'Sod my breathing! How can you -- you -- after what you put him -- that's -- it's unbelievable!'
'Potter!' he yelled. 'Get control of yourself. There is no place for histrionics here.'
'No place for -- that's a laugh!' The boy choked on a sob, hiccuping and hiding his face again. 'I bet you're laughing about it all the time, aren't you? About him dying, and what a prat I was to fall such a stupid trick. You hated him, and hate me, and--'
'No.' The forceful word had a note of finality to it, startling the boy into stopping his rant and peering back up at him. Severus had to stop this fit before it got totally out of hand. The boy was coming apart at the seams, and it would do him no good at all to harbor such resentment toward Severus, nor guilt for his own part in Sirius' death. He folded his arms into his cloak and shook his head. 'I did not hate . . . Snuffles. Not really. And . . . I do not laugh about that.'
'Or anything,' Potter muttered, watching Severus' face carefully.
Had he made a joke? Perhaps all was not lost. 'Yes. Well.' He took a step closer to the boy, who frowned and bit his lip. Then, after flicking a glance at the door, the boy mouthed the words,
Severus drew a sharp breath; the boy was as subtle as a Blast-Ended Skrewt. But he nodded, still holding Potter's gaze.
Something released that had been holding the boy tightly wound, and Potter sagged bonelessly against his chair, looking relieved. It seemed his resigned despair was quiescent, at least for now.
'I will continue to make potions for you,' he said, voice as bland as he could make it. 'The Dark Lord wants you in good health.'
'You've said. It'll make a better point when he kills me.' The boy was nibbling his lip again, which Severus realized meant he was thinking. 'I'm nearly there, though. Healthy.' His green eyes blazed with hope so naked it was painful to see, as if he understood that when he was healthy enough to run, they would.
Severus hated to damper that hope, even a little. But for both their sakes, he had to. 'I think it will be some time before you are fully healed.' Before he could make any kind of plan that would not end in their demise. 'Your relatives did you a disservice.'
'Yeah, well, so did Bellatrix.'
'Thank you, sir,' Potter said before he could go.
'Hm?' Severus paused with his hand on the doorknob, hoping the boy was not a complete fool.
'For the potion. It helped.'
Letting out a tense breath, Severus nodded acceptance and acknowledgment of their 'code.' 'I will get you another, for emergencies,' he promised. And with that, he left, his mind already spinning through their options, few as they were.
TBC . . .
A/N:
Happy Book Seven Release, y'all! The next chapter of 'Walk the Shadows' will be a few days in the making, while I indulge myself in reading Deathly Hollows. Have a great weekend, and thank you to everyone who reads and reviews!
*Chapter 6*: Chapter 6
Walk the Shadows -- Chapter 6
By jharad17
A/N at end
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I make no money from this. The characters belong to J. K. Rowling. I only borrow them for a brief while.
Previously on Walk the Shadows:
Five more days passed before anyone but the Death Nurses entered Harry's room. The monotony of the days really got to him, especially after his breathing had calmed down again, and he started to feel much better overall. He still felt chilled most of the time, but he was putting on weight again, and could usually keep warm enough not to shiver with regular clothes . . . a few extra layers, certainly, but without a pile of quilts. After the fifth day of little to do but pace his room, and listen to the caretakers grouse about this duty and make pointed remarks about how it was such a waste seeing to it that 'the boy' was healed up, considering where he was headed, Harry had had enough.
Nothing quite annoyed Harry as being called 'the boy.' Uncle Vernon had called him little else, except when in a particularly vicious mood, as had his aunt, but he would not tolerate it anymore. When Nott made a scathing reference to the condition they'd found Harry in at his relatives house and intimated that they should have just left him there to rot, Harry whirled on him.
'Shut UP! Shut up! I didn't ask for you to get me, I didn't ask to be brought here, and I certainly didn't intend to be fattened for the slaughter. So if you could just SHUT UP about it for five minutes, that'd be really welcome!'
Nott looked almost taken aback, until Avery smirked at him. Then he jumped to his feet and advanced on Harry, wand drawn. 'You're the one who needs to mind his tongue, boy. Maybe I should remove it for you.'
'Oh, nice,' Harry scoffed. 'You couldn't get me when I had a wand, but I'm a perfect target for you now that
