Punishment
by Catty-the-spy, Shadow, and Dark (the N00B)
Snape sighed.
He was terrified. You never knew what Voldemort would do when he was angry at someone.
Voldemort looked like he was enjoying something immensely.
"Betrayal is not welcome in my ranks. Death would be to kind to you. I think I will do something worse. How would you feel, if I were to return you to a time when you were helpless? If I were to give you the worst years of your life once again? Learning to speak, learning to read and write, learning your name?"
Snape paled. He couldn't be thinking what he thought he was thinking.
The Dark Lord smiled. "I thought so. Annuit coepus, Fata viam inveniet."
Snape couldn't breath, couldn't see, couldn't stand, couldn't think. All he could do was scream until there was no breath left in his body, till he was turning blue from lack of air.
Lucious gently laid his friend just outside Dumbledore's office.
He didn't understand why he had to be the one to deliver Severus to Hogwarts. He wished he wasn't. He couldn't stand those wide, scared eyes blinking at him from the small pale face. Guilt gnawed on him. It was his fault Severus was in this position. If he hadn't told Voldemort anything, this wouldn't have happened. He sighed. He didn't need to think like that. It would only make it worse.
Wrapping his friend in his cloak, he left.
Hours later, Minerva McGonagall walked down from her meeting with Dumbledore.
She didn't see the child sleeping restlessly at the bottom of the stairs until she had almost stepped on him. At the same time, Harry Potter was hurrying to talk to the Headmaster about a vision he'd had recently.
They both jumped at the sight of the little boy.
McGonagall sent Harry upstairs while she stooped in front of the child, who seemed to be having a nightmare.
She carefully lifted the sleeping boy from the robes, rummaging in the black cloak for any sign of who the child might be. She found nothing.
Harry led Albus Dumbledore downstairs.
The man nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the child Minerva held.
"Who-?"
"I have no idea. There was no note, no kind of paper or parchment, nothing. Who ever left him loved him enough to give him a bath and some clean pyjamas and what I think is a diaper. He smells like expensive soap."
"Who would leave a child? Who would leave a child here?"
McGonagall shrugged, rubbing the boys back. "I don't know Albus. I honestly don't know."
When the little boy woke up, it was to a warm body.
He didn't recognize this feeling, because the last time he had felt it he had been smaller than he was now.
Somebody was hugging him, and rocking, and…humming.
He slowly dragged his eyes open.
The room he was in was very big. Or, it was from what he could see.
He pulled his gaze upward.
There was a woman. She must be the one hugging him. She was reading something.
His eyes went back to the wall he'd first seen.
He could hear the woman's heartbeat. Bah-boom, bah-boom.
He could feel her humming too.
It was making him go back to sleep. The nightmare! He didn't want to go back to that. But, he felt so comfortable….
He dreamt of dancing bears and swans painted on old pots coming and dancing with him.
Minerva smiled. "You need a name, little fighter. I wonder if you can tell me yours."
"Well?"
"He woke up once, looked at me and that wall over there, and went back to sleep. Comfort does that to you."
Dumbledore sat down beside her.
The little boy was still asleep, his mouth open slightly.
Dumbledore chuckled. "He's cute. I wonder how old he is."
"Young. I'd say between 3 and 5. He's tiny. Any word?"
Dumbledore sighed. "None. I'm getting worried. But you know the strange thing? The watch I have…it says he's safe."
Her eyebrows rose. "He hasn't been safe since he stepped onto the Hogwarts express. He was rarely safe after his mother died. How is he safe now?"
Dumbledore shrugged. "I don't know."
Minerva sighed, adjusting the body in her lap to a more comfortable position for her. "I just hope he's happy. He's miserable enough for the entire world so often…I want him to be happy as well as safe. That's all."
Albus placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know, Minnie." He sighed. "I have Remus covering for you. The students were beyond overjoyed. They missed him. Defence has been cancelled until further notice. There are mixed feelings about that. Are you coming to lunch?"
She thought a bit and nodded. "I'll bring him with me. He needs some food, and I want to see how he feels around other people. Come on."
She walked with him through the halls, making small talk and trying to not drop the boy every time he shifted unexpectedly.
When she sat down in her chair, the entire hall was staring and whispering.
She went on with her meal, talking politely with Dumbledore.
She paused in the middle of her sentence when the little boy in her lap jumped.
It was funny to watch him groggily asses the situation, trying to decide whether or not he was in danger. After about a minute, he melted into her again.
She pushed some of the stray hair out of his face. "Good afternoon. Are you hungry?"
He nodded slowly, not sure whether he was doing the right thing. He was surprised when she turned him around and placed a plate in front of him. And the plate actually had food on it!
Cautiously, he picked up one of the orange stick things. It was a carrot, but he had never seen one before so he didn't know that. In fact, the plate was full of things he didn't recognize.
He tentatively bit off of it. His eyes widened. It tasted good! It didn't taste like mouldy bread or a potion!
He ate the rest of it, and another piece.
He looked at the rest of the food on his plate. Was it worth the risk?
He looked back at the woman. She had been nice so far, and the orange things tasted good.
He was decided.
But what to try next?
There were these round green things. They looked nice.
He tried one. Yummy!
What he had eaten was actually a grape. The seedless kind (I think they're called white grapes).
He ate another, and decided to move on.
There were these white tree things (cauliflower).
They tasted good.
And there was bread. Should he eat the bread? It didn't look like his usual stuff. It was white, and the lady was eating some.
He tried it.
It wasn't all nasty and dry and icky. It tasted good. He ate the whole piece.
He was thirsty though.
What to drink?
There was a small cup next to his plate that hadn't been there before. Was that his? Should he drink from it?
The woman pushed it closer to his fingers.
That settled it.
He drank. That tasted good too (apple juice).
He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and leaned back.
Now what?
He was awake, and he didn't see the Dark Man anywhere.
The woman sat him so he could look at her but his legs dangled to the side.
"What's your name?"
He shrugged. He didn't have a name. The Dark Man had told him that lots and lots of times.
This seemed to make the lady sad.
"Do you know how old you are?"
He shook his head again. The Dark Man never talked about that.
The woman seemed even more sad. She sighed. "You know, you remind me of someone I really love. I'll give you my name for him. I'll call you Sevvy."
He smiled slowly and broadly.
He had a name? She had given him a name?
He had never had a name before. This was so exciting! Maybe he'd get a birthday too, like those kids that lived across the street. He'd always wanted a birthday.
She laughed at him. "I know someone who smiles just like that. I like to make him smile. You know how I make him smile? I do this."
She tickled him. He let out a high pitched squeal.
She laughed. "He laughs just like that too. Of course, it's a tad deeper now that he's all big and such, but he laughs just like that."
Wheels started turning in her mind. She was careful to keep that masked from the child in front of her. Instead, she tickled him again, earning her self another squeal, which actually cracked the glass Dumbledore was drinking out of.
The old man simply chuckled and got another.
Smiling, Minerva rocked exaggeratedly from side to side.
"I need to get you some toys. I'll have to teach, still, and you're going to need something to keep you happily occupied."
Sevvy lay his head on her chest. He had never seen other children so close before.
He had never been in the same room with other children either.
He studied them. They were all staring at him. They wore more or less the same thing. Some had bags and books with them. They were colour coded.
There were green ones, and red ones, and black ones and yellow ones.
He wondered why they were like that.
He was wet. He pulled at his pants. He hated when he got wet. He often had to wait for days until the Dark Man decided to change him.
The woman sat him up. "What's wrong?"
He pulled again, before shaking his head at her.
She sighed. "Silly boy."
She stood and grabbed something from under the table. In another room she laid him on a table and pulled off his pants.
"When you go bathroom in your pants, let me know. It's not good for you to sit in it for who knows how long. Okay, baby? Tell me."
He nodded, squirming as she cleaned him off.
He didn't like that feeling. But it was better than being wet, so he couldn't really complain.
When she put his pants back on, they didn't go back into the big room with all the children in it.
She went to a room that looked like it belonged to her, and pulled out a dusty little box that was in her closet.
When she opened it, he saw stuff that fascinated him.
He had seen toys before. The kids across the street had plenty and played outside with them all the time.
He never thought he'd see them up close.
His eyes widened as that lady gave him whatever it was that had been packed carefully on top. His jaw dropped as he pulled the blanket away.
A bear! A real live honest-to-goodness stuffed bear! The lady, for no apparent reason but that it gave her joy, had given him a stuffed bear! Him, who had previously had no name! Him, who had no age or birthday! Him!
And the blanket! It was green and tan and lovely. It was bigger than he was.
The lady wrapped it around him.
Did that mean the blanket was his too?
He gave the lady a big hug: the first hug he'd ever given. He knew the Dark Man would probably take it all away, but he at least had this time with the lady to remember and he was grateful for that.
The lady smiled, hugged him back, and patted his head. "You're wonderful at giving hugs, Sevvy. You should give them more often. Now, come along. I have classes to teach soon. I'll be bringing some of the toys with me so you can play with them."
True to her word, she gathered a few things from the box, put the box away, picked him up, and walked to what he guessed was the room her class was going to be in.
She laid out the blanket near her desk, put the toys on it, and then put Sevvy on it right after. "Stay put" she told him. He nodded. He was right next to her: why would he want to move?
Some of the children he'd seen in the big hall came in and sat down. Sevvy scooted a little closer to the lady's feet; his bear tucked under one arm. She rubbed his head. "It's okay. Go on and play." She gave him a gentle push towards one little pile of toys.
He picked one up. It was a little box with shapes on each side. They were all like that.
Tentatively, he put one on top of another. Nothing happened. He put another on top. Still nothing. He put another and another. Nothing. He put one more. They fell down.
He quickly shot a look at the lady. He hoped he wasn't in trouble.
All she did was smile at him.
He tried again. They fell once more. He wondered how to get them to not fall.
He puzzled though the blocks, trying to get as many on top as he could before they all fell down.
Minerva continued on with her lesson.
Sevvy took a moment out of his construction to watch as numerous objects changed shape. Hiss fascination was blatantly obvious. After watching things change a few more times, he went back to his blocks again attempting to stack them all.
This is like, really weird, so like, review and say what you think. We would, like, really apreciate it if you did. Danka!
mwa!