moonlight
Disclaimer - I do not own the Harry Potter series and universe. As much as I wish I did, I regret to inform you I am not J.K. Rowling. -_-"
The moon glittered coldly down on the curb of Number 4 Privet Drive. The light cast long wavering shadows, but the longest of all was the shadow of a small boy. He wasn't much to look at, small, scrawny, and barely bigger than a shadow himself. Not that it was his fault he got the minimum amount to eat, and his cousin's clothes only emphasized that fact. But the six year old didn't know that. As far as he was concerned, he was lucky to even get that much. After all his uncle and aunt were kind enough to take him in after his parents killed themselves in a car crash. He sighed and wondered what it would be like if his parents were alive. Would he have been as pampered and loved as his cousin? He thought about it and shuddered. No one wanted to be as corpulent as Dudley. He gazed longingly at Dudley's room wishing that he could move into Dudley's extra room. He wouldn't take up that much space, honest! But then he decided to focus his attention to the problem at hand. Find stuff to keep warm, like a pile of leaves. After all, if you can't keep warm you'll freeze. He was locked out of his aunt and uncle's house for the second time that week and was mad at himself for not finishing his chores. Weeding cooking, laundry, cleaning Dudley's room, dusting and taking out the trash. It really was his own fault, he didn't finish dusting the living room in time. He sighed and sadly stared up at the moon, wishing he could get far away right then.
Far away, in the wildes of Scotland, in a huge castle a man sat, wishing the exact same thing.
"Severus, my boy, you must go and check on Harry," the headmaster said.
"Why would I check on the Potter boy? He is obviously going to be well looked after by his grandparents. The absolute epitome of his father James, foolish and breaking rules left and right when he gets to Hogwarts," said the man-in-black, Severus, in a haughty voice.
"No, I highly doubt that," Albus Dumbledore said confidently. "After all you have to train a hero in a certain way. Some are unconventional and probably looked down upon, but this is a special case. After all we're talking about the Hero of the Wizarding World, not some Average Joe...," he mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else. From what it sounded like he was defending his actions. But what would he need to defend his actions for? What did he do now?
"Albus? What did you say? You mumbled something," he said, all the while knowing exactly what Albus had said and finding it suspicious and sort of disturbing.
"Huh? Nothing except that maybe you will find that the boy doesn't act like his father at all and only bears resemblance in his looks."
"Albus, I still protest. You yourself issued that decree so no one would bug Potter, and then you ask one of your staff members to break it?" He asked in an incredulous tone.
"Well Severus, because you were a spy for our side and still haven't got caught, you would be perfect. Who else would be better to avoid the authorities than our best spy and legimens in Britain if not Europe or the world," Albus asked.
"Flattery will not help your case. Why not one of the other staff? Or what of Minerva or Poppy? I'm sure that they'd be more than pleased to be able to visit Potter."
Now Severus knew that there was something up. He was looking at Albus' face the whole time and the sparkling blue eyes, set in a world weary face were looking anywhere in the office except for him. Albus was lying and that much was obvious to one who can read body language.
"Well Harry is still but a child," Albus replied evasively. "He might over exaggerate his chores and they'd overreact."
Yep. Definitely lying. He completely avoided the question, and Poppy if anything had spells to tell if he really was telling the truth or not. That ploy would have worked on almost anyone else, but not Severus, after all working as a spy you would have picked up some good tips. And Albus knew that, but didn't back down.
"Albus, I insist you rethink this decis -,"
"ENOUGH! Severus I asked you to do me a favor. So you'd have a choice in this matter, but now it seems I must order you to do this. Something I was previously reluctant to do. Now go," he ordered.
Severus by now knew something was up, and as he strode away, he was determined to get to the bottom of this conundrum. Or else his name was not Severus Tobias Snape, Potions Master, Spy, DADA Master, and Dueler Extraordinaire. As Sherlock Holmes once said, 'The game's afoot.'
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There was a loud crack that reverberated through the air. It shattered the silence of the night. And although most of the residents of Privet Drive thought it was just a car backfiring. But Harry knew what that sound was. For there, standing in front of him was a man. Was it a man? For this person was dressed peculiarly, much like the outfit of someone who had once waved to him. He was wearing a black cloak and looked like the devil incarnate by the scowl he was wearing on his face. Then the scowl was replaced with surprise and horror. Harry whirled around to see what had surprised the devil…. Only to see an empty space behind him.
Severus Snape appeared into Privet Drive with a pop that sounded quite like a car backfiring. He was stunned to see a small boy about five years old sitting on the curb, looking at the sky, like he wanted to fly away. Now that was a highly unusual sight. Normally no parent would let his or her kid out that late. So that was suspicious in itself. So the child must either be locked out of the house, or he was lost. But the way he was sitting comfortably on the curb made Severus think it was the former. He was wearing cast-offs that were strangely clean for being, well, cast-offs. He was also obviously malnourished, The boy immediately looked at Severus and Severus scowled back.
Then he noticed the boy's eyes, a brilliant shade of green so reminiscent of Lily that Severus was dumbfounded. Those eyes could only belong to two people and one of them was dead. His eyes widened with the revelation that this obviously neglected and abused child was Harry Potter. Then, suddenly, all of Albus' evasiveness clicked into place.
Albus knew! He knew all along! He also knew that Severus would have probably ignored Harry's complaints if he met him in a daily setting. Then all the surprise turned to rage, rage that his best friend's child could have suffered what he had to suffer. But in that moment of clarity and rage, all traces of Harry having a character like James Potter vanished. All that was left now was to figure out what to do. Well first of all, it was summer, so he'd be able to fabricate a plausible excuse involving a potions experiment that would take up all of his summer. And well, that much was true, he could also make some improvements with the wolfsbane formulae. But first he had to talk to Harry. And with that quick decision, he strode purposefully towards Potter. No, he mentally reprimanded himself , not Potter, Harry.
When Harry flinched Severus froze from his quick walk and cursed inside his head. Harry, was so skittish. Then he slowly and deliberately sat down on the curb next to Harry who got up and ran away a few houses. But when Harry heard no sounds of pursuit, he stopped and turned around to look at Severus. Then he slowly walked back to the curb and sat down, ready to jump up again at moment's notice. They waited in silence for a couple minutes, each one unconsciously sizing each other up. Then the silence was broken as Severus said a quiet, "Hello."
Harry jumped, and before bolting thought better of it, sat back down, and then looking at Severus said a quiet, "Hi" in response. Then as he saw no reprimand was issued, he became a bit bolder he asked, "Who are you?"
To which Severus replied, "Someone who a lot of people hate and wish to kill."
Harry, understanding the feeling asked, "why? What did you ever do to them?"
"Nothing, I did nothing. But I have many identities, not all of them are good, and one of them plays a very dangerous role in an old war."
"Oh," Harry replied quietly. "Well, my relatives hate me but I don't really know why. My names Harry." The dark, messy haired boy sounded curious as if wondering if this man would be his friend.
"I know," Severus replied. "My name is Severus."
"Wait, how do you know?" Harry asked, instantly becoming suspicious. His pale countenance went from open, warm and friendly, to guarded and unsure.
Severus whose mind was determined to get him away from the Dursley's by now said, "Because I was sent by Professor Dumbledore to check on you because he figured that I wouldn't try to take you away from your horrible relatives," he said in a voice laced with disgust at the idea that he almost fell into the Headmaster's plan. "I only know Petunia personally but I can guess that Vernon and your cousin are just as bad if not worse. Care to talk about it?" He asked, knowing privately that whatever Harry had to say, it probably wouldn't be that good.
"It could be worse. Uncle Vernon said that I should be glad they didn't sent me to an orphanage," Harry chattered, before realizing that he never spoke to strangers like that. What was it about this person that made him so easy to speak to? Maybe it was the silent connection that both of them felt to each other. After all people with the same experience tend to get each other. Or maybe it was just this brisk night, where the specks of cold white fire, scattered across the sky and infused the landscape below with pure magic.
"Harry," Snape murmured. "Do your relatives ever hurt you?" He was pushing it, he knew but he needed to know.
"Well," Harry hesitated there, he obviously was unsure of what to say…
"Go on," Severus said quietly, reassuring Harry by just being there.
"They've hit me a couple times, it wasn't that bad, honestly."
And that roughly translated into a couple times per week.
"Harry, they shouldn't have done it in the first place."
They sat in silence for a good ten minutes then, Severus suddenly said, "I know that this is going to sound different and completely strange, but how would you like to come and live with me? I could be your guardian, but you should probably think about it. My I am by no means rich but if you agree, you'll always have a place to live." The Dursleys had happily turned over the guardianship to Severus, on the off chance that he would take Harry. And didn't consider him and his magic 'freaky' like they did. But they didn't know that, they were asleep in their bedrooms, currently under the influence of a strong memory charm and a spell designed to make them say Harry was out of the house if anyone came to inquire as to where he was.
He was carrying the papers in case the worst happened, which it had. Severus carefully explained to Harry what would also happen if he agreed to the terms. Harry, I promise to treat you like my son, and rightful heir. Like I said before, you'll always have a home to come to and I'll make sure the Dursleys never lay a hand on you, ever again. I promise. As Harry slowly signed the guardianship papers, those two last words filled the air, in a silent promise that everything was going to look up in the future.
Harry finished signing the papers and handed it to Severus with a huge grin on his face. Severus gave a soft smile back and then signed it with a flourish and made it vanish, presumably to go file itself wherever it had to be right then.
Severus knelt down and whispered, "hold onto my hand Harry,"
And Harry did so, wondering what his new life had in store for him. And with a sharp crack, they vanished into the night and that was the last time Harry James Potter was heard from for five long years.