“I bet they’ll be together by next week.” Minerva said as she stood in the hospital wing with Dumbledore.

“Far too soon Minerva. I say they won’t be together until after the yule ball.” Dumbledore replied, staring at your sleeping forms.

“I bet you 10 Galleons.” Minerva added.

“Deal.” He smirked, watching as Severus’ arms were wrapped around your waist and your arms were wrapped around his neck. Your face pressed into his firm chest and Severus’ head resting on top of yours. “Have they been like this all night?” Dumbledore asked Madam Pomfrey.

“Yes. I know Severus, he doesn’t have much patience but he was surprisingly patient with her last night.”

“We should let them rest.” Minerva motioned for Dumbldore to follow her out of the hospital wing.

“We’ll be in the great hall preparing for the students to come down for breakfast. Once they wake up please join us, Poppy.” Dumbledore gave a small nod then left with Minerva.

“I will sir.”

After they left Madam Pomfrey went to her office to get the anxiety potion she had brewed you the night before. She looked through her pantry and wrote down a list of all the things she would need to gather from the grounds tonight. She had gotten everything she needed from the forbidden forest a few days ago so there was no need to go there tonight. Instead her and Severus would only be retrieving plants near the castle grounds. She needed things such as Puffapod, Dittany and Moly. She made two lists, one for her and one for Severus.

As soon as Madam Pomfrey finished her list she went over to wake you and Severus so you both wouldn’t miss breakfast. Putting both her list and the list for Severus in her pocket she went over to your bed side.

“Severus.” She gave him a gentle shake. He opened his eyes but he looked extremely dazed. He wiped his face with his hand and looked up at the older witch.

“Hmm, Oh hello Madam Pomfrey.” He mumbled out.

“Good morning dear. Breakfast will be starting soon so you and miss Potter should get going so you don’t miss it. I put Miss Y/N’s potion on the table, make sure she knows to take it every morning.” Her face was wrinkled but she always had a motherly smile on her face.

“Thank Madam Pomfrey, I’ll wake her.” He nodded and she walked off. He slowly untangled himself from you and pulled up the covers, pretending like he had sat in the chair all night as opposed to sleeping in your bed with you. After he was all situated he reached over and shook your hand.

“Y/N, Y/N wake up.” He half whispered. He saw you start to stir but you simply turned away from the noise. He rolled his eyes, then huffed, then smiled. He walked around the other side of the bed and kneeled next to your face. “Y/N!” He yelled. You flung yourself out of the bed and fell on top of Severus.

“Oof.” He exclaimed as you landed on top of him.

“Ugh, you deserved that.” Your front was pressed against his and you were resting on your forearms.

“I needed to wake you up somehow.”

“A simple shake would have sufficed.” You rolled your eyes.

“Are you going to get off of me?” He asked after a moment of silence.

“I’m debating, but I don’t think I will.” You smirked.

“Fine.” He put his hands around your waist and rolled you both over so he was on top. “Hm, not so fun now is it?”

“I never said that.” You watched as his face started to heat up and turn bright red.

“We should go, we don’t want to miss breakfast.” He changed the subject.

“I never said that either.” You scrunched your nose in distaste at the thought of eating yet again. “I don’t want to, we both know I’m gonna get sick again so what’s the point.”

“The point is you need to eat everyday or all your hard work is going to go out the window. You need to keep trying. Madam Pomfrey brewed you an anxiety potion, she thinks the stomach pains are from stress and once you start taking this potion they should ease up.” He encouraged as he pushed himself off you, sitting on his knees to kneel in front of you.

“I just don’t know if it’s worth it. I didn’t have a need for anxiety medication before I started eating like this again.”

“I know but maybe if an anxiety potion was offered to you before you wouldn’t have started to starve yourself. Believe me I understand but you will get better at it I promise. Taking better care of yourself can be stressful sometimes but it gets easier and I think this potion is really going to help you. So take it before we head down to the great hall and by the time we get there it should start working." He stood from the floor and grabbed the potions bottle from the bedside table. “Please take it, I promise it will help you.” He held it out to you. You got off the floor and sat on the bed and Severus sat beside you.

“What if it doesn’t.” You asked hopelessly.

“It will, it might take a day or two to kick in but I promise it will help you. I have full trust in Madam Pomfrey. Come on, try it.” You took the bottle from him and uncorked it but still looked at it hesitantly. Then you smelled it.

“....This stinks.” You cringed.

“It’s a potion Y/N.” He rolled his eyes.

“Is it true that in the muggle world medicines are flavored. Like bubblegum and grape and OH! Cherry!” You asked in a way that reminded Severus of a curious child.

“Yes we do have flavored medicines.”

“I wonder if we could do that here.”

“I’ll have Madame Pomfrey put it on the top of her to- do list, can you just take it.” He said sarcastically. You plugged your nose and drank the potion out of the vial. You gagged and held your hand over your mouth.

“That was gross.” You complained.

“I could see that. Come on, we need to get to breakfast.”

“I wanna sit with you again.” You replied.

“Y/N, I really think you should sit with your brother. They seem to be getting jealous of all the time you’ve been spending with me lately.” He sighed.

“Why, have they said something?”

“No, I can just see it on their faces when they see us together.” He lied.

“...What if I sit with them at breakfast, we sit outside by the tree during lunch then I sit with you and your friends at dinner?” You suggested.

“I guess that would be okay now please, we really need to get to breakfast.” He insisted, standing from the bed. You stood after him.

“I need to go to my dorm first and get changed, I’ll be down in a few minutes.” You told him, looking at your wrinkled robes. He nodded at you and you both went separate ways when you reached the entrance to the great hall. Severus went in to have breakfast and you branched off to go to your dorm so you could change into some decent robes.

“Hey where were you last night? You never came to the room.” Jane asked when you stepped foot in the room.

“I was in the hospital wing, I had a bad stomach ache.” You told her as you pulled another set of robes out of your closet.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that. How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, Severus took me down and Madam Pomfrey brewed me something to make it better.”

“Severus huh?” She smiled.

“What?”

“You spend a lot of time with him. Do you like him?”

“I…Yeah, I do. He’s really nice when you actually get to know him. He takes care of me, he always asks if I’ve eaten and pushes me to take care of myself, encouraging me to do things I love and stands by me even if he doesn’t like them… But I don’t think he likes me, he had a crush on Lily, the girl my brother likes.. I can never compare to her, he’ll only ever think of me as a friend.” You sighed.

“Did he tell you that?”

“No, but.”

“Then don’t think like that. He’s acting just like he has a crush on you so don’t get yourself down, go for it.”

“I hope you're right. My brother won’t be happy though, he hates Severus.”

“Why?” She scrunched her face in confusion.

“I don’t know. He’s been bullying Severus since they were in first year. When Severus told me I thought it was just because James had a crush on Lily but Lily hasn’t been friends with Severus since last year and James and his friends still torment him. I told them if they didn’t stop I wouldn’t associate with them so they’re finally leaving him alone.” You tried to explain.

“That’s good. So, tell me about him.” She insisted, grabbing your hand and pulling you to sit beside her on the bed. You giggled and plopped down beside her.

“James and his friends all said he was bad news but I think they only said that because he’s a Slytherin. He’s actually really nice when you get to know him. He’s built up these walls that he hides behind when he’s scared or angry or worried but if you know how to break them down he’ll open up.”

“Do you know how?”

“I broke down his normal walls, the ones he has when he meets someone new, the ones he has in place to keep out people he doesn’t trust. Which is everyone who isn’t his friend. But I haven’t seen him scared or angry or worried. I don’t know what those walls will be like but I have confidence I can break them. When we first met he was so strange. He would be playful and almost sweet but it was like the moment he realized it he would cover it up with a snarky comment. Like he didn’t want to be nice. But in only a few days he’s turned out to be so kind and sweet. He always asks how I slept, how my day was, how my classes were, if I need help with any of my classes. When I went to quidditch tryouts he went with me and watched because I asked. He always makes sure I’ve eaten and… Shit!” You jumped up.

“What? What’s wrong?” Jane asked, getting up as well.

“We missed breakfast.” You said I looked at the clock. “Oh he’s gonna be so mad at me.” You grumbled flopping down face first into the pillow.

“If he asks, it was my fault, I kept you here asking about where you were all night. Now come on, we don't want to miss class too.” Jane pulled you up from the bed. “You have an easy day with only transfiguration, then potions, study hall, lunch and charms.”

“True. Come on.” You agreed.

You made your way to transfigurations and Jane branched off to muggle studies. When you got into class there were only a couple other students there, you quickly took your seat and waited for class to start.

After transfiguration was over you made your way to potions. It was dead quiet inside the classroom, probably because Severus was the only one in the room. Slughorn was gathering items from his ingredients room and Severus helped Slughorn with his previous class so he was already in the room. You sat down next to him and he didn’t even acknowledge you.

“Sev.” You hesitated to touch his arm to get his attention.

“What?” He huffed.

“Don’t be mad.” You mumbled.

“You said you would be back down for breakfast Y/N. You are never going to get better if you don’t take this seriously.” You snapped.

“I am, I am taking it seriously. Jane asked me where I was last night since I never came back to the dorm and we were talking about it and we just lost track of time. I had every intention to come down to breakfast.” You explained.

“You can’t skip out on meals. It's important that you eat at least 3 times a day. If you don't, you're going to start going backwards.” He finally glanced over at you.

“I know, I promise I’ll eat a good lunch okay.”

“Alright.” He nodded.

“What’s this list? Are these all the ingredients we’ll need for today's brew because I don’t have all of these.” You pointed at a list that was sitting next to him on the table.

“No Madame Pomfrey lets me go collect potions ingredients with her the first thursday of the month. These are all the things we need.”

“Good luck getting the Moly, most of those plants are right next to the whomping willow.” You muttered, looking over the list.

“I do this all the time with Madam Pomfrey so I know how to be careful. This is the smallest list I’ve had in almost a year. I guess not many students have been to the hospital wing yet this year. Finishing this list should only take me around an hour and a half. Madam Pomfrey normally takes me out with her after curfew when the students in the hospital wing have settled in for the night.” He explained, continuing to write in his potions book. Everyone started to file into the room. James and Sirius came up to your table.

“How’re you feeling, munchkin? We didn’t see you at breakfast.” They pulled up two chairs from the table in front of you.

“I feel fine, I was talking with my roommate Jane and we lost track of time so I didn’t make it to breakfast in time. Me and Sev have lunch the period after next so I’ll eat then.” You added.

“As long as you’re feeling better.” Your brother replied. “We’re gonna go back to our table but if you need anything just come find us after class.”

“I will. See you guys later in the common room.”

“See yuh munchkin.” Sirius winked and walked with your brother back to their table.

“Arrogant prick.” Severus thought to himself.

“That’s not very nice.” You spoke into his mind.

“I never gave you permission to be inside my mind, Miss Potter.” He raised an eyebrow at you.

“Oops, I guess I didn’t realize.” You replied in a sing-songy voice.

“Brat.” He rolled his eyes playfully.

“Oh but you love it, part of my charming personality.” You nudged him with your shoulder.

“I never said that.” He repeated your words from this morning.

“That’s rude.” He couldn’t hide the chuckle that escaped his lips.

“Pay attention class is starting.” He pointed towards the front of the room. Class was simple: you took notes on how to make polyjuice potion and you would be brewing it in two days. You knew you and Severus would be fine but you kept glancing over at your brother and he looked clueless. You knew they were going to struggle trying to brew this; you were just hoping they didn’t blow anything up.

“Alright, that’s all the time we have for today. Make sure you read the chapters on the board. The day after tomorrow we will be brewing polyjuice potion so make sure you know the process.” Slughorn clapped his hands together as class came to an end. “Alright I’ll see you all tomorrow, have a nice rest of your day.” With that the bell rang.

“What class do you have next?” Remus asked, rushing up to you as you started packing up.

“I have a free period, why?” You asked.

“So do I, do you wanna study the material for this brew. I have the feeling Peter won’t be much help.” Remus looked towards his partner who was still struggling to write down notes.

“Sure, meet me in the library.” You nodded.

“Perfect, see you there.” He agreed, turning and leaving the potions room.

“I’ll see you at lunch.” You turned back to Severus.

“Yeah.” He said plainly, staring at Lupin as he left. You finished picking up your books and left for the library. Remus was sitting in the back with his potions book in hand.

“You can’t honestly be this worried about this potion are you? It doesn’t seem that difficult.” You stated as you sat beside him.

“It’s not me I’m worried about, it's Peter. He likes to be helpful but half the time has no idea what he’s doing. The only reason I got stuck with him is because I’m the better one at potions out of the four of us.” Remus huffed, showing a bit of annoyance.

“You're the better one at school Remus.” You pointed out.

“That’s true.” He coughed a bit.

“Are you okay, you look very pale.” You put your hand on his forehead. He didn’t feel too warm but a little.

“I’m alright, just the normal full moon stuff.” He confessed.

“Do you want to go see Madam Pomfrey? I know she can’t do much for you but she can let you skip the rest of your classes to rest in the hospital wing.”

“No, I’ll be okay. Let’s study, this is a short period. Merlin knows I’ll need to know how to do everything if I don’t want Peter to blow us up.” He rolled his eyes.

“I got lucky with Severus, he’s really smart.” You commented as you opened up your book.

“You seem to be close with him.” Remus hinted.

“We’re friends and he’s really sweet if you get to know him…. Why did you guys bully him?”

“Honestly Y/N, I don’t know what their issue was with him. I think part of it was James was jealous of his relationship with Lily, another part of it was he was in Slytherin. It was never clear to me why your brother hated him so much and of course since James hated him so did Sirius.” He sigh. Remus had known if you wanted answers he was the one you would ask because Remus couldn’t lie to you even if he wanted to, you could see right through him.

“And why did you go along with it? Do you hate him?” You asked, leaning forward.

“I don’t hate anyone Y/N. In all honesty I did it for the same reason Peter did, because James and Sirius were my friends and I felt like if I didn’t I would be betraying them and I would lose them. I know it doesn’t justify what we did to him, but know that I never participated in the bullying. However, I am still just as much to blame as the others because I could have stopped it and I didn’t. I always felt guilty after but I was too afraid to lose my friends to interfere. I am sorry and if I thought he would forgive me I would tell him that. But words will never change the way we treated him.” Remus confessed, the guilt was present on his face as it seemed to always be whenever he saw Severus. Now you understood why Remus could never look at you when you brought up Severus. Even the mention of his name made Remus feel guilty. He, unlike the others, truly regretted the way he treated Severus.

“There is one thing you could do that might make him forgive you.” You took a deep breath. “I know you and Lily have a special friendship, maybe you could talk her into forgiving Severus. He doesn’t have feelings for her like he did before but I know he misses her friendship. You know as well as I that he didn’t mean what he said to her and he regrets it to this day. When he looks at Lily he feels the same regret you feel when you look at him. I hate the thought of them being friends again because I don’t want her to hurt him again but knowing that if she forgives him would help him a lot.” You explained.

“I’ll talk to her.” He agreed.

“Thank you, it would mean a lot to him.”

“He likes you, you know.” Remus blurted out.

“What?”

“Severus, he likes you, it's obvious to all of us. I know the real reason you don’t want Lily and Severus to be friends again is because you're worried he’ll fall for her again, but believe me when I tell you he cares far more for you then he ever did for Lily and it’s obvious in the way he looks at you. You have nothing to worry about, I truly and honestly believe if he had to choose he would choose you.”

“I know Sirius is planning to ask me out. Can you try to deter him? I really don’t want to hurt him but I don’t like him that way and if he asks I will tell him no.” You almost begged.

“Do you have feelings for him? Snape?”