Chapter 3
Hogwarts was in a state of chaos, Charles Potter had nearly had his head caved in by his own brother, who had them fled the school on his broom towards an unknown destination. Harry had already managed to flee the hall by the time the professors, led by Dumbledore, had muscled their way through the large crowd of students towards the center of the hall, where they found Charles lying in a heap on the floor. After being briefly taken aback by the battered state that the boy was in, Dumbledore quickly cast a levitation charm and escorted him to the Hospital Wing with the other professors following closely behind. Almost immediately upon entering the hospital wing, Pomfrey began tending to the battered Charles. Laying him down on one of the empty beds and drawing the curtain, she began running an assortment of tests and scans on his body and administering several medicinal potions and saulves. After several minutes of hushed discussion between Dumbledore and the professors, Pomfrey emerged from the curtains and cleared her throat, prompting an immediate silence from the group.
"Mr. Potter has suffered a rather serious concussion, fractures along his cheek bones, as well as quite a few lost teeth. While I am more than able to heal all of these wounds, it will be several days before I am comfortable with discharging Mr. Potter from my care. Thankfully, I do not expect him to suffer from any long term effects of his condition. "
Pomfrey concluded her report on Charles's condition before turning towards Dumbledore and shooting him an accusatory glance.
"Headmaster, would you be so kind to enlighten me as to why Charles Potter looks like a man that hurled a string of insults at a hippogriff?"
Dumbledore let out a sign and rubbed the temples of his forehead.
"It would seem that young Charles had gotten into a dispute with his brother during breakfast in the Great Hall, at some point during that argument, something had been said, prompting a rather… violent reaction from young Harry."
Pomfrey looked momentarily distrubed at what she had just been told.
"And where is Harry now? Surely he also has injuries that require my attention?"
It was at this point that Snape interjected "It would seem the contest of muggle combat between the Potter twins was rather one sided. After our arrival to the hall, Harry fled the hall and retrieved his broom, fleeing the grounds before we could stop him"
"And why exactly would Harry attack his brother so violently over an argument?"
"It is no secret that the twins are brothers in name only, although the extent of their dislike for each other was not thought to be this severe."
Snape, a man who prided himself for his ability to read people and keep a cool, logical head in the presence of the most dangerous dark wizard of all time, had to admit, at least to himself, that he had not seen the full nature of the Potter twins dysfunctional relationship. Although, that could be because he had not bothered to look further into it.
Pomfrey nodded solemnly and turned back to face Dumbledore, scanning something on her medical chart in the process.
"Well, there is nothing more that you can do now Headmaster, I will monitor Mr. Potter's condition and keep you informed."
"Thank you Madam Pomfrey, please let me know when he wakes, I need to speak with him as soon as possible."
"Of course Headmaster."
The other professors took this as their cue and began to ease out of the hospital wing, with Dumbledore and Snape being the last ones to leave the wing. As they walked, Snape began questioning Dumbledore.
"Surely you must realize, Headmaster, that what has transpired here will not be able to be kept quiet for long, considering the Boy Who Lived was viciously attacked by his brother who is now missing."
"Indeed I do Severus, it would not surprise me if word had already reached the Daily Prophet or the Ministry."
"You must also realize, Headmaster, that the public scrutiny of this incident will surely invite the attention of certain parties, namely the Dark Lord. If he were to discover the whereabouts of Harry Potter before us..."
"I am well aware of the danger Severus, rest assured I already have the Order looking for him"
"Pray they find him soon Albus, if the Dark Lord were to discover that one of the Potter twins was missing and without protection, he would undoubtedly seize the opportunity to capture him."
"Yes, we must move quickly to prevent that possibility. In the meantime, I will summon Lily and James to my office to discuss this matter."
Snape grumbled at the mention of James Potter but otherwise said nothing as he nodded to Dumbledore and made his way towards the dungeons. Dumbledore proceeded to his office and went to the floo. He stuck his head in the floo and called out "Potter residence". After a moment, the face of Lily Potter appeared in the fireplace.
"Albus, what a pleasant surprise!"
"Hello Lily, as nice as it is to see you, I'm afraid this is not a social call. I'm afraid I have news concerning your sons."
"What's happened, is Charles alright!?"
"I'm afraid he's in rough shape, he and young Harry had a rather violent altercation this morning. He is recovering in the Hospital Wing."
"And where is Harry?"
"I'm afraid, that is another matter I must discuss with you and James right away, he fled the school immediately after the incident. I have already dispatched the Order to find him, but as of this moment, his current whereabouts are unknown."
"Oh Merlin, James and I will be there in a moment!"
With that, the floo call ended and Lily's face disappeared from the fire. Dumbledore stepped away from the fireplace and took a seat at his desk, stroking his beard as he tried to prepare how we would better explain the situation to the Potters. Meanwhile, in another part of Scotland, a young man was shaking hands with his recruiter, a new chapter of his life was about to begin.