Visitors
Mr. Maxwell Rubble, a tall dark-haired gentleman, flooed over to the infirmary surprised with where Mrs. Malfoy asked for him to meet. Once he arrived, he waited for someone to come get him, did not take too long as, as soon as the floo went off Narcissa went to get the visitor.
“Mr. Rubble, thank you for making this journey so quick. We have an urgent situation and are in need of your advice and services.”
They shook hands and she showed him the way to the rest of the group. Draco and Severus were sitting on either side of Harry, Draco was holding Harry’s hand. Madame Pomfrey was checking Harry’s health reports, making sure things were going the right direction. Lucius was sitting at a chair at the foot of the bed next to an empty seat that was Narcissa’s. Lucius got up when Mr. Rubble showed up and shook his hand thanking him for the speedy arrival. Once everyone was sitting down once again things got started.
“Now, why exactly am I here? I have a feeling this is regarding Mr. Potter, but there’s not much I can do without him being awake.”
“Mr. Rubble, Harry has had a very harsh life. One we just found out about, and we need your help to get back at the people who caused him such a miserable and abusive time. His so-called family had him sleeping in a cupboard most of his life and Dumbledore caused a lot of problems for him in school. We do believe there will be a lot of people involved in this case but until you get told the whole story I am unsure who would be included.” Draco wanted to get started right away so he started talking as soon as everyone was sitting.
“As I mentioned, I will need Mr. Potter awake to get his full story. But knowing you Malfoys there is obviously a case here that I will be working. Why don’t you start by telling me what you can, and I will confirm with Mr. Potter once I can speak with him.”
Snape started by showing Mr. Rubble Harry’s medical scan results. He told him that some of what happened was at school but most of the injuries were from before he started at Hogwarts. Draco told them all the stories that Harry told him when they were first hospitalized. Once they heard all the stories, Snape mentioned Harry’s first letter from Hogwarts which said his bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs. Narcissa and Lucius were very angry on Harry’s behalf, Madame Pomfrey had tears in her eyes from everything she heard.
Mr. Rubble took notes and made sure to follow along with everything that was being shared with him, he knew that this would be important and that these are important clients.
“Alright. I have the basics now but until Mr. Potter wakes up and tells me himself about his life there is not much I can do. I will start some paperwork and keep up to date with notes that we have but as I already mentioned Mr. Potter’s view will be needed, especially regarding his home care.”
Once everything was settled with Mr. Rubble it was starting to get a little late so the Malfoys, without Draco, left along with the lawyer to confirm that they will be dealing with the bills and everything. Madame Pomfrey made sure that Draco and Severus ate supper and were prepared to spend the night alongside Harry.
“Severus, we will need some more bone strengthening potions for Harry. Would you rather I order some in or do you want to make them yourself?”
Madame Pomfrey knew that Snape liked to make his own potions when he could but since he wanted to stay by Harry’s side, she wasn’t sure what he would choose to do. Severus thought it through and decided that since Harry is asleep and has Draco beside him, him leaving for a couple of hours will not do any damage.
“I will brew them myself; I shouldn’t be long and he’s going to be asleep for another day at the least. Draco, stay with him please.”
“Of course, Severus, I won’t leave his side.”
“And I’ll be here as well Severus, you do not have to worry about a thing.”
Draco and Madame Pomfrey reassured Snape that they would keep things under control in the infirmary while he’s in the potion’s rooms lessening the pressure Snape was feeling about everything. Once he left Draco laid down beside Harry, still holding his hand, while Madame Pomfrey stretched out some of Harry’s limbs to make sure the new muscles and bones were well set. Once she did all the muscles and joints, she left the boys to sleep calmly on their own.
Meanwhile Severus was feeling a little off being away from the boys, but he needed to make these potions for Harry and felt that it would be wrong to order some when he can make perfect ones himself, so he made do and ignored the feeling enough to concentrate yet kept an eye on the feeling making sure his subs are alright. He was finally learning to use the alpha senses he was given. Once he finished the potions, he put them in vials and brought them over to the infirmary letting Pomfrey know he was done and there and was going to be waiting with the boys.
The next day Harry was to be kept asleep while they finish regrowing a few bones and making sure that they had him as healthy as they can possibly have him considering his past. The day started early with Draco waking up and seeing Snape sitting on a chair next to the bed half asleep. He went to the bathroom to get himself ready for the day and left Severus to sleep a little longer, except once Draco moved Snape woke right up wondering what was going on. He was on high alert around the boys at this time and didn’t sleep much if at all that night.
“Sorry Severus, I didn’t mean to startle you, just needed to go to the bathroom. Go sleep, I’ll keep an eye on him, and you need the rest.”
Severus got up and shook his head. He was now up; it was time to start the day and he was sure he would be kept busy.
“I’m alright Draco. Go do your business, I’ll order us some breakfast.”
They took turns in the bathroom, made sure Harry’s bowel and bladder was empty, and then sat down to eat some breakfast a house elf brought over. Once they were almost done with the food Madame Pomfrey showed up and checked Harry over once again.
“He seems to be healing nicely enough, he’ll always have some problems with his right fingers and wrist due to the break being so old and even vanishing the bones they regrew the way they knew to be. He must have broken them when he was very young. Otherwise, the scars will always be around, but they do look lighter than before. Once all his bones are healed and he is no longer in any pain we can wake him up, I’m thinking tomorrow morning.”
Draco and Snape smiled at each other happy that Harry would be waking up soon, but they were both very sad about his permanent injury to his right hand. Snape realized that the injury might explain his trouble with writing clearly with a quill. He’ll have to figure something out for him. An hour or so later Professor Dumbledore showed up.
Dumbledore showed up wearing a bright orange robe with blue stars that seemed to twinkle like his eyes. Both Severus and Draco were having trouble keeping an eye on him.
“Good morning boys, since you weren’t at supper yesterday or breakfast this morning, I figured I should check up on you. Wasn’t expecting to be told you were in the infirmary. Also, Severus, Mr. Malfoy, you’re missing some classes by being here, is there a reason that all three of you need to miss school? From what I can see only Mr. Potter seems to be injured.”
“You know we cannot leave Mr. Potter alone, and since this weekend I have been feeling off when they are not both in my view. My classes are lower years today and can be used to review what we have learned so far, as for Draco, his house mates have been bringing him his homework and some notes for them to study and keep up to date with the classes they are missing.”
Snape was not happy that Dumbledore was trying to separate them when the bond itself is trying so hard in keeping them together. Madame Pomfrey comes by and notices Dumbledore and seeing as how she’s already unhappy with this man she was not impressed he was causing trouble in her infirmary at this time.
“Albus Dumbledore. What do you think you are doing in my infirmary, bothering my patients, and just causing trouble? These three gentlemen are under my purview at this time, and I will not accept anyone disturbing them.”
Dumbledore, a little shocked that anyone would speak to him that way, looked at Pomfrey and nodded his head. He then gave Snape a look and turned around and left the infirmary. Snape took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. He was not ready to deal with the headmaster quite yet.
Once the headmaster left, Snape and Pomfrey gave Harry a few more potions and stretched his muscles out so he doesn’t get too stiff when he wakes up.
After lunch they received more visitors. It seemed that the Weasley twins decided to skip their class to come see Harry when they had heard that he was in the hospital once again.
“He’s still asleep?”
“What happened?”
Fred and George were very unsure about Snape and Malfoy but knew better than to make life even more difficult for their little brother. Severus and Draco meanwhile were unsure what to think of the twins, this is the first time they try to visit Harry and Harry barely mentioned them as well.
“Yes, he will be asleep until sometime tomorrow. Just a physical that found some issues that needed to be addressed. Now why are you here?”
Snape was not going to pass along any information that Harry might want to keep quiet.
“We wanted to visit sooner, but Ron and Hermione have been spreading rumors that Harry is all against Gryffindor and is hating on anyone that he used to know. We knew they were lying but also thought that Harry might want some time to get used to his new life. We figured that he didn’t want anyone to crowd him at that time.”
Usually, the twins spoke in turn to cause trouble, but they knew this was not the time to do that, especially with the way Snape was looking at them, so Fred answered the questions on his own while George nodded along.
“But when we heard he was in the hospital wing again we were very worried that something more happened and decided to come see him as soon as possible. Did the physical show signs of malnutrition and maltreatment from his past?”
Draco looked up and stared at George as soon as he asked that.
“What would you know about that?”
Fred and George looked down at Harry and then each other. They seemed to speak to each other mentally before both nodding their heads and sighing.
“In our second summer after school Ron was worried as Harry never replied to any of his letters, so we took our dad’s flying Ford Anglia car and decided to go check on Harry. When we got there, we found that he had bars on his upstairs window, just his bedroom had bars, none of the other windows of the house had any. We pulled the bars aside with the car and got him out, but he told us that his school stuff was all locked in the cupboard under the stairs.”
Fred started the story but had trouble controlling his anger and needed a break.
“We found that the door of his bedroom was locked by multiple locks, with a cat flap on the bottom. Asking what that was for, he said that it was so he could be given food when they decided to feed him, you can guess we were not happy. But we went to the front door and opened that door to get access to the cupboard. Once we found the cupboard, we picked the lock and what we saw made us both so angry and sad at the same time. In the cupboard, was a sign that said ‘Harry’s Room’ written in pencil stuck to a nail that was sticking out of the stairs. We grabbed his stuff and got back in the car and flew home.”
George was close to tears when he spoke of what he saw. He really hated that there was nothing he could do for Harry.
“Why did you not tell anyone or get him out of there?”
Draco was so angry that people knew that Harry was being mistreated yet did nothing to help him. He did not understand how these people could be called friends.
“We tried to tell our parents when we got home but they believe anything Dumbledore tells them and he just spread the rumors that Harry lies and exaggerates what happened at his home and he convinced our parents that we were just lying as well. With Dumbledore in charge of Harry there was nothing we could do. So, we sent him food over the summer and made sure to keep up to date with him with letters.”
Fred was holding onto George as he said this, he knew George had the hardest time with all of this as he was emotional and sensitive to other peoples’ feelings.
Snape and Draco nodded along with what they were saying, understanding a little better where the twins were coming from. Dumbledore was causing so much trouble.
“I am sure that Harry will appreciate a visit from you tomorrow when he is awake. If he is no longer here, then he will be in our rooms.”
They explained where their rooms are located to the twins and made sure they knew that Harry would most likely be happy to see someone on his side. Once that was settled the twins left to try and get to their next class on time.
“They obviously care a lot about him. I have a feeling that we will be stuck with those Weasleys for a while.”
Draco made a bit of a face but at the same time he was just happy that Harry had some friends that stuck by him. So long as the twins do not cause too much trouble for them, maybe being Harry’s bondmates will make it so the twins will not prank them…
A few hours later they received one more visitor. Both Snape and Draco were not too happy about it but they dealt with it politely and tried to keep their jealous feelings to themselves.
“Hi Draco, Professor Snape. How is Harry doing? Was he that injured by those who threw us in the closet? I thought for sure he would be awake by now.”
Theo was worried about his new friend, he did not like that Harry was in the hospital again. Draco and Severus were trying so hard to keep their feelings to themselves.
“Harry is going to be alright; he just had some old injuries that also needed to be healed. Is that all you came to the hospital wing for? How is your shoulder?”
Snape was not as angry as Draco seemed to be. It looked like Draco was really holding himself back to not get mad at his friend.
“No, I was the one who volunteered to bring Harry and Draco their notes and homework assignments of the day. If everything is alright, then I’ll head back to meet everyone in the library and keep them up to date. Here you go Draco, everything for the day. I’ll probably come back tomorrow if you are not back in classes by then.”
Draco nodded his thanks, still not able to keep his jealousy down. Theo was very confused about his friend’s actions but figured he was just worried about his omega, so he gave him a side look and waved as he left the hospital wing.
“Why am I so angry at him?”
Draco was confused about his jealousy. He felt he should be happy one of his best friends gets along great with his omega but all he feels is anger and jealousy.
“We’re just still getting a hold of our feelings for Harry; things will take time to get to normal.”
Snape knew it was something he would have to help Draco work at, he did not want him to lose his friends over something so ridiculous.