'That should be all. He's perfectly healthy, just make sure he takes it easy today and doesn't come out of bed too much. I know what a cheeky bastard he is so keep an eye on him,' Madame Promfrey said grinning. Severus scowled at her from his place on the bed. He had denied the rest they gave him and did everything in his willpower to refuse sitting in bed all day. Luckily for them, he didn't entirely recover yet so it wasn't much of a struggle for them. (Y/N) laughed a bit.

'Oh and (Y/N), can I please talk to you in the other room. I'll leave you two some privacy but I'll be waiting in the living room.' Poppy winked at Severus. (Y/N) and Severus both had the suspicion that she knew something was going on. She knew there was more to the story of Severus and what happened because only a crucio wouldn't have this impact on him from what she had witnessed multiple times. It would be hard to crack him open about it but she needed to. That's why she sat down at the end of the bed and nervously glanced around the room.

'What is it?' He sneered.

'What did he do to you?' Severus said nothing and just crossed his arms over each other in front of his chest. They both knew that this was a defense mechanism but she never pointed it out.

'Just a crucio or two. Nothing special.' He shrugged. (Y/N) so desperately wanted to believe it was only that, but it wasn't. She needed to know the truth.

'Is that really what happened?' Severus, who was a fan of doing staring contests, suddenly let his gaze fall on the wall to the right. She sighed.

'I won't push, but please tell me when you're ready.' Another silence so she got up and left to talk with Poppy.

'There you are. I thought it was better than to discuss this with Severus because I know how embarrassed he will get.' (Y/N) frowned but said nothing and sat down on the single armchair while Poppy occupied the couch.

'What's wrong?' Her face grew concerned and she looked down at her teacup in her hands.

'Oh dear, I wouldn't be telling you this if I had someone else to take care of it. But I've found something during the check.' She rummaged into her bag and revealed a small vial without any name on it.

'Next time he drinks something, can you make sure this is well mixed into it? He won't notice, we made sure of that even though he is a potioneer.' (Y/N) took the vial out of the outstretched hand and inspected it. It was a clear liquid and a muggle would easily mistake it as water.

'What is it? Is it something that had to do with what he did to him last night?' Now she was getting worried too. Why did things have to be so complicated? (Y/N) couldn't wait until the end of the war so all of this could be over.

'Oh no! No need to worry. It's a simple potion against STDs.' Poppy whispered. Well, (Y/N) thought, this got awkward quickly.

'I'll make sure he takes it.' Poppy stood up and nodded her goodbye.

'Thank you dear. I know these times are hard for everyone, just don't mention anything to him.'

'You have my word.' She smiled and disappeared through the floo.

The quarters were too quiet. For a second, her world went black. (Y/N) shook her head and started to prepare tea for Severus. It was the perfect opportunity to also dump the content of the vial in it. She couldn't bear to look at it any longer than necessary. The memories of Lockhart came flowing back in her mind where it was so safely locked in and pushed down. She sniffled her nose and blinked a couple of times to hold in the tears that were threatening to roll over her cheeks. There was no time for that, it was over, gone. She slowly carried the tray with two cups of tea, sugar and milk to the bedroom. (Y/N) offered him a warm smile only for him to turn his entire head away from her.

'Tea?' Severus didn't say anything but accepted the tea. He shuffled a bit to the side of the bed and tapped the empty place next to him.

'Please?' he asked. If it wasn't Severus, she would almost think he was begging. She laughed and crawled into bed under the blankets.

'I didn't want to worry you yesterday. I apologize if I did.' (Y/N) shook her head and cuddled closer, still tightly gripping her own cup of tea between her hands.

'Don't apologize.' It was quiet and peaceful for a minute and she heard Severus blow on his tea before taking a sip. She hadn't realized it was his first sip before he abruptly put it down on the tray.

'What's in here?' He asked, clearly mad and demanding for answers. (Y/N) tensed her shoulders and slowly forced herself to look in his eyes.

'What do you mean?'

'I'm not oblivious. I'm a potions master. What's in it?' He glared at her and she couldn't help but blame Madame Pomfrey for thinking this would work.

'Just a simple potion.' Severus wanted to hear more than just that so she silently continued.

'I wasn't supposed to say this to you but it's an STD potion. She said you might be embarrassed. But please, drink it.' (Y/N) pushed it back in his hands. Severus refused to meet her eyes but gently drank from the chinese cup. She could feel his entire body tensing the moment she said it. As Pomfrey predicted, he really was embarrassed.

'As I said earlier: you don't have to talk about it until you're ready.' He said nothing and they let a comfortable silence fall over them while sipping the tea in bed.