One Afternoon
It was the quiet scuff of boots on stone that drew Poppy Pomfrey away from tending to her flowerbeds one late summer morning. Swiping at the sweat along her forehead as she turned her head, the woman blinked at the sight. There was a gangly woman dressed in black and a little child that was as thin as a match stick seated on her hip.
"Hello, Aunt Poppy," the woman mumbled.
The voice brought back memories of the awkward, but dreamy girl she'd known once long ago. However, as Poppy got to her feet and approached, she was disappointed to see that there was very little of that girl left in the woman. It seemed whatever life Eileen took up since she ran away seven years ago hadn't gone well for her.
The bruises peeking out from beneath her collar spoke to that.
"Eileen?" she whispered.
The woman gave a nod, a small smile bringing a pleased light to the woman's dark eyes.
Poppy leapt to hug her then, but Eileen flinched. Taking a step back, horror flashed across Eileen's features - as if even she felt betrayed by her own actions. Poppy had always been safe. She'd always been the one person Eileen could trust to never hurt her. But it seemed time had made her body forget.
Poppy wanted to cry right then and there for the loss. However, she knew that now was not the time to let her emotions get the better of her. Pushing forth a smile instead, Poppy turned to the tiny thing clinging to Eileen. "Who's this, dear?" she asked, hoping Eileen didn't pick up on the faint tremor to her words.
Eileen bounced the child, making them peek out from behind a curtain of black hair. "This is Severus," she introduced, some pride coming to her voice. "He's my little wizard."
This caused the little boy to perk up. His hair parting fully, Poppy had to use all her strength not to gasp at the pair of black eyes the little boy had. A child his age should never have such violent marks. "I help Mummy with potions," the boy said. "Wizards make lots of those."
Eileen used a blue and purple mottled hand to tuck her son's hair behind his ears. "That's right, they make many potions," she agreed. Then, with that same prideful voice she'd used when introducing him, she told Poppy, "He's very, very bright. He's not even six yet and he already knows all the properties for some of the more common potions, like the Dreamless Sleep."
Poppy tried to still her surprise. Severus certainly didn't look like he was nearly six - especially not in his mother's arms. Poppy had been guessing he was four at oldest.
Keeping this to herself, though, she made her grin go even wider as she praised, "My! Isn't that impressive?"
Burying his face back in his mother's shoulder, Severus mumbled something that could have been a 'thank you' while Eileen patted his back.
Gesturing for the front door, Poppy suggested, "Why don't you come in for some tea, hm? We can catch up and I can get to know your little fellow."
Eileen shook her head.
"I just stopped by to see if you could do me a small favor. I have a funeral I need to attend and I can't possibly take Severus. Would you mind watching him for a couple hours?" she pleaded, dark eyes wide and dewy.
Poppy bit her lip. "Where is…his father?"
Rubbing a hand up and down her son's back, Eileen gave a smile that was just far too cheery to be real. "Tobias didn't quite like the fact that I had to go to a funeral. He went to clear his head the other night and hasn't come back. But don't worry, he will! Daddy will always come back to us…" the woman trailed off, the ending of her reply having been more for her son than Poppy.
Uncomfortable, but worried about what could happen to Severus if she didn't take him for the afternoon, Poppy held out her arms. "I can watch him for a few hours," she said.
"Oh, Aunt Poppy, thank you!" the young woman gushed as she removed her son from her hip and placed him in Poppy's arms. "I'll pay you back somehow, don't worry," she promised.
Poppy just gave her old friend's daughter a wan smile while fretting internally about how light the boy in her arms was. "You don't have to pay me back, you've done more than enough for my old heart by just stopping by."
Eileen gave her son a kiss. "I'll be back by seven tonight at the latest," she promised Poppy.
"See you then," Poppy concluded.
And with that, Eileen popped out of existence, leaving the small boy and her alone.
Meeting Severus's shy gaze she asked, "How does some treacle tart sound, hm?"
His eyes shined.
-v-v-v-v-v-
Watching the little boy demolish his second piece of treacle tart, Poppy asked him, "So, Severus, what do you like to do?"
"Potions."
She nodded. "Is that all you like?" she questioned, surprised by his curt reply. From her experience, a question like that usually lead to a prattled list of silly things from a little boy.
Severus, nibbling on the prongs of his fork, replied, "It's fun to chase the cats by home sometimes. But Mummy says I can't cross the street, so I hafta to stop when they go in the road."
Poppy found a smirk working its way onto her lips. "Your mother used to like to chase my old cat when she was a little girl," she informed the child.
"Really?" the little boy inquired.
Poppy replied, "Oh yes."
Smiling, the little boy said, "Mummy doesn't tell me lots about what she did when she was my age. But she's tells me about Hogwarts! She says you work as the nurse there."
"I do," Poppy confirmed. "And if you don't mind, sweetheart, how would you like to get a checkup from me? Maybe we can see about fixing up your eyes, hm?"
The little boy's face turned very grave then. He put down his fork. "A check up is okay," he whispered, "but you can't fix my eyes. Daddy'll notice when he comes home and get very cross with Mummy. He doesn't like magic. If he thinks Mummy took her wand out from his sock drawer an' used some, Daddy'll yell an' yell. "
Poppy hated hearing this. She hated knowing Eileen had gotten herself into a mess like this one. She hated the fact that she couldn't fix this little boy without bringing out more of his father's ire.
"Okay," Poppy agreed. "I won't fix your eyes. Do you have any other bruises that I could make better for you? Ones your Daddy can't see with your clothes on?"
Severus began to chew on his fingers. "Umm..." he murmured around them. "My legs?"
"Alright," she said with a smile. Poppy wasn't happy, but some of her pain was soothed. At least this little boy's knees wouldn't ache every time he had to crouch in a chair to reach a kitchen table anymore. "Why don't we go to my living room? You can sit on the couch and I'll check you over."
Bobbing his little head, Severus followed her out of the kitchen and into her orange-hued living room. Poppy pointed him at the sofa. "Wait there a moment," she said.
Pulling himself up on the sofa, Severus did just that as Poppy darted off to the bathroom to get the bruise salve she kept in her medicine cabinet.
Upon coming back, she took out her wand and ran several diagnostics on the little boy. Fidgeting as her wand twirled around him, Severus's eyes took in her living room with a restlessness common to little boys (at least he was normal in this regard, Poppy thought with relief).
When done, she sighed. He was malnourished and had a number of superficial injuries. Nothing too terrible, she was happy to note, however. Briefly, it made her wonder just what kind of state her goddaughter was in. Hopefully it wasn't much worse than Severus's. Getting down on her knees, Poppy didn't miss the way the child tensed.
She pressed her lips in a thin, narrow line. One didn't need to be a genius to understand why Severus was reacting to her closeness in such a way. Undoubtedly, his father had instilled an instinctive wariness of others in his son already. Oh, how Poppy wished she could meet this man just so she could hex him. Muggle or no, he deserved it for the way he was treating Eileen and her son.
Holding her hands out in an open, non-threatening manner, Poppy forced a grin. "It's alright, dear," she told him. "I'm just going to roll up the legs of your pants and take care of those bruises of yours, okay?"
Face uncertain, he nodded.
To make things easy for Severus, Poppy made her work fast. She rubbed in the salve gently, but expertly. She sat back on her haunches to watch when she was done.
A minute or two later, his legs were pale and unmarred.
"That's wicked," Severus exclaimed with appreciation as he poked at his knee. "I wish I had my own tin of it..."
Poppy didn't hesitate. "Have this one," she offered. "I can get more easily."
Severus frowned. "Daddy says we can't take charity."
Pressing it into his tiny hands, Poppy told Severus, "This is a gift, sweetheart. That's not charity."
"Okay..." the little boy relented as he wrapped his fingers around the tin.
Putting on a big smile then, she asked him, "How would you like to go play in my backyard, hm? I'm sure I could find something for you to do."
"Do you have a football?" Severus inquired. "I know Mummy says most wizards and witches don't play it, but I've always wanted to. Like the big boys down the road do."
"If you tell me what one looks like, I'm sure I can make one," Poppy replied as she lifted him off the couch and lead him by the hand to her yard.
She listened carefully as he described the toy to her. Upon coming to the yard, she drew her wand and with ease turned a watering can into what Severus wanted.
Exclaiming his delight, the boy gave it a tentative kick. When it rolled away, he beamed. "It works!" he whooped.
Giving a chuckle as she watched him chase after it, Poppy began to plan the speech she would give her goddaughter. Poppy had seen her fair share of bruised and battered children come through Hogwarts halls and knew that most of them did not fair well in life. Some of them ended up living pathetic, lonely, lives, more took to drugs and the drink, some became notorious criminals and others, many years after they left her halls, would send their own bruised and battered children to her.
Poppy knew her old friend would never allow Severus, a half-blood child, to live in his home, but Poppy would. She'd allow not only Severus to live here, she would allow him to thrive here. He could overcome his rough start to life here and become a truly brilliant person in the process.
She knew it was possible.
After a while, Poppy joined Severus in kicking the ball around and when he grew bored of that, she showed him her gardens and told him the name of every flower and plant they saw. He absorbed it all beautifully. By the end, Severus even began to ask questions and like the longer they spoke about her gardens. It was through their conversation, that Poppy realized just how similar Severus and his mother were.
Like his mother, Severus was not just satisfied with cursory knowledge, he always wanted to dig deeper. It wasn't enough for him to just know eating dittany could heal a scratch on his arm, he wanted to know how it dittany could heal it when there was no obvious connection between one's stomach and their arm.
It reminded Poppy very much of the questions Eileen used to ask about muggles and how her father could be so certain they were all beasts and idiots when he'd never interacted with one in any true length. At the time, Poppy had held herself back from giving Eileen her honest opinion of her father's views out of respect for her friend's authority over Eileen as her father. However, Poppy herself had long given up on believing she was superior to muggles and muggleborns simply because her magical bloodline went back further than theirs.
As nurse to the students of Hogwarts, Poppy hadn't been able to hold onto her prejudices very long. She discovered the muggleborns were just as quick-witted, talented, and robust (and sometimes, more so) than their pureblood counterparts. On the occasions when parents needed to be brought to Hogwarts, she found that the muggle parents of the muggleborns were not that different from herself or the magical parents that she knew.
They all cared about their children and their well beings.
When faced by such obvious evidence that spoke contrary to what she'd been taught, Poppy had been unable to keep assuring herself of her superiority as a higher being and was forced to realize that muggle or magic, they were all people with the same thoughts, fears, hopes, and potential.
Now, though, Poppy wished she'd told Eileen her thoughts on muggles all those years ago. Perhaps it would have ruined her friendship with her father, but at the very least Eileen wouldn't have been as quick to adventure into the muggleworld to learn the truth for herself. Perhaps then Eileen would have made a happier marriage with a wizard her father approved of. Perhaps then she wouldn't be battered and her son wouldn't be so small and weary. Perhaps Eileen would be happy and Severus would call her Aunty Poppy just like his mother. Perhaps Poppy wouldn't feel like she failed her goddaughter.
-v-v-v-
By the time five o'clock rolled around, Poppy was preparing to start on dinner for Severus and herself when Eileen walked in.
"Hello," Poppy greeted. "How did the funeral go?"
Taking a seat at Poppy's kitchen table, Eileen reached for the pepper shaker in the middle of the table. Just like she always had as a girl when she came by for tea. Yet it she stared too long at Eileen's discolored hands as they rolled the pepper shaker between them, Poppy was forced to see that this was nothing like then. Eileen wasn't the girl she once was, here to complain about her father or to talk about her poor luck in love. Her goddaughter wasn't here to vent, she was here going through the motions of niceties before she took her son home to their abuser.
"As well as one can expect of a funeral," she answered. "Where's Severus?"
"I told him to wash up," Poppy explained, "I was going to have him assist me by shelling peas. I thought he might enjoy helping make dinner - like you used to."
Eileen's lips quirked. "I'm sure he would," she agreed. "But we really must be going. Tobias is probably home by now and he'll end up quite cross if I'm not there to put together dinner for him."
Poppy paused. "Eileen..." she started uncertainly. Going over to the young woman, Poppy took her mottled hand. "Why don't you two stay here? I do have a guest room and it wouldn't be too difficult to convert my sewing room into another," she said.
Frozen to her spot, the younger woman just stared at Poppy. Wide eyed and shocked.
"I-I couldn't," she stuttered. "Little boys need fathers and Tobias really isn't an awful man. It's just when he's upset, or drinks a little too much that things...happen."
"Eileen, please," Poppy begged. "I could spend all night telling you about the children that come to me battered and broken and what happens to them. I promise none of it's good. Fatherless children on the other hand...their paths are more varied - just like unbroken children with two parents."
The younger woman shook her head. "No, I just couldn't. I love Tobias. He has his faults, but all men do and when he doesn't drink, he's nearly perfect..."
"How often does he drink, though?" Poppy inquired, hardening her voice.
Eileen's eyes flared to life with an angry fire. "Just stop!" she snapped. "This is my life! Not yours. I won't be told how to live it!"
Poppy put up placating hands. "But what about your son's?" she asked.
"I can't believe you!" Eileen hissed. "Now your judging me as a mother? I know what's best for my son, not you!" she shouted as she stood up. Looking around the kitchen wildly, she called, "Severus!"
A moment later, the boy, eyes large and worried, appeared. "Hullo, Mummy," he mumbled.
Stalking over, Eileen grabbed his hand and said to him, "We're going! Say goodbye!"
"Bye..." he whispered to Poppy.
Blinking back tears, the woman crouched down and gave Severus's cheek a kiss. Poppy had ruined her chance. The likelihood of Eileen coming back to her after tonight were less than slim now. The woman felt she'd lost Poppy as an ally and now poor little Severus was going to suffer for it.
"Goodbye, sweetheart. Be good for your mummy," she told him.
He nodded solemnly. "I will," he swore.
And with that, the pair left.
Sitting down at her table, Poppy buried her face in her hands and wept for the child's future.
-v-v-v-v-v-
Poppy's heart hammered in her chest as she approached the familiar boy with Lucius Malfoy at the front of her infirmary. Putting on a closed-lip smile as she stopped in front of the pair. She asked them, "What do we have here?"
Mister Malfoy, looking rather disgruntled, said, "This is Severus Snape. His arm is broken. Well, according to the dormmate who grabbed him by it."
Nodding, Poppy felt her smile slip away. "I see," she replied.
"Thank you for bringing him here, Mister Malfoy. And Mister Snape, if you don't mind me asking, is your Mother Eileen? Prince was her maiden name," she added.
From the corner of her eye, Poppy watched the annoyance fade from Lucius Malfoy's face. In its place, a curious gleam came to his eyes. Everyone knew the Prince family. They were old blood and having it known that he was related would help Severus's status within his house - even if the boy would still be toward the lower-middle of the totem poll as a half-blood.
"Yes," the child answered, his brows furrowed.
Nodding, Poppy gestured to a bed. "I knew her when she was young," she explained. "Why don't you take a seat?"
"Yes ma'am," Severus replied.
Dipping her head at the tall blond, she said, "Goodbye, Mister Malfoy."
Still looking in Severus's direction, the seventh year said nothing as he turned and left.
She shook her head in exasperation. It was irritating to her how the older students became, the less they showed respect to support staff like Poppy and Argus. Just because they weren't the ones who handed out the grades that decided their future didn't mean that they could be disregarded. She did talk with the professors and the professors did take her opinion seriously when it came to the students.
Drawn back to the task at hand by a quiet cough from Severus, Poppy approached him and brought out her wand. "How did you break it?" she asked Severus as she ran a simple diagnostic upon his arm to tell where it was broken.
"Fell," he answered.
Poppy gave him a sharp look.
Severus lowered his gaze.
Sighing, Poppy told him, "It's a clean break. I'll be able to fix it easily enough."
"Thank you, Ma'am," he replied.
Getting up, she patted his knee. "It's no trouble, young man."
As she went to work, Poppy wanted ask if he remembered the time he visited her. She wanted to ask him how Eileen was doing, how he was doing.
But she couldn't.
Because the longer she stared at the child, the more she began to think he didn't remember her at all. But why would he? They only met once and he was so young then. Deciding that it was better not to bring it up, lest it make him feel poorly about not remembering her like she did him, Poppy pulled away from Severus when his broken arm was well again.
Putting on a smile as she put away her things, she told Severus, "Mister Snape, I want you to know that you can come to me anytime. I'll help you always - even if you're not sick or hurt."
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," he replied. "I'll remember that," he promised.
And as she saw the boy out, Poppy knew that what she offered was the best she could do for him now. Hopefully, with her on his side, his life would be a little better than that of his mother's.
Thoughts? There aren't too many fics about Poppy and even fewer with her and Severus. I can't say I'm 100% happy with this one, it feels a little shallow to me, but I think it's still one of the better pieces I've had lying around on my hard drive waiting to be revised and fixed up.
Thank you guys for reading and please review!