Dear Mr. Potter

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hot. Harry felt extremely warm. There was apparently a heater placed right next to him. He tried to move to call for Madame Pomfrey to move it but he was being held down. Did he have more seizures? Did they tie him down?

"Awake, then, Harry?"

Harry opened his eyes at that familiar voice. The infirmary was dark but there was a lone candle flickering nearby. In its light sat Snape with an open book in his lap. His legs were crossed and he was without his robe. Snape placed a ribbon in the book and closed it.

"How are you feeling?" Snape asked in his normal voice. The only difference was that it was definitely missing its fine edge of sarcasm.

"I'm hot." Harry thought about it and added, "and I can't move. Am I tied down?"

Snape smirked. "No. But you do have a heavy Draco pinning you in your blankets."

Harry frowned and tried to turn over but again met with resistance. He was able to look over his shoulder a bit and saw that there was indeed golden hair sharing his pillow. Eyes getting sore from the strain, Harry returned his gaze to his teacher.

"Is he asleep?" Harry whispered. Snape set the book down on the table, next to the candle.

"No. He is more or less unconscious," Snape said in a normal tone of voice. "And there are no other occupants of the infirmary so you need not worry about waking anyone."

Harry realized that he was having the very first non-malicious, benign conversation with Snape. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. The desire to please was happy about it, but was definitely reserved with its enthusiasm. This greatly relieved Harry and he thought about getting hurt more often just to keep it subdued like this.

Snape leaned forward, un-tucked and pulled the blanket off Harry and tossed it aside, presumably onto the unconscious Draco. Harry felt the relief almost instantly.

"Thank you," he said politely. Snape merely nodded and straightened the remaining sheet over Harry. Harry couldn't decide if he was happy with the silence or not but had a few questions he thought he should ask anyway. One was a bit pressing.

"Why's Draco unconscious next to me? Shouldn't he have his own bed if he's ill?"

Snape raised an eyebrow and smirked. He leaned back in his chair and re-crossed his legs. "Draco is not ill. But he is recuperating. As for why he is next to you, that is because he would not stop moving until he did so. Once he lay down, he lost consciousness and will awake much better for it."

"Is he recuperating from the blood frenzy?" Harry asked.

"One would think that Ms. Granger's head would explode from all that she puts in it. We can only hope that her mouth shall tire eventually from all her lectures," Snape drawled. "In answer to your question, yes, he is. It is quite tiring to be in such a state. Once he has rested he shall become as he was."

"Will he talk again?"

"As he spoke before, then yes. As I have just answered." Snape said through pursed lips.

"I'm sorry, sir," Harry immediately apologized and then wished he could slap the desire to please for sneaking in with that so quickly.

Snape sighed. "Never mind, Harry."

Silence resumed and Harry decided to break it again. Snape seemed to be in a congenial mood and Harry decided to take advantage of it.

"Did he really rip Duncan's head off?"

"As I was not there, I can not say if it was completely removed. But from all accounts, I would say that he did. He certainly could have and was well within his rights to do so." Snape almost growled that last sentence.