A Hogwarts Intervention

Chapter 10: Creature Traits

Over the next two months there was more traffic in the library, study groups, and actual studying than there had been in a very long time. Every night the Prefects, without orders from their Heads of House gathered everyone together in the common room to recite the poem, gifting Hogwarts with more and more magic. Every morning some new enchantment had awakened or was once more working correctly. Not a single day was missed by anyone chanting the poem and the teachers watched the counters in awe as they grew in size to touch the floor.

Umbridge continued to harass Harry but was thwarted time and time again by staff and students alike. Dumbledore was conveniently often called away to consult or help with new/old magics that were awakening in the Ministry and Wizengamott buildings, causing more than a little chaos. Something that worried both Severus and Voldemort to no end, however, was the fact that the pain they expected Harry to be in shortly after Christmas never seemed to manifest. It was true that on the Saturday directly after school had started again he had disappeared for nearly the entire day, scaring them silly but beyond that they had no idea what happened.

Little did they know that Harry had put much of his cunning into hiding something that they had half been waiting for. All of the Gryffindor's efforts failed a week before the two month challenge was up. They woke to a shivering Harry in the middle of the bed in their joint quarters, curled into a miserable mewling ball as he vainly tried to snuggle into the warmth of his mates.

"Harry? Imp? Are you alright?" Severus asked in deep concern as he sat up in bed. His only response was a miserable mewl of protest at the cool air invading his warm den of covers and bodies.

"Severus?" Voldemort asked sleepily, unconsciously cuddling the shivering Harry closer to him and further under the slightly open blankets.

"Something is wrong with the imp," Severus said as he retrieved his wand and quickly cast a diagnostic spell to try and pin down what the problem was. Voldemort forced himself awake and took in the situation before sitting up himself, earning another mewl of protest from the clearly ill Gryffindor.

"Cold," Harry mumbled as he once more tried to bury himself in the warm bedding, shivering near enough for them to practically hear his teeth chattering.

"You somehow delayed the transformation didn't you?" Severus snarked, trying to cover his worry at the readings from the diagnostic spell. Harry mumbled something inarticulate before slipping his pillow over his head. "You shouldn't have done that, now it will be worse and last longer."

"I wont be able to leave him like this and I have no idea if I'm going to be able to let you leave our quarters, even if its just to go down the hall and teach a bunch of brats for the day," Voldemort warned as he wrapped the blankets firmly around Harry.

"Normally a student this obviously ill would be sent to the infirmary but with how the founders reacted before I don't think that's wise or feasible," Severus said thoughtfully. "If you can control yourself enough to let me post a note on the classroom door I can simply assign essays for everyone and inform the rest of the staff that he will be out of classes today. Since Poppy released our medical files to us and we have yet to hire a personal healer, I will fill the role for the moment. If anyone asks we can say that he stayed with us because of a bad reaction to a potion that someone slipped him."

"Was he slipped a potion?" Voldemort asked, gaining a reluctant nod from his fully human mate.

"It looks like someone slipped him a type of magic suppressor. I'm honestly surprised he hasn't had problems because of it until now," Snape admitted. "There isn't much to be done except ride out the symptoms and hope that he doesn't have an allergic reaction. We can keep him warm and fuss over him but the only other thing I can think of is that someone needs to stay near him in case of complications. Nothing is ever standard about him and I honestly wouldn't be too surprised to discover that he comes out of this not only pregnant but carrying twins and having found Camelot or Merlin's resting place."