Remember Me Tomorrow

Chapter Two

The Consequences

'Well?'

Poppy looked at the two men that had been waiting in the foyer outside the infirmary. Shaking her head she sighed and shrugged. 'I don't know.'

'You don't know? How can you "not know" woman? You're a mediwitch for God's sake!' Severus said angrily, his patience at an all time low after over an hour of pacing and waiting.

'Severus, it isn't Poppy's fault,' Albus said in mild rebuke. 'There is only so much that she can do.'

'Then what good is having her if she can't fix this!' Severus scowled.

'Severus Snape, I'll have you know that I am just as concerned about Remus as you are,' Poppy said coolly.

'Severus, Poppy, enough,' Albus said in a tired voice. 'Is there anything at all you can tell us about his condition, Poppy?'

The mediwitch glared at Severus a moment then turned to Albus and shook her head. 'I've done examination after examination, Albus. Used every test I know, but I didn't find anything wrong with him. He knows everything that's happened so far --'

'Except for last night!' Severus burst out in a pained voice.

'Actually, except for all of yesterday, Severus,' Poppy said.

Severus blinked in confusion. 'All of yesterday?'

Poppy nodded. 'Yes, I'm afraid so.'

'How can he not remember an entire day, Poppy?' Albus asked curiously.

'I suppose I should rephrase that,' Poppy said. 'It's not that he doesn't remember yesterday ... it's that he thinks it still is yesterday.'

'But it isn't yesterday, it's today, how can he just simply forget an entire day?' Severus asked.

'I don't know, Severus,' Poppy said in frustration. 'Best I can do is to watch him for now and see what happens next. It's all just very strange. I'm good with physical wounds, but matters of the mind such as this --'

'Of course!' Severus interjected, 'that's it!'

'Err ... what's it, Severus?' Albus asked.

'"Matters of the mind", why didn't I see it before? He told me ... but no ... could it be possible?' Severus said thoughtfully.

'Severus, what are you on about?' Poppy asked.

'I will return shortly, I have some research to do,' Severus said distractedly, and before anyone else could say anything, he nearly sprinted down the foyer and out of sight.

'Well that was unusual, even for him,' Poppy said after a few moments of silence.

'True ... but when it involves matters of the heart ...' Albus said, a twinkle in his eyes now.

'And what does that mean?' Poppy asked, raising her eyebrow at the older man.

Albus merely chuckled and patted Poppy on the shoulder. 'If anyone can figure out what is wrong with Remus, it will be Severus,' he smiled.

'You're not making sense. He hates Remus, why is he acting so protective all of a sudden?' Poppy asked.

'Sometimes hate is only a mask for what truly lies beneath the surface, Poppy,' Albus said.

'You are an infuriating old man; you do know that,' Poppy grumbled. 'Well, there isn't really much we can do for Remus at the moment, so off with you now, if I need anything I'll let you know.'

'Yes, there is still quite a lot to be done,' Albus nodded, sadness now showing in his eyes. 'Which reminds me, the parents of the children who lost their lives will be arriving here throughout the next day or two. Since the children are still here in the infirmary, is it possible that we can move Remus elsewhere? I would not wish him further stress then he is going through at the moment.'

'Frankly, because he doesn't remember anything from yesterday he's not under any stress, Albus. Remember, he only woke up sometime yesterday morning, and he does not remember that I spoke to him about the ... the losses,' Poppy said with a hitch in her voice. 'Still, perhaps you're right; it may not be a good idea for him to be here when the families arrive. Where are you thinking to place him though?'

'Oh, I have an idea,' Albus said, the twinkle back in his eyes. 'You leave everything to me; I'll let you know when I've made the arrangements.'

***

'Blast and damnation!' Severus scowled as he slammed closed the umpteenth book he'd grabbed from the shelves. Groaning he leant back in the chair and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to ease the headache he felt coming on.

'Professor?'

Severus sighed and opened his eyes. 'What do you want, Potter?' he said tiredly.

'I ... err ... I want to apologise, sir,' Harry said, fidgeting slightly as he came under the dark gaze of the Potion Master.

'Apologise,' Severus said slowly, 'for what may I ask?'

'Look, I know we've never got on ... but ... well ... thank you,' Harry said nervously, then sighed and sat down in a chair. 'I know you think I'm nothing more than a carbon copy of my father ... a reckless, pain-in-the-arse Gryffindor,' he said with a slight chuckle, 'and I am sometimes but ... I wouldn't be able to even say that if you hadn't been here to save me so often. I know that my dad saved you from --'

'It was never about your father, Potter,' Severus snapped and looked at the boy critically. 'It had nothing to do with any "life debts" or such nonsense. What I did was for other reasons.'

'What reasons?' Harry asked curiously then realised what he'd asked. 'Err ... not that you have tell me, of course.'

Severus eyed the black-haired boy warily, until he remembered what Remus had told him last night. 'You are not your father, Potter.'

'You're just now seeing that eh?' he said with a cheeky grin.

'To be honest, I've know that for years now. Not that you both don't have the same annoying traits most of the time, but ... there is one thing you have that he never had.'

'What's that?'

'A chance at a future,' Severus said quietly. 'You won, Potter, the war is over. Now go out and do something productive with your life ... even if that does include a certain Slytherin,' he said in amusement.

Harry stared at Severus in shock. 'You ... you know?'

Severus nodded. 'Lupin told me last night.'

'I don't believe it,' Harry said, anger creeping into his voice. 'Why would he tell you that? Did you trick him into it or something?'

'Calm down, Potter, no need to get upset,' Severus said.

'I have a right to be upset!' Harry said and stood back up. 'It's not his secret to share; it's mine. Where is Remus anyway, I want to have a word with him.'

'You can't,' Severus said picking up yet another book from the large pile next to him.

'Can't what?' Harry asked.

'You can't see him, that's what,' Severus said opening the book and looking down. 'Unless ...'

'Unless?'

'Unless you're willing to help me find out what's wrong with him,' Severus said and looked back at the boy.

'Something's wrong with him?' Harry asked. 'Dumbledore said he was fine when I spoke to him last night at the party. What's changed?'

'If you sit down, I'll explain. If you don't ...' Severus shrugged. 'You're choice, Potter, but I doubt you'll hear me say too often that I could use your help,' he said airily.

Harry looked at Severus in debate then sat down. 'Not that is an opportunity I just can't pass up,' he grinned.

Severus chuckled. 'Somehow, I thought not.'

'So, what's wrong with him?'

'We don't know, which is why I'm here filling my lungs with these dusty books rather than doing what I need to be doing,' Severus said in frustration.

'No offence, Professor, but that doesn't help,' Harry said and grabbed a book from the pile. 'At least tell me what we're looking for?'

'What we're looking for is ...'

***

'I got it!' Harry called out after another two hours of searching had turned up fruitless. 'Here, listen to this...' he said reading from a large black leather-covered book.

'The Animus Hex is a little known hex that was banned in the late 1500s. Before it was banned, it was used to trap a person's mind into reliving the same day of their life over and over again. The purpose was to have the recipient become incapable of functioning on a normal basis. The hex was mainly used by dark wizards so that they could escape detection. By casting the hex on the unsuspecting person, there was no way that the recipient would remember when asked at a later date if they had any knowledge of the hex caster --'

'Is there a cure?' Severus asked quickly.

'Will you let me finish?' Harry said glaring at Severus.

'Sorry,' Severus mumbled. 'Go on.'

'Right,' Harry said and returned to the book. 'Now, where was I? Oh right ...'

'... therefore allowing the caster to remain free. Due to the fact that the recipient eventually goes mad from the consequences of natural aging and not knowing why when they believe themselves to be the same age consistently, the Ministry banned the hex from use. The hex has no known cure.'

Harry sat back in the chair, a stunned expression on his face. 'They went mad?' he said in watery voice.

'Oh God,' Severus said, a heavy sigh escaping him as he too sat back in his chair. 'No ... not Remus ... I won't let that happen,' he said in a hitched voice.

Harry looked up at his professor sharply. 'Remus?' he said raising an eyebrow.

'Err ... I mean Lupin,' Severus stammered, looking away guiltily.

'Somehow, I get the feeling I'm not the only one with secrets round here,' Harry said putting the book down on the table. 'You Slytherins don't have the monopoly on being cunning and sly you know,' he said in amusement.

'What makes you say that?' Severus asked.

'Believe it or not, Professor, we Gryffindors can be just as underhanded as you all can ... how else do you think I managed to get Draco in bed?' he grinned.

'I'm sure I do not want to hear your sexual exploits, Potter,' Severus said dryly. 'But out of curiosity, how did the two of you overcome your differences?'

'Let's just say I offered him a deal that he couldn't resist,' Harry smirked.

'That being?'

'A duel. If he won I would join Voldemort and be Draco's slave forever. If I won he had to join the Order and be my slave forever.'

Severus couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'You ... you placed the entire fate of the Wizarding World ... on a duel?' he asked in a strangled voice. 'You arrogant, egotistical child, how could you do such a thing?'

Harry laughed and waved his hand in dismissal. 'I knew I wasn't going to lose.'

'And how could you be so sure of that?' Severus scowled.

'Because I cheated,' Harry grinned.

'You did what?' Severus asked in shock.

'Don't look so surprised,' Harry said lazily. 'Gryffindors can cheat too you know.'

'And how, pray tell, did you cheat?'

'I snuck into Draco's dorm the night before, and when he was sleeping I switched his real wand for a fake,' Harry said.

'A fake wand,' Severus said shaking his head. 'And he didn't realise this? I never took Malfoy for that much of a fool.'

'You'd be surprised how far Fred and George have come these days with their products. With all the money they're making at the shop they've managed to really improve a lot of their earlier stuff, fake wands included. You'd never even know it was a fake now unless someone said something. Poor Draco, he couldn't figure out why ever spell he threw at me backfired,' Harry chuckled.

'He hated you, why on earth did he agree to duel you and risk his own life?' Severus asked.

'You and Remus hate each other, why are you so concerned about him now?' Harry replied.

'That's different,' Severus scowled.

'No it's not,' Harry said shaking his head. 'Sometimes, even though you think you hate a person they can do something ... even just one thing ... that can surprise you, and when that happens that hate becomes curiosity, then something else ... respect. And when the respect starts turning to something else ...' Harry trailed off. 'A few months after I'd already replaced his wand back and he'd joined the Order I admitted to him that I'd only suggested the duel because of something I'd seen him do a few weeks before the duel.'

'What was it?'

'One night I couldn't sleep, so I got out my invisibility cloak and decided to go for a walk near the lake,' Harry said thinking back on that night. 'I saw Draco at the edge of the lake, and thinking he was probably doing something stupid I snuck over to where he was. I figured if I got caught I would accept the detention long as Draco got one too, but ... that's not what happened,' he said quietly. 'I never thought a Malfoy was capable of emotions other than hatred until that night. When I edged closer to him to my surprise I saw that he was crying. I didn't dare go up to him, wasn't stupid enough to do that, but curiosity got the better of me, so I watched him.'

'After he stopped crying he got undressed and dove into the lake. It was the middle of the bloody winter, but there he was in the lake, completely starkers at that. Nearly froze me just watching him,' Harry said with a slight shiver. 'Anyway, he swam for about ten minutes then got out, and when he did ... and this was the part that convinced me that maybe there was something worthwhile in him ... he dropped to his knees with his head bowed down. I moved closer because I didn't know what he was up to, but ...' Harry stopped and looked up at Severus.

'He was praying, Professor. He wasn't praying about Voldemort winning either ... he was praying to be saved from something. I couldn't hear what it was at the time, but later I found out what he was praying for,' he said quietly. 'He'd seen his father kill someone. All that he was raised with, all the dark arts and everything, it never really occured to him what death was about until he'd seen his father torture and kill a Muggle. After he saw that he realised he couldn't be like that, and he was praying because he didn't know what to do. The swimming in the lake was a sort of purification; he'd been doing that and praying for help for weeks, but he never really thought he'd find any answers.'

'He did though ... though me. Granted I had to cheat to do it,' Harry said with a slight grin, 'but I saved him. I did tell him what I'd done with the wands eventually, and he was glad I did it. We'd been training together in secret for a few months by then, and one night ... well, let's just say I was tired, he was tired and then ... we weren't so tired anymore,' he smiled.

'So hate turned to love,' Severus mused.

'Yeah, but it was never hate we felt for each other, not really. He was angry at me when I rejected him in first year, then jealous of me, but hate ...' Harry shook his head. 'He was a stuck up, arrogant prat, but I never really hated him either. I felt sorry for him more than anything, so maybe that's why we managed to overcome what we felt, because there was never really any true hatred to begin with. Now what's going on with you and Remus? And what are we going to do about this?' he asked indicating the book he'd read from.

'Nothing is going on with Lupin and I, Potter,' Severus said quickly, though he knew that wasn't going to work when he saw the far too smug expression on Harry's face. 'Very well,' he sighed and told Harry what had taken place between he and Remus the night before, something that in his earlier explanations he had steered clear of.

'So that's why,' Harry said, nodding in approval. 'Well, I hope things work out for you two. I think Remus deserves to be happy after all that he's been through.'

'So do I,' Severus said sadly. 'I've done such terrible things to him, yet he still wants me. I am a foolish man, Potter; I wasted too much time in anger and fear when I might have been happy, and now it may be too late,' he sighed.

'It's not too late, Professor,' Harry said. 'There's got to be a way to fix this hex. I don't want to see Remus end up in St Mungo's like the Longbottoms.'

'Then we have work to do,' Severus said composing himself now.

'What do you have in mind?' Harry asked curiously.

'I was not playing two sides of the game all these years for nothing, Potter. The Dark Lord may be dead, but I still have a few "sources" that deal in the shadier side of things that I can contact about this.'

'You're not going to do anything illegal are you?' Harry asked.

'And if I were? Are you going to turn me into the Ministry?' Severus smirked.

Harry looked at Severus critically then shook his head and grinned. 'I'd say your secrets are safe with me, Professor ... question is ... are my secrets safe with you?'

'I'd say you're safe on that subject, Potter,' Severus nodded. 'What you and Malfoy do is up to the both of you, but I will say that now that the war is over you may find it hard to hide if that's what you intend to do. You are "Harry Potter, Saviour of the Wizarding World" after all.'

'You had to remind me of that, didn't you,' Harry grimaced. 'I hear what you're saying though, and when the time's right Draco and I will do something, but not yet.'

'Smart move,' Severus agreed. 'I don't think the world is ready for a union between a Potter and a Malfoy I'd wager.'

'On that you're right,' Harry chuckled. 'Was hard enough convincing Ron that Draco wasn't going to do something horrid to me.'

'You told Weasley?'

'Let's just say Draco wasn't letting anyone near me the other night when I was in the infirmary. At the party Hermione put two and two together when she noticed Draco glaring at everyone who came near me, even though he wasn't even standing near me at the time.'

'Clever girl that one,' Severus said.

'My God, was that a compliment for the Know-It-All?' Harry said.

'She may be a Know-It-All, but I admit that she is no doubt the cleverest witch to come along in quite a long time, not that you will ever tell her I said that,' Severus warned.

Harry laughed. 'I doubt she'd believe me if I did. In the meantime, what do we do about Remus?'

'For now there doesn't seem much we can do,' Severus said unhappily. 'I won't let him go mad, even it means doing every illegal thing I can think of ... which --'

'Which will never leave my lips if you do,' Harry said.

'I should hope not, considering I am recruiting you ... and Malfoy and Granger ... to assist me in my task to heal him.'

'You would actually allow Hermione to help?' Harry asked in surprise.

'As I said, the girl is clever,' Severus said. 'She may find something the rest of us miss. If it is one thing Granger is good at, it's being incredibly thorough when it comes to her research. However, make sure to stress that it is you that is asking her help, not me.'

'Of course,' Harry said. 'Where should we get started?'

'I will personally go and see my source today then I will contact you and let you know what I find. Whilst I'm gone I want you and the others to keep an eye on Remus, and whatever you do, do not let anyone talk to him about a "celebration" that already took place, the battle, or anything else of that nature. We must let him think it is still yesterday for now.'

'Do you think Dumbledore and Pomfrey will agree to that?'

'Headmaster Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey,' he said, stressing their titles, 'want to heal him as much as we do, so I am sure they will agree to my plans.'

'Err ... yeah, sorry. Well,' Harry said getting up now. 'I'll go talk to Draco and Hermione. Good luck, Professor,' he said and without saying anything else left the library in search of his lover and friend.

'Thank you, Potter ... somehow, I think I will need that luck,' Severus said quietly. With a determined look on his face he also left the library in search of Albus and Poppy in order to tell them what they'd found.