CHAPTER EIGHT

Scars?

Harry didn't notice the fountain of liquid geysering all over his sheets, most likely staining them, the pungent smell of all-too-pungent herbs assaulting his nose like an overwhelming fire. His eyes watered dangerously to the brim, but he didn't know whether it was caused by the sour aroma of the potion that had fallen over him that probably had troll snot mixed in it or if it was from the fact that he had been betrayed.

She told him. It was the only thought that was running through his head at that moment, the only string of words that kept repeating in the back of his head first as a dull throb before rearing back and roaring them to the forefront of his mind. She told him.

Someone was wiping at his chin with a handkerchief, but his eyes were fixated on something else, someone else. Madam Pomfrey appeared uncomfortable under his burning gaze but snapped back to folding her arms across her chest, recovering with alacrity.

"Harry," Dumbledore's voice faded into static beside him.

Harry levered himself up into a sitting position within seconds, a hot, searing pain shooting up his right arm as he did so. Gritting his teeth and giving his worst snarl seemed to compensate for it though, so he ploughed through with a nasty fierceness in his forest-green eyes.

"You told me that you weren't going to tell," he growled out slowly, his voice near-death silent. Funnily enough, he had learnt this particular method of threatening from Snape himself, and ostensibly, it seemed to be working on the narrow-eyed witch. His snarl broadened with his teeth barred, the inside of his chest hammering with nerves stuttering through his heart as adrenaline raced through him. "You promised me."

There was something peculiar about the way Pomfrey shifted from foot to foot, her resolve growing lustreless ever so slightly as a small spark of grief flickered in her eyes. Water was gathering in the corners of her eyes, the edges growing red along with her nose. Guilt ate away at a small portion of his heart, but he squashed that feeling down and ploughed through ruthlessly.

"Too late for tears now, boy," his Uncle's words prodded at him behind his eyes, an involuntary tremor diving through his body.

"Mr Potter, like I've informed you before, it is not only my job but my duty as the school's nurse to—"

Harry inhaled sharply, a burning sensation tickling the inside of his nose as his bottom lip trembled at its own accord. And then, before he knew it, he exploded. "You promised me!" He didn't care that it came out sounding like the lovechild of a whimper and a roar, he didn't care that Dumbledore had startled slightly at his outburst; he didn't care that there were tears now freely slipping from his eyes. "You're— You're just like the rest of them. You'll say that you'll do something, to help me, to get me away from them. From the— the abuse, the neglect," he had to stop for a minute to gather his bearings before he choked on his saliva. "But then you'll send me back, like nothing even happened. And then I'll get in trouble, me! Me! Because I always— it's always…"

Throughout a few bits of Harry's tirade, most of his words came out strained and hoarse, and half the time he felt like he was either choking or wheezing them out. And, as the unjust consequence of exerting his emotions through the diatribe of an angry and scrambled speech that didn't leave nearly enough space to empty all of his emotions in, his body began trembling as waterworks in his eyes operated on overtime.

Ignorant of the rapidly blackening gauze along his right arm, Harry pulled his legs into his chest, the pain all but a distant throb of discomfort. The back of his throat felt clogged up, his breathing coming in shuddering breaths of distress.

"Albus," Pomfrey hissed, whipping out her wand and making a few swift gestures towards the potion that had swept across the sheets of the hospital bed, banishing any leftover residue. With another flourish of her wand, a similar vial that Snape had given Harry came zooming through the curtains from beneath the trolley she had wheeled in just prior to her argument with Dumbledore. "Go, we'll discuss—" she glanced at Harry hesitantly, "—this later."

Dumbledore sent the nurse a mournful look, eyes glistening under the dimmed lights. "Poppy," he whispered softly, reaching out to grab her shoulder gently. The witch evaded his touch, screwing up her lips before silently pointing towards the curtains, avoiding his gaze as she spelled the blood-replenishing potion and sleeping potion into the child's stomach.

"I'll meet with you as soon as I can," she turned around finally, her eyes hardened with her countenance partially stoic, the near-replica of the Potions Master's own. "Please," her voice broke just as her expression did, she could tell, but that didn't stop her insistence on the Headmaster's much-needed absence. Not just for Harry, but for herself as well.

"...I understand."

Once Dumbledore had left with the creak of the doors closing shut with an audible click, Pomfrey allowed herself to fall apart.

Promises were never easy to keep, and they never will be.

—

"What in Merlin's name was that back there?" Severus hissed, head lowered slightly as he fixed Albus with one of his heated looks. They continued down the dirt path side by side, Albus keeping to his sedated strides while Severus resembled little more than an eager news reporter endeavouring to gleam a statement out of his target. "Scars? Just what— What scars, Albus?"

Albus glanced sideways to his former spy, nonchalant. "You were never one for shamelessly eavesdropping on matters that don't concern you, Severus." At the man's deepening scowl, he raised a placating hand with a quirk of his lips. "Now, now. You might just blow your cover, my boy. Wouldn't want anyone knowing that you actually care for the child now, would we?"

Severus growled. "Don't call me that," he barked. "And what, pray tell, do you mean by that?" His hands were curled into fists by his sides at this point.

The old wizard paused abruptly in his gait, turning his body fully towards the dour Potions Master, an innocent smile that matched the unmistakable glint in his eyes playing along his mouth. It took all of Severus' willpower not to roll his eyes. "Why, what else could I possibly be referring to?" The Potions Master raised an eyebrow. The glimmer in Albus' eyes only flourished more vibrantly in response. "Your attachment to the boy, of course."

Severus blinked blankly. Then he blinked again. Then he hightailed out of there, turning on the heels of his boot and swivelling around, stomping away in the opposite direction of where Albus was heading. Albus watched him leave, his smile only growing more under the nocturnal moonlight. Once the swirling vortex of black cloth had finally disappeared out of the peripheral of his views, he carried on with his stroll through the camping grounds, heading for the lake.

He supposed, in a rather amusing manner, that he should've expected such a response by Severus. Although, on one hand, the alternative version of what might have happened wasn't precisely appealing — Albus wasn't a masochist in the slightest — it was definitely an outcome he was prepared for. He was lucky he only got away with a glare that would kill him if it could.

But then again, he wasn't just teasing the man.

It didn't take an — as Severus would surely describe — incompetent dunderhead to figure out the Potions Master's subtle change of heart towards what many assumed was his most 'disliked' student. Dare they go as far as to think that he truly hated the boy.

Nonetheless, whatever happens in the future was up to them to decide.

...And maybe with a little bit of his own meddling in between it all.

Now, Albus skipped along the path with a small bounce in his steps now that he knew that he wouldn't receive a sarcastic jibe from a particular man. Onwards to the lake!

A/N: Apologies for the late update and short chapter; had covid, was busy, still busy, got lazy, procrastinated with netflix and fanfics, etc. The plot is still a work in progress as well, so not everything is planned haha! Hope you're all safe and healthy! 3