Unforgivables

Chapter 3: Awakening

At first only confusion registers in Harry's mind. He hasn't felt this warm and safe since the morning after he won the house cup for Gryffindor. There can only be one explanation. Jumping to attention Harry finds that he's woken up in a bed for the first time in months.

Even at Hogwarts Harry wasn't always good enough to sleep in a bed. Instead, the Headmaster had been kind enough to glamor his small pallet so that his roommates wouldn't find out about his punishments caused by his shameful displays of weakness and sometimes blatant disobedience.

The room Harry finds himself in is very decent considering whoever ought to know how poorly he was behaving just the previous night. At least he thinks it was the previous night. Sometime they would go overboard with his punishments and he wouldn't wake up until days later when he would recieve yet another punishment for laziness. No matter how weary he feels at the time.

Shifting in bed, the slight boy decides that he'll be much more useful doing something rather than sitting around. Making a move to get off the bed Harry freezes, cheeks flaming with embarrassment and shame. Feeling the sheets around him, Harry finds them soaked along with his pants and the bottom half of his shirt. All clothes he knows he doesn't own and clearly doesn't deserve judging by the way they are now ruined.

The young Gryffindor is no stranger to wet sheets as he's woken up in them more often than not but to relieve himself on a bed that doesn't belong to him when he doesn't even know where he is or who he's with is beyond mortifying. Not to mention the punishment he will have to endure at the hands of Dumbledore when he catches word of his newest mistake.

Hobbling into the attached bathroom on legs that seem much too thin to support his body, Harry finds various cleaning products under the sink. He strips down the bed and throws the covers and his ruined trousers into the hamper in the bathroom leaving his pants so that he's not walking around half naked.

Spraying the mattress with cleaner, Harry gets to work scrubbing out the yellow stain. He's not sure how long he does this for before he hears footsteps coming from down the hall heading in his direction. Quickly putting everything away the frightened child goes to kneel by the door with his head bowed just as he's been taught to do. Although he doesn't know who will come through the door there is no way he will be seen out of position in case that person decides to tell Dumbledore who will ensure that his punishment is 10 times worse.

The sight was not something Severus thought he'd walk into when he enters to check on Potter and administer his potions. He knew the boy was awake due to the wards set up around the room, but to find the child on the floor and the bed unmade is a shock. It isn't until he notices the slightly faded stain that everything clicks.

"Potter?" the boy flinches at being suddenly addressed as Severus realizes that he isn't going to move without prompt.

"P-professor?" the child glances up before quickly averting his eyes back to the teacher's polished black dress shoes. "S-s-sorry about the m-mess." Severus really hopes that the stuttering is a side effect from the crucio he had been subjected to the previous night and not an overwhelming fear of the man. While he does enjoy installing fear in his students in order to maintain order in the classroom, never should a child be too afraid to even make eye contact with an adult.

"It's quite alright. Accidents happen," pulling out his wand, Harry flinches again trying to stutter out another apology but seemingly unable to, fear gripping onto his vocal cords.

"It's alright. Calm down. Harry. I only wish to set the bed right and then we can have a little chat. Alright?" After the bed is made with new, clean sheets and the child is redressed, it takes a few more minutes to coax Harry to come and sit on the bed. In the end, the boy chooses to sit at the very edge, furthest away from the potion master, nervously playing with his fingers.