In a room on the seventh floor there sat a piano. On top of said piano sat a bloodied razor. Sat staring at the razor which had just inflicted so much damage was a young boy, barely 14-years-old, not trying to stem the flow from his arms but rather playing simple slow melodies upon the ivory keys.

Walking along that very same corridor was the potions master, trying to catch any students out who were wandering around after curfew.

Now, this room is not any ordinary room, rather one made of magic, one that appears and gives the occupant exactly what they need at that time.

The black-haired man, hoping to find some students- preferably not of his house- to punish, heard the quiet tones that could only be a piano being played.

Feeling victorious, for having found someone out after dark, he pushed open the doors from behind which the music was emanating. Now, being a magic room that provides whatever you need, perhaps this was by coincidence, or perhaps it was because the boy needed help and so the room allowed the man to find him there.

The boy sat entranced watching the blood flow down his wrists as he played resulting in his ignorance of not being alone. Bringing the soft melody to the end he picked up the razor again and was about to run it once more across his already marred skin.

"Potter!" bellowed the voice of his surly potions professor. Harry whipped his head towards Snape with such speed that it was a miracle that he did not give himself whiplash.

"P-p-professor. I-I didn't hear you c-come in." The boy was unable to keep his voice from quivering, not from fear of the man though, but from fear of his coping mechanism being discovered.

"What do you think you are doing here? Especially seeing as how it is gone midnight." The potions master sneered at the younger boy. 'What does the boy have to be upset about? He is a pampered prince at school and at home, everyone loves him. Nothing he does can possibly be wrong in the eyes of the wizarding world so why would he do this?'

"W-well, you see sir, I thought I heard someone leaving the tower, I-I thought that I would, umm, you know, go get a teacher. Make sure that the person didn't get hurt when I just stumbled upon this scene."

"Do you think me an idiot Mr. Potter?"

"N-no sir. Of course not."

"The truth then Potter."

"Well I was sleepwalking you see, when I woke up I just happened to find this razor bloody on top of the piano and I thought I would play. With the piano that is Sir."

"Harry, please don't lie to me." Whereas before Harry had been switching his gaze between the piano and his feet, he snapped his head up upon hearing his name uttered from the lips of his professor for the first time.

"What did you say Sir?"

"I said, please don't lie to me."

"N-no, before that Sir. You said Harry. You called me Harry."

"Well, yes. I suppose I did. That is your name after all."

"Thank you." Harry let out a very shaky breath while the corners of his mouth turned up into a small smile when the potions master repeated his name upon request. He felt so shocked, and yet happy, that his professor had done as he requested, that he felt the familiar prickling in his eyes, the tell-tale sign of tears forming.

"You're welcome Harry. But please don't avoid the question. What are you doing here?" the smile that had previously graced Harry's features dropped suddenly and he looked down at his red arms. He didn't answer, he couldn't answer, he couldn't let anyone know how screwed up 'The Saviour' was. Severus sensed that Harry wasn't going to answer that question so he decided that he would drop it, for the moment. "It's okay Harry. You don't have to tell me now, but I want to help. I will listen whenever you want or need to talk, I promise you that." He paused trying to think of what to say next. "How about you let me heal your wounds, or at least bandage them for you, and then you play me a song?"

Harry seemed to think about this for a minute before gingerly holding his arms out towards Severus as his silent consent. Snape approached and sat down on the piano bench next to Harry and took out his wand. He began the enchantments that would be needed to clean and seal the deep cuts on the boy's wrists, whispering the charms rather than speaking with his normal volume as though that would disturb the quiet of the room.

After he was done both he and Harry turned their bodies away from one another and towards the piano. Slowly Harry began to play the song that he had chosen, singing along after the piano introduction.

"Help, I have done it again

I have been here many times before

Hurt myself again today

And the worst part is there's no one else to blame."

Severus was staring at the grace with which Harry's fingers flew across the keys with skill and avidly listened to the young man's voice which had grown deeper as he grew up but still leant itself well to the song of his choice.

"Be my friend

Hold me, wrap me up

Unfold me

I am small and needy

Warm me up

And breathe me.

Ouch, I have lost myself again,

Lost myself again and I am nowhere to be found,

Yeah, I think that I might break,

Lost myself again and I feel unsafe."

Harry had almost forgotten that Snape was sat next to him as he lost himself in the song. He could relate to it and as such, sung it with every feeling he had in his body. This meant that he was beginning to feel the formation of tears again but refused to let his voice crack for the remainder of the song.

"Be my friend

Hold me, wrap me up

Unfold me

I am small and needy

Warm me up

And breathe me.

Be my friend

Hold me, wrap me up

Unfold me

I am small and needy

Warm me up

And breathe me."

With the last line of the song the tears began to roll down Harry's cheeks as all the emotions got to be too much for him to hold in. Severus noticed immediately when Harry began to cry so he made the snap decision to pull the boy towards him. Snape knew that he looked very thin but beneath his robes he knew that he had strong muscles, as such it was with minimal effort on his part to bring Harry into his lap and wrap his arms around the boy.

At first Harry tensed when he felt himself being lifted, however when he felt his professor settle him onto his lap and put his arms around him he turned his head into the older man's neck and fisted his hands into Snape's robes.

Once Harry realised that Snape was there and that he cared about HARRY he began sobbing louder. Body-jerking sobs. Heart-breaking sobs for the man holding him who so longed to know what could drive Harry to do this to himself.

Severus rubbed circles on Harry's back to help keep himself calm, and to try to calm Harry down. As much as he claimed to have control over his emotions Severus couldn't stop a few tears from falling while holding the broken boy in his arms.

Guilt was taking over Severus' body at the thought of how he had treated this young boy over the last three years and whether part of what Harry had been doing had been caused by him. After all, he could tell that the scars across the young man's arms varied in age from a few years to an hour or so. He had been so harsh on the boy when in class and just generally around the castle.

When Harry stopped crying he felt embarrassed at his break down and so went to get up from the lap of the teacher that had hated him so much, or so he thought at least. When he tried to move he found that he couldn't escape the arms of his professor and so looked up in fear at the face of said man.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"Me? Oh Harry, you're asking about me?"

"Ummm, sorry?"

"I wasn't meaning it as a bad thing. It's just that you were the one who was cu- hurting himself and yet you still ask about others before yourself. You are so selfless. I'm fine thank you Harry, I just wish that I were able to help you. How are you?"

"Sir, you have helped. You stayed here with me. You healed my arms. Hugged me when I cried, even if that is just out of duty." Harry started off strong but couldn't help but murmur the final eight words.

"Duty? Duty? Harry, I stayed because I care about you, not because I had to, I wanted to. I want to. Let me help? Please?"

"I don't know that I can professor." Harry said particularly downcast.

"Call me Severus. I truly do care about you and I really do want to help. I will always listen to whatever you want to talk about. Whenever you want to talk about anything. If you ever feel like you want to hurt yourself, come to me, we will get through this Harry, together, I will help you get through this."

"Thank you Si- Severus. I want to talk to you, I just don't think that I can tell anyone. I promise that I will come to you before I cut next time though."

"You said that you want to talk but you don't want to tell me. If I ask you questions and figure it out myself, would that be okay?"

"I-I guess so Sir. How do you mean exactly though?"

"Well, I guess what I mean is that, I'll ask you questions and you just say yes or no until you feel comfortable enough to talk to me."

"That seems fair. I don't want to burden you though Sir," said Harry worriedly.

"I thought that I told you to call me Severus, or Sev if you want as I know it can be a bit of a mouthful. You most definitely are not a burden and you never will be. Now, how you feel, is it to do with the Durleys?"

"Dursleys Sir, sorry, Sev. Partly."

"So it is to do with a collection of different things?"

"Yes."

"Your parent's death?"

"In a way."

"You think it's your fault?"

"It is my fault, but it is more that I wish I died with them."

"No, please don't think that," Severus responded while hugging Harry tighter. "Your role in the war to come?"

"That is a big part of it."

"Is that all of it?"

"Mostly. I, well, I, umm, Gods I don't know. On my eleventh birthday I found out that I was a wizard and could get away from the Dursleys 'care' at Hogwarts, that was the best present that I've ever got, and probably will ever get. At the same time though I also found out that my parents were killed by someone who was trying to kill me, that it wasn't just a car crash. I found out that I was famous for my parents being killed while the one person out of the three of us who was meant to die, the one that I wish did, lived on. The very title that the entire wizarding world calls me mocks that very fact, I'm the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. The 'Boy-Who-Lived', or James Potter, they are the only things that people see when they look at me. The person I killed or the person I became by killing him and my mother. Everyone expects me to kill Lord Voldemort, I don't want to kill anyone. I have never wanted to kill anyone, other than myself, and here I am being made into a murderer. How does that make me any better than him? My story began by him murdering my parents and I'm meant to murder him back, making me just like him. 'Carbon copy of James, with the eyes of Lily, the morals of Voldemort, and a death-wish', some saviour. No one sees me as Harry, just Harry."

Severus knew that Harry had to get it all out once he had started so he held his tongue and only offered the comfort of the hug and the slow circles he rubbed on Harry's back.

"You didn't kill your parents. If you want someone to blame, blame me, I am the one that told Voldemort something that lead him to believe that he needed to kill you. You shouldn't have died, then your parent's deaths would be for nothing, for they would have fought Harry, they would have fought for their son and he would have killed them still. I am so glad that you didn't die, I just wish that you could see how you deserve life. You aren't alone in the fight against Voldemort, there are hundreds of witches and wizards who will be there to aide you, who will be next to you protecting you, like myself for example. You cannot see yourself as his murderer, if you have to kill him he is no longer human, or a natural being, he is a thing that causes great pain and suffering. I will help you to rid the world of that filth. As for your family, what did they do Harry? Why were you so eager to escape?"

"Anywhere is better than there."

"What do you mean? I knew Petunia when we were children, she never did like magic after Professor Dumbledore told her that she couldn't come to Hogwarts with Lily."

"Not like magic? That's the understatement of the millennia. They hated it, detested it. Never spoke of it or of any such freakiness like my parents or me. Didn't want Dudley exposed to such disgusting nonsense. They tried to 'stamp it out' I believe were uncle Vernon's worlds. They didn't abuse me. They were strict yes but he would only beat me, lock me in my cupboard, or deprive food if I'd done something wrong."

Severus could see that it was going to be hard to convince Harry to tell him everything. "How bad were the beatings?"

"They were alright Sir, I-I mean Sev."

Severus let out a sigh and decided that the way forward would be to go back to Harry giving him yes or no answers to questions. "Did you ever pass out during, or after, a beating?"

"Yes, that was how he would determine whether or not the punishment was sufficient."

"Do you have any scars from the punishments?"

"Yes, although I learnt how to cast glamours to cover all of my scars, other than the one on my head, after all, people would realise that something was amiss if that was missing. That way if I had to get changed for quidditch, or roll up my sleeves in potions, or end up in the hospital wing people wouldn't ask questions."

"Can I see them?" Severus chanced. "I just want to check the extent of the damage done."

"I suppose that I can show you but not right now. Please?"

Severus relented that Harry didn't have to show him the scars right now but told him that it would have to happen soon. "Have they even broken any of your bones?"

"Almost every bone in my body at some point or another, some of which several times."

"Which was the worst? Do you think that you deserved it?"

"Probably my spine, or the time that he broke six ribs because they punctured both lungs. My magic healed me though, just left me exhausted afterwards, it took a lot out of me so I began only focusing on the major breaks and then healing the smaller problems later on. Yes, I did deserve it, I still do, I'm a murderer, I'll take anything that is dealt my way as penance for my actions."

"DID THEY NOT TAKE YOU TO HOSPITAL? You are not a murderer Harry, you haven't killed anyone. You are an amazing young man who puts everyone before himself. You are so strong Harry. You aren't a murderer, you have no blood on your hands, you are Harrison James Potter, you deserve so much but none of what you got you deserve." Severus was getting angry but knew that he had to contain it judging from the flinching boy in his arms when he shouted.

"No. If I died there was just one less freak to worry about. If not, they still had their cook/cleaner/punch bag. It's fine, my magic healed me, it cost me my food for the following week each time though for using magic.

"That's wrong, you know that right Harry?"

"I suppose so. It was my fault though." With this Harry tried to stifle a yawn at which point a door appeared on the wall opposite the long-forgotten piano.

"We'll continue this tomorrow young man, we are both excused from classes. For now, bed." Severus waited for Harry to stand so that they could go to sleep but when he didn't Snape looked down at his charge. He noticed that Harry's grip on his robes had loosened as the boy was breathing evenly having fallen asleep.

With a small chuckle at the thought of the boy falling asleep so quick Severus stood up with Harry in his arms, bridal style. As he walked past the grandfather clock that had also appeared he noted that three and a half hours had passed since hearing the piano from the hall, no wonder the young man was tired.

Severus laid Harry down on the bed that was in the room off from the main room, transfigured his clothing to pyjamas, pulled the covers over him, then turned to leave. "Goodnight Harry, sleep well," Severus whispered so to not wake the boy.

However Harry noticed his absence and let out a small whimper, "don't go." Severus nearly missed those two little words and left the room. Nearly. "Stay with me please Sev'rus. I sleep better with someone else. Please?" The older man sighed slightly but transfigured his own clothes none the less. He walked round the bed and led gingerly on the opposite side to Harry, unused to sharing a bed, let alone with a student.

"Sleep now then Harry. Goodnight."

"Goodnight dad," Harry said already asleep again, not realising what he had said. Severus on the other hand had heard the words Harry uttered with crystal clarity. His heart swelled at the words, even if they were a slip of a tired mind. He could almost imagine being a father to Harry until he thought about who his real father was. He didn't see Harry as James anymore, but knew that there would be some serious objections from James that his son had referred to 'Snivellus' as 'dad'. Snape slowly drifted off into a peaceful sleep, dreaming of his life if Harry had been his.