Chapter XXIV

“Are you sure he’s all right, Poppy?”

An exasperated sigh echoed through Harry’s head. “Yes, I’m perfectly sure. I daresay with the amount of times I’ve seen Mr. Potter in the infirmary, I’d know if something was truly wrong. With a bump that size on his head, he’s bound to wake up any moment now.”

“Are you positive? He’s been unconscious for the past six hours!”

“For Merlin’s sake,” Poppy snapped in exasperation. “Stop harassing me about this Severus! Who is the fully trained medi-witch here? He will be waking up soon enough! I know you don’t want Dumbledore angry at you for allowing this to happen, but when I say he’ll wake up in a few minutes, he’ll wake up in a few minutes!”

“Or right now,” Harry said groggily as he cracked his eyes open and sat up on the bed. “Since the both of you were bickering so loudly.”

“Oh dear,” Madame Pomfrey came over, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t want you to move too much. You’re fine save for that rather nasty bump on the head. Professor Snape found you in the hallway. Just rest here in until you feel up to going back to your room, all right?”

“All right,” Harry said slowly; this room certainly looked strange. It might be Snape’s room. “Thank you.”

Madame Pomfrey sighed and rose, turning to peg Snape with a hard look. “And I don’t want you giving him a hard time. He is not to move until he feels ready. And you will escort him to his rooms to make sure nothing further happens to him. Have I made myself perfectly clear Severus?”

“Perfectly,” Snape said his lip curling slightly in displeasure.

Harry watched as Madame Pomfrey nodded her head and left the room, shutting the door tightly behind her. Then he looked back at Snape. “Nice acting.”

“Call it an acquired skill,” Snape replied as he came over to the bed and sat down on the edge. “How are you feeling?”

“As if an Erumpent stepped on me, but I’ll be fine.” Harry said, rubbing his head. He winced when he accidentally hit the lump on his head. “That’s pretty big.”

“And you’re lucky your skull didn’t crack,” Snape snorted. “There was a significant portion of the wall missing.”

“I didn’t even realize that,” Harry muttered. “When did you find me?”

“Just before dinner time. I was trying to find the three of you, since Dumbledore wanted everyone present in the Great Hall. Some sort of announcement, I’d imagine.”

“So, you know already?” Harry asked in a suddenly small voice; he felt like he failed horribly.

Snape nodded his head. “I imagine you were lying there unconscious due to an attempt to halt it?”

“Yes. They both flung me from the room. The last thing I remember was the door slamming shut. I tried to get up and then I passed out.” Harry didn’t say anything for a moment. “How could I have been so stupid? I should have seen what was wrong with Draco, not her.”

He went to smack himself with his palm but Snape caught his hand before it connected. Harry looked at him for a moment before Snape pulled him in his arms.

“Sev?” Harry asked in a puzzled voice; Snape seemed to be doing this an awful lot.

“I’ve been possessed with this rather insane urge to hold you all the time,” Snape said dryly. “I…”

“You what?” Harry asked a few minutes later.

Snape shook his head slightly. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you.” Harry said. Snape would tell him when he was ready, whatever it was. “You were worried about me.”

“Yes,” Snape said, his face flushing a bit.

“Why on Earth are you blushing?” Harry asked, shifting a bit to look at Snape better.

Snape gave him a slight shrug, arms tightening around him. Harry smiled, nuzzling against Snape’s neck.

“All right Sev,” Harry murmured. “Things can wait.”

Snape nodded his head, not saying anything for a moment. “The students keep talking about some wolf they saw in the forest.”

“Everybody seems to be talking about that,” Harry muttered. “All right, what do you want to ask me?” Harry asked with a sigh of resignation; this seemed to be the topic on many minds.

“Were you truly that wolf?”

“Yes. Apparently it’s a dire wolf.” Harry said.

“They’re extinct,” Snape replied in a rather offhand manner.

“I know that,” Harry said in something of an irked voice. “I think Hermione was halfway to dissecting my answers until I told her I’d rather not.”

“Told her what?” Snape asked in a confused tone.

“She kept asking where I saw a dire wolf before.” Harry didn’t say anything, playing with a button on Snape’s robe as he stared at it. “She would have kept asking me about it if Sora hadn’t said anything.”

Snape snorted. “I think perhaps the only time Granger’s mouth is shut is when she’s asleep. Seven years and she still raises her hand in class. My glares have always worked; I talk, the students listen. You try to say something beyond what I have planned; I glare until you’re silent.”

“Not Hermione,” Harry chuckled before lapsing into silence for a moment. “I guess it all really started when I went back after fifth year.”

“Harry, you don’t have to speak any of this until you feel ready.” Snape said softly.

Harry remained silent for a moment again. “Uncle Vernon wasn’t so bad at first. Still scared of what Moody said to him I imagine. But around the end of July, I could see it wearing off. It didn’t help that I was still furious and depressed about what happened with Sirius.”

“What made it worse?” Snape’s voice was nothing more than a bare whisper.

“One day, he made me carry some big box into the house in the middle of the night. Didn’t want anyone to know I was there. There was no light, not even from the streetlight, and it was pitch-black. I walked right into the wall and stubbed my toe pretty bad; it was a few toes actually. And I dropped the box. There was a horrible tinkling sound and next thing I knew, Uncle Vernon had slapped me; pretty hard too.”

“I see,” Snape said quietly.

“I was so stupid. I figured it wouldn’t happen again. He didn’t do anything for a few days. But when it became apparent that nothing was going to happen to him, he locked me in the closet again for the summer and locked Hedwig up.” Harry continued to stare at the button and play with it. “He let me out every once in awhile to write a letter saying everything was fine to people. Then he’d shove me back in the closet. I think he burned the replies I got.”

“For the whole summer?”

Harry nodded. “He’d only let me out to cook, clean, that kind of stuff. And he started hitting me a lot more; over stupid little things. Like, I wasn’t moving fast enough. Or their electricity bill was too high.”

“They blamed a bill on you?” Snape asked incredulously.

“Once they blamed me for Dudley’s bad grades,” Harry paused. “After sixth year, I knew it’d be even worse when I had to go back for the summer. But I hid it all. I didn’t let anyone know what was really going on.”

“You didn’t want the false pity,” Snape murmured softly. “You didn’t want anyone to know that you could let something like that happen to you, of all people.”

Harry glanced up to catch Snape somewhat lost in his thoughts. “That’s exactly it. So when I went back after sixth year, he started right off the bat. That was when the bruising became really apparent. Before it was something slight; I could hide it with some of my Aunt Petunia’s concealer.”

“Concealer? I’m not familiar with that potion.” Snape said, interrupting Harry gently.

“It’s not a potion. Concealer is liquid or power that’s flesh coloured and hides things…Muggle women use it a lot.” Harry said.

Snape shuddered. “It sounds vile.”

“Well, it did the job, until she discovered I was using her makeup. Uncle Vernon then felt it was appropriate to call me a ‘queer little freak’ in addition to the beatings. At that point, I started practicing wandless magic. I had to protect myself somehow. I got very good at it very rapidly.” Harry stopped playing with the button. “One afternoon, they all had go out somewhere and left me at home.”

“Something of a blessing, I’d imagine.”

Harry nodded. “I thought so too. I actually watched a bit of television for once and cleaned the entire house with magic. Did you realize the Ministry penalizes you for using magic with a wand if you’re underage? If you can do it without a wand, you get no warning.”

“Loop holes,” Snape sighed. “Continue.”

“What I didn’t know was that they had the house rigged with video cameras, hidden everywhere. I guess they put them in to spy on me. But I didn’t know until I was watching the telly from around the corner and Uncle Vernon caught me and started screeching bout all the things he supposedly caught me doing, the things I had stolen and hidden. He beat me until I was unconscious. I’m pretty sure he kept beating me afterwards too. Do you know what the worse part was?”

Snape simply shook his head.

“Dudley and Aunt Petunia, they got up and helped him. They helped him nearly kill me,” Harry blinked back the sudden tears of anger. “Kicks, punches…they started pounding on me in the living room. All I could do was curl up and focus on the telly to try and distract myself.” He fell into silence again.

“Harry-” Snape began.

Snape’s voice roused Harry once more. “Dudley had left it on a documentary about wolves. That’s where I saw it. I still remember the dire wolf, even though it was a bunch of crummy models. I remember thinking that if I was that wolf I wouldn’t have to suffer this any more. I could run away and finally be free.”

“Harry,” Snape said gently as he tilted Harry’s face up.

“Yes Sev?” Harry asked quietly.

“You’re crying,” he whispered before kissing away the tears gently.

Harry licked his lips, surprised to feel saltiness on them. “You know I haven’t told anyone else that. I was afraid they’d say I was a fool to simply sit there and take that kind of treatment, that I should have done something to stop it. I didn’t want to deal with that.”

“They wouldn’t understand,” Snape said with a shake of his head. “Once you realize what it is you’re too afraid of doing anything, because if someone doesn’t believe you the first time, it gets much, much worse.”

Harry simply nodded his head. “Sometimes he used whatever he could get his hands on. Belts were the worst. Horrid welts across my back. Much like yours I’d imagine.” Harry didn’t say anything, curling up slightly.

Snape drew in a sharp breath. “You’ve seen my scars?”

“Yes; after that night we were stuck in the classroom. You were asleep on the couch on your stomach, with no shirt on.” Harry murmured, thinking. When he thought of something, he scrambled off of Snape suddenly, frantically undoing his robes.

“Harry, what are you doing?” Snape asked.

“You have to see,” he said quickly, whipping his robes off and starting on his shirt.

“Harry, you don’t have to do this,” Snape said. Harry simply ignored him, struggling with the last few buttons and giving a cry of frustration. “Harry, listen to me!” Snape exclaimed, leaning forward and stopping Harry’s hands. “You don’t have to do this.”

Harry shook his head. “You’re looking at a lie Sev. I can’t let you see that any longer.”

“What do you mean?” Snape asked a few seconds later.

Harry stripped off his shirt abruptly, exposing his skin to the chilly dungeon air. “Glamourie charms. We started learning about them in sixth year. I was an expert at them when it was time to come back. I learned to layer them on, hide things. Things I didn’t want anyone else to see…” Harry didn’t say anything for a moment. “I want you to see me…”

Snape didn’t say anything before he sat back on the bed, nodding his head. There was something of an anxious worry in his eyes. Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before murmuring the words ‘Finite incantantum Glamourie funditus.” His skin tingled with warmth, like it hadn’t in almost two years, with a strange washing sensation that came in waves. Each of the charms was being dispelled, and it was bound to take a few minutes.

When the cold air touched his skin once more, Harry knew it was done. He simply stood there with his eyes closed, not saying anything. When he felt Snape’s hesitant touch against his skin for a moment, he tensed and then relaxed. Snape’s fingers were pleasantly warm and gliding along his skin, following the lines in Harry’s flesh. Just under his shoulder blade where he’d been slammed against a corner particularly hard once. Then, around his ribs that had been bruised so many times, the skin took on something of a pale, wasted pallor. Harry couldn’t stop the shiver that passed through him as Snape’s fingers skirted near the base of his spine.

“I didn’t mean to-” Snape began drawing his hand away.

“You didn’t hurt me…just sensitive there, that’s all.” Harry opened his eyes and looked at Snape with a smile.

Snape gave him one as well, a bit crooked and lopsided, before his fingers resumed their wandering. Across Harry’s abdomen where so many punches and kicks had landed. Harry turned, exposing his back as he felt Snape’s finger start to make their way around his ribs once more.

“Sweet Merlin,” Snape’s quiet words made Harry’s gut roil.

Harry stood there, not saying anything. Snape’s fingers were moving much more slowly now. He could feel every brush through the indents in his back, and over the cicatrices that lined the indent’s edges. It was as if Snape were memorizing that map of welts along his back. Harry swallowed, feeling a small tendril of desire start to curl through him. He heard a rustle of cloth suddenly, and then felt Snape press a kiss against the back of his neck. Harry had seen the scars gracing his back only once; he had to use three mirrors to see them all clearly. And he had been so sickened by what he saw that he had to hide it and avoid the questions.

“You aren’t disgusted by them?” Harry asked quietly, resting his hands on Snape’s.

Snape shook his head before he kissed Harry’s neck. “What I am disgusted by is the fact that you simply had to suffer that. I’d gladly kill the pig that did this to you.”

“You don’t know how adequate that word is,” Harry said with a slight chuckle as he turned around in Snape’s arms, wrapping his arms around his hips.

Harry felt Snape’s hands splay against his back, warm against his cool skin. He took a shallow breath, arching his back slightly, bringing their hips into brushing contact. Snape gave a low groan, bending to whisper in Harry’s ear.

“Do it again,” Snape breathed.

Harry smirked a bit as he arched more, eliciting a hiss from Snape when their hips ground together. He shifted his head slightly and nipped Snape’s earlobe hard, before licking the spot with his tongue. Snape’s arms tightened around him, as he lifted Harry off the ground slightly. Harry certainly wasn’t about to waste this opportunity. He jumped up and wrapped his legs around Snape’s hips, kissing him hard. Snape moaned into it, hands cupping Harry’s arse firmly.

“I don’t think you have any idea of what you do to me,” Snape gasped, as Harry started nuzzling down the older man’s neck.

“I think I have a good idea,” Harry purred, feeling Snape’s growing erection pressing against his thigh. “The bed. Now.” He whispered into Snape’s ear, running his tongue along the outer ridge. “I’m going to make you delirious with need, until you’re begging me,” Harry’s voice was husky as Snape sat down on the bed, breathing rough and laboured. Harry smiled a bit as he felt Snape’s erection at full hardness digging into his arse. “Do you like it when I talk to you like that, Severus?”

All Snape could do was nod his head mutely.

The smile on Harry’s face morphed into a devilish grin. “You’ll be saying my name, long before I’m done Severus.”

With a yawn, Harry rubbed his eyes and woke up. This had to be the first time he felt perfectly rested. And no one had come to wake him up and he didn’t have to wake up to take care of something. Snape was still wrapped around him, fast asleep. Harry didn’t fight the grin that came to his face as he recalled last night’s events. Once Harry had stripped them both of any clothing and started, Snape had certainly been begging and saying his name – over and over and over in a rather delirious manner. Harry closed his eyes and snuggled in more, enjoying the feeling of his naked body against Snape’s. He’d just go back to sleep and everything would be-

He looked up when a gentle knock came on the door. Snape was getting up now, with a frown on his face.

“Who is it?” Snape called out in a sleep-rough voice.

“I need to introduce myself?”

Snape and Harry froze, looking at one another. It was Dumbledore.

“Er, one moment.” Snape called as Harry muttered a quick silencing spell.

They both scrambled around the room, banging into things, and quickly pulling on clothes. A few minutes later, they pulled fixed a few details and Harry sat on the edge of the bed, ending the spell, as Snape walked to the door.

“Wait!” Harry hissed as he ran a hand through his hair.

“What?” Snape said quietly through his teeth.

“That!” Harry pointed to the small pile of black cloth that had escaped their notice in the mad scramble.

Harry summoned it to him, and opened it out to discover it was Snape’s boxers. He glanced at Snape, the corners of his mouth turning up into an amused smile before he looked around for a place to hide them. Finally giving up a few moment’s later, he folded them quickly and sat on them. He made sure nothing was showing and then he schooled his expression into one of sleepiness. Snape looked him over before nodding his head in approval.

“Well, what can I do for you Albus?” Snape asked calmly as he opened the door.

“I wanted to-” Dumbledore started but abruptly changed topic when he saw Harry. “Ah, how are you? Better after that nasty bump I hope?”

Harry nodded his head. “Madame Pomfrey told Professor Snape to be nice to me. I didn’t feel to well to go back to my own chambers. So I had to sleep here for the night.”

“Ah, I see,” Dumbledore said. “It has just come to my attention that something has happened.”

“Surely it can’t be concerning my goddaughter and a Draco Malfoy.” Snape said in a sardonic voice.

“You don’t need to use that tone with me Severus,” Dumbledore chided. “And yes, that’s precisely it. They still haven’t come out the room.”

“Still?” Harry gaped.

“I’d imagine the process is long.” Dumbledore replied. “And we have no way of knowing that young Mr. Malfoy has survived.”

”Try telling that one to Lucius,” Harry snorted.

A momentary expression of worry flickered across Dumbledore’s face. “Regardless, there are still things you need to be informed of Harry, as well as you Severus, since you both missed the announcement during dinner. I expect you’ll inform Ms. De Vyns and young Mr. Malfoy at the time they emerge.”

“Then get on with it,” Snape replied, crossing his arms. “You just woke me up.”

“Terribly sorry,” Dumbledore apologized. “Firstly, no one is to leave the school buildings. This means no trips to the Quidditch pitch, or other places,” Dumbledore looked at Harry over his glasses. “Curfew has been set at seven o’clock for every student to be back in their house.”

“That’s it sir?” Harry asked.

“For the most part, concerning the school, yes. The seminars are still running and attendance is still expected.” Dumbledore paused. “We received a message from Alexandre early in the morning. Only, we have no clue what it says.”

“What? Did he write it in some magical code?” Snape demanded.

“We’re not too sure what he did with it. It doesn’t respond to anything we’ve tried.” Dumbledore said.

“Don’t you have the letter on you?” Harry asked.

“Right here,” Dumbledore said, producing the dirty piece of parchment from his robes. “Lucius suggested I bring it to you Severus.”

Snape took the letter, eyes scanning over it. Then he took out his wand, muttering something too low for Harry to hear. When his brow furrowed and he started muttering more things, jabbing his wand at the paper determinedly. After about ten minutes, Snape sighed, looking at the paper.

“Albus, I don’t know what he did to this.”

Harry caught Snape’s eyes darting to him before he stared at the paper. Harry cursed the fact he’d chosen to sit on the boxers. There was no way he could get up without them being seen. So he simply sat there, inspecting his fingers as if he had nothing else better to do.

“Harry, perhaps you could take a look at it?” Dumbledore asked.

Harry felt a chill take hold of him, but he rested his hand on his leg and nodded his head. It was then that Dumbledore saved him. The headmaster took the paper from Snape and brought it over to Harry. Harry took it with grateful relief.

“It’s a bunch of numbers, Sir.” Harry looked up at Snape and Dumbledore in surprise.

“We can see that,” Snape said in a scathing voice. “It’s the fact that we can’t figure it out.”

Harry frowned, looking at it. “I think I may know what it is. I need a pencil.”

“Here you go,” Dumbledore said cheerily as he pulled one from a pocket and took it over to Harry.

“I think all he did was replace the letters with numbers. That’s it, nothing more. He used no magic on this.”

“Bloody bugger,” Snape muttered. “He knew we figured it’d be enchanted with something.”

“The only challenge is figuring out what number corresponds to what letter.”

“Can you do that?” Dumbledore asked.

“Sure, but it might take me awhile. I’ll try to figure it out as fast as I can and take it back to you when I do get it. ” Harry said.

“Thank you,” Dumbledore said a definite tone of relief in his voice. “Now, I have to be present in the Great Hall in a few minutes. Minerva wished to speak to me about something.”

Dumbledore swept out quickly, leaving Harry and Snape alone in the room.

“That was too close,” Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and flopped back onto the bed as Snape shut the door.

“Far too close,” Snape said as he locked it. “Can you figure that out?”

“Yeah. I’ll get started on it,” Harry sat up and held the boxers up. “I believe these are yours, Sev.”

“Of course they’re mine!” Snape spluttered as he snatched the back, a bit flustered. “You took them off!”

“Which means you don’t have them on now,” Harry said with a sudden leer. Harry didn’t think it possible, but Snape’s face went bright red at that. “I’ll stop. You look ready to burst.”

Snape grumbled and stomped off to his closet. Harry slid him a look and made his way out to the desk in Snape’s living room. So he had been in Snape’s room last night. He took off his robe and loosened the first few buttons. Then he got a scrap piece of parchment and started to work.

It was a bit easier when Harry assumed a few things. All the nine letter words must have been Voldemort. It appeared a few times through out the message. Second, there seemed to a gratuitous amount of much smaller words in the entire message. Harry sighed as he started scribbling out on the scrap. All he had to go on were two vowels and six consonants. This was certainly going to take a while.

“That’s not it either,” Harry growled to himself as he threw away yet another piece of filled parchment.

He had been sitting at Snape’s desk all day, wracking his brains as he tried to solve this. Figuring out the letters and such had only taken him three hours. One and a half in actuality and another one and a half as he made sure that what he had was correct. Not that he was able to make much sense of it. The words were all out of order. They were in no particular, hidden order as well.

Harry knew there were excessive words in there, but he wasn’t too sure what they were or where they were. But there was absolutely no pattern to this and it was starting to drive him insane. He groaned and buried his head in his hands, feeling stressed beyond belief.

“Harry,” Snape’s voice came from behind him. “You’ve been going at that for almost five hours. Take a break.”

Harry simply grunted and shook his head, glaring at the letter malevolently. “I’m not getting up until I figure this little bugger out.”

“I see,” Snape said. “You seem to be in need of some relaxation.”

Harry looked up as Snape slid his hands over Harry’s shoulders and down his chest. “Again? Didn’t I tire you out enough last night?”

Snape chuckled. “You’re addictive Harry. Last night, you only got further into my system.”

“Hm, I’ll have to try harder next time,” he smirked. “I sure I can reduce you to babbling.”

“We’ll test that out some other time,” Snape murmured as he leaned in for a kiss.

Harry gave a content little sigh as he kissed Snape back. “I really need to finish this.”

“Very well,” Snape sighed, peering over Harry to look at the paper. “Ah, now it looks familiar.”

“You know what to do?” Harry asked looking at him.

“Of course. Alexandre used to write like this when he needed to tell me something and he couldn’t see me right away. We developed a code so certain people couldn’t understand it.” Snape said dryly as he took out his wand. “I guess he found a way to improve it with some charm. He always was a bit too clever for his own good. Ordinatare.” Snape said jabbing his wand at the parchment imperiously.

Harry watched as the words on the original letter shifted around suddenly for a few minutes before the settled down. Harry’s eyes widened as he picked it up, eyes widening. “Sev, I think Dumbledore had better read this now.”

,center>____________________________

“Are you sure you translated this correctly?” Dumbledore said as he looked at Harry.

“I’m pretty sure,” Harry said. “Alexandre used a Muggle encryption system after he wrote it with an old code. You had to solve it the Muggle way first before any charm applied to it would work. And even then, I have a feeling it would have to be a very specific charm.”

Dumbledore nodded his head, looking at the paper once more. “Then we must verify this at once and alert everyone.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Snap demanded. “Send someone off into the Forbidden Forest?”

“That’s exactly what needs to be done. I have talked to Magorian, and he is more than willing to help us out.” Dumbledore said. “Of course, if this is true, then the centaurs will need to be housed in the Great Hall to ensure that they are comfortable.”

“What about the thestrals?” Harry asked.

“Hagrid says they’re wild. They will seek refuge elsewhere if need be. I imagine that Death Eaters are able to see them very well.” Dumbledore said.

“Now that is dealt with, you still have yet to say just who will be going on this…reconnaissance.” Snape said.

“Stealth is of the utmost importance. And I imagine that Voldemort will be looking for people, sneaking around his temporary encampment in the Forest. I don’t think any person should go.”

“What on Earth are you…” Snape trailed off. “Surely you can’t mean to send the three of them!?”

“What other choice is there Severus?” Dumbledore said. “We need to know.”

“How dare you attempt to send my goddaughter on some…some…kamikaze mission! And Harry already has to die for us all! What more do you bloody well want?!” Snape exploded in a livid tone. “Find some other way Albus, I cannot allow it!”

“Severus, you will undoubtedly not come back at all if you do this, Lucius as well. You were lucky to escape that once with your lives.” Dumbledore said. “And there’s no one else-”

“Get McGonagall! A cat is less noticeable than a great big dragon or wolf!” Snape snapped.

“True. But Minerva is here, supervising the organization of the students this very moment. And it is a long and tiresome process. She has Oleander, Remus, Gideon and Meredith helping her.”

“Gideon? Meredith?” Harry asked.

“Professor Flitwick and Professor Vectra.” Dumbledore said. “Severus, I know you are not pleased with this option-”

“Of course I am not bloody well pleased!” Snape roared. “They are not your little soldiers Albus! They shouldn’t have to do any of this!”

“I realize that Severus,” Dumbledore said sadly. “But what choice do we have? You don’t have to agree to this Harry.” Dumbledore looked at Harry regretfully.

“I’ll do it.” Harry said quietly. He could feel Snape’s eyes snap to him, angry. “Are they out of the room yet?”

“I believe so,” Dumbledore said, rubbing his brow slightly. “I think talking to them now would be a wise idea. Of course, I am still debating whether Poppy should look over them before you go.”

Harry simply nodded his head and rose. “I’ll let you know when we get back.”

The definition of cicatrix is as follows, as I found it in Webster’s New World College Dictionary – Fourth Edition:

cicatrix: 1. Med. the contracted fibrous tissue left at the place where a wound has healed; scar.

Basically, it’s a scar that has formed into a lump of flesh. I couldn’t think of a better way to say what it was without being too…wordy.

When Darkness Comes - Chapter Twenty Three || When Darkness Comes - Chapter Twenty Five