diff --git a/roomserver/internal/query/query_room_hierarchy.go b/roomserver/internal/query/query_room_hierarchy.go
index 76eba12be..5f55980f0 100644
--- a/roomserver/internal/query/query_room_hierarchy.go
+++ b/roomserver/internal/query/query_room_hierarchy.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package query
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 
@@ -56,6 +57,12 @@ func (querier *Queryer) QueryNextRoomHierarchyPage(ctx context.Context, walker r
 			break
 		}
 
+		// If the context is canceled, we might still have discovered rooms
+		// return them to the client and let the client know there _may_ be more rooms.
+		if errors.Is(ctx.Err(), context.Canceled) {
+			break
+		}
+
 		// pop the stack
 		queuedRoom := unvisited[len(unvisited)-1]
 		unvisited = unvisited[:len(unvisited)-1]
@@ -112,6 +119,11 @@ func (querier *Queryer) QueryNextRoomHierarchyPage(ctx context.Context, walker r
 
 			pubRoom := publicRoomsChunk(ctx, querier, queuedRoom.RoomID)
 
+			if pubRoom == nil {
+				util.GetLogger(ctx).WithField("room_id", queuedRoom.RoomID).Debug("unable to get publicRoomsChunk")
+				continue
+			}
+
 			discoveredRooms = append(discoveredRooms, fclient.RoomHierarchyRoom{
 				PublicRoom:    *pubRoom,
 				RoomType:      roomType,
diff --git a/syncapi/routing/getevent.go b/syncapi/routing/getevent.go
index c089539f0..d0227f4ea 100644
--- a/syncapi/routing/getevent.go
+++ b/syncapi/routing/getevent.go
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ func GetEvent(
 	rsAPI api.SyncRoomserverAPI,
 ) util.JSONResponse {
 	ctx := req.Context()
-	db, err := syncDB.NewDatabaseTransaction(ctx)
+	db, err := syncDB.NewDatabaseSnapshot(ctx)
 	logger := util.GetLogger(ctx).WithFields(logrus.Fields{
 		"event_id": eventID,
 		"room_id":  rawRoomID,
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ func GetEvent(
 			JSON: spec.InternalServerError{},
 		}
 	}
+	defer db.Rollback() // nolint: errcheck
 
 	roomID, err := spec.NewRoomID(rawRoomID)
 	if err != nil {