Hey guys, first off thank you to every one who reviewed last chapter.
This chapter focuses on Severus and his day as well as a bit of Hermione and Poppy interaction.
Next chapter will be the adoption process and Jack
Chapter 14: A serpents bite
The next morning sort Snape at his desk in his usual black clothes as he didn't particularly give two-shits about what he wore. He sipped his morning coffee at his desk as he went about his business looking through his mail. He had received several letters this morning most in relation to the recently expelled students who had brought drugs into the school and had almost attempted to kill him and Minerva with that stunt of theirs.
He opened the first one, seeing the complaint from Severus' man-handling of one of the boys. Man-handling...perhaps. A day after the incident occurred, he had been called in to collect the three students that had been dealing drugs. He had hauled them into the headmasters office by the backs of their collars and forced them to sit and wait as Albus had finished his paperwork. The old man had told them of the seriousness of the matter; they had injured not only a teacher but not bothered to come forth after the incident. The drugs were of the latter aspect of the conversation. Eurphorics that meddled with others minds were explicitly banned and they knew the consequences of such actions. They had been suspended for now with their fate lingering in the balance of the Department of Education's decision.
Severus noted that Albus ommissed the fact that a child had been severely injured as a result of the confrontation. He gritted his teeth, his hands shaking as he leaned against the wall peering outside of the open window of the headmasters office.
After the meeting was adjurned, they were asked to go and pack there things and bring the drugs forth. Unfortunately, it was under Snapes supervision and halfway down to the dungeons he could hear the students wondering about how they were going to dispose of the evidence. Severus rolled his eyes; they couldn't seriously be plotting whilst he was a few paces back from them. Utter morons. They didn't deserve to be wizards.
"...We'll flush each of our deposits when that dungeon bat turns his back" The fat Hufflepuff wheezed. Snape glared at the back of his head liking the thought of snaping his wand in front of his eyes. He smirked before arriving at the Hufflepuffs portrait.
The Hufflepuff whispered the password before turning to the fifth Ravenclaw and Slytherin, "I'll just be a moment" He stated.
"Not at all Mr. Flinnette. Considering it may be the last time that you and your friends step foot within these halls again it may be of benefit to them if they got to see the other common rooms" Snape uttered earning a whimper from the boy.
"...And since you need to be accompanied by an teacher, I suppose we'll all be accompanying you into your quarters"
The Hufflepuff gave a nervous smile before disagreeing, "that's alright Sir, I can pack on my own"
"NOW MR FLINETTE" Severus snapped earning a jump from all three of the boys. Good. He wasn't putting up with any of their shit today. He supervised as the fat boy packed before the older man asked for his illicit material.
He ended up getting a stack of Witches Weekly magazines (not banned but some of the pages were sticking together) and some actual X-rated magazines, both of which the potions master refused to touch.
"I meant the drugs you sniveling badger" Severus reprimanded earning another whimper from the boy.
"I don't have any Sir" Severus rolled his eyes before removing his wand from his sleeve and accioing the drugs.
"100 points from Hufflepuff for blatantly lying to a teacher" He growled. The same process had occurred two more times, each of their trunks laying outside their common rooms for Filch to collect and take to the front gate. Each boy had at least 300grams of white powder. He didn't have to guess to know what it was. By the end of the task, all three boys were extremely pissed off with their teacher and were commenting vulgar things behind his back. Well, technically in front of considering that Severus was walking behind them.
It wasn't until the Hufflepuff had spoken up about wishing he'd have shoved the man harder so he did get crushed by the supplies and so forth killing the bastard that Severus had had enough. After he had said that, he couldn't get the images of pulling his familiar...the bleeding and almost dead girl out of the rubble and healing her. His breathing caught in his chest as he remembered the horror in his unofficial adopted mother's (Minerva's) eyes as she struggled to find a pulse on the girl. When he had grabbed the trembling and scared girl out from under the bed and forced her to face her worst fears. He couldn't stiffle the self-loathing and guilt that escaped his lips. It should've been him, not a child; not his familiar.
The boys had heard the horrible sound emmitted from their professors lips. Within a second, Severus had his hands on the boys collar shoving him against the wall and spitting in his face.
"You think it's funny to try to kill others, do you Mr Flinette?" Severus spat at him his voice going quieter and quieter as his words hissed into the boys ear.
"I-I, No sir" and grabbed the boy roughly by his collar before shoving him against the wall.
"I suppose the Headmaster, illuded to tell you that you not only caused thousands of galleons to school property but also crushed both mine and headmistresses familiar with yoUR IMBECILIC ANTICS" He roared in the boys face making the other boys jump back.
"Unfortunately I have sworn a duty not to my harm students, however come next week when all three of yous are expelled I cannot imagine what might occur, especially once the headmistress hears that her most prized possession is currently breathing through a tube. Although I suppose, she already has heard considering the fact that you attempted to crush not only myself but her as well" He growled.
"Yes, I don't think you will be seeing Hogwarts ever again. Not to mention your wands" He leaned forward so he was whispering into the boys ear.
"I can just hear the splintering of the wood as they snap your only lifeline to our world. No more magic ever again. You'll be nothing more than a squib. Seems like the worst kind of fate for a pureblood, am I correct Mr Ranell?" He called to the Ravenclaw. He sneered at the fat boy one last time before hearing the trinkle of water hitting the ground. Severus looked down to see the boy had completely wet himself. Severus growled before shoving the boy away.
"You disgusting, pathetic-"
"Professor Snape, if I may have a word"
He heard the voice of a woman calling him. He turned to his left, seeing Poppy coming over to them rather hurriedly with a scroll in his hands. Discharge papers no doubt, accompanied by a lecture about leaving the hospital wing before being signed off.
He turned back to his charges.
"I expect you to be in the headmasters' office in less than 5 minutes" He glared at them. They instantly ran for it, pelting down the corridor.
He took a breath before turning to Poppy who was now standing less then 2 metres away from him.
He rolled his eyes, "I suppose this us about my discharge paperwork" He held his hand out awaiting the paperwork for him to sign.
"Yes and -" She handed him one of the scrolls. He opened it before grabbing a auto-refillable ink pen out of his pocket and signing. He had long hated constantly dipping his quill in ink. He found he could accomplish more gutting remarks in less time using a auto-refilling pen.
"You want me to apologies for my actions yesterday"
He cut in before signing the paperwork.
"I believe that would be for the best, Severus. However, I can see that you need a minute to compose yourself" She vanished the piss on the ground where he had scared the children.
"Horrible little monsters" Snape spat under his breath before returning the scroll to her. She then handed him another which made him arch his eyebrow.
"And what exactly is this?"
"I thought you'd be interested to know of the girls history of illness prior to coming to Hogwarts" She stated as he undid the scroll about to open it.
"It reminded me of someone in particular" Her eyes flashed before she turned to take her leave. He arched his eyebrow, knowing he was referring to himself but ignored it deciding to turn over the illicit material to the headmaster before returning to his lair, well...office.
So that's where Severus had ended up. A letter from a parent in his hands complaining about his ill treatment of his son.
Dear Mr and Mrs Flinnette,
Sorry your son attempted to not only poison our school but crush both crush myself not to mention the head deputy. However, in doing so managed to almost kill A BLOODY FIVE YEAR OLD GIR-
SNAP!
His pen broke, he immediately threw it against the illusioned window, along with the now scrunched up letter.
He gritted gritted his teeth in absolute anger as he hunched over his desk about to destroy half his office. He whipped his wand out sending hex upon hex upon the impenetrable illusioned window that Albus had set up. In the end, it did no damage although, Severus did feel slightly better. After catching his breath, he sat back down and began to take our another letter.
Huh, Narcissa Malfoy?
He sliced open the top with his letter opened before removing the contents.
Severus,
I am beginning to worry. It has been too long since you have been over to see both Lucius and I. Not to mention our son, your godson, Draco.
I have arranged a dinner party on Friday the 4th of December, this fortnight; I feel I need to remind you. You will be in attendance.
Regards,
Narcissa Malfoy
"Bossy bloody woman" Severus huffed before bothering to reply to her letter. No, he hadn't seen the family in over a month and a half. It was mainly due to the fact that not only was Draco a handful but so was Narcissa. They hadn't had a real conversation in ages. When he is usually over there, Lucius and Narcissa spent most of the time talking about their prestigious, smart and handsome pureblooded son. If it wasn't about that, then it was about them trying to set Severus up on a date which usually ended quite poorly. As Lucius and Narcissa were now bored with their lives, they had decided to be much like Albus and Minerva and meddle in others.
And seeing as how Severus was of course a bachelor, they decided to meddle in his. He groaned hoping he wasn't going to be sat next to another blonde, bimbo or worse. Someone like Bellatrix Lestrange. He shivered at the thought, owling his agreement to attend the dinner party with his black great horned owl who partically pecked everyone he met.
"Take this to the Malfoy residence. Make sure Mrs Malfoy gets it" He groaned before sitting back in his chair and looking at the last thing he parchment been given today. It was the parchment Poppy had given him about the girls history. He rolled his eyes, opening it and deciding to at least give it a skim.
The brat had managed to not only trick him but pretended to be something he cared about. The least he could do was get some dirt on the girl, blackmail her if he needed too considering the fact that she had seen too much of his nicer side. Those thoughts subsided as he read her patient file.
'Severely Abused and Neglected'
Severus scratched his shoulder as he leaned back in his chair reading over her history of every single injury that had occurred to her in some house of horrors right up to the point where Hermione had given a bit of history about herself.
'Treated like dirt. Worse then dirt. At least sand and dirt got to sit on the couch'
He pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing to read.
Something about how her uncle loved his pet Bruce and Hermione became rather jealous and decided to attempt to be an animal. She had unknowingly performed one of the greatest feats in magic to be treated as an equal to a mutt.
Merlin!
Minor injuries healed - 26th August - (That was when Minerva had brought her in)
He skipped to the day that the shelves had crushed her and saw the list of injuries.
He shook his head in guilt. He really shouldn't have grabbed her. Another stupid decision on his part ready to through yet another regret into his rather large pit. He sipped his coffee as he look up to the girls current psychological state.
Hermione is extremely polite and somewhat social at times. However, she can be extremely shy and she is displaying classical signs of PTSD. She is apprehensive to ask for anything and has stated that she feels as though she will be punished if she attempts so. There is a slight concern over self-harming issues as she is constantly grabbing her hair and pulling it when stressed. We have found that her teddy appears to both calm and soothe her, however she becomes extremely anxious without it.
She is severely hyper-alert and is constantly vigilant of people's movements.
Current diagnosis: PTSD with moderate to severe level social anxiety disorder. Depression - unknown (further testing required)
Nutritional diagnosis: Osteomalacia, Protein-energy malnutrition, Vitamin K deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency.
No wonder the girl broke so many bones. No wonder she was always sleeping. Ah, Severus wanted to beat himself. How did he manage to miss this.
That's it. Severus didn't care. He was having a drink despite the fact that it was 10 in the morning. He opened his bottom draw and removed a stainless steel flash containing a quarter of Firewhiskey. He chugged it down before deciding on his next approach. He was going to approach the girl and apologies for his behaviour towards her.
He heard the sound of apparition. He coughed, before looking up to see his personal elf, 'Whiskey'. All Hogwarts staff were given an elf to assist them with their work considering the lack of proper teaching staff here.
"Sir, the 1st years are ready for your" The house elf stated, it's upright, stoic posture showed both the elf's high self-esteem and self-efficacy. The house elf had become very useful to Severus over the years, especially when he had began teaching the elf how to grade first years assignments. He smirked, smartest thing he ever did.
"Thank you Whiskey. You may return to your duties"
The elf nodded before clicking his fingers and disappearing.
Great. First years. To be honest, he completely forgot he had to teach. He took another sip of his whiskey before shoving it back in his draw and stuffing a bunch of breath mints in his mouth before leaving.
Hermione clicked her teeth as she laid on the bed wishing for company. Minerva had left only half and hour ago and since then all Hermione could think about was her adoption paperwork. She couldn't sleep a wink knowing that she was going to going home with a family. Nothing could ruin her high.
Well, except maybe...
"Come my dear, I think you could use a nice bath" Poppy literally popped her head through the quickly calmly enough to surprise to Hermione. In one hand, she held a file in the other a scrunch of the green curtains as to show this was her usual rounds.
At the word bath, Hermione instantly freaked. She tried to jump from the bed and immediately hide under it but the spell was still in place and Poppy had no quarrel at lowering the side bar about to scoop the girl up in her arms. However, she couldn't stop herself from noticing the shivering girl, scrunching her eyes and clutching her hair in pain. She was whimpering quiet badly and it broke the Healers heart.
"My dear, what's wrong?" She asked concerned but received no response. The girl was practically having a panic attacks, likely reliving a memory. She moved off to her potions stores retrieving a calming draught before taking a seat next to the bed. She transfigured a goblet and water for her to drink before pouring in a small amount of the draught, figuring a full adult dosage would be too much for the child.
"It's all right dear, I'm just here to help" She tried to ease the girl's mind but she continued to rock back and forth.
It had taken a lot of coaxing to get the small girl to calm down enough to drink a goblet of water that Poppy had laced with a calming drought. Though, even one dose did not pull her from her hyper alert state. The Healer ended up having to double her dose in order to gently pull her somewhat limp body from underneath the bed.
"Come dear girl. You need a bath" She pulled the still struggling girl into her arms as gently as she could before taking her over to the medical wards private lavatory.
The bathroom was quite big and spacious. It had several disability accessible showers, toilets and one rather large bathtub that was kept just in the corner however, was accessible on all sides.
Poppy placed the girl on one of the toilet seats before grabbing a towel. She was hoping by the state of things that Hermione had not experienced any sexual assault. She filled the bath-tub up with heaps of bubbles and transfigured a rubber ducky for the girl to entertain herself. After another struggle with both coaxing and assisting the girl into undressing, Poppy had finally managed to get her into the bath.
Her injured splinted limbs had been made waterproof by the healer so she could allow the girl a normal bath instead of a sponge bath which she was hoping would cheer Hermione up rather than upset her. She knew that simply casting a scourify spell on the girl would clean away the sweat but nothing compared to a bath and Poppy was trying to give the girl a positive experiencing and teach her how to trust again.
"I want teddy" The girl mumbled sluggishly batting the water as she curled herself into a ball. Bath times at her previous place of residence were never pleasant. On weekends when her uncle was there it would usually involve him shoving her into the backyard before grabbing a hose and spraying her whilst she was still dressed in her shirt and trousers. He had taken her shoes away at first, claiming only humans wore shoes and she did not classify as one. So, she usually ended up laying there with his dog in the backyard both chained to a poll by the neck until the evening when her uncle would feel peckish enough to eat.
She would usually end up in the first stages of hypothermia by the time he finally let her back in at night and even then her clothes would still be damp and cold. Her uncle would usually be forced to allow her to sleep next to the fire, however it didn't go without a beating as she was unable to dry her clothes fast enough. No, so now Hermione had counted she had not had a proper bath without clothing on since she was with her parents seven and a half months ago. And for a child, that was practically a lifetime ago.
"You can have teddy after you've had your bath and some desert. Would you like that?"
Hermione didn't say or do anything other than avoid eye contact with the matron.
Poppy pulled the girl forward carefully washing her back. She avoided the gauze as best as she could. Another waterproof spell in place. Poppy could assume the scars were still quiet tender and hypersensitive despite the surgery and healing balms she had massaged into her skin. She heard the hissing and whimpering of the girl as she ran her the flannel over parts of the scarring from whips. She licked her lips nervous as she pulled the girl forward to sit up straight ready to wash her locks of bedraggled hair next.
She picked up one of the plastic pitchers beside her and began filling it with bathwater.
"Hermione dear, I need you to close your eyes so I can wash your hair now" She told the girl. She watched as the brown eyes inspected the Maidens movements before nodding. Hermione shuddered as the water slid into her hair and down her back. She took a breath as the older woman continued to repeat the process until her hair was completely soaked through. Minerva couldn't help but notice the severe amount of knots, dirt and grease within it.
"Right, now some shampoo"
She felt the woman's hands thread through her hair catching every second on a knot. The woman watched in concern thinking she would have to cut the girl's hair short considering how many knots there were. She had probably hadn't washed nor brushed her hair in such a long time. The Healer continued the process: washing out the girls hair before placing a detangling conditioner through it and grabbing a brush and scissors.
She worked on each knot individually being careful not to cause the girl any further pain. It took around 20 minutes to properly be able to thread her fingers through the girls hair. She was lucky enough to only have to cut the girls hair just below the bottom of her scapulars which was a massive feat considering the hair was originally down to the bottom of her spine. She began moving on to the rest of the girl's body.
"I bet that feels better" She smiled at the girl who was now running a hand lazily through her silky hair. She nodded flicking a small smile towards the woman before settling down on the ceramic backrest as Poppy ran the flannel down her arm. Hermione watched the woman's hands attentively, ensuring the woman wasn't going to strike her. It took a lot of willpower not to lash out and scream at the woman as her nerves fired off with warning signals due to her hypersensitivity. She deduced that the woman had drugged her. That was easy to tell with her sluggish movements and dulled senses. Much like her uncles movements but he seemed to get more violent depending on how much he drank.
The woman finally got to the girl's feet before the girl kicked up a fuss and pulled her legs away from her.
"What's wrong?" A startled Poppy asked concerned. She placed a hand on the girl's cheek but she turned away.
"Dear, I need to check to make sure you're okay, by the looks of things you have quite a lot of scar tissue on your feet. Did you ever wear shoes?" The concerned matron asked. Tears springed down Hermiones' eyes as she turned away, ignoring the woman. Poppy took a gulp of air shocked at the girl's reluctance to answer. She knew deep down the answer. The scarring was apart of more torture. She attempted to lightly run the flannel down the heel of her left foot but the girl was fighting quiet badly against her. She felt the girls right arm flail trying to push her off as her breaths wheezed.
"Alright, alright. How about you clean your feet" She passed the girl the flannel. She hesitated but took it out of the matrons hand and pushed her body up as much as she could. The matron assisted as she tucked her left foot to her body and began to partially clean her foot slowly as possible careful to avoid the large, ugly scarring from the glass. Poppy watched on as the girl silently cried, tears leaking down her face as she focussed on her task.
Poppy turned away tearing up at the hopelessness that was written on the girls' face.
It took Hermione about five minutes to clean her foot. Judging by the amount of sensitivity on her soles, Poppy could tell Hermione had not had the pleasure of doing it for a while.
"Right then" She pulled the girl out of the bath before grabbing two large fluffy white towels. She wrapped one around the the girl and began to dry her before grabbing the other and running it through her hair.
Poppy smiled after she finally dressed the girl in the softest pajamas she could find before picking the girl up and placing her on her hip with little resistance. She watched the small girl trying to fight against her exhausted state, suckling on her splinted thumb. Poppy smiled and carried her back to her bed. It had been so long since Hogwarts had had a child in its facilities. She rubbed Hermione's cheek, cooing in the girls ear as she walked out of the bathroom and towards the bed nearest her desk.
She gently laid the girl down and tucked her up before placing a charm on the bed to ensure she would not leave and go off wondering alone. She then sat back down beside the girl and began to write her notes.
It was 5pm by the time Severus made it to the medical ward with a Potions Weekly tucked securely in his jacket. In his right hand held another batch of specifically brewed potions for the girl. Ones that wouldn't make her want to vomit it back up.
It appeared that the Hospital Wing was particularly empty with only three students in it. He stalked past, noticing the ex-seeker of a Slytherin still laying in bed, looking particularly out cold. He walked past two first year Hufflepuffs looking more homesick then injured before he reached the small girls bed.
Poppy took a quick glance up at him from her desk. A smile flickered on her lips capturing Severus' attention. He rolled his eyes before seeing the girl with only the front curtains open for Poppy to keep an eye on her. It appeared as though she had been sleeping for some time as her body looked particularly relaxed and her hair looked only slightly wet. He assumed the girl had had a bath. That was good at least considering the rats nest of a hair he had originally laid eyes upon. As Poppy got up from her desk to check on the other students, Severus slammed the curtains closed before approaching her for inspection since he had not had the chance to have a proper look.
He couldn't help his eyes roam the girls body.
He spotted the girl tucked up tightly in bed with his cloak being used as an extra blanket. He rolled his eyes as he took a seat next to the girl resting in bed. A frown on her face as she slept through the day. Every now and again, he would hear the girl mumble and wince in her sleep. He had no doubt Poppy had given her both a sleeping potion and dreamless sleep judging by the girl's medical history.
Rubbing his neck to take over a shift of looking after the girl, he placed the new batch of potions on the nightstand before taking his potions magazine out of his pocket and beginning to read.
He hadn't noticed it at first until he felt a set of eyes on him. He hesitantly turned his attention away from his magazine and to the wide eyes of the girl whose owl eyes stared at his reading material. He could see the eagerness in her eyes at wanting something to do. He presumed that she must have been bored considering the fact that she had really only been sleeping and chatting to Minerva and Poppy most of the day.
"Aren't you suppose to be asleep?" He inquired raising an eyebrow, curious about the girls next movements. She took a glance into his eyes before avoiding eye contact and closing her eyes pretending to sleep.
Another five minutes past before he felt the set of eyes back on the page. He sighed, before turning to her.
She noticed his movement and quickly pretended to sleep again.
"Don't bother"
She winced, biting her lip and opening her eyes to see him. He didn't seem angry rather quite calm.
He scratched his chin before he removed Bears' black collar from his pocket and extended his arm to her.
"Minerva informed me that you were after this"
Hermione hesitated but took her arm out of the blanket and quickly took the collar from his palm before sitting up. He watched as she placed it on her right splinted wrist attempting to wear it as a bracelet.
He rolled his eyes, if he had known she'd wanted something he would have gotten her a bloody bracelet rather than a collar. He watched as she stared down at the fine dragon hide material with Severus' initials and the name Bear inscribed into it. A small traced itself on her lips before she flicked her eyes over to the curious man.
"You like it?" He asked.
She nodded. She hadn't received anything since her fifth birthday last year and was ecstatic when the potions master had made her a collar when she was a kitten. She had grown attached to it in a way which made the man slightly uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat. Hermione noticed but she didn't care at this moment as she attempted to run her fingers over the texture of the collar itself.
"I suppose if you like it so much then you're more than welcome to keep it" He stated hoping on the inside the girl wasn't too far gone that she considered herself so much as an animal. He gulped before returning to his magazine trying to ignore her as best he could. He figured his company was enough to keep the girl entertained but he was proved in less than a minute with the girl's eyes landing back on him; back on the magazine.
He sighed.
"You won't understand anything I tell you; it's potions making. Something that does not exist in the muggle world" He informed her, turning the page. Still her eyes bore curious. There was a lot of things adults had told her she wouldn't understand but she had proved them wrong time and time again. Her unwavered gaze on the paper stilled Severus. He finally gave in, assuming the girl was too injured to hold a piece of paper in his hands he decided on reading to her but first he cast a spell to ensure no one could hear them.
"The Oculus Potion is a potion that restores the drinker's eyesight, including counteracting the effects of a conjunctivitis curse. It is a deep orange colour when completed..."
He leaned forward showing her the pictures of what the potion should look like as he continued on. Throughout his mainly one-sided conservation he began to lecture her about 'the subtle art of potions making' and how particular potions were made compared to the ones stated in Potions Weekly. He disagreed with quite a number although he had a hobby of writing writing several articles himself. He showed her a few but made her promise to not tell. She smiled taking her pinky on her right hand and pinky swearing much to Severus surprise...and curiosity. She really was a strange girl; he pinky sweared.
The duo continued on reading for the remainder of their time together.
Maybe Minerva was right. Maybe he didn't hurt her. She said he'd apologies; maybe this was his way of doing so. She smiled up at him before tucking his cloak higher and resting on her pillows as he continued on reading to her and showing her the pretty pictures.
Hey guys so I'm back at work now so the story won't be updated as much but I will try a new chapter at least once a week.
