Summary: You’re in the order, staying at 13 Grimmauld place and manage to catch wizard flu. Snape ends up taking care of you.
Warning: mentions of sickness and throwing up so if that affects you don’t read.
I wake up with a pounding head and a sore throat. Oh great this is just what I need right now, to get sick.
I’d been working with the order for a few months now ever since I got suspicions that there was something a miss going on in the ministry. I worked in the foreign correspondence department and I’d heard Fudge mention that there were a group of rogue wizards that believed Harry Potter and they were making a plan to defeat Voldemort. He laughed at the idea but I felt I needed to join them. I managed to find out Kingsley Shacklebolt was part of this group of rogues and I approached him offering my services.
The order welcomed me with open arms and I was happy to be a part of it, so now I spend all my waking time (and sleeping time) here too. Today I was supposed to go to Hungary with Sirius to seek out some werewolves living there and convince them to join us but my body has other ideas. I move to get up and everything aches, I’m going to have to tell him I can’t go.
I trudge downstairs and into the kitchen Remus, Sirius and Severus are in there chatting and look up at me as I walk in. “Oh wow you look terrible lass” Sirius said concerned.
“I feel terrible, I think I caught that wizarding flu from Umbridge in that meeting on Tuesday. She sat right next to me and was coughing and sneezing the whole time. I wish she’d stuck to the rules she gives the students at hogwarts and kept her distance from me like she wants the students to from each other” I laughed weakly.
“Why don’t you go back to bed y/n, I will go to Hungary with Sirius I have just come back from my own mission so I don’t have anything else I need to be doing right now. You get some rest and maybe you can join me in Scotland next week.” Lupin said kindly.
I opened my mouth to argue but honestly all I wanted to do is curl up in bed with a cup of tea. “Okay” I agreed and go to put the kettle on.
“Let me do that Y/L/N, I’ll bring it up to your room” I turn around shocked by who that voiced belonged to, it couldn’t be Severus Snape could it. To my surprise that’s just who it was, looking at me with that same emotionless expression he always does. I must not have heard him correctly surely he must have said something else.
“You don’t have to..” I start, looking to Sirius and Remus who looked equally shocked by Severus’ kind offer.
“Hush now, get some rest. Let me make the tea, go on upstairs.” He dismissed me like I was one of his students after class.
I left the kitchen grateful but confused. Me and Severus Snape have not really had much communication the time I’ve been here, he only stays here for meetings and generally doesn’t stick around to socialise. I mean I always smile and say hi when I see him and make small talk about the weather or something but the only real conversation I’d had with him was when we’d argued in the last meeting about how to handle the giant situation. Oh well, I’m not gonna complain I really did feel like hell right now.
I got in to bed and closed my eyes. After a few minutes I heard a small knock at the door “come in” I croak.
Snape walks in with a tray that contains tea and a strange green potion vial that I’ve never seen before. “Here, I brought you a potion that should make you feel better, it’s a concoction of a flu remedy and a sleeping draft. It’s perfectly safe don’t worry.” He states as he places the tray next to me on the bedside table.
“Thank you” I say weakly as I sit up. I take the tea and start to drink it.
“Let me know if you need anything else, I will be in the study.” He says as he quietly leaves.
I wake up to a quiet rap at the door, I check the time I’ve been asleep for 5 hours. I sit up and immediately regret it, I feel worse than before it really must be the flu, my head is spinning. Snape opens the door a crack then sees that I’m awake and opens it wider and walks in. “ I just wanted to see how you were doing”.
I can’t focus on what he’s saying the room just keeps spinning. I jumped up and run to the bathroom, he follows me and just in time I reach the toilet to throw up. I groan thinking about how I probably just got sick in my hair then realise there’s someone behind me holding it back.
“Are you done or are you going to vomit again?” Severus says gently. My words don’t answer his question as another wave of nausea washes over me. I should be embarrassed he’s here and tell him to leave but I can’t find the strength to.
After what seemed like an eternity the uneasy feeling in my stomach settled and I stood up carefully. I walked over to the sink and cleaned my teeth. I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked terrible, my hair all over the place and my face was pale.
“I’m sorry you had to see that” I chuckle weakly. “You shouldn’t have followed me in here”.
“I’m a professor at hogwarts, I have to have a strong stomach to work around children all the time. They often take those puking pastilles created by the Weasley twins to get out of my class, compared to some of them that was nothing. Besides anything I can do to help I will”.
“I need to go and lie down” I say starting to feel a little dizzy. He said nothing and just helped me to my room in silence.
Once I was in bed he said “I’ll be back in a moment, I’ll get you something that should help with the sickness” and he walks out the room.
I close my eyes hoping it’ll help but it doesn’t and I open them again once he comes back in. He hands me a yellow vial which I drink without questioning it because if it kills me then at least it’ll put me out of my misery. “Why are you being so nice to me, you never have before?”
He chuckles “I’m not nice to anyone, that doesn’t mean I don’t care. You’re probably the only person around here that actually treats me like a human being and not something they’ve wiped off the bottom of their shoe.”
“Oh” I say, I didn’t know what to say because thinking about it no one does treat Snape with any kind of respect in the order. “I’m sorry they don’t treat you with respect. If you want I can say something to them” I try to smile at him but I feel too crappy I think I end up just grimacing.
“No I’m used to it, it’s been the same since we were all in Hogwarts. But anyway let’s not talk about me, you need to get some rest to feel better. Is there anything else you need, do you need anything to reduce a fever?” He says but doesn’t wait for my answer he presses the back of his hand to my forehead “you seem to feel like an okay temperature. Do you feel hot or cold?”.
I shake my head to answer his last question “I don’t need anything” I reply, he nods and goes to leave “wait” I say a bit too loudly because it hurts my head, I wince.
“What is it, do you need be sick again I can…”
“No” I interrupt him. “It’s nothing like that just would you mind if. I mean it’s okay if you don’t want to I just, can you…”
“What is it, come on you can ask me anything” he says in concern.
“Would you stay with me? I’m just feeling a bit sorry for myself so don’t want to be alone” I say weakly.
“Oh, of course.” he goes to sit on the other side of the bed. If I didn’t feel so rubbish I might laugh at the way he’s comically perched right on the edge almost falling off.
“You can get closer you know, I don’t bite” then regret what I’d said because I realise that he’s probably sitting so far away because I’m contagious. I’m an idiot. “Oh wait yeah it’s probably best you don’t get too close, I wouldn’t want you getting ill too. I mean I would take care of you but my potion making skills aren’t as good as yours so I’d probably end up making you worse” I try to make a joke to hide my embarrassment from my earlier stupidity.
He scoots closer and goes to press a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m not worried about getting sick, I assume you have the same flu that is sweeping its way around the ministry and took a viral prevention potion before I came in here, the ministry has just given the recipe to all teachers and hospital staff to ensure that students and patients can be properly looked after if they get sick. I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by sitting too close” he says matter of factly.
“You couldn’t ever make me uncomfortable Severus.” I slur the last part of that sentence and close my eyes, man I’m tired all of a sudden. I try and open them to stay awake.
“Oh sorry I forgot to mention I added some more sleeping vial to the anti sickness medication to help you sleep. If you want me to leave I can go” he says sounding genuinely apologetic for not warning me.
“It’s okay” I say my voice barely legible. “Please stay at least until I fall asleep” I move to cuddle up against him, enjoying the body heat because I’m suddenly feeling very cold. It must be the fever setting in, I was wondering when that would hit.
He hugs me back. “Always.” he replies and I drift off to sleep not knowing whether I imagined that last word from him or not.
_______________________________________
I wake up, groggy and realise that it’s the next day. I realise I’m alone in the room. Maybe Snape being here taking care of me was just a hallucination thought up by my fever driven mind. Then I turn over in the bed and see a piece of parchment on the other pillow.
I have had to go away on business of the order for a few hours. Please forgive me for leaving you I did however administer you some anti fever potion and your fever appeared to break not long after that so I do hope by the time you are seeing this you are feeling much better.
I will check on you once I return but I have left you some headache potion on the side as my research suggests the usual progression of this illness that is most likely what you will be suffering with when you wake up.
Oh so it wasn’t a hallucination or dream after all, he was really here. I smile to myself especially at the word yours. “If only” I mutter. I realise he was right I did feel a lot better, still a bit of a headache and my throat hurts but there’s no nausea and general aches have all gone. Also I realise my appetite must be back because I’m starving.
I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and shower this icky feeling of illness away and then make my way to the kitchen to see what I can find and decide to make a sandwich. As I’m buttering the bread someone walks in.
“Feeling better I assume” Snape says hopefully.
“A lot, thank you for taking care of me Severus, it means a lot. I promise if you ever get sick I will be your number one nurse” I smile.
“If that’s the case maybe I shouldn’t have taken the protection potion after all” he makes a joke. I’m surprised by this, what’s he trying to say? My brow furrows. He seems to notice this and says. “If it meant I’d get to spend more time with you, then I’d do whatever it takes.”
I laugh. “Be careful what you wish for. But seriously I wouldn’t wish how I felt yesterday on anyone, if you want to spend more time with me just ask.” I say hopefully.
He picks up the headache potion I was about to take with my sandwich and hands it to me. “How about once you are fully recovered, you let me take you out to Hogsmeade for dinner.”
“I’d like that a lot” I say before I drink the potion and kiss him on the cheek. He looks into my eyes for a second and I don’t know what comes over me, maybe I’m still slightly delirious from the fever but I get the strong urge to kiss him so I press my lips to his and for a second he kisses me back. Before I can take it any further though he pulls away, sighs and goes to carry on finishing making the sandwich I started. I stare at him, tears forming in my eyes slightly from the rejection.
He looks at me and notices my tears he lifts his hand to wipe them away before they can fall “You need to eat, and rest and if by some miracle once you’re feeling completely better you want to do that again, I will be more than happy to oblige.” He says reassuringly. “You were saying some very odd things in your sleep and I need to know that your consent is truly valid and not a result of some sort of delirium before I even so much as kiss you.” He looks sad for a moment. “It’s just I can hardly believe you would want to kiss someone like me anyway.”
“Oh Severus” I say. “I barely even feel sick anymore I swear, but it’s admirable that you’re waiting until you know for sure I can consent. You’re such a gentleman and I promise you once I’m better I’m definitely going to want to do that some more” I wink at him.
He smiles, then thrusts the plate containing the sandwich towards me. “Then I will look forward to it greatly but for now please eat”.
I take the plate and sit down, he sits next to me and we sit in silence while I eat. For the first time since Harry had announced Voldemort was back I felt hopeful for the future. Maybe getting sick isn’t so bad after all.
