,” Albus reminded him.

Severus sighed and rubbed his face. He had been up most of the night stewing over the idea of hiding the Potter boy in plain sight. It would work, Poppy was right about that. He was enough of a recluse to have hidden an ill child, especially during the years where he had been working so diligently on the Wolfsbane modifications. Not to mention the boy was so thin he really did look as though he had some Prince blood in him. The Potters and the Princes were actually quite closely related after all.

Taking a deep breath, Severus stepped out of the office and looked into the green eyes of the waif-like boy in the bed.

“Hello, Harry,” Albus said, exiting the office immediately after Snape. “My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I am the Headmaster of the fine school you are currently in. And this is Professor Severus Snape, our esteemed potions master. Welcome to Hogwarts.”

Harry was fighting to keep his eyes open by the end of the discussion, but he knew it was important for him to make a decision soon. The Headmaster and the Potions Master had spoken with him for a long time about everything that was going on. He was famous because he had survived a killing curse, his life was now in danger because of the man who killed his parent’s followers, and he was apparently a vampire.

It felt like he was in a weird dream, but pinching himself didn’t wake him up.

The Headmaster thought it would be safer for him to pretend to be the son of the Potions Master than to be his famous self because the Potions Master would be able to defend him better. Or something like that.

As crazy as the idea sounded, Harry rather liked the idea. He would have a father who could help him and would talk to him. Maybe not even call him a freak and punish him by making him clean until he passed out! Maybe, one day, they could even play catch together!

“Are you ok with this, sir?” Harry asked sleepily.

“I believe I may have to be,” Severus said softly. He still wasn’t 100% sold on the idea, but so far there had been none of James Potter which had shown through.

The boy in front of him was Lily through and through. He could clearly see the green eyes the boy had inherited from his mother, but the waif’s figure looked nothing like his brawny, Quidditch playing father. Sure he had the black hair, but it was hard to gauge the texture of it under the hat and it was unlikely to be the same Potter rat’s nest simply due to its length. He had been a quiet, respectful child as Albus explained who he actually was. He had asked appropriate questions when Severus was explaining how they discovered the vampirism.

It was much easier to swallow the idea of being the “father” of Lily’s child than it was to even begin to think about caring for James Potter’s spawn.

“Do I keep my name?” Harry asked as he yawned for the sixth time.

“It would probably be better if you didn’t. There would be less likelihood someone would make the connection that you appeared at the same time Harry Potter disappeared,” Severus said.

“Can you choose one for me? I’m rubbish at making up names,” Harry yawned again, eyes at half mast.

Severus was mildly taken aback. The boy seemed to have no qualms with the idea of having him as a parent. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought of names. Why would a child be so willing to give up their family?

“Are you sure you want me to choose a name for you?” Severus finally asked, names running through his head that Lily had mentioned off hand as they had jokingly planned a future together the summer before their fifth year.

Harry nodded, eyes fluttering as he struggled against the sandman’s call.

Severus sat in silence for a few moments as he pondered the repercussions of names. It couldn’t be difficult to say, nor could it be overly simple to make fun of. Even if a cure for vampirism was found, he still would likely need to keep this name for an extended period of time.

“Julian,” Severus said quietly. “Julian Marcus Snape.”

“I like it,” Harry said, smiling at the professor’s emotionless face, before he lost the battle against sleep and dozed off for a moment. “I’m sorry sir.”

“Go to sleep, we’ll talk more tomorrow,” Severus said, removing the boy’s glasses and pulling the thick blanket up over his shoulders with a flick of his wand. .

When Severus looked up, he saw Albus smiling that horrible, twinkling smile.

“What?” Severus snapped.

“I believe, my boy, you are now the proud father of one Julian Marcus Snape. Congratulations are in order.”

Severus sneered, rolled his eyes, and stalked towards the door. This was not how he wanted to celebrate completing his passion project from the past four years.

Did he want to have a child? Absolutely not. The idea of Lily’s child being sent to yet another “family” following Albus’s manipulations worry him? Greatly. And it was that idea which spurred him into making this decision.

This was his chance to prove his worth. He couldn’t save Lily, but he had a chance at redemption in this boy.