He Will Be Loved

Chapter 7 - Shattered Perceptions

Severus was momentarily stunned by the words that came out of Petunia's mouth. He stood white faced and frozen as he tried to process what she had said, staring at the woman as she cowered on the small couch.

Petunia had been vain and horrible as a child, but surely she hadn't hated Lily so much that she would abuse her own nephew...

No. Potter was a spoilt, arrogant little brat, just like his father had been, and his disregard for school rules had nearly killed himself and his friends multiple times. James Potter's son could not be abused. It was unthinkable, impossible.

Self-preservation was often the main motivation for an abused child, as they learn at a very young age how to avoid angering their abusers. As such, children who have suffered abuse are most often placed into Slytherin, the house for those motivated by cunning, ambition and self-preservation.

Severus had seen many abused children pass through Slytherin house. He knew those types well. They came to Hogwarts completely independant and unable to trust, their ambition created by the need to please their oftentimes pureblood fanatic parents and uphold their family name.

There have been a few other occasions when a battered child was placed into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, if they were particularly motivated by the acquisition of knowledge and used it as their form of escape from the torture they suffered, or needed the comfort and presence of others in order to heal, but it was practically unheard of for a child who had suffered abuse to end up in the house for the reckless and brave. Most had long since learned that bravery and willfulness only resulted in pain.

No, Severus told himself. Potter was nothing like them. He would have noticed, or, on the off chance that he had missed it, someone else would have. After all, Gryffindor's Golden Boy was always the center of attention, Severus thought with a distasteful sneer.

Still, that thought hadn't stopped the feeling of dread from lingering in the back of his mind, and, upon opening that cupboard door and being faced with the appalling sight of his student's broken and bleeding body, he was forced to accept the undeniable truth.

The portkey had taken them directly to the Hogwarts hospital wing, and as soon as they arrived Severus was calling out to Poppy, placing a still choking and convulsing Harry onto the nearest bed as the matron came running from her office.

The urgency in the usually dour potions master's voice immediately made Poppy prepare for the worst, but she still stopped short upon seeing the battered boy lying on the hospital bed.

"Good lord!" She whispered, shocked. She barely froze for a fraction of a second before she got to work, hastily collecting various potions whilst rapidly waving her wand over the boy's body, quickly identifying the injury that needed the most immediate attention.

"Severus, don't just stand there! We need to stabilise him!" She snapped at the man, who had been hovering by the foot of the bed, his eyes glued to the boy who was now lying limply on the bed.

Severus moved forward, joining Poppy as she worked to find and stem the source of the internal bleeding.

The next few minutes were spent in tense and apprehensive silence as the two of them worked together to bring Harry's vitals to a safe level, performing complex spells and gently coaxing potions down his unresponsive throat.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Harry's breathing had changed from a horrible, wet sucking sound, to a raspy wheezing, and his vitals stabilized enough to put him out of the danger zone for now. Severus allowed himself to relax slightly and he stepped back to make room for Madam Pomfrey as she bustled around the boy's bed, checking his vitals once more before casting a charm to monitor his breathing and heartrate.