Severus had been feeling on edge all day, something was going to happen and he didn't know what, he thought that the feeling would pass but it got gradually worse. It was at quarter past six in the evening when Severus' wards alerted him to the fact that someone was trying to call him at Spinners End, he apparated there immediately, the only people that had his number was Hadrian's school. Severus was nearly sick when he heard what had happened, he knew of course that it wasn't the schools fault but he couldn't help but feel irritated at them for employing someone who had hurt his Godson. He told Dr Craven that he would be there as soon as possible; unfortunately he couldn't leave straight away because according to the school he lived an hour away. Fifty minutes later Severus was rushing through school corridors towards the infirmary, as he stumbled through the door his eyes immediately searched for Hadrian, his little boy looked so small, he ground his teeth as he saw the gash on Hadrian's face. He stepped toward the bed slowly, he didn't want to wake Hadrian up, he gently pushed the silky locks away from his sons forehead as Dr Craven once again explained what had happened and apologised for not listening to Hadrian. But Severus was barely listening as he pushed a little of bit of his magic into his Godson, he obviously couldn't give the little boy potions, however he could encourage healing and take away the pain. He sat there for two hours stroking Hadrian's hair while the boy lay unconscious, Dr Craven had left an hour ago to go and give his statement to the police. As hour two came to an end Severus saw Hadrian's eyelashes flutter on his cheek as the boy gave a weak groan. Severus spoke soothingly as Hadrian came round. As soon as the boy came to he launched himself at Severus and started sobbing into his shoulder. Severus was shocked as he ended up with a lap full of Hadrian; he was shocked that the boy could move even with pain relief. He sighed as he felt Hadrian sobbing, "Hush Hadrian it's okay I'm here now, hush its okay little man." Half an hour and lots of soothing words later Hadrian had no tears left to cry. Hadrian's back felt stiff as he sniffled into Severus' chest, he looked up into his Godfather's dark eyes and saw them brimming with concern. Severus started to ask him about the day, he wanted to know exactly what had happened.
When Dr Craven walked into the room an hour later he saw Hadrian sat on Severus' lap, he walked closer to the pair but as he neared Hadrian's eyes met his and the boy flinched. Arthur felt sick Hadrian was scared of him, but he needed to apologise, needed to explain he couldn't let Hadrian think that he didn't care about him, he knew he had fucked up but he refused to give up after he had spent so much time gaining Hadrian's trust, and so he pressed forward not stopping until he was less than a metre away from where they were on the bed, he crouched down to look in Hadrian's eyes and it hurt his heart a little bit when Hadrian refused to meet his gaze "I'm so sorry Hadrian, I should have listened to your side of the story, I'm so sorry." Arthur said softly.
Hadrian took a deep breath before meeting Dr Craven's gaze squarely, deep down he knew he could trust the man, but he felt betrayed "Then why didn't you?" Hadrian said his voice quiet and showing his distrust.
"I have no excuse Hadrian, I had other things on my mind and my priorities were mixed up, I assumed I could trust a member of staff to tell me the truth, and because of this I have to live with the fact that someone hurt you when I should have protected you, I can only hope that one day you will trust me again." Arthur said his tone soft. Hadrian searched the mans eyes before jumping into his arms, he knew it was dangerous to forgive people so easily but he needed Dr Craven the man had meant stability for two years and at the minute when his life kept changing he needed that familiarity, he loved Severus but he had only recently met the man.
Arthur nearly fell over when he received a lap full of Hadrian, but he welcomed the familiar weight of the boy in his arms, Hadrian had been so young at the start of first year, most children saw their parents rather regularly as they were so young and he had automatically been drawn to the young boy who seemed so alone, he had spent a lot of time with Hadrian and had been woken by the child frequently when he first arrived, even now Hadrian had regular nightmares. He breathed in deeply smelling Hadrian's unique scent, it would take time but eventually Hadrian would trust him completely. He would make sure of it.
Severus looked on happy, he knew that Dr Craven was important to Hadrian; he knew that the man had helped Hadrian a lot and he was glad that Hadrian hadn't held a mistake against the man.
Hadrian spent the next week in the infirmary with frequent visitors. After that he was released as long as he took it easy. However the staff saw that he was still on shaky ground, like a puzzle that had been broken and now the pieces didn't quite fit together.