Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: This is a one shot fic, and I feel bad for who ever starts to read this, it has the most unusual pairing ever, but hey, it's cute! I'd like to give a shout out to Kate, who beta'd it for me. Spanx a billion Katie-Poo.
'And how are you feeling today, Mr. Potter?' she asked, the wrinkles around her eyes becoming more defined as she smiled at her patient.
Harry ran his hand through his black unruly hair as the mediwitch bent over him.
'Shitty, how else would I be feeling?' He snapped at the elder.
'I know you are sore Mr. Potter, but there is no need to use profanity. This is a hospital.' Harry looked down at his hands, his cheeks flaming. He knew that the mediwitches were treating him, and working hard to make him feel better, but he had been in St. Mungo's for two weeks now, and he was beginning to become impatient and restless. 'Now, where are you hurting?' she continued.
'My stomach, my neck, my knees, and I'm having difficulty breathing,' he said, pointing to each place that was bothering him. The mediwitch made a few notes on a clipboard and sighed as she stuck her pen in the front pocket of her white standard robe.
'On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?'
'Umm, about an eight,' he replied, sitting up, so that he could face her eye to eye.
'That's an improvement from yesterday! Now, what kind of jell-o can I get you, Mr. Potter?'
'Oh, can you make it green today please, Mrs. Larkin?' a smile spread on the boy's face.
'Of course I can, and what would you like to study today? Potions? Herbology? Charms?'
'Charms for now,' he replied, as she tucked the sheets tightly around him.
'Charms it is then,' she handed him the textbook from a nearby desk. 'But remember, you're not allowed to do magic still. We're still working on finding out which spell was used on you, and we can't have much stress added to your body, that could affect our results.' Harry sighed, and put the book down on his lap, all interest he had in studying charms gone now.
'I know dear, but I think we are close to figuring out what the spell was, shouldn't be more than a few days. Now you relax, and don't work too hard. Is Mrs. Weasley coming to visit you later?'
'No,' Harry mumbled. 'She's busy today.'
'Chin up Harry, I'll have Gilderoy visit you later.' With that, the elderly mediwitch left the room and walked across the hall to Eric Pernit's room.
Harry looked around his too-clean white room. He wished he could be at Hogwarts right now with all of his friends, even if he was in the medical wing. True, his friends had come to visit him, but that was until they had to go back to Hogwarts. Harry cursed his bad luck. He couldn't believe that Death Eaters attacked him two days before he was supposed to go to Number 12 Grimmauld place, a week before the school term started. Harry was hit with a terrible curse that has left him in excruciating pain. Everyday, a new part of his body feels like someone is performing the Cruciatus curse on him.
The raven-haired boy let out a long sigh and picked up Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7 and began reading. After several minutes of reading about how to conjure chocolate cake, Harry was ready to try. He could care less that the mediwitch wanted him to sit there all day and do nothing but read about spells that he couldn't do. He wanted to do magic to at least give him some connection back to the wizarding world, other than staying in this hospital. He didn't want to be far behind all his peers when he gets back; if I get back, he thought bitterly.
Harry set down his book, open to the page with the spell he wanted to do, and turned his body slowly, trying to ignore the pain, so he was facing his bedside table. He heard his elbow crack loudly and painfully as he reached out to open the drawer and retrieve his wand.
'HARRY JAMES POTTER!' Harry's head whipped around to see the owner of the voice jump on his bed. 'What do you think you're doing? Mrs. Larkin could come in any minute and see you with that wand, and then she'd make me stay in here all the time to watch you. Oh! That's a good idea!' Harry starred at his ex Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
'Gilderoy, you wouldn't dare,' Harry's voice came out in a whisper.
'MRS. LARKIN! HARRY HAS HIS WAND!' A shrill cry came from the blond-haired man. Harry quickly shoved his wand back in the drawer and slammed it shut.
'Shut up! Do you want me to get in trouble Gilderoy? I highly doubt Mrs. Larkin would you let you sit in here with me 24/7. And plus, get off my knees, they're sore,' Harry hissed.
'I'm sorry Harry,' the older man whined. 'I didn't want to get you into trouble.' Tears started to from in his ex professor's eyes.
'Okay, okay. Gilderoy, stop crying, it'll be fine. I'm sorry I got mad.' Harry's heart softened as he watched the tears fall down the man's cheeks. 'Just get off my knees, and I'll be happy, okay?'
'Promise?' He sniffed.
'I promise.' Gilderoy got off Harry's knees and climbed up the bed so that he was snuggling with Harry. 'There, see? I'm not mad anymore. I'm just a little bit sore this morning, that's all.' A big smile spread on his face, as tears were still pouring from his eyes.
'You know what would make you feel better Harry?'
'What?' Harry's eyes widened. Gilderoy's idea of making Harry feel better would probably get them both in trouble, as it had on countless occasions. The grown man had once tried to sneak them both out of the hospital so they could go to Diagon Alley to get ice cream, only to be caught by Mrs. Larkin, who wasn't very pleased about their escape attempt.
'My autograph!' Gilderoy was smiling so big Harry was sure that the other man's face would break. Gilderoy proceeded to dig through his pockets of his robe and pulled out a bottle of ink and a crumpled quill. 'Now Harry, where would you like it? Oh! I know! How about here, so every time you open your book, you can remember me!' Gilderoy sat up and grabbed the book off Harry's lap and scrawled his big loopy signature onto the page where it showed how to conjure chocolate cake. The print was now barely legible.
'Thanks Roy,' Harry sighed, as the older man snuggled back into his side. His charms textbook had a signature on least 70 pages now. Every time Gilderoy came to visit Harry, he autographed something. There were currently signatures everywhere, there was even one his candle next to his bed ('Now, every time you wake up in the night Harry, you can light your candle and know that I'm watching over you!'). There were also thousands of pictures of the older man plastered all over his walls. Harry wasn't even sure what color his walls were anymore.
'How are you now, Harry?'
'Much better now, you're signature did wonders, Roy.'
'Good, are you still hurt?' Gilderoy sat up a little ways to look Harry in the eyes.
'A little,' he replied, brushing a lock of golden hair out of the other man's eye.
'Darn it!' Gilderoy punched the bed, almost hitting Harry's leg. 'One of these days Harry, I'm going to cure you! And it will be the best darn cure in the world! Okay Puppy?'
'Alright, Roy.' Harry let out a long sigh. He felt extremely lucky that Gilderoy was with him. He couldn't imagine spending this long in the hospital without anyone to talk to, and now that he got a good glimpse of what the older man really was like, he found that he did like him. He still was quite pompous and egotistical, but he was also sweet, adorable, and sensitive; and he cared about Harry a lot, not to mention he was quite good looking. The way Gilderoy's golden curls casually fell into his bright sapphire eyes. Harry couldn't get enough of the older man.
'Harry?' Gilderoy asked, after several moments of silence.
'Yes, Roy?'
'Do you still hurt now?'
'No, Roy, if you just lie there and don't move, then I won't hurt. I'm really comfy right now.'
'Me too, Puppy,' he sighed.
Several hours later, Harry awoke alone in his bed.
'Roy?' He called out worriedly. Gilderoy wasn't one to just get up and leave, and even if a mediwitch come and in made him go back to his own room, the older man would have woke him up and said goodbye.
Harry slowly un-tucked himself and tentatively put one foot on the cold floor. He gasped at the freezing temperature of the floor, and brought his foot back up quickly, making him wince slightly at the pain. Climbing onto his knees, Harry bent over the side of the bed to look for his slippers from under the bed, without having to touch the floor in the process.
After locating both slippers, he quickly shoved them both on his feet, threw on a robe that was casually thrown onto an armchair, and made his way to the door of his room. He quickly poked his head out, and looked both ways. There was no one in sight. He quickly crept down the hall to Gilderoy's room. He didn't want to be seen by the mediwitches, because they would most likely send him back to his room, where he can rest, and add no more stress to his body, like he wasn't stressed out at all already. I mean, he did have a Dark Lord after him, plus several hundred Death Eaters, not to mention tons of schoolwork that he has to catch up on. He really did not think that walking down the hallway from his room would really do much to his body.
Harry looked around Gilderoy's room, only to find the older man not there. He let out a long sigh, and turned around to shuffle out of the room.
Just as he was about to leave, a familiar voice reached his ears from the hall.
'Like a virgin! Touched for the very first time!' Harry rushed out to the hall to see a very familiar face singing one of his favorite songs.
'Gilderoy! Oh Merlin! I've been so worried! Where did you go?' Exclaimed Harry, pulling the older man into a hug.
'Oh Harry!' Gilderoy pulled back from the raven-haired boy, smiling excitedly. 'I've got the most wonderful news!' He twirled around giggling.
'Are you going to tell me?' asked a curious Harry.
'Mrs. Larkin came in the room, and oh Merlin, Harry! They found the cure!' Harry was sure his jaw had dropped to the floor. He let out a huge shriek and jumped into the taller man's arms, completely ignoring the searing pain that was running through his body.
'Oh my God, Roy! I'm so happy! Is it a potion or something?' Gilderoy set Harry back on the ground and slipped his hand into the teen's.
'Yes, it's a potion, but you have to be in your room for them to give it to you. You don't want to get into trouble for being out of bed. What are you doing up anyways? Shouldn't you be in a wheelchair? You know the nurses don't want you out to bed.' Gilderoy was talking a mile a minute and Harry was having a hard time trying to keep up. He was still dazed from the news. He was going to be cured! He was finally going to leave this stinking hospital and go back to his friends at Hogwarts.
He let Gilderoy drag him back to his room, and tuck him in, while waiting for the mediwitch to come to his room with the potion. The older man, sat next to him, leaning against the headboard, talking about some adventure he had been on while he talked to Mrs. Larkin. Apparently, the elder mediwitch had come in, and asked Gilderoy to accompany her to her office, which he had quickly agreed to. He then went on to describe how he himself had made the potion, and battled a troll that was attacking some patient.
It wasn't until 45 minutes later that Mrs. Larkin had come to see Harry.
'Ah, Mr. Potter, I'm glad to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?' She asked, approaching his bed.
'Just fine, Mrs. Larkin, thank you.' Harry had a huge smile plastered to his face.
'Now, I'm sure you know by now,' she turned to smile at Gilderoy. 'We have found a cure for the spell that was used on you. You will have to take it three times a day for a week, and you will be released from St. Mungo's.'
'Thank you so much Mrs. Larkin.' Harry's face hurt from smiling so hard, but he couldn't help it, he was so happy. He couldn't wait till he was back at Hogwarts; this was going to be so great! He had only missed a week of school so far, so he wouldn't have too much homework to catch up on.
The mediwitch gave him a tender smile and walked out of the room.
'This is going to be so great Harry! You finally get to leave St. Mungo's and go back to school…' the older man trailed off, finally realizing that Harry would be leaving the hospital, his huge smile left his lips. 'Wait, Puppy, you can't leave! What am I supposed to do here without you?'
Every ounce of happiness that was in Harry's body drained out quickly. He was going to leave Gilderoy.
'Oh Merlin, Roy. You know I have to leave. I have school to go to,' Harry tried not to look at the older man. He wouldn't be able to stand the look on his face. He knew Gilderoy was close to tears, and he knew he was too.
'Yeah but, couldn't you get your friends to bring you your homework? Stay with me here forever! Or wait, no! Let me come with you! You said I was a teacher there once; let me teach again, I would be such a good teacher! I'm really good at knocking out trolls!'
'Roy,' Harry began slowly, now looking at the person beside him. 'You know it's not up to me who teaches at the school and who doesn't. Besides, they already have enough teachers. I can come visit you, a lot. I'll definitely come for Christmas, and I'll write every day.'
Gilderoy let out an audible sniff and looked Harry deeply in the eyes before whispering: 'Promise?'
A small smile played on Harry's lips as he whispered back: 'Promise.' Gilderoy sniffed again, this time with a small smile on his face. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and leaned against the teen. Harry leaned over and placed a gentle kiss to the older man's temple.
'What would I do without you, Roy?' He said quietly, leaning onto him, closing his eyes slowly.
'You'd be attacked by a troll probably,' he answered, stifling a yawn.
Harry let out a small sigh and fell fast asleep before long. He felt so comfortable and so safe in Gilderoy's arms. And Harry knew, if the time came when a troll attacked him, Gilderoy would indeed protect him.
fin
Well, that's the end. Please review, please? Feed back is greatly appreciated.