Severus stepped through the floo of his chambers, still carrying Harry in his arms as neither one wanted to let the other go. Severus walked down the hallway to the prepared room he had for Harry's stay.

Laying Harry down on the bed, Severus stood and transfigured his clothes into pajamas and then tucked Harry in after once again immobilizing his bandaged arm.

Even though Harry had been asleep on and off since Severus first found him on the stairs, Harry quickly went to sleep after the duvet was draped over him, the child's breathing evening out as sleep once again took him.

Severus walked out of the room, closing the door only leaving it cracked so he could hear if Harry had a nightmare. Walking into the sitting room, Severus saw that Sirius, Derek, and Minerva had made their way through the floo and were now sitting on the sofa and armchair respectively. Severus sighed as he sat down in the only chair left available.

"He's asleep?" Minerva asked.

Severus nodded. The four adults sat in silence a moment until the healer spoke up.

"Well, Severus," Derek said, standing up. "It has been a long evening. I'm going to my chambers."

"I'm going to have a talk with all the Houses in the morning," Minerva said. "I want to see who else was subjected to Umbridge's detentions."

"I'll prepare the Infirmary," Derek replied. "Severus we may need more of that salve, if there are more injuries." Severus nodded but didn't say anything.

Derek left Severus' chambers.

"Come, Sirius," Minerva said.

Severus looked over at Sirius and could tell that he was feeling the same as he was. Looking down at his hands, Severus spoke up.

"Down the hall last door on the right. Go check on him."

Sirius didn't waist any time. He was down the hall within seconds. Minerva smirked at her son.

"Do you know how much I love you, Severus?"

The question shocked Severus that he looked up at his adoptive mother.

"Oh, don't look so surprised," Minerva said, standing up and walking over towards him. She cupped his face. "Get some rest. Like Derek said, before we came back, Harry will probably sleep the rest of the night."

Sirius walked down the hall as fast as his legs would take him. When he got to the door, he saw that it was still cracked, so he, very carefully, opened it the rest of the way. He could see the bed at the far corner. The dim light from the hallway came in with just enough light for Sirius to be able to see Harry asleep in the bed. Very slowly, Sirius walked into the room and towards the bed. Harry was curled up, as much as he could with his arm immobilized on the mattress.

Sirius lightly combed his fingers through Harry's hair as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Oh, pup," Sirius whispered, not wanting to wake the child up. "You can't keep something like this from us. We can only protect you if you let us. You don't have to do everything on your own anymore."

Sirius swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat as he looked down on the child. He thought back to everything that he witnessed and truly wondered how many times did something like this had happen and Harry had to only depend on himself to fix something. Sirius knew that no matter what, he was going to prove to Harry that he was no longer alone. He had so many people that he could depend on. No longer was he alone.

Sighing, Sirius stood up and turned to leave and saw Severus standing just inside the doorway, leaning on the door jam. The two once rivals stood and faced each other. Since the light was at Severus' back and shining dimly on Sirius' face, Severus could see the emotion on the Gryffindor.

Neither said a word, but they both knew that what the other was feeling was the same: protection of Harry. And in that moment, they both knew that something like this would never happen again.

"Mother is waiting for you," Severus said after a moment, then turned and walked out the room, not waiting to see if Sirius followed.

_0000_0000_000_0000

The next morning before breakfast, the Head-of House Professors minus Severus met in Albus' office.

"Is everything alright, Albus?" Pomona asked when she sat down.

She was the last to show up in the office as she was in the Greenhouse checking on some of her latest work.

"Where's Severus?" Flitwick asked.

"Severus already know what I am about to inform you," Minerva said.

"What's wrong?" Pomona asked.

"I dismissed Dolores last night," Minerva stated.

It took everything within both Herbology and Charms professors to keep from snorting at that announcement, as they both knew that there was really no way Dolores Umbridge would have been able to withstand an entire school term. The mirth in their eyes changed with Minerva's next statement.

"It seems that she was using a dark artifact on students during detentions."

"What?" "Who?" Came replies from the other Heads of Houses.

"I have seen the damage to one student," Minerva said. "I would like after breakfast that you have a in-house meeting with all of your students and see if any were subjected to Umbridge's detentions. If they were, please send them to the Infirmary where Healer Williams will be waiting to treat any damage to the children."

"What dark artifact did she use?" Flitwick asked.

"A blood quill."

Pomona gasped.

"And who was the student?" he asked.

"Mr. Potter," Minerva answered. "I'm hoping that, though terrible, he's the only one. But I'm not foolish to trust that."

"How is Harry?" Pamona asked.

"The Healer is not sure the amount of damage until Harry's is able to move his hand and wrist."

"How long did Harry have to write with that quill?" Albus asked, speaking for the first time.

"He confided that he wrote one hundred and fifty lines with that quill," Minerva said.

"Sweet Merlin," Flitwick gasped.

"And that was the second time he was subjected to use that quill."

"The second? When was the first?"

Pomona's question went unanswered as Minerva continued.

"Please hold an in-house meeting and let see what that woman did to our students."

"I'll make the announcement during breakfast," Albus said.

Minerva, Filius, and Pomona got up and headed for the door.

"Where is Severus?" Pomona asked.

"Brewing the salve," Minerva said. "I hope that no one else was subjected to her detentions, but if so, we need to be prepared to treat them."

_0000_000_00000_000

After breakfast, the Gryffindors were all in the Common room. Everyone was either sitting or standing in various places. Hermione and Ron were sitting next to each other, on the sofa nearer to the fireplace. Hermione looked around and was slightly amazed that while sometimes the Common room didn't look big enough to have every last Gryffindor from all the years in one room, it was actually the opposite. Everyone was there, except for Harry, and it really didn't feel over-crowded.

There was a low volume of chatter in the Common room. It became silent when Minerva walked into the room.

"Good morning," Minerva greeted.

A chorus of Good Mornings answered her as she looked around at ever face of her students.

"I know you are all wondering why you were asked to come back to the Common room and I promise that I won't hold you long," Minerva started.

Everyone looked around the room at each other and then put their attention back on their Head of House.

"Now, something has come to the Professors' attention and we need to know if any of you were subjected to it."

"What happened, Professor?" Katie asked, who was sitting next to the twins, Fred and George.

"Have any of you have detention with Professor Umbridge?" Minerva asked.

Minerva looked around at each student and could see many of them shaking their heads no. A sigh escaped her lips as she saw that maybe there wouldn't be anymore hurt students. As she continued to sweep her gaze over the students, her eyes landed on Ron and saw that he was slightly paling. Her brow creased as she looked at his reaction. Her eyes then searched for the other Weasley children. Ginny, who was sitting with the Patel twins, looked fine. When she looked for her other set of twins, she saw that Fred was looking at George, but George wasn't looking at Fred. Not wanting to bring too much attention to the Weasley children, Minerva dismissed the children.

"Alright, thank you," Minerva said. "But please know that if you have had detention with any Professor all will be fine."

All the students began piling out of the room going to their various destinations. As the room start to empty, Minerva saw that just a few remained. She was happy that the ones she wanted to see was still in the room. Her eyes went back to Ron who was looking more and more ill. She saw that Hermione was trying to get Ron's attention and failing. Minerva made her way over to the sofa.

"Ron," Hermione said, looking at Ron.

Fred and George made their way over to the sofa as well. Minerva sat down on the opposite end of the sofa to give Ron some space. She could see that Ron was distressed about something. Minerva saw Fred get down on his knees in front of Ron, while George was standing behind the sofa with his hands on Ron's shoulders.

"Ron," Fred called out. "Ron look at me."

Minerva watched the interaction between the three of them. She saw that Hermione was also looking with a mild fascination. But then something caught Minerva's eyes. George had a bandage on his left hand.

"Ron," Fred called again, this time Ron looked at his brother and the first tear came down. "What's wrong? Did you have detention with Umbridge?" Fred's voice was low, but stern.

Ron eyes got big as he remembered the warning Fred gave him before. He wildly shook his head. Fred gave a small smirk and opened his arms. Ron fell off the sofa and into his brother's arms.

Minerva took that opportunity to talk to George.

"Mr. Weasley," George looked at his Head of House. "Would you please come with me?"

George looked over at his twin and then back to his Professor and nodded. Fred stood up with Ron still in his arms. He whispered into Ron's ear and the two of them followed Minerva and George into her office.

TBC