Deaf-A Harry Potter story

13

Harry's POV

Right after I said that I'd do it, Professor Snape walked in. To be honest, I hadn't really noticed him leave. He looked to Madame Pomfrey who said something I couldn't make out to which he nodded. They both looked towards me, Snape not looking any different from his usual indifferent self while Madame Pomfrey had a comforting smile on her face, she motioned for me to start taking off the gown.

I slowly started to take the hospital gown off, tears threatening to spill as I thought about what would happen if my relatives ever found out. Within a few seconds, it was off and I had the covers hiding my body from view.

The nurse looked at me, silently asking for permission to take the covers away from my upper body. I nodded and she gently pulled on them, exposing my chest, my back against the pillow, shielding it from them. Her lips parted in what I assume to be a gasp as she saw every single one of my ribs sticking out from my skin prominently, a few of them were slightly out of place from being broken and not treated. Bruises of every colour were dotted around everywhere. I looked up towards Snape to see his reaction and he was stood, shocked and seemingly quite sad. This was unusual from what I had seen so far, he had never fully taken his mask down.

When I turned back to Madame Pomfrey, I didn't look anywhere but her lips, afraid to see pity, I didn't want that. She asked, almost straight away, to see my back to which I slowly complied, keeping her former words in my mind. I was safe with them.

Slowly, I moved forward and turned, careful not to hurt myself too much. I could feel their stares on me as they saw the mess of scars, bruises and cuts as well as my spine poking out prominently from my back. I knew my back was where the worst, well everything was. It was the main target for hits as it was easy to hide, I never did swimming lessons in school, I wore my P.E kit under my uniform, I never went to anyone's house, not that anyone would want me there in the first place, I never did anything that may expose my secret. I felt tears running slowly down my face as I sat there, unmoving for ages.

I flinched when I felt a soft hand touch my arm unexpectedly but turned around to meet the gazes of the two adults. Again, it was Madame Pomfrey who spoke, "Harry, we may need to take some pictures of your back and chest as evidence. It will help us to make you safe. Do you mind us doing that?"

I sat and thought for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and answering, "y-you can take- you can take pictures if i-it will really he-help me."

"Okay, just one second, Harry," she said before turning back to Snape and saying something. He yet again nodded and walked out of the confines of the curtains, making sure to close it straight after him.

The professor came back soon after, holding an old looking camera before passing it to the nurse who stood up from the bed and motioned for me to do the same. I got up, embarrassed and stood in front of the kind nurse sheepishly. She raised the camera and positioned it so that only my chest was in the shot before taking a few photos. Then she motioned for me to turn around and repeated the process.

When she was done, she placed the camera down on the bedside table and told me to sit down.

"Okay, Harry, you did so well there, I know it's hard to open up to people about this sort of situation. I hope you understand that it is both mine and Professor Snape's duty to report your situation to someone of a higher power. You understand, right?" She asked me, a gentle hand resting on my exposed arm.

"I understand," I told her.

Professor Snape looked at Madame Pomfrey, then me. "Well, I believe we are almost done here. Mr Potter, your friends have been eagerly awaiting your return. I suppose I should go brew some nutrition potions, yes?" I think the last part was aimed at the nurse rather than me considering she nodded at him before turning back to me as Snape went to wait outside the curtains.

"Now, I'm going to prescribe some potions and salves to help you heal quicker, then you can be on your way. If you require any assistance with them, my doors are always open. I will give you your medication and a list showing what order to take them in and dosage amount. Make sure you carry on taking these potions until I say otherwise." And gave me a stern look and waved her wand. A few bottles flew into the little 'room' we were in as well as parchment and an emerald green quill that, to my surprise, started writing by itself.

Once the quill had finished writing, I was handed a small bag that contained all the potions and the list. My clothes were placed on the edge of my bed and the nurse walked out.

I quickly got changed and emerged from the curtains.

Snape walked over to me quickly. "Come on Mr Potter. I have things to do after this, I will take you to your friends then I shall meet you in my office after dinner tonight. Don't be late." With that, he started striding away making me have to almost jog to keep up.

Within a few minutes, we made it to the Slytherin common room where I get again had the snake speak to me, asking for the password which I gave. Snape escorted me up to the dorms just to see the funniest thing I've seen in years.

When we walked in, the first thing I saw was Draco walking towards Pansy, who was sat on one of the desks looking very pleased with herself, with a terrified look on his face. Then I saw Blaise trying to run to the bathroom, face full of makeup and lots of glitter. It was then I realised why Draco was so terrified. I thought I was honing to fall over I was laughing so hard, even Snape almost cracked a smile at the sight.

Once I stopped laughing, Blaise was in the bathroom and Draco was stood in front of me.

"Hey, Harry. Are you okay?" He asked, seemingly concerned. I nodded and gave him a smile.

Snape walked out without a word said but gave a slight nod to us right before he left.

"I see you guys have been busy," I laughed yet again, thinking about the horrified look on Blaise's face when we saw him.

Draco shuddered, "speaking of, I owe you one, Harry, you saved me from the horrors known as getting a makeover." I rolled my eyes a little at his dramatic statement.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," I told him but he shook his head violently.

"It's horrendous! Last time Pansy gave me a makeover was a few weeks back and her and my mother put glitter in my hair. My hair! Do you know how hard glitter is to get out of anything? Let alone hair," He shuddered. Again, I found myself laughing at his dramatics.

It was good to be with my friends. I could be who I truly am, without worry of getting in trouble or hurt. I love being at Hogwarts.

A/N hey guys, I'm trying to do longer updates for you since my sister keeps pestering me for them so if there's a longer wait than usual, that would be why. Remember that you can always leave suggestions and feedback in the comments, I will see them and take your ideas into account, if they are used, don't worry, I will give you credit for them. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and hopefully enjoy the entire book. Thank you for reading, I love all of you. Seriously, ya'll are amazing, so supportive and sweet. It's so nice to know that you lot are there to make my day even when it feels like nothing can. Thank you so much!

~~~Lissy~~~