Another Attack
Avi sat on the cot as the stern-looking medi-witch applied balm to all his cuts and bites. Terry was sitting on a stool nearby filling the medi-witch in on everything that had happened with Professor Markhart. Once he was finished telling her what had transpired, the healer looked absolutely furious. Avi was just glad they had come in after Severus had taken his Dreamless Sleep potion. He didn’t even want to imagine how furious his dad would be at him for getting in trouble like that. He was already terrified at the angry response the healer was having at his mishap.
Madam Pomfrey paced the room like a hungry tiger. “Honestly! The headmaster’s choices in Defense Professors have been deplorable for the last few years. Just look at what Professor Rackpick did not that long ago! And that idiotic dropout Auror last year blew off his own arm in front of a class of seventh years trying to demonstrate a blasting curse! It’s no wonder so many people are talking about the position being cursed. We’ll never find a decent professor with those rumors flying around!”
Avi automatically flinched back from all the shouting. Pomfrey’s keen eyes spotted his jerky movement and her stern face softened immediately at taking in his hunched form. “Sorry deary, I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at the situation you were put into and that was in no way shape or form your fault. Now let me have a look at those bites again, see if we need another coat of balm to clear them up.”
The matron peeled back the bandages, revealing a purply grey substance leaking from the circular cuts from the Grindylow suction cups. She tisked at the discovery and reached for another bottle. “This is why I have to keep a bottle of Grindylow anti-venom on hand at all times! There is a breeding cove on the opposite side of the lake, but most students don’t wander out that far. But every once in a while, some brave students wander out there looking for adventure and end up wrapped in their venomous tentacles. Those little suction cups create and excrete a toxin that dulls the nerve receptors in the body, weakening their prey so they can drag it to the bottom of their lakes before forming a swarm to tear their prey apart.”
Avi swallowed back bile as he realized how close he had come to dying in that tank. Terry saw his reaction and reached out to give his uninjured hand a squeeze. Avi turned to thank the older boy again, but before he could, the big oak doors burst open by an angry Professor Sprout carrying a bloodied Ravenclaw girl, followed by a disheveled Professor Sinestra cradling an arm at an odd angle. Madam Pomfrey hurried the herbologist and her charge behind a curtain to get to work on the more injured party while Sinestra tiredly sat on the nearest cot to wait her turn.
Terry looked at the normally regally composed professor with concern. Her coffee-colored skin looked a few shades paler than normal and her eyes squinted in pain. “What happened, Professor?”
Sinestra shifted to face them, wincing as the movement jostled her broken arm. “It was just as Severus said. It had foot-long claws and decayed-looking hairless skin. Its eyes looked white and sightless but glowed in the dark with the intent of its bloodlust. Miriam, the Ravenclaw sixth year, must have gone to the astronomy tower to meet someone and was ambushed.”
“She was already unconscious when we came upon them,” said Professor Sprout as she exited the curtained-off area. “The beast’s claws had skewered the poor girl to the wall, pinning her down as it lapped up her blood with its elongated tongue.”
Sinestra shivered at the reminder. “I cast a cutting hex at it, severing its hand, but it was already healing before it even took a step away. It charged me, throwing me into one of the walls before leaping off the balcony. Nothing should have survived such a fall, but when we looked over the side there was no body. Just some deep gouges in the side of the stone walls. The hand that had been embedded in Miriam dissolved like smoke as soon as it was severed. We were lucky that some substance in her wounds stopped the bleeding so we could get her here in time.”
The doors banged open again causing them all to turn towards the noise with their wands drawn. Claw-tipped hands lifted and with a lightning-quick flick of his wrist, all of their wands were ripped out of their hands to be collected into Professor Flitwick’s hand. “What is the meaning of this!”
Everyone immediately relaxed. The professors weren't even surprised at the show of wandless magic from their smallest colleague. “Oh! Sorry Flitwick, dear!” exclaimed Professor Sprout. “We are all just a little on edge right now.”
Flitwick shook his head, his large ears bouncing with the motion as he came forward to hand back all of their wands. “That’s quite all right! Completely understandable. Sorry for my hostile response, my duler’s instincts have been on edge lately. Spending so much time arguing with the Headmaster over Ahron’s behavior had had my baser instincts looking for a fight. This day has just been a right mess.”
Pomona Sprout frowned, “What has our newest professor done now?”
Avi curled into himself, not wanting to have to share the distressing story, but Terry stepped forward just like earlier for Madam Pomfrey to fill in the other professors.
The head of Hufflepuff was outraged. her face clouding over like an oncoming storm. “How dare he! Avyaan is not even a student at this school! He had no right to discipline him!”
Professor Sinestra nodded, her eyes flashing with protective anger. “The only person who would have had the right to discipline Avyaan would be his father. He never should have done anything without first contacting Severus. But of course, Albus would never see it that way. Not when it was a disagreement between one of his precious former Gryffindors and a child associated with us Slytherins. It wouldn’t even matter that Avi hasn’t even been sorted yet.”
Sprout frowned, “Surly he couldn’t condone such a thing? What did he say about this, Fillius?”
The half-goblin growled under his breath, pulling a hidden dagger from his robes and using it to trim back his claws as if trying to dissuade himself from going back and cutting the old man to pieces with his own hands. “He brushed it off as a simple mistake made by a novice professor and suggested that we all encourage Markhart as he navigates his first year of teaching. He also said that since Severus was incapacitated at the time of the incident the matter was in a sort of grey area, so Ahron was just trying to take control of the situation.”
“That is completely inexcusable!” Sinestra shouted in dismay. “Not only did he misstep his authority, but Avyaan nearly died! Severus would have every right to sue the school for miscarriage of justice and child endangerment. I should wake him up now and help him put the paperwork in.”
“Please don’t,” Avi whispered from the bed. “He’s done so much for me by just taking me in! I would have had nowhere to go without him. Besides, he should be left to rest. He needs to heal.”
“Nonsense! Severus would want to know about this as soon as possible!” Sinestra said as she stood to approach the man’s bed.
At that moment Madam Pomfrey came out from behind the curtain, finished with healing the Ravenclaw girl. “Aurora! What do you think you are doing?! You know better than to disturb one of my patients. Now sit down and let me have a look at that arm.”
The Slytherin grumbled and griped, but eventually allowed the healer to maneuver her to a nearby cot. Flitwick moved over to stand by the pair as Pomfrey worked. “How is Cassandra?”
“Your little Raven will be just fine, Fillius. I have healed all her wounds, however, like Severus I have had to place her in a healing sleep. Whatever that monster is, it has some kind of toxin on its claws that is attacking their magics. It’s not enough to cause lasting damage, but it is slowing down the healing process. It probably is a way for the monster to wear down its prey without having a prolonged battle that it could get injured during.”
Pomfrey finished patching up the Slytherin professor, before turning back to the group. “Now I won’t have any of you disturbing my patients. Flillius, why don’t you escort Mr. Boot back to Ravenclaw Tower? Sinestra and Pomona, you both need to report to the Headmaster and gather the monster hunters to search the castle grounds.” As the gathered professors jumped to follow the healer’s orders, Pomfrey walked over to tuck Avi in. “Now deary, it's best if you stay here for the night. You can go back to your and Severus’s quarters once he is discharged the day after tomorrow.”
Avi blushed beat red, as he had never been tucked into bed before. It made him feel like a baby... but was also kind of nice. He had always secretly wished he could be like Dudley, being tucked in and being read bedtime stories while Petunia had run tender fingers through his sleep-ruffled hair. Shaking off the melancholy thoughts, he looked up to see Sinestra passing his cot. Quickly, he reached out and grabbed the sleeve of her robes. “Please,” he whispered, “Don’t tell Severus. It-it wouldn’t be good to worry him while he’s healing.”
The Slytherin’s eyes softened as she looked down on the eight-year-old. She turned to him, gently running her fingers through his messy black curls, “I will do as Pomfrey asks and wait until he is released to talk to him, but in the meantime, if you have any more problems with Ahron, or any of the other students, I want you to come to me. I will take care of any problems in his stead until he is recovered.”
Avi unconsciously leaned into her touch and nodded before he closed his eyes and gave in to the exhaustion that was pulling his eyes closed.