Chapter 27
Unbeknownst to the four fleeing students, someone had seen everything.
Someone who happened to be quite Slytherin.
Someone who happened to not like Gryffindor's that much.
Someone who happened to be very loyal to a certain Head of House.
And she was currently slithering her way back to her master's rooms.
"Massster?"
"Massster?!"
"MASSSTER!"
Riddle groaned and rolled over, trying to block out his familiar's voice, "Go away Nagini, I'm sssleeping".
"It'sss about Harry".
Tom was decidedly more awake now.
"What about him?"
"... He'sss been attacked".
"Where isss he?!" Tom snarled, rushing through the corridor's, Nagini wrapped hastily around his shoulders.
"Grand ssstaircassse outssside of the Great Hall" She replied.
"What happened?!"
"Gryffindor'sss attacked him".
Tom glared at the paintings that grumbled about his shouting, "Then why the hell didn't he fight back!"
"There were four of them, Massster... I do not think my little ssserpent wanted to hurt them".
He took a deep breath as he took a sharp right, "... How bad isss it?"
The silence his familiar answered him with gave him all the information he needed.
"Harry!"
He was barely aware of his wand falling.
"Harry, answer me!"
His body fell next.
"... Harry?"
Lifeless eyes stared back at him.
Tom hesitantly reached out and shook his shoulder.
Nothing.
"Harry, come on... Harry, this isn't funny... Wake up! WAKE UP!"
"Who goes there?!"
Tom tensed and spun around, coming face to face with a certain Potion's Professor.
Snape froze when he saw his best friend kneeling on the floor, tears glistening in the light from his wand.
"Tom? Tom, what happened?! What's wrong?!"
Riddle said nothing and turned away again, and Severus slowly walked closer until he could see what the man was blocking from view.
His eyes widened, "Sweet Merlin..."
Snapping into action, he ran forward and pulled Tom back from the body, crouching down next to it to check for a pulse.
There was one.
But it was dangerously faint.
"Harry... Harry wake up... Harry come on, you're okay, you're fine, just wake up..."
It was only with his friends muttering did he finally realise who the body belonged to.
The Boy-Who-Lived.
Swearing viciously, he turned to the nearest painting and quickly gave it orders to call Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey.
Turning back to Potter, Severus did his best to find the worst of the wounds and put pressure on them, trying his hardest to ignore Riddle's incoherent muttering.
He was a professor, for Merlin's sake, not a healer!
"Tom".
The man didn't lift his gaze from the boy.
"Tom!"
Silence.
Snape sighed, before sending a mild stinging hex his friend's way.
He didn't even react to it.
"Severus?"
He spun around at the voice only to find a sleepy Headmaster slowly making his way down the staircase.
Which, now that Snape was actually looking at it, seemed to have dark stains on it, almost like...
Blood.
"Severus?" Dumbledore asked again, "... Tom?"
Riddle didn't move.
"Albus! Quick, I need your help!"
The old man picked up his pace, before abruptly stilling as he caught sight of the body in between the two Professors.
"Is that... Is that Harry?"
Snape glared, "Don't just stand there, you fool, help me!"
He didn't have to be told twice.
Kneeling down next to the potions master faster than a man half his age, Dumbledore quickly took in the situation before muttering a few wandless spells.
Severus was glad to see some of the boy's wounds close up.
"What happened?" Albus asked urgently, all twinkle gone from his eyes.
He shrugged, "I don't know. I was patrolling the corridors, heard shouting, and found them here".
The Headmaster turned to his Defence teacher, "Tom? Tom, what happened?"
The man continued to stare down at Harry, carefully running his fingers through the messy hair, still mumbling under his breath.
"Tom?" Dumbledore asked again, reaching out and gently shaking the younger wizard's shoulder.
Nothing.
"He's in shock... Do you think he had something to do with it?"
Dumbledore gave Severus a sharp look, but the man glared right back at him, "You know yourself how powerful he is, Albus. A lovers quarrel; he could have easily lashed out... This is Harry Potter lying here. We need to cover all possibilities".
"No" Albus said firmly, "Tom would never have done this to Harry. Or any other friend, for that matter... He must have found him here".
"Hissssssss".
Both men jumped and turned, only to find a familiar green snake slithering out from behind Tom.
Severus frowned, "Nagini? What are you doing here?"
She nodded towards the boy.
"... You found him" He realised, and she nodded once more.
"Was Tom involved?"
She bared her fangs and hissed viciously at him.
"Guess that rules out one possibility, then" Snape said quietly.
"Headmaster? Severus? What is the meaning of this?"
"Pomona! Thank Merlin!" Severus exclaimed, jumping to his feet, "It's Potter. Someone attacked him, we don't know who, and Tom's not responding".
She quickly shuffled him out of the way and crouched down next to the boy, waving her wand and muttering different spells over his body. Conjuring a stretcher, she quickly sent her patronus to St Mungo's, "He's too injured for me to do much good her. A team of healers will meet us at the infirmary... Now Severus, I need you to remove Tom as Albus and I put Mr Potter on the stretcher.
Nodding once, he bent down and cautiously removed his friend's hands from the student, pulling Riddle to his feet in the process, and holding onto his arm long enough for Harry to put on the portable hospital bed.
Tom immediately latched himself next to the boy again.
"We must hurry, he's losing too much blood" She said, quickly making her way through the halls, the stretcher floating next to her as she checked Harry's vitals even as she half-ran.
"Will he make it?" Dumbledore asked quietly as they reached the infirmary.
She stared at him for a minute, before turning to Tom who was continuing to gently card his fingers through Harry's hair, whispering sweet nothings to the unconscious boy, "... Lets hope for Riddle's sake that he does".