Tearmann 2

Remus was laughing so hard as he exited the room that he ran right into Harry without seeing him. He gave Harry an apologetic smile then moved down the hall. Harry just shrugged, then went into the infirmary.

Harry\'s eyes opened wide as he looked at Draco. He quickly covered his mouth with his hands as he started to laugh but wasn\'t able to muffle the sound nearly enough.

\"Oh, shut up, Potter!\" Draco was getting tired of being made fun of. Harry, trying to quiet his snickering, still continued to stare from the foot of Draco\'s bed.

\"Ginny said to tell you she\'s sorry, but Ron says he\'s not. He said that if you try to touch his... err... \'wand\' again he\'ll not only send Ginny after you but the twins and Percy as well.\" He stopped trying to stifle his laughter as a mild look of fear crossed Draco\'s face. Draco had fallen prey to far too many of the twins\' pranks to take the threat lightly.

\"Mr.. Malfoy,\" the medi-witch emerged from her office looking ready to explode. \"Oh, so its you this time, Mr. Potter. In case you hadn\'t noticed this IS a hospital wing and just because young Malfoy here is the only patient you see, doesn\'t mean you can ignore the rules! Kindly keep your voice down, or I will remove you from the room!\"

Harry looked at Draco in confusion. Madame Pomfrey very rarely raised her voice to him or any other student. Draco suddenly looked very worried about something, which only confused him more.

\"What happened?\"

Draco looked at his hands folded in his lap. He didn\'t look up as he spoke. \"Professor Lupin brought Snape in... Carried him in, actually. He looked awful.\" All the laughter drained out of Harry even as the colour was draining from his face. He stared at the door to the small room at the back of the infirmary.

Draco finally looked up at Harry as he started toward the room. Draco knew that Harry cared more for the Potions master than he would admit and wasn\'t sure that telling him what happened had been a good idea. On the other hand, Harry was going to find out eventually anyhow, so maybe it was best to know before any rumours could start about what exactly was wrong with the man.

\"Lupin said it was just a migraine,\" but Harry wasn\'t listening anymore; his hand was already on the door.

He pushed it in slowly, expecting Madame Pomfrey to start scolding him at any moment. When he was able to slip through the doorway, he nearly choked over a gasp. Severus Snape was lying death-white with eyes wide open and unblinking, his dark, sweat-dampened hair contrasting vividly with the white sheets. Harry was sure Severus was dead and it was entirely his fault.

At the sound Harry made, Pomfrey, standing at the side of the bed, whirled around, with her wand raised and her eyes wide. Her face relaxed when she saw who was standing there.

\"He\'s not dead, Harry. He\'s just sleeping,\" she tried to comfort the young man. She could plainly read the fear in his face. She was surprised, however, when he broke into loud sobs and ran to Severus\' side, taking his hand and whispering apologies.

\"Mr.. Potter, whatever are you sorry for? Severus has a migraine, which I\'m certain you did not cause. He\'ll be all right in a day or so.\"

Harry regained control of himself, wiping his eyes and sniffling loudly. He looked up at the concerned witch with his red-rimmed eyes.

\"Are you sure it\'s just a migraine? It\'s not ...something else?\" Harry\'s voice was quivering.

\"Of course, I\'m sure! What else could it be?\" Pomfrey\'s suspicions were arouse by the odd look the man had on his face and his hesitation to answer. \"Harry?\"

\"Well... could it be poison?\" Harry\'s voice was small and fearful. He proceeded to tell the medi-witch about the Deathweed poison and antidote from the night before.

\"When I woke up this morning he was already gone. I never got a chance to talk to him about it. I know I should have told you about it right away, but I just couldn\'t. I was so scared.\" Harry\'s words came out in a great rush.

Madame Pomfrey had gone white as Harry told his story. She looked down at Severus\' sleeping form and shook her head sadly. \"Oh, Severus. I\'m so sorry, child.\" She whispered.

She turned to Harry, giving him a forced smile. \"Thank you for telling me, Mr. Potter. I\'ll take care of him. Will you stay with him for a few minutes? I have some things to do.\" At Harry\'s nod, she rose and left the room quietly. Harry sighed heavily, and then pulled a chair up close to the bed so he could sit comfortably.

After several minutes, Harry heard low voices outside the door to Severus\' room. He recognized them as belonging to Madame Pomfrey and the Headmaster.

\"I will not send him to St. Mungo\'s, Poppy! He\'ll die there! You know that as well as I do.\" Albus Dumbledore sounded angrier than Harry could ever remember the kindly old man being before.

\"Albus, he\'s suicidal. I can\'t take care of him properly here. He needs constant supervision and I can\'t give him that while running a hospital ward. You know I\'d never send him away if I thought there was another choice.\"

\"My answer is no. I will take care of him myself if I must. This is entirely my fault anyhow. I should have been watching him more closely.\"

Harry looked up as the door opened. He could see the worry and defeat written all over the older man\'s face. Albus Dumbledore looked all of his 150 some years. His usually twinkling blue eyes were now dark and sunken, even the smile lines that etched out from behind his half moon glasses were faded as though not used for a long time.

Dumbledore nodded gravely to Harry as he stepped up to the bed, then gazed down at the prone man and sighed deeply. He rested his hand softly on Severus\' forehead, muttering indistinguishable words. Harry watched as Severus\' eyelids slowly lowered and closed.

\"I\'ll take care of him,\" Harry whispered.

Dumbledore turned to look directly at Harry. When their eyes met, Harry saw a very faint twinkle. \"You have school to worry about, Harry.\"

\"Professor Snape\'s life is far more important.\" Harry said firmly. He had made his decision and wasn\'t going to back down. He didn\'t care if it meant staying at Hogwarts another year. He was in no hurry to leave anyhow.

\"That is a very generous offer, my boy, however-\"

\"Professor,\" Harry cut him off, \"Severus Snape has been taking care of me since I arrived at Hogwarts. I think I owe him the same courtesy and compassion that he\'s shown me.\"

Dumbledore rested a hand on Harry\'s shoulder and gave him a weak smile. \"We\'ll see, Harry. We shall see.\"

He then shooed the young man out of the room, telling him that he wanted some time with Severus and that he, Harry, should get some rest. He assured Harry that he was welcome to come back and sit with Severus in the morning. Harry reluctantly left the room.