Chapter 4
Healing
When Harry finally reached the top of the stairs and found Ron's (and his) room, and opened the door, he was immediately slammed into by a bushy haired witch who dove into explanations at once
"Oh—Harry are you alright? Did the Dursley's treat you ok? I really really wanted to write, but Dumbledore made us swear not to. Said there was a risk of the owls getting intercepted," Hermione said very quickly, not pausing to draw breath.
"Yeah, mate, Dumbledore thought it was too dangerous" chimed in Ron, following Hermione's lead as per usual.
. This did not make him happy at all. Not only had his injuries been forcibly pressed on multiple times, but any last hope he had that his first to friends would understand what he was trying to do by distancing himself from Dumbledore went straight out the window. Hermione, with all her love of book learning and authority figures, would never understand, she just wasn't able to see past the so called truths she found from people in power and the facts in books, and as for Ron, Ron would follow his family and Hermione in there blind faith that Dumbledore could do no wrong. Sighing softly—Harry resigned himself but determined to find out as much information as possible and said coldly—"So, how long have you both been here for then, and what's the Order been doing?"
"Well," Hermione began cautiously noting his tone, " I've been here for about a month, Ron a little longer, and we don't really know what the Order is doing as we aren't allowed into meetings, we've just been cleaning the house for them."
"We do have a general idea though, 'cause Fred'n'George invented extendable ears, we thing the Order is guarding something, and trying to tell people You-Know-Who's back" Ron said.
"Really—that's all you know?" questioned Harry so that they wouldn't expect anything odd about him.
"Yeah mate—that's it" replied Ron.
They sat there in awkward silence—Harry wondering when his injuries would be healed….and if the twins would be willing to side with him their inventions would be very useful…after all he had given them money to start up there joke shop, and they had always seemed to be more devious and in the grey area of magic to him anyway rather than the pure white of the rest of their family. Harry wasn't too sure about Bill and Charlie though as he had never really formally met them. Soon Mrs. Weasley called them down to dinner.
On his way into the kitchen, however, Harry was stopped by Snape who was on his way out.
"A word with you Potter, before you join your little friends for this little 'family reunion'" Snape drawled, "We will withdraw into the drawing room, where we shall not be overheard, by your little friends"
Harry was about to follow when Sirius and Remus jumped in at the same time "He's not going anywhere alone with you Snape!"
"Then by all means join us but I must pass along the Headmasters message"
The four of them slowly walked down the hall and into the drawing room. Snape withdrew his wand and muttered several spells then said softly, with a hint of affection "Harry, it's all right, you can drop your glamours, I informed Sirius and Remus of your living conditions when they mentioned they were on your side, not Dumbledore's alone, they will not tell anyone if you do not wish it, but please let us see your injuries so that we can heal them."
With a look of relief on his face, Harry slowly let his glamours slide off him. Remus and Sirius both gasped. Harry had lost about 3 inches in height and now stood at about 5'4" and looked like a corpse with blood and bruises all over the place.
Remus was the first to speak "I know you said it was bad Snape, and I knew I smelt blood on him, but by Merlin, I didn't think it was this bad---I am going to kill Albus for placing him there-he should have been with ME werewolf or not!" he growled fiercely "No one hurts my Cub!"
"Harry- no one is going to hurt you again on my watch," Sirius said "I've missed out on too much of your life already; I should have been there to protect you."
While Remus and Sirius were talking Snape began some basic diagnostic spells to determine the extent of his injuries and once the other two had gotten over there shock they joined him.
"Harry, I need you to lay down on the sofa while I check for internal injuries—but right now I can tell you are suffering from dehydration, starvation, a broken left leg and ankle, 3 broken ribs on the right, 5 on the left, a black eye with the socket fractured, and you also have bruises and cuts all over your body and some especially deep lash marks on your back—does that sound accurate to you?" Snape said softly.
"Yeah, can you check for internal injuries now so I can have a bloody pain potion already?" Harry breathed out, not bothering to hide the pain he was obviously in.
"Of course," Snape replied as Sirius and Lupin looked on worriedly, as Snape and Harry looked to be going through a well practiced routine.
"Harry—on top of your other injuries, it looks as if you have some minor internal bleeding and a concussion, thank Merlin that your magic begins to heal you or you would have bleed out days ago but--- unfortunately –your leg has already begun to heal…you know what I'm going to have to do right? And that I can't give you anything until after because it will react badly with the Skelegrow I'm going to have to give you?" Snape said sadly.
"What are you gonna have to do to him Snape?" hissed Sirius.
"I have to rebreak his leg so that it can be set and healed properly"
"You've done this before?"
"Twice, Lupin I need you to hold his torso down, but mind the broken ribs, I'm sure you of all people know what this is going to be like, and Sirius I need you to hold his hand," said Snape. Once they were all in position Snape asked "Ready Harry?"
"Just do it!"
"1…2….3…"
The air was retched with a pained scream as Harry's leg made a sharp CRACK as it was snapped and reset back into its place. Lupin immediately let go of Harry's torso, leaned Harry's back gently against his chest, and began stroking his hair softly murmuring to him that it was alright he'd be ok now, that no one would hurt his Cub anymore. Sirius continued holding his hand as well trying to soothe the pained boy that was his godson.
"Harry, I need you to take these for me, I know I can't give you pain potion right now, but here is your Skelegrow it will be able to heal all of your breaks now, I also want you to take some Blood Replenisher, and Restorative Draught, Nutritive Potion, and a Rehydration Elixir" Snape said interrupting the moment. "Lupin, I need you to start spreading this Bruise cream on the affected areas, Sirius, I want you to use the healing cream on his cuts, we need to do this quickly before anyone realizes we've been gone for too long."
They each set about their tasks with quick and efficient moves, though Harry was spluttering from the taste of the multiple potions. Soon bruises and cuts began to fade and his bones were healed although the long term effects of the starvation and dehydration were still in place. Once everything was completed that could be done for the moment, Snape handed Harry a pain reliever and said "Now, you cannot take that for another two hours but it is there when you need it, also, Dumbledore wants you to take Occlumency lessons with me this year which was what I was supposed to inform you about—I really must be on my way now, but we all need to meet to talk later, say tonight in the attic after everyone else has gone to bed?"
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "How are we going to explain taking over half an hour to talk about taking lessons?" Harry asked, "We need a cover story."
"That will be easy," Sirius said with a barking laugh, "Me and old Snivillus here got into a fight."
Opening the door to the drawing room, Sirius shouted as loud as he could, "SNIVILLUS, YOU BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING TO HURT HARRY IN THOSE LESSONS OF YOURS OR I'LL BECOME THE MURDERER I WAS SENT TO AZKABAN FOR BEING NOW GET OUT !!!"
"For Merlin's sake Black, like I would sabotage the lessons, which would mean I'd have to spend more time with the brat! Now, as I take absolutely no pleasure in being in the same place as you, I will leave until I have to see you for our next meeting" he said heatedly, only the four that had been in the drawing room picked up on the true meaning behind his words, and as Snape headed out the front door with his cape billowing behind him, Harry, Remus and Sirius, walked slowly to the kitchen, finally going to join the others for dinner.