Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, things would have been a lot different.
Author's Note: All of my thanks to my Beta Alethea27. My greatest thanks to all of you who have added this story to their alerts and favorites lists. Not to mention waiting for me to update and the number of messages telling me they love this story. Please consider this a belated Christmas gift.
According to Harry Potter Wikipedia, the Hospital wing is on the first floor of Hogwarts.
Chapter Seventeen The Darkness
The silence of the night outside Hogwarts was broken with a soft pop, leaving Albus Dumbledore outside the castle gates. He had originally thought about apparating directly into his office but he decided that the walk from the gates to the front doors would give him an opportunity to think. With a quick whirl of his amaranth robes, he started up the path to the castle, a thousand questions going through his mind. There was so much he needed to think about and the recent events at Grimmauld Place only added to the elder wizard's already mounting problems.
While Harry being poisoned was already a serious event in and of it itself, Albus was grateful the attack was not connected to Voldemort. The aged wizard constantly feared the Dark Lord would learn of the connection between himself and Harry ever since he returned to his body. Albus knew that once Voldemort realized the connection, he would not hesitate to use it to manipulate and inflict pain onto the young wizard. In order to protect himself, Harry would need to learn Occlumency and the sooner the better. He knew he should be the one to teach the boy but Albus was afraid putting himself with Harry in close, private and close environment would be all too tempting for Voldemort to pass up. Albus did not want to put Harry into that situation if he could help it. So that left only one other candidate to teach Harry and he knew neither one of them would be happy about it.
Once he made it to the great oak doors, Dumbledore still had so many things on his mind but knew his first action was to head straight to the hospital wing to check on Harry. Before entering the castle, the Headmaster felt a need to look over the castle grounds. It was then he realized how still everything was. There was no breeze and hardly anything moved. The waters of the Black Lake where smooth and no noise came from the Forbidden Forest, even the tops of the tall trees stood still. Hagrid's hut stood alone with its windows all dark and Albus could just make out the bare stands and goal posts of the Quidditch Pitch. There was something ominous hanging over the grounds and the feeling struck the Headmaster right through to the bone. Once he was inside, he began to make his way up to the hospital wing, the cold feeling seemly following him.
Once Severus and Madam Pomfrey got over the initial shock of the truth of Harry's condition, the two of them set to work healing the boy. Poppy began running more detailed scans over Potter's battered and bruised body while Snape went to retrieve various potions and salves from the stores in the matron's office. When he returned, she had a very long list compiled and from the grave look on her face the Potions Master could tell it was bad. Taking the list from her, he began to read it over while she lined up the potions in the proper order to administer them. Just as they were about to begin, the doors opened and the Headmaster entered. Snape and Madam Pomfrey both stood beside Harry's bed blocking him from the Headmaster's view.
"Ah, Severus, Poppy, how is Harry?"
"We were able to learn Mister Potter was suffering from doxy poisoning and were able to get him the antidote before it was too late," Madam Pomfrey began. "But before we could start to tend to him, we...we..." she could not finish as tears returned to her eyes.
Dumbledore looked to the grim faced Potions Master. "Severus...?"
"I'm afraid Potter's condition is far worse than any of us knew, Headmaster," Snape managed to get out. before he and Poppy parted.
Dumbledore's eye grew wide in horror as his gaze fell upon the batted fourteen year-old. He let out a gasp of utter shock and felt his entire body go numb. The shock made him feel so weak he believed he would collapse. Never in his life did Dumbledore expect to see Harry in such a state. While it felt like he was frozen to the spot, Dumbledore somehow managed to make his way to Harry's bedside. His hand reached out to Harry's, but it withdrew swiftly, as if Albus was fearful the child was too delicate to touch. Instead, he merely stood and looked at the young wizard, not saying anything or moving. The longer he remained silent, the more Severus and Madam Pomfrey started to worry.
"Headmaster...?" Madam Pomfrey addressed him with concern.
"What's his condition?" Dumbledore asked hollowly.
"He has bruising of varying ages all over his body as well as gashes and cuts," Madam Pomfrey began. "His one eye is swollen shut and the other appears to have been hit with a heavy object. Two of his ribs are cracked and his nose has been broken. Both his arms and legs appear to be dislocated. My scans also show that he has suffered various broken bones, some of which have not mended properly. There are signs of internal bruising and minor damage to some of his organs."
"The doxy venom did weaken Potter's body considerably," Severus stated. "His respiratory and nervous systems will need time to heal. He will need to be placed on a regimen of blood replenishers for the blood he's lost and nutrient potions to help build his strength and stamina."
Without another word, Dumbledore turned and walked straight out of the hospital wing. His two colleagues watched with concern as he left, his head hung low as if in defeat. Part of them wanted to go after the aged wizard but they knew they needed to see to Harry first. The first thing they healed was Harry's broken bones. Madam Pomfrey healed the broken ribs and Snape fixed Harry's broken nose. Next, the two of them carefully realigned Harry's bent arms and left leg. Madam Pomfrey then spelled a good douse of Skele-Gro into Harry to help his bone heal. Lastly, the two of them started healing what bruises and cuts they could with their wands on his back and chest with their wands. Healing salve was then applied to the worst of Harry's wounds and to his deeply swollen eye. Once all the salve had been applied, Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over Harry, resulting in the salve applied areas to be wrapped up in crisp white bandages.
Finally, Poppy and Severus saw to the damage done by the doxy venom. One after another, they spelled a number of potions into Harry directly. The first potion was for treating any lingering venom in Harry's system while the next was for healing any scarring done to his lunges. Potions to help mend his damaged internal organs were next followed by potions to help heal nerve damage. Next, Madam Pomfrey administered Harry's first round of blood-replenishing potion and once she had finished, Snape spelled a dose of Dreamless Sleep potion so Harry would sleep through the night peacefully.
"His temperature is fine and his breathing pattern is returning to normal," Madam Pomfrey exclaimed as she ran a diagnostic spell. "He should be alright for the night, but I'll check on him later on."
"It's the morning I'm most worried about," the Potions Master replied with a looming sense of dread to his words.
The matron gave him a somber look and nodded in agreement as she started to gather up the empty potion phials and other supplies on the tray. "Thank you for your help, Severus. I don't think I could have helped Harry without you."
Snape bowed his head in acknowledgment before Madam Pomfrey went to her office. He felt drained and wished to go to sleep. Choosing to stay the night at Hogwarts rather than travel all the way back to his home in Spinner's End, the Head of Slytherine turned to leave. He had taken only a few steps before he found himself stopping and returning to the sole occupied bed. For a long time Severus stood in silence as he watched Harry sleep. Many times in the past he had come to the hospital wing, secretly of course, to see the boy after one his reckless exploits,. It would not have seemed appropriate for the greasy-haired-bat of-the-dungeon to be visiting the Golden Boy of Gryffindor and Potter never knew he visited. All those times, he would say to himself that he was only doing it for Lily, not because he had any true concern for Potter. But after seeing the true extent of his injuries, Snape could not but truly feel sorrow for the young wizard.
When the clock at the far side of the wing chimed the hour, Snape realized he had not moved in over thirty minutes. Silently, he withdrew from Harry's bedside and exited the hospital wing. As he walked the deserted hall, the notion that he should go to Dumbledore's office came to mind but he quickly dismissed the idea.
'He's in no mood to see anyone let alone talk,' Severus thought to himself.
As he walked down the first floor corridor towards the entrance to the dungeon stairwell, Snape found himself stopping before a large stained glass window. The window depicted a sky filled with violent thunderstorm on the right and a bright sun filled sky on the right. In between the two sides was a red haired angel green eyed angel with her arms outreached as if offering salvation. A single tear ran down
her left cheek. Privately, Snape always felt this window reflected his own tortured soul. The only women he ever loved caught between the evil and harm he's caused and his attempts to atone for those actions. Now as he gazed at the window, he saw felt the angel stare directly into him and a feeling of failure overcame him.
"I'm so sorry," he quietly murmured. A moment later he started again for the stairs.
As he made his way down the spiral dungeon stairwell, Snape kept seeing Harry in his mind. The images of the boy lying in the hospital bed did not match with those of the raven haired green eyed boy
who had plagued him for the past four years.
'How could we have been so blind,' he thought. 'How could I have been so blind. I knew what type of vindictive woman Petunia is. I saw how his family treated him that day. I saw what he was hiding behind that glamour charm. But then again Potter hid everything well. So well that nobody suspected a thing, not even Granger, Weasley or Black suspected anything. Merlin...when Black hears of this, he'll completely lose it. Well, he'll be the Wolf's problem at that point.'
More and more questions filled his mind as he entered the dungeons. By the time he reached his chambers, the Potions Master felt overwhelmed. He had no idea how the Headmaster was going to properly handle these new revelations while simultaneously juggling Fudge and his paranoia, the Dark Lord and his plans, and running Hogwarts all at the same time. All Snape knew that despite the queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, he was not going to dragged in with dealing with Harry.
"Black and his little friends can help him," Snape said as he poured himself a glass of brandy and downed it in a single gulp. "I've done my part. I'm done with the boy."
With that, Severus stalked off to the bedroom, assuring himself that his dealings with Lily's son were over with until the beginning of the new school year. But the queasy feeling stayed with all the way to the morning.
-Author's Notes-
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, I look forward to your reviews and opinions.
As I've said in my closing notes for California Here We Come, this past year has been one of lost for me and I would have had this chapter already posted if not for a bad situation that occurred in September.
Some have asked me if Snape will eventually adopt Harry and all I can say at this point is that you will just have to wait and see. I have already decided that this story will end before Harry starts his 5th year and the next story will cover that year. And if you're wondering about how I will handle the horrid pink toad, I'll just say this, watch the original Indian Jones films. Her fate lies within one of them.
As always I look forward to hearing back from you and reading what you thought. Happy New Year to you all.