Recnac Transfaerso

17 - Friendship

Snape was putting away potion ingredients when the youngest Weasley boy burst into the classroom frantically. Snape was about to make a scathing remark toward the boy, but stopped himself when he saw the extremely alarmed look on the redhead's face.

"Professor, please, it's Harry! Please, he needs help, now!" he pleaded with the Potions professor. Snape nodded worriedly and began to run after Ron through the halls.

"What happened, Mr. Weasley?" he demanded as they jogged along.

"He-he just collapsed. He's sick, really sick."

They finally approached an unconscious Harry Potter with Hermione Granger sobbing into his chest. Ron ran up next to Hermione, catching her attention. Snape quickly knelt by Harry and Hermione backed away a bit. Snape checked the boy's vitals: shallow breathing, weak pulse, his lips were turning slightly blue. His skin was clammy, but his forehead was burning.

"Tell me what you know," he ordered.

"He has cancer," Ron said staring in fright at his friend. Snape paused for a moment.

"The Muggle illness?'

Ron nodded. Snape shook his head.

"Impossible, Weasley."

"Trust me. He did a weird spell, I'll explain later. He's had it since winter break. He just recently told us."

"Has something like this happened before?" asked Snape.

"No, he's had a few weak days and occasionally a loss of appetite, but nothing else," Hermione said. Her eyes grew wide. "Except on the day he came back from winter holiday. He was throwing up blood. He said it was just a cold, but..." She trailed off wondering why she hadn't made the connection sooner. "And then today, when we were going to our next class, he just collapsed. He was shivering but his forehead was burning. He was really out of it, not even recognizing me. Then he said he couldn't see and lost consciousness. Is he going to be okay Professor?" Hermione asked wiping away tears.

"I don't know. All right Weasley, go down to my supplies and get Powdered Hornblende, Naive, Inimativ, er...some Cocorico and Rakshasa tail. Granger, go get the headmaster. The password's Chocolate Frogs. Meet me at the Hospital Wing." The two Gryffindors nodded and tore off to carry out their assigned tasks. Snape looked back at Harry.

How does he get into all the trouble? he asked himself. He considered levitating the boy, but it was too slow. He put one arm under Harry's knees and the other under his back and lifted Harry into his arms. As he took off, jogging toward the infirmary, he got a sense of déjà vu. He shook his head. He was slightly unnerved to find himself feeling sympathy for the boy he had been bent on hating for years.

He passed a few students who looked shocked at the scene. The animosity between the potions master and Harry Potter was famous throughout the school. It was no wonder they were surprised to see Snape carrying the unconscious boy through the halls with an extremely worried look on his face that he tried to hide with the occasional menacing scowl that encouraged students to back away and not ask any questions.

After what seemed like far too long, he finally reached the Infirmary. He entered to find Madam Pomfrey checking over Neville Longbottom. She seemed to have cleared up the bruises from his earlier potions accident. Neville momentarily looked frightened at seeing Snape but then realized what he was carrying and his expression turned into one of concerned shock.

"Professor, what's wrong with Harry? Is he all right?" he asked leaning forward and alerting Madam Pomfrey to Snape's presence in the process.

"Oh dear, what now?" Madam Pomfrey asked jumping up as Snape laid Harry down on a nearby bed. She had decided long ago that she saw far too much of this particular boy. It just wasn't fair.