Occlumency. Harry's least favourite time of the week. This is what he was thinking as he made his way down to the dungeons that evening. He had not been practising as Snape had asked him to, but had too many other things to worry about. Before he set foot in Snape's office that evening, he quickly adjusted his sleeve to hide the marks he had made just a few hours earlier. Opening the door, Snape stared at Harry until he made his way inside and took a seat. "Have you been practising?" Snape asked
"Yes, sir." Harry lied
"Well, I shall know in just a moment. Legillimens!" The familiar feeling of having his mind read overtook Harry as he squirmed. At first there were just a few loosely guarded memories, when he met Ron and Hermione, getting his Hogwarts letter, his first quidditch game. As the spell grew stronger it started to unlock other memories, his first kiss with Cho, Dumbledore's Army, his promise of a home with Sirius. These were all memories Snape had seen before, first, ones that Harry threw in his way to stop him reaching others, then those that unlocked when Harry had been struggling for a moment, but that evening, when Harry weakened for just a second, Snape unlocked memories that he had never seen before. Harry sat alone in the dormitory holding his potions knife to his wrist, already covered in blood, the time a dog had chased him up a tree and kept him there until beyond midnight, the Dursley's laughing as he climbed the tree, but then came memories Snape wished he had never seen, Vernon Dursley holding Harry by the throat against a wall, and before dropping him when he could not longer be bothered questioning the boy. Petunia Dursley holding Harry's hand over the hob, burning him as he had burnt the bacon, Dudley Dursley kicking Harry in the ribs until he had curled into himself, with Dudley laughing at his pain. The worst memory he found, that he did not mean to find, Vernon Dursley throwing Harry into his bedroom, if it could even be called that, removing his belt and raising it above his head.
"Stop!" Harry shouted, bringing Snape out of the spell. "Just stop." This came out as more of a whimper than anything else. He stood up to collect his invisibility cloak and leave.
"Potter." Snape murmured "Sit down."
"I'm not going to talk to you about what you just saw if that's what you want." Harry said thickly
"I didn't say that, I told you to sit down." Snape was slightly more forceful with his words, but did not have the loathing tone that he usually had in the classroom. After a moment, Harry obeyed.
"Lift up your sleeve." Snape commanded, watching as Harry went to lift his right sleeve. "The other one." He said simply. With reluctance, Harry lifted his left sleeve, revealing scars and cuts, both old and new. Snape took Harry's arm, running his hand over the damage, trying to get a feel for how bad it was. "Who's was the dog?" Snape asked, trying to distract the boy.
"It belonged to my Aunt Marge." He said "I stepped on it's paw so it chased me up the tree." Snape nodded as he vaguely listened, still assessing the damage of Harry's forearm.
"Potter, I'm going to have to take you to the hospital wing..." He said absentmindedly
"No, absolutely not." Harry insisted firmly, pulling his arm away from the potions master's grip.
"Harry, I cannot tell what kind of damage you've done here and as somebody who assesses damage as part of his job that's pretty damn impressive!" Snape's voice rang through the room, bouncing off the stone walls and ceiling. Harry was silent, he had never heard Snape call him by his first name before. "But Sir, Madam Pomfrey will tell Professor Dumbledore, and Dumbledore-"
"Should know what's happening right under his nose." Snape finished. "And before you say a word about Professor McGonagall, she should too."
"But Sir-" Harry tried to protest
"No buts, Potter. You're coming with me to the hospital wing. Wear that damn invisibility cloak if you do not wish to be seen with me." Harry simply draped the cloak over his head and followed Snape out of the dungeons.
In their passage to the hospital wing, the pair had to go through the transfiguration corridor, but Harry was surprised when Snape stopped outside a door and knocked. He was even more surprised when Professor McGonagall appeared, her grey hair falling in soft curls over her shoulders, rather than the usual severe updo. "Severus, what a surprise." She greeted "Is this important, I'm grading NEWT papers."
"Minerva, please come with me."
"And where would we be going, Severus?" She asked
"Somewhere that concerns one of your Gryffindors." He said simply. Professor McGonagall joined Harry and Snape on their way up to the hospital wing. When they arrived outside the door, Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak. "Potter!" Professor McGonagall gasped "Have you been following Professor Snape and I?"
"Well... uh... technically yes but-" Harry's nervous stammer was cut off.
"It was under my orders, Minerva. I asked Potter to follow us under his invisibility cloak." Professor McGonagall gave a tight-lipped nod of acknowledgement. The three entered the hospital wing, just as Madam Pomfrey was finishing putting those staying to bed. "Severus, Minerva! What brings you here?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"Mr Potter here is what brings us to you, Poppy. I need to you examine him." Snape said cooly. Madam Pomfrey merely nodded and led Harry over to an empty bed, pulling screens around to shield him from the other patients, so Professors Snape and McGonagall could look on at the young student.
"Mr Potter, could you please remove your shirt?" Madam Pomfrey asked. With much reluctance at stripping in front of three adults, Harry pulled his shirt over his head. There was a collective gasp from the two women at the state of Harry's skin. The buckle-shaped welts in his back were still bruised, four months after leaving Privet Drive, and the cuts on his arm were clearly not the only marks of self-mutilation on Harry's body. "Potter, what happened?" McGonagall asked
"It's nothing." Harry insisted
"It's not nothing, Potter, its abuse." Snape interjected
"Abuse, Severus?" Professor McGonagall looked faint
"Yes Minerva. Harry's relatives have been abusing him since he was at least seven year old, if not younger." Snape explained "It was revealed to me whilst helping Harry practise occlumency. I used the legillimens charm and the memories were shown to me."
"This arm has been broken at some point. Potter, it's going to be better in the long run if I vanish this bone and you regrow it. You've regrown bones before, you know what you're in for." Madam Pomfrey muttered
"Is he going to be ok, Poppy?" Professor McGonagall asked
"Physically I can heal him until there are barely scars. Mentally it's going to take a while. I can keep him here tonight and heal him up, give him a sleeping draught so he can't feel a thing. As for his mental issues, I think it best we leave the muggles to handle that. I can find him a muggle with magical relatives, so he doesn't have to hide anything."
"Thank you, Poppy." McGonagall said gratefully "Harry," Harry hadn't been listening up to this point. He was too exhausted to care. "Harry, you're going to stay here tonight. Madam Pomfrey is going to heal your wounds, and Professor Snape and I will be back tomorrow." Harry just nodded wearily, eager to get some sleep after the nights events. Professor McGonagall left, just as Snape crouched next to Harry. "You'll be ok, Potter. We'll make sure that oaf can't touch you anymore." Harry nodded again, slowly drinking the sleeping draught he had been given. He yawned and stretched out onto the bed he was sitting on, falling asleep almost instantly. Snape stayed for a few minutes to help Madam Pomfrey swap his jeans for pyjamas, revealing yet more wounds on his legs, and sighed. Severus Snape stood overlooking the boy, and for once did not see Harry Potter, son of James Potter, an arrogant, spoiled little boy who relied on his fame for everything. Instead he saw Harry Potter, son of Lily Evans, his Lily, a lonely, abused, scared young man, who held far more secrets than he should, and for a moment, just one moment, Severus Snape saw that he and Harry Potter had far more in common than he first thought.