Chapter 18 The Hospital Wing
Chapter Text
After eating just enough food to help his potion stay down and do its job, Hadrian stopped eating dinner and just waited, anxiously spinning his Potter heir ring around his finger.
Theo, Blaise, and Daphne, having already done their check-ups, watch their friend sadly, their hearts hurting that he was so upset.
"It's not that bad," Daphne told him. "You just lie down on the bed, she does a simple scan, and then she gives you whatever potions you need."
Hadrian flashed her a quick grin before he went back to looking down at his ring. "That's not the part I'm worried about, Daph. The problem is that these scans are to check for something specific, and when they scan me, they are going to find it. What I need to be able to do is control what they do with the information once they know. I have Andromeda coming to help, but I am nervous that she won't get here in time, or that something will go wrong."
Blaise nudged his shoulder. "Whatever happens, we are here for you, Hadrian. Ride or die, remember?"
Theo nodded before speaking. "I think that once Snape knows, he will do whatever needs to be done to protect you, even if it means going against Dumbledore. He has done it for other snakes before when Dumbledore kept insisting they go back to bad situations," he said quietly, not wanting anyone to overhear.
Hadrian froze. "Dumbledore has done that before? Knowingly sent people back, I mean."
His friend slowly dipped his head once. "Dumbledore puts too much stock in families loving each other just because they are family. That is true for some cases, but not all, and when it isn't true, Dumbledore chooses to believe in the power of love over the student's experience." He shrugged. "It sucks, but there is little that anybody can do to go against the headmaster."
"Except Snape," Hadrian said, breathing in sharply.
"Except Snape," Theo agreed, tilting his head knowingly. "You were right when you told Neville that he may be mean, but he wants his students safe."
Daphne pushed around the food on her plate before ultimately pushing that away as well. "Talk about ruining your appetite," she said lightly.
"Yeah, no kidding," Blaise agreed, pushing away his plate as well.
Hadrian looked at the watch he had taken to wearing and saw that he still had some time before his appointment, but was no longer hungry. "I think I am going to go visit Neville since I have time. I am certainly not going to eat anymore," he said, looking at his plate and making a face.
"Do you want us to join you?" Daphne asked, looking up at where he had stood, and grabbed his bag. He shook his head.
"No, I'll be alright. I'll probably be back late, though, so don't wait up," he told his group before walking away from the table and out of the Great Hall.
He slowly made his way to the hospital wing, where he saw Neville looking almost fully recovered in one of the beds, eating chocolate pudding.
"Hey, Neville!" Hadrian greeted with a grin. "I am so glad to see you doing better. Are you feeling all right?" Neville, who had lit up at Hadrian's appearance, made a face that made Hadrian laugh.
"A bit, the salve for the boils smells bad and feels super sticky."
"That sucks, I'm sorry," Hadrian replied, frowning. "When do you get out of here?"
Neville shrugged. "This is my last batch of salve, so it should be pretty soon. Thank you for sending Susan and Hannah, by the way, they really cheered me up. Hannah even gave me a chocolate frog!" he said excitedly, holding up a chocolate frog card with Morgana on it. "And look who was inside! I tried to give it to Hannah, but she told me to keep it."
"That was incredibly nice of her," Hadrian told his godbrother.
"I know! And Susan said that she would stop by the teachers whose classes I missed and get me copies of their lectures."
Hadrian lifted his brows. "Wow, Hufflepuffs really do go above and beyond for their friends."
Neville looked at Hadrian with hope in his eyes, making them look even greener. "Do you really think they are my friends?" He asked, suddenly feeling shy as he looked away.
Hadrian put a hand on his godbrother's shoulder. "I do. I think you have plenty of friends. There's me, Hermione, Daphne, Theo, Blaise, and now Susan and Hannah. Look at you go!"
Madam Pomfrey came around the corner and saw the boys talking, bringing a smile to her face. "Alright, Mr. Longbottom. It looks like you are free to return to your dormitory," she told him as the last of the boils faded away. Neville sagged with relief.
"Finally!" He cheered before freezing. "I mean, thank you, Madam Pomfrey."
She just clucked her teeth and sent him on his way.
"You aren't coming?" he asked Hadrian, pausing at the door when he didn't hear his friend beside him.
"Mr. Potter has a prior engagement," Professor Snape said, suddenly appearing behind Neville, startling the boy.
Hadrian waved him off. "Don't worry Nev, I'm just getting a check-up. I'll see you tomorrow."
Neville paused before he waved back and ran out of the hospital wing, still terrified of Snape.
"Are you ready, Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asksed, looking over at her next patient.
"Not quite," he smiled. "There is something I need first."
"And what is it that you require, Mr. Potter, that you would waste our time?" Snape asked him, his voice tight with impatience.
"A secrecy vow," he responded simply. Snape frowned.
"No."
"Yes," Hadrian said, nodding his head.
"No," Snape denied again. "Absolutely not." Hadrian turned to look at Madam Pomfrey.
"And you?" he asked her.
She shook her head. "There is no need for a secrecy vow when I have my healer's oath."
"If you won't agree to a secrecy vow, then I won't be getting a scan," Hadrian shrugged.
"Yes, you will. All of my snakes get scanned by Madam Pomfrey. You are no exception because you are the boy-who-lived."
"I am not trying to get out of getting scanned, I am saying that I need you to swear on your life or your magic that what you find out will not be leaving this room without my permission," Hadrian replied calmly.
"Why would I risk either of those things over you getting a check-up, Potter? No," Snape scoffed, infuriated at the audacity of the boy standing in front of him, relaxed and casual.
Hadrian raised one shoulder and moved to leave the hospital wing. "Then I guess I won't be getting checked by Madam Pomfrey. I will see you in class, Professor," he said.
"You will stay and get checked out by our medi-witch, or you will face the consequences," Snape threatened while Madam Pomfrey stood a few steps back with her arms crossed, looking both a little upset at her patient's refusal and surprised at Snape's behavior.
"Or else what?" Hadrian asked his professor goadingly. "Will you take house points? I don't care about those; the system is worthless and only promotes inter-house fighting. You'll give me detention? So, then I will have detention to fill up my time. You certainly can't write to my parents," he said, ignoring when both adults flinched at the mention of his dead mum and dad.
"Or I will tell your magical guardian," the professor said through gritted teeth, frustrated that the brat couldn't see that he was trying to help him.
"Oh, yeah," Hadrian smirked, crossing his arms. "Who is my magical guardian, because it sure as hell isn't Dumbledore, and my muggle guardians won't care either."
Snape frowned. "Of course, your magical guardian is Dumbledore, who else would it be?" Who else could be responsible for Hadrian?
Hadrian tapped the side of his nose. "Now that would be telling. Now," he said, turning to look at both adults. "I am not refusing a scan. What I am doing is making a deal that is non-negotiable. Either you make the vow, or I walk."
"We could force you," Snape said, looking at the boy frustratedly.
"Then you'd better get it right because you will have one shot before I make this hospital wing make what happened in Dumbledore's office look like amateur hour," Hadrian warned.
Quick as a flash, Snape summoned Hadrian's wand and closed the doors to the hospital wing. The loud boom echoed in the large and nearly empty room. The boy didn't even look phased that his wand was no longer in his holster.
Hadrian laughed coldly, smiling like the devil. "I won't need my wand for what happens next," he said lowly, his voice seemingly coming from more places than just his mouth as he spoke.
"Hadrian, that is enough!" A voice called out, stepping through the fireplace. "I am sorry that I am late, but it seems that you were content to start without me," Andromeda Tonks said, looking at both adults unimpressed. "Really, Severus? You'd draw your wand on an eleven-year-old?"
Snape didn't take his eyes off Hadrian. "He was going to run away," He sneered. "We need to have him scanned, and he wasn't cooperating." What was he trying so hard to hide?
"On the contrary," Hadrian interjected. "It was you who was not cooperating. I told you I would get the scan, just not without a secrecy vow."
"Why would you need a vow, unless you have something to hide?" Snape asked, still not lowering the wand he had drawn, making sure Hadrian wasn't going anywhere other than the hospital bed to be looked over, even if he had to magically restrain the boy to do it.
Looking unimpressed, Hadrian asked, "You mean other than being a celebrity and wanting my privacy guaranteed?"
"Mr. Potter, I would never share confidential information!" Madam Pomfrey denied, scandalized.
"Oh, really, not even to report to the headmaster?" She froze before her eyes narrowed.
"I only go to the headmaster for very special cases, Mr. Potter," she said, trying to soothe his worries.
"I'm Hadrian Potter," he said, laughing bitterly. "Everything about me is a special case. Make the vow, or I walk," he repeated, deadly serious.
"Make the vow," Andromeda told them. Madam Pomfrey turned to her in shock.
"You can't honestly expect us to-" she started to say when Andromeda spoke over her.
"I do. From one healer to another, you need to make that vow. It is not only for Hadrian's protection, but it is for yours too. No one can find out about what this scan will reveal until he is ready; it could ruin everything."
"Are you going to lower your wand, professor, or am I going to have to do something drastic?" Snape sneered but lowered his wand.
"I'm keeping this," he told Hadrian, holding the boy's wand. Hadrian shrugged.
"Fine by me, sir. If that is what it takes to make you feel more comfortable, then by all means, keep holding on to it," Hadrian said condescendingly. Snape's face twitched, but he did not relinquish his tight grip on the holly and phoenix feather wand; if anything, it made him grip it tighter. Hadrian noticed this and smirked proudly.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Snape ran his tongue over his teeth before he looked back down at the smug boy. He has already sworn on his life to look out for the boy; what is one more vow to assure his privacy and peace of mind?
"Fine," he spat. "If that is what is necessary, then that is what I will do." He turned to look at Andromeda. "And what are you doing here?" He asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Now that is no way to greet an old friend," she admonished, sitting elegantly in the chair next to the hospital bed. "Besides, I am here because Hadrian requested that I come, and it is a good thing that I was here, or you would have tried and failed to hex a first-year student. That would have been embarrassing for you."
"It is the proper way to greet the mother of one of the most clumsy potion students I have ever had the displeasure of teaching." He turned to Hadrian. "Why do you know Andromeda?"
Hadrian shrugged. "Because she is my healer and Ted is my lawyer."
Snape rolled his eyes and pinched his nose again. "And why would an eleven-year-old need a personal healer and a lawyer?"
Hadrian smiled ruefully. "You're about to find out. Vow first."
Looking to the heavens once more, and silently cursing James Potter for repopulating the earth with his progeny, he made the vow.
"I, Severus Tobias Snape, swear on my magic not to reveal anything from Hadrian Potter's health scan without his express permission, so mote it be." Hadrian smiled when he felt magic sealing the promise, before looking to Madam Pomfrey.
She sighed before also taking out her wand and making the vow.
"I, Poppy Penelope Pomfrey, swear on my magic not to reveal anything from Hadrian Potter's health scan without his express permission, so mote it be." She turned to Hadrian. "Can I perform the scan now?"
He nodded and laid down on the bed while she waved her wand over him, chanting the same spell that Andromeda had in Ted's office weeks ago.
A quill started to write on a piece of parchment, and it kept going, and going, and going. It went on for so long that Snape started to feel sick without even looking at it. He forced himself to remain calm until Madam Pomfrey handed over the long piece of parchment with a shaking hand.
Snape felt like his world had tilted on its axis. He knew Tuney, he knew she was a bitter child and undoubtedly a bitter adult, but multiple broken bones? Malnutrition before he was two? Lily's boy had been suffering for almost his entire life, and Severus, sworn to protect him, had no idea. He thought the boy was treated as a prince and pampered until the meeting in Dumbledore's office. He had started to suspect then, but to have it confirmed in such a horrible and painful manner was devastating.
After that meeting in Dumbledore's office on Monday morning, Snape had spent the day teaching classes, hiding behind his occlumency walls, locking every emotion away. When he finally reached his quarters, he poured himself a strong drink and sat in front of the fireplace, thinking. He had spent the better part of a decade expecting to hate the boy on sight.
Hadrian Potter might not have grown up as a prince like he had been told, but he was still James Potter's son. He looked just like him, too, except for all of the parts that he saw Lily in, like his chin, his nose, and his eyes.
Okay, so maybe he wasn't a carbon copy of his father, but surely, he would behave like Petunia if he were raised by her. He would be snotty and rude, hating anyone who was different from him, and vindictive. The only thing a bully would raise is another bully.
Potter may have only learned about his fame this summer, but certainly, he would have let it go to his head. What eleven-year-old wouldn't? An entire world bowing to your feet would twist anyone's heart, not that Snape thought he had much of one in the first place. He concluded, as he finished his drink and poured another, that he would treat Hadrian like any other student who thought themselves above the rest, who thought themselves untouchable. He would remind them that they weren't and keep their heads from getting too inflated.
He was surprised during his first potions class with the savior of the wizarding world. Hadrian was prepared and polite, even after Snape told him he would receive no special treatment from the potion master. He was composed and competent, swiftly taking over Longbottom and Granger's potion after the mishap with the Weasley boy and porcupine quills, bottling a nearly perfect potion.
Snape thought he knew exactly who Hadrian Potter was the second he walked through the Great Hall to be sorted. He had to readjust his expectations after Hadrian was sorted into Slytherin, and again after he found out that the boy was raised by Petunia. Each time he interacted with the boy, the picture that he had made in his mind of the boy-who-lived fractured.
Snape thought he could handle Hadrian Potter at Hogwarts, but then he saw the results of the scan.
And everything changed.