'Well, let's have you behind the curtain, then,' she said, and gestured to a movable curtain closing off a bed in the corner near her office. 'Strip down to pants if you will.'
Harry shook his head. This was going too far. 'I'm fine, Madam Pomfrey. I don't need any work ups or whatever.'
'I disagree, Mr. Potter, and your Head of House had given permission for the exam. Now, behind the curtain with you.'
His Head of House . . . Harry glared at Snape again, angry and embarrassed and not in the mood for more humiliation. 'You can't do this, sir. You've no business giving anyone permission about me.'
Snape sneered at him and leaned in close, so Harry could feel his breath on his face. Oddly, it smelt of peppermint; he'd been expecting old socks. 'I have a duty to all the students in my care, Potter, to make sure they are of sound mind and body. You are malnourished and underweight, and it is my job to make sure there's nothing else amiss with a physical exam.'
Shaking his head again, Harry backed away from him. 'I'm not stripping down for anyone!'
'I assure you, Mr. Potter, you haven't got anything I haven't seen before,' said the medi-witch. She cut him off as he scrambled for safety, and maneuvered him toward the curtained area.
'And I assure you that we will all remain here in this infirmary, until you submit to the exam,' Snape put in. 'I would like to remind you that I have far better ways I could spend my time. Do not force me to show you the error of holding us here overlong.'
Harry set his jaw. 'It won't do any good you know. You'll just get in trouble.'
'Whatever are you talking about?' Madam Pomfrey asked.
'If you tell. No one will care, so it's only going to get you in trouble. Just let me go back to my dorm, and we'll forget this ever happened, all right?'
A dark chuckle from Snape made Harry gape at him. 'Don't think you can charm your way out of this one, Potter. Get behind the curtain. Now!'
Well, fine. He'd warned them. Now it was their lookout, and no concern of his anymore. At least, not until summer and he had to go back to the Dursleys. Anger tightened his steps as he went behind the curtain, and made it hard for him to undo the buttons on his robes, and his shirt. He was working on removing his trainers when Madam Pomfrey's voice came to him from rather nearby.
'There's a gown on the bed, Mr. Potter. Once you're down to pants, put it on, please.'
'Yes, ma'am,' he said automatically, and then did as he was told. It was big on him, even though the tag inside said 'small,' and he wrapped it twice around his torso and draped it over his knees before hiking himself up onto the bed. 'Okay,' he said finally, and cursed his voice for wavering. 'I'm done.'
'Excellent.' Madam Pomfrey pulled aside the curtain only long enough to come through, and for Harry to catch a glimpse of Snape waiting on the other side, before she closed it up again. Was he really going to stay through the whole thing?
'Now, how's that scar doing today?' she asked and lifted the hair that was always flopping onto his forehead so she could peer at it. 'You've been using the salve I gave you?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'Good.' Her fingers were light as they ran over the skin near his scar, and she nodded. 'It looks a sight better. Now, chin up and glasses off, so I can get a look in your eyes. When was the last time you had your eyes examined, Mr. Potter?'
While she spoke, she was waving her wand around in odd circles and twists, and
