Love, Lies & Loneliness

A/N Hey everyone so glad your enjoying this little story, and I\'m feeling generous today, so here\'s three chapters in one update just for you all....*winks*


Chapter 12
(Side effects and remarks aside)

Hushed voices were what Harry heard when he drifted into consciousness but he was too occupied with his current state to listen to them. His body felt as if he had been sitting in the sun for far to long and sparks of fire rippled beneath his skin. Sweat trickled down his face as he panted audibly in an attempt to cool himself. Kicking the sheets from his body Harry turned over fruitlessly in bed, the sheets damp with his fever-induced perspiration. He’d had a horrible nightmare, not unlike those he’d suffered from back in first year, yet this seemed far more real. Voldomort had captured his godfather Sirius and Harry had been forced to watch as the man had been tortured to death. His thoughts didn’t linger on his vision though and instead he moaned as he literally writhed around on the bed.

Harry’s moans seemed to draw attention to him and within an instant a pair of hands came to rest on his upper arms in attempt to stop him writhing.

“Harry? Harry can you hear me?” It was Madam Pomfrey’s voice that rang through the fog of fever and Harry wriggled free of her grasp and began practically trying to claw his way out of his scolding skin.

“Is he alright? He began doing it as soon as he woke?” Another voice spoke nervously from Harry’s beside and although Harry was sure it was Ron’s voice he couldn’t find breath enough to call his best friends name.

“Go and get professor Snape immediately.” Harry heard Madam Pomfrey’s demanding ask and listened as the scrape of a chair echoed around the ward. “For goodness sake run boy.” The sound of Ron’s footsteps intensified into a run and Harry listened as they disappeared from hearing range. Continuing to toss and turn Harry whimpered continually at the scorch of his skin. Madam Pomfrey did little but attempt to hold him still but Harry couldn’t bear her touch to his over sensitizes flesh and squirmed away from her. It seemed like forever until footsteps could be heard running down the corridor and door swinging open into the infirmary. There was certainly more than two pairs of feet running over to him but Harry didn’t care, all he wanted was for his skin to stop crawling like fire.

“Professor, I didn’t know what to do he seems to be in some sort of fever.” Madam Pomfrey’s hand slipped from Harry’s shoulders and Harry rejoiced in having them gone. They made him feel ill and seemed to burn like a brand on his skin. A second later Harry felt a blessed cool hand come to rest on his forehead and another on his wrist. The icy touch soothed the burn of his skin where the hands lay but did little to alleviate the crawling sensation in the rest of his body.

“Severus? What has happened?” It was Dumbledore’s voice that spoke next and Harry leaned instinctively into Snape’s cold hands.

“It’s a reaction to the Veritaserum left in his system, its been known to happen with minors who have taken the potion. No doubt the boy’s ‘transition’ has compounded the effects.” Snape’s cold tone of voice like his cold hands and swept over Harry in a rush. Harry gasped audibly as he clenched his hand around Snape’s that still rested on his wrist, trying to make the cold of the touch stretch to his entire inflamed body.

“So hot.” Harry chocked around his dry throat as Snape forcefully pried Harry’s hands from his own, the boy having left crescent shaped nail marks on the potion professor’s skin with the tightness of the grip.

“We have to cool him down quickly, if he overheats his internal organs will shut down systematically to try and compensate.”

“But how do we do that?” Madam Pomfrey had once again entered the conversation after Snape’s declaration, the wizard already lifting Harry’s body from the bed and into his arms. Harry almost immediately snuggled into the crook of Snape’s neck and clutched desperately to the wizard holding him.

“We simply put him in a cold bath or shower.” Snape had begun to head for the door the gathered group already following him, Madam Pomfrey supporting Harry’s head as she walked beside Snape.

“The Ravenclaw prefect girls bathroom is just down the hall, you can use that.” Dumbledore spoke calmly from behind them and madam Pomfrey nodded in understanding as she dashed ahead to both clear and prepare the room.

Harry knew of little else but the sensation of water engulfing his body and of hands gently resting him on the bottom of the bath. The water came up to his neck and he floated aimlessly his skin sizzling as it met the ice cold water. His moment of bliss was short lived as a strong hand pushed his head beneath the water. Admittedly the ice water relieved his headache but he couldn’t breath and so when the strong hand pulled him up above the surface of the water again he spluttered and coughed up a little of the water. Only to happy to be in the water Harry rested weakly against the side of the stone tub he’d been placed in and with his eyes closed fell blissfully asleep again, his chin on a towel and his body floating in the icy water.

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It was dark when he next awoke but unlike before his skin wasn’t trying to crawl off his bones like melted cheese. Blinking in the darkness Harry could just make out the dim light of the candles illuminating the room, and a shadowy blurry figure sitting on a seat. The sounds of pages of a book turning indicated the person’s presence and Harry blindly padded down the edge of the water tub he was in searching for his glasses. The person sitting beside him obviously had been alerted to his awakening and Harry found someone pressing his glasses into his open hand. Slipping on his glasses Harry took a moment to blink his eyes into focus before taking in his surroundings. The first thing Harry noticed was that he was sitting in a large bath tub of ice cold water and was still wearing his stripped sleep pants. The second thing was that he appeared to be in a bathroom, one of which he had never seen before and the final thing was that the person sitting casually reading was non other than Professor Snape.

“Where am I?” Harry stood up slowly from the bath wobbling a little on his feet as he crawled out of the icy water and stood dripping wet on the tiles. Snape looked up over the top of his book at Harry, his eyes dropping down over Harry’s appearance.

“You are in the third floor Ravenclaw Prefect Girls Bathroom.” Snape watched with a slight sneering curl to his lips as Harry shivered in a draft.

“Why am I here?” Harry questioned again this time wiping a stray droplet of water from his face as he did so.

“Because like most things in the great life of Harry James Potter, your reaction to the potion I gave you was far from normal.” Snape snapped irritably into his book his gaze not leaving Harry’s.

“The hearing. What happened at the hearing?” As if only just remembering the events of the past few days Harry spoke up sharply hardly paying attention the professor who were becoming more and more irritated with each question asked of him.

“Nothing of consequence that you don’t remember, the outcome did not come as a big surprise.” Snape shrugged his shoulders dismissively as he stood up from his chair and with a flick of his wand sent both the chair and book back to where they’d come from in the castle.

“And?” Harry pressured getting angry that Snape was deliberately being obtuse.

“Suffice to say the boy who lived has survived yet another harrowing escape in the wizarding world.” Harry breathed a generous sigh of relief as he watched Snape flicker what was left of the candles in the bathroom into flame so that they were both now bathed in normal light.

“So I can come back to classes and use magic again?” Snape nodded almost reluctantly as he made his way over to the entrance to the girls bathroom, pausing if briefly to glance back at the still soaking wet boy in the middle of room.

“I shall inform Dumbledore of your recovery, I’m sure he wishes to discuss the outcome of the hearing with you in more detail. You will of course be on time to my class after breakfast tomorrow morning Mr Potter and I suggest you get a move on if you wish to reach your room before curfew.” Harry frowned at Snape’s back as the potions professor swept from the bathroom. The man had become a complete bastard again and Harry wondered what he’d done to deserve it. As far as he was concerned he’d done nothing untoward but was sure Dumbledore would inform him of it when they next met. With a muttered curse that he didn’t have his wand to perform a drying spell on his sleep pants Harry quickly ran out of the room and began down to the dungeons, wet puddles trailing after him in the halls. Although Snape’s attitude towards him had changed again Harry was too excited to have his magic back to worry about anything. Perhaps now he could return to concentrating on his sixth year at Hogwarts.

TBC>>>>>>>>>>>>>>