Fifteen minutes later Severus glares the last of the students out of the classroom – Granger and Weasley, predictably. Sending the scattered mirrors to stack against the wall, he turns to the remaining student.

“Potter, follow me.”

Striding through the corridors Severus glances covertly at the face of the boy trailing along behind him. James Jr., his childhood enemy once more. But now that he knows it is a mask – a mask that he himself placed – he can’t help but notice the differences; and remember what is now hidden. Harry Potter has never seemed both more and less like his father than he does at this moment.

“Where are we going?” He glares, and “Sir,” is added belatedly. The professor just sneers at him.

“I am sure that after three years of out-of-hours excursions you are able to navigate your way around the castle. Although perhaps I am incorrect, since I clearly recall instructing you to go to the Hospital Wing several hours ago, yet you appear to have been unable to find it.”

“I did go!”

“Well? And?” Why the dunderheads need everything spelled out for them… Potter glowers and Severus can almost read his thoughts from his expression. Why do you care? He cares because it’s his job to do so, damnit. Because, despite appearances, he is human and capable of feeling responsibility and concern. Because, if nothing else, it makes him look bad if students are running around injured from his class.

Potter rolls his eyes, clearly choosing cooperation as the quickest way to end the conversation.

“She put another cream on my burn and it’s fine now. Then she did that special test and told me to come back after dinner so she can do it again. Happy?”

“Watch your tone Potter.” His mind is buzzing, only half his attention on composing an appropriate rejoinder. “Of course she would have to run the diagnostic twice. After all, it would be just like the great Harry Potter to wait to show any symptoms until after he has been checked.” The child is a puzzle, but it is as though the final edge piece has just snapped into place, the centre of the picture steadily filling itself in. Ignoring the presence of the boy beside him he focusses on the facts.

Potter must have been wearing glamours; this term at least, although his behaviour suggests that he has required a similar disguise in the past. And they must be strong ones at that; that no one noticed them despite all the attention he gets as the Boy-Who-Lived – and come to think of it, he never did react to his fame the way he was supposed to. But what happened to them? Something occurred between Potions class this morning and when he approached the trio in Charms. For that matter, surely he would have noticed at the start of the class if something had been wrong. So what could possibly have happened to the spell while the boy was in the middle of class supposed to be learning… oh.

He feels the sudden urge to hit himself for his stupidity. Of course. This was the first practical class on glamour charms. Unless he was reading ahead – which given Potter is unlikely, particularly if he needed them before this year – or had asked Miss Granger for help – statistically also highly unlikely for someone in his situation – until today he did not consciously know how to cast a glamour, certainly not with the evidenced level of skill and detail. Therefore, it must have been accidental magic. Severus firmly pushes away the memory of some of his own experiences with that power. And of course the problem with accidental magic is that it works only with the subconscious. Once a witch or wizard has learnt how to cast a type of spell consciously the reins of control are passed over, any existing accidental spells failing.

For most children, this means a rapid decrease in incidents of moving objects, involuntary colour changes and other such simple mishaps. But for others – several of his snakes included – it means the loss of protection, the revelation of painful secrets. Given his experience and the nature of the lesson, he should have kept an eye out for such an occurrence among the other students even if he didn’t suspect Potter.

Pushing aside regrets for past actions his mind turns to practicalities. So it seems the boy did visit Poppy, but she left his hidden injuries unhealed. Still, she told him to come back later, that she’d run the abuse test again. He turns it over in his mind. He and Poppy have had to work together for many of his students, as well as several from the other Houses; he knows how she thinks in these situations. She saw. He growls to himself. The very fact that she did see yet did nothing is itself a confirmation of the seriousness of the situation. It means she feels that dealing with how he came to acquire the injuries is more important than healing the boy immediately, and that the nature of the injuries themselves is clear enough to prompt action without first getting verbal confirmation.

Knowing her, she will be talking to the Headmaster; informing him of the situation and discussing possible solutions, ready for a confrontation with Potter himself later this evening. Flicking his wand, he sends a message asking Minerva to meet him in the Headmaster’s office. Unfortunately, the failure of Potter’s disguise in Charms requires them to move up their timetable.