Chapter 14

Harry opened his eyes slowly and checked his surroundings. Ah, lovely � the hospital wing again. He blinked a few times to attempt to clear his magically corrected vision. It was nighttime, he noticed. He heard something moving beside his bed. �Probably Madam Pomfrey,� he thought to himself. He tried to turn his head to look, but realized that doing so only caused him a great deal of pain, and he groaned.

"Harry?" a deep, silky voice asked from beside him. �Oh, not Pomfrey, then,� he thought to himself groggily before grunting in response.

Severus was about to burst from relief. He had begun to think that Harry wasn�t going to wake up at all � the potion had been experimental. "Harry, how do you feel?" he asked. Harry groaned again. Severus got up and fetched a glass of water and a straw before returning to Harry�s bedside. "You must be feeling rather dry," he remarked as he pulled Harry into a sitting position. Again, he received only a grunt in response. It was enough for him, though, as he directed the straw to Harry�s lips and watched him drink.

Harry was released from the Infirmary the next morning despite Madam Pomfrey�s protests. Harry, however, was insistent that he be allowed to return to his and Professor Snape�s rooms, citing the reason that being in the Infirmary brought back bad memories, and therefore he�d have a much harder time recovering there. Finally, Madam Pomfrey had relented, but not until after making him promise to take it easy for the next few days; apparently, he hadn�t managed to fully recover from his "explosion", as she�d taken to calling it.

Ron and Hermione came to visit Harry as soon as they�d learned he was out of the hospital wing. This time, however, Harry didn�t turn them away. In fact, he was actually quite happy to see them again. He desperately wanted to talk to someone about "Tom", and he wasn�t quite ready to trust Professor Snape with that kind of information.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione asked, perching on one side of Harry�s bed.

"Yeah, Harry, you had us really worried," Ron piped up from the other side. Harry sat up and smiled weakly.

"Sorry. I�m feeling better now, though. Thank you," he replied. It was true, too. He wasn�t feeling quite as depressed as he had before the incident, and his energy was slowly returning. He leaned his head against the backboard of his bed. "So, how is everyone else? I really miss you guys."

�Uh-oh. Maybe that wasn�t the right thing to say,� Harry thought to himself as Hermione burst into tears. He looked at Ron to see if he was having a similar reaction, but Ron just rolled his eyes and mouthed to him, �That time of the month.� Harry nodded in understanding before turning his attention back to Hermione, who was composing herself.

"I�m sorry," she sniffled, wiping away her tears. "It�s just�I haven�t heard you talk like that in so long�Everyone�s been worried about you. Things just haven�t been the same since�well, you know. And all of us � Ron, Dean, Seamus, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and I � we�ve all missed you so much, Harry!" she said, then burst into tears again. Harry awkwardly wrapped an arm around her as she hugged him for dear life. He couldn�t remember her ever being this emotional during "that time" before. He sht a questioning gaze at Ron, who shrugged and mouthed, �Stress.� Again, Harry, nodded in understanding. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as she finally pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Sorry, I just need a moment�"

"If you want to clean up, the bathroom is right through there," Harry said, gesturing to a door on the other side of the room, beside Snape�s bed.

"Thanks," she mumbled, then gave him a peck on the cheek before going into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. Harry turned to Ron.

"How long has she been like this?"

Ron sighed deeply. "Since Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore came and took you from the dorms�actually, before that, too. It�s just been getting worse since then." He let out a noise of frustration. "I just don�t understand why women get so bloody emotional over everything!" he cried, throwing his hands up in exasperation. Harry laughed. Same old Ron.

Hermione chose that moment to exit the bathroom and reclaim her place on Harry�s bed. "Say, Harry�" she began, then bit her lip. "�never mind."

Harry looked at her. "What? What is it?"

"It�s just�nothing," she replied, looking away.

Ron sighed again. "Hermione, whatever it is, just spit it out!"

Hermione looked contemplative for a moment before finally speaking. "Well, you know how I said that everyone missed you?" Harry nodded. Where was she going with this? "Well, I was approached by Malfoy on my way to Arithmancy the day after you were taken to the hospital wing because you drank that�whatever you drank." Harry nodded, looking slightly confused. How did she know what had landed him there this time? As if reading his mind, Hermione elaborated. "Dumbledore told us about the potion. Anyway, Malfoy approached me, and he said a very funny thing�" Her eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip again.

"What did he say?" Harry pressed gently.

"Well�He asked me to pass on a message to you when you woke up," she continued, not meeting his gaze. "He said that if you pull a stunt like that again, he�d kill you himself for being such a total idiot." She swallowed hard. "He also asked me to call you a selfish bastard for him."

Ron and Harry both stared at Hermione in shock. Harry could see Ron�s face turning an angry red out of the corner of his eye, and he braced himself for the imminent explosion just as Snape made his grand entrance.

"Weasley, Granger," he greeted them without batting an eye, and promptly made his way into his laboratory. Harry blinked. That was awfully non-chalant of him, considering what he must think of as an invasion of his private space. Mentally shrugging, he turned back to his two friends.

Ron had apparently calmed down the moment Snape had entered, and his face was back to its usual color. He, too, wore an expression of mild surprise that Snape hadn�t said anything scathing. Hermione seemed unaffected, however.

"Oh! That reminds me! Your homework!" Hermione exclaimed. "You�ve been falling behind, you know. I brought some of your books with me so that you can catch up. I�ll help you if you want," she offered with a smile.

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry replied, significantly less enthused than his friend. Ron just shook his head.

"Great! I�ll just go grab them from�"

"Accio books!" Harry summoned them before Hermione could finish her sentence. They flew at him and landed gently in his lap. He looked up at his two friends to find them staring at him strangely. He blinked. "What?"

Ron swallowed hard. "Harry, you don�t have your wand�" Harry blinked, then his eyes widened as realization struck him. That�s right � he hadn�t been able to do wandless magic until after his little "training sessions" with Tom.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Harry, I think you have some explaining to do."