"Kill the spare."
and with a flash of green light a much skinnier than usual 14 year old
Harry Potter bolted awake and upright screaming at the top of his lungs in
the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive. It took a moment for Harry
to calm himself down but his breathing still remained fast and ragged and
his eyes wide with fear.
"Boy!"
Harry flinched, only then realizing just how loud he had been screaming and instantly trying to cower down in his bed in fear of his uncle. As he came barging in through the door with his beefy face purpling, and eyes bulging with rage as he advanced towards Harry and jerked him up to a sitting position and squeezing his arm so hard that Harry could feel new bruises forming.
"Are you trying to wake up the whole bloody neighborhood with your screaming?!"
For a moment too long apparently, Harry stayed silent only to be jolted from his thinking with his uncle's hand connecting with his cheek while the other still maintained a vice-like grip on his arm.
"Well?! Answer me you freak!"
Harry sat in shock for a second and mumbled "No sir" and tried to control his trembling because he was sure if his uncle could sense his fear he'd really be in for it. Vernon's hand connected with Harry's cheek and finally released and shoved Harry back onto the bed.
"That's for waking your aunt and I and make sure it doesn't happen again or I'll beat you within an inch of your life, boy!"
Harry watched his uncle storm out of the room and slam the door shut only then allowing the tears to spill over that were forming in his eyes. Harry sat on his bed silently crying, holding his cheek where he could feel a bruise forming as he looked down at his arm and saw another bruise forming over an almost healed one. Sitting there on his bed, with the torn up and dirty sheet he used for covers. In the fraying pair of faded pajamas that used to be Dudley's that were much too big for him, he started to think about his life and everything that has happened thus far in it. Especially his life with the Dursleys. While his life up to that time with the Dursleys had been anything from happy and loving they hadn't physically abused him in years. Now that Harry thought about it, they hadn't since he'd gotten his letter to Hogwarts.
You see Harry Potter is not your normal, everyday child. He's a wizard, and a famous one at that. Harry had just returned 3 weeks earlier from his 4th year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. During this last year Harry had been entered without his knowledge and forced to compete in the newly re- instated Tri-wizard Tournament between Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic with another champion from his school. He had also won the tournament despite being the youngest champion. However; he had won at a terrible cost. He was entered into the tournament by one of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters who had disguised himself as the DADA professor for that year and had been plotting to restore his master to a body, and unfortunately it worked. During the last task of the tournament Harry and his fellow Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory, had been transported by portkey to a graveyard where Cedric was killed by Wormtail. Wormtail was another Deatheater and personal servant to Lord Voldemort and was the one that betrayed Harry's parents when Harry was only 1 year old. From that betrayal came Harry's scar which is what made him famous.
Lord Voldemort had come to the cottage where Harry and his parents lived in Godric's Hollow on Halloween night in 1981. He successfully killed Harry's parents but when he went to kill Harry, the spell rebounded on Voldemort who was then severely weakened and fled to only leave young Harry with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. That night Harry was dubbed 'The boy who lived' and has been famous ever since.
Unfortunately that night Harry was taken to the Dursley family. Harry's Aunt Petunia was his only living, blood relative and was a muggle. A muggle is what wizards and witches call non-magical people. She and her husband were muggles of the worst kind. You see, Harry's mother, Lily, was muggle born. Which basically means that Lily was born magical but her parents and family were not. Lily met at Hogwarts and later married James Potter who was a pure blood because he came from a wizarding family. Harry was born a pure-blood because his parents had magical blood in them.
That night Harry was left in the care of the Dursley family who took him in and basically used him as their personal slave for as far back as Harry can remember. Their hope was to keep Harry as downtrodden as possible and literally 'squash' the magic out of him. However; that is impossible. If a child is born with magical blood and abilities it cannot be 'squashed' out of them. All of that treatment stopped when Harry got his letter to Hogwarts. Out of fear what Harry would do to them after years of mistreatment they pretty much left Harry alone. This didn't stop them however; from using him during the summer to do chores for them. At least he wasn't being hit anymore. He still was underfed because Dudley's diet was continuing because Dudley had started to lose weight and now was looking a little healthier even though he was still overweight. But now that Dudley was allowed to eat somewhat normal foods Harry was given questionable food. As in food that wasn't exactly fresh, which left him usually ill slightly. Now Harry was dangerously underweight from lack of food and the overwork from several chores that they forced him to do with the threat of a thrashing even worse than the ones that he was usually getting.
The reason for this new, foul treatment was from the prank that the Weasley twins, Fred and George, pulled on Dudley last summer when they had come to pick Harry up to take him to the Quidditch World Cup. The prank involved the use of a newly developed product by the twins called a Ton- Tongue Toffee. Since Dudley's diet last summer had forced him to consist on basically 'rabbit food' as Harry's Uncle Vernon had put it, Dudley was dying for a piece of candy and just couldn't resist eating the toffee when Fred had 'accidentally' dropped it on the floor. The toffee however had caused Dudley's tongue to swell to 4 feet before Mr. Weasley was able to shrink it back to its normal size. The Dursleys however were extremely angry and were now taking out that anger on Harry since he had conveniently left the previous year.
The instant that Harry walked into and shut the door to Number 4 Privet Drive he was literally painfully reminded just how angry his 'relatives' were about that little prank. After a sound beating Harry's school things were again locked in his former bedroom, the Cupboard under the Stairs, and he was locked in his room for 4 days without any meals only being allowed out once a day to use the bathroom. After being let out, the endless chores and questionable food began. No longer did the "escaped convict for a godfather" trick worked on the Dursleys because they thought he had just made it up in a desperate attempt to end the abuse.
So now we come back to Harry, who was sitting awake in Dudley's second bedroom still crying from the nightmare and the newest smack to add to the list. After a few moments Harry calmed down and laid back down under his sheet and actually fell back asleep hoping to not get woken up again this time by another nightmare.
A few hours later Harry was rudely brought back to the world of the conscious by his Aunt Petunia's pounding on his door and screeching.
"Get up you lazy git!"
He groaned and sat up and put his glasses on and got dressed in a pair of grossly oversized fading and dirty jeans and dirty t shirt that used to be Dudleys because the Dursleys refused to buy Harry clothes of his own. Without even bothering to try to make his hair behave, he slowly made his way downstairs to the kitchen. A moment later Dudley came crashing downstairs and sat at the table and ate the 2 pieces of toast and scrambled eggs that were put in front of him and watch as Harry was given a very ripe almost rotten looking banana with a smug look on his face.
Harry sat quietly eating his banana and thinking about the nightmare and the 3rd Task again only to be sharply brought back to the present by his Uncle's hand connecting with the side of his head.
"Are you listening to me boy?!" "What? Oh I'm sorry Uncle Vernon."
"Sorry doesn't cut it boy! Here's your list of chores to do for today" Uncle Vernon handed over a list of chores. As Harry looks at it he slightly groaned because there was no way that he was going to get all of that done today. Uncle Vernon heard Harry's groan and smacked him again "Don't you dare groan you ungrateful swine! You're lucky that we didn't dump you in an orphanage all those years ago like we should've!"
Harry just sat there silently wishing that he had been taken to an orphanage, because there he probably wouldn't be treated as badly as this. Having had enough of the banana because 2/3 of it was in fact bruised and rotten Harry threw the rest away and maked his way out into the back yard to get the lawnmower since that would take the longest on his list of chores for the day.
3 hours later Harry put away the lawnmower, sweating profusely and put all of the bags of grass out front to the curb to be picked up by the garbage man. Then he got a pair of gloves and a trowel and started weeding the garden. As he worked he thought 'you know what is the point of me weeding the garden every other day when there's hardly any weeds to pull. 10 minutes later he put away the gloves and trowel into the shed and got out the hose to water the garden.
With that completed he went back inside to the kitchen where he saw a plate with a stale piece of bread, 1 small piece of slightly old looking cheese and a glass of milk which tasted like it was at least 1 day past the expiration date. After eating half of the food, he suddenly felt sick and bolted off to the bathroom. After bringing up the little amount of food that was in his stomach he slowly makes his way back out to the kitchen, only and see his Aunt with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot giving him a glare.
"If you think that you're going to get fewer chores by pretending to be sick, you've got another thing coming!" "Yeah, yeah I know" Harry muttered as he walked around his Aunt to go to the living room to dust. After dusting all of the sickening pictures of Dudley and all of his Aunts trinkets he put the feather duster away and went to get a bottle of window cleaner and a rag and clean all of the windows in the entire house. After doing several more chores, mostly little odds and ends, Harry started to make his way exhaustedly up to his room at 5:00pm. Just as he gripped the railing to the stairs his Aunt grabbed him by his elbow and yanked him back to the landing.
"And where do you think you're going?!" She shrieked. "Up to my room, I'm done with all of my chores." He replied weakly. "Oh no you're not done with all of your chores, you forgot to paint the garage door now go and get it done, your uncle called and said if it's not done by the time he gets home at 6 o'clock then you'll be in trouble." Harry sighed and replied "Yes Aunt Petunia," and made his way out to the shed and get out a paint can and a brush and sets to work. About halfway through he felt another wave of nausea. As he threw up again in the bushes on the side of the house he vaguely rememberd Dudley getting the flu right after they both came home for the summer and thought that he got it from waiting on Dudley hand and foot.
After that little bout he went back to painting. Noting that it was already 5:45 and that his uncle would be home soon and he had at least another 30 minutes of work before he would be done, he hurriedly tried to paint as fast as he could without making a mess. At exactly 6 o'clock on the nose Harry's Uncle's car pulled into the driveway with Harry still hurriedly painting but only a couple of strokes away from completing his job.
"BOY! I said that I wanted this door done by the time that I got home! What part of that pea sized brain of yours not comprehend those instructions?!"
Harry physically flinched and stammered "I..I'm sorry Uncle Vernon, I only started an hour ago and didn't have time, I'm almost done." "Almost done doesn't cut it! There will be no dinner for you tonight! You finish this job and go straight to your room and I don't want to see your sorry face for the rest of the night!"
Harry watched his uncle storm into the house thinking that he was lucky to not get smacked but he knew better all the same. Ten minutes later Harry put the paintbrush and can back into the shed in the back yard. He went back inside, hearing the voices coming from the kitchen as his uncle rants about how the company is doing poorly and trudged his way up to his room and collapsed exhaustedly while listening to the sounds of the television play. He fell into a fitful sleep only to be jolted awake by his uncle, who was clearly drunk, punching him in the stomach some time later.
"When I give you a list of chores to be done, I expect all of them to be done by the time I get home! I thought that I had made myself clear about that!" He said drunkedly. He then proceeded to hit Harry a couple of times on his face and wrenched him to the floor, breaking his wrist, and kicked him in the stomach. "Now my company is doing badly and I just know that it's your fault! You and that abnormality of yours! You are nothing but a wretch in my sight and a waste of flesh!" As he continues his tirade he continued to beat Harry mercilessly who threw up all over the floor from the repeated kicks to his stomach. This only made his uncle angrier and beat him more and harder before unconsciousness came to claim him.
**************
Some time later, how long exactly Harry wasn't sure exactly, he awoke in a heap on the floor of his room in a pool of blood and vomit. Ever so slowly he sat up and rubbed his throbbing head and dissolved into a fit of furious and agonizing coughs. He slowly stood up and made his way over to his bed to collapse on it again and fall into a fitful sleep. The next day he again awoke to his Aunts screeching and went through the routine again but feeling as if a ton of bricks had been dropped on his head and his chest making it even harder to see straight and breathe. Miraculously he got all of his chores done only to have his uncle come in again and smack him for some ludicrous reason or another and sent up to his room without dinner again. This wasn't a good thing because he hadn't been given any food all day because of yesterday and even if he was given food he was sure that it'd just end up coming back up anyway. Even not being fed didn't stop the vomiting though and as soon as he got up to his room he collapsed onto his bed breathing raggedly unable to keep his eyes open any longer he fell asleep with half of his thin form hanging off of the bed. Sometime later that night his uncle came for another 'visit' resulting in another thrashing beating delivered by, an again, drunk Vernon. Miraculously he stayed awake afterwards and made his way back onto his bed. Hedwig flew out of her cage and over to Harry carrying a scrap piece of parchment and a bottle of ink and a quill and landed beside him on the bed and hooted and nipped his ear in hopes that he's still awake. Harry looked over at his familiar and gave a weak smile and tried to stroke her feathers. "Thanks girl." then slowly and painfully wrote out a short note.
Whoever reads this, I need help. My uncle has been beating me, and I'm sick. Please help me.
~HP
With the note complete he attached it to Hedwig's leg and collapsed back onto his bed in a fit of coughing that seemed to shake the whole house. In a slight break in the coughing he said, "Hedwig, take this to any professor at Hogwarts. I don't care which one! Just take it to Hogwarts!" then he dissolved into another coughing fit as his Uncle came crashing into the room again just in time to see the snowy owl fly out the window.
"So you haven't learned your lesson yet boy?! Trying to get some help from those freaks?!"
Harry watched his uncle's face purple with rage and weakly tried to scramble away from his Uncle only to be caught by his beefy hand. "Apparently the last beating didn't teach you boy!"
Uncle Vernon then wrenched Harry's arm, dislocating his shoulder, ignoring Harry's cry of pain as he dragged him down the stairs and threw him into the cupboard under the stairs with all of his school things that were still in there and after receiving another punch in the stomach cracking another rib he saw the door close and heard the lock being clicked shut. As Harry sat in the darkness, trying desperately but to no avail, ignore the pain in his shoulder and his still-broken wrist. He wills himself to stay conscious as he silently wished that somebody would come rescue him from the hell that his life had become, before finally succumbing to the black oblivion.
*Hedwig's POV*
As she flew through the night, willing her wings to beat faster and driving herself to move faster in desperation to get help for her master. In what seemed like no time she saw the castle that was Hogwarts coming up in the distance and flew around trying to find an open window to fly into. Finding one close to the ground she flew into what was the Dungeons, and subsequently Professor Severus Snape's office. Who was sitting at his desk running his fingers through his greasy hair looking down at several rolls of parchment trying to ignore the twinge of pain that his Dark Mark was giving off. Upon flying through the window she landed onto the desk and held out her leg and hooted in desperation fixing her amber eyes onto Snape's face.
*Snape's POV*
Seeing the owl standing there on his desk holding out its leg hooting he looked at it with a look of annoyance
"Is this important because I have work to do!"
The owl hooted again holding out its leg and he finally took the piece of parchment then read the note as the owl flew to perch on his shoulder. After reading the note he looks to the owl
"You're Potter's owl?" The owl hooted in agreement "He's still at his relatives, correct?" The owl hooted again. "Take me to him then."
The owl took off and hovered by the window. After pausing for a moment she flew out while he crossed to his wardrobe and drew out a traveling cloak and fasten it around his shoulders and swept from the room thinking to himself 'Good Lord Potter, you can't even stay out of trouble during the summer.'
As he walked to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds he was again met by the owl who perched on his shoulder and he apparated to the edge of Privet Drive then addressed the owl again. "Take me to his house." He followed in the direction of the owl and stopped outside a perfectly normal looking house only to look into the living room window to see a very large man, presumably Harry's uncle, beating the boy with what looked like a stick or cane of some sort. Feeling the anger rising up inside him he went over to the door and, finding it unlocked, entered the house and went to the room where the man was having a tirade bringing the stick down repeatedly all over the frail looking boy who was by then, unconscious, thankfully.
His anger finally getting the better of him he pulled out his wand from the folds of his robes and pointed it at the man and called out "Stupefy!" then watched the man fall over away from Harry.
Upon hearing the crash of the overly large man hitting the floor a woman, presumably Harry's Aunt and Lily's sister, entered the room. An overweight looking boy who was presumably Harry's cousin right after her.
Harry's aunt took one look at her husband on the ground, Harry laying in a crumpled up heap in a pool of his own blood and vomit on the floor and himself with a look of utmost fury on his face that would've sent any student running for the hills within a 10 kilometer radius if they knew what was good for them.
Upon seeing the woman enter he fixed the iciest glare on her and advanced towards her. "You!" he said sharply, pointing his wand at Harry's Aunt "You were here the whole time, and knew what was going on and didn't see fit to stop him from beating this boy?!" his voice in a deathly low growl. He waited for a moment, his allready thin patience wearing thinner he bellowed,
"Well?! I'm waiting for an answer you muggle! Please explain to me why you allowed your husband and this boys guardian to beat him while you just stood back and let it happen!"
Watching her open and close her mouth like a fish out of water, he gets even angrier, if that was possible.
"Well! Answer me!" He bellowed.
Finally finding her voice Petunia stammers out. "My husband was drunk, and as you can see, he's quite a bit larger than me. He would've done the same to me if I got in the way and the boy didn't finish all of his chores today, complaining that he was sick and didn't have the energy so Vernon thought he needed to be taught a lesson."
"And how long has he been complaining that he's been sick?" raising an eyebrow "For about 4 days now that I think about it." Petunia remembered. His anger started to rise again, "And you didn't see fit to get a doctor for him?"
Petunia gained back a bit of her confidence puffing herself up indignantly and stared at him defiantly "We never have, he's a good for nothing leech anyway so why bother?"
Upon hearing the response from Harry's Aunt he'd finally had enough.
"All right, I've had just about enough of you. I knew your sister and I'm sure that she'd be rolling over in her grave right now knowing how you treat her son, hers and your own flesh and blood! I don't think you'd dare treat your own son the same way judging by how big he is and the kind of clothes he wears. Then seeing this boy here dressed in rags and practically skin and bones! You make me sick! And if I and the Headmaster have it our way, he will not be returned to your more than inadequate care!"
He then pointed his wand towards the two people. With a low and malicious growl he said "stupefy!" After watching the two people fall over with a look of utmost loathing on his face he went over to the boy and checkd to make sure that he was at least still breathing and had a pulse.
Having had that confirmed, he went over to the cupboard. He quickly unlocked the padlock and with a quick 'alohomora.' The lock popped open, and he retreived the trunk and the broomstick. He then shrunk them to the size of a matchbox and pocketed the items.
Going back to Harry, he carefully turned the boy onto his back noting the wince as he touched his left shoulder, how deathly pale the boy was but at the same time burning up with fever, how light and ragged his breathing was. He then carefully picked the boy up and lit a fire in the fireplace and threw a pinch of Floo powder in and called out 'Hogwarts' and was rushed through the Floo Network.
************************
Upon coming through the fireplace in Hogwarts, Snape then bolted to the hospital wing "POPPY! QUICK!" Snape then carefully laid Harry down on one of the beds and saw the nurse come rushing towards the two of them.
"What happened to him?!" she demanded.
Severus then launched into the retelling of everything that he had experienced from first getting the note until right up to that moment.
Madam Pomfrey blanched for a moment looking down at the boy who had crouched into the fetal position on his side and was shivering and coughing violently. "All right thank you Professor, now please go fetch the Headmaster and leave me to work." "As you wish Poppy."
With that Severus swept from the quiet ward, pausing at the doorway to throw a slightly concerned glance back towards the Matron and Potter to see her cleaning all of the blood off of the boy.
Severus silently swept through the hallways towards the Headmaster's office hoping that he would be there. Upon reaching the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance he gave the password "Sugar Quills" and made his way up the winding staircase and knocked twice. "Enter" Came the voice of Albus Dumbledore within.
Severus entered the familiar office with its merrily crackling fire in the fireplace and the phoenix Fawkes perched on his usual perch.
"Ah Severus, what can I do for you tonight, though I have a slight feeling that this is not a social visit."
"This has to do with Potter Headmaster." "I see, please tell me what happened."
Severus then launched for a second time into the retelling of the story. First encountering Potter's owl up to arriving in the Hospital Wing. By the end of the retelling the usual twinkle from the Headmaster's eyes was gone and was looking grave faced at his associate.
"You say that Poppy's taking care of him in the Hospital Wing?" "Yes Headmaster." "Well then let's go and see how the boy's doing, shall we?"
The two silently left the office and headed towards the Hospital Wing not knowing what was awaiting them.
**********************
In what seemed like no time the two had arrived at the hospital wing.
Upon entering they were greeted with a particularly horrible sight. Harry no longer was curled into the fetal position but instead a fresh scar on the lower left side of his abdomen shown just beneath his bare chest that was wrapped tightly in bandages with some blood soaking through already. He was deathly pale, shivering but sweating profusely still from the dangerously high fever. His breaths came in ragged, shallow and intermittent intervals. The wrist band that was attached to Harry's wrist read a temperature of 103.8 degrees since the fever reducer potion hadn't taken its full effect yet.
The Headmaster made his way over to the Matron as the Potions Master slowly walked over toward the boy's bed with a look of shock and disbelief on his face.
Yes it was true that Severus disliked the boy, but nobody ever deserved to be treated how the boy had been treated. Especially by they're own family. It was Dumbledore who broke the silence softly addressing Madam Pomfrey "Poppy can you tell me what's wrong with him?"
The matron was brought out of her reverie and spoke "I've never seen anything like this before Headmaster. It was a case of Appendicitis, Pneumonia, Blood loss, Food Poisoning and severe malnutrition to begin with. Then the damage from the beatings he received which came to 4 broken ribs, a punctured lung, a moderate concussion, dislocated shoulder, broken wrist, cuts and bruises on 85% of his body."
The headmaster nodded soberly and rested his gaze back on the small boy in the bed. He was snapped out of his musings as the Matron kept on talking
"Thankfully the appendix hadn't burst before I could get it out, or else he'd be in worse shape than he already is. His fever will go down eventually. I suspect that it was a case of the flu that wasn't properly treated that advanced to case of Pneumonia which explains the labored breathing and having one of his lungs punctured by a broken rib didn't help matters either. I'm sorry to say that there's been some permanent damage done to his lungs because of the pneumonia, it's developed into a mild case of asthma." The headmaster interrupted. "What's asthma?" Going into nurse mode the matron promptly responded.
"It's a muggle illness, but it's not the kind that goes away, it's a permanent condition that affects inflicted persons lungs. From what I understand there is no cure and the affected person has to take medications for the rest of their life. If it goes untreated it could be fatal. There are some muggle born and half blood students that have it here, and I believe a couple of cases in pure blood students that are either first or second or sometimes later generation purebloods that runs in their family blood line. Usually a person is born with it, but it can be developed from severe illnesses such as this one. And it didn't help that he didn't have any proper nutrition and was being overworked and not given the chance to properly heal."
During this whole speech Snape, only half listening, continued to watch the unconscious child laying in the bed literally in the fight for his life while his anger grew and grew in hatred towards the man that did this to the boy.
It was true that he did not particularly care for the boy and he personally had had a far from loving upbringing but he was never hit, underfed or mistreated to that extreme. This gave Snape a rude awakening.
He thought that Potter would be pampered by his relatives. Given anything that he wanted and was spoiled rotten at home. But clearly that was not the case, as evident by the boy's 'relatives' behavior towards himself and the boy in the home.
He had known Lily in their school days and never had he met a person more different than Lily when he met her sister. It was hard to believe that a person so kind, pure, gentle and good was related to something that vile, greedy and snobbish. He had meant every word he said before he stunned and left them. But he was brought out of his musings by Dumbledore's voice.
"Now Severus what did you propose we do with young Harry once he wakes up, which hopefully will be soon." "I do not know Headmaster, I am at a loss."
"Well I have an idea, why don't you take care of him for the rest of the summer before term starts. We obviously can't have him going back to his relative's house now can we."
At this request Snape stood up and stared at the Headmaster as if he were crazy.
"But surely you must be joking Albus! I can't care for him! You very well know the type of relationship that the boy and I have! Surely there must be somebody else that could care for him! What about the Weasleys? They'd be more than happy to take him. Or the Grangers, Lupin or the boys Godfather!"
Dumbledore stood there with an almost amused look at watching the younger wizard and considered him for a moment before speaking
"I know that you are right when you say that the Weasleys would be more than happy to take care of him. However; that would be the first place that Voldemort would look for him and I don't want to put Harry or the Weasleys in that kind of danger. The Grangers are not equipped to protect Harry because as you know, Hermione's parents are muggles. Remus and Sirius are on missions for me, so there literally is nobody else to take care of him."
"But Albus, what if I'm summoned?" "Then you'll go and leave Harry here. Voldemort would never suspect you, to be taking care of Harry Potter, now admit it, you know I'm right."
Severus stared into the, once again twinkling, blue eyes and raised his head and threw his hands up in defeat. "All right, all right I'll take care of him. After he wakes!"
The Headmaster stood there with a look of satisfaction on his face. "Good good, now if you'll both excuse me, I have some very important matters to take care of. Immediately inform me if there's any change in Harry's condition Poppy." "Yes, most certainly Headmaster. Have a good evening." Says Madam Pomfrey as she watched the retreating back of the Headmaster and moved over to stand by the Potions Master and addressed him.
"You know it's going to be hard taking care of him. After all he's been through, what with last years events and now this."
"Yes I am fully aware of everything he's gone through Poppy thank you!" Snape says with a bite of impatience in his voice but then visibly softening.
"I'm just not sure if I can give him the emotional support he needs! I've never been a father, I was an only child so I have no nieces and nephews and I had very limited contact with cousins growing up, most of whom I haven't seen in well over a decade or even before Hogwarts so I don't know what exactly I'm doing!"
With that said Severus buried his face in his hands as the Nurse cautiously placed her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort the distressed Potions Master musing to herself. 'You know, I thought there was more underneath that cold exterior. I knew that there had to be something.'
*******************************
*Harry's POV*
After some time, how long he wasn't sure, he slowly started to drift back to the world of the conscious and become aware of his surroundings.
Noting that he no longer felt like his head was a raging inferno, and could breathe slightly easier. But at the same time with some difficulty and that he wasn't in nearly as much pain as he was the last time he could remember, he fought to open his eyes only to be met with a dark and blurry world.
Reaching over to the bedside table but wincing in pain from his still, sore shoulder he pulled his arm close to his chest only to hear movement next to him. He then felt his glasses being slid onto his face and turned to see the Potions Master sitting right there beside his bed in an armchair.
"Thank you." "You're welcome Potter."
Feeling slightly confused that his Potions Master, whom he knew for a fact detested the ground that he walked on, was sitting there beside his bed confused him. Severus seeing the confused look on the boy's face decided to clarify.
"I was the one who got your note from your owl and came to get you. I've been waiting for 10 days now for you to wake up, I've been assigned to watch and take care of you until term starts."
He bolted upright wincing slightly at the pain but ignoring it and sat there with his head in his hands thinking that this couldn't possibly getting any worse.
His most hated teacher had seen his home life and he didn't even want to think what the man was possibly thinking. Probably somewhere along the lines of 'Stupid little Potter, can't even stop that great oaf of a muggle when he's attacked.' But his musing was stopped as he heard his Professor speak again.
"Whatever you're thinking you can just forget it right now. I'm not angry, but at the same time I will not pity you, because I get the distinct feeling that you don't want to be pitied for being raised in that kind of environment. Now I don't want to talk anymore tonight, it's the middle of the night and you need to sleep so just lay back down and we'll talk again the next time you're awake if you want to."
He sat there and slowly nodded then silently consented to the Professor helping him lay back down because he was still terribly stiff and sore and fell asleep rather quickly thinking 'maybe I was wrong about him.'
************************************
*Snape's POV*
Watching Harry lay there in the bed got him thinking. Carefully he removed the boy's glasses noting just how vulnerable he looked without them. He looked so lost and small.
And in reality he was small. Easily one of the smallest in his year usually mistaken for a 3rd year instead of going into 5th. Having just turned fifteen, two days earlier he was only 5'4" and looked like he weighed about 90 pounds because he was still severely underweight. The boy looked almost anorexic though he knew it wasn't self-induced.
The ribs that weren't broken stuck out in sharp contrast to his shriveled, non- existent stomach. 'Well we'll just have to get him eating proper food again.' He thought to himself. 'Especially if he is going to have to fight and defeat Voldemort' he thought more seriously.
Sitting there for how long, he wasn't quite sure, he felt all of the past animosity towards the boy ebb away into nothingness. He cursed himself for being so narrow minded. How could he have missed it all those years ago. When he saw Harry that very first day of his first year in his potions class. He was easily the smallest student in the room, including the girls. He looked so small and skinny. How could he have not seen the signs of it before. He was very quiet and shy, but surprisingly respectful.
'I suppose that he learned that first off because if his uncle beat him like that when he didn't finish his chores I'm scared to think of how he treated the boy if he was disrespectful.' he thought to himself. 'He probably would've killed him, though he was almost dead when I first found him.'
He was snapped out of his musings as Harry started yelling at the top of his lungs and thrashing around. Immediately he sprung into action and gently put his hands on the boy's bony shoulders and shook him gently. Calling his name desperately
"Harry, Harry wake up! It's just a nightmare. Wake up!" Finally after a few moments the boy's eyes snapped open, wide with fear and tears brimming on the edges of them and flinched at the touch on his shoulders.
Immediately he drew them away realizing that all of those years of abuse had to take a toll on the child. His guess had to be if he'd done that at home his uncle probably grabbed him and hit him or something along those lines. There would be no comfort for him. But he was brought out of his thoughts as Harry quietly spoke in a shaky voice.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to wake you."
"I wasn't asleep Harry so no need to worry. Now do you want to tell me about this nightmare of yours? I thought you were being murdered the way you were screaming."
Harry looked at his Professor's face for a moment considering him, but he finally figured that he'd understand.
"Well you see, this is what happened. Basically I was dreaming about the third task. I have been a lot since it happened. The events keep replaying themselves in my mind and I just can't get past or over it and I feel so horrible about it and I can't help myself."
He watched as tears stream silently down the boy's cheeks as he continued.
"I can't believe that I was that stupid! I knew this whole thing was a plot to get me killed! But instead it wasn't me who died! It was a person who didn't deserve to die! And now I'm laying here like this, alive but not truly alive and he's dead and buried!"
Harry broke off and bolted upright into a fit of gut wrenching coughs and started to wheeze from the force of the coughs. Immediately seeing the signs of an asthma attack he snapped into action. He poured a glass of water and helped the boy sip it trying to calm the coughing but it just ended up coming back up and the coughing and wheezing continued as he watched the boys eyes widen in fear as he struggled to take a breath.
"Poppy get out here quick, I need you!"
The nurse came out of her quarters and seeing Harry coughing and wheezing she ran over to a cabinet and drew out, not a potion, but from the looks of it, a muggle inhaler. She ran over to Harry and said in a calm and soothing voice.
"Dear you're having an asthma attack now I'm going to stick this in your mouth and push down on the canister. When I do you need to inhale as best you can to get the medication into your lungs, all right."
Unable to speak, Harry nodded his head and continued to wheeze. The nurse then administered the medication and gently laid him back down on his bed pushing away the sweaty bangs off of his forehead and said soothingly.
"Now you just lay here and try to take deep breaths all right? You'll be fine, don't get excited."
She waited for Harry's nod and then turned and spoke to Severus and handed him the inhaler.
"If that happens again do the same thing that I did. It's got medication in it, unfortunately no spell can stop an asthma attack, this is the only way, if it doesn't get better or gets worse then call me again immediately."
"Certainly Poppy, thank you" "You're welcome Severus. Good night" "Good night."
The Matron left and he turned back and met Harry's eyes that stared at him questioningly.
"Sir, what happened?" "Because of the pneumonia that you had you developed a mild case of asthma." he said knowingly. "It felt like somebody was holding an invisible pillow over my mouth and an entire mountain of bricks was laying across my chest making it very tight."
"Yes that is how it feels. I believe that happened because you got so upset that it triggered it in addition to the coughing. There are several factors that can cause an attack."
"Sir, how do you know so much about this?"
"Because when I was a small child, I had a friend who was asthmatic and I was unfortunate enough to witness a rather severe attack. After that I wanted to find out everything I could about the disease, just in case."
"It's a good thing you did sir, thank you."
"You're welcome now go back to sleep, I'm not going anywhere."
He watched the young boy yawn widely and his eyelids immediately droop and drift off to sleep, hopefully without interruptions.
*****************************
*Snape's POV*
The next day dawned bright and cheery. Severus watched Harry breathe evenly in his sleep. He watched, thinking to himself, 'How am I going to do this? How can I be of support to this child? Maybe he doesn't hate me as much as I thought he did.'
He was brought out of his musings as he saw the boy stir slightly but stay asleep. The next feeling that came over him he couldn't quite explain.
It was kind of like how a parent looked at their child, and one that was very sick at that. Never in his life did he ever think that he would be looking at the son of James Potter like that.
He and James had hated each other when they were in school and it was a well-known fact. Part of the reason for the animosity was that for a long time Severus himself was madly in love with Lily. It slightly pained him to look into Harry's eyes because they looked exactly like Lily's. Lily was so kind, and sweet and she saw through his facade.
He chuckled to himself thinking of the lengths that he went to to be with her.
Pretending to be a bad student and needing a tutor even though she was a Gryffindor. But then she started hanging around Potter, in effect robbing her from him, and that's when the true loathing started.
It was true that they strongly disliked each other and it turned into a relationship that almost mirrored Mr. Malfoy and Potter's relationship. The comments, jeers, loathing, and pranks.
The summer after they graduated Lily and himself married, because she finally realized her feelings for him. Voldemort however found out about the marriage and said that if he didn't terminate it that Lily would be killed. So with only her safety in mind they divorced and Lily went straight into James Potter's arms.
Sometime later, how long he wasn't exactly sure, it was announced that Harry was born. But he was so engrossed in the dark side by that point that he really didn't care or though about it.
After he turned spy for Dumbledore and was informed of the Potter's being Voldemort's next target he felt the urgency even more to protect Lily because even after all he'd been through he still loved her dearly.
The night that they were killed he felt like his heart had been torn out of his chest and smashed into a million pieces. That night was when his world practically fell apart.
Then there was Harry, sent to live with those pathetic excuses for human beings! He still could not forgive himself to this day for not stopping the inevitable but he can sure try to make up for it.
Harry's Aunt didn't seem like the kind of person that would talk about her sister. In fact, Lily said that she and her sister hated each other so of course she wouldn't talk about her to Harry.
She didn't seem like the kind of person who would talk to the boy about anything but to bark orders at him. Well he could tell him some things about the mother he'd never remembered. That could be a start at least.
He was brought out of his musings by the sounds of Harry waking.
"Boy!"
Harry flinched, only then realizing just how loud he had been screaming and instantly trying to cower down in his bed in fear of his uncle. As he came barging in through the door with his beefy face purpling, and eyes bulging with rage as he advanced towards Harry and jerked him up to a sitting position and squeezing his arm so hard that Harry could feel new bruises forming.
"Are you trying to wake up the whole bloody neighborhood with your screaming?!"
For a moment too long apparently, Harry stayed silent only to be jolted from his thinking with his uncle's hand connecting with his cheek while the other still maintained a vice-like grip on his arm.
"Well?! Answer me you freak!"
Harry sat in shock for a second and mumbled "No sir" and tried to control his trembling because he was sure if his uncle could sense his fear he'd really be in for it. Vernon's hand connected with Harry's cheek and finally released and shoved Harry back onto the bed.
"That's for waking your aunt and I and make sure it doesn't happen again or I'll beat you within an inch of your life, boy!"
Harry watched his uncle storm out of the room and slam the door shut only then allowing the tears to spill over that were forming in his eyes. Harry sat on his bed silently crying, holding his cheek where he could feel a bruise forming as he looked down at his arm and saw another bruise forming over an almost healed one. Sitting there on his bed, with the torn up and dirty sheet he used for covers. In the fraying pair of faded pajamas that used to be Dudley's that were much too big for him, he started to think about his life and everything that has happened thus far in it. Especially his life with the Dursleys. While his life up to that time with the Dursleys had been anything from happy and loving they hadn't physically abused him in years. Now that Harry thought about it, they hadn't since he'd gotten his letter to Hogwarts.
You see Harry Potter is not your normal, everyday child. He's a wizard, and a famous one at that. Harry had just returned 3 weeks earlier from his 4th year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. During this last year Harry had been entered without his knowledge and forced to compete in the newly re- instated Tri-wizard Tournament between Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic with another champion from his school. He had also won the tournament despite being the youngest champion. However; he had won at a terrible cost. He was entered into the tournament by one of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters who had disguised himself as the DADA professor for that year and had been plotting to restore his master to a body, and unfortunately it worked. During the last task of the tournament Harry and his fellow Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory, had been transported by portkey to a graveyard where Cedric was killed by Wormtail. Wormtail was another Deatheater and personal servant to Lord Voldemort and was the one that betrayed Harry's parents when Harry was only 1 year old. From that betrayal came Harry's scar which is what made him famous.
Lord Voldemort had come to the cottage where Harry and his parents lived in Godric's Hollow on Halloween night in 1981. He successfully killed Harry's parents but when he went to kill Harry, the spell rebounded on Voldemort who was then severely weakened and fled to only leave young Harry with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. That night Harry was dubbed 'The boy who lived' and has been famous ever since.
Unfortunately that night Harry was taken to the Dursley family. Harry's Aunt Petunia was his only living, blood relative and was a muggle. A muggle is what wizards and witches call non-magical people. She and her husband were muggles of the worst kind. You see, Harry's mother, Lily, was muggle born. Which basically means that Lily was born magical but her parents and family were not. Lily met at Hogwarts and later married James Potter who was a pure blood because he came from a wizarding family. Harry was born a pure-blood because his parents had magical blood in them.
That night Harry was left in the care of the Dursley family who took him in and basically used him as their personal slave for as far back as Harry can remember. Their hope was to keep Harry as downtrodden as possible and literally 'squash' the magic out of him. However; that is impossible. If a child is born with magical blood and abilities it cannot be 'squashed' out of them. All of that treatment stopped when Harry got his letter to Hogwarts. Out of fear what Harry would do to them after years of mistreatment they pretty much left Harry alone. This didn't stop them however; from using him during the summer to do chores for them. At least he wasn't being hit anymore. He still was underfed because Dudley's diet was continuing because Dudley had started to lose weight and now was looking a little healthier even though he was still overweight. But now that Dudley was allowed to eat somewhat normal foods Harry was given questionable food. As in food that wasn't exactly fresh, which left him usually ill slightly. Now Harry was dangerously underweight from lack of food and the overwork from several chores that they forced him to do with the threat of a thrashing even worse than the ones that he was usually getting.
The reason for this new, foul treatment was from the prank that the Weasley twins, Fred and George, pulled on Dudley last summer when they had come to pick Harry up to take him to the Quidditch World Cup. The prank involved the use of a newly developed product by the twins called a Ton- Tongue Toffee. Since Dudley's diet last summer had forced him to consist on basically 'rabbit food' as Harry's Uncle Vernon had put it, Dudley was dying for a piece of candy and just couldn't resist eating the toffee when Fred had 'accidentally' dropped it on the floor. The toffee however had caused Dudley's tongue to swell to 4 feet before Mr. Weasley was able to shrink it back to its normal size. The Dursleys however were extremely angry and were now taking out that anger on Harry since he had conveniently left the previous year.
The instant that Harry walked into and shut the door to Number 4 Privet Drive he was literally painfully reminded just how angry his 'relatives' were about that little prank. After a sound beating Harry's school things were again locked in his former bedroom, the Cupboard under the Stairs, and he was locked in his room for 4 days without any meals only being allowed out once a day to use the bathroom. After being let out, the endless chores and questionable food began. No longer did the "escaped convict for a godfather" trick worked on the Dursleys because they thought he had just made it up in a desperate attempt to end the abuse.
So now we come back to Harry, who was sitting awake in Dudley's second bedroom still crying from the nightmare and the newest smack to add to the list. After a few moments Harry calmed down and laid back down under his sheet and actually fell back asleep hoping to not get woken up again this time by another nightmare.
A few hours later Harry was rudely brought back to the world of the conscious by his Aunt Petunia's pounding on his door and screeching.
"Get up you lazy git!"
He groaned and sat up and put his glasses on and got dressed in a pair of grossly oversized fading and dirty jeans and dirty t shirt that used to be Dudleys because the Dursleys refused to buy Harry clothes of his own. Without even bothering to try to make his hair behave, he slowly made his way downstairs to the kitchen. A moment later Dudley came crashing downstairs and sat at the table and ate the 2 pieces of toast and scrambled eggs that were put in front of him and watch as Harry was given a very ripe almost rotten looking banana with a smug look on his face.
Harry sat quietly eating his banana and thinking about the nightmare and the 3rd Task again only to be sharply brought back to the present by his Uncle's hand connecting with the side of his head.
"Are you listening to me boy?!" "What? Oh I'm sorry Uncle Vernon."
"Sorry doesn't cut it boy! Here's your list of chores to do for today" Uncle Vernon handed over a list of chores. As Harry looks at it he slightly groaned because there was no way that he was going to get all of that done today. Uncle Vernon heard Harry's groan and smacked him again "Don't you dare groan you ungrateful swine! You're lucky that we didn't dump you in an orphanage all those years ago like we should've!"
Harry just sat there silently wishing that he had been taken to an orphanage, because there he probably wouldn't be treated as badly as this. Having had enough of the banana because 2/3 of it was in fact bruised and rotten Harry threw the rest away and maked his way out into the back yard to get the lawnmower since that would take the longest on his list of chores for the day.
3 hours later Harry put away the lawnmower, sweating profusely and put all of the bags of grass out front to the curb to be picked up by the garbage man. Then he got a pair of gloves and a trowel and started weeding the garden. As he worked he thought 'you know what is the point of me weeding the garden every other day when there's hardly any weeds to pull. 10 minutes later he put away the gloves and trowel into the shed and got out the hose to water the garden.
With that completed he went back inside to the kitchen where he saw a plate with a stale piece of bread, 1 small piece of slightly old looking cheese and a glass of milk which tasted like it was at least 1 day past the expiration date. After eating half of the food, he suddenly felt sick and bolted off to the bathroom. After bringing up the little amount of food that was in his stomach he slowly makes his way back out to the kitchen, only and see his Aunt with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot giving him a glare.
"If you think that you're going to get fewer chores by pretending to be sick, you've got another thing coming!" "Yeah, yeah I know" Harry muttered as he walked around his Aunt to go to the living room to dust. After dusting all of the sickening pictures of Dudley and all of his Aunts trinkets he put the feather duster away and went to get a bottle of window cleaner and a rag and clean all of the windows in the entire house. After doing several more chores, mostly little odds and ends, Harry started to make his way exhaustedly up to his room at 5:00pm. Just as he gripped the railing to the stairs his Aunt grabbed him by his elbow and yanked him back to the landing.
"And where do you think you're going?!" She shrieked. "Up to my room, I'm done with all of my chores." He replied weakly. "Oh no you're not done with all of your chores, you forgot to paint the garage door now go and get it done, your uncle called and said if it's not done by the time he gets home at 6 o'clock then you'll be in trouble." Harry sighed and replied "Yes Aunt Petunia," and made his way out to the shed and get out a paint can and a brush and sets to work. About halfway through he felt another wave of nausea. As he threw up again in the bushes on the side of the house he vaguely rememberd Dudley getting the flu right after they both came home for the summer and thought that he got it from waiting on Dudley hand and foot.
After that little bout he went back to painting. Noting that it was already 5:45 and that his uncle would be home soon and he had at least another 30 minutes of work before he would be done, he hurriedly tried to paint as fast as he could without making a mess. At exactly 6 o'clock on the nose Harry's Uncle's car pulled into the driveway with Harry still hurriedly painting but only a couple of strokes away from completing his job.
"BOY! I said that I wanted this door done by the time that I got home! What part of that pea sized brain of yours not comprehend those instructions?!"
Harry physically flinched and stammered "I..I'm sorry Uncle Vernon, I only started an hour ago and didn't have time, I'm almost done." "Almost done doesn't cut it! There will be no dinner for you tonight! You finish this job and go straight to your room and I don't want to see your sorry face for the rest of the night!"
Harry watched his uncle storm into the house thinking that he was lucky to not get smacked but he knew better all the same. Ten minutes later Harry put the paintbrush and can back into the shed in the back yard. He went back inside, hearing the voices coming from the kitchen as his uncle rants about how the company is doing poorly and trudged his way up to his room and collapsed exhaustedly while listening to the sounds of the television play. He fell into a fitful sleep only to be jolted awake by his uncle, who was clearly drunk, punching him in the stomach some time later.
"When I give you a list of chores to be done, I expect all of them to be done by the time I get home! I thought that I had made myself clear about that!" He said drunkedly. He then proceeded to hit Harry a couple of times on his face and wrenched him to the floor, breaking his wrist, and kicked him in the stomach. "Now my company is doing badly and I just know that it's your fault! You and that abnormality of yours! You are nothing but a wretch in my sight and a waste of flesh!" As he continues his tirade he continued to beat Harry mercilessly who threw up all over the floor from the repeated kicks to his stomach. This only made his uncle angrier and beat him more and harder before unconsciousness came to claim him.
**************
Some time later, how long exactly Harry wasn't sure exactly, he awoke in a heap on the floor of his room in a pool of blood and vomit. Ever so slowly he sat up and rubbed his throbbing head and dissolved into a fit of furious and agonizing coughs. He slowly stood up and made his way over to his bed to collapse on it again and fall into a fitful sleep. The next day he again awoke to his Aunts screeching and went through the routine again but feeling as if a ton of bricks had been dropped on his head and his chest making it even harder to see straight and breathe. Miraculously he got all of his chores done only to have his uncle come in again and smack him for some ludicrous reason or another and sent up to his room without dinner again. This wasn't a good thing because he hadn't been given any food all day because of yesterday and even if he was given food he was sure that it'd just end up coming back up anyway. Even not being fed didn't stop the vomiting though and as soon as he got up to his room he collapsed onto his bed breathing raggedly unable to keep his eyes open any longer he fell asleep with half of his thin form hanging off of the bed. Sometime later that night his uncle came for another 'visit' resulting in another thrashing beating delivered by, an again, drunk Vernon. Miraculously he stayed awake afterwards and made his way back onto his bed. Hedwig flew out of her cage and over to Harry carrying a scrap piece of parchment and a bottle of ink and a quill and landed beside him on the bed and hooted and nipped his ear in hopes that he's still awake. Harry looked over at his familiar and gave a weak smile and tried to stroke her feathers. "Thanks girl." then slowly and painfully wrote out a short note.
Whoever reads this, I need help. My uncle has been beating me, and I'm sick. Please help me.
~HP
With the note complete he attached it to Hedwig's leg and collapsed back onto his bed in a fit of coughing that seemed to shake the whole house. In a slight break in the coughing he said, "Hedwig, take this to any professor at Hogwarts. I don't care which one! Just take it to Hogwarts!" then he dissolved into another coughing fit as his Uncle came crashing into the room again just in time to see the snowy owl fly out the window.
"So you haven't learned your lesson yet boy?! Trying to get some help from those freaks?!"
Harry watched his uncle's face purple with rage and weakly tried to scramble away from his Uncle only to be caught by his beefy hand. "Apparently the last beating didn't teach you boy!"
Uncle Vernon then wrenched Harry's arm, dislocating his shoulder, ignoring Harry's cry of pain as he dragged him down the stairs and threw him into the cupboard under the stairs with all of his school things that were still in there and after receiving another punch in the stomach cracking another rib he saw the door close and heard the lock being clicked shut. As Harry sat in the darkness, trying desperately but to no avail, ignore the pain in his shoulder and his still-broken wrist. He wills himself to stay conscious as he silently wished that somebody would come rescue him from the hell that his life had become, before finally succumbing to the black oblivion.
*Hedwig's POV*
As she flew through the night, willing her wings to beat faster and driving herself to move faster in desperation to get help for her master. In what seemed like no time she saw the castle that was Hogwarts coming up in the distance and flew around trying to find an open window to fly into. Finding one close to the ground she flew into what was the Dungeons, and subsequently Professor Severus Snape's office. Who was sitting at his desk running his fingers through his greasy hair looking down at several rolls of parchment trying to ignore the twinge of pain that his Dark Mark was giving off. Upon flying through the window she landed onto the desk and held out her leg and hooted in desperation fixing her amber eyes onto Snape's face.
*Snape's POV*
Seeing the owl standing there on his desk holding out its leg hooting he looked at it with a look of annoyance
"Is this important because I have work to do!"
The owl hooted again holding out its leg and he finally took the piece of parchment then read the note as the owl flew to perch on his shoulder. After reading the note he looks to the owl
"You're Potter's owl?" The owl hooted in agreement "He's still at his relatives, correct?" The owl hooted again. "Take me to him then."
The owl took off and hovered by the window. After pausing for a moment she flew out while he crossed to his wardrobe and drew out a traveling cloak and fasten it around his shoulders and swept from the room thinking to himself 'Good Lord Potter, you can't even stay out of trouble during the summer.'
As he walked to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds he was again met by the owl who perched on his shoulder and he apparated to the edge of Privet Drive then addressed the owl again. "Take me to his house." He followed in the direction of the owl and stopped outside a perfectly normal looking house only to look into the living room window to see a very large man, presumably Harry's uncle, beating the boy with what looked like a stick or cane of some sort. Feeling the anger rising up inside him he went over to the door and, finding it unlocked, entered the house and went to the room where the man was having a tirade bringing the stick down repeatedly all over the frail looking boy who was by then, unconscious, thankfully.
His anger finally getting the better of him he pulled out his wand from the folds of his robes and pointed it at the man and called out "Stupefy!" then watched the man fall over away from Harry.
Upon hearing the crash of the overly large man hitting the floor a woman, presumably Harry's Aunt and Lily's sister, entered the room. An overweight looking boy who was presumably Harry's cousin right after her.
Harry's aunt took one look at her husband on the ground, Harry laying in a crumpled up heap in a pool of his own blood and vomit on the floor and himself with a look of utmost fury on his face that would've sent any student running for the hills within a 10 kilometer radius if they knew what was good for them.
Upon seeing the woman enter he fixed the iciest glare on her and advanced towards her. "You!" he said sharply, pointing his wand at Harry's Aunt "You were here the whole time, and knew what was going on and didn't see fit to stop him from beating this boy?!" his voice in a deathly low growl. He waited for a moment, his allready thin patience wearing thinner he bellowed,
"Well?! I'm waiting for an answer you muggle! Please explain to me why you allowed your husband and this boys guardian to beat him while you just stood back and let it happen!"
Watching her open and close her mouth like a fish out of water, he gets even angrier, if that was possible.
"Well! Answer me!" He bellowed.
Finally finding her voice Petunia stammers out. "My husband was drunk, and as you can see, he's quite a bit larger than me. He would've done the same to me if I got in the way and the boy didn't finish all of his chores today, complaining that he was sick and didn't have the energy so Vernon thought he needed to be taught a lesson."
"And how long has he been complaining that he's been sick?" raising an eyebrow "For about 4 days now that I think about it." Petunia remembered. His anger started to rise again, "And you didn't see fit to get a doctor for him?"
Petunia gained back a bit of her confidence puffing herself up indignantly and stared at him defiantly "We never have, he's a good for nothing leech anyway so why bother?"
Upon hearing the response from Harry's Aunt he'd finally had enough.
"All right, I've had just about enough of you. I knew your sister and I'm sure that she'd be rolling over in her grave right now knowing how you treat her son, hers and your own flesh and blood! I don't think you'd dare treat your own son the same way judging by how big he is and the kind of clothes he wears. Then seeing this boy here dressed in rags and practically skin and bones! You make me sick! And if I and the Headmaster have it our way, he will not be returned to your more than inadequate care!"
He then pointed his wand towards the two people. With a low and malicious growl he said "stupefy!" After watching the two people fall over with a look of utmost loathing on his face he went over to the boy and checkd to make sure that he was at least still breathing and had a pulse.
Having had that confirmed, he went over to the cupboard. He quickly unlocked the padlock and with a quick 'alohomora.' The lock popped open, and he retreived the trunk and the broomstick. He then shrunk them to the size of a matchbox and pocketed the items.
Going back to Harry, he carefully turned the boy onto his back noting the wince as he touched his left shoulder, how deathly pale the boy was but at the same time burning up with fever, how light and ragged his breathing was. He then carefully picked the boy up and lit a fire in the fireplace and threw a pinch of Floo powder in and called out 'Hogwarts' and was rushed through the Floo Network.
************************
Upon coming through the fireplace in Hogwarts, Snape then bolted to the hospital wing "POPPY! QUICK!" Snape then carefully laid Harry down on one of the beds and saw the nurse come rushing towards the two of them.
"What happened to him?!" she demanded.
Severus then launched into the retelling of everything that he had experienced from first getting the note until right up to that moment.
Madam Pomfrey blanched for a moment looking down at the boy who had crouched into the fetal position on his side and was shivering and coughing violently. "All right thank you Professor, now please go fetch the Headmaster and leave me to work." "As you wish Poppy."
With that Severus swept from the quiet ward, pausing at the doorway to throw a slightly concerned glance back towards the Matron and Potter to see her cleaning all of the blood off of the boy.
Severus silently swept through the hallways towards the Headmaster's office hoping that he would be there. Upon reaching the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance he gave the password "Sugar Quills" and made his way up the winding staircase and knocked twice. "Enter" Came the voice of Albus Dumbledore within.
Severus entered the familiar office with its merrily crackling fire in the fireplace and the phoenix Fawkes perched on his usual perch.
"Ah Severus, what can I do for you tonight, though I have a slight feeling that this is not a social visit."
"This has to do with Potter Headmaster." "I see, please tell me what happened."
Severus then launched for a second time into the retelling of the story. First encountering Potter's owl up to arriving in the Hospital Wing. By the end of the retelling the usual twinkle from the Headmaster's eyes was gone and was looking grave faced at his associate.
"You say that Poppy's taking care of him in the Hospital Wing?" "Yes Headmaster." "Well then let's go and see how the boy's doing, shall we?"
The two silently left the office and headed towards the Hospital Wing not knowing what was awaiting them.
**********************
In what seemed like no time the two had arrived at the hospital wing.
Upon entering they were greeted with a particularly horrible sight. Harry no longer was curled into the fetal position but instead a fresh scar on the lower left side of his abdomen shown just beneath his bare chest that was wrapped tightly in bandages with some blood soaking through already. He was deathly pale, shivering but sweating profusely still from the dangerously high fever. His breaths came in ragged, shallow and intermittent intervals. The wrist band that was attached to Harry's wrist read a temperature of 103.8 degrees since the fever reducer potion hadn't taken its full effect yet.
The Headmaster made his way over to the Matron as the Potions Master slowly walked over toward the boy's bed with a look of shock and disbelief on his face.
Yes it was true that Severus disliked the boy, but nobody ever deserved to be treated how the boy had been treated. Especially by they're own family. It was Dumbledore who broke the silence softly addressing Madam Pomfrey "Poppy can you tell me what's wrong with him?"
The matron was brought out of her reverie and spoke "I've never seen anything like this before Headmaster. It was a case of Appendicitis, Pneumonia, Blood loss, Food Poisoning and severe malnutrition to begin with. Then the damage from the beatings he received which came to 4 broken ribs, a punctured lung, a moderate concussion, dislocated shoulder, broken wrist, cuts and bruises on 85% of his body."
The headmaster nodded soberly and rested his gaze back on the small boy in the bed. He was snapped out of his musings as the Matron kept on talking
"Thankfully the appendix hadn't burst before I could get it out, or else he'd be in worse shape than he already is. His fever will go down eventually. I suspect that it was a case of the flu that wasn't properly treated that advanced to case of Pneumonia which explains the labored breathing and having one of his lungs punctured by a broken rib didn't help matters either. I'm sorry to say that there's been some permanent damage done to his lungs because of the pneumonia, it's developed into a mild case of asthma." The headmaster interrupted. "What's asthma?" Going into nurse mode the matron promptly responded.
"It's a muggle illness, but it's not the kind that goes away, it's a permanent condition that affects inflicted persons lungs. From what I understand there is no cure and the affected person has to take medications for the rest of their life. If it goes untreated it could be fatal. There are some muggle born and half blood students that have it here, and I believe a couple of cases in pure blood students that are either first or second or sometimes later generation purebloods that runs in their family blood line. Usually a person is born with it, but it can be developed from severe illnesses such as this one. And it didn't help that he didn't have any proper nutrition and was being overworked and not given the chance to properly heal."
During this whole speech Snape, only half listening, continued to watch the unconscious child laying in the bed literally in the fight for his life while his anger grew and grew in hatred towards the man that did this to the boy.
It was true that he did not particularly care for the boy and he personally had had a far from loving upbringing but he was never hit, underfed or mistreated to that extreme. This gave Snape a rude awakening.
He thought that Potter would be pampered by his relatives. Given anything that he wanted and was spoiled rotten at home. But clearly that was not the case, as evident by the boy's 'relatives' behavior towards himself and the boy in the home.
He had known Lily in their school days and never had he met a person more different than Lily when he met her sister. It was hard to believe that a person so kind, pure, gentle and good was related to something that vile, greedy and snobbish. He had meant every word he said before he stunned and left them. But he was brought out of his musings by Dumbledore's voice.
"Now Severus what did you propose we do with young Harry once he wakes up, which hopefully will be soon." "I do not know Headmaster, I am at a loss."
"Well I have an idea, why don't you take care of him for the rest of the summer before term starts. We obviously can't have him going back to his relative's house now can we."
At this request Snape stood up and stared at the Headmaster as if he were crazy.
"But surely you must be joking Albus! I can't care for him! You very well know the type of relationship that the boy and I have! Surely there must be somebody else that could care for him! What about the Weasleys? They'd be more than happy to take him. Or the Grangers, Lupin or the boys Godfather!"
Dumbledore stood there with an almost amused look at watching the younger wizard and considered him for a moment before speaking
"I know that you are right when you say that the Weasleys would be more than happy to take care of him. However; that would be the first place that Voldemort would look for him and I don't want to put Harry or the Weasleys in that kind of danger. The Grangers are not equipped to protect Harry because as you know, Hermione's parents are muggles. Remus and Sirius are on missions for me, so there literally is nobody else to take care of him."
"But Albus, what if I'm summoned?" "Then you'll go and leave Harry here. Voldemort would never suspect you, to be taking care of Harry Potter, now admit it, you know I'm right."
Severus stared into the, once again twinkling, blue eyes and raised his head and threw his hands up in defeat. "All right, all right I'll take care of him. After he wakes!"
The Headmaster stood there with a look of satisfaction on his face. "Good good, now if you'll both excuse me, I have some very important matters to take care of. Immediately inform me if there's any change in Harry's condition Poppy." "Yes, most certainly Headmaster. Have a good evening." Says Madam Pomfrey as she watched the retreating back of the Headmaster and moved over to stand by the Potions Master and addressed him.
"You know it's going to be hard taking care of him. After all he's been through, what with last years events and now this."
"Yes I am fully aware of everything he's gone through Poppy thank you!" Snape says with a bite of impatience in his voice but then visibly softening.
"I'm just not sure if I can give him the emotional support he needs! I've never been a father, I was an only child so I have no nieces and nephews and I had very limited contact with cousins growing up, most of whom I haven't seen in well over a decade or even before Hogwarts so I don't know what exactly I'm doing!"
With that said Severus buried his face in his hands as the Nurse cautiously placed her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort the distressed Potions Master musing to herself. 'You know, I thought there was more underneath that cold exterior. I knew that there had to be something.'
*******************************
*Harry's POV*
After some time, how long he wasn't sure, he slowly started to drift back to the world of the conscious and become aware of his surroundings.
Noting that he no longer felt like his head was a raging inferno, and could breathe slightly easier. But at the same time with some difficulty and that he wasn't in nearly as much pain as he was the last time he could remember, he fought to open his eyes only to be met with a dark and blurry world.
Reaching over to the bedside table but wincing in pain from his still, sore shoulder he pulled his arm close to his chest only to hear movement next to him. He then felt his glasses being slid onto his face and turned to see the Potions Master sitting right there beside his bed in an armchair.
"Thank you." "You're welcome Potter."
Feeling slightly confused that his Potions Master, whom he knew for a fact detested the ground that he walked on, was sitting there beside his bed confused him. Severus seeing the confused look on the boy's face decided to clarify.
"I was the one who got your note from your owl and came to get you. I've been waiting for 10 days now for you to wake up, I've been assigned to watch and take care of you until term starts."
He bolted upright wincing slightly at the pain but ignoring it and sat there with his head in his hands thinking that this couldn't possibly getting any worse.
His most hated teacher had seen his home life and he didn't even want to think what the man was possibly thinking. Probably somewhere along the lines of 'Stupid little Potter, can't even stop that great oaf of a muggle when he's attacked.' But his musing was stopped as he heard his Professor speak again.
"Whatever you're thinking you can just forget it right now. I'm not angry, but at the same time I will not pity you, because I get the distinct feeling that you don't want to be pitied for being raised in that kind of environment. Now I don't want to talk anymore tonight, it's the middle of the night and you need to sleep so just lay back down and we'll talk again the next time you're awake if you want to."
He sat there and slowly nodded then silently consented to the Professor helping him lay back down because he was still terribly stiff and sore and fell asleep rather quickly thinking 'maybe I was wrong about him.'
************************************
*Snape's POV*
Watching Harry lay there in the bed got him thinking. Carefully he removed the boy's glasses noting just how vulnerable he looked without them. He looked so lost and small.
And in reality he was small. Easily one of the smallest in his year usually mistaken for a 3rd year instead of going into 5th. Having just turned fifteen, two days earlier he was only 5'4" and looked like he weighed about 90 pounds because he was still severely underweight. The boy looked almost anorexic though he knew it wasn't self-induced.
The ribs that weren't broken stuck out in sharp contrast to his shriveled, non- existent stomach. 'Well we'll just have to get him eating proper food again.' He thought to himself. 'Especially if he is going to have to fight and defeat Voldemort' he thought more seriously.
Sitting there for how long, he wasn't quite sure, he felt all of the past animosity towards the boy ebb away into nothingness. He cursed himself for being so narrow minded. How could he have missed it all those years ago. When he saw Harry that very first day of his first year in his potions class. He was easily the smallest student in the room, including the girls. He looked so small and skinny. How could he have not seen the signs of it before. He was very quiet and shy, but surprisingly respectful.
'I suppose that he learned that first off because if his uncle beat him like that when he didn't finish his chores I'm scared to think of how he treated the boy if he was disrespectful.' he thought to himself. 'He probably would've killed him, though he was almost dead when I first found him.'
He was snapped out of his musings as Harry started yelling at the top of his lungs and thrashing around. Immediately he sprung into action and gently put his hands on the boy's bony shoulders and shook him gently. Calling his name desperately
"Harry, Harry wake up! It's just a nightmare. Wake up!" Finally after a few moments the boy's eyes snapped open, wide with fear and tears brimming on the edges of them and flinched at the touch on his shoulders.
Immediately he drew them away realizing that all of those years of abuse had to take a toll on the child. His guess had to be if he'd done that at home his uncle probably grabbed him and hit him or something along those lines. There would be no comfort for him. But he was brought out of his thoughts as Harry quietly spoke in a shaky voice.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to wake you."
"I wasn't asleep Harry so no need to worry. Now do you want to tell me about this nightmare of yours? I thought you were being murdered the way you were screaming."
Harry looked at his Professor's face for a moment considering him, but he finally figured that he'd understand.
"Well you see, this is what happened. Basically I was dreaming about the third task. I have been a lot since it happened. The events keep replaying themselves in my mind and I just can't get past or over it and I feel so horrible about it and I can't help myself."
He watched as tears stream silently down the boy's cheeks as he continued.
"I can't believe that I was that stupid! I knew this whole thing was a plot to get me killed! But instead it wasn't me who died! It was a person who didn't deserve to die! And now I'm laying here like this, alive but not truly alive and he's dead and buried!"
Harry broke off and bolted upright into a fit of gut wrenching coughs and started to wheeze from the force of the coughs. Immediately seeing the signs of an asthma attack he snapped into action. He poured a glass of water and helped the boy sip it trying to calm the coughing but it just ended up coming back up and the coughing and wheezing continued as he watched the boys eyes widen in fear as he struggled to take a breath.
"Poppy get out here quick, I need you!"
The nurse came out of her quarters and seeing Harry coughing and wheezing she ran over to a cabinet and drew out, not a potion, but from the looks of it, a muggle inhaler. She ran over to Harry and said in a calm and soothing voice.
"Dear you're having an asthma attack now I'm going to stick this in your mouth and push down on the canister. When I do you need to inhale as best you can to get the medication into your lungs, all right."
Unable to speak, Harry nodded his head and continued to wheeze. The nurse then administered the medication and gently laid him back down on his bed pushing away the sweaty bangs off of his forehead and said soothingly.
"Now you just lay here and try to take deep breaths all right? You'll be fine, don't get excited."
She waited for Harry's nod and then turned and spoke to Severus and handed him the inhaler.
"If that happens again do the same thing that I did. It's got medication in it, unfortunately no spell can stop an asthma attack, this is the only way, if it doesn't get better or gets worse then call me again immediately."
"Certainly Poppy, thank you" "You're welcome Severus. Good night" "Good night."
The Matron left and he turned back and met Harry's eyes that stared at him questioningly.
"Sir, what happened?" "Because of the pneumonia that you had you developed a mild case of asthma." he said knowingly. "It felt like somebody was holding an invisible pillow over my mouth and an entire mountain of bricks was laying across my chest making it very tight."
"Yes that is how it feels. I believe that happened because you got so upset that it triggered it in addition to the coughing. There are several factors that can cause an attack."
"Sir, how do you know so much about this?"
"Because when I was a small child, I had a friend who was asthmatic and I was unfortunate enough to witness a rather severe attack. After that I wanted to find out everything I could about the disease, just in case."
"It's a good thing you did sir, thank you."
"You're welcome now go back to sleep, I'm not going anywhere."
He watched the young boy yawn widely and his eyelids immediately droop and drift off to sleep, hopefully without interruptions.
*****************************
*Snape's POV*
The next day dawned bright and cheery. Severus watched Harry breathe evenly in his sleep. He watched, thinking to himself, 'How am I going to do this? How can I be of support to this child? Maybe he doesn't hate me as much as I thought he did.'
He was brought out of his musings as he saw the boy stir slightly but stay asleep. The next feeling that came over him he couldn't quite explain.
It was kind of like how a parent looked at their child, and one that was very sick at that. Never in his life did he ever think that he would be looking at the son of James Potter like that.
He and James had hated each other when they were in school and it was a well-known fact. Part of the reason for the animosity was that for a long time Severus himself was madly in love with Lily. It slightly pained him to look into Harry's eyes because they looked exactly like Lily's. Lily was so kind, and sweet and she saw through his facade.
He chuckled to himself thinking of the lengths that he went to to be with her.
Pretending to be a bad student and needing a tutor even though she was a Gryffindor. But then she started hanging around Potter, in effect robbing her from him, and that's when the true loathing started.
It was true that they strongly disliked each other and it turned into a relationship that almost mirrored Mr. Malfoy and Potter's relationship. The comments, jeers, loathing, and pranks.
The summer after they graduated Lily and himself married, because she finally realized her feelings for him. Voldemort however found out about the marriage and said that if he didn't terminate it that Lily would be killed. So with only her safety in mind they divorced and Lily went straight into James Potter's arms.
Sometime later, how long he wasn't exactly sure, it was announced that Harry was born. But he was so engrossed in the dark side by that point that he really didn't care or though about it.
After he turned spy for Dumbledore and was informed of the Potter's being Voldemort's next target he felt the urgency even more to protect Lily because even after all he'd been through he still loved her dearly.
The night that they were killed he felt like his heart had been torn out of his chest and smashed into a million pieces. That night was when his world practically fell apart.
Then there was Harry, sent to live with those pathetic excuses for human beings! He still could not forgive himself to this day for not stopping the inevitable but he can sure try to make up for it.
Harry's Aunt didn't seem like the kind of person that would talk about her sister. In fact, Lily said that she and her sister hated each other so of course she wouldn't talk about her to Harry.
She didn't seem like the kind of person who would talk to the boy about anything but to bark orders at him. Well he could tell him some things about the mother he'd never remembered. That could be a start at least.
He was brought out of his musings by the sounds of Harry waking.