A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for reading my fanfiction! This is my first fanfiction.

I'm happy for every feedback and constructive critisism but I will not respect straight out hate or trolls in the comments.

This is an M/M story with mentions of infidelity, violence and abuse (all of which I don't condone).

DON'T LIKE DON'T READ!

Thank you for all the reviews, follows and faves! I would have never thought that so many people would like my story so THANK YOU!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling - I just played a bit in her universe.

Thanks to miu-sama95 for prereading, betaing and helping with the storyline ;)

Sorry it is a bit shorter than usual but there was nothing to add onto this chapter. The next ones will be longer ;)

Chapter 4: Infirmary

Words: 1115

Severus hurried down to the dungeons, using every shortcut he knew to avoid people, all the while cursing himself for being so careless and not checking Harry over in the graveyard. He had noticed Harry limping but he wouldn't have guessed that it was this bad. Harry's tolerance for pain must be pretty high even with all the adrenalin coursing through his body. The potions master was pulled out of his thoughts when he arrived at his destination. After muttering the password he quickly went inside and got the correct antidote for the giant spider that was in the maze. When picking it up he remembered darkly reading about the effects of the venom while brewing it a few months ago. Something about impaired judgement and clouded perception. He would have to ask Poppy for clarification. That would explain some of Harry's reactions. He had been rather gullible at the graveyard.

Severus put the potion in his pocket and started the trek back up to the infirmary again, hoping everyone was still too busy with Diggory to be back in the castle. He stumbled upon a few Hufflepuffs snogging in a corner and after taking points from them and shooting them a dirty look they ran off, happy that they didn't get detention. Thank God Severus hadn't listened to Albus reassurances that there was no need for antidotes and made sure he had one for everything that was in the maze. With Harry's luck the chances were pretty high that he would need to get the antidote administered.

The professors luck ran out when he turned the corner to the hallway in front of the infirmary and saw Dumbledore arguing with one of the Knights armours that guarded the doors of the hospital wing. Smirking to himself he mused that Lady Hogwarts must have taken her own actions to manifest Poppy's declarations. With every step he drew nearer he had to keep himself more and more from shaking with laughter. This conversation was just too good to be true. He would have to show it to Tom and Harry in the pensieve later on.

'I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, this very school! Let me enter this instance! I need to speak to Harry Potter!' Albus nearly screamed and his head was a dark shade of purple, rivaling that of his favorite robes.

'Our orders are not to let anyone enter without permission. You were not given permission so you shall not pass.' came the metallic voice of the armour.

'Whose orders? I am the highest instance in this school! Poppy can't keep me out!'

'We were not talking about Madame Pomfrey's but the orders from Lady Hogwarts. Although Madame Pomfrey's wishes were pretty similar.' this time the other armour answered Albus, but this one's voice sounded a lot more mischievous than the other.

Severus had reached the door now, doing his best to seem completely disinterested, and without giving the headmaster a glance (out of fear of bursting out laughing) he spoke to the Knights.

'I have the potion for Mister Potter. May I enter, m'lady?' Without answering they stood aside to let him enter.

Albus was too shocked and by the time he reacted, the doors were closed again and the armours were glowering at him, as if that was even possible. Seeing as he couldn't get to Harry to view his memories he had to trust Severus to report to him later on. For now he had the Diggorys and the Minister to deal with.

When the doors opened, Poppy looked up to make sure it wasn't someone she didn't want to have in her infirmary. When she saw that it was Severus and not Albus Dumbledore she let out a sigh she hadn't noticed she had been holding in.

'How is he?' asked the potions master and Poppy's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets at the genuine concern in his voice.

'As good as can be expected. I healed everything and as soon as we administer the antivenom he should wake up. He just needs a lot of rest now and probably counseling for what happened.'

'What about the aftereffects of the venom? I didn't have time to read up on the effects before the last task. I just made sure I had some on hand. And I promise you I will get him the help he needs. He is my responsibility from now on.'

This was the second time in mere minutes, that Poppy had trouble keeping her mouth from gaping.

'Well… the venom in his system was actually good to begin with. It has a numbing and pain relieving effect. That is why you use it in the pain potions. But it also impairs the judgement and clouds the perception of the bitten person. If the dose is high enough and no antivenom is administered in time, the person will fall into a coma and won't be able to be revived even with the antivenom. Luckily young Mister Potter here only got a mild dose and due to the blood loss and him passing out, the venom couldn't spread everywhere yet. Would you… Severus, I know you are a very private person and I don't want to intrude, but we've been friends for a long time. Would you elaborate on your responsibilities over Harry?'

'I will tell you if you promise to keep it a secret. But first we should administer the potion, so Harry can get better instead of worse.'

'Yes, of course!' was the medi-witches answer. She gently laid a hand on Severus's arm and added: 'Thank you for your trust, Severus.'

They quickly administered the potion and then retreated to Poppy's office to talk.

Poppy unlocked one of her filing cabinets and grabbed a file, two tumblers and the bottle of firewhiskey that was hidden there. She had a feeling they would need it. The file she had taken was her secret second file for Harry. In the file was every sign of abuse she had ever noticed. Since the headmaster, as Harry's magical guardian, had forbidden her to do a full medical exam, she was only able to get a few details every time Harry was in the infirmary. She also had to put these informations into a second file so the headmaster would never know about it. She was rather sad every time she had to create one of these and she only had had a few students in her time at Hogwarts where a secret file was needed. The last person she had such a file for was the man sitting in front of her now.

TBC

First posted on: 26. March 2017

Next update planned: 02. April 2017