Title: Lusus Naturae
Chapter: Chapter Seven
Rating: M for Moony
Warnings: Abuse, Death, Dementors
A/N: I'm starting to plan things out a bit. Sort of. Let the school year begin!
The first of September dawned over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry bringing with it an expectant jubilance to the otherwise stagnant air in the school. The house elves were working diligently on preparing the dormitories and the feast for their new and returning students. Even the ghosts and the portraits appeared to be readying themselves for yet another school year.
Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall had arrived back at the castle the week prior and had taken on the duties of overseeing the reopening of the school in the absence of the Headmaster. McGonagall had little time to wonder what was keeping Dumbledore so asborbed. Were the student letters not penned and mailed without oversight, she doubted the letters would have been sent out at all. An Azkaban prisoner was on the loose, the Minister had announced that Dementors would be guarding the school, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts couldn't be reached for a simple staff meeting.
It was unfortunate, then, that around midday she stalked the empty halls of the castle searching for the old man. She carried with her a dire message from one Remus Lupin who had accompanied the children on the Hogwarts Express: The train had been attacked. McGonagall did not have all the details. She knew only that the train continued its journey in the aftermath and would arrive at the station in Hogsmeade with three injured students that would need immediate attention. In lieu of finding the Headmaster, McGonagall turned towards the Hospital Wing, intent on finding Madame Pomfrey and bringing the medi-witch to triage the situation at the station.
As she stepped through the double doors into the infirmary all of her prior concerns seemed to flee, replaced by a whole host of new and unusal questions. Therein, she found Madame Pomfrey as well as the Headmaster, and Severus Snape nonetheless, standing at the bedside of...
"What in Merlin's name?" she breathed.
The witch and wizards attending to that - that thing - in the bed, turned their attentions towards her. McGonagall did not cower under their gazes, but when the creature in the bed turned its face to her she relented a step.
It was the size of a student, clearly, and half covered beneath the white sheets of the bed, but the swath of inhumanly pallid skin stretched across its chest was bare. She could make out patches of near-irridescent cells littering the canvas of its flesh. Its eyes were covered with a tightly wound bandage, but she felt as though it were looking right at her.
"Professor," the Headmaster greeted her genially. "Did you require my attention?"
Snape moved then to step between Minerva and the bed-bound creature. Her neck craned to peer around the wall presented by the man's body of its own accord.
"What is that?" she gasped. "Is that a student?"
"Minerva," Dumbledore warned. "Was there something you needed?"
Staring into Snape's eyes as though she might find her answers there, McGonagall nodded weakly. Madame Pomfrey stepped away from the bed and turned fully to face the Transfiguration Professor.
"Out with it," Snape hissed.
"There-" McGonagall tried. "There's been an attack on the train."
"Madame, with me," Dumbledore ordered, stepping quickly across the ward to join McGonagall. "Let us make haste."
"Albus, what is that thing?" Minerva demanded. "Tell me."
"Leave," Snape warned her. "Now."
Dumbledore took her by the arm and led her away from the scene. Madame Pomfrey followed the pair out. They would leave for Hogsmeade from the Headmaster's office to meet the train when it arrived. Despite the urgency, McGonagall found her mind stuck on the visage of that creature, unable to dispell it from her thoughts.
In their absence, Severus turned back to the boy hidden behind him. There was no doubt that Potter had heard everything. He was hunched over with his facce pointed at his hands, which wrung anxiously in his lap.
"I believe its time I escort you to your new quarters," Snape said evenly. "They may need the room."
Potter nodded mutely. He reached blindly for the bedsheets, peeling them back to reveal his legs. Severus observed the freshly shed skin of his knees where the blankets had caused excess friction and aided in sloughing off the dried flakes. The scales that emerged from below were uniformly developed, identical to those near his shoulders and collar bones. He added it to a list of diagnostic data he was slowly compiling in his mind.
"We will try the spectacles later this afternoon," Severus explained. "Your belongings have already been moved. We will walk there together, but I may need to leave you momentarily if they require my assistance."
Potter groped for the necklace sitting on the bedside table and carefully lowered it over his head. The glamour took affect almost instantly. Severus knew Dumbledore was working on a replacement charm. Due to the changes in Potter's condition, the glamour did nothing to hide the patches of scales, which showed through the lightly tanned skin-color of the glamour with a striking constrast. Likewise, the boy was still blinded by the wrappings around his eyes. Despite their best intentions, the first of the year had come and Potter was nowhere near ready to rejoin his classmates.
The decision had been made to transfer him to his own private quarters. Severus had suggested the room be attached to his own to make the matter of supervision simpler. He was surprised to find Potter agreeable to the idea from the start, having expected at least a modicum of hesitation from the boy. He supposed they had built something of a working relationship over the last week, but was certain that would change just as soon as Potter no longer relied on him for basic needs.
"Sir," Potter said softly as he gathered his wand and reading book. "Is it really that bad?"
Severus measured his words carefully. "It is a shock," he relented. "I believe the skin is the most noticeable difference. However, beneath it you are clearly still a thirteen year old boy, even without the glamour."
Potter nodded.
"You will learn that those who do not meet the conventional standards of beauty often see a truer form of society. People you thought were kind and caring will often show their true colors when faced with something unknown to them."
"Like muggles," Potter whispered angrily. 'Like the Dursleys,' went unspoken.
The Hogwarts Express had indeed been attacked, but not by the escaped prisoner Sirius Black. The Headmaster was furious. A student, Neville Longbottom, had been fully incapacitated for the remainder of the train ride. Madame Pomfrey assured her colleagues the boy would recover fully after a Dreamless Sleep potion and adequate rest, but she made certain her position on the events that transpired was clear. A Dementor attacking her students was not something she would stand idly by for.
Remus Lupin, newly appointed Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, forwent the opening feast to stay at Longbottom's bedside and monitor his recovery. He had been the one to ward off the Dementor when it attacked, searching the train for Sirius Black. It was clear he felt some amount of guilt for Neville's condition.
After ensuring the others did not require his aid, Severus Snape also skipped the feast in the Great Hall. He retired to his chambers to check on Harry Potter, who had been left to his own devices in his new quarters while the students were escorted into the relative safety of the castle. When Snape arrived in the dungeons to verify his charge's safety, he found Potter curled up in bed.
"Harry," Severus greeted quietly, unsure if the boy was sleeping or not.
"Is everyone okay?" Harry asked.
Severus dipped his chin in accord. "Yes. Longbottom will be staying overnight in the infirmary, but he is expected to recover."
"Neville?" Harry sat upright. "What happened to him?"
"Ministry ineptitude," Severus sneered. "Did you take your potions?"
Harry gestured blindly to the table nearby. Four empty vials stood in a line. Severus nodded, though the boy wouldn't know.
"Would you like to eat dinner here or in my quarters?"
"Here is fine," Harry said quietly. "I'm used to eating in bed."
Severus called upon the house elves to deliver dinner for two to the bed chamber, as well as a table at which to eat. For lack of a better topic, he endeavored to explain the events that had transpired on the Hogwarts Express.
"What do you know of Dementors?" he asked as the pair settled in to dinner.
Later that evening, once the feast had concluded and the Prefects led the first years to their dormitories for their first night at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall cornered the Headmaster in his office. She had a sinking suspicion that there was a connection between three very important questions she had, and it involved the student missing from her house table.
Albus was sitting at his desk going over a week's worth of forgone missives - most of them from McGonagall herself - and rifling through forgotten owl mail that had collected on nearly every flat surface in the room. When Minerva entered, the wizard greeted her cordially.
"Minerva, my dear, have a seat."
It took a great deal of effort not to show her frustrations. McGonagall contained the agitated huff that threatened to push out through her nostrils and decided to stand her ground.
"I asked no questions when you refused to assist me in opening the school," she began.
"Not when there were letters from parents pouring through the owlery. Not when the Minister and the Board put Dementors in our forest. Not even when you offered the Defense position to Remus Lupin without consulting anyone about the illegality of such a thing," Minerva said, barely pausing to take a breath. "Now, one of my students is missing and you've got some creature in the infirmary. I am head of Gryffindor house. You will tell me where Harry Potter is, Albus. Right now."
"Sit down, Minerva."
"Al-"
"Sit," Albus ordered her.
Minerva obeyed.