Just beneath the surface

Chapter 2

Professor Snape's mind reeled with the realisation of what he was seeing before him.
Ella seemed to understand too; her hand dropping quickly from her wrist as she began to stand from the desk.

It wasn't often that Severus came across a student that was struggling so severely they had taken to dangerous methods to cope, but he had seen enough in his time at Hogwarts to recognise the signs.

And Ella White... Professor Snape thought through everything he had seen change about the girl in the month she had been back at school after Christmas, and worryingly, it all added up to something he wished he did not have to concern himself for her over.  Snape recalled the distant, lost look in the girls eyes, and the way she had seemingly drawn into herself where there once was a vivacious, bubbly girl. Snape couldn't even remember the last time he had heard Ella laugh. And now the way that she had clutched her arm - be it through conscious thought or not- concerned Snape to a point that he knew he needed to intervene now before Ella could cross a dangerous line.

"Miss White can I see your arm?" Snape asked gently, all too aware that she would shut down completely if he was combative with her.

It seemed he had not need worry about soft voices, because Ella was out of her seat and marching toward the door of the classroom before Professor Snape could draw a breath.

"Miss White." Ella stopped in her tracks, and Snape saw the girls shoulders stiffen as she knew she would have to obey him.

"Please don't do this." Ella whispered as she turned to face Professor Snape. It occurred to him then that he had never seen the girl worried or upset- that it simply had never been part of her nature.

Severus sighed as he began to approach Ella, and willed his face into an expression of neutrality.

"Come and sit, please." It was uncommon for Snape to ask something of a student so politely, but he had long ceased his brashness towards Ella, and it was not out of the ordinary for him to sometimes show a little bit of kindness to the Ravenclaw.

Ella walked back towards the Professor and took the seat that she had occupied only moments ago.

"Miss White, can I please take a look at your arm." Ella seemed to melt then, as if any ounce of resilience she had worked up for this battle was already drained from her. Snape wouldn't have been surprised if it was; the girl looked ready to fall asleep where she sat.

Bracing himself for what he wished would not be true, Snape gently folded back the sleeve of Ella's sweater, wincing as he had to peel it away from her skin in places. Ella's expression didn't falter, and Snape couldn't believe this was the same spritely student he had know for five years.

It took Severus a second to regain his composure as he took in the picture of Ella's wrist. All over her arm from the base of her hand to her elbow were a collage of scars in their various stages of healing. Some were pink, some were red, some were perfect white scars, but the others... Snape couldn't recall ever seeing somebody cut themselves as aggressively as Ella had done, and it saddened him to see the deep gashes in her wrist still seeping blood.

Keeping hold of the students arm, Severus lifted his eyes to meet Ella's. All he saw was somebody who was broken.

"Before we go any further, Miss White, I need to attend to these cuts. Some of them are very deep and if you were a muggle I daresay they would need stitches." Ella didn't say a word as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. Snape cringed at the sight of it; Lovely, clever, Ella; broken and weeping. None of it was right.

Summoning a cloth and a first aid kit from the cupboard by his desk, Snape carefully began cleaning and bandaging the crude cuts on Ella's skin. Her muscles twitched under his fingers, and though he was being exceptionally gentle, he couldn't help but regret the pain he was clearly inflicting on the student.