Chapter 28
Sirius Black sat on a chair next to a hospital bed which held his childhood friend, Remus Lupin. Sirius was leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees and his hands supporting his chin. He was staring at a particular spot on the sheets, not really paying attention to that spot or anything else in the room for that matter.
Remus was sitting up, leaning against a pillow. He held the Daily Prophet in his hands, reading the front page article. Madame Pomphrey had brought them a copy that afternoon and had reported that the majority of the student body had readily accepted Snape's guilt and were already spreading elaborated rumors. The Slytherin house hadn't seemed to take to the news, however. And for once, both Sirius and Remus agreed with them.
They knew and trusted Ron. Besides, what did he have to gain from protecting Snape?
"Sirius?" Remus said after finishing the article.
Caught off guard, Sirius' head jerked up.
"What do you think about this?"
Sirius leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I think Fudge hasn't come up with any leads. He can't admit that Voldemort is back after denying it so adamantly but the press and the public are pushing him for answers. If he doesn't give them soon, he's going to be challenged and most likely lose his office. So, the easiest thing for him to do is to use Snape as a scapegoat."
Remus nodded his head. He had already known what Sirius would say but he wanted to distract his friend, even if for a moment. The two of them had been staying in the room that Poppy had given them at the end of the hospital wing. They had meetings with Dumbledore and McGonagall and other members of the Order of the Phoenix. However, the majority of their time was spent in this room with little to do but brood over Harry.
"Would you like anything, Remus?" Sirius asked feeling a bit guilty about being neglectful to Remus and being poor company.
Remus gave a small smile but shook his head. "I'm fine, thank you."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry sighed. He wasn't quite sure how much he should tell Phaedrus. He hadn't seen anything in the cottage to indicate that Phaedrus was a wizard and besides, if he was a wizard, he would probably have a bit more advanced forms of healing.
"Take your time," Phaedrus said after seeing that Harry probably needed a moment to gather his thoughts.
Harry was grateful that the man wasn't pushing him too hard. He knew that Phaedrus had good reasons for his concern but it still didn't make telling this any easier.
"Could you hand me a wet cloth?" Harry finally said.
Phaedrus did and then went back to cleaning a wound.
Harry took the cloth and began cleaning the cut on Snape's arm where the blood on his hand had come from. For some reason, he found that doing something else always made talking easier. Maybe because he didn't have to look at who he was talking to or maybe because it gave his mind something else to think about.
"Why don't you start from the beginning," Phaedrus suggested after a long silence.
Harry arched his eyebrows and halfway rolled his eyes. "Believe me," he said, "it's a long story."
"We've got a lot of time to fill," Phaedrus said as he took another clean bandage.
Harry sighed. He would just have to leave out the details and hit the high points. Hopefully the werewolf wouldn't ask too many questions. "When I was younger, a man killed my parents," he began.
Phaedrus stopped what he was doing and stared at Harry who was obviously avoiding his eyes.
"He tried to kill me as well, but he couldn't. That man sent someone to my school to kidnap me and Professor Snape tried to stop him but he couldn't and was taken with me. He helped me escape later and now he's taking me back home."
Phaedrus finally pulled his gaze away from Harry after the boy had finished. "Why haven't you gone to the authorities?"
Harry shook his head. "We don't know who we can trust. The man who murdered my mum and dad has ties in many places."
Picking up another cloth and dipping it into the hot water, Phaedrus began to mull over what he had just been told.
"Is he going to be ok?" Harry asked after a few minutes of silence.
"He made it through the night," Phaedrus answered. "That's a good sign. But he will need to rest and take time to heal properly if he expects to make a full recovery."
Harry nodded, now wiping the dried blood from Severus' wrist. But now something was bothering him about Phaedrus. Why had the man been so concerned about him being out here with Snape when he hadn't even asked Harry what had happened to them? "Phaedrus?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"How did you find us?"
Phaedrus blanked. He'd been too preoccupied with his two guests to even think up an excuse. "I was taking a walk," he said quickly, saying the first thing that came to mind.
"Oh. I was just surprised that you didn't ask what had happened to us," Harry prodded, finishing with Snape's hand and standing up. He walked toward Phaedrus and tossed the bloodied rag on the floor with the others.
Phaedrus was quiet. He knew there was no excuse for this, especially after how he had reacted before. "Harry, I-"
But Phaedrus didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he let out a grunt of pain as Harry applied a small amount of pressure on his back. He usually had inexplicable wounds after he transformed back into his human self and this time had been no different. But how did this boy know that his back was hurt?
"You're the werewolf that attacked us, aren't you?" Harry said flatly.
Spinning around in disbelief, Phaedrus stared at Harry with eyes that seemed as if they had seen a ghost. He dropped what he was doing, unable to do or say anything. Harry simply stared back at the man. His eyes weren't judgmental but they seemed to penetrate into the man's sole. Though he was almost an adult, his eyes still bore the innocence of a child.
Finally, it was Harry who broke the silence. "It's all right. I don't care. But you might not want to tell him about this," Harry said indicating Severus with a finger.
Phaedrus was still in a state of astonishment. "How did you-"
"It just seemed to me that if you were so worried about what I was doing out here with a professor, you would've wanted to know what had done this to him," Harry explained.
Phaedrus opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. He couldn't think of anything to say though he thought that this predicament merited some sort of discourse. He never dreamed that someone would just come out and say that he was a werewolf in the same way that someone would say that he was German. Sometimes he couldn't believe it himself. It wasn't normal.
"Look," Harry said, "it doesn't matter to me. I know that your condition doesn't make you a bad person. But, please, he needs your help."
Phaedrus looked down at the floor for a few seconds and then he turned his head to look at Snape and then turned back to look at Harry. "Will you clean these?" Phaedrus said, picking up the dirty cloths on the floor and holding them out to the teen standing before him. His voice was shaky but at least he had found it again.
Without question, Harry took the towels from the man and headed toward the kitchen. He dumped his load into the sink and started to pump it full of water. Grabbing some nearby soap, he started to scrub the cloths one by one.
After what had seemed like half an hour, Phaedrus came into the kitchen with bloody hands. Harry grabbed the last of the rags out of the sink and set them aside. Phaedrus walked mutely to the sink and washed the blood off of his hands.
Harry watched the man but didn't ask him any questions, fearing what the answers might be.
Finally, Phaedrus turned to Harry and broke the silence. "Are you hungry?"
"What?" Harry said, not anticipating the question.
"You must be hungry. When was the last time you ate anything?" Phaedrus inquired.
"I…," Harry trailed off. "I really don't remember."
Phaedrus nodded his head. "Why don't you keep… what did you say his name was?"
"Professor Snape," Harry answered. "But I think it'd be all right if you called him by his first name, Severus," he added after a moment of consideration.
"Well, why don't you keep an eye on Severus while I fix something to eat," Phaedrus suggested, his head already in the cupboard.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note: Thank you to all of my reviewers! I really appreciate the feedback on the story. With the 6th book coming out this summer, I figured that I should get this story rolling. In the next chapter I plan on bringing Voldemort back in and maybe Draco, Ron, and Hermione. I took the suggestions to have Harry refer to Lilly as Mum rather than Mom and to write professor out instead of abbreviating it. It didn't really make a difference to me but I think I'll go with those changes. I do apologize for not being consistent in the entire story, however. I'm going to D.C. to celebrate the New Year so I don't know if I'll update before then but I'll try. Again, thank you for the feedback and please keep it up as it makes my story better!
