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Stumbling up to the castle with shaking limbs and the echo of his own screams lingering in his ears, Severus debated going to his personal rooms to rest before inevitably being called to the headmaster's office to report on the meeting. However, the choice was taken from him when a patronus, wispy and formless, floated up to him.
"Severus! He's thrashing and I can't get to him! I need your help!"
Pomfrey's voice gave him the jolt of strength he needed and with a quick sigh of exhaustion, he made his way to the nearest floo. "Thank Merlin for the foresight." He muttered as he tossed a pinch of floo powder into the disillusioned Entrance Hall floo and called "Infirmary! Override Severus Snape!"
Chaos and devastation greeted him upon stepping out of the floo and Severus quickly catalogued the scene. Poppy had at least had the idea to ready a nerve tonic for him before calling him, so once he'd downed it, and waited a moment to let it work, he then turned his attention to the visible swirl of magic surrounding Potter in the bed. Sharp, like barbed wire or a thorny bush, and surrounding the teen like a cloud, the sight was admittedly daunting.
"Don't just stand there!" Pomfrey yelled, buffeted by the wind of the magic's passing and holding onto a shield with sheer determination.
"Quiet, woman! I'm trying to think!" He snapped back, ignoring her fierce scowl as he ran through the possible tactics he could employ.
Finally, using a spell that coated him in a protective layer he usually reserved for volatile potions work, Severus stepped forward and into the storm. Twice he had to renew the spell, as the jagged teeth of Potter's magic tore through it, but finally he was at the teen's bedside and, with no other recourse, had tugged the boy up and against his chest. It was an intimate hold, one he wouldn't have used unless in the direst of circumstances, but it kept Potter from flailing and put his mouth right at the boy's ear to, hopefully, let his voice be heard.
"Potter!" He tried, but when that only caused the squirming to increase, he tried again. "Harry! Calm down! You are safe!"
Severus had to keep repeating the words, adding that they were in the infirmary, but slowly, Potter's thrashing stilled, becoming tremors he himself had recently experienced.
"Poppy! A nerve tonic, if you will?" Severus called. With his hands wrapped around each of Potter's wrists and crossed over the boy's chest, he could feel the racing heartbeat and erratic breathing. "You're fine, P-... Harry. It was just a dream. You are in the Hogwarts infirmary and safe."
Harry inhaled shakily as the vision finally let him go, then began to shake even more as sobs wracked his frame. "He's killed them..." He gasped, hands flexing in the professor's hold. "The bastard killed them and I had to watch! He tortured you...!"
The last confused Severus as surely the boy had seen him under the Cruciatus before? Nevertheless, he continued to hold Potter, making sure he couldn't hurt either of them. "I took a nerve tonic, something I will be making you drink shortly. Will you remain calm if I release you?"
It was then that Harry realized their positions, and though he was still reeling from the vision, in which he'd seen and wished he couldn't, he flushed. "Y-yeah... I-... Sorry. H-how much damage did I do?"
Severus waited until Potter's pulse slowed then slowly released him, watching in the low light of a lumos how the teen rubbed his wrists and making a mental note to bring bruise removal paste next time. He hadn't realized his grip had been quite that strong. "I suspect Madam Pomfrey is grateful for the charms I cast recently on the potions vials to keep them from breaking. Otherwise, you upended several cots and cracked the wall your bed is set against."
"And Pomfrey?" Harry asked softly, right hand around his left wrist and rubbing to soothe the ache. It hurt now, but it had helped tether him to reality when he'd thought he was going insane.
Carefully, Severus moved out from behind the teen where he'd sat to restrain him, then took up post beside his bed, acting as if nothing had happened. "Mild lacerations from the force of your magic but otherwise perfectly healthy." Poppy stepped over to hand him a vial of nerve tonic then and he took it, popped the cork, then glanced at Potter sitting up in the cot and shaking. "Are you capable of drinking this on your own, Potter?"
Seeing as his hands were shaking so badly, and he was close to falling asleep, Harry blushed but shook his head. A light touch against his chin tilted his head back, then he swallowed the offensive mixture that would ease the damage and laid down when directed. Hesitant, though he knew it was right, he reached out and snagged the end of Snape's sleeve before the man could leave. "Thanks, Professor... And I'm sorry you were tortured."
Dark eyes widened a fraction as Severus stepped back, his sleeve released. "Pay it no mind, Potter. I have dealt with much worse in this fight. Now go to sleep."
"You shouldn't have to." Harry murmured before rolling over, his back to Snape and his breathing stuttered. While he didn't want to go back to sleep in case something dragged him into another vision, he couldn't deny his body's needs long, and within a few minutes was out like a light.
Severus stared in confusion for a second then spun on his heel and left, blatantly ignoring Poppy's intent stare.
The next morning it was truly as if nothing had happened. The infirmary was back to normal, Potter was back to muttering complaints about Braille, and Poppy was back to staying in her office unless one of the monitoring spells cast on Potter went off. If he didn't know any better, Severus would have said nothing actually had happened, but the faint tremor in his hands that kept him from brewing belied that and gave evidence to last night's ordeal.
"Potter..."
Harry twitched at suddenly being addressed but hummed and 'looked' up to show he was paying attention. "Yes professor?"
The words died in his throat and Severus shook his head. "How are you progressing with your studies?"
"Well... Considering I've only been learning Braille a couple days now..." He trailed off, a bit of confusion in his tone. "How'd you even get a potions book in Braille anyway? And why would you need it? Seems like a useless purchase, even if it did come in handy for me."
"Are you questioning me on my personal life, Potter?" Severus sneered though his heart wasn't entirely in it. "If you must know, I had an acquaintance many years back who was blind and I bought that book to teach myself the basics of Braille in an attempt to help. He died before I learned much."
Harry felt terrible at the admission and ducked his head, subdued. "Oh... Sorry, sir... I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Snape's derisive snort made him bristle angrily, but he didn't say anything, just brushed a hand over the raised edges of the design on the front.
Awkward silence descended between them until Harry went back to attempting to read, then after a few hours, he and Severus ate the food brought by the elves and Harry put the book away in preparation for another bandage change. They were a necessary daily occurence, but it was annoying and painful to deal with them.
Once the bandages had been removed, Severus gritted his teeth and withheld a reflexive flinch at the sight of the teen's face. Spell damage, the one that cost Potter his eyesight, had, in fact, cost him his eyes and eyelids entirely. It was like they'd been hacked out roughly, shredding the eye socket as well, and even nearly a month and a half later the flesh was still red and raw, weeping pus and serous fluid.
"Alright. I'm going to cast the cleansing charms so brace yourself." Severus muttered, waiting for the determined nod, then with a brief wand wave he murmured the incantations. The pus and serous fluid vanished, the necrotic tissues carefully vanished, and before Potter could jerk away on instinct, he added a thin layer of healing paste.
"Fucking hell...! Ow... Merlin that hurts!" Harry gasped, face reddening and hands clenched on his lap to keep from rubbing. "Are you sure there's no other spell you can use?"
"Quit whining, Potter, and hold still. Unless you don't want the anti itch cream?" As the teen scowled but obeyed, Severus nodded and began carefully applying said cream once the healing layer had had enough time to absorb into the injury. Once he was done, he began carefully reapplying the bandages that wound around Potter's head then stepped back once they were in place. "Remember not to rub the gauze. Even the slightest-"
"-slightest amount of pressure can cause more damage, I know. You've been saying that the past week..." Harry scowled again and reigned in the immediate urge to scratch, then rubbed his palms on his pajama pants. "Can I go outside now?"
"Can you?" Severus repeated, feeling the childish urge to be petty.
"May I? Merlin, you're worse than my kindergarten teacher..."
He huffed and waved at the door, knowing Potter could sense it. "Very well, Potter, go on. I need to clean this up but I will be with you shortly. To make sure you do not crack open your skull or something equally heinous, of course."
"Oh Snape, I didn't know you cared...!" Irritable as he always was after a bandage change, Harry slipped into his slippers and stepped past the professor, hands fisted in his own nightshirt to keep from scratching as he made his way out of the infirmary and began the trek down the hall.