Harry Potter was shaking as he sat on the stool and the Sorting Hat was lowered.

"SLYTHERIN!"

He flinched but stood up and headed for the cheering table. He sat on the edge away from anyone and flinched when anyone tried to get close to him. He kept his head down and eyes on the table. He listened to the insane babble of the Headmaster then put small portions of food on his plate when it appeared and slowly ate. His manors were perfect.

The noise in the Hall was making Harry shake. He tried to hide it but he figured someone would notice. Looking at the Staff Table from under his fringe let him see a stern man dressed in all black looking at him as well as the shabby man sitting next to him. Harry swallowed and quickly returned his gaze to his plate.

When the feast was over he followed his Prefect towards the Common Room. He had to admit it was rather amazing. One of the boys kept trying to get his attention.

He screamed and scrambled away as the boy grabbed his arm and jerked it. The man in the black robes had just came in. Harry sat in the corner knees to his chest head down arms over them his whole body shaking.

"I'm sorry!" Harry cried, in an unused voice. "I'm sorry!"

"Malfoy!" The man in the black robes growled, "What did you do?"

"He was ignoring me so I grabbed his arm and he just went off like that." The whole room was shocked to hear the Malfoy tell the truth they'd all heard about him and his lies. " Is he going to be okay?"

"Potter?" The man knelt in front of the boy, "Potter? My name is Professor Severus Snape I'm the Potions Master and your Head of House can you tell me what's wrong?"

Harry rose his head a bit and his green eyes met Severus' black one's.

"Please, don't hit me, sir." His voice was shaking. " I'll be good..."

That behavior Severus knew and knew well. He lifted the child in to his arms and stood. Then faced the House.

"All of you to bed!" He said, "We will talk tomorrow. "

Harry stared up at his Professor who was carrying him. Was he really in trouble? He gasped as he was set on a bed. A woman came closer. Harry's eyes got big and he tried to flee. More people from the Staff Table had arrived.

"Calm down, Potter." Harry stilled and looked at Professor Snape. " This is Poppy Pomfrey. She's a Healer. She's like a doctor only she uses magic to heal. She's going to take some scans they don't hurt at all and you wont feel anything except maybe some tingling. Is that okay?"

Harry's eyes swept the room and he began rocking his breathing coming in quicker and quicker. He hugged himself.

"Calm, child." Severus said, in shock. "No one here is going to hurt you..."

"Too meany..."

"Too meany?" Harry nodded, Severus thought a moment then spun on the teachers. "Get out! You're scaring him! Go on!"

Most of them left leaving Poppy, the Heads of House , the shabby man, and the Headmaster.

"That better?" Severus asked, Harry shook his head "No? " Severus frowned then traced Harry's line of sight they all did ."I think Mr. Potter knows who you are, Albus." He sneered it. " and he doesn't want you here."

"I will be informed before any action is..."

Severus felt a tug on his sleeve and looked back at Harry.

"He put me there." Harry said, "He said I had to stay... Tuny said so... she said Albus Dumbledore dropped me on the door step in the winter in only a blanket and note. He's the bad man."

Severus' sneer as he looked at Albus would have sent the Dark Lord running for the hills. Albus did as well quickly leaving. Severus quickly teamed up with Poppy to calm Harry down.

The remaining teachers and Poppy were shocked. Harry was in potion indused Healing coma. His body was one mass bruise and he had several broken bones. At one point at least every bone in the child's body had been broken and most had healed wrong. Poppy was now working franticly over the boy trying to heal everything.

"How long will he need to be here? " the shabby man asked, " Will he...?"

"He'll be fine, Remus." Poppy replied, " He'll wake up before classes start tomorrow and he'll be perfectly healed. I'll bring him down to the hall myself. "

Severus stared at the small frail child and made up his mind. He quickly layed it out for all of them and they agreed. They wouldn't tell Dumbledore until Severus set his plan in motion. They all knew Albus would not ask until the resaults were offered to him.

Harry was scared as he dressed in his school robes when he woke up. He took his bag and they left to go down to breakfast. He thanked her quietly and fled to the same place he had eaten the night before. He took the nutrition potion she had given him and ate about the same amount of food as before. He flinched when the Head Boy came up to him.

"It's okay, little one. " He said with a smile. "Here it's your class list."

"thanks..."

"No problem. " The teenager cast Harry a worried look. " You have a good day."

Harry nodded.

First up was Transfiguration's. He sat in the back of the class away from everyone though he noticed the Slytherin's. It was mostly the Malfoy boy. The boy would just not leave him alone. He got the spell right on the first try.

"OH!" McGonegall said in shock. "Very good, Mr. Potter. Do you care to share how you did it?" Harry's eyes got big and he began breathing faster as all eyes went to him. "No ? Alright, you don't have to." Inwardly she sighed and decided to talk to Severus about the boy. " Well, ten ..."

"Visualize, Dragon." The Malfoy boy next to him jumped but nodded. "Like this..."

Harry showed the boy the correct wand movement and Draco tried to copy it. Harry had figured the boy would leave him alone if he helped. Besides he did want friends at one point.

"Twenty points to Slytherin." McGonegall said with a nod. Harry jumped his face blossoming . "Good job, Mr. Potter you seem to have a talent. "

Harry took a raged breath and stubbornly began changing his needles. McGonegall nodded to herself. So he needed encouragement to his best. She'd be sure to pass that on.

Harry had been blushing all day. All his teachers had been so nice to him and he was glad that he had studied all his books in detail and had practiced on the train. He was looking forward to Potion's the next day. That had interested him the most he hadn't been able to practice that but maybe he should read his book again.

Harry had sat closest to the fire and was pouring over his Potion's book again. The Head Boy came over to him books shrank in his hands he locked eyes with Severus as he too came close to Harry.

"Hey, kiddo..." Harry jumped, "You like reading?" Harry nodded, "Well, I was going to get rid of all my old school books you want them?"

"Really?" Harry was breathless with excitment. "Oh, thank you so much!"

The Headboy blushed at the honesty and innocence of the child. He unshrank the books.

"Read this one first." He said, "It teaches you expansion charms and weightless charms. "

Harry nodded and offered a shy smile. The boy smiled back gave a wave and went back over to the seventh years. Harry's head was instintly hidden in the book the boy had suggested. He didn't see Severus nod and begin walking around the room.

"Ten points to Slytherin." He hissed at the Head boy. The boy nodded and went back to his study group. When Severus had checked on all the study groups he went back to Harry. "Did you finish your homework, Mr. Potter?"

Harry looked up and quickly got it out and handed it over to his Professor. Severus cocked an eyebrow while Harry waited expectantly. Figuring out he wanted him to look them over he sat on a chair and began to do so. A few students snickered and Harry went back to reading. He finished the book at the same time Severus finished the essays.

"I would give you an E ." Harry frowned at that and snatched them back to redo them. He'd heard about the grading scale. He missed Severus' sneer. " It's a good start, Potter just put in a few more details. " Harry cocked his head to the side. " Here on the Charms essay you need more about the history of the essay..." He went on to tell Harry about how the boy could improve his essays and Harry readily and happily began to redo them. Severus stayed the whole time he'd informed his house about Harry's abuse and how shy he was going to be and all the help he was probably going to need. They had been enraged to find out he'd been living with Muggles who abused him and had all agreed to help. Severus assured all his first years he'd give them all the same help if they needed it all they had to do was ask. "These will get O's no doubt, Potter." Severus said when Harry had finished, " Good job, now does anyone else need my help?" No one answered but Harry tugged on his robes. "Yes?" Harry had his potion's book open and was pointing. "Want me to explain interactions between the ingredients of the Boil Curing Potion to you?"

Harry nodded hyperly so Severus sat back down and began doing so. He was surprised that the child of James Potter was even showing interest in Potions then reminded himself that Lily had been good at Potion's as well. All the teachers that Harry had had that day had sent him progress reports about him without having to be asked and it seemed he had pure talent in magic itself. Harry mumbled questions and Severus answered each one wondering why none of his other snakes bothered to ask such in depth questions it was clear that Harry had read the book cover to cover.

Severus noted that Harry's nose was in a book as he entered the Great Hall the next morning and wondered if the boy had slept at all. The boy was reading what Severus noted was a Potions theory book. Was the boy that interested in his subject? He made a note to devote his energy to encouraging Harry in Potions.

"Did you speak to him last night, Severus?" Minerva asked, Severus shook his head, "Why not?"

"Believe it or not because he had me go over his E essays then redid them to O level and had me read them again then started a discussion on Potions ingredients and how they react to each other." Severus replied, the other teachers chuckled but Severus and Minerva noted Albus did not look happy about it. "He wants to learn and has a thirst for reading. Mr. Cellus gave him his old school books last night and Potter was excited about it and actually talked to him..."

"He talked to Mr. Malfoy in my class. " Minerva said, "He knows to visualize and told the other boy so. "

Severus gave a sharp nod.

"He's opening up a little."

At that moment mail arrived. A snow owl landed on Harry's shoulder and fed her some bacon. He took the note asking him to go Severus' office that night. Harry petted his owl and ate a little himself.

"I'm worried about him." Remus sighed, " Are you sure he's okay, Severus?"

"He will be." Severus sneered handing Remus the letter he'd received. Remus smirked and passed it off to Minerva who passed it to Sprout who passed it to Flitwick. Who passed it to Poppy. "Minerva, would you like the honor?"

"You bet your ass, Severus!"

That signaled her going off the handle at Albus about how he over looked abused children. The Head's, Remus and Poppy all joined in the yelling match supporting Minerva.

Harry watched in interest he'd liked the Professors who'd been in Hospital wing with him. They'd kept him calm and promised he'd never have to back to the Dursleys he hoped the Bad man would not hurt them or worse fire him. He wondered why the Bad man was trying to wiggle out of helping other kids like him. They were waving a sheet of paper around that looked a lot like the one he'd seen after his scans. He guessed they were upset about his treatment.

"Are we gonna have class today?" Harry asked, Cellus who had made his way down to him. " it's Defense and Potions. I really wanna go to those ones."

Cellus laughed sitting down next to the small boy.

"I was too when I got here." He confessed. "I'm sure the Headmaster will call a Teacher's Meeting tonight and we'll have classes. "

"Good. " Harry said, "I learned those Charms you told me about. It took me a few hours but I got it. "

"Great job." Cellus whistled, "Those are sixth year spells. You got power, little guy."

They did indeed have classes and Harry got all but dotted on and favored in Defense by Remus Lupin for his shield charm which was far from perfect but was better than anyone elses.

Harry got a front row seat in his afternoon Potion's class. Severus' lips twitched hiding a smile as Harry set up his things. Draco got ready next to him but was forced to be on his own when Harry all but fled to the table closest to the teachers desk. Severus watched Draco frown and get mad. He knew his Godson was getting annoyed that he couldn't get Harry Potter to like him.

He gave his normal speech to the first years and set the to the task of brewing the Boil Cure Potion. He kept a good eye on Draco and Harry. He knew Draco could brew but he knew that Harry had the knowledge. He also seemed to have the talent as his Potion was better than Draco's every step of the way.

"Look at how Potter's potion is a light orange." He snapped at the class. "Granger how could yours be such a dark orange?" The Know-It-All Gryffindor girl looked on the verge of tears. " Longbottom, yours is yellow! YELLOW!" he bellowed, " Twenty points from Gryffindor! Potter, this is the best potion I've seen in a long time. Ten points to Slytherin."

Harry blushed and bottled his potion to hand in.

" I want a six foot essay on the proper way to brew this potion to be handed in next lesson!" Snape ordered. "now clear out!"

Harry stayed back and Severus noticed.

"You did very good to day, Potter."

"Thank you, sir." Harry said, blushing again. " Uhm... are you and the other professors going to get in trouble? you were yelling at the Bad Man at breakfast. Is he going to send me back?"

"No, Harry." Severus said gently and kneeled in front of Harry making the boy look him in the eye. "He cant because your aunt and I met up last night... we grew up together and she signed gardianship of you over to me. That means I'll be taking care of you from now on. So if you need anything you tell me... I think our first concern is those glasses. I noticed how close you hold your books..."

"Glasses cost a lot of money. ..."

"Not as much here in our world..." Severus replied, "Now you run along to dinner, Harry. Everything will be just fine. I promise and we'll all be fine. We wont be in trouble at all. We want to help other children like you so we have to make a statement to Albus. Now go on."

"Okay." Harry ran to the door but stopped "Thank you, sir."

With that he ran toward the Great Hall.