Alana Malfoy

Chapter Four

         Indeed, it did take Severus all night to heal Potter. He had to re-break bones so he could heal them correctly. He completely cleaned out his stock of Skele Gro and Scar Reducer. How the boy had been able to hide these injuries, some of them for years, was beyond Severus. Obviously, Potter was a lot stronger than Severus had ever given the boy credit.

         He also found the source of Harry's illness. There were several whip marks on his back that were infected. The marks were a few weeks old. A few more days and the infection would have killed him. Severus was able to get the infection out and Harry's fever down.

         Feeling himself away with exhaustion, Severus waved his wand to put everything away before setting another monitoring charm on the boy and going to bed. Luckily, there were no classes the next day.

         Harry slowly opened his eyes to see sunlight streaming through the windows. Looking around, he could tell from the stone walls that he was in the dungeons, so the windows were probably enchanted to look like you could see outside.

         “You're awake.” The voice startled Harry and he instantly tensed until he saw Snape sitting in a chair in a corner of the room. He had a book in his lap, indicating he'd been there awhile. Harry slowly relaxed as he remembered the events of the day before. He still didn't fully trust the man, but the fact that the Potions Professor actually allowed him to be in his personal quarters, not to mention let him sleep there, said a lot. Also, he couldn't feel any pain so Snape obviously healed him.

         “I suppose you want to talk about what you found,” he said in a soft voice. Snape didn't say anything for a long moment.

         “There's someone who wants to see you,” he finally said, ignoring Harry's words. With a flick of his wand, the door opened and a small, blonde-haired girl came hurtling into the room and jumped on the bed, hugging Harry tightly. He hugged Alana back and raised an eyebrow at Draco, who’d followed his sister into the room. The boy smirked.

    “I guess you’re her hero.” Harry was even more confused. “She hasn’t stopped talking about you since you saved her from Weasley.” Harry shrugged.

    “All I did was stated the truth,” the raven haired boy replied. “She deserves to be here, same as anyone else.”

    “Not everyone feels that way, Mr. Potter.” Professor Snape walked over to stand beside Draco and looked down at Harry, whose arms were still around Alana. It was silent for a long moment. Finally, Alana climbed off the bed and stood on the other side of Draco, holding his hand. Draco gave Harry a slight nod and left the room with his sister. Harry’s eyes met Severus’s.

    “Explain.” Harry had to fight a smile at the man’s abruptness. Some things never change. He sighed and started talking. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. He’d been keeping all of this inside for years and it felt nice to finally let it out, even if it was to Snape of all people.

    He told him about his childhood with the Dursleys: about the cupboard, the beatings, the hatred. He talked about the chores and the starvation. Harry also told Snape about fifth year: how everyone assumed he’d known the vision was fake, had purposely led them to Voldemort, and had let Sirius die. He then told him about the beatings he got from his own Housemates, how they were afraid he’d go dark and they were trying to keep him in line.

    Snape, for his part, kept completely silent, letting Harry talk, which the boy was grateful for. He had, at some point, moved to the chair on the other side of the bed from where he’d been standing, but made no other movement. When Harry had finally run out of steam, Snape looked him in the eyes and asked a question.