Nobody Cared Enough !

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 17 (Pt 1)

| Warning: Mentions of blood,abuse and accusations. |

13 Oct 1991, Sunday

Snape's intention was to go straight to the Great Hall but an odd scuffling noise followed by derisive laughter put his senses on alert. Neatly turning on his heel, he went into the corridor that led to the upper levels and the moving staircases. Up ahead, footsteps signaled the retreat of whomever had been laughing. Snape sped up his stride, not so much to catch those running away, but to discover what they were running from.

He almost tripped over her.

Hermione Granger lay at his feet. She was unconscious, bleeding from several wounds, and bruised in a number of places. One leg was awkwardly bent, and Snape didn't need a Diagnostic Spell to tell him it was broken. Even worse was the acrid stench of urine that assailed his nostrils. He cast a Scourgify Spell, focusing it upon the urine and wiping most of it away. It offended his senses, and that most definitely included his nose. Once it was gone, he knelt beside the child, and cast a Patronus.

The silvery-white doe gingerly lifted its feet, disturbed by the broken form of the young girl. Snape spoke to the doe, and sent it towards the Infirmary. It became a blur of ghostly silver before vanishing through the wall.

Snape began to cast various Diagnostic Spells so he could assess the damage. As he was provided the data via spidery runes that writ themselves in the air above Hermione, he began cataloging the various potions he would need.

"Oh my dear Merlin!" Minerva was suddenly upon her knees beside the fallen child's head, her robes and skirt of her under-dress pooling around her. "Severus! What happened?"

"It should be obvious!" he snapped angrily. Minerva only glanced at him, her hand to her lips for a moment. "Surely you don't..."

Snape looked up at the older witch and his gaze was hard as flint as he cut her off. "Now is not the time to defend your Lions, Minerva. Help me finish the diagnostic! Work on her legs," he ordered.

He went back to his work, continuing his diagnosis of the girl's head, neck, and spine. Minerva shifted and cast a Diagnostic Spell over Hermione's legs. After several minutes she asked, "I'd like to cast a Stabilising Spell on the broken leg, Severus. Is it safe to move her?"

He nodded but didn't allow Minerva to touch Hermione. Carefully he shifted the child's limbs so that her arms were straight down her side. He gently manoeuvred the broken limb, glad that the girl was unconscious, or she'd be screaming with the pain. Once the limb was straight, and the bone set, Minerva cast the Stabilising Spell that would hold the break in place until it could be fixed properly by Madame Pomfrey. When that was done, Snape straightened the little girl's robes, offering her better modesty than she'd had when she had fallen.

By that time, Madame Pomfrey arrived with her black medical bag. Kneeling beside the two teachers, she assessed the situation quickly and then enlarged a stretcher from her bag and levitated the injured girl onto it. She then levitated the stretcher and the girl until they were floating in front of her.

For a brief moment her nose wrinkled, as did Minerva's as she stood. Madame Pomfrey scowled, "That isn't...?"

"It is," Snape ground out. "I vanished most of it, but her clothing received some of it."

"Find out who did this, Severus," grit out the medi-witch. He simply nodded and watched as the medi-witch took the girl away to the Infirmary.

Snape then whirled angrily upon the Head of Gryffindor House. "I do not wish to hear a word out of you, Minerva!"

"I didn't say anything!" she shot back, affronted by Snape's anger.

"You had better not," he warned. "I have no doubt that Miss Granger will be able to point out her attackers." He then reached into an inner pocket and held up a thin phial that held a yellowish fluid. "If not, trust me, I'll learn who it is." He spun sharply away, leaving the older witch to clean up the remaining mess on the flagstones.