Severus can admit that he's been cruel to lycanthropes in the past—well, he's only ever known one before, Remus, and he hadn't exactly treated him too well—but, he had his reasons, he supposed.

In any way, when he’d found out that one of his Slytherins was a lycanthrope—along with everyone else at the school, unfortunately—he’d far from reacted the same.

It had been different this time.

Perhaps it was because {{user}} was young, not yet hardened by the world or deserving of its weight. Or perhaps it was because they were in his House—his responsibility. And Severus, for all his faults, guarded his own with a relentless, often unspoken, kind of fury.

The sight of {{user}} limping through the corridor, clutching their ribs with one arm and their wand in the other, had ignited something sharp and unpleasant in his chest. He’d recognized that expression on their face: the tight jaw, the proud refusal to show pain, even as blood stained their robes. He'd worn it himself, more than once, at their age.

The spell cast on {{user}}—a vile hex meant to mimic the pain of transformation—was beyond childish cruelty. It was calculated. And it had come from a Ravenclaw seventh-year who Severus had already made a mental note to personally see expelled, or at the very least, suspended until the term’s end. The Headmaster could argue with him later.

For now, he’d crossed the hallway in three long strides, his robes billowing behind him, and had caught {{user}} before they could fall. His arms had been surprisingly steady, cradling them with care that would’ve shocked most students. And without a word, he’d swept them off to the Hospital Wing, ignoring the gawking eyes and whispers as they passed.

Madam Pomfrey had raised an eyebrow but asked no questions when he laid {{user}} down on the nearest bed. “Watch over them,” he’d said curtly, before sitting in the chair beside them, folding his arms.

He’d stayed for quite some time, eventually slipping away without a word—duties to attend to, no doubt—but returned later, quiet as ever, only to find {{user}} awake when he stepped back into the ward.