Chapter Text
The two cats slipped into the nest, Harry used his tail to take down a web and almost immediately, he heard the skitter of hundreds of legs across the ground, straight to them. His heart rate picked up, panic setting in, Snape was aware of the same Fate and Harry curled his tail into himself to keep the collected silk safe and ran to Snape. He begged, hoped, pleaded to go anywhere else. His magic responded, though it should not have, and it felt like his world was spinning, dropping, and being pulled in all directions before they landed, panting, on the ground of the potions room they were in just a few hours previous.
Harry retched, the panic manifesting physically and he just laid there and breathed through it, his eyes closed.
‘Get it together, come on, you’ve been through worse things,’ it was a mantra in his head until he finally pulled it together.
“Are you okay?” His eyes searched over Snape’s body as he would do for any of his friends had they been with instead. He always felt an uncomfortable need to make sure everything fine and well before he checked himself.
“I am perfectly fine,” Snape answered blandly, though his eyes were wider and less guarded than they typically should be. Harry unhooked his tail and wiped it against the table, the ridges helped in scraping it off and Snape used his nose to push it into a vial, the moisture from his nose assisted it in not sticking.
Harry allowed a moment to collect himself, his breathing was still shallow and he was extremely on edge.
“Dinner was sent to my office, we will eat and then return to the forest to collect the sap needed,” Snape announced in a voice that was calmer than he looked.
Harry pulled himself off the floor and followed Snape, he was closer than he had any reason to be to the Professor, but he couldn’t get himself to cooperate and step away. The mans presence itself was grounding in a way. They both knew that apparating was near impossible as a cat and even more so apparating INSIDE Hogwarts.
Snape’s office door swung open in response to the mans residual magic and they stepped through, the scent of meat hit Harry’s nose and he’d never been more thankful to see food in his life, not even when he was starved in the cupboard did he not feel nearly as thankful.
Snape jumped onto the desk but Harry sat on the floor, he was NOT about to jump onto his Professors desk.
“There is nothing for you to ruin,” Snape informed, his way of giving Harry permission to come up.
With heavy hesitance, Harry did jump onto the desk, but he didn’t go very far, staying to the edge. Snape half laid in the middle, a chicken breast trapped between his paws as he pulled bits off. Harry licked the yolk of the eggs and munched on the sausages. There were two dishes of water, as if the elves knew what had happened, it was all Feline safe food.
The two ate in such thick silence that Harry could hear the gentle rumbling from Snape as he ate. Harry had no such purr but he said absolutely nothing about it, he knew better.
When they were finished eating, they meandered back into the Forest, Snape led them this time to a gathering of trees with the specific kind of sap they needed. Harry said nothing and just followed close behind, closer than necessary, but blessedly Snape mentioned it not.
They walked for about an hour, twice there was a danger and Snape picked Harry up by the scruff and took off - faster than Harry could’ve been with his shorter legs. He just hung there with his legs lifted so he didn’t interfere with anything. Besides they two moments they walked in relative silence, which Harry didn’t mind. Talking is just so much work sometimes and Snape isn’t a good conversationalist, at least not with Harry.
Finally, they made it to a ring of trees with odd leaves on them.
“Don’t eat them, it’s poison, just take the bark off and press the lip of the vials against the tree,” Snape instructed as Harry lifted a vial in his mouth. He set it down gently when he approached a tree and used his teeth to peel the bark off, he only said the leaves were poisonous after all.
Once the sap started to drip, he took the vial back in his mouth and tilted his head so it stood vertical against the tree and stood there until it was halfway full. He took it over to Snape who corked it and set it in the pouch Harry had on as it had a previously instated expansion charm set inside of it.
“Sap and silk, what was next?” Harry never claimed to have a good memory, in his defense.
“Leaves, we have to go further in for these,” Snape informed and Harry took a mental check of himself. His leg hurts from the blood quill yet, it left lasting damages since it’s a cursed object and he used it so much. His broken rib was aching dully but it wasn’t dangerous to his organs like this. His hind leg was having pains from when Dudley broke it this past summer but his magic healed it. He was fatigued but he can go for at least 5 hours before crashing.
“Lead the way,” Harry eventually decided, he could manage.
Harry had calmed enough that he followed at a reasonable distance this time, but the moments where Snape had to grab him and run became more frequent and slowly that distance became less and less without him noticing. He was always uneasy in this forest, anytime he was in here he was almost killed by something or someone and he has no such intention to be in those positions again, and yet, here he is.
“Just a little longer and we will arrive,” Snape assured after the 7th time of picking and dashing. Harry was basically walking underneath him at this point in time so he knew Snape felt it when he nodded. He had every intention to try and repeat what he did by the nest so they didn’t have to walk back. He just needed to panic enough.
About 28 more minutes of walking and they arrived at a giant tree, using their claws their climbed to the first branch and collected exactly 18 leaves, it allows for 4 attempts of the potion should it fail.
Just before they were about to climb down, Harry heard a branch in the distance snap, thankfully, so did Snape. They paused and sat back on the branch against the tree trunk. It was far enough up that anything on legs can’t just jump and grab them. They tucked their tails up against their bodies. It was wolves. 4 of them, jumping and their jaws snapping. Fear coursed through Harry, their bites hurt, can break through bone easily. They almost ripped off his leg last year.
“They’re going to kill us if we jump down,” Harry managed to get out, his entire body shaking like a leaf. “They’ll bite straight through us,” if he was human he’d be stuttering and likely gagging. When his body is in a lot of pain or he has this much fear, it manifests physically and he throws up.
Snape, for once, looked at a loss before a steady determination settled in his gaze, he gently picked Harry up by the scruff as he’d done many times by now and Harry took that chance beg to be anywhere else, begging his magic to respond to him, to take them anywhere. It obeyed, the relief of that pushing, shoving, and shrinking feeling of apparition took over him and they landed heavily on the ground of… Of the Medical wing. His magic sensed he was injured and brought them here? Whatever, it’s safe.
“I won’t be able to do this again,” Harry gasped out, his body slumping against the floor as he panted.
“How you’ve done it all let alone twice was already an impossibility,” Snape muttered before he could stop himself. Once again, he lifted Harry by the scruff and carried his limp body back to the office. Harry couldn’t make his body cooperate so his legs just dragged. Some students gave them odd looks as they went but Harry felt like he was somewhere else. His magical core was depleted too much, how he’s still awake is a mystery.
He didn’t even realize they were back in Snape’s office until he was set down on a soft surface, his eyes slipping closed before he could take in his surroundings.
Harry slept for 9 hours, Snape watched the boy, kit now, as he slept for a little bit, he was changing Severus’ view of them at every turn today, but hopping down onto his desk chair with Harry and curling around him. He always has cushioning charms on the seat for comfortability and that was something he was most grateful for now. Potter’s body was colder than his and he doesn’t have access to his magic like Potter does for some reason so he can’t cast heating charms on them so his body heat will have to suffice.
Every little sound woke Snape but with Potter’s magical exhaustion he slept without pause the entire night. It allowed him to wake before Snape in the morning, though he had no intention of the leaving the warmth Snape’s body produces until the man wakes. Besides, if he moves, the man will surely wake.
It wasn’t long before a large breakfast tray appeared on the table, Snape stirred at the addition of magic and scent and lifted his head. Harry shifted and stood on weak legs, he took just a moment to brace himself and then he hopped onto the desk, the same place he was on the previous meal. Snape followed shortly after.
This meal was sausage, water, runny yolk eggs, salmon, and pumpkin. Harry wasn’t very hungry, his body still exhausted, so he nibbled at the sausage, licked little bits of the egg, but ultimately laid back down and tucked his head under his leg.
“You need to eat a little bit more,” Snape rumbled from ahead of him.
He nudged more sausage to Harry, Harry begrudgingly lifted his head and sniffed the now unappetizing sausage that was rolled to him. Snape just sat there expectantly and Harry carefully took bites of the meat, it rolled in his stomach, he felt ill, but he finished the sausage.
“We have time before we need to turn back,” Snape decided, he had planned to take them to Diagon Alley for the easy ingredients, but Potter expended too much and Snape is not as heartless as he leads people to believe, he won’t push the boy past his limits and he won’t leave him alone, they’ll just stay here today, let the boy recover.
There are many things Snape discovered about the boy, he has extreme PTSD, his fear reactions that allowed him to apparate through anti-apparation wars and apparate as an animal proved as much. He doesn’t talk much and when he does he gets straight to the point. He knew his way around the forest and had information about predators that Snape had known, yes, but Snape is twice his age. Potter never should have known about the wolves’s strengths and he stated it in such a haunted way that told Snape he knew first hand what they were like.
Additionally, Potter does as he is told. Through all his errors and mistakes, he does follow directions when instructed so Snape has no idea how his potions always go awry, he stayed close and didn’t wander, he listened and assisted him when he had to pick the boy up and run. He wasn’t a boy who ran into danger so how, why, is he the center of all things going wrong every year, what is going so wrong in this boys life that he reacts this way to every little thing.
Snape had figured out a way to get them away from the wolves safely, the trees were close enough that he could jump from branch to branch, but Potter had apparated them, a second time because his body felt he had no other way out. The naturally reaction to situations like that isn’t magical response, it’s break downs or panicking.
After a while, he knew Potter was truly asleep so he lifted him by the scruff ever so carefully and took him to his personal chambers. He took him to his bedroom and laid him on the bed, residual heating charms still coated the blankets, he recasts them every week because the dungeons get so cold, and when he sat Potter down, his small body sank into the blankets. He was small, smaller than he should be at his age, but now isn’t the time to pry, they needed to finish the potion before any invasive conversations happen, he cannot allow Potter to shut down before they even have all the ingredients.
Eventually, Snape allowed himself to fall asleep, Potter makes himself as small as possible when sleeping, Snape has no such care, he stretched his long body out and relaxed into the warmth of the blankets before going to sleep.
When Harry woke up the next day he felt much better. Snape was already awake and grooming himself, when Harry stretched he glanced up before going back to grooming.
Harry had no idea how to groom himself, he was just dealing with the odd feeling of his fur and ignoring the itching like he did when he was little when he had a broken bone or something. He observed quietly before jumping off onto the floor and stretching fully, his claws extracted when he reached his limit and it felt so nice. He did seriously need to use the bathroom now, yesterday he just left Snape for as little time as possible and went in the forest, but he has no such ability at this time.
“Bathroom is the second door,” Snape inclined his head to a door and Harry nudged it open with his face. It closed automatically to a crack behind him which was enough privacy for him, during his punishments at the Dursley’s he wasn’t allowed to shower or do anything in the bathroom unless the door was wide open so they could make sure he didn’t try and escape. He climbed onto the toilet seat and squatted over, doing his business before pawing at the handle of the toilet until it flushed. He nodded once to himself and nudged the bathroom door back open to leave.
Breakfast was sitting on the bed though Snape didn’t seem annoyed at that. Harry probably would have been, he doesn’t like mess especially not on his bed, he’d make sure to eat extra carefully. He jumped back on the bed as Snape nudged a small plate towards him.
“Finish that and we are going to go to Diagon to get the easy ingredients today,” Snape spoke once he finished pushing.
Harry sat down and gnawed on the food, it was cooked fish and peas in a chicken broth with blueberries on the side as well as a bowl of water that had something mixed in.
“It’s a nutritive powder from the elves that the cats of Hogwarts gets twice a week,” Snape informed before Harry even thought about asking.
He ate the small serving of… Stew? And ate the few blueberries before drinking some of the water. It was chalky and didn’t taste good but he consumed as much as possible.
“There should be a better way to serve that,” Harry grumbled lowly.
“It is rather unpleasant,” Snape agreed.