"Severus, I believe I have something that belongs to you."
Severus had been dozing in his preferred chair in his private quarters when Lupin knocked on his door, abruptly jerking him awake.
"Coming," he called curtly.
Lupin had better have a marvelous excuse if he thought two thirty in the morning was an appropriate time to bring him-
"Harry," he sighed, opening the door and seeing his ward sullenly glaring at the floor beside Lupin. "What in Merlin's name are you doing out of your dorm at this time?"
"Attending a party," Lupin supplied as Potter remained stubbornly silent. "And apparently quite the private after party."
Potter scowled at Lupin, his cheeks pinking up.
"Piss off," he muttered.
"Language," Severus said sharply. "What kind of party?" he asked Lupin, eyeing Potter closely and attempting to identify the familiar smell coming from him.
He groaned out loud before he answered his own question, "The kind with alcohol."
Potter reeked of whiskey.
"Drugs and sex as well," Lupin added.
"What?" Severus gave Potter a sharp look as the child glared fiercely at Lupin.
"Potter, explain yourself, immediately."
"Don't think I will," Potter slurred insolently.
Fucking slurred.
Severus groaned again and pinched the bridge of his nose- a fruitless venture to hold back his newly emerging migraine.
"Lupin, specifically, what happened?"
"I was completing my rounds when I got whiff of a rather particular smell coming from an empty classroom on the third floor-"
"Fuckin' wolf senses," Potter sneered at the floor.
Lupin gave Potter an annoyed look but otherwise ignored his interruption.
"I followed the smell and found roughly a dozen students still in the classroom. I confiscated six bottles of whiskey, what seems to be an outrageous amount of marijuana-"
"And my damn map," Potter mumbled.
"-and interrupted three couples in the middle of lewd activities. One couple being Harry and Mister Weasley," Lupin continued, now openly glaring at Potter in his annoyance at the interruptions.
"Sniiiiitch," Potter slurred.
Alcohol, drugs, and sex. Potter may as well be a walking advert for a manic episode.
How Severus had ever once thought Potter did not have Manic-Depressive Illness was beyond him. Wishful thinking perhaps.
"Mister Fred Weasley?" Severus asked with minimal hopes that it was the more age appropriate (even if it was still inappropriate) Ronald Weasley. Severus had been present at dinner last night when the students returned from Hogsmeade and Potter had all but floated to his seat, where he then exchanged shy smiles with the unusually quiet Fred Weasley. Severus had been pleased to see his first date had gone well and hoped that Potter would eventually stop pretending he didn't exist and would inform Severus himself how it went.
Now he wished it had gone terribly. Just so horribly wrong that his third year ward would never have considered participating in 'lewd activities' with a fifth year.
"I believe it was Fred," Lupin said. "Though I guess it could have been George."
"It was Fred," Potter slurred. "Everyone thinks they're identical yeah? But Fred's got an extra freckle on his nose. Plus his mouths way-"
"Shut up," Severus hissed.
Fifteen year old Fred Weasley. Severus was going to have to inform Molly Weasley that her underage son was sexually involved with his underaged ward.
Delightful.
Potter suddenly slumped over against the side of the doorway and smiled lazily at Severus.
"Am I comin' in to get yelled at or am I goin' to bed? Cause I think I can sleep now."
Severus sighed, heavily, as he looked from Potter to Lupin.
"I am assuming you have doled out punishments to the students you found?"
"20 points each, and 25 from Harry and Fred since they were rather... um..." Lupin's scarred face blushed heavily for a moment in obvious discomfort. "They were rather undressed when I found them."
Fucking. Perfect.
"Then I shall take over from here." Severus grit his teeth as he thanked the wolf, "Thank you for bringing Harry to me."
"Of course," Lupin said. He glanced down at Potter's slumped form before frowning again. "Good luck."
"I want my fuckin' map back," Potter yelled at Lupin's retreating back. "Thief," he muttered.
"Are you out of your mind?" Severus hissed, pulling Potter in to his quarters and slamming the door behind him.
"Don't touch me," Potter snarled, yanking his arm from Severus' grip and tripping like a drunkard at the motion. "'M all touched out for the day, thanks."
Disturbing.
"Drinking, Potter, really? You thought it was a good idea for a thirteen year old to get drunk on school grounds? What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Don't you mean 'are you out of your mind?'" Potter said, stumbling his way to the sofa. "That's what you're thinking, right? 'Oh no, Potter did something crazy, again.'"
"No," Severus said slowly as he followed behind the insolent child. "I am thinking, what possibly made you believe it was acceptable to attend a party with alcohol and drugs? And what kind of sexual activities did my underaged ward deem appropriate to participate in on school grounds?"
"Don't think it's your business," Potter said as he sprawled across the sofa. Severus could see now that his eyes were hazy and unfocused. "Think it's my business, innit?"
"You think wrong," Severus growled, having no patience for this. "I am both your Head of House and your guardian- your activities are very much my business. Especially ones that could end with a disease."
"So if I want to kill a bas-bas-silisk, no big deal," Potter sneered even as he tripped over the word. "But if I want to have a drink, a smoke, and a shag then suddenly you want to play Dad," he laughed. "Fuuuuck off."
"Do not speak to me like that," Severus hissed, momentarily ignoring the implication that he was in any way approving of Potter killing a basilisk last year. "I do not know what kind of game you think you are playing right now but it is putting you dangerously close to being punished much harder than you already will be."
"Punish me then," Potter laughed again. He clumsily got to his feet and stumbled a couple of steps closer to where Severus stood. "You can hit me if you want, yeah? Or grab a belt? Maybe lock me in the closet for a few days? C'mon, Snape, do it if it'll make you feel like you're in charge."
God damnit.
"Potter I am in charge," Severus said tersely. "Sit down before you trip and break your fool neck."
"Ooh, am I Potter now?" Potter laughed mockingly at Severus' slip up. "C'mon, if you're going to punish me you might as well do it right," Potter said, his green eyes dull and unfocused. "I probably won't even feel it. I think I'm high," he giggled breathlessly.
"Wonderful. Fucking wonderful. You are a moron Harry," Severus groaned.
He was quite sure Potter was high. The closer the child got the more pungent the earthy aroma clinging to him was.
"Are you going to tell me why you were attending a party when you should be in bed?"
"Couldn't sleep," Potter said. "Are you gonna punish me or are we playin' games all night? Cause if so, I've got better places to be."
"You have detention until the end of the year," Severus decided thinking quickly. "Sit down."
"Worth it," Potter said with a drunken smile as he stumbled back to the sofa. "Did you know I might like blokes? Thought Daphne was dead gorgeous, didn't I? And Lue's beautiful. But Fred changed my mind. Or c'n I like both? Probably not. It's weird right?"
Jesus Christ.
Potter was manic and drunk and rambling.
About his sexuality crisis apparently.
Which Severus was decidedly not equipped to handle at his current level of anger and frustration.
You obliviated the mind healer and now you have to deal with the fallout, he reminded himself.
He made finding, or educating, a Wixen Mind Healer, or at least a damn squib Mind Healer, his summer goal. Cancer research be damned.
"I cannot imagine how your sexual preferences are in any way related to an explanation for your behavior tonight," Severus said tersely.
"Needed to check, didn't I?" Potter said, still smiling. "Figured I'd give it a shot, see if things are better with a bloke when I'm d-drunk and older now. And guess what? You were right, it's way better," he laughed.
Jesus fucking Christ.
"You understand that you risked expulsion for any one of the many illegal activities you participated in tonight, correct?" Severus said, avoiding any sort of sex-related topic at the moment. Especially as Potter framed his statement in a way that made Severus question himself for informing Potter that consensual sex was meant to be pleasurable for both parties.
"'Pell me then," Potter said. "It's not even a good threat."
It wasn't.
"You could have been hurt," Severus said instead. "You were smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol? Were you aware that either one of those could cause irreparable damage to your internal organs? Not to say anything of the damaging effect of mixing the two."
"No it can't," Potter laughed. "People do it all the time."
"And they die, all the time," Severus said. "You need help Harry. You are behaving irresponsibly and impulsively."
"Am not," Potter mumbled as he turned his head in to the sofa cushion.
"Oh? What were you thinking then before you began drinking alcohol and smoking with a group of older teenagers?"
"Wasn't thinkin' nothin'," Potter said. "Just did it."
Severus desperately wanted to shake the child and scream 'THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF IMPULSIVITY,' but he refrained. Instead he glared down at Potter and watched as his hazy eyes blinked slowly.
"We will speak more about this in the morning," Severus said sternly. He summoned a blanket from his cupboard and laid it on the brat and pulled his glasses off his face. "Sleep and prepare an argument in your defense for in the morning."
"'Kay," Potter sighed contentedly as he closed his eyes.
Severus drug his recliner closer to the sofa, once again, and summoned the medication the Contessa sent him and watched Potter sleep for a while... thinking... considering... planning...
By the time Potter opened his bloodshot eyes at six o'clock, Severus had slept not at all and prayed to Merlin that he could get through to the child.
"Owww," Potter whined pathetically. "Wazgoin' on?"
"You are in my quarters, on the sofa. Hopefully with a terrible hangover," Severus said coolly. "Get up. We need to have a discussion."
"No," Potter mumbled as he turned and shifted on the sofa. "Wanna sleep."
"Perhaps you should have slept last night," Severus said sharply. "Get up now."
"No," Potter said stubbornly as he jammed his eyes closed.
"Aguamenti."
"Son of a bitch," Potter yelped as Severus poured water on his head. "What'd you do that for?" He shook his wet hair out, momentarily looking like a green eyed wet puppy, and glanced around himself quickly before snagging his glasses off the nearby table.
"You and I need to have a discussion," Severus said. "You refused to get up and I resolved the issue."
Potter blinked at him in shock before wincing.
"Thought you wanted me to sleep," he grumbled. "Not drown me."
Severus felt a small stab of regret as he realized last night was likely the first time all week Potter slept more than an hour. Though he consoled himself with the reminder that passing out from alcohol for a little less than three hours was scarcely better than maniacally staying awake.
"Perhaps you should have considered your sleep before you went to a party," he said stoutly, shoving his regret deep down inside. This was the time to be firm, not bend to Potter's ironclad will.
"Talk fast then," Potter said as he laid his head against the back of the sofa. "My head hurts."
"Good."
Potter opened one eye and narrowed them at Severus at his sharp tone.
"What's your problem then?"
"What's my problem?" Severus repeated incredulously. "Do you not recall the events of last night?"
Potter scrubbed his face with his hands as he thought it over.
"Kinda," he admitted. "I remember Lupin's a snitch."
"Lupin is a Professor," Severus said, once again in a position where he was stuck defending one of the damn fools. "He was obligated to inform me of your activities. Just as I will be obligated to write to Mister Weasley's mother of his activities last night."
Potter shrugged and grimaced again at the movement.
"'Kay," he said. "That it?"
"No," Severus barked. "That is not it." Severus took a deep breath as he prepared himself to give his speech he rehearsed and perfected while Potter slept.
"Harry I understand that you are in denial about your mental health," he said firmly, ignoring Potter's dramatic groan of dismay at the topic. "However, I am unable to wait for you to come to terms with it as it is now impacting your education, safety, and overall health. If you refuse to treat the illness then I will have no choice but to have you admitted in the hospital for treatment."
Potter sat up properly and gave Severus a wide eyed look of shock.
"What? You can't do that!"
"You'll find that I can," Severus said. "You are a danger to yourself. I cannot spend every waking moment worrying that you will either cut your wrists open, or jump from the owlery believing you are capable of winged flight, or dying in some other scheme because you are ill and your mind is unreliably guiding you to situations where your life is in danger."
Potter blanched at Severus' blunt recounting of his previous deeds, and these were only the ones Severus knew of. He was quite sure that Miss Grangers subtle question of how a lack of sleep impacts mental processing at the end of her class last Thursday had not been for academic research.
"Headache potion," Potter murmured as he broke away from Severus' impassive gaze. Severus grit his back teeth harshly as Potter summoned the potion and down it quickly, likely before Severus had an opportunity to take it from him.
"Were you even going to ask?" Severus said between his clenched teeth at the blatant act of disrespect.
"Would have, but you aren't asking me anything, are you?" Potter sneered. "If you can just make fuckin' stupid demands then I can too."
"Watch your language! You are the child," Severus said loudly as he slammed his hand harshly on the armrest. "I am the adult, Potter. I can make any demands that I damn well please. You would do well to remember that."
Potter jumped to his feet at Severus' thoughtless slam and backed several steps away from him.
"Leave me alone," he cried in a trembling voice as he vigilantly watched Severus' hands. "Doesn't it matter what I want?! You-you've lost the plot."
Severus inhaled very slowly in an effort to not begin a screaming match with his twitchy and traumatized ward.
"Harry please sit. I am not going to hurt you," he said much more calmly than he felt. "I do care what you want, but in this instance I must insist. This-" he pulled the medication bottle from his pocket and rattled it lightly. "Is meant to help you. And you desperately need help."
"NO I DON'T!" Potter yelled. "I DON'T WANT FUCKIN CRAZY MEDICINE!"
"WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE," Severus yelled back, quickly forgetting his previous determination not to shout at the child. "YOU WILL TAKE THIS OR YOU WILL GO SOMEWHERE THEY WILL FORCE YOU TO."
"No." Potter shook his head and looked around the room quickly. "No I won't. You can't make me."
"I am your guardian and I can make you," Severus said. "You need help before you end up dead because of it."
Potter backed away a few more steps and his eyes flicked towards the door.
"Then you're not my guardian anymore," he said softly. "I quit."
"Neither of us are quitting Harry," Severus said as gently as he felt he was currently able. "All I am asking you to do is take this medicine. If it does not work or hurts you in any way then we will try something different, okay?"
"No," Potter repeated. "I've seen people on pills like that before. They just laid there on their cots, just drooling and fucked up and stupid looking. I don't need it."
"You do," Severus said as he very slowly, and with exaggerated movements, rose to his feet. "I will not allow it to cause you to become incapacitated in any way, I swear child. But you will take it."
Potter stepped closer to the door as Severus took a small step towards him.
"Black said I can move in with him," he said abruptly. "He wouldn't make me go to a hospital or take pills."
How could Severus have forgotten that Black had planned on asking Potter to move in with him yesterday?
Probably because you've been focused on the chaos that a manic Harry Potter has been sowing, he reassured himself.
It was an empty reassurance. He hadn't factored Sirius God Damned Black and his own impulsive offers to Potter in to the equation when he had came up with this last ditch effort of a plan last night.
Severus closed his eyes briefly and counted to ten before he responded.
"Black does not understand your mental health as I do," he said calmly. "I will not concede my guardianship of you to him because you are refusing to accept treatment."
"I'll just leave then," Potter said. "I don't need you."
Severus pretended that the bluntly spoken remark did not cut him more sharply than any blade could have.
Potter is ill, he reminded himself firmly. He doesn't mean the things he is saying.
Unless he does, the more insecure part of his heart whispered.
"You don't mean that," Severus said. "You are scared, confused, and likely coming down from a terrible manic episode (he hoped). You would leave our home instead of improving your health?"
"I AM NOT MANIC!" Potter shouted. "QUIT SAYING THAT!"
"You are," Severus said simply. "It is not a weakness Harry. It is only an illness, like any other, that requires treatment."
"I won't go to the hospital."
"You will not have to if you will take this medicine," Severus said quickly. "It is used as a treatment for your illness."
Potter glanced down at the pill bottle in Severus' hand before looking back up at his face. Severus saw a brief flash of hesitation in his green eyes before he blinked and it was replaced with a look of stubborn determination.
"I won't. I don't need it. I don't need you. I-" Potter hesitated and Severus thought he could see a slight tremble in the child's lower lip before he continued. "I'm- I'm moving out. You can have y-your house back. I don't want it and I don't want you."
As Potter went to step towards the door, Severus, in his hurt and his shock, made an absolute foolish mistake. He reached out to grasp Potters arm in an attempt to stop him from leaving.
"Harry, listen-"
"Don't touch me," Potter hissed sharply before Severus' hand on his arm erupted in a terribly burning pain. Severus quickly pulled his hand back and clenched his jaw in an effort to not show the pain that was burning through the veins in his hand.
Potter faltered as he had one foot out the door, he looked helplessly at Severus and mouthed something that Severus thought may have been an apology before resolutely turning on his heel and leaving Severus' quarters.
Severus cradled his hand to his chest and stared at his door as the burn faded away. His plan on strong arming Potter in to accepting treatment had entirely backfired.
'I don't want it and I don't want you,' replayed on a loop in his mind as he struggled to process what exactly just happened.
He hadn't forced Potter to treat his illness, all he'd succeeded in doing was driving him straight to Black's arms.
And away from Severus himself.