You woke up late, so late. You'd already missed breakfast, and a couple of classes. More than being late, you're sick. Who knows what you caught, but Gods are you sick. Coughing and stuffy and sneezing.
So, naturally, you're now clumsily running about the Hogwarts halls desperately trying to get to your Potions class. There was barely anyone else in the corridors, which was understandable, considering the extent of your lateness.
You've finally made it to Snape's classroom, dizzy and wheezing and coughing. Knocking on the door with a heavier hand than you intended.
"Ah, Miss y/l/n, I see you've finally made it to class. Sit down, y/l/n" Professor Snape is scary. He’s scary on a daily basis, but now? Now he’s angry. He’s quite troubling when he’s angry at someone else, but now you’re on the receiving end of it.
You tuck your head and scurry to your seat at the back of his class. “And y/n?” Your head flew up, “Detention.” Snape was staring you down now.
“Um,” you wiped your sleeve with your nose, “Yes, Professor.” You felt like throwing up, the mucus and anxiety pooling in your stomach.
* * *
The class period was long, you sat there for what felt like hours, trying not to cry, because crying hurt, and trying to stay awake in vain. Your lungs were burning from trying to keep your coughing in.
Everyone was leaving the classroom, the dungeon.
“Miss y/l/n, come here.” Snape looked at you, almost daring you to test him. He looked something like a menace, standing tall beneath his robes under the candlelight.
“Yes,” While you were attempting to stand and cross the room to him, got cut off by your coughing. Coughing quickly turned to breathless wheezing.
Snape quickly realized that you weren’t going to be crossing the room anytime soon, so he crossed the room to you. “Y/N, Y/N look at me. Okay, sit. Sit! Just try to breathe for me, that's it. Good girl.” Professor Snape’s voice was soft, significantly kinder than what it had been only minutes ago.
“I’m sorry, ugh, I’m sorry Professor. I didn’t mean to be late!” You were desperately trying to make him understand that you didn’t want to be late. “I swear, I enjoy your class, potions, potions are so cool!” By now you were back to crying and wheezing.
Snape was staring at you now, looking at you with something adjacent to care. If you weren’t dizzy and running a fever, you’d trust yourself enough to believe that Severus Snape was borderline smiling.
“Yes, Y/N, you’re a brilliant student. I know that. You’re good, be good and breathe.” He was standing over you, beckoning you to breathe, holding your hand. And so you tried.
“Good job, good girl.” You were still looking at him, finally breathing.
“I’m sorry, Professor.” Gods, you sounded pathetic. Exhausted as ever, your breathless fit took the little energy you had from when you overslept.
“No, sit,” he said. You were still sitting at your desk, “You need to sit. Are you ill? Why would you attempt to come to class? Do you think that was smart?” Snape’s brow was furrowed as he spoke at you.
Eye’s drooping and pulse slowing, all you wanted to do was go back to sleep. All cohesive thoughts were gone, and so you dropped your head back down to the desk.
Snape looks down at you, taking in the bags under your eyes and the way your hair rippled on the desk. He removed his own cloak and gently placed it over your body, soaking up the way you snuggled into the heavy cloth.
“Oh, my darling. Sleep, I’ll be here,” Snape, the horrible Severus Snape, was being kind. “And then you’ll be seeing the doctor.” Now you had already fallen asleep, feverish and warm and more comfortable than you’ve been in weeks, under his watch. The professor waved over a velveted pillow with the flick of his wand.
He placed the pillow gently under your head and replaced his cloak around your body before he placed a light hand on your forehead, feeling your fever.
The ever brilliant Professor Snape, clear headed Snape, now had thoughts that he usually would deem as distractions.
'Is she okay? Are her lungs okay? The wheezing sounded bad. I need her to go to the doctor, but she needs to rest…'
He would worry about these things later, now, now he was going to watch you sleep and be there when you woke up.