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Harry slowly made his way to Professor McGonagall’s office, trying to figure out how Hermione had convinced him to do this. He knew telling her would be useless – Umbridge had too much power due to her having the Ministry’s backing. If the professor tried to do anything about the quill, Harry knew Umbridge would have her sacked with one of her decrees. But Hermione was right when she had said that McGonagall may come up with an idea that they hadn’t, that the professor knew the consequences of confronting Umbridge almost as well as they did and by telling her about the black quill, she would fully understand those consequences. Harry sighed, shoving the continuing internal debate with himself aside seeing as he’d already made it to McGonagall’s office. No point in backing out now.
He knocked on the door and didn’t have to wait long to be granted entrance. Harry carefully shut the door behind him, not acknowledging the professor’s raised eyebrow at his unusual action.
“Professor–”
“If this is about the detentions you’ve earned with Umbridge, Potter, then there is nothing I can do, as I’ve told you repeatedly.”
“Yes, I know–”
“Obviously not since you can’t seem to get a hold of your temper.”
“But, Professor–”
“But nothing, Potter. Get a hold of yourself and keep your head down! Provoking her will only continue to make things worse! You will be much safer–”
At McGonagall’s continued interruption, Harry’s temper had begun to rise, but at the mention of safety it became nearly as bad as when Umbridge called him a liar. He was unable to stop himself from bursting out, “SAFER?! THERE IS NO BLOODY SAFE WHEN SHE HAS ME CARVING WORDS INTO MY HAND WITH HER BLOODY BLACK QUILL!”
As soon as his temper had flared, it deflated. All Harry felt was exhausted. With as little sleep as he’d been getting, he knew his temper had been getting worse which only earned him more detentions. Harry rubbed his eyes under his glasses before peaking up at McGonagall, who had been suspiciously quiet considering he had just yelled at her. The woman was staring at him in shock, but whether it was from Harry yelling at her or what he said in his anger he wasn’t sure.
Something snapped McGonagall out of her shock finally and anger filled her gaze. Harry flinched slightly, afraid she was angry for his outburst, and looked just over the professor’s shoulder.
“Let me see your hand Potter,” she spoke softly but firmly.
Without looking at her, Harry held his injured hand out to her. She softly gripped his wrist before he felt her carefully removed the bandage Hermione had helped him place after using the Murtlap Essence.
McGonagall inhaled sharply, “How long has she been having you use the blood quill?”
“Since the first detention,” Harry automatically replied, still looking over her shoulder. He decided to add, “She never lets me leave until around midnight either.”
“Seven hours? She has you use it for seven hours a night?”
The quiet anger surprised him enough to look at her again. Her eyes glowed with a rage that had Harry swallowing, even knowing that rage wasn’t directed towards him. She closed her eyes and slowly took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the anger was still clear in her gaze, but it no longer looked like she was barely restraining herself from killing Umbridge.
She then carefully released Harry’s wrist and quickly stood up, “Come along, Potter.”
Harry complied, not sure if he wanted to ask where they were going.
***
Minerva carefully focused on keeping her temper. A blood quill! She knew the toad was bad, but to use such a dark artifact on students? The woman was out of her mind! The professor took another attempt at a calming breathe as she led Potter down to the infirmary. For once, she was glad for the boy’s temper because if it wasn’t for him exploding, she would have kept interrupting him, assuming he was there to complain about the detentions and ask her to dismiss them.
A string of guilt began to fill her – had she become so blind between Umbridge and all of her responsibilities that she couldn’t recognize when a student genuinely needed her help? That she needed said student to blow up on her in order for her to listen? But then, Minerva knew she couldn’t entirely blame Umbridge as a distraction either as Potter had come to her in first year before he went traipsing off on his ‘adventure’ and she had done nothing at the warning. She sighed as the truth of how overworked she was, was becoming clear. But who would she pass either Head of Gryffindor (which she was loath to do) or the Deputy position to? There was no stable Gryffindor professor at Hogwarts besides herself at the moment, and she wanted to stay in touch with her students, though obviously she’d need to work on doing so better than she had been. Filius and Severus, both of whom were the only real candidates for Deputy, already had more than enough responsibilities (between their head of house positions, regular teaching, and Severus’s position as the school’s potion master) and wouldn’t be able to take on the position any more than she was proving able to do. Though, perhaps being co-Deputies with one or both would work? It was a thought to consider at least.
Minerva snapped out of her thoughts as the infirmary came into sight. She glanced over to Potter, a little surprised at his silence throughout their walk from her office. The professor frowned a little at seeing a small amount of fear on the boy’s face. Now why would that be there? He had to have guessed that she would make sure his wounds – the thought of which reignited her anger – were cleaned and healed. Were there other injuries he was hiding? Or was it just one of those irrational fears people had, despite Potter having been to the infirmary may times in the past five years? She would watch him carefully so that she could find out. She was not going to be blind to her students any longer if she could help it.
She internally nodded to herself as she opened the door to the infirmary and gestured Potter inside. Minerva followed him in, shutting the door behind her. She quickly placed a privacy ward before turning around. As she did, Poppy came bustling out of the office. As soon as her eyes laid on Potter, the mediwitch frowned.
“What have you gotten yourself into now, Mr. Potter?” A glance at the boy showed that he had a sheepish look on his face, making Poppy roll her eyes somewhat fondly, surprising Minerva, “You know the drill, up on your bed.”
Potter did as he was told, but Minerva spoke up before anything else could occur, “Poppy, I believe it would be best if you rose the wing’s wards for this conversation.”
The woman rosed an eyebrow, glancing between the two of them, but did as requested, “That toad is determined to stick her nose in everything, so I suggest we get through whatever secret conversation we are having over quickly. I assume it has to do with whatever is ailing Mr. Potter?”
Minerva nodded and looked over at Potter. Seeing her look, Potter moved his hand into Poppy’s sight. The mediwitch gasped and quickly gripped Potter’s wrist in order to inspect the angry red words. She quickly ran a spell over the boy’s hand, muttering angrily about the pink toad as she inspected the results. Minerva couldn’t help but agree with her mutterings, beginning to think on the ways they could get rid of Umbridge.
“Well, at least it is not infected. I assume that is the reason Ms. Granger took some of my Murtlap Essence?”
Potter gaped at her, “Hermione stole that?”
“Indeed. Knowing Ms. Granger and her desire to break the rules only if necessary, I figured it was for something you were involved in but didn’t want Umbridge to know, so I allowed it to happen. If I had suspected the toad was using a blood quill on you, I would have demanded Ms. Granger to bring you to me. Now, tell me how long you’ve been using the quill, and how long each session of using it lasted.”
The vitriol that Poppy used when mentioning Umbridge seemed to surprise Potter a bit, probably because Poppy was not very easily angered, but he did as he was told. Minerva knew Poppy was just as protective of the students as she was, however, so she was more surprised that Granger had actually stolen from the mediwitch. When Potter finished explaining the extent of how much he used the quill, Minerva pushed her own anger aside and spoke up, giving Poppy a minute to regain control of her own anger.
“Am I correct in assuming, Potter, that Ms. Granger felt the need to steal a healing solution because you didn’t intend to go to anyone about the blood quill?”
Potter turned his gaze away from watching Poppy to look at Minerva. He slowly nodded and quietly told her, “I didn’t think saying anything would do any good because of how much power she has.”
Poppy clicked her tongue at the boy, “Minerva might not be able to do overly much, but I can, Mr. Potter. It is just a matter of getting around her watching the outgoing mail and the floo to report my findings to St. Mungos and the DMLE.” Poppy then gave the boy a stern look, “And after all the time you have spent here, you must know that I would heal you no matter what that woman would have said, even coming up with an excuse for you to be here so as not to get you into further trouble with her.”
Potter looked suitably chastened, which seemed to appease the mediwitch some before she continued.
“We will discuss how to report this once I’ve treated your hand. Due to it being caused by a dark artifact, there is little more I can do to heal it other than the Murtlap Essence you have been and should continue using for a week following the last time you are forced to use the quill. However, with the amount of dark residue that appeared in my scan, I recommend a purging potion to get rid of it. Unfortunately, that is not a potion that is kept in stock here, meaning we will need Professor Snape to brew it. Due to this being a school and not St. Mungos, he will most likely question my need for it upon him delivering it, especially considering the last time I requested it, I needed his help healing the student who needed it. I believe it would be wise of us to fill Professor Snape in on the situation, both because of our need of the potion, but I also believe he will be instrumental in coming up with a plan to get rid of the quill if not Umbridge entirely.”
Minerva nodded, “I find I am in agreement, especially considering he is the reason we have been able to get so many students out of their abusive homes since Albus refuses to believe abuse exists.”
The professor hadn’t completely realized she had said all that out loud until Potter inhaled sharply. Minerva had quickly looked over at the boy at the reaction, only to find Potter was scrutinizing the truth of what she had just said. She frowned when she recognized a small glimmer of hope quickly pass through the boy’s eyes. Dread filled her stomach as she realized the reaction could only mean one thing, and she, Severus, and Poppy had all missed it. A glance at Poppy told her the mediwitch was thinking the same thing, her hand twitching with her obvious desire to run a scan on the boy.
“Potter–”, Minerva cut herself off as the boy seemed to withdraw into himself, dropping his gaze. She could see Potter’s hands shaking slightly before they gipped his trousers tightly. Minerva swallowed a bit and spoke up again, “Harry. Look at me please.”
The boy slowly brought his gaze back up.
“Madam Pomfrey is going to do a full scan on you so that she can heal whatever shows up, alright?”
He dropped his eyes again but did give a small nod. Poppy immediately began casting the health scan and quickly read through the results. She frowned before nodding to Minerva. The professor gave her own nod as Poppy bustled over to her potions cabinet.
“Harry, we are going to have to inform Professor Snape what we have found,” She saw the boy tense but he didn’t look up so she continued, “He will be able to provide whatever potions Madam Pomfrey needs to heal you and is the reason we are able to get other abused students into new homes. As soon as he knows of the situation, he will do the same for you.”
The boy nodded but remained tense with his eyes down. Minerva internally sighed a bit, but knew he likely believed the worst of Severus due to their animosity and wouldn’t believe otherwise until he saw the way Severus was around children who were brought up in situations so similar to his own childhood.
“I will be back with Professor Snape momentarily,” she told the boy as she turned towards the door.
“Minerva, inform him of the need for the purging potion in case he already has it in stock,” Poppy called to her as she walked back towards Harry with potions.
“Of course,” she nodded and made her way out of the infirmary and to the dungeons.
Severus was about to be in for a shock, both at the news of Umbridge using the quill on Harry, as well as the boy’s homelife. Perhaps a little good would come out of this situation since it would force Severus to finally see that Harry was not his father. She smiled at the thought, confident that the potions master would be able to help them come up with a plan to help Harry.
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