When Severus Snape (feared potions master and Death Eater) had gone out on that cool August evening to search for the elusive potions ingredient, lunar fungi, to complete his newest potion experiment he did not expect to come home with a child instead.
Which wasn't surprising since no one would trust him with a healthy child, much less one as injured as the one he'd found that evening. Luckily for the child, Severus didn't much care for other people's opinions and would do as he pleased.
The child was so small and broken, even just lying on his four-poster bed the boy screamed of innocence and vulnerability which was why he could hardly believe what he was seeing.
Severus had done all he could with his rather limited supplies, when he'd found the boy in the clearing and had to stabilize his condition he'd been rather worried but now he was waiting calmly for his private healer to examine the child more professionally, there was only so much he could do with limited spell knowledge but at least the child wouldn't die.
He'd been good friends with Nicholas Griffiths during his years at Hogwarts and knew the man could be discreet, he didn't want it getting out that there'd been an injured child at his house, he was a Death Eater after all. Severus rolled his eyes at that though, appalled at home stupid and blindly prejudice some people could be.
Suddenly the floo flared in the living area and the wards around his house alerted him of Nicholas' entrance to his home, Severus was rather reluctant to leave the child's side though, and wasn't about to go out there to greet him.
"Severus?" Nicholas called out part worried and part exasperated, it was rare that Severus wasn't there to greet him when he'd been called over so abruptly, Severus had always been a stickler for manners even when they'd attended Hogwarts together after all.
"I'm in the master bedroom Nick," Severus called back a little louder than intended, reluctant to leave the boy's side even to go greet an old friend.
"Severus you better have a bloody good reason for calling me in the middle of the night, being so vague and cryptic than not even greeting me when I arrive," Nick complained as he walked through the hallway of the house and into the bedroom he knew belonged to Severus, Nick stopped in the doorway to take in the scene in front of him with quick assessing eyes.
Severus was sitting next to his bed which struck him as odd until he saw the fragile-looking body of a small child, maybe 3 or 4 years old, laying in Severus' bed. He could see the child was struggling to breathe, the beginnings of bruising highlighting his exposed arms, and the left arm looked to be broken in at least two separate places but he wouldn't know for sure until he cast his diagnostic charms.
He immediately began casting when his gaze swept to the face and noticed the awful swelling forming on his face, especially around the now sunken eyes. As the results began to appear on the parchment coming from the end of his wand he whipped out his emergency medical kit, he had brought it with him at Severus' insistence and was finally understanding the severity of the vague and late floo call his friend had woken him with.
"What do you know about this Severus? Who is this boy and where did you find him?" Nick demanded as he began to read the parchment that had finally stopped growing, he quickly identified what potions Severus had already given to the boy and set about giving him the ones to set his bones as there was no internal bleeding.
"I don't know much, I found him out in the woods near here while looking for potion ingredients. I stopped the bleeding as much as I could before moving him, I wasn't sure what attacked such a small child and wasn't risking staying around to find out which is why you were called here instead." Severus explained efficiently, he wished more than ever he'd taken that medi-wizard course he'd turned down during his apprenticeship.
"According to the scan you saved his life with what you did Severus, don't beat yourself up. His hair is matted with blood and hiding what looks to be a nasty concussion as well as a fracture to his skull. Bruising is evident on about 70% of his body, including some hidden muscle and organ bruising the scan picked up. With the way the wounds are placed, I would say he curled in on himself to make himself a smaller target, which seems to have also saved his life.
The strength behind these wounds is brutal, someone much bigger and stronger inflicted these. If I was a gambler I would say it could only be an adult or older teen that did this kind of damage but it's hard to tell with this kind of scan, I would say he has at least sixty bones that are broken or fractured in some way.
His eyes … His eyes have been crushed. Going back further it looks like he was either abused or living on the streets as is common with this kind of stunted growth and malnutrition. What is odd is the fact that he seems to have a foreign object within a cursed scar on his head. I'll have a better look at it once we have him cleaned up and healed a bit more." Nick reported to Severus, slipping into his professional monotone.
Severus couldn't believe the child was alive with that much damage to such a small body, he'd seen people die from less "will you be able to save his eyes?" Severus asked in the calmest tone he could manage, the thought of someone doing this to a child made his stomach turn and he'd been a part of the death eater raids only a few years prior.
"Not likely, there's nothing left of them to heal. There are spells we can cast to help him sense the area around him but not even a magical eye could help him at this point, we will have to see once I get him healed. I suggest you go get some rest Severus, I will be working for several hours on the child and there's no point you sitting there tiring yourself out when he'll need you when he wakes up." Nick prodded kindly as he got to work, it would be a long night indeed.
Severus wanted to argue but he ultimately knew Nick was right, he would be of no use at this stage and would only be in the way "my private stock of potions is open to you. Whatever you need is yours. I will go try to get some rest if I can. Will you alert me when you have finished?"
"If you insist, now go get some sleep." Nick nodded at him and looked pointedly toward the door.
Severus obeyed his friend even if he wasn't happy about it, he was right to send him to get some sleep and Severus was sure he'd be thanking the healer for it later.
Once he was back in the living room he slumped into his favorite armchair in front of the fireplace deep in thought as to who the boy could be. As Severus' mind wandered with increasingly unlikely circumstances he started to doze off without realizing it, his last thought before dropping into sleep was wondering what color the child's eyes had been before they had been ruthlessly destroyed.
Severus awoke to sunshine stabbing his eyelids and the smell of coffee in the air. He groaned, wondering why he hadn't shut the curtains before falling asleep the night before. As he was wiping the grime from his eyes the memories of last night came rushing back all at once, standing up quickly and looking around frantically until he heard a chuckled from the direction of his kitchen. Spinning around he saw Nick leaning on his kitchen island, drinking coffee, and looking exhausted but highly amused.
"How is he?" Severus asked his voice rough from sleep, mind whirling as it groggily woke up.
"I wish I had something good to tell you, but I won't lie to you, Severus. It's really bad, worse than we originally thought. I have done all that I can do to heal him, but he is going to need months of physical therapy, psychiatric therapy, and a lot of time to adjust to being blind now even with the spells in place. That little boy's life has been permanently changed," Nick spoke solemnly, a frown set deep on his face.
Severus sat back down, on the couch this time, still facing Nick and the kitchen "we don't even know his name or if he has any family out there somewhere. Should I bring this issue to the ministry?" Severus asked warily, Nick was already shaking his head before he'd finished.
"You know how the ministry is, incompetent and greedy the lot of them. They would do more damage to that poor kid than good, your best bet is to request a private meeting with the Goblins I think. Have them run a blood test and a heritage ritual, maybe even see what they can offer healing-wise for the boy," Nick would be the first to admit that Goblin magic was superior to wizards in certain fields of study, medical being one of them.
Severus nodded and suddenly felt heavy with the responsibility of taking care of an unknown child until a family could be found "I will write out a letter today, see if the goblins would be willing to meet here and not at the bank. I don't want that little boy in public until we know more."
"Good idea. I'll leave you a list of the potions that he is going to need over the next several weeks, I'll be back tonight to check on him. I don't expect him to wake up for a few days though, I've put him in a light magical healing coma so his body and magic will recover."
"His magic?" Severus almost spluttered, he'd not felt any magic coming off of the child when he'd been around him before.
"Yes, it seems his magic had begun to try to heal the worst of his wounds and may have even provided a small buffer against the pain he was experiencing, it drained his magic reserves quite severely," Nick said with slight awe in his voice, not that Severus could blame him, very few children had such strength in magic at that age to provide much help.
Nick stood up, dumped his cooling coffee down the drain, and then washed his cup out the muggle way before heading for the floo. He stopped long enough to put his hand on Severus' shoulder and squeeze lightly in reassurance "we will help this kid as much as we both can Severus, and that is all we can do. I believe that he is going to be a fighter," Nick declared with a firm nod before releasing Severus and taking the floo back to his flat for some much-needed rest.
Severus sat for a moment longer in his now quiet living room before heading back into his bedroom to check on the child, he felt in his gut that he had started down a path that he had no way to retreat from by taking in this little boy.
As Severus looked at the boy's small healing body, he couldn't find any regret within him for doing so.