Benign

Chapter 8: Legilimency

Even though Harry nodded, Madam Pomphrey and Severus Snape knew that the boy would need some prompting. So, they both tried their best to look as kind, welcoming, and as enticing as they possibly could to get Harry to speak.

Poppy smiled kindly at him. She was leaning on the back of the chair she had sitting in front of her facing the child's bed, greying hair askew and worry lines etched firmly on her face from years of work tending to the wounds of unruly students. She had sweat on her brow from running around the infirmary that afternoon.

Snape had creases on his face from his nose around his mouth, and his eyebrows were ever so slightly furrowed as he tried to hide his worry. He was actually sitting in his chair, the elbow that was attached to the hand that was holding up his head resting on his black cloaked knee. He was trying his best best to give Harry a kind smile.

Harry looked back and forth from the two quickly, his brows furrowed in his sallow face that was far more skinny than it should have been for a boy his age. He was trying his best not to shy away.

Snape was the first one brave enough to speak. "Harry...what was your room like...at the Dursleys?"

Harry looked at him, clearly not quite following his lips that time.

Snape, understanding, stood up and grabbed a few pieces of parchment and a quill.

"Do you know how to write?" Snape asked slowly, afraid of the answer.

When the boy slowly, fearfully, shook his head no, Snape cringed. He had been afraid of that. Then a thought struck him. He was a practiced legilimens, and he'd been experimenting with a new strategy.

He looked over at Poppy. "What if I tried to use Legilimency? I've came up with a new strategy where if I focus hard enough, I can speak in another's mind."

Poppy sighed, and thought for a moment. Her brows furrowed. After a few moments, she finally spoke. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Do you know that he knows verbal words well enough from when he could hear to actually understand you and not be freaked out?"

Snape thought for a moment. "I think...it's worth a try."

Though all of this, Harry just kept eyeing them warily, not understanding anything that was going on.

Snape turned to Harry. "I'm going to try something." He said slowly. "Do you think you could trust me?"

After a moment, he nodded ever so slightly.

Snape smiled. He carefully pushed into Harry's mind, careful not to look any deeper than what the boy was seeing through his eyes right now. Once he reached there, he began to concentrate, forming a few words very slowly.

'Harry? Can you hear me?'

Harry jumped, and looked at the man with wide startled eyes. When Snape and Pomphrey nodded at him comfortingly, he relaxed slightly.

What?' He thought. 'How can you? How did you...?'

Snape smirked. 'It's magic Harry, it's okay.'

Harry smiled widely, not believing this was all really happening to him. 'This is amazing!'

'I'm glad you think so.' Snape said kindly. 'Now,' he sighed, 'what was your bedroom like at the Dursley's?'

When Harry visibly tensed, they both knew it couldn't be good. 'It...it was the...uh...cupboard under the stairs.'

Snape had to hold back a growl.

The rest of his interrogation of Harry went very similar to that, and after a while, when Harry's eyes started to droop, they tucked him into bed. They decided that he had been through enough.

When he was asleep, Severus informed Poppy about all of the questions and answers that had transpired during their little silent conversation, and Poppy growled a few times. The woman had seen a lot in her days, but this definitely took the cake for the worst.

"What are we going to do, Severus?" She said sadly.

"That boy deserves love. He deserves a loving home. He sure as hell isn't going back to that hell. I'll take him. I'll raise him." Snape said with determination.

Poppy nodded with a slight smile. "You're going to be good for him."

Snape smiled bashfully.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to take him and Draco to Lucius and Narcissa. They'll get him all of the things that he needs while he sorts things out here."

Poppy nodded. "Okay, but I'm going to need him here for check ups once a week, and he needs a very strict diet regimen that I will give you soon so he can begin to make up for some of that malnourishment."

Severus nodded. "Done."

Poppy grimaced. "I need to get some sleep. I trust you'll keep an eye on him tonight?"

Severus nodded, already beginning to walk away. "Of course."

As Poppy headed off to bed, Snape took his same post in the chair at the foot of Harry's bed. He rested his elbow back on his knee to prop up his head, and prepared himself for a long night.