I 'invented' a spell: comminuo- to scatter, weaken. I think it works with this context (it's Latin), but if not, please bear with me. Thanks!
Chapter 5 – It Happens Yet Again
Harry walked through the relatively empty hallways, deep in thought. His mind was buzzing with all of the new information he had just received. I’m clear to start more defense lessons... I’ll be learning Legilimency... great, that will be a bucket of laughs... the giants definitely aren't coming, and neither are the goblins... Voldemort wants to attack me again... well, that was to be expected... Bloody hell. How was he going to do this with the chance that Voldemort could try to enter his mind at any moment - and what if he truly succeeded this time? What would happen then? At any rate, Harry knew that within the next few days he'd have teachers following him everywhere. Again. Great.
As Harry's train of thought ended, he realized that he was standing right in front of Snape's office door. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he knocked.
"Enter."
Upon opening the door, Harry was immediately assaulted by a thick, purplish haze. Coughing and waving his hands around to clear the smoke around him, he made his way to the back corner, where the dark shape of a man was bent over a cauldron.
"Comminuo," Snape said lazily, effectively lessening the density of the purple clouds that surrounded them. After adding a bluish powder, Snape finally looked up from the bubbling cauldron.
"It’s about time, Potter, ten points from Gryffindor. The instructions for the Bone Repair potion are on your usual table. My cupboard is open so you can get the needed ingredients. And yes, this is Dreamless Sleep potion, get your Occlumency shields up. The Dark Lord could possess you right now as low as your defenses are right now." Snape sneered, leering over him.
Harry paused for a moment and torn between anger at being caught, berated by Snape and renewed worry about Voldemort’s plans. But those feelings were only momentary as worry pushed to the surface of his mind. "Is Voldemort planning something?" he asked quickly.
Snape looked at him disdainfully. "I am not privy to all of the Dark Lord's plans."
Harry sighed. "Whatever." He turned away from Snape and walked over to his table. Fine. He should have known Snape would be like that - seemingly about to tell him what was happening, only to retract it at the last minute.
The next two hours passed in relative silence, each person fixated on their respective potions. Harry was determined not to mess this potion up. He wanted to be done with this as soon as possible; hopefully he’d make it to the Great Hall in time for a late lunch.
When he completed his work, Harry's potion wasn't quite the neon orange that it was supposed to be, but it was close enough. "Professor, I'm finished."
Snape nodded and cast a spell on his now-steaming potion. "It's a Time-Pausing Charm, Potter," he said snidely in response to Harry's questioning gaze as he swept across the room."Let's see the abominable mess that you concocted today." He peered into the cauldron. "Potter, can you not read? What does line three say?”
Harry shot Snape a filthy look before glancing down at the text. “After stirring counterclockwise twice, add the armadillo bile while stirring -” He stopped reading, gasping as pain lanced sharply through his scar.
"Potter? What's wrong?" Snape asked.
Harry shook his head and clenched his teeth. After a moment he looked up, eyes watering. "He's angry," Harry gasped, "Avery... Macnair-" he swallowed " - Malfoy Sr... they went to the centaurs..." - he sucked in his breath as his scar flared again - "failed - he's punishing -"
Harry howled and fell to his knees, grasping at his hair as a fresh burst of excruciating pain tore through his scar. He tried to stop screaming and clamp his mouth shut, but he made a funny, sort of choking gasp and a trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Snape looked around wildly for a moment, trying to think fast. Bending down, he hoisted the screaming boy into a chair and conjured a long piece of fabric. He tied Harry to the chair tightly around the waist and ran over to the fireplace. He threw in some powder, stuck his head inside and barked, "Hospital wing!" A moment later Snape pulled his head out of the fireplace a minute later, and hurried back over to Potter. He was doubled over in the chair, face in his hands, blood from his mouth staining his jeans.
Clattering footsteps sounded outside the door before it was flung open by a red-faced, gasping Madam Pomfrey. It would have been funny if the situation hadn't been so dire. Snape turned his attention back to Harry. Madam Pomfrey was trying to lift the boy up, but he wouldn't budge. He continued to scream, and his voice got hoarser and hoarser...
Harry stopped abruptly. He stayed still for a moment, gasping for air, then he went limp. Cautiously, Madam Pomfrey lifted his torso up. Snape continued to hold him up as Madam Pomfrey checked his scar. It was an angry red, the skin around it irritated as well. Droplets of blood were smeared around it; it must have split open again slightly. Blood was smeared around his mouth, and was still leaking out. Pomfrey propped his mouth open, but there was too much blood to see how severely he had bitten his tongue.
Madam Pomfrey stood, dusting off her uniform and
sighed. "Severus, could you free him and Floo him to the hospital wing? I'll go on ahead and get everything ready."
Snape nodded affirmatively. A moment later Poppy was gone in a burst of green fire. He turned back around.
Harry was slumped forward and to the side. Unfortunately, that was the side the still-hot cauldron was on. Snape rushed over there and lifted Harry up. His right arm and the side of his face were bright and red, like a bad sunburn. Damn.
Snape sighed. He removed the piece of fabric from around the limp boy and lifted him up into a standing position, reached down, and picked the boy up. He walked over to the fireplace and threw some Floo powder in with some difficulty. As he stepped into the dancing green flames, he shifted the boy into a more comfortable position and growled, “Damn you, Harry Potter.”
Severus Snape did not like the predicament he was in, not at all. He could be resting in his quarters, the Dreamless Sleep completed and bottled, with a stack of abominable, ready-to-grade essays and a glass of Rosmerta’s finest mead by his side. Unfortunately, the insufferable Potter brat had dashed any hopes of a peaceful evening, though Severus (unfortunately) could not blame the boy this time. He of all people knew that there was no limit to the Dark Lord’s wrath, though the boy really did not need to add his idiotic, attention-seeking dramatics.
Severus shifted Potter in his arms – the boy might have been small and light for his age, but he was no pixie – as he followed Madam Pomfrey up to the Hospital Wing. No, he thought, he couldn’t blame Potter for this, just as he couldn’t blame the boy for his seizure Monday. Another reason that Severus didn’t particularly like was that apart from the obvious reasons for being in this situation, this new event was making him question everything that had happened in the past five years.
It had been quite obvious for several years now that the Dark Lord wanted Potter dead – preferably by the Dark Lord himself – but his multiple attempts to enter Potter’s mind this year had Severus puzzled. Before last year’s fiasco in the Department of Mysteries, it had been quite clear what his agenda had been with Potter’s odd dreams – to get the Prophecy. But this seemed like overkill.
Severus still had no idea what the Prophecy contained, but surely that was not the only thing the Dark Lord was after each time he forcefully invaded Potter’s mind. Besides, they all knew the Prophecy had been lost, heard by no one. What made the Dark Lord think that Potter knew?
When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, the only occupant was an idiotic Hufflepuff that Severus had sent himself (only the worst of dunderheads could melt a cauldron by attempting to brew a Chilling Potion). Pomfrey beckoned Severus over to a bed and pulled the curtains around the small space. As soon as he laid the limp form down onto the cot, the mediwitch immediately began firing off Cleansing Charms. “Severus, I need you to bring me the antiseptic, a Blood-Replenishing Potion, the burn paste, the strongest pain reliever we’ve got, and a pair of pajamas; the Headmaster needs to be informed as well.”
Snape nodded silently. He whisked over to the cabinets, finding everything the mediwitch needed. He walked back over to find her undressing the boy. Severus was startled to see Potter’s ribs sticking out alarmingly. Granted, the boy had not been in the best health this year, but the boy still shouldn’t be undernourished.
“Severus. The Headmaster.”
Madam Pomfrey’s sharp voice shook Snape out of his reverie. He nodded curtly, and disappeared in a burst of green flame almost immediately.
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It Had to Happen in Snape's Class by nerd2006
Chapter Notes: This is a NEW chapter, compromised of the first part of chapter one that I had originally posted, as well as a short second part that I had posted on fanfiction.net only. Now everything's fixed and rewritten (hopefully) more canon-like. Chapter six will be posted as soon as I get it back from my beta - she's traveling right now, so I can't promise it'll be quick.