: ))))))) Finally posting. Thanks to my new betareader, Sherry! Ok, I admit, I don't own any of this, well perhaps few Mary sues but other way I'm just playing around with Rowling's characters. Well ok I admit, torturing Rowling's characters, especially Severus! And I wanted to say that I never betaread my author comments so don't worry about it. After all it is author comment and it is what I want to tell you, not story. There's no need for betareading it.
Finallyyy I got forth Harry Potter DVD for my birthday, which was two days ago, I'm so happy. Now I'm 24 years old : ). I'm still trying to get games on the DVD through and not succeeded yet. At least I have looked all documents already! Every movie was better than earlier one, really. Did you look it document about Voldemort. There they admitted that there is places what are not good for young people just as it should be. Still they are giving such age-limit than 11 years old… Hmmmm. I don't agree, It would make 15 years old age-limit already. I can hardly wait for fifth movie, it book was best book Rowling has never written. I like book six too but honestly I liked more Order of the phoenix. Simple because Harry was more… moody in and I simple love to see not so happy Harry being angst-freak. But please go on and read!
Way to the dark 4
About an hour later Lucius came into the room and noticed Severus was sleeping on top of the covers. Severus had removed his cloak but still had his muggle cloths on. Lucius was about to go to his own bed when he noticed something unusual about Severus. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open into a silent scream when he looked at the battered body of his friend. Severus had obviously been tossing and turning since the blankets on the bed and his cloths were all wrinkled. This wasn't what got Lucius so upset. The fact that during his tossing and turning the shirt Severus was wearing had ridden up on his body exposing his stomach and back to Lucius' view. After the initial shock, he closed his eyes and wished that he had imagined the marks on his friend's body but once he opened his eyes again he had to believe what his own eyes were telling him. He had never seen anything like it and wished he hadn't seen it now.
Severus' stomach was litterly covered with bruises that had already turned a sickly yellowish color that indicated that he had got them a while ago. To Lucius the bruises looked like someone had used Severus as a punching bag. Lucius slowly stalked to the other side of the bed avoiding the bad on the floor. He was quite as he didn't want to wake up Severus. When he finally reached his destination he got a good look at Severus' back and had to cover his mouth quickly as he gasped. Severus' back looked even worse than his stomach had and that was saying something. The bruises on his stomach had been at least some weeks old as they were already fading away, but the ones on his back were quite livid. The one especially horrifying thing Lucius noticed about the bruises on Severus' back was that they looked like they were made by a shoe or lots of shoes. He thought that it looked like someone or a lot of someone's had jumped up and down on Severus's back. An idol thought flitted through his head "it really would make the marks much worse if someone jumped on your back than if you were just punched in the stomach". Moreover, Lucius didn't know if he should be relieved or not when he noticed that the footprint size bruises weren't that large. It clearly showed that the mark of said bruises was that of a child and not an adult.
For a long time he just stood there looking at Severus' battered body, horror-struck, not able to move even a single muscle. His thoughts were all over the place while he contemplated various scenarios of how Severus could have come by the bruises. It was only when he heard the other students coming into the common room that he realized he should do something besides just standing there. He knew that he should speak to Severus about this and soon, but decided that now just wasn't the right time. Anyone could come in and he didn't want anyone else to see this. He knew how private Severus was and knew that he would be mortified if anyone found out about the bruises. He was certain Severus wouldn't like even him to know about the bruises. It was obvious that he didn't want anyone to know since he had not gone straight to the nurse when he got here. Lucius doubted even were he awake that he'd go now.
Lucius decided that he would just pretend that he was just coming into the room. He quietly walked back over to the door and opened it before slamming the door shut. His plan worked just fine and when he turned around Severus was smoothing down his shirt and sitting on the bed like nothing happened. Lucius greeted Severus and went by him to his own bed and settled his bag next to the bed. He took out his pajamas and put them on after undressing. He didn't want to give away that he had seen anything unusual just yet. He knew they would talk another day but wanted to do so when they had a little more privacy. He raged at the circumstances that they couldn't speak yet since the other boy really should go to the hospital. He continued to shoot sidelong glances at Severus. When he really thought about it he saw how his classmate was avoiding some normal positions, like bowing while he took his own pajamas out of the suitcase at his feet. Still Lucius didn't dare expose that he knew about his state so he tried to limit his glances. Shortly thereafter Severus' curtains were drawn shut and after laying down Lucius closed his own curtains. After a few minutes he heard the door open and their other roommates came in.
Lucius listened, as everyone got ready for bed. After awhile he could hear nothing but soft snoring. He himself honestly had so much on his mind that he couldn't even consider sleeping. He just tossed and turned while his thought whirled around inside his head. Giving up on sleep he let himself contemplate the matter of what to do about Severus. The thought that the marks couldn't be caused by an adult he was certain of. The marks he had seen on his friends body indicated that much at least. Lucius though it had to be a young person or more likely a bunch of children. At least it was most logical idea since there were so many marks on his skin and most probably even more on places he hadn't seen. He was certain Severus would not have allowed just one idiot to treat him like that, that he would have fought back with succeed.
Moreover its timing was disturbing since the marks on his friend back were more angrily colored that they were on his stomach. He still couldn't believe someone would have been so moronic as to jump on somebody. He swore under his breath that if they didn't have company and that it wouldn't be too suspicious to leave the room he would wake up Severus and get some answers now. Attention was the last thing he wanted just now though. He made a mental note to confront Severus about this matter the first chance he got.
He still couldn't sleep, his thoughts kept swirling around in his head making him very uncomfortable. After a while he dozed off, but kept tossing and turning as his mind wouldn't let him rest. He threw his blanket on and off either being too hot or too cold. Sweat clung to his body adding to the uncomfortable thoughts.
It was almost morning when Severus was awakened by moaning. Pulling the curtains apart he glanced around him and tracked the whimpering to Lucius' bed. Alarm bells began ringing in his head and he climbed out of bed to go to Lucius thinking something was wrong with the other boy. When he pulled the curtains apart it was to see a very pale looking Lucius tossing all over his bed. He bed covers were totally messed up and the boy himself was clutching his blanket as if his life depended on it. It was very clear to Severus that Lucius was running a fever placing his hand on the sweating forehead he felt just how hot Lucius was. Severus dashed out of the dormitories despite his currently sore back, actually for this reason he never really ran for any reason but now he did for Lucius' sake. His back was killing him but he knew he could handle it, he always did. Luckily the
nearest place he could go to for help wasn't far away.
He was soon knocking on Nichols', his head of house, classroom door. He impatiently waited for an answer. The door opened magically and Severus saw Nichols sitting at the table doing some paper work. Nervously he went up to his teacher and halted trying to get his mouth to cooperate with his
brain. He found the floor interesting and his heart was racing. His mouth felt dry and his throat closed up. When he glanced up for a second he saw expectance from his head of house's eyes so he tried again to get his mouth to cooperate.
"Sir, err…." He felt a lump in his throat and he swallowed before he started again. "I woke up this morning to moaning and I noticed that Lucius is running a high fever…" He didn't need to say anything else, as Joe was up and jestered for Severus to precede him.
Heart beating hard Severus did what he was asked and led Joe across their common room and up to their bedroom. Severus was trying to keep his back straight a he climbed the stairs as that was the least painful position. He never noticed that Nichols was giving him wary glances. Once in the bedroom he led Nichols to Lucius' bed where he was still under the influence of the high fever. Severus held the door open and just watched as Nichols picked up Lucius. Turning he head for the door. Only problem was he stopped and looked at Severus oddly as he spoke.
"By the way, why were you trying to be careful with your back as we came up here?" That was a total shock for Severus as he was always being used to keeping up the façade he hadn't realized he let his guard down and that someone would notice. He kept his feelings under tight control as he answered as carelessly as he could.
"I was sleeping in a bad position and my back is still a little numb." He even went so far as the look at his teacher, although he only focused on his nose, while stating this calmly. Severus could feel his heart beating rapidly. (He never dared look people in the eyes, but he had heard that if you look at people's noses they would never realize that you weren't looking them in the eyes.) He held his breath and waited to see if he'd bought what he'd said. Joe gave a nod of approval as he looked at Lucius again. Severus opened the door for his teacher so he could leave with Lucius. Watching after them until he could no longer hear footsteps. He knew Joe had asked for him to go to his classes but he didn't think he was able to go just yet.
He went back into the room and instead of obeying Nichols straight away he sat on his bed for a moment. He let out the breath he'd been holding and was glad that his teacher accepted his answer as the truth. He rested his head on his arms while swearing loudly for letting his teacher notice. Luckily he had a believable answer. He had invented it a while ago for situations like this. His façade was his most important treasure if he wanted to keep his dignity. Actually he was proud of himself at how well he had settled the situation.
After five minutes he finally went to his classes. He had a bad feeling that he was missing something while he headed for History of Magic. It wasn't until he was halfway to class that he realized what it was. Lucius. He was beginning to get used to his company and now that Lucius was bedridden for the foreseeable future he missed him. He wanted to assure himself that he was only worried for Lucius but he knew better than to lie to himself. He wanted him back because of the company more than anything else. He was actually feeling a little guilty about this. With these thoughts he entered the classroom and quickly realized that their ghost teacher was too occupied with he explanation that she never realized that he was late. He stalked to the only open bench in the front of the room. He swore under his breath angry with himself because he was late and couldn't sit in the good place in the corner as he usually did. Honestly, he had more time to think or in most cases sleep in this class as boring as it was. Even if it was still early he couldn't doze off while everyone was behind him. They would notice him sleeping.
Next, they had Care of Magical Creatures. This would be the first class and he headed after the others as they crossed the lawn going towards the edge of the forest. Their teacher was Nat McCallum and the first part of the class was a lecture about some different kinds of magical creatures. Their first assignment was to search for some information about some animals from the school library. Basic information as to what the creature looked like, what food's it ate, was it dangerous or not, where they lived, etc. They had a couple of week's to do the assignment. Only one little thing was troubling Severus, the assignment was to be done as a pair. If he missed Lucius earlier now his feeling intensified. He hardly knew anyone else in class and it seemed most people were already pairing up. Desperately he looked around him to see if anyone was free, but no luck. McCallum looked at him in expectation and he sputtered out a cheerily "I'll be working with Lucius once he's back. He's only in the hospital wing just now but I'm sure he'll be back in no time!"
He hoped that McCallum would take this excuse and he looked at him with the most innocent and hopeful expression he could muster. He thought bitterly that somebody must be angry with him today. He added unconsciously that somebody was angry with him most of the time. McCallum looked at him for a moment calculatingly before saying, "Ok, that will be good. Just remember if his hospital visit is going to last too long you are to pair up with one of the other pairs and work with them." Now Nat looked around him sharply, glancing at everyone. "You are all to go sit at the table that I set up for you and start your assignment with your partner. You will find different books on the table and can use them for the time being. When you are doing this assignment at other times other than this class you can use the library. Now, get to work!"
The whole class went to the table set up on the grass and Severus went with them. His heart was still pounding too fast and he was relieved that he had not embarrassed himself at least this time. The class went by quickly; time being used in reading the books laid out for them and making notes about all the magical animals they had on their lists. At the end of the lesson, Nat dismissed them reminding them to keep making notes. They were going to need them in future classes.
He was walking across the lawn slowly looking around cautiously. He knew everyone else would go the great hall for dinner but wasn't feeling hungry for some reason. He watched silently as two people walked by him speaking vividly until they noticed he was around and then they stopped abruptly. Severus felt the far too familiar sinking feeling as he saw how they moved farther away before beginning speaking again. This made him feel lonelier that ever especially with Lucius being in the hospital. He glanced at the lake and saw something interesting and steered himself over to it. He would have one hour if he didn't go in for lunch and being honest, he didn't feel particularly hungry at all.
When he was at the lake he smiled to himself. There near the edge of the forest he saw a nice place. Nobody would see him here and if a real emergency occurred he could hide behind the nearest tree. The place was perfect. It was shady and there were plenty of rocks all around the beach that he could sit on. Moreover, the most important thing here was the water. He had always loved looking at the water. It calmed him down with its relaxing splashing sound. He looked around more closely and he found a nice rock next to a bigger one that was almost like a chair. A broad smile came to his face when he finally sat down and just listened to the almost hypnotizing sound of the water. Finally, he had found his own cozy corner here.
To be continued!
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