Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I just borrow the characters and screw with the story and plot lines. Anywho, this is my first Harry Potter Fanfic so don't hate me. This was just a random idea that I got while I was volunteering and working on very slow days. Hope you enjoy it is kind of dark so it is "M" for a reason as well as it is slash in later chapters. Please review it would be much appreciated. Just as a side note I am setting this in the summer after third year, so both Harry and Draco are 14 or are going to be. This is kind of an AU. This is rewritten so I have changed some subtle things that I didn't like when I first wrote it. Well anyway, on with the story!

Darkest Hours

Severus Snape, The Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was not a happy man. Never was and never will be thank you very much, so he thought. So he was not particularly happy when Headmaster Dumbledore called him to his office and asked him to do him a favor. Snape was not happy that the favor he had to do was check on the Golden Boy, Harry Potter, and his godson, Draco Malfoy. His Godson he could understand because there had been some mishaps going on as of late and Lucius was not to be trusted, but why Potter? Everyone knew that he was a spoiled brat, wasn't he?

Severus apperated to Malfoy Manor, he knew that Lucius had started drinking not long after the death of his wife, Narcissa, and then he would take it out on Draco in brutal beatings. Severus had been called twice, by House Elves in various states of panic, when Lucius had gone too far. As he walked into the manor he noticed something wasn't right.

Suddenly Dobby popped in and was trembling. "Master Severus, sir," he cried, "I is being glad that you came. Lucius be doing it again…He be beating Master Draco. He has broken many bones on Master Draco. Dobby tried to help but heard Master Draco whispers to go get help, so Dobby came to find yous." (I know dobby was freed from the Malfoy family in their second year, but he work's for the school so Severus sent him to watch over Draco while he was at home. Dobby likes Draco so ya. Ok enough explanations back to the story)

Severus was furious and sudde3nly really scared for Draco, though he would deny it if asked. He looked at the house elf and asked, "Where are they?" in a deadly calm voice that made Dobby cringe. "They be in Lucius' study," the house elf squeaked. Severus ran up the stairs taking three at a time, thanking every deity he could think of for his long legs and hoping that he wasn't too late.

He finally reached the study and then felt a surge of power and heard a crash and then a loud thud and slam like someone slammed a book shut. Severus rushed into the study only to find Draco standing, wand arm out. Severus saw many bruises and cuts but otherwise Draco was unharmed physically.

It looked to Severus that Draco had been thrown around by his clothes, for they were tattered and torn in several places. Lucius on the other hand was lying next to the wall unconscious, with several very heavy books surrounding him as well as glass.

Severus hurried over to Draco as he finally came out of his enraged state and fell to his knees exhausted and shaking. The fact that he had done wandless magic hadn't occurred to Draco in the slightest as he slumped against his godfather for support, Severus had also taken no notice of the wandless magic Draco had done.

Severus checked the boy over, finding that indeed there were several broken ribs and other bones. He helped Draco up and into a nearby chair, grateful that the boy was still in his adrenalin high and wouldn't feel, for Severus had been subject to broken ribs enough times himself that he knew how bad it hurt to move afterwards.

Severus turned back to Lucius, who was still unconscious, and put him in a body bind so if he woke up he couldn't hurt Draco or Severus. Satisfied, Severus turned back to Draco nad started to mend the broken bones as best he could. He wasn't Poppy, but he was still good enough to help Draco until he could get him in to see her.

He gave Draco Two potions to take, one for the pain and the other to calm him so he didn't become panicked and break down and go into shock before they got back to Spinners End. He had slipped a muscle relaxant into the calming drought because he knew that Draco was stressed and was having a hard time holding it together at the moment. He didn't need him to break down when he went to check on Potter, if he chose to go with Severus.

Severus had a really bad feeling in his gut that the Potter boy wasn't as well off as he expected and that scared him after what he had witnessed and just cleaned up. Draco suddenly launched himself onto Severus and hugged him tightly, like he would disappear if he let go. Severus hugged back knowing it was the only comfort he could give the boy at the moment.

After what seemed like hours, which in reality was only a few minutes, Severus said, "Draco, go and get your things you are never coming back here." Draco only nodded and slowly detached himself from his godfather and went to pack his things. Severus knew that he should take Draco to Spinners End, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the Potter child was in danger and needed them as soon as humanly possible. Severus called Dobby and told him to take Draco's things to Spinners End when he was done packing.

As soon as Draco was ready, Dobby took all of his things and popped away with them. Once the elf was gone he made one final sweep of his room to find if he had missed anything and then went to find Severus. He found him in the front hall of the manor and again Draco hugged him tightly, silently thanking every deity he knew of that Dobby had been there to hear his cry for help.

Severus hugged him gently being mindful of his newly healed ribs that were still very tender and could break easily until he rested. They stood there for a little bit before Severus said, "I have one more thing I need to do before I go home, and I need to check on Mr. Potter for Albus. You can take the floo back to Spinners End or you can come with me." "I'll go." was the quiet reply; Severus knew that Draco wasn't going for Potter's sake but for the need to not be alone. Severus could not fault his godson for that seeing as what he had just gone though, he wouldn't' want to be alone either to tell the truth. "Very well," was his only reply, he held Draco close and apperated them to Privet Drive.

Severus cast a charm on Draco so that he could not be seen by the muggles. They approached Privet Drive. The house was nothing like Severus expected, it was an average sized house, and he noted that there were metal bars covering one of the upper windows. He didn't like the feeling he got when he saw the brown stains coming from that particular window and leading down the house to the ground.

Suddenly they heard muffled screams coming from inside the house and they didn't sound like Harry. Severus was still holding onto Draco and felt him shiver slightly. Severus hugged him one more time before quickly walking up the front drive. The front door was unlocked, so he opened it and went inside only to have the screaming become louder and angrier. Severus stopped just inside the door at what he saw. Draco had to peek around him to see what was going on, what he saw shocked him to his core.

Vernon Dursley, was a best described as a very large, red walrus or more preferably a beached whale, was yelling at a small cupboard under the stairs saying," How do you like that freak? I hope you are dead by morning, so I can rid this house of filth like you." With that Severus made his and Draco's presence known to the muggle by putting him into a body bind.

Vernon's eyes went wide for a moment before his face turned into a scowl as his face turned a very dark shade of purple. Then he spat out, "So, you are here for the little freak." It wasn't a question, "well I have news for you the little whore will be dead before morning." With that he smiled evilly and laughed loudly causing Draco to squirm, wanting nothing more than to run away and never come back.

With horror stricken eyes, Severus quickly grabbed the whale of a man around his large, beefy neck and pointed his wand at him. "What did you do to him?" he said with venom causing Vernon to pale slightly. Vernon smiled menacingly and said, "I made the stupid whore drink drain cleaner, then I fucked his pretty face and then his ass. He is such a good little slut." Whit that Severus had heard enough and knocked Vernon unconscious with a very strong stunning spell. Severus then quickly canceled the invisibility spell on Draco.

Suddenly they heard the sound of someone being sick coming from the little cupboard, under the stairs. Draco who was closest to the cupboard had already undone all the locks and had his hand on the doorknob. He cringed as the smell came though the door and as soon as he heard Harry stop dry heaving he started wheezing and coughing. Draco looked down and saw that there was blood mixed in with the vomit coming from under the door. He looked over at Severus and opened the cupboard door, what he saw appalled them both and made Draco sick.

There in the very tiny cupboard no larger than 3 feet in length and two feet in width, was Harry Potter, the Savior of the Wizarding World at almost age 14, laying naked, in his own blood and vomit. He was beaten so badly that he had bones almost puncturing his skin.

That is when Severus came closer and noticed the bucket full of a yellowish liquid that he quickly identified as bleach and something else. From the way that Harry was coughing up blood and was almost unconscious Severus knew that the other substance was ammonia.

He quickly banished the bucket horrified that any modern man would actually, intentionally mix these chemicals and then stick a weakened person in a small room with it. What kind of sadistic person would do that? There was a small thought in the back of his mind about a muggle named Hitler who did this on a larger scale back in the 40's.

Draco quickly picked up the other boy not caring about the blood or vomit getting on him, but just about getting Harry safely out of there. As Draco carried Harry to the si8tting room he noticed that Harry was very boney and way too light for his age. He couldn't have been more than 85 pounds.

Severus noticed that Harry was nearly unconscious as Draco laid him on the transfigured bed in the middle of the sitting room. Draco stepped back and let Severus take over the situation. First he gave Harry a potion to counter some of the effects of the drain cleaner, but he still needed to get them all home so that Poppy could look over the boys.

He quickly used what knowledge he had of healing from his apprenticeship to stabilize Harry enough so that they could move him without causing anymore problems. Severus turned to Draco and asked him to go collect Harry's belongings while he had a house elf take them home. Draco just stood there for a moment then nodded and headed back to the cupboard.

He quickly cast a quick scorgify on the cupboard to clean up the blood and vomit, even though he was covered in it, and gathered the few things that were in there (Draco had the tracing spells taken off of his wand when he first got it so he wasn't caught doing underage magic at home). Draco went up the stairs and quickly found the room that was Harry's.

Draco identified it by all the locks that were on the door and the cat flap; he quickly opened it and found the remainder of his belongings. He quickly gathered all that he could see then he accioed Harry's belongings to see if he had missed anything and found an invisibility cloak, a photo album and a few other very personal items as well as Harry's wand come at him from under the 'bed' if you could call it that. He caught them and placed them in the trunk beside him.

The last thing that came at him was a small book like a journal from under the pillow. He quickly tucked the book away into his robes and went downstairs with the trunk to the waiting house elf. After Dobby left with the luggage, Draco went to the sitting room where he found Severus kneeling over Harry looking concerned.

He went up to Severus and stood by him; Severus looked up to acknowledge Draco and figured that it was a signal that everything was ready to leave. Severus put Harry in a body bind as to not move him and injure him more than he already was. Draco could see the bruising that was showing up on his upper body going beneath the bottoms that Severus had put on Harry for decency.

He wondered briefly why Severus hadn't healed the bruising but shrugged it off till later. Severus picked up the emaciated boy gently and stood slowly. They were both close enough to hear the breathy, whispered 'thank you" before the boy lost consciousness. Draco held onto Severus;' arm as he apparated them all back to Spinner's End.

Once at Spinner's End Severus handed Harry to Draco and ordered him to take him to the bedroom closest to his, once Draco was gone Severus flooed Poppy. As soon as she picked up he said, "Poppy, I need your help something has happened, I need you here now!" Poppy could tell that this was an emergency because Severus' face was full of worry and a hint of fear, but she wouldn't tell him that he had let his mask slip.

She quickly grabbed her mediwitch bag and a few other things and told him she was coming over. Moments later she walked out of the green flames, into Severus' study. Severus led her to the bedroom where he had told Draco to take Harry. She rounded the corner into the bedroom and gasped, there lying on the bed looking almost paper white was Harry Potter. She looked over at Severus in shock but quickly recovered knowing he would tell her exactly what had happened to this poor boy to get him in such a state. Not even his battles with the Dark Lord had him looking this beat up.

She noted quickly that Draco Malfoy curled up in the corner shaking in shock. Once she noticed that Harry was stable she went over to Draco and helped him up. She transfigured a bed and sat him down. She saw the blood on his clothes and immediately did a scan to see if it was his. She concluded that it was not but continued the scan. In all Draco had 6 broken or cracked ribs, broken wrist, several hairline fractures in his legs and a sprained ankle. She also noted that he was slowly slipping into a deeper shock so she gave him a potion to help with the shock and then had Severus help him into some clean clothes and lay him down.

Once that was taken care of she turned back to Harry and quickly started the scan's over on him. When she scanned his neck she heard Severus say angrily, "He was forced to drink Muggle drain cleaner and we found him in a cupboard with a bucket of bleach and ammonia." Poppy nodded and went to work. About two hours later Harry was looking slightly better but still pretty bad. She had put him in a healing sleep and finally put her wand down.

Severus pulled her out into the hall leaving Draco to watch Harry, even if it really wasn't needed. Severus told her exactly what had happened with both boys from the time that he was called to Albus' office to the time he called her. She did a scan on Severus just to be sure that he was all right and found that besides his depleted magic stores there was nothing wrong. She gave him a pepper up potion and told him to take it and then rest, and instructions to not use any magic for 24 hours.

They went back into the bedroom and Poppy also gave Draco a pepper up potion and then a sleeping potion to take. He was out before she left. Poppy told Severus to keep the boys in the same room for the time being. It would help them both later. Just as she was about to leave she looked at Severus again, she got into her bag and fished out the strongest calming drought she had knowing full well the stress that Severus had been under all day and also that if given a regular calming drought that it would not work. Then she told him to floo her if anything changed and then she left.

Severus Drank the Calming Drought and the pepper up potion and could instantly feel both potions effects. He decided that he would call Dumbledore and tell him what happened and where the boys were, knowing full well that if he didn't he would have a worried headmaster on him later tonight. Dumbledore was somewhat relieved to hear from Severus.

He listened and then nodded and explained, "I am happy that they are both out of those situations, I have been trying to get Harry out since he came to the school. Every year Harry would come to school severely beaten and malnourished but every time I felt he was in danger and went to check on him there was no proof of neglect except the absolute hatred coming from the family. But I couldn't remove him on those grounds the wizarding council wouldn't allow it, so I left him where he was."

(With Serius in prison and Remus a werewolf they were forced by the wizarding council to place him with the Dursly's, the Potter will was not read so they didn't know that Remus was to be made guardian if Serius was unable. So technically Harry is a ward of the government, as Albus was unable to get magical Guardianship over Harry. Fudge was in office then and prevented this from happening but the Government can't touch any money that was left to Harry, so that is safe the only thing that can happen with it is for the school to take out the money for his schooling but that is it. The goblins will get to deal with the government as they see fit if that happens. He he he so evil I am.)

"It wasn't until this past year that I decided to put spells directly on Harry to alert me when his uncle went too far, this was the first and only time it has gone off. Now we have enough evidence to convince the council to remove both of them and place them in someone's care of our choice. But until that care can be found you will be assigned to look after them. We also have enough evidence to convict Lucius and that Bastard of an muggle of abuse."

Severus was surprised, he had never in all of his 40 years heard the headmaster swear or even see him so angry. But the fury of the situation was evident in both men's eyes. Severus knew that they had to report what happened to the Auror Department but Severus also knew that it would be very difficult to get Harry and Draco to testify against their guardians, because it was something that they had hid from everyone with great care, and who wouldn't. He knew that he would have to convince them to testify somehow.

Once he ended the floo call he went to check on the boys. Both were sleeping soundly but he knew that Harry wouldn't wake for a few days yet at the least. For that he was thankful because it meant that he could get Draco out of his shock and calmed down enough so he could help with Harry. Also Harry wouldn't suffer any pain yet.

Severus didn't know why he cared that Harry didn't feel any pain at the moment but seeing him lying there in his own blood and vomit had changed something in him that really disturbed him. The part of him that had compared him to James Potter in that he was a spoiled brat that got everything he ever wanted had died today. In its place he found a small, broken, battered and abused boy. Draco on the other hand had been in complete shock all day and had been silent except when it was necessary for him to talk. The only time he had seemed to come out of his shock was when they had found Harry.

Severus was lost in his musings and didn't notice the female house elf before him. He jumped when she touched him and his eyes came to focus on her. She spoke clearly, "Master Severus needs sleep, nurse witch told Squeaky so, Master Severus is worried about his Dragon and Harry Potter, Master should know that Squeaky will watch them and wake Master if they should be needing him or something is wrong."

Severus blinked at her a few times before her message was understood completely. He smiled slightly and looked down at his clothes and frowned. He noticed that his clothes were still covered in Harry's blood and vomit but now it had dried. He cringed at the memory and got up quickly and walked to his room to change his clothes and shower.

Once he had showered and changed into his pajama pants, (yes he wears muggle pajama pants they are comfortable and easy,) he slowly crawled into bed suddenly exhausted and soon fell into a comfortable sleep. About five hours later he was woken up by Squeaky and she stumbled, "Master Severus is needed by his dragon. He is not sleeping soundly."

Severus ran from his bedroom across the hall to the boy's bedroom and as he got to the door he heard a soft whimpering. He went over to Draco and touched his shoulder, but this set Draco off and he started screaming and flailing about. Severus quickly grabbed him so he wouldn't hurt himself and rocked him making soothing noises until he was positive that Draco was awake. He stopped for a moment to look at Draco. That was when Draco burst into tears and clung to Severus for dear life.

Severus continued his rocking of the boy and rubbed his back and let him cry. He called for a house elf to bring a dreamless sleep potion and then set it on the bedside table. He felt Draco's hot tears running down his shoulder and his torso because he didn't think to put on a dressing gown. Severus knew when Draco had fallen asleep again about and hour and a half later but he couldn't bring himself to wake him to give him the potion or leave him alone. So he would sleep holding Draco close knowing that it was comforting to Draco and could help stave off any nightmares he could have. Slowly Severus lay down on the bed and pulled Draco beside him wrapping his arms around the boy. Draco curled into Severus seeking his comfort and warmth.

Severus knew that Draco would wake up the next day feeling comforted, loved and safe. Now he wished he could only do the same for Harry when he woke up. He had no family none of his friends, he doubted, knew of what was happening to him and Severus knew that none of Harry's friends had ever experienced any of this and Severus didn't know who he could trust with Harry's secret. He would have to ask Dumbledore in the morning. So with Draco safely in his arms and Harry in his thoughts Severus fell asleep for the second time that night.

Yay! That is the first chapter. Tell me what you think please! I beg you! I am dying for some reviews. Please don't kill me it will all work out in the end you will see. I hope that my changes to the story only made it better I tried to incorporate previous reviews into the rewrite of the chapter so ya. Please review Constructive criticism is allowed that is what makes this thing better. If someone would like to betta for me on my later chapeters that would be wonderful just drop me an email and all that jazz. Loves to everyone who reads this and has already reviewed. Thank you Phantom-writer2006