Dmitri glanced at his brother. Severus's face seemed frozen but his eyes conveyed all his emotion as clearly as if he had spoken them. He felt sick. Sick at the sight of Harry, sick at the thought of what he must have heard, and most of all sick at the expression on Harry's face.
Harry was petrified. First, he was sure that Snape would kill him, and second, he was sure he had gone insane, because there were two Snapes standing before him.
The silence that filled the corridor was suffocating. Dmitri was confused. He didn't understand who this young man could be, to have such a startling effect on his brother. Severus and Harry simply stood there glaring at each other. Then, Dmitri, who had honestly gotten bored as well as concerned, spoke up:
"So… who's this Sev?" he asked cheerfully.
"Harry Potter." Severus snarled in response, his eyes still locked on Harry.
"Oh." said Dmitri lamely as his smile faded quickly from his face. His mind was in free fall. He had all but forgotten about Lily Potter's son. In the short time he had had with Severus after her death, her son had rarely, if ever, come up. Still, he should have known. Now Dmitri didn't know what to do. Severus looked homicidal and Harry looked horrified. Dmitri figured he should remove Severus from the vicinity as soon as possible. He touched Severus's shoulder, trying to get him to leave but Severus just shrugged his hand away before asking in a menacing way:
"What are you doing in this part of the castle at this time of night, Potter?" He asked venomously. Harry was too scared to be angry as he responded:
"I was going to see Dumbledore." Said Harry
"Professor Dumbledore." Dmitri and Severus said simultaneously, Severus out of habit and Dmitri out of a genuine dislike of disrespectfulness.
"Yes sir." Harry said quickly as he began to walk past the brothers toward the headmaster's office. Severus opened his mouth to say something but Dmitri stopped him.
The men continued on their way down to the dungeons in silence. Neither spoke of what had just transpired. Eventually, they reached a blank, totally unremarkable, part of wall. Severus stopped and placed one pale hand on the seemingly normal stone. A second later the wall turned into a door.
"A little paranoid, don't you think Sev." said Dmitri, only half teasing his little brother.
"You don't know the half of it." replied Severus, also only half joking. Severus walked in and Dmitri tried to follow him. The moment he walked through the door, however, he cried out in pain. Severus turned just in time to see Dmitri collapse to the floor. He ran over to his older brother, his eyes full of concern but never fear. He lifted the by no means small or light body of his now unconscious brother and set him on the couch that stood nearby. Then he assessed exactly what was wrong with him. Blood ran freely from a deep cut on his cheek as well as from his nose. His neck had another deep gash that too was gushing hot red blood.
"No…no….no." Severus whispered as he cradled his brother's head. Then it struck him. The wards, on the door to his quarters. OF COURSE! He had been foolish not to think of it before. This revelation left him feeling intensely relieved and yet all the more terrified at what this meant. There was little time however to worry about that. His usual, in control, self reasserted it's self as Severus ran to his store of potions. He found the right antidote and, still perfectly calm, returned to his brother. When he reached Dmitri, he drew his wand and in a quick succession of sure wand waves he began to heal the bleeding man.