Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

The Missive

~~~~SS~~~~

Monday 1 December 1997

Severus switched on the lamp above his head, wishing he could use his wand to dim the light slightly so he wouldn't wake Harry, who was sleeping in the hospital bed to his right. The sun had already set by the time Severus arrived on the AYA floor at four o'clock in the afternoon and he'd held off by using the lavatory light as long as possible to work on his pending report for the MLD. According to Harry's daytime nurses, the young wizard struggled most of the night with nausea and stomach pains, so the last thing Severus wanted to do was disturb him after he finally fell asleep around half five.

As the professor expected, his first day split between Hogwarts and the Guilford hospital made it difficult for him to concentrate on his teaching, knowing Harry wasn't just a few flights of stairs away in their quarters. For his first class of the day - his sixth years - the professor never let go of his enchanted galleon, to make sure he wouldn't miss any messages from Harry should the young wizard need him. Fortunately, outside of the serial number imprint left in his palm, his hand felt no trace of the charmed object; a hopeful sign Harry was asleep or otherwise distracted. During his second period class, he moved the galleon to his pocket where it stayed for the rest of the day except for a quick 'how are you?' message sent after his third-period class; to which Harry's reply of 'going well' only mildly appeased him.

To get to the hospital as efficiently as possible, over his lunch hour, Severus packed up the work he planned to do during those few hours of the evening in Harry's room. By doing it this way, he ensured he could leave as soon as his last class ended. For possibly the first time since becoming the Defense Professor, he was caught up on his marking to where he felt confident abandoning the small stack of quizzes in favour of his laboratory report for the MLD.

Having decided not to bring up the Felix Felicis experiment with Lucius after their last meeting with Albus, it didn't surprise him when his newest employer fire-called him late last night to discuss the rumours spreading throughout the lab regarding one pod's radical idea to use the unconventional substance. The conversation lasted longer than Severus would have liked, and Lucius didn't approve the experiment on the spot, as Severus had originally counted on, but the other Slytherin didn't outright deny it either. Instead, he asked Severus to put together a proposal on the project, which meant Lucius considered it a viable option. And Severus made it one of his top working priorities.

So, once Harry fell into the most peaceful sleep either of them could hope for, Severus turned the sofa into a bed to give him plenty of space to hold every single work notebook and textbook - magic and muggle alike - he brought with him and began the arduous process of outlining his first real presentation. Fuelled by the sounds of Harry's infusion pump, his various other monitors, and the occasional nurse or two crossing by the closed door, Severus poured over every detail and document trying to find every, and any, connections possible to make their hypothesis work; because who knew what tomorrow might hold for his future son? As relieved as he appeared when Dr Swanson told them of Harry's remission, he was equally concerned about the relatively small progress the young wizard made in the two months since his relapse; not that he'd ever admit it to Harry. Preferring to prepare for the worst, Severus figured if it came down to it, chemotherapy might actually be able to buy Harry enough time for Severus to discover a realistic magical cure; something for which Severus would move mountains with his bare hands to make it happen. The task, however, wasn't nearly as simple as he tried to convince Lucius of last night, a fact the Malfoy patriarch likely knew when he assigned the proposal. The process of compounding Felix Felicis into a different potion, such as a Shrinking Potion, to perform a specific action presented its own set of challenges even before he considered the need to target said action towards a specific set of cells. Adding in this all having to be done in a way which would be both affordable to the wizarding community and profitable to the MLD seemed downright impossible. But he didn't need all of those answers right now. After all, that was the purpose of the proposal. What he needed was strong enough supporting theories to show Lucius that it could be a worthwhile endeavour. That he was confident in his ability to deliver. They would work the rest out during the first phase of development.

Completely engrossed in the world of muggle cellular biology, oncology, and magical potion-making, Severus missed the usual knock on the door warning of someone entering, instead only noticing the new guest's presence by the stream of light from the corridor through the newly opened door. Although most of the texts sprawled out onto his old makeshift bed were innocuous to the wandering muggle eye, he knew it wasn't wise to draw any unwanted attention to himself or Harry in the muggle world. Thinking quickly, Severus took a calculated risk and discreetly swiped his wand across the texts to place a hasty concealment charm onto them; a move he admonished himself for not doing when he first pulled the books from his bag.

"I saw that," a woman's voice sternly warned him.

Severus's head snapped up, but his panic quickly subsided at the sight of Dr Swanson reaching Harry's bed. For good measure, he left the concealment charms in place; it'd be his luck for a nurse to walk in right as he removed the charms.

Severus stood to meet the oncologist in front of the whiteboard at the foot of the bed. "That's because you recognize it." He gestured to the pocket where he stored his wand. "If virtually anyone else saw me holding a stick like that, especially in a dark room while distracted by his or her job, I doubt they would have thought twice about it. At most, they'd assume I'm a bit eccentric, although I suspect they wouldn't say it out loud."

"Not to your face, they wouldn't." Dr Swanson smirked, her attention fixed on Harry's chart, which she had brought into the room with her. "But, believe me, I've overheard enough gossip at the nurse's station over the years to know you'd earn yourself at the very least some kind of strange nickname. Sir-something-a-lot, or something along those lines."

Severus groaned. "It can't be any worse than what I'm sure they already call me."

"That one you're probably right about." She cast him a sidelong glance. "I'd say at least half of any given shift thinks you're absolutely terrifying and possibly part of MI6, while the other half gives Mae death stares whenever she comes to visit. Interpret that however you wish."

Severus shook his head apprehensively but chose not to respond, unwilling to go down the rabbit hole of his reputation status in the Guildford AYA Oncology Ward.

While Dr Swanson went about her tasks of reviewing Harry's chart, current medications status, and fluids, Severus took the opportunity to simply watch Harry sleep. Whether it was his night away causing him to see the teen in a new light or just the overall calm in their otherwise hectic lives, Harry appeared smaller in the bed than Severus ever remembered seeing him. Severus's heart sank at his acknowledgement of how far the young wizard had fallen. They were now in a race not only against the disease attempting to take over his blood - and putting their trust in the treatment to eradicate it before that happened - but he was also fighting against what his body could handle of his treatment. Dr Swanson, herself, explained how they would take this regimen as far as his body allowed, but what if his body broke down before all the cancerous cells were gone?

"It sounds like he had a rough day." Dr Swanson eventually said, while writing notes Severus couldn't read in the low light. "If you didn't already know, I called in a stronger pain reliever for him around eleven this morning because of severe abdominal pains."

"Yes, I heard," Severus responded. He released a depressing sigh, trying to temper his frustration. "However, I did not hear it from Harry, although he had a perfectly acceptable means of communicating with me all day. No. I had to hear it from Isabella as soon as I arrived here from the school."

Dr Swanson's pen stopped scratching in the middle of a sentence. She glared up at Severus in a way the professor was relieved she'd done in the pseudo-dark. "Did he tell you anything about it when you got here?"

Severus's breathing became shallow at her suspicious tone. "Yes," he replied, cautiously. "Once I asked him about it."

"Did he give you any details about how he felt during the episode?"

Severus licked his drying lip. "He told me the new pain medication helped him. To be honest, I didn't ask for specifics as Isabella already warned me of the incident, and Harry didn't seem up for a lecture on transparency." The professor gave Harry one more long glance, silently wishing he'd confide in Severus more often. He'd thought they were past all of this, that they'd made solid progress, yet something had happened that Harry did not feel comfortable telling him. As he turned to face Dr Swanson, Severus hid his grievance. "What do I need to know about it?"

To Severus's astonishment, the doctor hesitated. She'd been the one to bring it up in the first place, so her conflicted expression confused him.

"Because of the substantial amount of pain he was experiencing, I was called in for an exam," Dr Swanson explained in a hushed voice, so much lower than their previous whispers it made Severus take a step closer to her. "During it, he kept describing the feeling as a burning sensation throughout his stomach, 'just like before'... those were his exact words. I couldn't ask him anything specific because I had two nurses beside me, but I suspect it's his magic about it again, especially since his exam came back clear."

Severus covered his eyes with his hand, more to help him digest her words as they settled into his mind than to hide away from the impending problem ahead of him: Harry's magical core and his magical block breaking. Even though they knew it had to happen, and he had a plan in place to repeat it in January, no part of him wanted to see Harry go through the three-night ritual again. Specifically, he didn't want to make Harry have to relive his worst nightmares on the final, sleepless night and until Dr Swanson's words sank in, the next ritual seemed like some obscure future task. But now he couldn't deny it any longer.

"I called Dr Smithe once the new medication settled him," Dr Swanson continued. "He said he'd follow up with you about the next steps once Harry was out of the hospital… said you'd know what he was talking about."

"Unfortunately, I do," Severus replied solemnly, staring blankly at Harry asleep.

"I know it must be difficult for you," Dr Swanson said, almost as if she could read his mind. "But trust me when I say he's in excellent hands here… both medically and magically… and he's down to one day left of his infusions, so he should see some improvements soon. Remember, it always gets worse before it gets better."

"I know." Severus raised his head, proud of how even his voice managed those two words. "It doesn't make it any less difficult for me to watch."

"No, it doesn't." Dr Swanson clasped the chart closed in her hands, and, in an unusual move for the muggle physician, placed her hand on Severus's shoulder. "Do you have any questions or are there any other issues I should know about?"

"Just one," Severus answered, grateful for the return to their business-like conversation. Harry's latest struggle seemed trivial compared to the burning, nevertheless, he needed to bring it up. "He said trouble eating this afternoon because his mouth sores were bothering him. He's been using a salt water rinse and the moisturizing mouthwash, but they're still hurting him. Is there anything else we can try?"

Dr Swanson frowned and reopened his chart. "I'll call in a prescription for an analgesic mouth rinse. It's a combination of an antibiotic, antifungal, antihistamine, local anesthetic, and an antacid… sounds like a lot, but we call it Magic Mouthwash for a reason. It should give him some relief from them."

"Thank you." He nodded his head, a gesture which most likely went unnoticed.

A knock at the door drew both of their attention to it. Severus's face instantly lit up at the sight of his Mae, dressed in black scrubs with neon dinosaurs covering them underneath her unzipped coat, slowly entering the quiet room carrying a white bag of takeaway.

"Oops." Mae ducked her head when she saw her employer standing at the foot of the bed next to Severus. "I thought you'd be done by now. I'll come ba-"

"Stay," Severus motioned her further into the room, then greeted her with a small kiss. "I think we're finished up here, right?" He asked Dr Swanson.

"Yes." She nodded, showing no outward awkwardness over one of her nurses dating a patient's father. "I'll let Isabella know to keep an eye out for the mouthwash tonight."

"Thank you, Doctor," he said as she slipped out the door, leaving Severus and Mae alone at the foot of Harry's bed.

"I'm sorry I missed getting to see him today," Mae whispered. "I meant to come by during my lunch break, but we got behind in appointments, and before I knew it, it was the end of the day."

Neither of them had to mention the reason Dr Swanson had fallen behind on her patients was to come to check on Harry.

"I really appreciate everything you've done for him," he sincerely told her, wishing he could properly express his gratitude for her level of compassion towards his son. As time went on, and their relationship strengthened, so did her support for him being a father figure to Harry; a positive sign for the pending adoption. "And I know Harry does too. He's grown very fond of you and, believe me, he doesn't let people in easily."

"Well, then I'm honoured." Mae took his hand and led them to the sofa where Severus moved his mountain of work - still disguised as muggle chemistry books by his charm - to make room for her, but not before she plucked one book from his hands.

"I'm pretty sure this was one of my chemistry textbooks in school." She flipped open the book to reveal blank pages. At least they appeared blank to her. In reality, Severus had made it a point to memorize several texts a chemistry teacher might use as covers for his magical books. For the Insides, he used a generic concealment charm since he never expected a muggle to open one. Puzzled, she held the blank pages out for him to see. "What's this about? Are you creating a new version or something?"

Severus chuckled at her perplexed expression and, after double-checking the door to make sure it was clear, he ran his wand over the lot to change them back into their normal subjects. In her shock, Mae dropped the book; thankfully, onto the plush cushion rather than the hard linoleum floor, where its bang would have undoubtedly woken Harry up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Severus picked up the book she was previously holding - Potions from Around the World - and handed it back to her. "I can't exactly have this floating around for anyone to see, so I used a rather intricate charm to disguise the outside… much like the pub you refused to enter. In my haste to conceal it as Dr Swanson entered, I only changed the cover, assuming, incorrectly, no one would think to scrutinize it enough to warrant any text on the inside."

"I've always been a rather curious person. Let's look at what we've got here." Mae opened the book and flipped through the pages, pausing every dozen or so to read through the contents. Once she reached the end, she cautiously closed the cover; as if she expected it to explode if she handled it too roughly.

"Did you say you hid it because Dr Swanson showed up?" She asked, though he suspected she knew the answer before his nod. "So, she doesn't know about…" Mae trailed off, pointing to Harry and flourishing her hand to signify magic.

"She knows," Severus stated flatly, but it put him in a bit of a bind, unsure how to account for her knowledge, eventually choosing Alton as their connection. "Alton Smithe, one of Dr Swanson's close colleagues whom you may or may not know, used to handle Harry's care-"

"He's not an oncologist."

"No, technically, he's a healer." Severus smiled at her. "One of our kind of doctors, who just so happens to practice in the muggle world, and therefore, he's one of the few who can treat both types of illnesses. He's a good friend of mine who owed me a favour. So when Harry got sick, I took him to Alton first and I believe he consulted with Dr Swanson to start his treatment."

Mae squinted her eyes. "And she knows he's…" her voice dropped, "...magical?"

"Yes," Severus replied. "However, I am not aware of the circumstances under which they shared this knowledge."

"Why didn't Harry just switch to Dr Swanson when the diagnosis came back?"

An excellent question, and one he didn't exactly have a suitable answer to.

"We needed to monitor his magic." The partial lie felt like poison on his lip. He knew he'd have to tell Mae about Voldemort at some point, but sitting in Harry's muggle hospital room didn't feel like the most appropriate place to do it. So he focused on a concept she'd be able to understand without too much explanation. "These medications… his chemotherapy… they have a history of damaging, or more accurately, killing, the source of our magic. At the time, we thought it best to keep his primary care on our side so Alton could closely monitor it. After a while, his needs changed dramatically, requiring us to transfer his primary care to Dr Swanson, while Alton still continued to oversee his magical health."

A vast oversimplification if he'd ever heard one, but the way she went back to scanning the Potions book told him she accepted his explanation at face value.

"These are really… erm… strange steps here," she remarked. "Obviously, I saw cauldrons in the…"

He offered, "Apothecary," when she trailed off, trying to think of the right word for the shop they visited in Diagon Alley.

"Yeah, that." She flipped the book over onto her lap, saving whatever page she'd been reading. "I guess I didn't really expect it all to sound so… cliché."

"You understand your cliché image of magic and wizardry was born from somewhere, correct?" He took the book from her and explored the page she'd been reading; ironically, the same Shrinking Potion he marked for his MLD proposal. "After the muggles forced us into hiding, faint memories of our world persisted in yours. These memories became the foundation for your folklore. The history between the magical and muggle worlds is quite a fascinating subject. If one knew what to look for, you'd find pieces of our history littered within yours… such as the film we went to. Unfortunately, History of Magic is the least favourite subject taught at our school."

"Why?" Mae exclaimed. "It sounds interesting."

"Not when it's taught by an actual ghost who literally bored himself to death," Harry's hoarse voice cut in from his bed.

"He did not bore himself to death," Severus observed as he rose to offer Harry a sip of water from his cup on the side table, which the young wizard accepted. "He simply died one day in the staff room, became a ghost, and returned to teaching. Dare I say, that shows a dedication to teaching no other professor has shown."

Mae burst out laughing. "Please tell me you two are having me on, right? A ghost? Seriously?"

"I wish," Harry said. Severus reached down to assist the young wizards when he struggled to push himself up on his shaky arms. Neither wizard acknowledged the act. "Being a ghost wasn't his problem. We have plenty of awesome ghosts at school, but Professor Binns practically sucked the life out of anyone sitting in his class. Pun intended. And to make it worse, the class is required every year through fifth year, so you spend more than half of your school career being droned to sleep, then get tested on what you slept through. I'm pretty sure there's no N.E.W.T class because no one can actually pass the O.W.L."

Severus chuckled, pleased to see Harry enthused up about anything, including Professor Binns.

"And here I thought you were the evil professor." Mae nudged Severus's ribs. Then she gave an exaggerated wink at Harry and claimed, "Harry told me all about the horrific things you put your students through."

"Oh, did he?" Severus's eyebrows jumped up his forehead. "I suppose he's had plenty of detentions over the years to be considered an expert on the method each professor uses to torture their students in detention"

When Harry's gaze shifted to his right hand, Severus's remark, one made in jest, quickly changed the atmosphere in the room. Umbridge, and her literal torture of the students, of which Harry took an unbalanced amount, somehow slipped his mind.

Yet another unfair battle he's had to deal with.

True to Harry's character, the Gryffindor didn't let it bother him too much. "Yeah," he said, less enthusiastically than before, "I've got to have some kind of record for separating the most Flobberworms."

"Flobberworms?" Mae's face scrunched in disgust. "I don't even want to know what you do with those in detention."

"If you hang around with Severus long enough, I'm sure he'll show you someday. He might even give you a tour of his potions lab." Harry cringed in pain as he shifted in his bed. "At home, he has a full-fledged lab set up in the cellar."

"In the cellar?" Mae's eyes widened. "That's not creepy at all. I think I'll pass. Thank you very much."

Severus glared at Harry with the intensity worthy of Longbottom's worst melted cauldron. "Tell me, exactly how do you know about a place you aren't supposed to enter? Especially given your Potions marks?"

"Erm…" Harry's face flushed. "Lucky guess?"

"Unlikely," Severus mumbled. Then, in an attempt to divert the conversation back to a safe topic, he asked Harry, "Are you hungry? Mae brought takeaway, but I can run down to the cafeteria if there's something specific you think you can eat."

It turned out that Mae's takeaway bag came from her favourite deli down the street. Harry settled on a bowl of chicken soup, however, Severus noted how he hardly ate a quarter of it. When they finished, Severus turned his attention back to his presentation work while Mae and Harry played a game of chess, and Mae interrogated him about Luna - after she saw the new picture of the couple on display - much to Harry's embarrassment. Outside of the new overnight nurse stopping in to bring him the prescription mouthwash - which Mae also confirmed was magical, 'but not in that way'- and starting Harry's next infusion, they were left mostly alone and their visit was predominantly uneventful.

The hours ticked away without Severus noticing, and before he knew it, the intercom in the corridor gave them the ten-minute warning that visitor's hours were ending. This was the part of this new arrangement Severus dreaded the most. Yes, he needed to fulfill his responsibilities at Hogwarts, but knowing Harry would be surrounded by muggles if the magical burning in his stomach returned almost made him carefully weigh his options for finding a suitable substitute; going as far as considering Lupin for the job. Harry wouldn't have it, though. He'd tell Severus to go, and putting any more strain on the young wizard's exhausted body would be counterproductive to his goals.

A solemn atmosphere coated the room as Severus packed up his books, notes, and muggle pencils - much to Mae's delight after seeing the quills at the Apothecary - into his bag.

"Mae, could you please give Harry and me a minute?" He asked his girlfriend after she finished saying goodbye to Harry, promising the teen she'd stop by the next day to check in on him. "I'll meet you in the corridor and we'll head out together."

"Yeah, of course," she replied. And with a wave over her shoulder, she exited the room, closing the door behind her with the expertise of a nurse who knew how to sneak in and out of a room without disturbing the patient's sleep. If Severus was completely honest, the thought of her being able to move around a future shared room, while he slept entirely unaware, terrified him slightly.

"What's going on, Severus?" Harry inquired. He shifted himself to the other side of the bed, giving Severus room to sit in the same position as back home.

"I spoke with Dr Swanson today." Severus tucked his left leg, as far as he could, given his coat resting in his lap, to face Harry. "She gave me some additional information on the stomach pains you experienced this morning."

Harry immediately lowered his head to look down at his hands, which were clasped in his lap. "I didn't want to make a big deal about it."

"You're not in trouble, Harry," Severus reassured him. "Did you know what was going on at the time?" The Gryffindor nodded, almost imperceptibly. "I'm sure it put you in an awkward position, at least until Dr Swanson arrived."

"A little," Harry murmured. "But it's not a big deal. We already know my magic is coming back and I'm sure you and Healer Smithe have plans to redo the block ritual. So once I got the stronger pain medication… and some sleep… I didn't see any reason to get into it with you."

"Look at me, Harry," Severus stated, more for Harry to understand the gravity of his coming words than out of respect. Unsurprisingly, the Gryffindor obeyed. "We never explicitly discussed what to do if you experience magic or any magical side effects while I am not here. If something like this happens again, I want you to message me using your galleon. I have mine on me during class, and I will respond to you no matter what else is going on."

"What difference will that make?" Harry asked curiously, different from his usual confrontational tone.

"I can contact Dr Swanson or Healer Smithe from Hogwarts. Since they are both aware of your unique situation here, they can get you the right medication in an expedited manner," he explained. "It cuts through the 'red tape' of the nurses, so to say, to get you relief as quickly as possible.

"Also, don't forget your sphere. Keep it within reach in case you find yourself where you cannot message me on your galleon - be it physically or because you're in the presence of muggles. I'll be here if mine goes off, no matter what I am doing. Understand?"

"Yes." Harry ran his hands nervously down the sides of his blanket. "Will you be by tomorrow night?"

"Absolutely." An answer Severus didn't need to think twice about. "Try to get some rest tonight. I love you, Harry."

"Love you too, Severus."

Severus gave Harry one last look before wrapping his coat tightly around him and leaving to meet Mae in the corridor. Walking out of Harry's tiny room felt like stepping into another world after spending hours in it. Because of the harsh beams of the fluorescent lights, Severus had to close his eyes tightly while they adjusted. He'd never understand how the nurses got used to moving from a patient's dark room to the bright corridor. In fact, although there were many instances where muggle technology outperformed the wizarding world - most of which were currently keeping his future son alive - Severus had always preferred the soft glow of their lanterns in the school over the modern light bulb.

"I wish I had a camera on me right now. Then you could see how ridiculous you look." Mae's slightly obnoxious laugh echoed all around him. "If this is the face you make walking out into the light, it's no wonder your students think you're a vampire."

Suddenly, the concept of Harry and Mae forging a friendship didn't seem like the best idea.

Unamused by her joke, Severus wrapped his arm around Mae's shoulders and led her to the lifts. As they rounded the corner to the nurse's station, the whispering he'd picked up came to a halt. The professor couldn't help thinking back on Dr Swanson's warning about his reputation. If Mae picked up any of their questioning glares, she never reacted to them.

"It's too late for you to walk home alone," he told her, pressing the down button to summon the lift. "I'll drop you off on my way back to the school."

Mae signed and rolled her eyes. "And what do you think I've been doing all these years before you heroically came into my life to save me from the spooky dark?"

"Simply because I offer to keep you safe does not mean I think you are incapable of doing so," he pointed out, leaving his reasoning for her potential dangers left unsaid. "Plus, it's the gentleman thing to do and I'll save you the half-hour walk."

It took Mae a full minute to grasp the meaning behind the last part of his offer. But when she did, her eyes lit up. "Well, when you put it like that, who wouldn't want to jump home in a flash?" She snapped her fingers on the last word. "You can do that here?"

Severus peered around to make sure they were alone. "How else do you think I got here, from Scotland, after classes? Every other means of transportation would either be too long or uncomfortable."

"How do you-" Mae snapped her fingers again.

"Like on our trip, I find a suitable location out of the public's view and make sure I clearly think of a location similar to land."

Mae's brows furrowed, thinking of the conditions he laid out. "What about if it's somewhere new? How do you picture it?"

Severus leaned over to press the lift button once more. "It depends on the individual. Some prefer to be on the safer side and use an alternative method of transportation, whereas others may take a chance on the coordinations alone."

Mae's skeptical face practically gave away her next question. "What are the risks?"

Severus gave a half-smile, anticipating her reaction. "Splinching," he said, casually. "It's when a portion of your body gets left behind. As you can imagine, depending on the body part, it could be quite dangerous."

"That's awful!" Her jaw literally fell open."Have you ever done that?!"

"Once. And there were extenuating circumstances which caused it." Against his will, Severus's words threw him back into the memory of the night at Malfoy Manor, after they learned about Harry's relapse and he went to beg Lucius for his help in supplying the Water of Life. "Is this lift taking extraordinarily long?" He asked, desperate to escape the grief creeping into him as he thought of that night. In an uncharacteristic move, he pressed the down button three more times, attempting to trick it into passing up whoever was holding it up on the floors above them.

"You realize that makes zero difference, right?" Mae spoke softly into his ear. "I see kids do this every single day. They think the more they hit the button… or the faster they hit it… it'll make the lift arrive sooner. But it doesn't."

"I don't see what's holding it up," he grumbled and pressed the button for the sixth time.

"This is a hospital, Sev," his girlfriend explained, swatting his hand away before he could press it again. "For all you know, there's some nice old lady upstairs right now trying to get into the lift. If that were Harry struggling, wouldn't you want the people waiting below to be a bit more patient?"

"That's hardly the point-" The soft ding of their lift's arrival cut off Severus's rambling argument short. He didn't need to actually see Mae's smug expression to know the phrase 'I told you so' danced through her head - salsa dance too, if he had to personify it - when the doors opened to reveal an elderly woman leaning heavily on the cane in her right hand.

"This changes nothing," Severus teased. He reached his hand out between the doors to hold them open for his girlfriend, who muttered, "I didn't say a word" as she walked by him, her hand running across his chest.

The elderly woman gave him a polite nod as Severus entered the small chamber and reached across her to press the "G" button above the already illuminated "LL", to take them down to the ground floor for the exit. Something about the woman sparked his well-honed instincts, so Severus strategically stood between her and Mae. To anyone else, she probably appeared no different from any of the other geriatric patients or visitors wandering around the hospital, but Severus wasn't just anyone. He used to be a spy for two of the greatest wizards of his generation. A job which, out of necessity if he wanted to survive, meant he needed superior observation skills. While he'd be the first to admit they'd become rusty as of late, something inside Severus screamed he recognized her from somewhere; specifically somewhere to make her stand out from the hundreds of people he'd casually met during Harry's various stays and clinic visits.

"Are you ok?" Mae whispered to him, but the acoustic in the tiny room caused it to echo around them. "What's going on with you tonight?"

"It's nothing." A lie to the woman he loved, which he justified by his need to protect her.

Unfortunately, the trip to the ground floor went no slower than the professor remembered any other day riding it. Meaning not only had Mae been right about the mysterious woman holding up the lift - a fact she'd surely heckle him over later- but it gave him less chance to solve the new puzzle plaguing his mind before they reached their floor.

"I hope your son is doing well."

The elderly woman's words chilled Severus to his core, causing him to completely freeze in his tracks. It took him a second to process the situation, but when he came to, he demanded, "What did you say?"

"Thank you so much, ma'am," Mae said, not giving the woman a chance to respond. Pulling hard on his arm, she told Severus, "Let's go home. It's been a long night."

Dumbstruck, Severus stood staring at his reflection in the closed lift doors for at least a minute. He could feel Mae's presence looming behind him without ever focusing his eyes on her nervous form on the mirrored surface. Had he been wrong to react so harshly? What if they really hadn't crossed paths, as he assumed? No matter how he viewed it, her question did little to ease his mind.

"How did she know about Harry?" His steam had mostly dissipated by the time he asked the obvious question. Slowly, he turned to face Mae.

"A good guess?" Her eyes softened, and Severus understood why Harry hated seeing sympathy in others. "We obviously look like we're a couple… we were coming off the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Ward… and it's a fifty-fifty guess of a son or daughter. It's not as big of a stretch as you're making it out to be."

Thinking about it in those terms, he wanted to believe her. But deep down, his stomach ached from fear that something - or someone - was watching them.

"Harry's safe."

"Of course he is, Sev." Until Mae's response, the former Death Eater didn't think he'd said those two words out loud. Moving slowly, probably so she didn't startle him, Mae's arm snaked its way around Severus's waist. "Seriously, let's get home. We can walk if you don't feel up to… y'know."

"I'm fine." Another lie, though at least only a partial one because he'd do anything to keep her safe too.

"Did I tell you I talked to my dad this morning?"

Mae chatted away about the conversation she had with her father as they made their way from the corridor lifts to the automatic doors leading out of the building. Severus tried his hardest to pay attention to her news about their family's annual New Year's party, but his focus was on the woman in the lift and the area they were walking through. The few people sitting - or more accurately laying - on the sofas lining the reception windows paid the couple no attention and Severus breathed a sigh of relief as they approached their exit. Except, right as he was about to admit his nerves might be on edge because of his exhaustion, a gentleman around his age entering the hospital tripped on the rug at the threshold, knocking him into the professor's left side. The action broke the last fragment of Severus's control.

"What the hell?" Moving fast, Severus pushed the brown-haired gentleman so hard off of him, the man tumbled straight to the floor onto his back. For a moment, he forgot where he was and his hand flew to his left breast coat pocket, where he stored his wand for easy access. Thankfully, Mae's loud voice distracted him away from pulling it out in the muggle hospital.

"Severus!" His girlfriend yelled, simultaneously releasing his hand to kneel down next to the other man. In a trance, he watched her seamlessly slip into her nurse mode and start checking on the other man. The words they exchanged sounded muffled in his ears, leaving him unable to follow the brief conversation.

Now standing in front of Severus, the man raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "So sorry 'bout that," he delicately said. "I promise, I didn't mean to cause any trouble. The rug got me outta nowhere."

Regardless of the genuine sounding apology, Severus didn't verbally respond. He simply inclined his head enough to satisfy the onlookers, then took off out the door; grateful for the cool air filling his suffocating lungs.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Mae shouted, storming up behind less than a minute later. "I don't know if you noticed or not, but you could've really hurt him!"

"He shouldn't have-"

"He tripped, Severus," she argued. "And you practically attacked him! That's not a normal reaction."

Severus almost agreed with her, and was about to tell her as much, until the memory of an oddly similar moment sprang into his mind: the old man out by the lake. And hadn't he crossed an elderly woman at the elevator right before the lake incident? He didn't believe in coincidences, and he couldn't deny the strange parallels between the days. Perhaps his skills were as dull as he thought.

"Something's not right about it," he warned her. Grabbing a hold of her arm, he pulled her closer to him. "Let's get you home."

"No." She tugged her arm out of his grasp and crossed her chest, refusing to move from her spot. "Have you always been this paranoid, or is this something new? Obviously, you have some demons in your past-" her eyes shifted down to his left forearm, "-but that doesn't explain how you reacted back there."

Defeated, Severus pinched his eyes closed. She was right. Outside of his usually correct intuition, he had no reason to believe anything nefarious was happening; especially standing in her shoes; someone knew nothing of the perils he and Harry experienced. Sure, he could lie to her tonight, but in the end, if he wanted their relationship to last, he knew he owed her the truth.

"Follow me," he calmly instructed. To his surprise, she followed him down the walkway away from the hospital to a bench illuminated by a streetlight and small landscape lights lining the garden. They sat alone in this part of the hospital campus, but to be sure, Severus waved his hand and whispered muffliato to ensure no hidden persons could overhear them. "I owe you a better explanation for some things you've seen me do or how I've acted-"

"Clearly."

He shifted on the bench until he faced her, hoping to ease some of the distress his story might cause. "I need to tell you something extremely important about mine and Harry's past…"


Arriving at the gates of Hogwarts after midnight reminded Severus too much of his Death Eater days; especially given that he'd just spent the previous hour reliving those days during his detailed history with Mae. During those dark days, he used the long, cold walk up to the castle from the gates to separate the details he needed to give to Albus from those he would permanently store away in the dark recesses of his memory. No matter what he claimed to Severus's face, he knew Albus didn't care about the dirty details of their raids or the faces of those they tortured or killed. All he needed to know was Voldemort's next move, and then the one after that; anything to stay ahead of the Dark Wizard on his way to destroying them all. The rest he left up to Severus to figure out, and most of those nights included a trip to the hospital wing for a hefty healing charm followed by a potent drink two from his well-stocked bar.

Although not as pleasant as many of his daytime walks home, that night's walk didn't have nearly as much negativity surrounding it as it could have given what he recounted to Mae. Sitting there on the bench outside the hospital, he told her everything about Harry being the Boy-Who-Lived and the prophecy, about his decades as a double agent spy, Voldemort's return - emphasizing his absolute death -, and his imprisonment at Malfoy Manor, leaving out Dr Swanson's involvement. He prided himself on his honesty towards her regarding the current threats he faced from an unknown, potentially dark wizard, and how he feared this person or group would target his students or those closest to him, if he or she wasn't already. And by the time he finished his story, she finally knew everything about him. Or almost everything. He didn't go through his unique swap with a very different Severus Snape from this world. And he probably wouldn't ever tell her about his old world, as it was too much for even the wizarding community to believe.

Mae, unsurprisingly, paid close attention to him as he spoke. She paused him to ask him all the questions he expected from someone learning this type of information about their significant other, and she became angry at all the places he felt disappointed in himself. But her calm acceptance in the end caught him off guard. What had he done to earn her trust solely on his word alone? Absolutely nothing. Yet, despite this, she still kissed him with the same passion as always when he dropped her off at home, and she assured him she'd see him tomorrow night - or tonight, because he didn't arrive in his quarters until well after midnight.

Feeling the pressure of the long day - with the prospect of doing it all again tomorrow - Severus wanted nothing more than to swap his muggle clothes for his bedclothes and pass out in his bed, going as far as planning to skip breakfast in the Great Hall if it meant an extra hour or two of sleep. Those plans, like everything else in his life lately, changed when he went to empty his jacket pockets before hanging it on the coat rack and his fingers brushed up against a small piece of paper inside the warm compartment. He smiled as he remembered discovering Mae's phone number in a similar fashion the night of Bill Weasley's wedding, and imagined his girlfriend slipping the missive into his pocket during their visit tonight, for him to find later and think of her. If only he'd been right.

Eager to read the parting words Mae had written for him, Severus hastily pulled out the small folded rectangle from his pocket. He'd later blame all of his time spent bouncing between the muggle and magical worlds for dulling his senses to the subtle differences between the two. Otherwise, he surely would have recognized the paper as parchment, a material that Mae would never use. But he didn't notice, and when he read the missive, his blood instantly ran cold.

They're coming for us.


Chapter End Notes:
Coming Up Next: Defense Against the Dark Arts

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