Snape patrolled the dark corridors of Hogwarts. Usually, after lights out, it was possible to stumble upon violators mainly from only two faculties. Gryffindor and Slytherin are the only ones who could not sleep at night. As he walked past the girls' toilet on the second floor, which no one was using, he saw a dim light. As he got closer, Snape heard a whisper. He already wanted to break into the toilet and catch the violators red-handed, but one phrase stopped him:
"I still can't believe they could do this to you." That voice Severus knew too well. The voice of the know-it-all Granger, and where Granger is, there is Potter and the younger Weasley. And he was not mistaken.
"These bastards, I can't believe it either. I swear if next time I see them I will definitely use some kind of curse. Let it be tortured. "Weasley hissed like a snake, judging by his tone he was very angry. Fortunately, the door was not completely closed and Severus could see what was happening in the closed women's toilet.
"Ay ... I'm really fine ... Ay ... Thanks to you two," muffled screams of pain were constantly coming out of Potter's mouth.
"Be patient, I'm almost done. And in general, if you had let me do it before, it would not be so painful," Weasley asked. Now that Snape saw what the Golden Trio was up to and it scared him. Potter was standing with his back to one of the redheads, his shirt lying by the sink. The boy's entire back was covered in deep and not very cuts and scars. Many of the marks were fresh, and it was on them that Weasley had applied a thick green ointment. An experienced potion maker immediately recognized the potion. It helped remove non-magical scars, that is, Muggles, although it was rather weak, so it had to be applied regularly to get rid of the scars completely.
"Eh, if we had a potion more effective than it would be much easier. Hermione, please give me a bandage," Weasley asked. From where Severus stood, the girl could not be seen, apparently she was sitting on the windowsill, since the bandage that Ron caught flew at the boys from about that place.
"It would be even easier if Harry told someone," the girl sighed in disappointment. While the youngest of the Weasley family was professionally bandaging the wounds of the boy who survived.
"We've already discussed this, Hermione, when Harry's ready he'll tell someone about it. I finished!"
"Yes, but…" Granger didn't have time to finish when Potter interrupted her.
"Hermione, I've tried to say it many times and every time it didn't end well, so it's better not to bring this up, it's enough that you two know about it. Now I'm at Hogwarts and nothing bad will happen to me, at least from the hands of the Dursleys," the boy explained, buttoned his shirt and sat down on the edge of the window sill.
"But I'm afraid that something terrible might happen to you if you return there," the girl's voice was on the verge of tears.
"Hey, I promise I'll be fine, I've been at Hogwarts for a great ten months, and with the Dursleys only two. And before that, I lived there for ten years and is still alive, so don't worry," Harry reassured her. The Weasley also sat down on the other side to cheer the girl up, which completely out of Snape's field of vision. He was still listening intently to the sophomore conversation, hiding in the shadow of one of the statues.
Of course, he always disliked the boy James, but the moment he saw all these scars in his head the thought flashed that he was Lily's boy too. Plus, old childhood memories of father abuse were impossible to forget so easily. It was then that Severus decided he would help the boy.
"I certainly do not want to interrupt your sweet conversation, but we have another problem," one of the redheads coughed to attract the attention of the others, "There is almost no potion left, and the bandages will need to be changed in a few days."
"So we'll have to go to the Forbidden Forest," Granger sighed wearily, "but Harry's wrist is also in poor condition, while my disguise spell works no one will notice, but if your condition worsens, you'll have to go to Madame Pomfrey. There is one more dressing left for the potion, but we need at least three."
"Then we'll split up. Ron and I will go to the Forbidden Forest to collect the herbs, and you will ask Madame Pomfrey for a bruise ointment and take some wolf berries from the greenhouse. Tomorrow we just have a travelogue, while we go for herbs, you prepare everything else, we will meet here at midnight," everyone agreed with Potter, except Snape. It was then that he had a plan. He will intercept two students on the way to the Forbidden Forest, and then, together with Granger, will take them to his office, and then they will have a serious conversation.
"It's time for us to return to the common living room, it's late, it will be bad if we bump into one of the teachers," Granger said, looking around carefully, as if she felt that they were being watched and hastened to push her accomplices out of the women's closet. All three of them crept along the tangled corridors of Hogwarts to their tower and did not even suspect that Snape was following them, who wants to make sure that the Golden Trio gets to their living room without getting into trouble.