As Potter is to Snape

Chapter 9

After many long moments, Harry seemed to exhaust himself and dropped heavily back down to the bed. The burning rage he had felt towards Snape for exposing all the horrible secrets about his home life had simmered down, leaving him with a strange numbness.

People knew now.

How was he supposed to deny it when they had seen it with their own eyes? Once Uncle Vernon found out, he would go absolutely mental. He'd be lucky to survive next summer at all. Until now, he'd done a pretty good job of keeping things hidden.

Hermione had suspected though. She'd only asked once and Harry had immediately denied anything, but the look she gave him clearly said she didn't believe him. She tried to teach him a couple of healing spells after that and helped him learn out to do the glamour.

Ron, of course, only knew of how he'd been locked away the summer before, but when he tried to tell his mum, Mrs. Weasley hadn't believed him. Harry didn't blame her. She likely didn't believe most things that her three youngest boys told her. And for good reason.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts as Madam Pomfrey came back into the room. Her face was now free of tears and her usual stoic expression firmly back in place. Her arms were laden down with potions and salves and Harry groaned, knowing that she was going to make him drink something foul.

"Now, none of that Mr. Potter," she said as she placed the glass bottles and jars down on the dining tray beside his bed. "We're likely going to have a long evening ahead of us and you know that it will go much smoother if you don't argue and simply do as I say."

From the edge of his bed, Snape spoke, though Harry refused to look in his direction. "I shall leave you to it, Madam. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore is waiting to hear of his condition."

The mediwitch shook her head. "I'm afraid that he will just have to wait, Severus. I need you here."

"I don't want him here." Harry snapped before Snape had a chance to say anything.

"And yet here is where he shall stay," Madam Pomfrey said sternly. "This will all go much faster if I have his help."

Snape turned back to face them, standing quietly as he waited for instructions.

"Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey began, "there is quite a lot that we need to do in order to get you back on track. Mending your broken ribs will be first on the list and as you know, I can do that in a second. However, we also need to get several potions inside of you. The first being a rather strong pain-relieving potion, followed by several nutritional supplements. Then we will work on the various cuts that need to be properly cleaned before they can be healed and Merlin help us if they've already become infected. I've got a potion for that too, though. Then, we will be able to move on to the bruises which will possibly take the most time just because there are so many of them and because they are so deep. Last, will be your ankle, I think."

Harry didn't miss the look that passed between Snape and Madam Pomfrey at the mention of his ankle. Harry grit his teeth, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to the question he was about to ask. "How will you fix my ankle?"

"I will put you to sleep." She answered swiftly. "You won't feel a thing, but we will have to rebreak the bone in order to set it right so that it can heal properly."

But Harry was already shaking his head. "I don't want you to rebreak it. It's fine the way it is, I swear!"

"You think it is now, Mr. Potter, but if we don't set that ankle now, it could cause quite a bit of pain and suffering later."

"As she said," Snape spoke for the first time to Harry, "you will not feel a thing. By the time you wake up, you will be completely healed and back to normal."