Severus Snape had always been a man of little patience, and the little patience he did have had dwindled down to a small wire thin thread. It did not help the fact that he had been assigned to watch the Potter brat for the Order. Shifting himself into a slightly more comfortable stance he watched the boy tending to a small garden on the immaculate front lawn. Sneering to himself he thought' it's good to see him doing some form of manual labor, as little as it is however.'
Brushing his hands on his trousers Harry stood from his stooped position and winced as his back gave a painful throb, Uncle Vernon had been in a particularly foul mood the night before due to the fact supper had not been finished upon his arrival home from work, and had in a fit of rage used his belt on the young wizard. This treatment however was one Harry had become accustomed to during the holiday.
Sighing to himself Harry wiped his hand across his forehead, pausing momentarily to rub his scar that had been twinging painfully for some time now. Taking notice of the suns position in the sky he made his way over to the water spigot and turned it on, taking care as he unraveled the hose as to leave it in the driveway, knowing full well that Vernon would be out for blood if he damaged the lawn in any way.
Raising an eyebrow the potions master noted the state of the clothing the boy was wearing, several sizes too large and rather worn, he also noted with some displeasure that the boy was also several pounds lighter than he had been at the end of the term. 'So he thinks himself too good for the food the muggles have provided him, how like his father the boy is' he thought with disdain.
As he was watering the lawn he didn't notice the sound of his cousins footsteps approaching him and was only made aware of his presence as his fist collided with the side of his head. " Hey freak mum says to hurry up and finish with the lawn." Blinking up from his new position on the lawn Harry blinked several times and repositioned his glasses on his nose and stood up. Seemingly ignoring the blow he had taken to the head.
An eyebrow shot upwards and the potions master was further surprised to see that Potter did not attack his cousin.' Odd one would think the boy would have some sort of reaction to being attacked. He mused only to be snapped out of his thoughts as a car came sputtering up the driveway and coming to a screeching halt.
Harry's complexion dropped several shades as his uncle stormed out of the car and barreled towards him, face a nasty shade of purple and moustache twitching "Boy this is your doing!" He bellowed as he picked him up by the scruff of his shirt and drug him inside his rage only intensifying as water splashed down the front of his shirt. Harry stumbled several times as he was drug through the front door which was loudly slammed behind them.
A sinking feeling filled Severus's stomach as he felt the wards shifting, whilst they did protect the boy from an attack by outside forces, they did little to repeal an attack from within the house, especially an attack coming from one of the guardians of the ward. If the wards were to completely fall however, it would leave the boy open to further attacks.
Harry gasped as he felt his uncles fingers sink into the tender flesh of his thorat, and instantly panic registered in his mind as the man gave a tight squeeze effectively cutting off his air supply." This is your fault boy, first that catastrophe at work and now the car malfunctioning?! What kind of freakishness have you been up to! Damnit answer me!" he bellowed shaking him with enough force to case his glasses to fly off.
Gasping Harry managed to squeak out "I haven't done anything it's not my fault." A growl passed from Vernon's lips as he drug the boy into the kitchen and over to the stove where a kettle of water set boiling away. "I'll ask you one more time Potter. What sort of voodoo have you used on me, you better pray that I'm satisfied with your answer boy!"
A loud scream caused Severus to quickly pull his wand from within the confines of his robe and rush to the door of the small house. A quick alohamora gave him instant access and upon entering the kitchen he was instantly thrown back by a burst of unrestrained magic, the muggle occupant in the room was thrown several feet back from the boy who was clutching his injured hand to his chest. Severus blanched as he spotted the kettle and steaming water on the floor, surely the muggle hadn't injured the boy in such a way.
A terrified squeak alerted him to the presence of Petunia, whirling on the woman he growled at her as she moved towards the fat male. "How dare you, you were entrusted with the safety and security of this boy. Yet you allow him to be injured under your own roof." Petunia grew several shades of white and wisely scurried out of the room. Nodding in satisfaction he turned to the boy.
" Potter allow me to look at your hand." Scowling when the boy did not comply he pulled him away from the kitchen and accio'ed his possessions before whisking him out the door and down the street and with a crack Apparated the two of them away.
The landing was less than pleasant, but luckily was enough to cause the boy to snap out of his daze and let out a pained whimper as he was pulled into the kitchen of Grimauld place where his hand was quickly thrust beneath icy water which elicited a hiss from the boy who tried to jerk his hand away.
"Calm yourself Potter, whilst this is painful I assure you it is necessary." Blinking once Harry began to take in his surroundings and calmed almost instantly. That was until he heard the horrified gasp from . "Good heavens Severus what happened?" she demanded as she wrapped Harry's hand in a damp washcloth. "I can only suspect that the boy's uncle attacked him, as there was an empty kettle on the ground upon my arrival."
"It's noting new" mumbled Harry as he downed the two potions that had been placed upon the table with a grimace." Your relatives attack you often; did you not think of telling anyone?" asked as she watched Severus set to work on healing the mangled hand with several softly spoken healing incantations.
A shrug was his response and he mumbled "It's not like it'd do any good, the headmaster says I have to return every summer for the protection of the blood wards." This was much to the surprise of the two adults in the room. " Mr. Potter whilst I assure you those bloody wards protect you from an outside attack, they will do little good to you now, as a matter of speaking I myself am surprised that they haven't fallen already."
"But the headmaster said as long as I live there that I would be safe" Severus snorted "As I said once before, from an outside attack. Those wards were wards were erected to keep you safe yes, but they are doing little good if the muggles have been treating you like this often, and if they have Mr. Potter this is abuse."
At the word abuse Harry shifted and mumbled "I haven't been abused, I'm just a freak.." at these words Severus hands slammed to the table and his voice took on a tone none in the room had ever heard from him.
"You think it normal for your family to attack you, surely even you are smarter than that for your family to attack you, surely even you are smarter than that ." when he received no response he spoke once more "Furthermore, whilst I will not pressure you into speaking just yet, but you will have to speak to someone about your families actions towards you. A mute nod was all he got.
"I trust you have it from here Molly?" He questioned the Weasley matriarch.
"Of course Severus dear¸ you hurry along, I know Dumbledore keeps you busy." She responded as she placed a steaming bowl in front of Harry who mumbled a quiet "Thank you Mrs. Weasley" and began eating what had placed before him.
Nodding once she sat down before the teen and gave his free hand a light squeeze " You know that if you need anything. anything at all dear all you need do is ask." A faint smile came to Harry's lips and he nodded to the older woman " Yes , Which room will I be staying in this time?"
Smiling the woman took his empty dishes and shooed him from the dining room " Same one as last time dear, though do be careful you still look a tad ill"
"I will be " he responded as he made his way up the stairs and into the room only to be tackled and have a face-full of bushy brown hair obscure his vision.