If you should not be here, leave now.
4. Avenging Angel
"Is anything the matter Severus?" Albus enquired of the pacing Potions Master. Severus said nothing, knowing that his eyes already said more than enough about his anguish.
When Poppy finished reading the journal she passed it to Albus, who took it with steady hands and sombre eyes. Severus continued to pace whilst Albus read. Suddenly something that Poppy had said came back to him, or rather, had not said.
"Poppy, why didn’t you pick up that Harry had been raped?"
His question hung between them for a moment.
"I did, I just…didn’t want to believe it…I hoped that I was wrong…or that it was something else…it was just too much…I…" Poppy’s voice trailed off as fresh tears slipped down her face. Albus placed a comforting hand on the Medi-witch’s shoulder, and placed the journal back on Harry’s bedside cabinet. Albus looked at Harry’s still form, the thin chest raising and falling with each shallow breath. He looked no older than a first year; he was so small, too small. And innocent. Even with the livid scars and heavy bruising, he looked so innocent. Severus felt a fresh burn of anger in his heart. He was about to speak when the sounds of running feet approaching the Hospital wing interrupted the silence.
The door crashed open and Sirius Black and Remus Lupin entered.
"Albus, Harry’s been kidna…" the werewolf started, but then caught sight of the form in the bed and stopped.
"What happened to him?" asked Black, as if it wasn’t obvious. Severus just managed not to snarl at the unwelcome interruption of the canine duo. Well not totally unwelcome, Severus reminded himself, Black did claim to be Harry’s godfather after all.
"The Dursleys." Severus stated simply. Black opened his mouth like a fish.
"His Relatives? Lily’s sister and her husband?" The werewolf obviously didn’t understand English.
"The very same." Severus replied sardonically.
"But how?" Perhaps Black wasn’t quite as dense as Severus thought him to be. In answer Albus handed Black the journal.
"Harry’s owl, Hedwig I believe, turned up this morning looking rather the worse for wear and I thought it prudent that someone should check up on him. Severus arrived back with Harry two hours ago." Albus added by way of explanation. Black opened the journal and read Harry’s account of his summer in silence. When he had finished he looked up; his eyes had reverted to the hollow pits that Azkaban had turned them into. Handing the journal to the werewolf, Black approached Severus. Severus tried to step backwards but was prevented by the bedstead directly behind him. Black pulled Severus into a bone-crushing hug.
"Thank you. I still hate you but…Thank you for getting him out of that hell." Black said quietly in Severus’ ear.
"As much as your godson might enjoy this, I’d quite like to be able to breathe again sometime in the next ten seconds, if you don’t mind." Severus replied acidly. Black released him with a grumbled ‘sorry’ and Severus took a welcome breath of non dog scented air before glaring at Poppy who was looking as gormless as Black, her mouth hanging open.
"What’s it written in?" the werewolf asked, having read the entries also. Severus attempted to not roll his eyes; it didn’t work.
"You of all people, Lupin, should be able to smell it, he wrote in his own blood!" Severus informed them. The shocked silence stretched out for several long seconds.
"Is he going to get better?" Black asked. Everyone looked at Poppy.
"If he survives the next twenty-four hours, yes he will." Poppy said, pulling herself together and getting up. For a few minutes everyone watched as Poppy finished checking Harry and changing the intravenous dips she’d set up, then Albus started herding Severus, Black and the werewolf out of the ward.
"What I want to know is why you thought that Harry had been kidnapped." Albus stated, looking not at Black but at Severus. Severus performed a detailed examination of his fingernails before he spoke.
"I didn’t do anything illegal, technically." He stated.
"Yet it was powerful enough to trigger the wards?" Albus queried, Black nodded.
"The alarms went off in Arabella’s house, and she contacted us. When we got there Harry’s relatives were screaming like banshees."
Sighing, Severus decided the game was up, "I performed a pain reversal curse, so in effect all the Dursley’s felt was of their own doing." Severus allowed himself a small smirk, that Black hadn’t recognised one of his favourite spells was more than a small triumph in Severus’ mind.
Albus took Black and the werewolf up to his office, leaving Severus free to return to the peace of his quarters. However the picture of Harry in the hospital wing followed him, and eventually he found himself back beside the boy’s bed.