Severus Snape growled quietly to himself. There was a bloody homeless bloke trudging through the back of his acreage. He looked sadly down at his mug of coffee, sighed and set it down. He went outside to chase the bloke off. He made sure he had his wand; the guy had to be a wizard to have wandered on to his property.
When Snape got within earshot of him, the trespasser stopped. Severus paused too, but kept going a little farther. It was turned out to be just some punk kid, too young to have the underage magic ban lifted. He and the kid stared at each other. The kid was about 14 or 15, with chin length black hair and sun-weathered skin. A black tank top practically hung off of his unhealthy, thin frame, and his tattered jeans were held up with a bit of rope. He was barefoot. A white and black bandanna was tied around his forehead, and a bloodstained bandage covered the whole left side of his face, including his eye. A battered blue backpack was slung over his shoulder.
"You're trespassing," Snape said, not without kindness.
The boy shrugged his pack higher onto his back, freeing both hands. He then signed the words, Sorry, sir.
"Hm. Deaf or mute?" the potions master asked.
Mute, the punk signed, and then grimaced ruefully, tapping his throat. That was the first time Snape noticed a fresh scar marring the kid's neck.
He grimaced back. "That's one hell of a battle scar."
The kid nodded, and then signed, You should see the other guy. He smiled weakly, showing he was trying to make light of a situation that he didn't want to talk about.
Snape nodded, understanding. Then he thought for a moment. He couldn't bring himself to shoo the kid off the property so he asked, "Do you need a place to stay?" The kid shrugged. "Well, if you do..." Snape trailed off. He then shrugged and headed back towards his house. He didn't turn back to see if the kid was fallowing him or not, but he didn't hear him walking behind him. He sighed, hoping the kid would be alright. When he reached his door he turned to look for him. He started a little when he saw the kid a mere 5 feet from the front step. The boy peaked shyly at him from under the fringe of his bangs, and then hurriedly looked down again at his nervously shuffling feet. Snape stepped aside and pushed the door open wider. The scruffy kid flashed him a brilliant smile and walked cautiously in.
Snape led him to the kitchen and asked "You hungry?" The kid nodded vigorously, good eye wide. "When's the last time you ate?" Again the kid shrugged, smiling weakly. Snape shoved a bowl, a jug of milk, and a box of cereal in his direction, saying, "Don't eat too much, you'll throw up." He nodded and dug in.
When the kid had slowed down, Snape asked the next logical question: "What's your name, kid?"
The kid shrugged, put down his spoon, and signed, Don't have one.
"Well, that helps a lot," Snape drawled sarcastically as he went in search of his now lukewarm coffee.
The boy grimaced and quickly signed, Sorry, before picking up the spoon and digging in again.
"Well, I can't just call you 'kid' all the time," Snape groused, "Don't you have a nickname or something?"
By now the kid was done eating. He signed, Many. None of them nice.
Snape sighed and rubbed his temples. "What if I gave you a nickname? Would you mind?" The kid shook his head and then cocked his head slightly, signaling Snape had his full attention. "Ah, Luke?"
The kid snorted and shook his head, signing, Star Wars.
"Hm, Muggleborn. Horratio? Mathew? William? Corey? Andrew?..." Snape was spouting names for a while, each of them being vetoed, before the kid held up his hand, a thoughtful look on his face.
Eventually he signed, In primary school there was a homeless man on the corner. People called him Shin Bone. He was good to me. He called me T-W-I.
"Twi?" Snape questioned.
The kid nodded. Long time ago. Hard to remember.
"Good. Twi it is then." Snape nodded once, glad to have finally found a name for the youth. Twi smiled, and premature crow's feet made themselves visible.
Snape showed Twi to the guestroom and Twi signed Thank you, twice for emphasis. Snape shrugged, a little embarrassed, and said, "I'll be in my study."
Once alone, Twi sat gingerly on the bed. Sighing, he rubbed his face. It had been a long journey here, if here was even where his journey ended. He pushed himself to his feet after a few moments and grabbed fresh bandages from his pack on his way to the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror, wincing as he peeled the old bandage away. A wound ran from just under his bandanna, through his now permanently closed eye, down to his jaw. He gently rinsed away the blood and gore, and applied the fresh bandage. His one brilliant emerald eye surveyed his handiwork. The young man that had once been Harry Potter shook his head and, in a hoarse whisper that was hardly audible, murmured, "What've you gotten yourself into now?"