The next day, Severus and Albus had been waiting for Harry to come downstairs for breakfast. The boy usually woke up at that time, but 15 minutes had passed since their usual breakfast time, so Albus told Severus to go check up on him.
When he walked into the room, Harry was curled up in a lump on the bed, which he found weird since the boy went to bed considerably early the night before. Nevertheless, he woke the boy up, though it took a bit longer than usual.
Harry woke up feeling very awful. He was having a sore throat and a headache. And he felt as though he had been run over by a dozen Hippogriffs. Being used to handling it himself, he just sat up and looked tiredly at his new guardian.
"Good morning, Harry. Breakfast is ready."
"Mornin' sir, I'll get ready right away, " the boy said, walking to the bathroom.
Breakfast was uneventful, literally. Harry was only able to eat half of his meal. And he wasn't his happy and chirpy self like usual.
"Are you alright?" - Severus asked concerned.
"Yes, sir" - Harry said happily - "I'm just not hungry"
"Never hide if you're not feeling well, ok?" - Dumbledore said.
Harry nodded. If he didn't tell, no one would know. He didn't want to be a burden.
Severus didn't push the matter but he promised himself that he would check on the boy later.
Harry spent the whole morning reading on the couch. He was tired, his head was spinning, and he couldn't focus on anything he was reading. And at some point, he fell asleep.
Severus had been working in the lab, and he decided to go get some water and also check on the boy. Albus was going through profiles to choose the next DADA teacher and he didn't think the man would succeed and come out soon. Severus walked into the sitting room and almost didn't see Harry lying there. That's strange. He didn't know that Harry needed naps mid-morning. He walked to the boy and gently pressed his palm to the boy's forehead. He withdrew his hand immediately. It was burning!! Harry was sick. And he had been hiding!
What would he do now?
He had cared for injured students and cared for himself when he was sick. But he had never cared for a sick child. He contemplated calling Mark. But chances were it was just a minor illness. What kind of guardian I am if I can't treat a simple cold? First day being a guardian and I have had to send him off to a professional, for a cold! He should be able to handle this.
Carefully, he picked the boy up and started walking towards the stairs. As he walked up the stairs, he could feel Harry radiating heat and hoped that it wouldn't get worse, or he might have to call Mark.
He enter Harry's room and had only placed the boy on his bed when the boy stirred and woke up.
"Sir?" - he said tiredly.
"Harry, you're sick. Lay there while I go get you some potions."
He walked back down to his lab and grabbed a couple of vials. As he rushed upstairs, he met Albus, who was just stepping out of his room. Seeing the potions and the fact that Severus was rushing alarmed the old man.
"What's wrong?"
"Harry's sick" - Severus said as he rushed past him.
He cast a diagnostic to make sure it was a cold. And yes, it was. He gently shook Harry awake.
"Harry, you need to drink some potions"
The boy whimpered but accepted the vials. As the boy drank, Severus addressed a problem.
"For how long have you not been feeling well?"
"Since yesterday" - the boy sniffled
"Why didn't you tell me you're sick?"
Harry busted into tears. He was sick and he was feeling agitated and emotional.
"I... I'm sorry. I would ruin everything!! I don't want to be a burden!!" - the boy cried.
"What are you talking about? Why would you ruin anything?" - Severus tried to keep a soft voice.
"We... we had just signed. I don't want to be a burden!"
Severus sighed. He should have made it clear what he expected of the boy from the start. He sat on the bed next to Harry and rubbed his back to calm him down.
"Alright. Just calm down. Take deep breaths"
As soon as the boy calmed down and stopped crying, Severus made the child look at him.
"We are going to have a chat later when you're feeling better. But I want you to hear it now. You are to tell me, or the Headmaster whenever you're not feeling well, even if you just can't sleep or feel nauseous."
"But...but I've never needed someone to take care of me when I'm sick. I'm supposed to keep to myself and avoid spreading it" - the boy argued weakly.
Definitely from the Dursleys.
"No, Harry. Children are supposed to be cared for. Your relatives are not even fit to care for a dog, let alone a child. We have different rules here. I'm different"
The boy just nodded.
"Let's put you in your special underwear and then you sleep for a while, ok?"
Severus quickly took a pull-up out from Harry's drawer and helped him put it on, which he found he had been getting more and more skilled at.
"Come on, lie down and rest" - Severus said softly as he help Harry get settled.
Once the boy was comfortable and asleep, he walked out to see Albus just outside of the room.
"Tough first day as a parent, huh?" - Albus said.
The question earned him a Snape sneer.
Severus tried to continue his research in the lab, but his thoughts kept coming back to the boy upstairs. He caught himself thinking about whether the boy was getting better multiple times. After 20 minutes, he decided to stop and clean up the lab. He couldn't concentrate. He would cook something for Harry to eat.
Severus asked Toppy to make lunch for Albus and himself while he made some porridge for Harry. It was a simple one and he hoped Harry would be able to eat it. He came upstairs and checked on Harry, he expected the temperature to have gone down a bit but it hasn't. The boy was still burning up.
"Harry, let's get up and eat something"
All he got was a whine.
"Come on, Harry" - Severus said while hauling the boy to sit up on the bed.
He placed the tray on Harry's lap.
"Eat, then you can go back to sleep. You can't get better if you don't eat"
Harry tried, but was only able to eat half of it before the tray was removed by Severus. The man then changed Harry's pull-up and walked out.
Harry slept all day, only waking a few times to be fed and given more potions, which didn't seem to help much by the way. The temperature didn't go down, he was still burning by dinner.
Now, Severus was very worried as he watched the boy trying to eat dinner. The boy hadn't gotten better, what was he doing wrong?
After he had eaten his own dinner, he spent the whole night watching Harry. At nearly midnight, Albus finally opened Harry's door and walked in softly.
"Severus, you need to go to sleep"
Severus placed a silencing spell around them before turning around.
"No, he's very sick. He hasn't gotten any better."
"You can use a monitoring spell. You need to rest."
"I... don't trust the spell"
Albus sighed. I should have known this, Severus has always been a stubborn man.
"Alright then, do you want me to watch him instead for some time?"
"No, you just go to bed, I'll do it"
Albus left the room defeatedly.
Severus didn't really have any sleep that night. He sat on an armchair next to the bed and tried to rest but was startled awake at every single sound Harry made.
By morning, Harry hadn't gotten better, and he even started whimpering. Even Albus, who had watched Harry when Severus went to take a shower, didn't know how to help the boy. That's why Severus decided to put his pride aside.
"I'm going to call Mark" - he said at breakfast.
"Whatever you think is best, my boy"
15 minutes later, Mark stepped out of the floo at the Manor.
"Hello, gentlemen. What's happening?" - he said as he gave Albus a hug.
"Harry's sick."
"Oh? Is he ok?"
"We gave him potions but he hasn't gotten better. We don't know what's wrong"
"Alright. Let me see him"
They walked upstairs to Harry's room. The little boy was awake, sitting on his bed with his hair sticking up wildly.
"Hi there, Harry" - Mark said
"Hi" - came a soft reply.
"How are you feeling?"
"Um... good"
Severus rolled his eyes.
"I don't think so, little man. We'll see what's wrong, ok?"
Mark waved his wand and cast a diagnosis spell. Harry just got a cold, maybe a big cold. He turned to Severus and cast a silencing charm around them while Albus entertained Harry.
"It's still a cold, nothing terrible. If the potions you're feeding him are not working, we can try something different. Maybe his system just hasn't gotten used to potions first and kind of gets confused and even fights the potions. I don't even think his body is used to muggle medicine. I bet his relatives just left him to get better by himself."
"Alright, what do I do now?"
"We're going to lower his temperature first. I need you to give him a bath, the water should be just a bit colder than normal body temperature. Let him sit in there for 10 minutes"
"Alright"
They broke the silencing charm to talk to Harry.
"Harry, let's give you a bath to lower your temperature. Come"
Severus picked the boy up and carried him to the bathroom. Harry laid his head on the man's shoulder and Severus could feel the heat radiating off of him.
Severus placed Harry on the toilet seat and turned the tap on. He adjusted the water temperature and turned back to Harry while waiting. The boy was a wreck, he looked like a zombie.
"Let's take your clothes off."
He help Harry undress completely and wrapped a fluffy towel around him.
"The water is going to be a bit cold, ok? It needs to be so to lower your temperature" - he told Harry as the bath was done.
Severus unwrapped the towel, picked Harry up and tried to place him in the bath. The boy flinched and whimpered as soon as the first toe touched the water.
"No, please! I...I'm sorry." - he burst into tears and clung to Severus.
Severus didn't quite know what to do. He held Harry, naked and all, and tried to figure out why Harry had reacted like that.
"What are you apologizing for?"
"Fo...for whatever I did. Please don't punish me. No hot and cold water. Please!"
Severus froze. Damn Muggles. If he had had his way, he would make sure they felt everything Harry had gone through at their hands.
He carried the boy over to the toilet seat and sat on it, with Harry on his lap.
"Harry, you did nothing wrong. Shh" - he tried to soothe the boy. If Harry kept crying, he would make himself sick and make his condition worse.
"We need to give you a cold bath so that your temperature will go down. We're not doing it to punish you. I will never use it as a punishment. It's not even that cold. You feel like it's so cold because your temperature is too high. That's why we need it to go down. If it doesn't, your organs will be affected very badly. Your body is burning your own organs" - he tried to reason with the boy.
"Would you use my organs for potions then?" - Harry asked softly after calming down a bit.
Severus smirked.
"Oh yes, if they have no use to you anymore, why waste them? I know a number of potions that need a little boy's organs"
Harry shuddered and gave a small giggle.
"Alright, are you ready? I'll be here with you. It will only be 10 minutes and then you'll be out and all wrapped up warmly."
Harry nodded. Severus slowly placed Harry in the bath again. This time Harry only flinched a little but put up no fight. As soon as he is sat in the bath, though, he started shaking.
Severus felt bad at the sight of Harry shaking.
"Do you want some bubbles and your bath toys?" - he tried to distract the boy.
Harry nodded.
Severus waved his wand to create bubbles and took out the toys from the bathroom cabinet. The bubbles would hopefully allow the boy some dignity and prevent him from directly seeing the cold water that was causing him misery. He left the toys floating on the water for the boy to take.
"Stay here, I'll go get a new set of clothes, ok?"
When he walked back to Harry's room for the clothes, he saw Mark sitting on the chair reading some work-related papers. He looked up as Severus entered.
"Why didn't you call me when Harry first got sick, Severus?"
Severus sighed.
"I'm supposed to take care of him, aren't I? Especially when it is not that serious"
"Well, it's right that you should have the basic skills and be able to help the child when I'm not available. But it doesn't mean you can't have help, and I am available. This is your first time, I could guide you through it."
"Alright" - Severus said wearily as he looked for Harry's pajamas.
"Seriously, Severus. Next time, if you don't feel so sure, call me."
Severus came back into the bathroom with a set of clothes and a pull-up.
"Let's get you out"
He dried Harry as fast as possible and helped him dress. Then, the boy was carried back to his room.
Mark waved his wand as Severus placed Harry on the bed.
"His temperature has gone down a bit. He needs breakfast first. Then I'll give him some potions"
Albus, who was sent to get Harry some breakfast, came back happily.
"There you are, my boy. How was your bath? I've got some porridge for you" - the man said as he placed the tray on the desk.
"I don't wanna eat" - Harry whined.
"If you don't eat, you'll get worse, Harry" - Mark coaxed.
Severus managed to spoon-feed Harry half a bowl before the boy buried his face in his pillow, hugging his stuffed toy, Bubbles.
"Alright, no more porridge. But you WILL have potions" - Mark said as he stepped out to go to Severus' potions cupboard in his lab. Severus followed him while Albus stayed there trying to get Harry engaged in one of the stories from his storybooks.
"I have tried the normal potions for this but they are not working." - Severus said as they walked down the stairs.
"Well, I'm thinking maybe we should try the ones for children, and only a small dose at a time so that his body can get used to them."
They went down to the lab and picked out the ones they needed before coming upstairs. Potions went into the boy's system much more smoothly than porridge, which Severus found weird.
"Feed him those 3 times a day, after his meals. If he doesn't get better, call me" - Mark said and received a nod from the younger man.
Severus rubbed Harry's back to soothe him and after 5 minutes, the child was sound asleep.
All 3 adults went downstairs to the floo.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going." - said Mark as he stood in front of the floo - "Remember what I said, Severus, if you need anything or there is any concern, call me"
"I've got it" - Severus sighed.
"Alright then, good day gentlemen".
I'm sorry for updating late, I was sick for 5 days. 😣😫
Anyway,
1. How old were you when you first read or watched Harry Potter?
I was around 12 or 13
2. Do you have friends who are also fans of Harry Potter?
I have some who like it but are not really fans.