Severus learned back in his chair as he contemplated all that he had learned that evening. He absently tapped his fingers on the thick folder that sat in front of him. Poppy knew his son well. She knew him so well that she was perfectly aware of the fact that Harry would tell his father little, if anything, of his true life with the muggles.
Although Harry had not confided in her about the actual experiences she was able to infer quite a lot from his medical exams. The heavy scarring that he now carried was consistent with repeated rape—there was no other diagnosis; no possibility for misunderstanding. As much as his son had tried to hedge his way around their conversations about his uncle Severus could now see that what Harry had implied and what he had assumed had happened was true. Worse, he had found that he didn't even know the half of it.
To help her friends, both Severus who clearly wanted to know about his son and Harry who struggled even speaking with people, much less confiding in them, Poppy left Severus with Harry's medical file to help expose Severus to what Harry's life had been like at the muggles. And what an eye opener that was. Severus had opened it knowing that he would find out certain things about his son but even with his prior knowledge of Harry's life with the muggles he had been completely unaware of the damage they had truly done.
After downing half a bottle of firewhiskey he was no longer surprised that Harry had opted to create a spell that repelled all human touch. Merlin, it was a miracle that Harry had allowed anyone to touch him at all.
The list of injuries was extensive and seemingly never ending. The sheer number of broken bones made him cringe and the number of times that advanced healing spells had to be applied to his son's anus turned his stomach. As the head of house for Slytherin he had witnessed some bad cases of abuse over the years. Nothing he had seen could compare to this. The level of brutality involved was horrifying even to an ex-Death Eater.
Abuse in the magical world was rare and when it happened it was magically induced, and among pure bloods it was enforced by house elves. Most adult pure bloods hated house elves because they had memories of years of abuse at their hands. While they knew intellectually that the house elves were forced to obey their master's will and were completely innocent in the abuse most purebloods were unable to separate the two, starting a vicious cycle that had only gotten worse over the years resulting in the often severe abuse of the very house elves who would later punish the children under the master's orders.
Even more shocking was the sexual abuse though. Sexual abuse was so rare among wizards that Snape had never actually encountered a case of it among his Slytherins. He had no idea what to do with it. Harry was faced with muggle abuse, sexual abuse and incest. Gods, where would he even start to heal him?
His mind flickered back over the events of the evening. Poppy had examined Harry in the lab and then quickly asked Snape to leave. He did not need to ask exactly what had happened at the time: he had a pretty good idea. After looking over Harry's file he now knew exactly what had happened. He was confused as to how the muggle was able to get that far with Harry without being shocked but he decided not to question it. Clearly, the how was not as important as the fact that it had happened, again.
Poppy had opened the door to the lab again thirty minutes later, once again looking furious. Their hastily whispered conversation in the corridor had been enlightening. Poppy had looked nervous for a moment, as if she were about to do something she did not feel comfortable with. "Did he tell you about…" she drifted off.
Severus understood. She wanted to speak about his son's injuries but wasn't certain if he knew anything yet. She didn't want to break confidentiality. "Yes, he has told me something of his life with the muggles and his uncle's treatment of him."
Poppy breathed a quick sigh of relief. "I doubt he told you much." Severus shook his head. "I'll leave you with his file. I don't want to give it to you just so you can catalogue abuses but I believe that you will be able to look at it and get some ideas for how to deal with your son. There are certain things that you absolutely must never do to him. He occasionally has flashbacks of past events and I hope that reading this will help you to recognize potentially dangerous things that can spark a flashback for him."
Severus' brow wrinkled. His son had flashbacks. Dear Merlin, this was getting more and more complicated. Did Dumbledore have any clue how bad this had gotten? Dumbledore. His eyes flashed angrily and Poppy took a quick step away from her friend. "Did Dumbledore know the extent to which the Dursleys abused him?"
"Yes." Poppy spoke the word clearly, looking Severus directly in the eye. There was no possible cause for doubt. "When he arrived his first year I immediately treated him as best I could then ran to Dumbledore's office to report. He smiled and told me that surely I was exaggerating the situation and that Harry would be just fine there. I showed him the photographs I had taken to document the abuse and he told me that it was none of my concern, that Harry had to stay there for his own safety.
"When I continued to argue he placed a spell on me to prevent me from speaking of this to anyone who didn't already know the truth. This effectively prevented me from getting Harry any help unless he went to someone else first. I believe we both know he would never do that."
"The media would have a field day with this."
"Yes" she nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Harry would never willingly put himself into that situation. He would rather live with the abuse than face such a public trial."
"Dumbledore has much to pay for."
Poppy nodded again, clearly agreeing with his assessment of the situation. She looked up at Severus again, wanting to speak again but afraid to do so. At Snape's silent encouragement she finally spoke hesitantly. "Whatever happens, whatever he decides, I want you to know I am on Harry's side."
Severus did not question her at all. He knew exactly what she meant and did not wish to press her further. That much alone must have hurt her to say. It seemed that anyone who knew Harry personally was giving up on the Great Leader of the Light. Dumbledore was slipping up more and more. His mistakes were getting larger and he was starting to fail. It hurt to realize that someone you had long revered as a powerful leader and mentor was, in fact, nearly as bad in many ways as the Dark Lord.
Severus looked anxiously through the door, looking for some sign of his son. He knew that the exam had to have been at least somewhat traumatic for his son who was so clearly afraid of human touch. It would have been impossible for Poppy to treat and heal his son without at least some contact, and unfortunately it had to be in extremely vulnerable places. For his son—for any rape victim—the treatment had to have been nearly as traumatic as the original event. Once again, they were forced to endure a touch they did not want. At least this time it was Poppy, someone he knew and trusted, who was touching him—and at least he knew that she was touching him with the intent to heal and not harm. He had intended to ask Poppy here for some drinks and a light discussion of apprenticeships and instead his son was treated to a thorough medical exam and rehashing of his most recent run in with the muggles.
She looked at Severus closely and the concern in his eyes. "You want this—a son. You want him, don't you?" She sounded slightly surprised by the revelation, yet also relieved.
Severus looked as if he was going to ignore her question for a moment when he finally responded. "Yes. I have already failed him in nearly every way possible. I cannot fail him now. I will do what I must to make our family work."
Poppy smiled. "You are doing an excellent job so far. Keep at it, no matter how much he pushes you away. You two need each other." Her face twisted into a scowl. "I cannot believe Dumbledore kept it from you for so long. I cannot fathom what that man was thinking. He is the one who has failed, Severus, not you. He has too much power over our lives and he wields it poorly."
Severus nodded but did not comment. He couldn't help but think that he somehow could have saved his son some of his pain, that he could have done something. Maybe he hadn't known Harry was his son but he should have been more attentive of Lily's son, regardless of who he thought was the boy's father.
She quickly cleared her expression though as Harry stepped back into sight, offering him a smile. She may be livid with Dumbledore but she would protect Harry as much as she could.
The three had returned to the study to sit and discuss potential apprenticeship programs. Poppy had instantly agreed to mentor Harry in a healing program and she also agreed that potions would be of great assistance. Harry would spend a day and a half with his father every week and the rest of the week in the infirmary helping Poppy and learning new magics. The healing arts were quite different from the magics taught in the core classes at Hogwarts and not everyone could use them but both Poppy and Severus believed that Harry had a strong inclination toward healing and would thrive.
Harry had been thrilled to be accepted as her apprentice. He worried for a bit that Dumbledore would be able to prevent the apprenticeship but they convinced him that it would be impossible to stop. As masters in their fields both Poppy and Severus were allowed to take apprentices whenever and wherever they wanted. No one could attempt to come between an apprentice and his or her mentor. If Dumbledore tried to stop them then both Poppy and Severus would be free of their contracts and could quit at any time.
The three of them had a lovely evening together discussing past times. Harry was delighted to hear a bit more about his mother, who had also evidently considered a career in the healing arts, although she had never been able to pursue it at all. Harry was thrilled to learn that he would not have to share a room with a bunch of other boys anymore and could instead share an apartment with one of his mentors. As much as he tried to relax in the dorms the situation had always tied his stomach in knots. It was one of many reasons he was often out of his bed at nights.
Severus smiled, briefly able to forget the pain he had felt as he read his son's medical file. His son would be with him at Hogwarts! A dream that he had long since set aside as impossible would now be able to come to fruition. Granted, his son wouldn't be in his house since apprentices were not sorted, but his own son would be there with him, working in his lab side by side.
He looked over at the clock. Merlin, was it already 4 a.m.? How had it gotten so late? Bill he thought with a sneer, would be at the manor in a few hours. He had set the portkey to be voice activated rather than time activated but had hinted in his letter that he should arrive around 9. Hopefully the brat wouldn't come much earlier. He needed to get some sleep first if he was expected to stomach a Weasley in Snape manor. A Weasley who was dating his son.
He held in his growl and started putting Harry's medical file back together to go up to bed. The growl slipped out as he once again saw some of the photographs labeled 'evidence'. Damn muggles. Maybe Weasley wasn't so bad. He probably knew a few good curses. The eldest Weasley was, after all, a curse breaker for Gringotts. Maybe he would come with him on his little visit to the muggles. An evil smile lit on his face. Yes, perhaps a few Weasleys had their use after all.
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A/N: I am not quite sure where I stand on situations like I wrote about, with a medical professional giving a confidential file to a parent. Father or not, minor or not, I am inclined to believe that it is none of his damn business, especially when it concerns rape and when the parent is newly discovered and not a lifelong parental figure. I needed it though for the sake of plot. I'm not sure if Harry will ever find out that his father read it. If anyone has an opinion one way or another let me know.
If case you didn't figure it out by the ending there…Bill makes his grand entrance in Chapter 12! Please review!