Oblivious | jeverus

Part 10

It had been three weeks since they went to the wedding. Severus got a post card from narcissa not too long ago, they were on their honeymoon somewhere in france.

It looked nice, the weather seemed nice during spring. And surprisingly, Severus was doing better. Much better.

" how are my favorite patients doing?" Pamela asked as she rolled in her tray of meds.

" im doing great thank you Pam." James smiled.

Severus put his book down and held out his arm. Pamela smiled at him, checking his blood pressure and started her routine check up.

" any coughing? Petals? Stems?"

" yeah a couple but none that were really bad."  James said casually.

Severus on the other hand had to think about it. The last time he had thrown up flowers were over 2 weeks ago and ever since then its been little coughs here and there.

" severus? Any attacks?" She asked again when severus was staying silent.

" no." He said, puzzling himself and pamela.

" no? You havent been coughing a lot or you havent been coughing up at all?" She asked with knot eyebrows.

" well not real flowers, only dead petals." He shrugged.

James shifted in his bed. Dead petals? Hes never heard of someone with hanahaki coughing up dead petals.

Although in the few times hes seen severus cough since then, it was never enough to be a full flower.

Only little bits and pieces that would get lodged at the back of his throat.

" dead flowers?" Pamela brought a hand to her chin.

Then something became blatantly clear, and she couldn't be happier.

" we need to get you a scan. I'll page your healer and organize it right now." She said suddenly cheerful.

Well more cheerful than usual.

" wha- pam? PAM?" Severus yelled behind her as she quickly ran out.

Severus gave up when the door slid closed and it was just the two of them again.

" what was that about?" James asked.

Severus looked towards him and shrugged.

" i dont know."

————————————————————-

" just as I suspected. They're gone."

Severus raised his eyebrows as he stared at the x-ray scan of his lungs.

His once flower infested lungs looked different. None of the flowers were standing up straight and it looked like they were wilting away.

" what? What do you mean they're gone, whats gone?!" Severus yelled frantically.

" over here. Where the roots of the flowers used to be are gone. The flowers are no longer rooted in your lungs and so they are dying."

" and that means?"

So the roots were gone, the flowers were no longer attached but it still didn't explain why the doctor and nurse looked so damn pleased.

" first sign of recovery." The healer whispered.

Severus almost choked on his own spit when he heard that.

" what?" He said loudly.

" the flowers are no longer taking root, they can no longer survive and so they are dying. You're healing." She said proudly.

Severus just stared at the healer who had a big smile on her face.

He adverted his eyes to the image in front of him.

" impossible. My feelings....they havent changed."

" are you sure?"

" positive! I still have that lingering feeling. Like i wanna give them the world but they dont even know it. The feelings arent gone so why are the flowers disappearing?"

" are you sure its the same person?"

" what?"

His shoulders slumped as he was near giving up.

The healer sat next to him, a hand on his shoulder.

" look, ive been treating you for as long as you've had this terrible disease. And in the past month you've made the fasted recovery i have ever seen. In just one week they've already died, uprooted themselves and by the looks of it are disappearing already."

She sighed and looked at the x ray.

" and ive been observing you. You with him. Your roommate, i can tell there's something there."

Now severus was baffled. How could she say that? Say there was even a sliver of a chance.

" thats preposterous."

" is it? You were here for 5 months, almost 6 now. Then he came and the one patient who was always ruining my nurses days and never leaving his room was running around stealing pudding from the cafeteria. Yes i know." She held up her hand when severus looked at her in shock.

" you cant steal 30 snack cups from the canteen and expect not to be caught. This is a magic hospital."

Severus nodded, reminiscent of that time. It was one of the first things james and him did together, of course they've done a lot more now.

They had pulled pranks on the nurses. John was less than pleased to find his entire pen collection had been transformed into cheese one day.

They walked around, talked, just hung out in the maze of a hospital. At one point they had even snuck up to the children's wing to look at the babies.

It was fascinating how much james loved kids.

" you're feelings may not have changed, but there recipient definitely has." She pat his shoulder and stood up, taking the x rays from the board.

Severus' eyes were trained on the floor, unwilling to look anywhere else.

" will i get discharged?" He asked finally.

" eventually but before that we need to track your recovery. Make sure they dont come back. Until then you'll have to stay here."

" how long?"

" 2 weeks? 4 weeks tops. This is a messy disease you've got. If you dont manage to get rid of all the petals they could cause an infection and you'll need surgery to get rid of them."

" what do i do?" Severus said softly.

The healer looked back, looking at the boy who was fidgeting with his hands.

It was clear he wasn't listening and she knew what the question was actually directed at. She smiled softly and shrugged.

" what is there to do? You tell him, or you dont."

" but he already loves someone. Hes dying because of that person. Hes either not gonna love me or hes gonna die. Either way im getting my heart broken."

She looked down. The small information that pamela had told her when james first came was ringing at the back of her head.

Just begging to be told. But it wasn't her place as a healer. She was there to heal, not meddle.

" severus."

He looked up, eyes full of sadness and conflict.

" you should tell him. The outcome may surprise you so.....Dont think you're in the dark just yet." She said firmly.

Severus stared up at her from where he was sitting. He exhaled loudly and nodded.

" yeah. I guess so."