During the next two weeks, Severus was rather busy. Between teaching, dealing with the first few cases of sever homesickness amongst the new Slytherin first-years and attending at least two meals in the Great Hall every day (lest Albus might become suspicious), the time he could spend on figuring out how to best proceed with caring for Harry was rather limited.
Two days after the Horcrux had hurt both Harry and Ronald Weasley, Severus had ordered the red-head (who had been released from Poppy's care after just one night in the infirmary, and who insisted on staying at Hogwarts despite his mother's attempts to make him come home again and start his schooling together with his younger sister in order to have enough time to recover from his almost-death) to meet him in his office.
Despite Ronald's earlier claims, he had been quite afraid of being alone in a room with the head of the snakes, and it had taken Severus several minutes to get a coherent answer out of the boy. It seemed that Ron had been sincere when telling his mother that it wasn't Harry's fault that he had been injured and he didn't hold a grudge against the other boy.
Quite the opposite actually. When the Potion Master told the red-head where exactly Harry was and that Professor Dumbledore was responsible for Harry being sent away, he became rather worried at what might happen to his friend if the healers wouldn't understand that Harry hadn't meant to harm him. Severus' reassurance that children couldn't be sent to Azkaban seemed to help a little bit, but nevertheless Ron was worried enough to implore his Potion Professor to rescue Harry even though Harry being a lion and not a snake. After all, Ron pointed out, Harry trusted Professor Snape, so it would be unfair not to help him. And while the very Professor could only shake his head at the naivety of Gryffindors, he appreciated the fact that Harry would still have a friend when - if - he returned to Hogwarts.
He had sent Weasley back to his tower, but only ten minutes later, a panting Ronald had frantically knocked on his door, babbling something about know-it-alls, red eyes and having forgotten to tell Snape something. When he had caught his breath, Ron had added another piece to the puzzle that Severus was trying to solve. Apparently, a fellow Gryffindor first-year - Hermione Granger - had observed how Professor Quirell's eyes had shifted from their normal brown to a reddish colour directly after said Professor had touched Harry's shoulder, which had caused the boy to run from the classroom.
While such a thing was worrisome in itself, Severus might just have brought it to the headmaster's attention (as it was his duty to deal with everything concerning the staff), not really caring about Quirrell, if it hadn't been for Harry's attempt to smash his head against the castle-wall only minutes after he had left the classroom.
Of course, it was possible that it was purely coincidence and that the two things had nothing to do with each other, but somehow, Severus doubted that this was the case. He had never liked Quirrell, and the man's sudden appointment as the new DADA teacher had only added to Severus' disapproval, but he hadn't missed the alarming changes Quirrell had undergone during his year of absence. What had happened to the man? And had it something to do with Harry? Or the Dark Lord? Was it possible that he had somehow triggered the Horcrux, or did the man actually know about Harry's condition? And what did this mean for the Stone that Albus had insisted on hiding in the school, despite almost every Professor's objections?
It had only been Ron's casual mentioning of Harry's eyes - both of them, even the unhurt on - becoming red, too, that had led to Severus connecting the dots, though.
He was rather certain that the change in Harry's eye-colour had been due to the Horcrux taking control over his body. What if something similar had happened to Quirrell? The Potion Master doubted that Quirrell was a Horcrux, after all, as far as he knew, the DADA-Professor had never had anything to do with the Dark Lord when the latter one had been still around, but then, Severus had only found out about Horcruxes a few days ago, so it was quite possible that there were other things concerning mind control, possession and similar dark magic he was oblivious of.
Well, he would need to keep an eye on the other Professor, and hopefully, he would find out more soon. He supposed he should consider himself lucky, after all, the headmaster had already ordered him to keep an eye on Quirrell before the term had even started - the position of the defence-professor seemed to attract troublesome teachers.
When Severus had thanked the Weasley-boy for sharing his (and Granger's) observation, the boy had gapped at him as if Severus had admitted his secret love for red and gold. Well, after he had witnessed his mother's outburst, he shouldn't be surprised, but still, being able to look into the throat of a Gryffindor had never been his greatest desire. After he had told the boy so, Ron had quickly shut his mouth, given him an uncertain grin and finally ran away.
###
To the Potion Master's great relief, the reaction of the students to Harry's stunt hadn't been as bad as he had anticipated. Well, the discussion McGonagall and Pomfrey had had in a corner of the Entrance Hall a day after everything had happened might have something to do with it. Two whispering teachers quickly had attracted the attention of the students, and even Severus (who, at first, had been rather annoyed at the two witches discussing Harry in a way that practically guaranteed that someone would overhear them) had been impressed by their acting skills.
The hushed conversation about backfiring pranks, troublesome Potter's and needlessly scaring unsuspecting students (and teachers) had ensured that most of the students were convinced that Harry's and Ron's apparent fight had only been a prank that had somehow gotten out of control.
Of course, there had been quite a few letters (and even some howlers) from angry and scared parents, and the board of governors had demanded an explanation of what exactly had happened, but since the headmaster had his own reasons for hushing the matter down, he had provided the governors with a carefully edited version of events. This had ensured that not even the 'Prophet' had learned about the incident (as no one of the governors wanted to discredit the finest magical school of the whole UK) and soon, the excited discussions of the students and rumours even more outlandish than the actual truth were the only indication that anything had happened at all.
This enabled Severus to concentrate on more important matters, like finding out more about the destruction of Horcruxes.
Audrey hadn't replied to his letter, which meant that she was willing to meet him at the time and date he had proposed. And so it was that late at Friday night, the Potion Master left the castle and apparated first to Diagon Alley (as it was recommended not to apparate more then 700 miles in one go) and then onwards to Poland, or more particular to the foot of a thickly wooded mountain, unplottable for muggles, where Audrey Shafiq had settled down during the first war.
As far as Severus knew, only very few people were aware of the Shafiqs, an old pure-blood family from Britain, continuous existence. Amongst British pure-bloods, it was believed that the Shafiqs had died out during the 1930s. Severus had often heard Lucius and several of his companions mourning for all the knowledge that was irretrievably lost, since somehow the family seemed to have managed not to leave even a vault at Gringotts. In fact, if you didn't know better, you might get the impression that there had never been a Shafiq-family at all.
But Severus was one of the few who knew better. He didn't know what he would have done if Audrey Shafiq had refused to meet him, as there was no other family that had delved into mind magic (both light and dark) as deep as the Shafiqs. The family had been famous for their secrecy, though, and they had only passed on their knowledge within their family. He could only pray that the old witch was willing to help him (and Harry).
Taking a deep breath, Severus crossed the layer of shimmering air that were the only indication that this place was heavily warded. He involuntarily shivered when the magic washed over him and tried not to think about what would have happened to him if he hadn't been invited (well, sort of) by the owner of these grounds herself.
While Severus didn't believed in the pure-blood nonsense the Dark Lord and some of his followers spouted, he was rather certain that this particular pure-blood family was one of the most powerful magical families that had ever existed. However, in contrast to people like Dumbledore, the Shafiqs had always preferred working for their own gains, not caring whether the magic they worked with was regarded light or dark, not caring about other people's affairs. It had been this attitude that had offended both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore when the two wizards had tried to contact any descendant from the family that might still exist in order to persuade them to join their respective sites. Neither the leader of the dark nor the one of the light were used to people that didn't play according to their rules.
Severus thought he was really lucky that one of the potion masters that had taught him after he had left Hogwarts had been rather proficient in mind magic, too. Otherwise, he might never have become as good in Legilimency and Occlumency as he now was, and it was quite unlikely that he had ever made Audrey Shafiq's acquaintance.
After ten minutes of climbing up the mountain, Severus was sweating and panting but he had to walk for another five minutes or so until the dark stone wall that surrounded the old building came into view. When he reached the iron gate, he paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath. However, he barely had time to wonder about the massive, moving forms next to the building (which he could just make out in the mist) when a snarl penetrated the silence.
"Will you come in already!?"
Severus gulped. He hadn't noticed Audrey already standing on the other side of the gate. He reached for the gate, but before his fingers had touched it, it swung open.
"Are you mad, touching it?!" The witch hissed. Then she simply turned around and walked towards the dark, looming castle.
Severus mentally slapped himself for having been this careless. He knew better than to touch an obviously heavily enchanted gate! He quickly followed the old witch but just when he had reached her, he heard a heavy stomping from the side where he had seen the shadowy creatures. He turned around and stopped dead just when Audrey ordered: "Leave him alone, Tinkerbell!"
"You have named an elephant 'Tinkerbell'?" Severus asked, incredulously.
"She choose the name, Severus. And she isn't a simple elephant!" Audrey answered calmly, as if there was nothing unusual about having a herd of elephants in one's garden - even if the garden consisted of a whole mountain.
"But - if these beasts aren't elephants, what are they?" Severus demanded. "And why do you have a whole herd of them? Aren't they supposed to live in Africa?"
"They are mammoths. And I have them here because they can hardly live anywhere else. The muggles would lock them up in zoos and your wizards would hunt them down because of being dangerous. Now, do you come in? I don't believe you have come all the way only to gap at my pets." She smirked at him and entered the castle, leaving the door open.
Severus looked down his body and discovered that it had been a very bad idea to wear one of his best robes for this occasion. It was sweaty, twigs and leafs had got caught in it on his way up and the hem was muddy. He huffed in annoyance and followed the witch inside the house.
###
"Dumbledore is right. You can't destroy a Horcrux without complete and permanent destruction of its container." Audrey stated and Severus snapped back to attention.
After Audrey had led the Potion Master into what appeared to be a living room and a rather old, but exceptionally well-dressed house-elf had served tea , Severus had told the witch everything that had happened during the last two weeks, what he had discovered in Harry's mind and how Albus planned to 'solve' the problem. She had remained silent, only frowned now and then but motioned Severus to go on when he had stopped, waiting for her asking questions.
After he had finished his tale, the old witch had looked out of the window for several minutes and Severus had just started to feel uncomfortable when she spoke again.
Even the bat of the dungeons thought that the Shafiq's living room was rather creepy, with its apparently empty portraits that nevertheless made hushing noises, several bowls that were similar to Albus' pensive but were filled with all kind of weird substances, some of them even with a liquid that looked horribly like blood. There were globes made of crystal, a glass cabinet that held some odd looking things that Severus was rather certain had once been inside a person's - or any other being's - body, and a few silver instruments that looked like a mixture of the trinkets Albus' stored in his office and torture instruments he had seen in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor.
Startled by her sudden statement, Severus looked at the witch that sat across from him. He didn't even try to avoid her gaze as he had no hope whatsoever to defend himself against the most proficient Legilimens alive. He probably wouldn't even notice if Audrey probed his mind for more information.
However, the Shafiq's had held positions of power for many centuries, but then, about 60 years ago, something terrible had happened to the family. Nobody knew exactly what, and the rumours were that it had been this incident that had led to the extinction of the family. But even so the family did still exist, it must have been something quite disastrous as no Shafiq had ever again tried to gain power. The family - or what was left of it - seemed to be under some kind of oath not to use their power for any personal gains.
Therefore, Severus wasn't really worried about what the witch might see in his mind, and he just looked at her, confused. Surely he must have misunderstood her!
"Don't look at me like this!" The old woman snarled, "Horcruxes are one of the most powerful entities mind magic has ever come up with! There are only seven ways to destroy them, and every single one is going to destroy the container of the splinter, too. It's simply not possible to exterminate such a thing without doing fatal harm to its shell!"
"Seven ways?" Severus asked. He only knew about the killing curse, as Albus intended to cast it on Harry, he hadn't known that there were other means to destroy a Horcrux. Perhaps one of these means wasn't as deadly as the killing curse? He was a potion master, and Poppy and Minerva would help him, surely a transfiguration-professor, a medi-witch and he himself would find a way to prevent Harry from being killed when destroying the the Horcrux inside his mind! "How? How can such a thing be destroyed, apart from casting Avada Kedavra at the - the shell?" He demanded.
"Actually, casting the killing curse is the most crude an uncertain way to destroy this abominable being. It only works if the caster is powerful enough and, more importantly, if the container consists of organic material. On the boy, it would work, of course, but you can't just cast an Avada at just any object and expect the Horcrux to be gone!"
"Well, then, how else can a Horcrux be destroyed?"
"There are four magical creatures that have the ability to completely and utterly destroy a Horcrux. First, of course, there is the Basilisk. His venom will destroy any Horcrux instantly. Then, there is the sting of a Manticore. It's not as safe as Basilisk venom, as it cannot penetrate some hard metals like iron or stones like diamonds. Of course, it's a rather dangerous way anyway, as unlike the Basilisk's, the venom of the Manticore looses much of its efficiency once the beast is dead, and I cannot see any wizard being able to make a Manticore sting some object without getting eaten himself, too. And you know as well as I do that these creatures cannot be stunned.
The other two creatures are related, I think, but I'm not an expert when it comes to magical creatures. The Dementor and the Lethifold are famous for having the ability to remove anything remotely similar to a human soul from any body or object there is. I won't recommend using it on the boy, though, being digested by a Lethifold is a rather gruesome death and nobody wants to care for a soulless body for years and years." The last words, Audrey said with a bitter edge in her voice. Severus was curious, but knew better than to ask.
"All right, four creatures and the killing curse. You have said there were seven ways of destroying a Horcrux, so what else?"
Audrey looked at him pensively. "Have you ever been in the department of mystery in the British ministry? Or in Delphi? Or in the cave at the foot of the Fujiyama in Japan? Or in Teotihuacan? It's in Mexico!" She added, having received a blank look from the young man facing her.
"What are you talking about? I have never been in the department of mysteries as you very well know, as if the fools working in the ministry would allow someone like me inside their shrine! And I have never been in Greece or Japan either, so what is this about?" Severus demanded, rather annoyed at the secretiveness of the old witch.
"In all of these places there is a - a barrier commonly referred to as a Veil. It's some kind of archway, made of stone, that allows the direct transition from the world of the living into whatever comes after death. Nobody knows where these Veils come from, who constructed them and why, they existed long before wizards started to investigate them. Even the first written accounts of the Veils that date back to about 1000 b. C. clearly state that they were ancient even then. The locations of the Veils became sacred places, and it is likely that there are many more, but most countries seem to prefer to keep them secret.
Anyway, everything - or everyone - that passes through the Veil is gone, irretrievably. It's a one-way journey, nothing can return from death. Some people claim they can sense the beings on the other side of the Veil, and there have been several cases where someone who had lost his next of kin followed them through the Veil, unable to resist the enticing whispering.
Of course, wizards in every age, all over the world have studied the mysteries of the Veils, but still they are regarded as one of the greatest mysteries of the wizarding world. Going through the Veil is, until now, the only known way of entering the world of the death with its body intact, as once a person has passed through the Veil, there are no mortal remains, no body left. I don't think anybody alive knows what happens with the bodies of those human beings that walk through the Veils. There are rumours that some of the greatest wizards in history have passed through the Veil willingly when they sensed that their time had come, not wanting to take a chance that someone would use parts of their body to achieve their own goals.
Anyway, the archways have been used several times to dispose of Horcruxes. It is, maybe, the most gentle way of destroying these entities, especially if their container is a living being itself... I don't know why Dumbledore intends to cast a killing curse at the poor boy..." Audrey trailed off.
"Probably because the only Veil Albus know about is located in the department of mysteries in the British ministry, and while the fools wouldn't hesitate to grand him admittance wherever he wishes to go, he can hardly kill the Boy-Who-Lives directly under the nose of the government." Severus stated dryly.
"Maybe... but then, I don't know whether the ordinary wizards even knows about the possibility to destroy Horcruxes by forcing them through the Veil." Audrey answered.
Severus smirked inwardly at her reference to Albus Dumbledore as an 'ordinary wizard'. There weren't many people that didn't worshipped the leader of the light - or were terrified of him, that was. Nicolas Flamel maybe... "All right, this was the sixth way. So what is left?" Severus asked.
"Fiendfyre. But I wouldn't recommend using it, its incredibly difficult to control, at least if you want to stop it fast enough to prevent it incinerating yourself, too. And then, I doubt it's a pleasant death, being cremated... but of course, it's probably the most foolproof means there is, after Basilisk venom, of course."
When Audrey saw the Potion Master out, the latter had several books in his (temporary) possession that probably were worth more than Hogwarts castle. Severus had been reluctant to take them, but when Audrey had just shrugged and told him that if he didn't want them she might just sell them to the lovely muggle books-shop in the nearby town that had specialized on selling second-hand books that dealt with supernatural and esoteric matters, as she had no use for them, he had given in. Even so he wasn't exactly keen on reading about the making of a Horcrux (he had almost been sick when just scanning through one of the books), he had to admit that they might hold valuably information when it came to doing the opposite.
Severus was rather glad when they reached the door that led out of the creepy castle, and he was just about to tell the old Lady that she should stay inside as he was very well able to find the gate on his own when one of the elephants - eh, mammoth - came stomping around the corner. Well, perhaps having the owner of these creatures accompanying him wasn't such a bad idea after all, as Severus was sure that it would take the mammoth very little effort to run him through with their tusks.
"Well, thanks for your help, then." Severus said awkwardly when they had reached the gate.
Audrey looked at him silently for a few moments. She had already started to turn around when she spoke again."If you really want to save the boy, why don't you make sure he can't be killed before killing him?" And with that cryptic comment, she left, Tinkerbell trudging next to her.
When Severus was back in his quarters it was already half past four in the morning and he decided to quit sleeping altogether. When the house-elves had provided him with a pot of strong, black coffee, he sat down and penned a letter to Dr Green, telling the man what he had found out so far and asking him whether the other man had come up with anything useful during the week.
Briefly, he thought about asking the doctor whether he could provide him with samples of the different drugs Harry had taken over the years, as he planned to investigate them more thoroughly in order to find out what was the safest one to give Harry once he had managed to get the boy out of St Mungo's. But then he dismissed the idea, he didn't think it would be wise to send substances that were, when discovered, quite certainly considered illegal with owl-post. Instead, he proposed another meeting for Monday evening.
Severus had decided to visit Harry on Sunday, as it was likely that there wouldn't be much staff around in the hospital on the weekends. Therefore, he might be able to get the boy to talk to him honestly without being overheard, and if he was lucky he would even manage to sneak into the storage room where St Mungo's kept the files of all their patients. He could only hope that the healers hadn't resorted to some of the more... violent means in order to keep Harry calm.
Additionally, visiting Harry would reassure the boy that the Potion Master hadn't abandoned him and that he wouldn't have to stay in the hospital indefinitely. Oh, and he could have a proper look at the security measures St Mungo's had taken to prevent the inmates from fleeing from their prison. Or to stop visitors - be it relatives or someone with darker motives - from abducting them, as he was rather certain that most of the patients that were treated on the Janus-Thickey Ward were too incapacitated to actually find out of the hospital on themselves.
Just when he added the final paragraph to his letter, there was a knock on the door of his quarters.
Severus looked up. Who (who didn't have access to the floo) dared to interrupt the Potion Master's night sleep?! If one of the younger snakes had had a nightmare, the prefects would deal with it, and if anybody from his house had become sick, Poppy would take care of them. If it was something serious, she would floo the head of house, but not sending some first-year (as the knock had been rather soft) to his quarters at not even five o'clock in the morning!
Gripping his wand tightly, Severus went to the door and threw it open, his wand pointing at the potential enemy. When all what he saw was the empty corridor, he blinked in confusion. What in Merlins...?
He had been about to cast a 'homenum revelio' when a screech alerted him to the presence of an owl, sitting on the floor and looking at him reproachfully. The Potion Master couldn't recall having ever seen an owl (well, at least a living one that was still in one piece) in the dungeons.
"What?" He demanded, "If you have a letter to deliver have at least the decency to come up, I won't crawl around on the floor!" And invitingly he offered the annoying owl his arm. The bird seemed to get the message and fluttered onto the makeshift perch. It didn't seem to have a letter bound to its claws, which left him wonder what it could possibly want.
It was only when he had taken it inside his brightly lid kitchen when he recognized the ruddy beast. This was Potter's owl! But why-
"Hedwig, right?" He asked the bird, feeling rather stupid. Severus had never understood why wizards talked to their pets. It wasn't as if the creatures would understand anything a human being would say!
However, he was taken by surprise when the owl seemed to incline its head in confirmation. Of course it would be Potter who managed to get an owl that was smarter than the average first-year student!
"Well, what do you want? Your master isn't here - not yet." The bird kept staring at him with unblinking eyes. "All right, all right, I promise I'll hurry up getting your master back!" He finally offered. Why was it that the owl's look made him feel even more guilty about having allowed Harry to get hurt and to be taken away from hi- from Hogwarts?
"Do you want to deliver a letter? I need an owl anyway and since you have already made all the way down from the owlery I don't see why I should walk all the way up! Don't look at me like this, it concerns your master, the letter!" He added, when the bird gave him a contemptuous look. The last comment seemed to be the magic word, though, as Hedwig willingly stretched out her leg, allowing the Potion Master to attach the letter to Dr Green to it.
"To Dr Green. The doctor of your master, in Surrey, all right?" Once again, he was surprised when the owl only ruffled up its feathers as if offended and gave him a look that clearly stated 'You think I'm stupid or what?'
Huffing, Severus made his way for the door. Hopefully, the house-elves had already set up breakfast, he could see Potter's feathered friend of from the Entrance Door.
The only indication that it was weekend was the fewer amount of white people that kept crossing the ward. Harry had managed to stay awake for more than a few minutes during the past few days, but he still didn't have a real sense of time. There wasn't a clock on the ward, or at least not in the part of it he could see, and he hadn't been allowed to get up either.
He wasn't tied up, though, and at first he had thought that he might be able to actually leave his bed. But when he had tried to do so, despite it being really difficult and exhausting to move at all, he had soon learned that wizards didn't need to use chains or shackles to keep him in bed. The closer he had come to the edge of his bed, the more difficult it had become to move, and when Harry finally managed to stick his left foot out of the bed, an alarm had gone off.
The white nurse that had come running had been quite annoyed at his attempted escape, and as a result, she had placed even stronger spells on his bed.
Additionally, they gave him a new kind of medicine (they called it potion, but the effects were even worse then the ones from all the medicines Dr Green had given him) that significantly affected his ability to move, too, and made him unable to speak coherently.
As a result, he hadn't managed to ask one of the white people what day it was or when he would be discharged or whether he could speak to Professor Snape or Dr Green, the only two adults he could think of that would perhaps help him getting out of here. He would rather stay on the ward of Dr Green, at least the people there were mostly nice and allowed him to move around if he promised not to do anything dangerous.
The white people on this ward (Harry hadn't figured out which one were nurses and which doctors or healers, everyone looked the same and nobody had bothered to introduce him- or herself) just cast spells on him several times each day - never even bothering to tell him which one they would use next - and otherwise pretty much ignored him.
Harry had soon figured out that there were four kind of spells that were cast on him regularly.
One was for keeping his body clean, this was all right with him, as he had always hated it when the nurses on Dr Green's ward had washed him when he had been tied up.
Then there was one that made some sort of food go down into his stomach. They placed a bottle similar to those that were used for transfusions in normal hospitals above his head, and the spell would make the liquid from the bottle going down his throat in a long, thin jet of liquid. It made him chocking and coughing almost like the tube he had gotten from Dr Green, though Harry didn't understand why they wouldn't just give him real food, it would be so much nicer and easier! But when he had tried to ask, the words hadn't come out clearly enough and the white woman that had fed him that time had only clucked disapproval.
The next spell Harry didn't really want to think about, and he would have preferred getting the bed-pan (a device he had hated with passion during his earlier stays in hospital!) instead of a hex that made his bladder and bowls empty themselves into some sort of magical cover that then floated into a small box next to his bed where it disappeared.
It was the last one, however, that was the worst. Though the white people didn't use it as often as they used the other ones, Harry always felt his heartbeat going up and his breath quickening when one of them approached him with their wand drawn, fearing that he would have to go through the unimaginable agony again. Each time they had made his head feel like it had been split in two and then set to fire, Harry lay in his bed for hours afterwards, sweating and shivering and crying and just wishing the demon would kill him already, as surely this couldn't be more painful than that spell, and at least it would all be over then!
The only thing that kept him going was the comforting presence of Neville's mum.
Well, of course he didn't knew exactly whether the silent woman that sat next to him for hours and hours, caressing his hair and petting his shoulder and sometimes even carefully hug him indeed was Neville Longbottom's mother, but in his head (and it wasn't as if he could say it out loud anyway), Harry had started to call her Neville's mum. The resemblance between the woman and his (former) class-mate simply was too obvious to be a mere coincidence, Harry thought, and although Neville had never mentioned anything about his mother being in hospital, Harry recalled the boy telling him and the other boys something about living with his grandmother.
But then... did this mean people stayed here for years? Or even forever? Neville had clearly said he "lived" with his grandmother, which suggested that it was something permanent rather than a temporary thing while his mother was away.
Unconsciously, Harry let out a whimper of distress. He couldn't stay here forever, he couldn't! There must be something he could do to prove the white people that he could behave, that he didn't need to be locked up all the time! If only someone would listening to him, if only they would let him call Dr Green or Professor Snape...
It was only when a soft hand carefully wiped away his tears that he noticed that he had started to cry again. Neville's mum - who, unlike Harry was able to move around freely - sat next to him and regarded him with a look full of compassion.
"I want to go out of here..." Harry mumbled. It didn't matter that the woman wouldn't be able to understand him, as she had never said a word anyway - perhaps she was mute? But just talking to someone made Harry feel a little bit better, a little bit less alone, and so he continued telling Neville's mum about the hospital Dr Green worked at and how he wished that the man would come rescuing him. And then he told her about Professor Snape and that he had been the first one ever that had been able to see the demon and that he still hoped that the man would come for him - though the more time passed by, the more convinced Harry became that nobody would come for him any more, that he was on his own.
###
It happened when Harry had just gotten another 'meal'. He lay as still as possible in order not to aggravate the queasiness he felt each time after that food-stuff had ran into his stomach when suddenly, there came a tall, black figure into his line of sight, rapidly approaching his bed.
"Good afternoon, Mr Potter!" The Potion Master drawled. It had been surprisingly easy to get access to the closed ward and to Harry Potter no less, Severus thought, they hadn't even wanted to know who he was (not to mention ensuring that he really was the one he claimed to be and not some polyjuiced criminal) but just warned him that the boy was heavily sedated and under a spell that rendered him unable to move freely. They had stressed that it was merely a precaution, but when Severus got the first look on Harry, he had to employ all his will-power not to let his shock show (or to scream at the healers responsible for the boy's condition).
Harry looked terrible. He was pale with dark circles under his eyes and his left eye was covered with a magical plaster. There was a magical drip next to his bed and Severus cursed silently when he saw that it was one of the substances he had specifically told the emergency-healer not to give Harry that was running into his system.
The boy was sweaty and it was clear that nobody had bothered to actually wash him since his admittance. Cleaning charms just weren't the same as a real bath, but of course, the staff had barely time to meet their patient's basic needs, let alone actually washing or feeding them.
And it wasn't as if anyone in the wizarding world really cared about those patients that had had the misfortune to end up on the Janus-Thickey-Ward. The inhabitants of the ward were (mostly) damaged beyond repair and the public considered them little more important than muggles. So why bothering? They didn't even got private room, for Merlin's sake! Not even the Longbottoms (who, as Severus had noticed when he had first entered the ward, occupied the two beds next to Harry's), who had been here since almost ten years and who were war-heros were granted this privilege!
The Potion Master tried to shake off all thoughts about the injustice and inhumanity of the world he lived in. He had to focus on the boy!
Apart from his dishevelled outward appearance, Harry looked at if he had swallowed an overdose of calming draught. His pupils were dilated and a slight tremble passed through his body every now and then. When he tried to sit up, obviously trying to get a closer look at the looming Professor, Severus noticed that his movements were extremely slow and sluggish and his whole body seemed to be rather stiff.
Suddenly, Harry's lips began to move, but all the Potion Master was able to make out was a faint, incoherent mumbling.
"Harry..." Severus whispered, conjuring a chair out of nowhere and sat down next to Harry's bed. He gripped the boy's hand and gave it a light squeeze. After a few seconds, the small hand began to shake before giving him a brief squeeze in return. When he looked up, he saw a single tear running down Harry's face.