Is It Bad That I Don't Feel Bad?
Poppy was organizing her potions shelves when Severus appeared with a pop. She opened her mouth to complain about the man dumping a box of potions barely in the door a few days prior when she noticed the boy on the floor beside him.
She gently helped the boy to his feet then looked at Severus. The man looked horrible: gaunt and exhausted.
"Severus? Who is this?", She asked.
"Harry Potter. He needs a checkup. A full checkup.", Severus answered, his tone somber.
She grit her teeth. Severus suspected abuse. This was something that happened a couple of times throughout the school year. She couldn't believe little Harry had gone through something so horrible. She noticed Harry watching them in trepidation and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Harry, come sit here. Just give me a moment to request your file.", She said gesturing to a hospital bed.
She quickly found a request form in her stack of paperwork. She filled out the pertinent information and sent it off with her falcon to the medical sect of the ministry.
"Harry, Severus, are you hungry?", Poppy asked. Severus gave her a look, which she ignored and Harry piped up with, "Yes ma'am. Could I please have some bread?".
"Bread? Goodness, you're as bad as Severus.", Poppy shook her head.
These boys would starve left to their own devices.
"Severus sit. I'm ordering you both some hot stew with a side of bread and you will eat it.", She said giving Severus a stern look.
He glared back before he cowed and sat in the chair beside the bed.
Poppy called up a house elf and put in the order.
"You two should talk. Harry is looking mighty confused. I'll be in my office.", Poppy said, closing the door behind her.
Severus groaned inwardly. Damn Poppy!
"Sir, what was that… thing?", Harry asked.
What? Oh. The child had likely never seen a house elf.
"It was a house elf.", Severus said.
"Oh. Um, sir? You said my relatives couldn't pick me up, why was that?", The child asked.
"Your relatives were attacked. They are.. not well. You shall not be remaining in their custody.", Severus answered.
"Are they okay?", The boy asked.
Severus frowned at the boy. Why would he worry after his abusers? Children were strange creatures.
"Your Uncle is dead. Your Aunt is in the hospital and your cousin has likely been sent to his other relatives.", Severus explained, unsure how to break the news.
"Oh… is it bad I don't feel bad?", Harry asked.
Severus sighed. That was a familiar question. Severus had asked himself that when his father had died.
"Excuse me if I'm wrong, but Mr Dursley was not kind to you, was he?", Severus asked.
The boy shook his head.
"Well, if you didn't love him, then why would you miss him? There is no need to feel guilty. Just because you were related doesn't mean you were family.", Severus tried. It was hard to explain to a child.
Just then a house elf appeared and saved him from this awkward conversation.
He transfigured a chair into a table for himself and swung the bed table over Harry's lap. Then they tucked into their meal.
Severus could only eat half the bowl and pushed it aside. Harry seemed to have an different approach, he inhaled the meal.
"Slow down. You'll throw up if you eat like that.", Severus said tiredly.
"Are you really my mum's friend?", Harry asked suddenly.
And we're back to this.
"Yes.", Severus replied.
"Why are you so nice then?", Harry asked.
Severus was shocked. Nice? What on earth had given the child the idea that he was nice?
"Why wouldn't your mother's friends be nice?", Severus asked.
"Cause my mum was a worthless drunk. Aunt Petunia always said that she only had bad friends. Said that mum was a freak.", Harry explained.
What? Leave it to Tuney to disgrace her dead sister's name so fully that her child believed the worst. If the woman hadn't already been tortured to insanity, Severus might've hunted her down himself.
"Your mother was a good person. Not a worthless drunk. Your Aunt Petunia is a liar. She was jealous of Lily and her magic.", Severus explained.
"Magic?", The boy whispered.
Severus stilled. The boy didn't know? Of course the boy didn't know.
"Yes, magic. Your mother was a witch, same with your father. You have magic too.", Severus explained.
"Really? Are you lying?", Harry asked sceptically.
Severus pinched his nose, "I'm not lying. You are a wizard. Can you recall ever doing something impossible?", He asked.
"Oh. Last year my hair turned curly all of a sudden.", Harry said.
"What?", Severus asked.
"Aunt Petunia gave me a horrible haircut and it grew back by morning time. Of course that only made her angry. She kept trying to cut it but it broke her scissors and started getting all curly. She still can't cut my hair.", Harry said a proud little smirk.
"I can't believe I have magic!", Harry exclaimed but Severus was still stuck on the hair magic.
"So you had straight hair before that?", He asked.
"Yeah, I kind of miss it. It was way less tangly.", Harry sighed.
It sounded like the boy had managed some impressive accidental magic. Curious, Severus cast finite on the boy's hair and watched with awe as his hair flattened.
"What? Did I do this?", Harry asked.
"No. I did.", Severus answered, rolling his eyes.
The boy looked different like this. Hair drooping into his face. It had a small bit of a wave to it but nothing like before. Without the wild hair, Harry looked far less like his father. He had Lily's eyes, her straight little nose and high cheekbones and thin lips that Severus couldn't match to either of his parents. Recessive genes, he supposed.
A pecking came at the window and Poppy came out of her office to let the falcon back in. She grabbed the file from the bird and opened it with a frown.
She approached them looking weary. She gave Harry's hair an odd look before speaking.
"It appears the ministry has been provided with no medical papers for Harry. Not even a birth certificate. I'll have to do a paternity test to have valid results to fill in a birth certificate for you. Then we can move on to vaccinations and some patching up.", She explained.
Severus watched distractedly as she prepared a paternity potion. She returned to them for a blood sample from Harry. Then added it to the potion. She prepared the potion sample to add it to a testing parchment. Severus watched with mild curiosity as her face transformed to pure shock. She stared at him then at Harry then marched up to Severus and dragged him into her office.