It is Only With the Heart...
a Harry Potter story
by midnight_angel_girl
Severus Snape grabbed his cup of tea and curled up on the couch, wrapping a blanket around himself. It was the day before his birthday, and all he had gotten so far was a cold. Coughing, he picked up his copy of `Potions Today' and tried to read, but the text kept swimming before his eyes. "Hahchoo, hachoo, hatchoo." The sneezes caught him by surprise. Grabbing his handkerchief, he gave his nose a strong blow and tried to focus on the magazine. Massaging his temples and giving up a few minutes later, he leaned back on the couch and groaned. This was turning into a terrible cold. The last time hadn't seemed this bad. True, he'd been rather miserable, but he'd had people taking care of him last time. Rubbing his prominent nose, he closed his eyes and thought back.
**Memory/Dream** Snape stumbled up the walkway to #12 Grimwauld Place. He opened the door and found his way to the kitchen where he collapsed in a chair, fumbling for his handkerchief. "Hahshoo."
"Bless." said Molly Weasley, turning and looking at him. "Severus, you're sick."
"Ab dot." He blew his nose. "Am not." he enunciated.
She walked over and placed a hand on his flushed forehead, confirming his fever before he could shake away. "You are."
"Do you have a headache potion? It's nothing. Just a little cold. Hahshoo, ashoo."
"And Voldemort is just not a nice guy. Go upstairs and lay down - spare room's 3rd door on your left. I'll bring you some tea, the headache potion and some pepper up."
"Just the headache potion will be fine, and then I'll head back to the school."
Molly put her hands on her hips and faced him. "You most certainly will not. You will go upstairs and rest and stay here until you are much better. And you will do so even if I have to stupefy you and levitate you up the stairs myself. On second thought, I think Ron would enjoy being the one to do that."
Knowing better than to cross the fiery redhead, he nodded. "And he'd probably break the spell halfway up and drop mehh...ehh-shoo...drop me dowd the stairs. I'll go." It would be nice to have someone take care of him, as awful as he felt, he admitted to himself. "But no pepper up."
She glared at him. "Surely the Hogwart's potions master isn't refusing to take a potion just because of a little smoke from the ears." "No, the fahh..ahshoo...the fact that it could kill me. I'm on veritaserum all the time so I keep a tolerance to it so I can lie to the Dark Lord. There's ahh...atchoo...a cross reahh...ah-cheshh...reactiod with veritaserum and pepper up. Ehrshoo."
"Bless. Blow your nose or you'll keep sneezing." Scowling at her, he gave his nose a loud honk. "Go upstairs. I'll be up in a few minutes, and I expect to find you in bed." Giving her a glare that would have sent anyone else cowering under the table, he made his way upstairs, thankfully not running into anyone else. Yes, it would be nice to be taken care of, but he didn't have to act happy about it. He took off his robes and lay on the bed in his trousers and shirt. 10 minutes later, Molly knocked at the door. "Severus? Decent?" "Alohamora." He opened the door for her.
"Severus! You are supposed to be IN bed, not on it." She set the tray down. "Get up." When he stood up, she pulled the blankets down. "Now take off your shoes and get in. I swear, you're worse than Ron and Harry." Not wanting to be lumped in with those two, he quickly obeyed. Damn, that woman knew how to push his buttons.
"Hashoo. Happy?" he snapped.
"For Merlin's sake, Severus. Stop acting like a spoiled child. You're 36, not 6. Or I will have Ron, Fred and George take care of you. Unless of course, you'd prefer Sirius."
"You wouldn't. Heh-hehshoo."
"Try me. Since you can't take pepper up, I brought you a sleeping potion that you can take. I also brought you some soup and tissues, since I'm sure your handkerchief has had plenty of use. Drink these and eat, then try to sleep."
"Heh-shhoo, heh-choo, heyeckshoo. Bolly...ub...thaks." Knowing that thanks were rare from Severus and that it was the closest she'd get to an apology for his behavior, she nodded. "It's okay, Severus. Just rest and get better." She left, closing the door behind her, while he ate and took the potions, falling asleep quickly. The next morning, he woke up, sneezing and ornery as ever. Molly came in with breakfast. "I'll be headidg back dow. Heh-shoo." He told her when he finished eating.
"You most certainly are not. You are staying in bed today." "Bolly, I'hhmmshooo. I'b fide."
"Severus Snape, get back in bed." She gave him a glare that rivaled his worst. Fearing what she might do, he got back under the covers. He truly believed that she'd have Ron in there in a minute of he did not oblige. "Bindus abdomensicus." She said, pointing her wand at him.
"You didn't. Hey-cheshh."
"I did. You can sit up and move, but you cannot get out of bed unless someone removes the charm." She went and placed his wand out of reach. "Now, sleep."
"Heyshoo, heyeshoo, harshoo. Ugh." He reached for the tissues and blew his nose, then fell back asleep. He awoke a few hours later to see Bill Weasley sitting in a chair, intent on something he held in his hands, a worn paperback next to him. "Harshoo, hursheshh. What are you doig here?"
"Mum, Tonks and Moody took Ron, Ginny, Hermione and the twins into Diagon Alley to buy school things. She instructed me to look after you. I figured I'd wait in here in case you woke up and wanted to use the bathroom or stretch."
"That woud be dice. I do deed to use the bathroob."
Bill took out his wand. "Finite Incantem. You can get up now. I'm supposed to go with you in case you try to leave."
Snape stood up slowly and put his hand on the bedside table. "Dod't worry about that." he said, swaying slightly. "I feel a lot worse dow." The younger man went over and put his arm around Severus to support him; Bill was slim, but strong. "I'b id do coditiod to go anywhere." Bill helped the man to the bathroom and then back to bed.
"Do I need to bind you again?"
Snape shook his head. "Arsheshh, ahcheshhoo. Do. Too dizzy."
"I'll go get you some tea. Do you want anything to eat?"
"Do, dot hugry. Heh-cheshhh."
Bill went downstairs and returned several minutes later with two cups of tea. "I fire-called Madame Pomfrey; she's owling over a decongestant potion that won't react with the veritaserum."
"Appreciated. Heyehshoo. What was that thing you were playing with earlier?"
Bill blushed. "It's an electronic Scrabble game. Scrabble's a muggle word game. A friend of mine got me hooked on it and bought me this. Have to hide it from dad though - he'd mess around with it and break it. Liana was very special to me, and I don't want this broken. Hermione brought over a regular set and taught him. We've been playing a lot. You'd probably like it. Want to learn?"
Snape shrugged. He was intrigued but wasn't going to let on. "Dothig better to do, I guess."
Bill went and sat next to him, turning the game on and explaining it to him. "You can't use wizarding words, though. The machine won't accept them. Got it?" he finished.
"Yeah, but I'b dot goig to be able to play. By visiod keeps gettindg blurry whed I try to read the letters, ad tryig to focus bakes by head hurt. Heychoo. Huh-achoo." Just then, an owl flew through the window.
"That'll be the decongestant." Bill got up and removed it from the owl's leg. The owl flew out, and he handed the potion to Snape. "Drink this."
Snape downed the potion with a grimace and immediately sneezed. "Heh-choo, hah-ahshoo, heh-sheshh." He was aware of a soft cloth being placed in his hands and pressed it to his nose, then felt Bill gently rubbing his back. "Hetchoo, atchoo, harshhuushh, ketchoo, harashoo, hetchoo, hatchoo, ah-ehshoo, hah-ehshoo, huh-ashoo, hah-ah-hachoo, hah...hah-hachoo, hah...hahh...hah-ahshoo." He took a deep breath to blow his nose and started coughing. That was what happened when you took the decongestant potion. Bill continued rubbing his back until the coughs subsided, then handed him a glass of water. "Thaks." He took a drink and blew his nose several times.
"Bless you."
"Ugh. I hate that stuff." he complained.
"You sound clearer now. It's not going to help that much with the sneezing, but you'll be less stuffed up and, hopefully, less dizzy."
"I know what the potiond does. I just dond't like it. At least my head doesn't feel like it's beindg squeezed now." He blew his nose again. "Whend I'mb feeling better, we cand try the Scrabble thindg. What book are you reading?"
"Liana gave it to me. It's a muggle book called `The Little Prince.' Technically, it's a children's book, but it's got a good message; it`s only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. That`s how she lived her life, and she taught me to do the same"
"Who's Lihh...ihshoo...who's Liana?"
"She was a Ravenclaw in my year. We went through training as curse-breakers together and went to Egypt. We were friends and we dated. She was an amazing curse-breaker. Her father was a muggle, and on her mother's side, she was the first witch in 3 generations of squibs. It seemed like 3 generations worth of power all went into her. I loved her a lot. She died a few years ago. We read this together a lot."
"Hey-shoo, hey-ehshoo, hay-shoo. Cad you read it to be?"
Bill smiled. "Sure. `Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book called `True Stories from Nature,' about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing."
**End Memory/Dream** Snape started when he heard a knock on the dungeon door. He must have nodded off, he figured, blowing his nose again. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, he went and opened the door. Bill Weasley was standing there, holding a worn knapsack. "I hope you don't mind me stopping by without calling first. I had to stop and drop off some things for Dumbledore, and I thought I'd return the book I borrowed." "That's fihhh..." He turned and raised his arm to cover his face. "Ihshoo, heh-shoo, hayatchoo. Uhchushhoo. Excuse be." he sniffled. "Cobe id." He walked over to the couch, took a tissue and blew his nose loudly.
Bill looked at the tea and crumpled tissues. "Sick?"
"Just a cold. I'b goig to take the decodgestadt potiod id a bidute. I beadt to take it earlier, but I fell asleep thikig about the last tibe I was sick."
"Last summer?"
"Yes. I edjoyed leardig Scrabble."
Bill smiled. "Then you'll like what I have for you then, seeing as it's your birthday tomorrow. I kind of got the feeling you don't get too many presents."
"Albus always is gibig be socks for sobe reasod. Thahh...ahshoo. That's about it."
"Well, sit down and take the potion, and I'll give them to you."
Snape and Bill sat down on the couch; Snape grabbed a handful of tissues and drank the decongestant potion. "Huh-earshot, hashoo, ishoo, eshoo, hatchoo, achoo, ashoo, huh-hurshoo, ischoo, heh choo, ahshoo, harashoo, huh...hih-choo, hah...hahh...hachoo, huh...huhesshh, huh...huh-huhshoo, huh...huh...huh-hutchoo." He was aware of Bill rubbing his back during the attack of sneezing and the coughing fit that followed. When he was finished, he took a sip of tea and blew his nose for several minutes with Bill passing him fresh tissues. "I -"
"Hate that stuff. I know. Bless you."
"Last sumber, you rubbed my back whend I took this stuff, too. Why?"
"Habit, mainly. Liana had training as a healer. I have really bad allergies in Egypt, and she used to do that when they were bad or I was sick. I did it for her, too. She said it relaxes people. It always made me feel better. I won't do it again if you don't want me to."
"No, I like it." Severus wiped at his nose again.
"Since I have to go back to Egypt for a few days tomorrow, I brought your presents today."
"I thought you took a leave of absedce."
"I did. It's a personal visit. Liana and I had a deal. If one of us died, the other would mourn only for the number of months that was the age at death. Tomorrow is 27 months. I have to say goodbye to her and Emily."
"Embily?"
"Outside of the family, we don't talk about it much. But Emily was our daughter." Bill bit his lip and reached into his bag, then handed Snape two wrapped presents. "Happy Birthday." Snape opened the first package to find a handheld version of the Scrabble game he had become fond of last summer. Of course, beating Miss Granger had been half the fun. "It's charmed so it will work here."
"Thandks. My visiond is blurring right now, but whend I'mb better, I'll endjoy this." He opened the second to find a copy of `The Little Prince,' which he had had Bill read to him and which he had read several times over the summer. "Thandk you. Ihshoo, ashoo, hashoo, huhhshushhoo. Bill, why did you take care of me last sumber and do this now? I know how everyond feels about me."
"I don't. Liana taught me about that. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly -"
"What is essendtial is indvisible to the eye." Severus finished. "Eckshoo."
"Lay down, Severus. I'll let myself out."
Snape held out the book. "Before you go, will you read to me again?"
Smiling, Bill took the book. "Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book called `True Stories from Nature,' about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing."
I don't own anyone, so please don't sue....also, typing while intoxicated is hard, so please forgive any errors.
Notes: The Little Prince is by Antoine de St. Expurey. I don't own that either, but it is a great book for anyone who hasn't read it. Let me know what you think....if anyone wants any Bill Weasley stories, let me know and I'll try writing one.