He found her in her office beside the main Infirmary dorm.
"What do you want, Severus?" She snapped.
"Boy… Injured… Help… Now… You" Severus panted between breaths.
Just as he had got the message out, the Infirmary doors slammed open again, this time to admit McGonagall and Dumbledore, who was levitating the bloody body in front of him.
Madame Pomfrey gaped at the battered boy, horrified that a person could have that much blood on him and still stay alive.
"Poppy, I've put a Stasis spell on the boy, he has a weak, fluttering pulse, and I think you need to see this."
With that, Dumbledore levitated the body over.
--
To say Poppy was shocked would definitely be an understatement.
She stood there for quite a while, face pale and mouth open, staring at the boy.
Dumbledore had turned him over so he was on his stomach, and through the blood that stained the pale flesh on his back, Poppy could see that the muscles were overbuilt, maybe from swimming, she supposed, but knew this wasn't possible.
For there were two… appendages… coming out of his back, just in between his shoulder blades.
It was a bloody mess, but Dumbledore knew they were wings, as he had seen other beings with wings in his long lifetime.
But not wings like this.
These wings weren't wings at all. From the looks of it, they had been torn out.
His theory proved correct when Minerva muttered a cleaning spell under her breath. The blood and dirt vanished, giving them a clear view of the boy's pale back.
All that was left were two stubs of bone with a few mangled feathers attached. There was no sign of the majestic wings the boy had a few weeks prior, but the assembled company wouldn't know what they were like till the boy had healed.
--
After a few minutes of gaping, Poppy snapped into action.
Waving her wand frantically, she spat out spells almost as fast as she could think of them. Between watching the spells work, and casting others, she snapped at Severus to get one of the most powerful healing potions she knew of.
The Life Potion
Only a few people knew of it's existence, and all of them were in that room with the boy.
This potion worked like unicorn blood. It would bring someone back from the brink of death, with no apparent side effects. It would not work on those already dead, but would also not work on those that weren't close to death. The patient had to be close to breathing for the last time before it could be administered.
And this boy was.
--
Severus started running again, this time to get to his Potions Lab. The Life Potion was kept in a locked cupboard behind his desk. It didn't just need the Alohomora charm; it also needed a handprint and password to open.
"Alohomora!" Severus said impatiently, before pressing his hand to the door briefly and saying the password, 'Help'.
Once the cupboard door opened, he reached in and snatched the flask of potion, pausing momentarily to close the door again before racing out of the room, headed for the Infirmary again.
--
While Severus was out, Poppy maintained the Stasis charm on the boy, trying to keep him alive until Severus came in with the potion.
Dumbledore was on the other side of the room, conversing quietly with Minerva.
"What do
you think we should do, Albus?"
"I really don't know"
Dumbledore replied, looking every year of his long life.
"I don't think…" Minerva started, but was interrupted by a very out-of-breath and flustered Severus, who was holding a flask of brilliant white potion, the colour reminding her of the light that brought the boy in.
"Here… potion… quick… boy…" Severus said between breaths.
Poppy swooped down on Severus and grabbed the potion from his hands, before changing direction to head for the dying boy on the third bed to the left of the Infirmary doors.
She gently opened his mouth and poured some of the potion in, stroking his throat gently to help him swallow it. She repeated this action while the rest looked on, waiting for some sign that they had reached the boy in time.
Finally the flask was empty, and Poppy fell into the chair beside the bed, releasing the Stasis charm.
"It's done, she said.
They all conjured chairs and sat around the boy's bed, waiting.
--
It was a long time before they could see any sign at all that the potion was working.
It began with his face. The bruises and cuts healed and the blood disappeared to reveal a long face with high cheekbones. The boy's hair regrew, starting with a raven-black at the roots of his hair, before fading to a red-black in the middle, then a blood red at the tips of his hair.
They could see the potion work its way through the boy's body, with his throat and chest healing next. The word 'freak' disappeared from his chest, leaving only a faint white scar to remind the four of what had been there. The wounds on his hips healed, and they all winced as it was followed by a sickening 'crack' as his leg broke and was reset from where it had partially healed badly before.
Dumbledore quickly Levitated the boy over onto his now-healed stomach, as he had correctly assumed the potion would be working on his back next.
They watched on fascination as the boy's wings started to regrow: stumps of bone replaced with glossy feathers. Each individual feather had a pattern almost the same as his hair: raven-black followed by red-black, then to a blood red at the edge.
Severus reached forward and picked up a feather that had fallen to the floor by his chair. Fooled by the soft look of the feather, he ran it along his finger, stopping as the razor-sharp edge cut into his thumb. He stopped and stared for a second, before muttering a healing spell.
He looked up, intending to watch the boy again, but was brought up short by the questioning looks of Minerva and Dumbledore. He sighed, and answered their silent question by handing over the feather for them to examine.
He turned his eyes back to the boy, who was fully healed.
And stared.
That face, Severus thought. That face… it's… mine.
--