Another Sip Will Go Down Smoothly
The sound of a blood-curdling scream rips through the air, and a dark-haired professor jolts awake. He cringes inwardly, even as the shriek fades. With a trace of panic in his eyes, he grabs his wand and sprints towards the Room of Requirement.
The castle is still. No one else seems to have heard. It’s a mystery, sometimes, how the room works as it does.
It is as if the world has stopped, and he is wading through honey, no matter how fast his legs move.
He paces past the door three times and wrenches it open with one hand, his wand held in the other.
The thinly veiled fear on his face is unmasked as he stares, dumbfounded, at the scene before him. A pale, shaking boy lies in deep red, pooling liquid. His blonde hair contrasts starkly with the blood staining it.
As Snape walks closer, the damage done becomes clearer. A steady flow of rich blood pulses from his throat and seeps down his neck.
“Professor,” the boy mumbles. “Snape. Get-” He pauses for a moment, sputtering and choking. “Leave. Please.”
Snape’s face is blank. Something indescribable within him breaks. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He presses his left hand onto the main wound and with the swish of his wand (“Ferula”), he wraps the boy’s arms with white cloth. The bandages quickly stain red and brown.
Snape glances over at Draco’s face, only to see it contorted in pain. He turns his head to look elsewhere.
Draco’s clothing sticks to his skin as the blood dries. With one gentle steady hand, Snape lifts his robes slightly, still putting pressure on Draco’s throat with the other.
As he catches a glimpse of the blackened, bruised, and scarred skin lying underneath, he quickly lowers the boy’s robes and closes his eyes. The image of Draco’s hollowed abdomen and the outline of his ribs burns into his eyelids, even as they remain closed. Snape’s shoulders rise and lower with a deep shaky breath.
Snape feels a cold finger brush against his hand and jolts his eyes open, looking down to see Draco staring back at him. The boy speaks with difficulty. “It’s fine, professor.”
“Draco.” Snape pauses. “I suggest you search for the meaning of the word ‘fine’ when you return to your studies.”
He tilts Malfoy’s mouth open and pours a Dreamless Sleep potion into it. Draco’s eyes widen for a moment, and his body tenses as he makes a noise of protest. Within a few moments, the boy falls into a deep sleep.
As Draco’s breaths even out, Snape lowers his head and pinches the bridge of his hooked nose.
___
He levitates Draco’s body to a bed, trying to ignore how lifelike and gaunt the boy looks. Even in his sleep, Draco’s face is strained, yet without the old haunted look in his eyes, it is clear who he is. A child.