"Thank you for making time for me so promptly, Scilla," Severus greeted his host, a somewhat plump middle-aged woman who carried strong resemblance to her slightly older sister, Poppy Pomfrey.

"It was about time you showed up, Severus," she chided good-naturedly. "However, as I know you, you didn't come to exchange banalities. Is there a problem?"

Severus loved this about Scilla Sovanir. She was a no-nonsense person, hating idle talk, but always willing to listen endlessly when her patients or friends wanted or needed to talk about their problems. Scilla - like her sister - was a Healer; she specialised on mind healing, though.

Scilla helped Severus immensely; for the first time when he found out what kind of service the Dark Lord required of him. The second time, she probably saved his life - he was a complete mess after Lily's demise, and he might have easily taken his life back then. Sometimes he thought it had been a miracle that he had got up and went on. He didn't 'go on' for far and long, however, as he was taken into custody and sent to Azkaban to wait for his trial. Albus somewhat managed to get him out of the prison after three weeks. It was Scilla, though, who helped him to find a way out of his madness again. Now, he hoped, she would work her magic once more - for Harry.

He looked at her fondly as she poured them tea from the omnipresent tea kettle that Severus remembered all too well. "So?" she prompted.

"There's a student of mine," he started a bit lengthily, "a series of bad events have happened to him. I think he's losing it."

She nodded gravely and waited for him to organise his thoughts. Severus knew she was aware of the effort he always had to make when he was supposed to talk about feelings.

"He's fifteen and he has lately lost his godfather, it happened last summer." Severus supposed it wouldn't take long before he revealed the boy's name to her, but he wanted her to stay impartial for at least a little while - which was, for vast majority of people, impossible when confronted with the Boy-Who-Lived idol. "He's been living with his guardians for years; last year I found that he wasn't exactly happy with them. However, only lately I learned they weren't just neglecting him. He has been abused, physically and mentally. It escalated this Christmas when the boy's uncle killed his familiar - an owl - before his eyes."

Severus paused and rubbed his eyes. He didn't feel like describing the horrible act. The screeching of the maltreated bird, his son's desperate screaming that turned into a helpless sobbing when the delicate owl's life evaporated.

"The Muggle tortured the bird and then snapped her neck. He laughed when Harry cried and he tossed the dead body to him as a bone to a dog, saying he could play with her now that she's silent. The man could join the most vicious Death-Eaters any day." Severus said heavily. It was nauseating to remember. The Muggle's cruel laugh over Harry's pain. Severus gritted his fists.

"Harry told you what happened?" Scilla asked and Severus belatedly realised he had used his son's name. The slip wasn't important in this case; but he still felt angry with himself. He was a spy and he couldn't afford slipping like that.

"No, he doesn't talk to anyone. I went to see the Muggles and I used Legilimency on them." Severus admitted shamelessly. He used a few other spells on them, too.

"The abused children usually don't talk about traumatising events." Scilla nodded in understanding. She didn't judge Severus for using mind magic on Muggles - as he knew she wouldn't - she had met too many victims to feel pity for the abusers. "I suppose he's one of your charges. Does he trust you? Does he talk to you about other problems of his?"

"No, no and once again no," Severus said, trying to lighten the situation and failing. "He's in Minerva's house, he doesn't trust me and he doesn't talk to me, if he can help it." He took a deep breath. "We are talking about Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Scilla. I have to keep distant from him, for the safety of both of us."

He watched Scilla closely. She didn't react on the 'bombastic news' at all. She said only, "What do you want from me, then? I thought you wanted a piece of advice on how to deal with the child, how to help him heal. But if you cannot approach Harry or talk to him- . . . I have to admit I'm at a loss what you intend to do and how I may help you."

Severus apologised to her inwardly. He should have known that Scilla would consider Harry just another troubled child, not giving a damn about his celebrity status. He said hesitantly, "Actually, I thought - if you were willing, of course - that we could try to arrange for you to come to Hogwarts to see him. Repeatedly, if possible."

"I'm willing, of course," she agreed immediately. "How do you plan to arrange the meetings? You know how Minerva regards my profession."

Oh, yes, Severus knew how Minerva - and the vast majority of the Wizarding world with her - regarded mind healing. It was more like how they disregarded the mental part of healing; or they outright frowned upon the ideas about psyche being as important as the physical body. The mind healers then were often viewed as charlatans taking advantage of their patients' hard times. In better cases, they were only accused of encouraging wizards to wallow in self-pity and making them soft. Fortunately, Scilla was never one to give a damn about the magical world finding her work useless, peculiar or fraudulent.

"I think I can bypass Minerva and go straight to Albus with this," Severus said pensively. Minerva was a strong woman, believing in the way she herself lived: be strong, be brave, and if you are at your wits end, just grit your teeth and go on. To her defence, Severus had to admit, that there was no hypocrisy in Minerva. This way really worked with her; however, she failed to see that not everyone who adopted her way of dealing with troubles, pain or depression survived.

Scilla nodded and continued, "Very likely, Harry won't want me to help him, too. Abused children are often too hurt to voice their pain. Also, as he's fifteen, we also have to take into account his feelings of shame and false bravado."

She didn't have to explain to Severus. He knew only too well what she was talking about. He remembered clearly the illogical shame he had felt over the fact that his Muggle father kept beating him; shame that he - the clever Slytherin - had fallen for nice words and made himself trapped in slavery to a sadistic power-sucker; and shame that he wasn't able to deal with the situation on his own, that he wasn't strong enough. Severus sighed. Fifteen years passed, but things stayed the old same crappy things.

"The first time, I thought, we wouldn't announce to Albus or Minerva at all," Severus explained his vague plan. "You would simply come to visit your sister; I would give Harry detention - actually I already gave him one - and send him to deliver some healing potions to the infirmary in the end of it."

"If he's the same kind of patient as Poppy said you were," Scilla smiled, "he will very probably just flip the potions through the infirmary doors and leave without uttering a single word."

This took only a second to the Slytherin to remedy. "Not if I tell him explicitly to hand it into the hands of Poppy and under no circumstances to leave it with anyone else. And Poppy, of course, would just have to run a small errand at the moment, so Harry will have to wait for her."

"Always the chess champion, Severus, aren't you?" she praised, "I think this could work for the first assessment. When do we make this little plan happen?"

They quickly worked through details and soon Severus was leaving with the task to inform Poppy of the situation and announce the visit of Scilla tomorrow evening. He sighed in relief, and the horrible knot in his stomach melted a little bit. He dared to hope that his son would be whole again.

Oblivious to it, Harry has just been given another gift, intangible, but the best gift Severus was able to give him.