This story is the product of my own mind (muddled though it may be). The characters are, sadly, not mine. They belong to J. K. Rowling. I just play with them, and bend them to my will occasionally. Occasionally they see fit to take over the story, and then I am at the mercy of their will. Warning: Child Abuse.
A Promise Fulfilled
By: Mikee
Part 3
Severus' POV
First day of school came quickly, and Harry mended well under the adequate care of Madame Pomfrey, the tender administrations of Albus, and the possessive hovering of Professor Lupin.
I could not intervene. It's not that I didn't want to, but I had to be sure Harry understands my position. I don't want him to take my treatment in public to heart. I can't risk breaking the boy, although it's by Merlin's own grace the Muggles hadn't already.
I made my dramatic entrance into the potions dungeon and gave my first day speech with just a small added twist. I attacked Harry (oh not physically), I just pointed out 'our new celebrity' to the class. I planned to talk to him after class. I planned to catch him doing something, anything that would give me reason to hold him after class. I only needed five minutes of his time to try to explain the facts of my behavior, and hope… (perhaps against hope) that he could, would, understand.
You know that old Muggle saying about "best laid plans… oft-times going awry?" Well these certainly did. I don't know how it started, only how it ended. It ended with Harry getting the potion-power beaten out of him. I only turned around long enough to write the ingredients, and how to mix them on the board. When I turned around to face the class I was panic-stricken to find Harry curled on the floor in a small quivering ball… a bloody ball.
One of his new friends, a Miss Granger, was kind enough to tell me Draco Malfoy had had a go at Harry then turned his two goons, Crabbe, and Goyle lose on him. She said Draco put a silencing spell, and an impenetrable-bubble spell around their desks so I wouldn't hear, and no one could get close enough to stop them. She said they hit and kicked Harry until he fell curled up in the bloody ball I turned around to see.
I had Miss Granger and a Mr. Weasley, another of Harry's new friends, accompany me to the hospital wing as I levitated Harry before us. Before leaving the potions class I charmed each remaining student so he or she could not rise from their seats, nor could they speak. As we went down the hall and passed the open door to Professor Lupin's office, I had Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley shield Professor Lupin from the sight of Harry's floating form. Popping my head in his door I told him we had had a small problem, and I was taking some students to the Hospital wing. He was gracious enough to offer to mind my class while I was gone.
Entering the Hospital wing, calling for Madam Pomfrey, I thanked Harry's friends, and bade them attend to their next class. I got a little Gryffindor display of loyalty as neither wanted to leave Harry's side (I fear I must admit, I was proud of them, and proud that Harry had two people his own age who cared about him). I did impress upon the two that as it was the first day, they really must not miss any classes. They left threatening… pardon, promising to return.
Malfoy and his goons will be good little Death Eaters. They are learning their craft well. They managed to crack several of Harry's ribs, re-blacken both eyes, and knock him unconscious. Madam Pomfrey says he'll be in the Hospital Wing for three or four days. I thanked her for her attention to him, and told her I'd be back after dinner. I think I nearly gave the old witch coronary failure. She's never seen me care about anyone… myself included.
Lupin's POV
What a strange sight walking into Severus' potions classroom. Not a child was moving. There were no sounds at all coming from any of them. Nothing. It was as if they were all turned to stone. I know Severus can be intimidating, but for the life of me I couldn't see why, in his absence, these eleven-year-olds were being so adult without an adult.
I walked up and down the isles looking at the notes each student had taken. I was about to correct the sequence of ingredients on one student's notes when my hand encountered an invisible barrier. So… that's how he did it. He charmed them all. I looked more closely at the students as I prowled the room… I smelled it before I saw it. There was a pool of blood on the floor… Harry's blood.
Everyone has his or her own scent. The hair smells one way, the skin another, but the blood… the blood has a signature all its own, and I knew this writing. I had an all too intimate knowledge of this blood. My own blood began to boil as I tried to reconcile what my senses were telling me.
I knew Severus would never strike a child, and most assuredly, not Harry. That left only one conclusion. One, or more, of these children was responsible. I took up my prowl again, fighting the urge to pounce once I found the animal or animals who did this. Just as I located three very promising prospects, Severus appeared in the room. I wish I knew how he does it. Appear without a sound. I know he can't apparate within Hogwarts, no one can, but Merlin, he can sure surprise a body.
I got the story from Severus, and found that I was correct in the three I picked out as the "children" who had drawn Harry's blood.
Now, you must understand. Severus never asks favors, and I rather thought a cure for my lycanthropy would be discovered before he ever asked anyone to administer punishment in his stead, so I was quite taken aback when he asked if I would deal with the guilty parties. As if that weren't enough, when he advised they were from his own house, Slytherin, I nearly fell over, but being the tame werewolf that I am, acquiesced, and truth be told, I'm actually looking forward to having the three of them… scrub the potions classroom floor. I wonder if toothbrushes would work?
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