Severus Snape and Harry Potter

Chapter 39

The Healers at St. Mungos were baffled, befuddled, and bewildered by the case of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. From all of their scans and diagnostic spell casting, Harry should be awake and perfectly fine. There were no discernible injuries to his body, no head trauma, and his magical core was intact. Yet he remained in a coma-like slumber, dead to the world figuratively. They had whole teams of Healers specializing in Spell Damage and Potions Accidents and Curses examine him and not one could understand why the boy was not sitting up and talking with his friends and eating ice cream cones. They had written on his chart—Magical Malady Unknown—and withdrew for a group consultation.

Molly, Ron, and Ginny remained in the room, sitting at Harry's bedside, just watching and praying for a miracle. Molly had sent a frantic letter off to Severus, but so far hadn't gotten a response back. She was fearful that something had happened to the Potions Master, something that had to do with the monster at the school, the monster that they were supposed to destroy. What if the unthinkable had happened and the monster had destroyed them instead?

Hogwarts:

Irma had been kept busy for the past two days, monitoring Severus and Lena, both of whom had almost been drained beyond recall by the revenant. Normally, a battle in the Place Between Worlds would not have much effect on a person's corporeal self, but the revenant was no ordinary opponent, and draining a wizard's magical core did have an effect upon one's body.

Dumbledore was also seriously depleted, exhausted, and aged by the revenant's attack. Poppy gave him Magic Replenishers, Dreamless Sleep, and some Restorative potion and kept him in bed for two days. She provided the same potions for Severus and Lena, and also showed Irma how to dose them with a straw for liquids and give them a few potions by injection. Irma knew that once their bodies were restored to full strength, they would awaken from their magical sleep.

Lena regained consciousness first, her eyelids fluttering open and her inquisitive gaze looking everywhere. She coughed slightly and whispered, "Aunt Irma?" upon catching sight of her relative.

"Lena! Oh, dear sweet Lady have mercy! You're awake at last." Irma came and clasped her niece's hand, she would have hugged her, but feared she was too weak to be squeezed as hard as Irma wanted to. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm . . . a little tired, but otherwise I feel fine. Where's Severus? Is he all right?"

"He's still asleep. But he's on the mend," Irma reassured her. "Are you thirsty? Hungry?"

"Both. How long have I been sleeping?"

"Two days, dear." Irma said, then she clapped her hands and a house elf appeared. "Please bring me a tray with ice water, orange juice, infuse chicken broth, and crackers, Honey. Thank you."

As the elf popped out, Lena attempted to sit up. To her chagrin, she was as weak as a baby bird and could barely sit up. Irma had to prop her up with pillows. "I'm so weak. Is that normal after Traveling like I did?"

"Yes and no. Most first time Travelers do get exhausted, but you also were drained by a revenant, so it's even more pronounced. It will be a few days until you are fully recovered. Do you remember what happened in the astral?"

Lena nodded. She told the elder librarian what had gone on, and how guilty she felt leaving Severus alone. "I didn't want to, Aunt Irma. But I could feel myself growing weaker and I knew I'd just be in the way, I couldn't fight anymore. But even so, I feel wretched, like I should have stayed and not run like a coward. I know it's foolish for me to feel like that, what I did was the only logical thing to do. Still, it felt as though I was abandoning him, even though he ordered me to leave."