Chapter 11
Severus Snape's POV
I began running all sorts of medical tests on the girl laying in front of me. Poppy was watching my every wand movement, as if to ensure my precision. I normally would be offended and annoyed by this, but with the obvious signs of neglect present, I was accepting of the concern shown. The haze around Ivory turned black, and I worried about what that meant. Poppy and Dumbledore looked surprised, the worst most people ever see is a dark gray or red... For hers to be black means that there has been much evil in her past, and recently.
Harry caught on to the mood of the room, and reached out to grasp his younger sister's hand. "What does it mean? Why is the air black?" I almost sneered at his utter lack of knowledge, before I remembered that he grew up with muggles, and therefore wouldn't know the proper magical medical procedures.
"It just means that there has been a major case of mistreatment and possible lasting damage to young Ivory. However, do not worry, Harry, for she will live." At the headmaster's words, Harry visibly lightened. "But we need you to tell us everything you know that could have happened to her. That will give us the best shot at helping her."
I rolled my eyes at his words. "I think... I am going to wait until she wakes up so that she can help me explain. The worst of it I've only seen the after effects of." Harry's voice was small and scared, as though he could get into a lot of trouble for what he had said.
I could appreciate his unwillingness to go back on whatever agreement the two of them had set up had anyone found out about the abuse, as I had experienced something quite similar in my childhood. It would have killed me if someone had told others all my secrets without letting me know. However, in situations of this magnitude, I needed to know. "I understand, but if we don't start helping her, we don't know when she will wake up. If you could just give us a hint. Please?" I couldn't believe that I was actually asking Potter politely for something, but I needed to know in order to help Ivory.
He glanced down at her again, as if afraid she would wake up and be upset. The uncertainty in his eyes was apparent, but he nodded and looked up at me. "Well, it's kind of a lot. She always had it worse than me... She would take beatings for me, even though I was older." I was shocked, but looking at the frail girl on the bed, I remembered the broken strength that was in her eyes when I rescued her. And I remembered the strength her mother had when we were at school together.
"Ivory has always been the one who got their meals take away first, even though she cooked the majority of them. We lived in a cupboard under the stairs together. At school, we had to do poorly, because we would get punished if we did better than Dudley, and he wasn't that smart. Plus, no one would be our friends because his friends would threaten whoever tried. His friends really liked chasing us and beating on us... and as the years went by, their taunts to her changed..." His face was red, and his hands were shaking.
"Did they ever... you know... sexually?" The question didn't want to leave my lips, and it hung in the air.
