The chapters/events aren't in any linear order.

Harry and Ron came bursting out of the forbidden forest in the broken flying car. Harry's arm had a long, jagged cut that was sure to get infected if it wasn't already and his ribs were very possibly bruised, and Ron's broken leg wasn't doing him any favours either. Random cuts and bruises littered them too, but those three really were the worst.

The car came to an abrupt halt. Ron fell out of the car, and Harry very gingerly slid out of the front seat, one hand clutching his side. He lifted his shirt; the milk-coffee skin was bruising painfully, he could see the purples and blacks blooming across his stomach and lower chest.

A lantern light and light footsteps not very far away from them alerted them to the presence of Professor Snape. Ron suggested running, but his face lost all colour when he tried and Harry couldn't move much without jostling his ribs.

"What on earth do you imbeciles think you're doing?" Snape asked as soon as he was in earshot. He set the lantern down in the soft grass and very slowly walked closer. His hand closed into a fist and for a horrifying second Harry thought Snape was going to hit Ron, until his fist lit up green and passed it over Ron's eyes. His chest was still moving, so Harry knew he hadn't died, but a jolt of fear passed through him anyways.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, pulling down his shirt so Snape couldn't see.

"Setting his leg so it doesn't heal improperly," Snape said. True to word, the bone that had been sticking out of his pants sank back down into his skin and his blood came back into his body. "There shouldn't be an infection, but tell your friend if he feels weird, sick, or like he can't stand to go to the medical wing. Let me examine you."

Still a bit hesitant, Harry moved his hand out of the way and let the older man scan him. A wave of cool, calming magic passed over his midsection, and he knew his ribs were at least a bit better, or good enough so he could walk. He pulled back the collar of his shirt, oddly embarrassed letting Snape see him out of uniform. The purpling bruises were lighter, more a sickly green, and didn't throb painfully unless he touched it. Snape's other hand, now fisted, passed over his arm, healing it.

Severus stood, took his wand out of his sleeve. He pointed it at Ron. "Levicorpus. Get my lantern, Potter."

Numbly, Harry picked up the only light source available to him at the moment. But a question burned in his brain as he trailed after the raven-eyed man. "Professor, how did you know we were here?"

"I have Schutzsreich barriers to let me know when students enter the forbidden forest without an adult selah. Which brings me back to my original reason for being here: Fifty points each from Gryffindor House for being out of beds in night hours without the excuse of attending class, and thirty more each for entering the forbidden forest without an adult selah." Snape said without looking at the boy-who-lived. He made a turn left instead of right, which was where the Tower was located.

Harry was about to open his mouth to protest either the removal of a hundred sixty points or for going somewhere very clearly not Gryffindor tower, but what came out of his mouth instead was, "What's a selah?"

Snape froze in his tracks, then looked back with furious eyes. "Do you take Ancient Runes?"

"No," Harry answered.

"Didn't Binns cover this in class already?" Snape asked.

Harry could only duck his head.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Can you list all the types of Archaic Arts?"

"No, I can't." Harry answered, voice a bit meek.

Snape sighed and the trees shivered in the wind. "Why Lily ever chose your father to copulate with will always be a mystery to me. Twenty points for blatantly ignoring lessons during History of Magic - it should've been revisited at least once a week." He continued to walk towards where Harry now recognized as the path towards the hospital wing.

The professor stopped in front of the heavy wooden door. Harry stopped behind him, wondering if something was wrong.

"The door, you imbecile. I can't carry my lantern and Mr Weasley at the same time, much less open a door, unless you would prefer I push heavy double-door open with your friend's recently surgically reconstructed fibula?" Snape asked sarcastically.

Harry got the message and pushed open the doors. Snape set Ron on one of the beds and glared at Harry until he sat down too, then moved to the office to call for Madam Pomfrey.

"Stay put until Poppy tell you you can leave. Good night." The tall man clothed in all black turned on his heel and made to leave the room.

"Professor, wait!" Harry yelled.

Snape stopped in his tracks. "What do you want?"

"Hagrid didn't open the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago!" Harry yelled, sliding off the bed. "He was innocent of killing that girl, professor!"

Snape still didn't turn, but didn't keep moving either. "Hagrid is, to me, a good friend and a colleague. He is too much unlike me to mercilessly kill. I believe your claims to be true, but where is your proof?"

"The monster Hagrid was found with all those years ago was an Acromantula-"

"Who has been routinely and carefully monitored since he was placed in the Forbidden Forest." Snape finished his sentence. "There are enough runemarks around that forest to let me know if he moves half an inch, not to mention anywhere near Hogwarts. I place them on every coven, pack, or herd in the forest to monitor them if they are in danger, but it is twofold in the way that they feel when I get too close to their home, so the Acromantula you say was Hagrid's beast, then he couldn't be the one attacking the students."

"The most logical suspects are instead the other teachers who taught here fifty years ago, or who were being taught here fifty years ago." Harry supplied.

"Hmm. Sybill and I weren't born, Albus was teaching, Minerva and Fillius were being taught, and quite a few of us were being trained. But I have felt something odd pass the Schutzsreich barriers this past year or so. Alm-" Snape's face lost all its colour and he suddenly gripped his left forearm tightly.

"Professor, are you alright?" Harry asked, taking a hesitant step in his direction.

"Fine, fine!" Snape hissed. "I'm fine, don't come any closer, or you'll have three hundred points more removed. POPPY!"

Harry slid his front foot back just as Madam Pomfrey entered the room, still dressed in her nightclothes.

"Severus, are you alright?" Pomfrey asked, sliding next to him with a diagnostic spell already cast.

Snape sighed. "She goes up to the mountain. She raised her voice. By God, if you abandon Maiwand, someone keeps track of your dishonor!"

Instantly recognizing the code phrase from the old days. "She encouraged the people of Afghanistan. She led the army to a great victory, but she was shot, and she died on that battlefield. Her name was Malalai," she said softly under her breath so Harry couldn't hear. Snape relaxed; she wasn't a spy, or under the influence of Polyjuice if she knew that code.

"I brought the boys. They need to be examined. Broken fibula in one. Multiple broken ribs in the other. Standard treatments, neither are in danger of death or losing limbs."

She took a single look at Harry, came over, and rubbed her hands over his chest. "It feel half-healed. You used the Archaic Medical Arts, didn't you?"

Snape sighed. "They work as a short-term solution. Though, Hippocrates might object to them being called anything less than σειρά and σφραγίσει."

Pomfrey waved a hand as she examined Ron. "Too hard to pronounce. But if you used σφραγίσει, he's gonna have to have that rehealed."

"It's free of infection," Severus argued, "and it's not bleeding. It would be easier if you just gave him a bandage, and if it gets bloody then it'll need to be rehealed."

Poppy shrugged. "True. Your work is always adequate."

"May I leave? I must attend to a parasite," he hissed, rubbing his arm.

Poppy froze. "Him?"

Severus didn't answer, which was really enough of an answer for Poppy.

"Stay safe."

"Always."

Severus turned on his heel and left.

"Madam Pomfrey-"

"Severus is a very private man, dearie. If you want to ask questions about him, I suggest you ask them to him." Poppy said, giving Harry a few vials from her stores. "Drink these." She went back to Ron, examined him, and went back to her stores to retrieve a few potions for him. "Renervate. Hello, dear. Drink this for the bone density and this for the blood loss and this for your muscles and skin elasticity, and this for the pain, and come back if anything weird happens."

Ron didn't really need to question 'weird', since Fred and George's hair had turned duckling-yellow enough times for him to get a good enough grasp on the meaning. Ron downed the flasks, waited for Harry to be given his own beakers and drink them, and they went back to Gryffindor tower together.

"So, how many points did we lose?" Ron asked Harry as they walked back to the House.

"I think it was one hundred eighty, but it might be two hundred," Harry said.

"Bloody bat," Ron cursed, "Taking so many points away."

Harry might've agreed, if not for the fact that all of the points removals were entirely logical. But he didn't dare voice his opinion, instead shoving his hands in his pockets. He didn't even notice when they arrived at the portrait's entrance. Ron gave the password and dragged him through the entrance to the common room, to their chambers and into bed.

Harry felt numb. There were a few twinges in his chest. He needed sleep.

Sleep sounded really good right about now. They could investigate whatever this was tomorrow. He trusted Snape to follow up on that lead.