The Life I Live Rewrite
Original Story-luvofmusic0426
Rewritten Story-DragonHeart1499
Warnings-Slash, Cutting, Mentions of abuse
~~~Chapter One~~~
The young raven-haired boy with emerald green eyes sat on the tile floor of the Prefects' Bathroom. There were tear stains on the floor, as well as his shirt and cheeks. His crimson blood ran down his arm as he cried softly. He looked at the razor in his hand, before putting it to his wrist, making another cut. It was the seventh scar today. But there were hundreds amongst it.
~~~Draco POV~~~
I was walking back to my dorm alone. It was silent in the dark corridors. As I passed by the Prefects' Bathroom, however, I heard soft crying. My curiosity became too much, and I walked over to the door. I opened it, and walked in. I was not prepared for what I saw.
Potter sat on the tile floor, a pool of blood around him. It was his own. I looked to where he had a razor on his wrist. Blood poured out of the cut the razor was in, trailing down his arms. He didn't see me; he just kept focusing on the razor, cut, and his wrist. I could almost cry. This was not the Harry Potter I knew. I had to stop him before he tried something even more stupid. Suicide, for example.
"Potter, what are you doing?" I ask, making my presence known. He looked up in alarm, before his eyes went back to being depressed and lonely. I sat down next to him, careful not to get his blood on my uniform.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Potter said bitterly, looking down at his wrists.
"Potter, you have to stop this now. This is dangerous, not to mention stupid." I said bluntly.
"What do you care, Malfoy? I bet you'd love it if I just offed myself." Potter said. Ouch, that hurt. What Harry didn't know is that I have had a huge crush on him since third or fourth year. All of those times I fought with him was just to get his attention. I couldn't let him hurt himself like this. I know what he's going through. I was a cutter myself before I received help.
"That's not true, Potter. We may fight a lot, but I would never wish for your death." I said. I wanted to help him in any way I could. He just looked at me. I rolled up the sleeve of my robe, and looked at all the old scars. There were small ones, and one big one going all the way down my arm. I then turned and showed it to Potter. He looked confused for a moment, before it all clicked in his head.
"How did you stop?" He asks. "I mean, I can't, but how did you do it?" He then started covering up his wounds with a gauze from his bag.
"I had help and support." I say. "You can stop as well. I can help you. If you will let me." I put out my hand like in first year, when I asked for his friendship. He looked at me, and then looked back down. I sighed.
"I can't. It hurts too much. This is the only way I can make the pain stop." Potter says. I look at his eyes, and see tears filling them. I look at him for a moment. Then I got an idea.
"What hurts so much, Harry?" I ask. "What makes it so hard to stop?" I thought that if I knew what went on with him, what made him start this, I could help him better. I thought if I knew what was bothering him, I could change it.
"Sirius's death, my uncle, being the Boy-Who-Lived... It's all too much... And I can't find another release for it all." He said. Then when I repeated it in my head, something snagged my attention. Harry said something about his uncle. I wondered what happened with his uncle that made Harry want to cut himself. Had he been abused by his uncle like I used to be abused? No, he would have told someone. Besides, he's the spoiled Golden Boy. Why would someone abuse him? No, that's impossible... right?
"Harry, what did your uncle do to you?" I ask. I was a bit scared of the answer. But Harry did not respond; he just burst into tears before passing out completely. I was about to panic. I did what my brain told me to do: I picked him up bridal style (he was much too light), and ran down to the dungeons to Uncle Severus Snape's office. I knocked.
"Enter." Uncle Sev called coldly within his office. I struggled to open the door, but managed to open it, and walked in. Uncle Sev was at his desk. He looked up as he saw me, and his expression softened. But that soft expression changed when he spotted the boy in my arms.
"Dragon, what happened? And who is that?" Sev asked. His voice was laced with concern, and he motioned to Harry, who still lay limp in my arms.
"It's Potter. He was in the Prefects' Bathroom, cutting himself. We talked for a bit, before he burst into tears and passed out. I got worried by the fact that maybe he cut too deep or something so I brought him to you. I think the Muggles he has been living with have been beating him." I say, tears in my eyes threatening to fall. Sev just looked at me, then Potter, then back to me.
Sev stood took Harry from me. "Let's get him to the Hospital Wing and see what Poppy says. It was the right choice bringing him to me, Draco. I'm proud of you."
~~~Severus POV~~~
As I took Potter from Draco's arms, I felt that he was really light in weight. Was Draco right? Was Potter being abused at home? If so, how did I miss the signs? I mean, the boy was always happy. He never shows any signs of abuse. I knew what that kind of mask he put up; Draco and I have gone through the same thing.
As we entered the Hospital Wing, I called, "Poppy! Come quick!" I watched as the MediWitch rushed out of her office, and towards Potter, Draco, and I.
"What is it, Severus? Is Mr. Malfoy alright?" She questioned. She looked to the boy in my arms, and noticed that it wasn't Draco. "Oh dear... Put him here, Severus." Poppy said. I nodded, and placed Potter on the bed, and she went right to work on Potter. After about thirty minutes, she came back over to where I was sitting. She had tears in her eyes.
"What did you find, Poppy?" I asked. My stomach hurt with nerves. It was like a knot in my gut.
"The worst case of child abuse I have ever seen in my many years of being a MediWitch." Poppy says. How our hero was beat so bad that it had Poppy crying, no one would ever know. She continued. "Severus, the boy was sexually abused as well as beaten. He had cuts, bruises, broken bones, broken ribs, not to mention writing all over the boy's skin. And of course the cut marks and scars from month's of cutting." Poppy was almost in tears again.
She said he had writing on his skin... "Poppy, you said he had writing on his skin. What do you mean?" I ask, voicing my thoughts.
"This poor boy had words engraved in his skin. They were harsh, like 'worthless', 'freak', 'slut', 'bitch', and 'whore' It's just horrible." After Poppy said this, I knew I had to talk to Albus. I ran into Poppy's office, and threw Floo into her fireplace, yelling "Albus Dumbledore's Office" as I did so. I stuck my head through the green flames, and looked around. He was sitting at his desk.
"Severus, my boy, what can I do for you this evening?" Albus asked, his eyes twinkling as usual.
"Come see for yourself, Albus." I said. I backed out of the green flames. A moment later, Albus stepped through them, into Poppy's office. I led him over to where Harry lay unconscious, Poppy cleaning his wounds.
"What happened to him?" Albus asked; the twinkle in his eye was gone. Poppy then proceeded to tell him everything that she had found, as I listened for the second time. "We must do something." Albus said. He then looked at me. Why did he have to look at me...? "Severus, you must be Harry's guardian until he comes of age." He said. Damn my luck.
"Why me? Why not Lupin, or some other teacher? Why do I have to do it?" I ask, wondering what was going on in that man's mind.
"Remus is still in a deep withdraw from Sirius's death. They were lovers after all. He needs time and Harry ould be too much right now. Plus, Harry needs the kind of care Remus cannot give him right now. And all of the other Order members are far too busy, as well as the other teachers. Besides, you understand what Harry is going through; you went through the same thing. And aren't you watching over young Draco Malfoy? Why can you not watch over Harry as well?" Albus asked. He had a point, but I could think of many reasons why I do not want to watch over Harry. But there wasn't much I could say at this point.
"Fine. I'll take him in as well." I said. Now that I think about it, having Potter and Draco in the same house would be interesting.
"Excellent. I shall have Harry's things sent to your quarters then." He said, before strolling out of the room, most likely back to his office. I looked back at the sleeping boy near me. He looked so much at peace right now. I pulled up a chair next to his bed.
This was going to be a long night.
A/N- Hello everyone! Dragon here. This is something I asked luv if I could do. You see, I can never finish any of my other stories, so I asked if I could rewrite her story. She only has four chapters up as of now, so we will see when this will be updated. I hope you all enjoyed this rewrite. Check out luv's original!
~DH1499~