The Most Difficult Of All Our Tasks

-- Hi, as ever, thanks to my reviewers. One of you earns a big cookie for guessing the right reason why Harry's stomach hurts. One of you earns a slightly smaller cookie for surprising me with your idea for why Harry's stomach hurts.



-- Jicky - we've still got a few chapters to go; we're not at the end yet.



-- I wasn't going to update this today, just be glad I got ready for work quickly! SP



Chapter the Twenty-Third – Deaf and Dumb



Harry came to slowly. Dr Fetch stood at his side, a stern look on his face. “What have you been doing?” He asked, more in sorrow, than in anger.



“Sev!” Harry cried as memory returned. He sat up and looked wildly around but could see nothing, the doctor must have been just out of his field of vision. All there was was only the whiteness that was a characteristic of St Mungo’s. “Is he? Are the girls? What happened?” He sank back down, conscious of a curious soreness down his middle and a deep exhaustion. Confused, he tried to pull his top up, but the doctor grabbed for his hands, stilling them. Harry stared up at the ceiling. Why was everything so white in this place?



“What?” He asked tiredly, eyes closing.



“Firstly,” the doctor said, “Severus and your daughters are all fine. It was a bit worrying for a while, but we found a way to ensure their safety whilst we worked.”



Harry breathed out, relieved. “Good,” he whispered. “When can I see them?”



Dr Fetch gasped. “They’re next to you, Harry. In the next bed. Can’t you see them?”



Harry’s head snapped up. “I can’t see!” He suddenly shouted, voice hysterical. “I can’t see! Oh God, I can’t see!”



He heard rustling and feet running, and a jumble of voices, but none of them was the voice he was listening for.



“Why won’t Sev speak to me?” He asked.



Dr Fetch turned to the other bed where the older man lay, dry eyed, mouth working uselessly.



“He can’t.” The man said, very, very gently.



“He’s dead!” Harry shrieked. “You killed him!” Magically his blankets flew off his body and he staggered out of the bed. On shaking legs he groped his way unerringly to the other bed and felt for the other.



“Sev?”



A hand touched his and he smiled.



He heard a whisper, “Harry, I need you to see. I need you to see how beautiful our daughters are.”



“Ok.” He said, as if it really was that easy.



The Healers around him were confused. What was he responding to? No one had spoken to him.



The whiteness crept from his vision, to be replaced with pink. He looked down and saw the hand holding his, then looked up to the other’s tired but happy face.



Harry focused on the three bundles of blankets, two black heads, and one blonde were just visible above the sheets around them. A warm smile spread over his face as he watched them sleep, completely undisturbed by the fuss around them.



“Aren’t they perfect?” He heard Severus whisper.



“Utterly perfect.” He agreed.



He looked at Severus. “I’m so proud of you.” He said, eyes soft.



“Thank you.”



Harry frowned. Severus’ lips hadn’t moved.



“How did you do that?” He asked, alarmed.



Severus sank back amongst the pillows. “We’re Linked. Apparently when I went into labour there was a problem. You showed up and collapsed?” His voice held a question in it.



Harry nodded, amazed at having a conversation with someone who wasn’t speaking.



Severus continued, his voice growing stronger: “They soon discovered you were suffering from my symptoms. I think I must have been transferring the pain to you as I was focused on protecting the girls.”



“How did you do that?” Harry queried, before clarifying, “Transferring the pain, I mean,”



“Need, I imagine. I needed to focus my energies on sustaining the girls, and as you were there, I gave you some of the pain to cope with. I think the link between us comes from the triplets. They are our children. We both helped create them, and we’ve both helped nurture them. I think they turned to you to help them.”



Behind them, Dr Fetch snorted. “What utter rubbish, Mr Snape-Potter,” he said derisively. “The reason for your Link has nothing to do with your children.”



Harry hadn’t even been aware that Severus had begun actually speaking until Dr Fetch had commented on what had been said.



“Well, what is the reason then?” Harry demanded, annoyed at their private conversation being interrupted. “You always seem to have all the answers.”



“Yes, I do,” the other agreed complacently. “You went blind for a reason, Harry, because you will not see. And Severus went mute for a reason: because he will not speak.”



“Now you’re talking crap,” Harry grumbled.



“Not at all.” Fetch looked at the other Healers in the room. “I think these two need privacy.” He commented before shepherding them out.



For a few moments neither man spoke after the room had emptied. It was Harry who finally said, “My stomach hurts.” He tugged at his top for the second time that afternoon and exposed his belly, with a shiny pink scar showing above his navel. “What the hell?”



Severus explained. “That’s how they saved us. They discovered we were Linked and knew that if they operated on you, I would also be operated on.”



Harry opened his mouth, but could think of nothing to say. Nothing made any sense.



“So,” he began slowly, trying to get his head around what had happened, “they cut me open, which opened you up so that you could give birth?”



“Yes.”



“I see.”



“Do you?”



“NO!” Harry yelled. “Not at all! How did you send me your pain? How did they know they could slice me open and it would help you? None of it makes any sense.”



“It happened though.” Severus said reasonably, not truly comfortable with the conversation any more.



“Why?” Harry almost pleaded. “Why? I have to understand.”



Severus sighed. “Links are actually rather common in the Wizarding World. Arthur and Molly Weasley share one, as I would imagine, do Hermione and Ron Weasley. Your parents’ Link is well documented.” He paused. “They are common.” He reiterated, not sure if he wanted Harry to passively accept that statement or to keep pushing.



See it. He thought to himself. See what they have in common. But he did not speak.



“They’re all married.” Harry observed. “Is it a couple thing?”



“Yes.” Severus answered. But not just any old couple thing. Come on, Harry, push, the answer is right in front of you. Can’t you see it? But he did not speak.



-- I don't know where this chapter came from, it wasn't anything like I'd originally planned. SP