Chapter 43:

Dumbledore's Arrival:

Albus Dumbledore materialised side by side with Poppy Pomfrey in the small clearing in front of Remus ' cabin. The meeting had meandered along endlessly in Albus' eyes, with one unimportant topic after another being discussed heatedly and in unnecessary length. Topics that solely seemed to have been invented by the Aurors as a distraction from their rather boring assignment. Only years of experience and practiced patience had made it possible for the headmaster to firmly plaster a smile on his face and force his body into a relaxed appearance, even though inside of him feelings of anticipation, fear and worry had been bubbling like an over-boiling cauldron.

After 150 years of life, Dumbledore had seen a lot and he had been forced to bear many sacrifices, but hardly had a sacrifice ever affected him as much as a young Slytherin's by the name of Severus Snape.

He had contributed his part to the fact that the man's life had been wasted. Of course, some important paths to Severus' future had been set at the place that should actually be each child's safe port - his parents' house. But when the boy had arrived at Hogwarts, a mere eleven-year-old child, it should have been the teachers' and particularly Dumbledore's duty to teach the boy how to interact properly with other people.

Sadly, it happened every now and then that such an emotionally crippled child would arrive at Hogwarts. If they were lucky, then a new circle of friends would manage to get through to them. However, these children very often remained alone. It had happened so often already. Tom, Myrtle, Severus, to name a few. He used to tell himself that it was not the task of the school to compensate for the missing upbringing of those unfortunate children. On the other hand, he knew intellectually that they were there for exactly that purpose: to teach those young children how to become capable young witches and wizard, and, above all, good people. If someone were bad in a class, then they were offered private tutoring, but if someone lagged behind in his or her social skills they were left to themselves.

Perhaps he should pay more attention to it. However, he was only the headmaster, one individual man, with a thousand children under his supervision. There were too many to help every one of them with his or her particular problems, yet he could not help to feel regret and guilt if a child would not grow up as he would have liked to see it happen.

Sirius Black, too, had been such an emotionally unbalanced child, probably even more so than Severus, but contrary to the young Snape, Sirius had not had such an unpleasant physical appearance and attitude. He had immediately found friends, who had accepted him and had led him out of his isolation. However, instead of showing sympathy for someone who also was different, the two had developed such a deep hatred towards each other that any chance for reconciliation had become impossible, and Severus had withdrawn so deeply into his isolation, his distrust, and his pain that he had irrevocably lost himself within it.

He was not fooling himself. This had also partly been his fault. He should have recognized what had been going on. That those pranks, which had been played over and over ever since the school existed, were not so easily put away by Severus as it had always seemed to be the case, especially when the boy had fought right back. When he had finally realized the severity of the Slytherin's mental wounds it had been too late. Severus Snape had at last grown into the man whom Dumbledore had glimpsed already in the child; too distant from any other person to care or be cared for. At the time Severus Snape, then a young Death Eater, had shown up in his office, he had been an embittered and lost human soul. A human soul who, despite all the bitterness, and although he could hardly gain anything thereby, fought and risked his life for others. Too distant to really care about anything except for his desire to atone for his sins.

And now, Albus had to accept once again that he was the source of even more suffering in the young Slytherin's life.

He took a deep breath as he followed Poppy, who had started to rush towards the house with a grave expression, her bulky, black medical bag floating in front of her.

He was anxious about what he would find in that house, but, in spite of his fear, all inside him urged to move faster and make sure that the boy was indeed alive.

As they ascended the three steps to the entrance, the door suddenly sprang open and Harry looked at them with such a worried yet relieved expression on his face upon seeing Poppy that Albus' worries enflamed tenfold. Sirius stood a bit in the background, looking extremely relieved as well, but for another reason, Albus supposed.

"Finally, you're here," Harry greeted them.

Poppy paused on the threshold, let her bag sink to the ground and pushed her wand back into her robes.

"From now on, no magic is to be used in this house until I say differently," she announced with vehemence.

Albus followed her into the house whilst she heaved the heavy bag in by hand. He had not found out what curse had been used so far, but if Severus had indeed been magically overloaded then this was quite serious, and they intended to minimize the danger as much as possible until they knew what they were facing.

Harry immediately hurried to their side and helped the nurse with her bag. Once again, Albus was surprised by how similar and still so different Harry and the young Tom Riddle were.

Sirius turned and led them wordlessly up the stairs to the second floor. He stopped in front of the third door to the left of the corridor and held it open for them; however, he made no move to enter the room himself. Albus sighed internally at the Animagus' forbidding facial expression. It would only do both Severus and Sirius good if they finally were able to let go of the past, but, unfortunately, this didn't seem very probable any time soon.

He entered the room first, and when he laid his eyes on Severus, he stopped dead in his tracks, every thought of Black immediately gone.

"Oh, Severus," he breathed.

Despite having known that he must probably look very bad, the Potions Master's appearance still hurt him deep in his heart.

After seconds, the shocked rigidity fell from Dumbledore again and he hurried to the single, narrow bed at the opposite side of the small room where a man laid, one who could hardly be recognized as being alive. The headmaster crouched at the Potions Master's side, wanting to take one of the hands into his, but hesitated when he saw the thick, makeshift white bandages around both of Severus' hands.

Instead, he gently stroked a strand of the unfamiliar looking short hair from Severus' forehead.

It was Pomfrey's businesslike stern voice that finally pulled him out of his shock. "Move aside, Albus. Let me examine him."

Reluctantly, Dumbledore rose and stepped back while Poppy opened the bag Harry had deposited beside the bed. However, his eyes still rested on the Potions Master, taking in the visible injuries and coming to his own conclusions.

Pomfrey first placed two fingers on Severus ' neck, directly over the carotid artery under his jawbone, and, with a twinge of regret, Albus registered the line of irritated skin which ran across the whole width of the young wizard's throat - the only remaining testimony of the event in Harry's vision. At least it looked as if Voldemort's dark healing curse would leave no scars.

Poppy produced a strange hose-like object from her bag, which Dumbledore immediately identified as a Muggle object, but it took his brain a moment to come up with its name. Stethoscope. Right now, Albus was more than grateful that the nurse had an active interest in all medical ways of treatment, including the Muggle ways, even though every healer in the magical world had to acquire certain basic knowledge of that during medical training. When the Mediwitch gently lifted Severus' arms to fold down the linen sheet and uncover his upper body, thus granting the headmaster clear view of the mangled and bruised chest and the poking-out ribs, he instinctively held his breath and blinked twice to get rid of the sudden sting of tears in his eyes.

Nobody deserved to be tormented like this.

Outwardly, the nurse did not seem to be particularly impressed by the wizard's condition. She plugged the bipartite and curved ends of the stethoscope into her ears and pressed the end with the flat, plate-like structure first against Severus' heart and then his lungs. Her overall appearance was relaxed and nonchalant, but Dumbledore knew her long enough to recognize the slightly narrowed eyes and lips drawn into a tight line as indications of helpless rage and disbelief. He could not blame her for her wrath. It was difficult to understand how any human could do such horrendous things to a fellow being.

Apparently contented with what she heard through the stethoscope, Pomfrey's strained mouth relaxed slightly. She removed both ends of the medical device from her ears and put the equipment back into her bag. Then she seized one of her patient's shoulders and squeezed it lightly.

"Severus? Can you hear me?"

The man didn't stir or react in any manner. She turned to Sirius and Harry. "Did he regain consciousness at any time since you found him?"

"He groaned a few times," answered Harry, somewhat intimidated by the situation. Albus could understand that well. Even for him, his inability to help was frustrating.

"Was he responsive at all?" Poppy continued her inquiry.

Harry shook his head. "He did react to touch, though, as if he were in pain."

Poppy nodded gravely. "He will undoubtedly feel pain. Certainly so. Mr. Black, how do you assess the situation?"

Albus followed her glance towards the door, where the Animagus was propped against the doorframe.

Sirius simply shrugged his shoulders, as if the whole thing did not concern him in the slightest, and again, a heavy feeling of regret pressed down on Albus' heart. Why in the name of Merlin couldn't the two overcome their enmity? Even in such a situation, when even the coldest of people would probably feel at least something close to compassion, hate still dominated. And the saddest part of it was that Severus would not feel and act differently were their roles exchanged.

"I am no Mediwizard. That's what you came for."

"That's true, but be so kind as to tell me what your observations are so far anyway, Mister Black. It may help me and save us time."

Sirius sighed dejectedly and began to enumerate. "His hands were perforated, he has bruises all over, whip-inflicted wounds on the back, and burns to the feet and lower legs. Otherwise, at least as far as I can judge it, he's mostly in a hell of a condition due to lack of food and water. At least we managed to clean him up somewhat..."

Sirius was silent, but the disparaging tone he had used when speaking about the cleaning, and the sarcastic remark that had apparently been meant to follow, though was suppressed before being uttered, spoke again of the man's abhorrence and his dislike towards Snape.

Poppy nodded absently, while she once more faced her patient, a serious frown on her face. "All right. First of all, I will thoroughly examine him to see what must be done. You lot had better leave me alone now, so I can work in peace."

"Are you certain that you will not need assistance, Poppy?" Albus inquired doubtfully, trying to tell himself that he wished to remain only for practical purposes, and not because he was concerned for the injured wizard and felt guilty for his condition.

"If I need your assistance, I will think of calling you," Pomfrey snapped, a bit too sharply.

Dumbledore nodded with reluctance and left the room together with Harry and Sirius.

While sitting in the living room a short time later, each holding a cup of tea in their hands, Dumbledore observed Sirius closely. The Animagus was animatedly talking with Harry, discussing the latest Quidditch news. One could hardly accuse the Animagus of being cold and without feelings: quite the opposite. He recognized his godson's sorrows right away and did his best to divert him. Even his snub attitude towards Snape sprang from one of the most intensive emotions - hatred - and this did not make Albus' task any easier. Nevertheless, he knew that Sirius would yield to the job he intended for him - once he got him to agree - and that the Gryffindor would then fulfil that task the best he could.

T.B.C.