Challenge: Drabble must include the line "When everything's made to be broken…" Title: Hairwash
from the song Iris by Goo Goo Dolls.
Rating: G
Warnings: Character humiliation
Severus's head turned. He became very still, like a rodent suddenly aware of the snake.
Snape stared down his hooked nose at Sirius, his black eyes narrowed.
His mouth twisted haughtily.
"Where's your furry little friends, Black?" he said, wearing a taut, malicious leer.
The boy grinned ferally. "Right behind you, grease-spot."
- -
"Oh, it's you, Severus. Been courting danger again I see." Madame Pomfrey said brusquely
but her smile was kind. Wise of her Potter-Black bias, he spared her no reply.
He endured her examination with an unwavering frown and stoic patience. The
mask was belied only by the beads of sweat gathering at the edges of his scalp.
But if Madame Pomfrey noticed then she chose not to compromise his dignity by
offering relief.
"There, you'll be right as rain come morning. When everything's made to be
broken there is nothing as useful as SkeleGro."
Severus passed the time until he fell asleep mentally inventing several ways to
do away with the bitter aftertaste of the evening. He thought that liquorice root
would counter the nausea. He thought that turning Black and Potter into small
piles of bird droppings would counter the resentfulness.
When he left the next morning his cheeks were flushed an angry scarlet red,
making the thin, pallid face seem smaller and sharper painted than usual. He
could reluctantly accept that she was present when he slept – she was the nurse
after all- but did she have to wash his hair?