Saving the Hero

Chapter One: End of My Rope

Severus' POV

Now I assumed that the 'Flying Car Incident', as Dumbledore and McGonagall have been calling it, would have been the biggest amount of mischief James Potter's spawn would have gotten himself into while attending Hogwarts this year, but, upon the realization that Harry Potter and the youngest Weasley boy had not only found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, but had jumped into the dark tunnel without telling anyone except that moron of a DADA teacher Lockhart, and having obviously done so recklessly and without any sort of plan, I have realized that having any semblance of peace throughout the next seven years of sharing the castle with The-Boy-Who-Lived, was a mere dream.

The Hogwarts staff and I have been staring at the gaping hole in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom since Fawkes had come into the Great Hall and caused an enormous ruckus before landing upon Dumbledore's shoulder, latching onto him, and flying him through the Great Hall doors. Not even five minute after Dumbledore was swept away, his patronus came rushing into the great hall and demanded that all Prefects were to lead the students to each of their house's common rooms, and to make sure not one student left until their head of house arrived to tell them otherwise. I of course immediately recognized that the absence of not only the DADA professor, but Potter and Weasley as well, was not a coincidence, but that there was some sort of catastrophe the spoilt brat and his dunderheaded accomplice had undoubtedly caused and, if not found dead, would be rewarded for. So when the Great Hall was cleared of all but professors, the patronus had us follow to where Dumbledore was ogling the entrance.

Now after hearing the full story behind what happened down in the chamber I not only keep my outrage to myself, for the sake of being a spy, but also watch as the headmaster rewarded him! I am so angry by time the meal has finished that I am barely aware that I have left the Great Hall, and am thundering towards my private quarters in the dungeons.

Of all the stupid things to do to the little dunderheads, rewarding them greatly after they had broken dozens of school rules and endangered their lives several different times, but to openly approve their bullheadedness! This is the final straw! I am beyond disgusted and I refuse to teach that disrespectful little …Potter!

I decide that immediate action must be taken, and so once I arrive to my quarters I floo directly to Dumbledore's office. Upon my arrival the headmaster offers me candy which as always I decline before he asks what I have come to discuss and I begin my rant. Pacing back and forth in front of his desk I make my grievances known. Once I am fully out of air and have covered all the bases of how utterly preposterous it was for him to simply allow two second year students to flaunt their disobedience and carelessness to the entire school but then censor the crimes they committed and allow them to accept a reward for such insolence I collapse into a chair that sits in front of his desk, heaving for breath. After several minutes of silence I say "I made a promise when Lilly died; that I would protect her child. Every time he puts his life at risk I am failing her and have been since the promise left my lips. He has no discipline and seems to not care weather he lives or dies. I am tired of having that failure, my failure, thrown at me at every turn. I will have nothing else to do with the boy my hands have been tied and I can do nothing for him under these circumstances." After I have finished I stand to leave when he call my name "Severus, I agree with you he has no discipline and dose not care about his own life." I turn to him in bewilderment that he is in agreement with me. "I want you to wait two weeks then go and see how his life is at his relatives"—he cuts my protests short "You will understand his carelessness when you come back and you will understand why I am more than lenient with him."

Chapter Two: Coming From the Wrong Conclusions

As ordered I waited two weeks before apparating to Privet Drive. I had previously placed a charm on my self so that anyone who saw me wouldn't be able to comprehend that I was truly there. Once I arrived at number 4, I was fully prepared to watch as Prince Potter had slipped back into the role of being a spoiled rotten brat and watching his relatives run ragged to give him everything he wished for. What I really saw was beyond my comprehension. Yes my father has been overly harsh with his punishments and I had learned to avoid confrontations with him and his heavy leather belt, at all costs, but to see not only his uncle being violent with him but his aunt and cousin as well was sickly astonishing. I thought that maybe this was only a result of him misbehaving, but after watch him being hit over and over for every thing he did or tried to do I could not bear letting them lay another finger on the boy.

Before I even knew what I was doing I canceled the charm that hid me and charged into the house, immediately hexing his whale of an uncle, who was about to throw his giant fist into Harry's stomach, and he flew across the room slamming into their chimney and sliding to the floor unconscious. Almost immediately after he sprawled out onto the floor his wife Petunia began screeching and the junior whale, I assumed was the cousin Dudley, jumped behind her to hide; which was mildly amusing because her screeches sounded just as they had when we were children and her son was sticking out on both sides of her.

I looked to where the boy was still cowering on the floor from when I came through the door. He still had his arms up beside his head where he was trying to protect himself from the blows his uncle was intending to deliver. His eyes were wide and his jaw was slack as he kept jerking his head between me, his unconscious uncle, and where Petunia and Dudley were standing in fright. I reached my hand down to help him up but he flinched back from me, accidentally smacking his head into the wall that was behind him. I realized he was in an absolute panic, so I slowly kneeled down in front of him so I wasn't as intimidating and could try and coax him to let me help him.

Once I was at eyelevel with him I could see that his eyes were more sunken in then the last I saw him and the bones on his hands, arms, and face were more pronounced. He had a bad sunburn too I'm guessing that is why the lawn and garden look so nice because the other three were pale and had probably never set foot out of the house with the intent to do any up keep. The palms of the boy's hands were covered in blisters and cuts that were nearly infected from not being able to be kept clean. He also had a busted lip that was fairly new and the right side of his cheek was swollen and red with bruising beginning to set in where his aunt had slapped him when I first arrived. I returned eye contact with him then said "Mr. Potter must you always find trouble for yourself?" The sarcastic question had the desired affect of bringing him out of his panic and the wild look in his eyes was replaced by a heated glare. Angry was easier to deal with than panic or blubbering and I gave my self a mental pat on the back for keeping the bite almost completely out of my tone.

Once I could tell his mind was on how much he hated me and not on what I had just witnessed I stood and said "Shall we get your things and go or are you going to sit there thinking the entire world is on pause waiting for you to quit sulking?"

He quickly jumped to his feet and bit out "What do you want Snape?"

I, of course returning the bite into my tone, drawled "It's Professor Snape to you, and obviously I have come to collect you from your," I looked towards the whimpering Petunia and Dudley narrowing my eyes in disgust "relatives and bring you back to Hogwarts."

His eyes narrowed at me in suspicion and he asked "Why would you come and not Dumbledore or Hagrid?"

Rolling my eyes at him and scoffed "Because not everyone's lives revolve around the Boy-Who-Lived and we take turns doing the redundant tasks." His face turned red when I mentioned his famed name then his scowl if possible became harder.

"I'm not going with you Snape!" He yelled out and before I could reply Mrs. Dursley jumped in.

"Yes please take the miserable little freak! We never wanted him; he was just dumped on us and has been nothing but a burd─!"

I silenced her before she could finish her screeching and her face which had been red while she had began to rant became nearly grey when she realized no sounds were coming out of her mouth. The boy who was peaking out from behind her became pale and started to blubber for his mummy and I cast a silencing spell on him quickly before the headache I had could worsen. Potter's face was red in shame and I quickly moved on before he could become…emotional, and said "You will be coming with me no matter if I have to give you a little incentive, or you can act like a big boy and come on your own accord." I knew my threat would be irritating to him more than scary and it worked well because he huffed at me and began to scramble up the stairs to collect his things.

Once he came down with a small bag of things I asked where his trunk was and he glared at me and ground out "It's locked in the cupboard." before he brushed past me to walk down the hall and to a cupboard that had several locks on it. I cast alohamora and watch as the lock all came loose and he opened the door and retrieved his trunk. I noticed a small mattress on the floor of the cupboard along with crown writing on the walls I realized it said Harry before the boy angrily slammed the cupboard door and glared at his ratty shoes. I ignored him and shrunk his trunk before placing it in my pocket along with the small bag he had gotten from upstairs and placed my hand on his shoulder before apparating to Hogsmead.