Worlds Apart
by Tsarakitty
Prologue
One boy with dark, disheveled hair, green eyes, and tanned skin.
One with light, slicked-back hair, silver eyes, and alabaster skin.
Raised in different worlds, with different guardians, and different views. Something is coming that will force these two together in a whirlwind of hate, lust, love, jealousy, and power. Can they escape unscathed? Perhaps.
But never unchanged.
Chapter 1: Discovery
I
Number 4 Privet Drive
Huddling under the blanket on his cot in the cupboard under the stairs, Harry Potter listened to the car pull into the driveway. He checked the clock in the hall quickly, before pulling his head back in. 11:28. Uncle Vernon had gone out drinking again. That meant that Harry was in trouble. Aunt Petunia refused to allow her husband into their bedroom, much less into their bed when he was drunk. It didn't help that that was the time he was usually the most horny. And twice as malicious.
'Please let him be mellow this time.' Harry prayed, knowing it was in vain. 'Please, whoever may be listening. Let him just pass out.' Harry burrowed further into his ratty blanket. As the door opened he unconsciously tensed. Uncle Vernon crept toward the cupboard. Harry tensed even more, if that was possible. He had expected no less, but still... he always hoped.
Uncle Vernon opened the cupboard door and stood still in the doorway. Harry scrunched his eyes shut. Suddenly, Vernon grabbed his ankle and hauled him out of the closet-sized area upside-down. Harry let out a small squeak. He knew what was coming. He knew, and his colder, unfeeling, more calculating self came out. The one that cried crocodile tears, and knew what to do to cause Vernon to come more quickly, what to do to please him. How, effectively, to manipulate him.
He was dragged over to the living room and thrown down on the floor. He struggled automatically, and pretended to try to escape, though he knew he couldn't. Uncle Vernon liked it when he struggled. It pleased him, and he didn't usually beat Harry as much. Harry was pulled back and thrown down again. He heard a zipper, and renewed his struggles. Now he really wanted to escape. His wrists were grabbed and held in one of Vernon's large hands over his head. Abruptly, Harry had a cock shoved down his throat. He gagged.
He began to cry even as Vernon drove in and out of his mouth. Vernon came into his mouth quickly, and shuddered with pleasure. Harry lay panting on the rug, his eyes slowly sliding shut. But he gasped in shock, eyes opening, as Vernon entered him with one hard thrust. Vernon's tongue replaced his cock in Harry's mouth. Harry shivered in pain and controlled fear, as blood ran down his inner thighs. His uncle pounded in and out of him, while Harry gasped, and groaned beneath him.
Soon it was all over, and Harry began to drag himself to the cupboard, knowing that the Dursleys would want him out of the way, and he needed sleep so that he could cook their breakfast the next morning. He crawled onto his cot and huddled under his tattered blanket. He would clean himself up. Tomorrow.
"Lazy boy! Get up"
'Aunt Petunia...? Wha-' Something slapped across Harry's back and he hissed in pain. He must have overslept again. He only ever did so when his uncle came home and beat or raped him. Or both. That was happening more often nowadays, but Petunia didn't care, as long as breakfast was made. Didn't care that her husband fucked their nephew more often than he did her. And that that was her own fault.
After the third welt was raised upon his back, Harry dragged himself from the cot, and shuffled to the kitchen after pulling a pair of pants over his sore bottom, and a t-shirt over his stinging back. He got the things from the cabinets that he would need, and set to work on breakfast, working carefully but quickly. He would be punished if breakfast was not already prepared and on the table by the time his cousin Dudley arrived in the kitchen.
He stifled a yawn. The Dursleys worked him like a slave, and he was only allowed to sleep after they did. He cooked, cleaned, and catered to their every need. He was up before them every morning, and if the slightest thing went wrong, he was punished. If he burned the toast, Aunt Petunia took a strap to his back.
Harry hurried to set the table, and had just finished setting everything down, when Dudley strolled in. He appeared a little disappointed that Harry was ready, but he sat down and looked at the stairs. Soon all of the Dursleys were seated, and Harry went to his customary place, kneeling at his uncle's feet. Vernon dropped some table scraps under the table and Harry ate them off of the floor. He took what he could get. Who wouldn't?
II
Elsewhere...
"Sir, they'll kill him!" The standing one of the two figures in the room slammed his hands down on the desk between them. "Albus, you haven't seen what I have!" The man ticked things off on the fingers of his right hand." His uncle beats him daily and he is forced to cook, clean, and eat table scraps!" Both hands slammed back onto the table, before he shouted "Off of the floor! Sir, isn't there anything we can do? Anything at all?"
"Severus, I understand your concern, but we're not allowed to interfere under the law. They are his legal guardians, and we can't prove any thing without magic. Besides, we'll never be able to catch him alone. We cannothelp him."
"Dumbledore, sir, with all due respect, I am going to get him myself if they touch him one more time. He's treated as little more than a pet!"
Professor Dumbledore rubbed the bridge of his nose. "As you wish. But if we can't prove it, I cannot back you against the Ministry of Magic. I had absolutely no knowledge of the rescue before hand. I hope you understand that."
Severus Snape nodded. "I accept full responsibility in that case." With that he turned on his heel and left.
III
Number 4 Privet Drive
He'd not done the cleaning quickly enough for Vernon and Petunia. Petunia had slapped him and sent him careening into an end table. A vase had smashed and ripped into his throat. So he had lain on the floor slowly bleeding to death until Severus had come thudding out of the fireplace to collect him. Severus had been angling on taking Harry away from the Dursleys before they permanently damaged him.
Upon seeing his limp body on the floor, the professor rushed to him and began cursing under his breath. He ripped a strip from his robe and begin trying to wrap Harry's throat up, part of his mind wondering idly what had happened and how long the boy had been bleeding, while another lazily contemplated all of the horrible ways he could torture and kill the Dursley family. "Come on, you can't die on me! You're going to make it! Harry, open your eyes!" Harry's head just lolled to the side. He was just barely still living. Snape apparated to Hogsmeade, directly outside the school's gates, and summoned a stretcher upon which to rest Harry's body. Then he rushed to the hospital wing.
Dumbledore would not be happy.
IV
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry- The Hospital Wing
Severus had fallen asleep next to Harry's too-still body. Madame Pomfrey had healed the throat wound as best she could, but warned him that the effects it would have on Harry, physically and mentally, would be impossible to predict. Severus had just hoped it wasn't anything too bad.
Before being set to watch over him, Severus had assumed that Harry lived a perfect, sheltered little life, pampered and protected. No one would dare to hurt the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. But seeing him reduced to this, to something less than a human being, in his own home, well... Anyone would be hard put to hate him. Severus had long since stopped trying. And now the professor vowed never to let such a thing happen ever again. Ever.
He would protect Harry, with his life if need be. He'd found a purpose, and now he'd carry it out. Just as soon as the boy awoke. That settled, Severus had sat back to wait. And wait. And wait. And soon, he had slept.
Hours later, Severus woke to the sight of Harry writhing in obvious pain, and the sound of him whimpering loudly. The odd lightning-shaped scar on his forehead glowed, and he began to clutch at it. Harry's body arched off of the bed, only his heels and the crown of his head still touching the bed. He twisted, a harsh choked whimpering coming from his abused throat, and dropped abruptly back onto his mattress in a boneless manner that scared Severus into action.
Snape reached out and touched his shoulder gently, but Harry recoiled and huddled against the head of the bed. He mouthed the words 'I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon. I woke you up. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I'm sorry...' frantically, but no sound came out, only a weird croak in his throat. His vocal cords had been damaged. Severus backed up.
"Harry, I'm not your Uncle Vernon. My name is Professor Snape, but you can call me Severus. I have taken you away from your relatives, because when I arrived you were more than half dead. I have brought you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry so that you may live here and train the magic that so obviously flows through your veins. I will protect you, and you need never return to that horrid place you once called home. What do you think? Do you want to stay?"
When Harry hesitated, Snape smiled slightly. "I know it's a lotto take in at once. Why don't you sleep on it and tell me your decision in the morning?"
Harry nodded shyly and settled in. He lay still as Severus settled himself down beside him in the bedside chair, then turned to stare at him. This Mr. Snape was a nice guy, and it kind of disconcerted him. Evil he could handle. Malicious he was used to. Angry was normal to him. But nice? Nice he had no experience with. Harry thought about the man's offer. 'Never return to the Dursleys?' Sounded good to him. But there was probably a catch. What could it be? Harry pondered this as he settled down to sleep. There was always a catch.
When Harry woke the next morning, it was to a bowl of hot chicken broth and a check-up. He was, if not happy, then at least ok with a female touching him, though both adults, Snape and Pomfrey, suspected that if it were a man Harry would not be anywhere nearly so calm. Once Madame Pomfrey had made sure that Harry would eat, she resignedly withdrew to her office and left the two alone together. Harry and Snape observed each other for a good minute in total silence, before either spoke.
Finally Snape began to talk. "I know that all this must be very confusing to you. Let me explain further, as I am very sure that the muggles you lived with never did. You come from- no we'll get to that later. The world you lived in before, and the world you are in noware two entirely different places. You have lived for nearly eleven years in the muggleworld. Muggles are humans who don't use magic, and who, for the most part, don't know about it. There are, as with almost all things, exceptions.
"A squib is a non-magical person born into a magical family. Pureblood wizards are those born into a wizarding family that can perform magic. The Malfoy family is an old wizarding family, as are the Weaslies, the Potters, and the Snapes. Oh, and the Evanses. Although they had a couple generations of squibs..." Here Snape paused. "You are a pureblood." Harry nodded for him to continue.
"Hogwarts is the most prestigious of the wizarding schools in the world. We accept all types of students, basically anyone who is eligible. These people are sorted into houses according to their most prominent compatible trait. Gryffindors are brave, bold, and daring; Hufflepuffs are loyal, patient, and hardworking; Ravenclaws are quick-witted and intellectual; Slytherins are cunning, ambitious, and Machiavellian. Those are just the basic traits. Each house has a Head of House. I am Slytherin's. Likewise, each house has a ghost, ours is the Bloody Baron. Classes are ranged from Transfigurations to Potions, which I teach, with other lessons including Charms and Herbology, to name a few.
"Our current Headmaster is Albus Dumbledore. Each year the houses compete for the house cup, and points are won, through Quidditch, and if a professor feels the need to award them. But points are also lost as a result of many things, including breaking rules and bad behavior."
Snape paused for breath, and Harry took the chance to write the question that bothered him the most. He showed Severus the paper with his question on it. Sir, how can I be a wizard? I think that there has been a mistake. I am very thankful that you saved me- here he bowed as much as possible in his seated position -but I still feel that something's wrong.
Snape exhaled sharply. "You have been on the Hogwarts enrollment list since you were less than a year old. Do you know how your parents died?"
Harry frowned. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia told me that they died in a car crash, but if what you say is true, then I suppose that can't be true, can it?
Severus snorted. "I should think not. Lily Evans and James Potter were a couple of the best, and a car crash couldn't have killed them, any more than a mosquito's bite could! And you my little friend are the result of the coupling of those two. Plus, you survived a direct attack from You-Know-Who. If you don't end up as the strongest wizard this side of Mars, well... Never mind. You're famous because of that defeat of You-Know-Who. Every single wizard now alive knows about you."
Harry thought that over a bit. Who is You-Know-Who? Because you obviously know who You-Know-Who is, but I have not got a clue.
Snape exhaled again. "I forgot how little you know as a result of being raised by muggles. You-Know-Who's name is Voldemort, though he was raised with, if not born to, the name Tom Marvolo Riddle..."
After Severus had completed his tale, both sat in silence for the longest time. Harry had not reacted well to the news that Voldemort had been the one to slay his parents. Who would?
Harry was thinking to himself about all of the lies that the Dursleys had fed him, and he had swallowed them, believing every word. They'd treated him like a hated but still useful pet, and he had accepted it as normal, because, for him, it was. But it shouldn't have been. He should have been treated, if not better than Dudley, at least as well as. They'd poisoned his mind, stolen his innocence, and ruined his short life. And he was mad.
Harry quickly scribbled a note down. I'd like to stay here with you, if you want. When Severus looked up, Harry was smiling shyly.
Severus gave him a reassuring look. "That would... please me. A lot." He reached out to pat Harry's hand, then he thought better of it. No touching just yet. Not until Harry himself initiated it.
Oh, and both would need to learn sign language if he couldn't speak. Severus was about to mention it, when a battered and bloody body stumbled into the Hospital Wing, breathed the word "Severus...", and collapsed.
Disclaimer: I will only say this once. I feel that it is unnecessary to repeat it each chapter, as it is unlikely to change in the future. I do not own Harry Potter or any characters affiliated with him. The entire Harry Potter universe is owned by Ms. J. K. Rowling, and I wish her well of them.
Also, the characters will probably all be, at one point or another, incredibly out of character. Especially Snape. But I figure witnessing the sort of thing that Harry went through for any length of time would not leave most people unchanged. Thank you.
I would like some feedback on whether or not to continue, because I won't bother posting it if no one likes it.