eccedentesiast || severitus

chapter fifteen | the turning point

"Hush. I'd say you deserve far worse than this. You've definitely broken something in your hand - Merlin, do you understand what you've just done?" Severus tried to speak but he was quickly interrupted. "No! I understand that you wanted to help Harry, and I understand what the Headmaster has done, I do. But what are you going to do if he fires you? Who will be here to look out for the boy? Surely not me, seeing as I run a hospital wing. Who's going to be able to watch the Headmaster as fiercely as you do?" She sighed as she patted his hand, staring directly into his eyes. "I understand what your intention was Severus, but you may have just done more damage than you believe."

The man sat there stunned. Damn, the woman was right. He had let his temper get the best of him, something he thought he'd gotten under control, and he'd possibly added more suffering on the boy. If he gets fired, no one will be able to watch the boy -

Poppy could see that the man was beginning to understand the result of his actions. She felt bad, sure, seeing as Severus was trying to help Harry.

He'd never want to hurt the boy, now that he knows he's done so for months already.

Poppy knows of the guilt he holds for how he treated Harry. She knows that, ever since he brought Harry in to the wing, he's been a completely different person. Hell, before that she noticed a change in him. These past few weeks, he seemed to be keeping an eye on the boy whenever she saw him, whether it be in the hallways, or at dinner, or in the courtyard, she watched him watch the boy whenever he could.

And watching him comfort the child through a harsh panic attack, watching him fight so harshly on the child's behalf....

"You're a good man, Severus. I've said it before and I'll say it again. And that boy," she pointed over to the bed which held Harry, fast asleep, only a few feet away, "will soon come to see that, if he hasn't already. But he needs you, now more than ever. And if you want to fix these first few months, you need to remain calm, for him. Losing your temper like you did today, will only hurt him in the long run."

The man didn't answer her, and she sighed.

He was arguably the most stubborn man she's ever met.

"Well, I must be going. I need to try and convince the Headmaster not to fire you and Harry should be waking shortly. If you see him waking, and you are calm, please go and get him to eat some early supper. He barely touched his food earlier, and I know the poor dear must be starving. If you still feel as angry and guilty as I know you do now, leave him to me. The last thing we need is for him to suffer another panic attack. Two in one day is enough," she muttered, giving the man one last stern glare before heading off towards the Headmaster, who she had placed far away from Severus.

Said man sat in silence for quite a while. He didn't know how long. All he knew that this moment, this whole day, was a critical turning point in Harry's life.

It has now been confirmed that the man the boy obviously trusted so, has been using him since the first day of school. He's known about the child's abuse and he's done nothing. How he could look at Harry, bruised and battered, and not say a word? How he could just contribute to that abuse by hiding it?

Well that's just something Severus couldn't even fathom.

But, however wrong it may have been, that punch hitting the Headmaster in the jaw was most undoubtedly his proudest moment as of late. Sure he had the brains to fire call Poppy after it happened, but if he hadn't, if he hadn't thought of Harry catching word of what he'd done and thinking him no better than his Uncle, he probably wouldn't have stopped.