eccedentesiast || severitus

chapter ten | hospital wing

Severus made his way into the hospital wing, looking around for the matron who was usually busy tending to patients who either ended up on the receiving end of one of the Weasley twin's pranks or managed to hurt themselves while foolishly attempting to do some Quidditch stunt which never worked out in their favor.

Potter happened to be one of the frequent members of the latter group.

Unsurprisingly, there were barely any students at this time, seeing as it was only the second class period of the day. The only students in the hospital wing, moaning and groaning over their injuries, were ones from the day before who weren't able to leave last night.

Madame Pomfrey was busy tending to a student who's arm was wrapped in bandages. The girl, a Hufflepuff, looked no younger than 13. For the life of him though, Severus couldn't remember her name.

Pity.

Severus moved further into the room, placing Harry on the nearby bed. He had to fight with the boy for a few moments to release his death-like grip he had on Severus' cloak, but he eventually detached him. He needed to work quick, for he did not know when the boy would decide to wake and make his presence known.

After making sure Harry was calm and still asleep—passed out would be a better word for it, seeing as the boy had quite literally fainted in his arms—for now, Severus made his way over to Poppy, who was just cleaning up her equipment.

"Poppy, Potter requires your assistance. I'm sure that's not something entirely new," he said, a smirk playing over his face.

The healing matron tsked, placing her hands on her hips. "What did Mr. Potter get himself into this time? Heaven knows that boy can't keep himself in one piece for longer than a week," she said with one final look over her recent student.

"While all that is generally true, yes, I'm afraid this time it wasn't something that could have been helped, per se, more so something that we should have expected a long time ago, if we had payed close enough attention."

Poppy's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at Severus and moved closer to the boy in question. She began to take his vitals, concern coming over her features. "His blood pressure is through the roof and his muscles are wound tight. Severus, what's happened?"

The man sighed. "He had an anxiety attack, Poppy. In the boy's loo in the near the Great Hall."

The healing matron gasped, her hand coming up to clutch her chest. Severus could understand where she was coming from.

Eleven year olds should not be prone to anxiety attacks.

"Of course his minions Weasley and Granger followed him, along with a few other members of the Gryffindor house," he said as he too moved closer to the child in the bed.

Harry looked distressed every second that passed and Severus knew that he was minutes away from waking. He wasn't particularly ready for what they would get once he woke.

"They went to help him, I assume, before realizing their childish minds could not comprehend what was happening. Granger came running like something was chasing and ran in to me, literally. Once she calmed enough to explain the situation, I followed her to where Potter was. He was completely in his head, he didn't even know who was helping him, or where he was, or what was happening. He only knew that someone was touching him and he wanted it to stop."

Severus moved his eyes to the arms still face up and uncovered. Anger welled up at him at the possibilities at where they came from, but he pushed it down for now.

It would not bode well for anyone if Potter woke to Severus' angry face.

"I discovered some rather...disturbing things during the whole ordeal, including the mess of his arms. I'm sure you can conclude what's happened. He said quite a few odd things as well." Severus said, lifting his eyes to stare at the woman across from him. He mentally strengthened his wards, not wanting his concern to fall through.