Title: From Left Field
Author: Skeren Dreamera
Spoilers: All the way up to book five, though more than a few details might be poked at and changed for my convenience.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, though I'm the one that says what happens to them.
Feedback: Mickeofas(at)yahoo(dot)com
Rating: R
Pairings: No idea what any current pairings will come to be.
Warnings: There shall be glimpses at Mpreg, slash, and even possible het. I'm not really all that certain as of the moment.
Summary: A Severitus plot... With a twist. Harry almost dies one summer, but when Severus and Harry discover their connection as they work to save the young wizard... They do their level best to keep it to themselves, making sure even Dumbledore doesn't suspect a thing. Luckily for them, Harry has to stay close to his father for a while.
Notes: As per Severitus rules I am linking to the site, here you go: www(dot)geocities(dot)com(backslash)challengefics(backslash)thechallenge(dot)htm
And another thing! I'm doing a house cup! So put good reviews alright?

Prologue

Harry sat gazing out of his window. So far, this summer had been largely quiet. The Dursleys thought they had someone to fear in Sirius Black still, and Harry had no interest in telling them otherwise. After all, in spite of his anger at the world in general, he still had some sense of self-preservation. There was something in the air that made the green eyed teen twitchy, and it had been going on for the last week. The sensation had bothered him until he put it down to his birthday the next day. Shaking off his thoughts rather forcefully, he turned his attention back to the Transfiguration essay he'd been ignoring for the last hour of morbid thoughts. All they ever did was depress him anyway.

He paused with his quill almost touching the parchment, a frown crossing his face. Had he just thought about his birthday in the same sequence as death? The quill was put aside as he pressed his back to the wall, considering. Yes, he had, he'd thought of his sixteenth birthday in practically the same breath as the dead. He hadn't heard anything from his friends at all that summer, and it only added to the weight he felt. He sent the stupid third day letter, but nothing was ever returned beyond Hedwig at all. Unfortunately, he'd started to rely on the snacks and foods his friends had gotten into the habit of sending him over the summer in previous years.

Though the Dursleys hadn't been starving him entirely, having given him obligatory bread each day, he was much too thin, the sparse diet only serving to make him hungrier, and he didn't move quickly, lest he get dizzy. He hadn't been able to get out of his room in a while anyway though, and the past week had been extremely loud. He didn't know what they were doing downstairs, but they hadn't even fed him for two days now, and it only served to make his dizzy spells more likely. After an inner debate, he decided to put up a fuss in the morning.

That decided, he turned his attention back to the finishing touches of the homework he could do before school was back in session. There was no point in looking ahead. Doing that had already lost him his family all over again. No, this time he'd ignore the feeling of dread and focus on the now. He'd wait and see what came of it then.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next day, his birthday, his supposed sweet sixteen, came with unnerving silence. It couldn't have been more than three minutes past midnight, but he heard nothing. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he must have to now be awake. He couldn't place what he should be hearing, but he knew it would come to him soon. It had to be something important.

He was listening so intently that when he heard a flurry of tapping at his window, he about jumped out of his skin in fright. Jerking around to the source of the sound, he quickly hurried to the window to let a heavily loaded eagle owl into his room. He wasn't sure who it had come from, but he could only shake his head as he heard the thump of the feathered creature's burden hitting the floor, him still attached.

Annoyed hooting was what urged him to tug the letter on the bird away from its leg, and he hurried to read the parchment. It was a familiar scrawl.

Harry!

We didn't mean to bum on you all summer like that, so we're making the best of leaving you bored out of your mind up 'til now. We've gifted you with a mess of wonderful little creations, compliments of ours truly! There's even a special something in here for today, since we can't play the knights in glossy armor again this year. We'd have nowhere to put you! If you'll wait a token, we'll get to explaining that. Back to the gift. The red ones are transfiguration based, the green ones are charmed candies, and the yellow one is a special. I'd advise springing that one when the house is empty. The orange ones have a gear toward your cousin, and might even do the pudgy brute some good!

Lastly, the ones in silver. Those are for you. The suckers make you three times as fast, the bubbles have a silencing charm effect, and the gloves, yes we know we shouldn't have given you silver gloves, even finger-less ones. Those are a rebounding and deflection set. We've been working on them since the ministry mess a couple years back and want you to try them out. The one with a red star on the back is the deflection, and the blue is the rebounding one. We hope you don't need to test them before school.

Now, as to the other thing we mentioned, the issue of having no room? We tried Harry! Something just isn't going right about here. Even Ronniekins is acting a sight freakish from what we've gotten used to. Him and Hermione have finally tried the dating stew, or at least that's we think from how they keep sneaking off together. If they are still acing buggy when school starts, well, not that we want you to spy or anything, but tell us, please! Something happened the first week of summer, and they aren't telling anyone what it was. Well, this has gotten a mite depressing. We'll be seeing you Harry.

Your Favorites,

Fred and George (George and Fred)

P.S. Ignore that, thanks! And the complete prank and candy list is attached.

Harry shook his head with a smile as he read the signature. After scanning the note, he moved back to the overloaded owl he'd left just inside his window and untied the package from its leg. He received an annoyed ruffle of feathers and then the bird turned and flew off through the window without awaiting a reply. He watched the bird leave, then glanced to Hedwig, who was giving him one of those disappointed looks she did so well.

He glanced over to the window once more before walking over to her cage. "Sorry Hedwig, she left a bit quicker than I expected."

All she offered in return was an unhappy hoot, and she closed her golden eyes as though unwilling to look at him. Smiling to himself, Harry turned to the unopened package that lay where it had thumped to the boards. He gave the content list a quick glance over, and what he saw within left him grinning. This would work nicely. He then pulled out the gloves, eyeing them before shoving them in his pocket. He was entirely sure he didn't want to know why they weren't gold. He then put the lid back on his box, deciding to stash them away... Somewhere. He could only shake his head as that concern took care of itself, the box shrinking before his eyes to a size that easily fit beneath the loose floorboard.

When he finished that task, the silence from before again permeated the room, making him a little uneasy. What was he missing? Casting his mind around, he finally realized what it was. He couldn't hear the Dursleys. The overwhelming sensation of something being wrong only increased as he realized that his relatives weren't asleep in their beds. He couldn't go back to sleep either though, so he waited. Surely there would be some indication later in the day.

He waited, but when it started nearing noon, he really had to wonder. The past few days had been noisy, like they were rearranging, but they hadn't ever demanded he come out to help. Between all the shouting, he'd gathered that the idea had been turned down by his uncle. That didn't explain the grating silence though. He'd dealt with it before in fact. They'd locked him in his closet once and left him there for a week that time. They'd gone on a trip.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He hoped it wasn't the case, as he hadn't eaten recently, but he knew he'd be fine. They likely just took a weekend trip. Unfortunately, he really didn't believe himself, and it defeated his efforts. Eyeing the door, he decided to use his mind on something productive, like getting out of the room without using magic. After all, the Weasleys wouldn't be coming to the rescue this time.

To be continued.

Question one: The Dursleys, where are they?

Question two: What's the twist I mentioned on the Severitus idea?