Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office with a worried contemplating look on his face as he waited for his youngest colleague to get there. He had gotten a letter from both Ron Weasley and Hermione granger practically begging for the old headmaster to check on harry. The last letter they had gotten from the boy was short, to the point, and had slight drops of blood on it. And when the two tried writing harry again there was no response, and that was nearly 6 weeks ago. Albus, thinking back on previous times that he'd seen harry, cringed slightly as he remembered seeing bruises on the boy- but just had assumed it was from playing quidditch. The twinkle in his blue eyes was long gone by the first minute of his thoughts.
Severus Snape had walked into the headmaster's office trying to figure out what the old man wanted with him during the summer, especially now that Voldemort was dead. When he walked in he noticed no infuriating twinkle in the other man's eyes "albus?" he said trying to get his attention, and after he called a few more times albus finally jumped and acknowledged his presence "Severus! Lemmon drop?" he asked his most trusted employee "no thanks albus… what did you call me up here for anyway?" he asked, albus took a deep breath and began telling the slytherin what he knew the other man would not like.
"Severus, I have received word from Mr. weasley and miss granger that they have not heard from harry, and that the last note they did get frightened them: he said and Snape raised his eyebrows "I'm sure the potter brat is just on vacation, and is being too spoiled to respond to mail: he said "I don't think so Severus… please… just check on the boy for me? If he is alright you can have the pleasure of telling me off for wasting your time" he said seriously. Severus thought on the offer and grudgingly obliged knowing that he would probably do more than just tell off the head master when he got back.
/BREAK/
Snape walked up to the Dursleys front door and knocked on it loudly. He heard the house go even quieter than it already was- meaning that there were silencing charms placed around the house. His eyebrows shot up in confusion but when petunia opened the door his features went back to being expressionless. When she looked at Snape she gasped trying to slam the door in his face, but seeing what she was about ready to do he stopped the door with his foot. "I'm only here to check on the boy petunia" he said a sneer stepping inside the house. "The boy isn't here! Get out of my house!" She screamed but that made him go further into the small house. The further he went in the stronger the potent smell of blood filled his senses he heard a tiny whimper, one that he would not have heard had he not been a spy for so many years, it came from the cupboard under the stairs. He turned quickly and shot a stunner at the woman staring at him, also hitting her husband who was coming up the walk behind her. He went straight for the cupboard and flung the door open, when he looked inside the smell of fresh blood and also seamen filled his nose as he looked down at the floor. Inside was a 16 year old harry potter laying with his back to him, naked on the floor. You could see all the bones in his body poking out from under his skin. Snape gasped and knelt over the small unconscious boy-wrapping him in his cloak and cradling him tight to his chest. When he past the Dursleys on his way out the door he turned to them and growled "don't think you've gotten away with this muggles, this won't be the last time you see me" he hissed before stalking out of the house and apparating away.
/BREAK/
Severus had ran to the hospital wing sending a patronus to albus as he did so, still holding the young man to his chest. When he got to the infirmary he screamed for poppy. She rushed out and gasped when she laid eyes on harry, ushering Severus to put him down on a bed. Severus did as he was told albeit a bit hesitantly as albus and his wife Minerva came running into the infirmary. Harry was breathing shallowly as poppy started running diagnostic charms on him. The couple standing there next to the bed both gasped in horror, tears coming to their eyes. Albus' twinkling eyes were duller that a rain cloud. And Minerva's tough and stern exterior started to drop and all of her emotions filled her face. Before either Minerva or Albus could speak there was a sharp gasp and a choked sob from the other side of the bed, coming from a very upset poppy.
"Poppy… poppy breathe" Severus said worriedly and moving her so she was sitting on the side of the bed next to harry. She started running her fingers through the young man's hair and handed a few copies of the injury list to the others. The list was about 3 feet long, listing all of his medical history starting at the time that he was placed at the dursleys, excluding injuries that had happened at school. They were all shocked at the extensive amount of injuries that the boy had. Severus was the first to register to read it, and the farther he read the more he saw red. Then when he got to a certain injury he froze, dropping the list out of his seemingly lifeless hands. "I'll kill them, ill FUCKING KILL THEM!" he shouted causing harry to flinch in his sleep, he curled up tightly in a ball and tried to cover himself. "Severus stop screaming! You're scaring harry!" she hissed in slight agitation trying to calm the boy down again. Albus was staring at the list of injuries in his hand, tears were in his eyes and they were full of pain. "How could I have let this happen?" he whispered to himself as Minerva put her arms around her husband and cried silently into his shoulder. Poppy looked at Severus, and saw a single tear fall from his eye and down his face as he looked at the boy.
/BREAK/
"I don't know why I'm crying poppy. I can't help it. It's as if he were a Snape, instead of a potter." He whispered and another tear fell from his eyes. He sat down on the other side of Harry's bed and took the boney malnourished hand into his and held it gently. "You'll never be heart again harry, I promise" he whispered kissing the boys forehead gently. Harry sighed softly in his sleep, leaning towards Severus slightly. Severus smiled and got up; going to start brewing the potions harry would need to recover.
Harry woke up in the middle of the night looking around the room and only seeing shadows and blurs, he whimpered at the seemingly unfamiliar environment that he was in and scooted back on the bed to the point he fell on the floor. At the impact he started to freak out, reality dissipating and a memory floated to the forefront of his mind, as if it were actually happening.
Vernon dursley was banging on the door of his nephews tiny room, the cupboard under the stares, before he unlocked it and pulled the injured boy out. Harry hit his head on the ground and on each individual steps as Vernon dragged him up the stairs into Dudley's extra bedroom. He flung the freak on the bed and proceeded to rip Harry's clothes off. The boy kept quiet, as he knew that crying or screaming would only make it worse. Vernon pulled down his pants smirking at harry who was pleading with him "u-u-uncle v-Vernon… p-please, not… not again. Pl-please ill b-be good! I- I swear!"
Harry ended up screaming his please through the hospital wing, but to the medi-witch the agonizing sound reverberated throughout the whole castle. She ran out to find harry curled up in a ball on the floor screaming for his life when Severus came running into the room. "Harry! Harry please calm down! Your uncle isn't here, you're at Hogwarts, and you're safe!" she said rushing over to him. Severus summoned a few calming droughts and also Harry's glasses. Severus sat down next to the boy and pulled him gently into his arms. Harry's screams slowly faded into soft sobs and whimpers, eventually going to light hiccups. Harry looked up at Severus when he woke up "p-p-professor?" he croaked softly as the man put his glasses on his face gently. "Yes harry its professor Snape, are you alright? Do you need calming draughts?" he said gently and harry shook his head shakily clutching tightly to his professors robes. Severus sighed softly and held harry closer, rocking him gently. The young boy fell into a soothing sleep in his professor's arms.
Severus sighed softly when he felt the boy relax in his arms; he placed him back on the bed gently. Poppy looked at her friend and colleague as if trying to decide something, when finally she said his name softly. Severus looked up at the matron who was looking guilty and miserable "I need to talk to you about something" she said taking his wrist and pulling him into her office. "Poppy what is this about?" he asked her as soon as the door was shut, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I think it's time you knew Severus, you deserve your memory back" she said and Severus looked at her in even more confusion as she went over to a locked cabinet that nobody except her had ever been in. she took out a bottle of memories and a miniature pensive. She poured the memory into the object and it fogged up slightly. Severus looked at her with wide eyes in question, but before he could ask her anything she practically pushed him into the pensive.
/BREAK/
Severus was plunged into a swirl of memories, a slight tug on his body as he landed in a corner of a hospital room. He looked around and saw lily Evans on the hospital bed with a little baby boy in her arms. He looked at the man next to her and he saw… himself. He gasped loudly as he saw himself kiss lily gently on the lips and then the boy gently on the forehead. "We did it lil', we did it" he whispered to her and she smiled and nodded kissing him once again before he was tugged away from the memory. The next memory he was in was he was watching a six month old harry waddle around the house and he was chasing the little boy around. "Harry Jackson Snape get back here!" he laughed softly as he chased the boy. Harry just giggled and started waddling faster as lily watched from the doorway of the bedroom.
Tears were coming to his eyes as he watched, and soon he was tugged into another memory. Lily was sitting on the couch crying softly as Severus explained something. "I'm going to give all my memories of our life together to poppy, and then I'm going to obliviate myself and also Minerva and Albus... I'm doing this to keep you two safe. You'll stay with James and be his fake wife while you are in hiding, and give harry a potion to make him look like James… so the dark lord won't be able to look in my memories and know where you guys are. If he does somehow find you, I have put a charm on you so that he can't kill you, even though he'll think he did. I'll come back for you, I promise. I love you, so so much" he whispered and kissed lily gently. She clutched to him tightly as harry watched from his play pin in the living room. Severus left the house and shut the door behind him, but not before he faintly heard his son say "dada go?"
Severus was then sent to poppy's office about 15 years earlier "please poppy… don't let me know, not until that bastard is gone, and I can be safe with my family again" he whispered to her and she nodded with tears in her eyes putting the vials in a special cabinet, before she obliviated him. Severus was then pulled out of the memories and was back in the cold office in the infirmary.
Tears were rolling down his face freely as he thought about all the memories. "h-harry… he's… he's my son? Lily is still alive?" he whispered his eyes wide and poppy went over and gave him a soothing hug "yes, to both Severus, sense harry defeated the mad man last year…. You are free to have your family again" she whispered before letting go of him, Severus immediately shot up from the chair and ran from the infirmary going to straight to his rooms looking for more information about what charm he could have put on lily- and also how to make up lost time with his son that was currently sitting in the infirmary bruised and abused.
/BREAK/
The next day Severus woke up with a book on his face and sitting straight up on his couch, he groggily tried to think of what would have woken him up so abruptly when he frantically heard poppy's voice coming from the fireplace. He jumped up and ran over "poppy what's going on?" he asked quickly but she just demanded he come to the infirmary. He quickly floo'd to the hospital wing where he saw poppy frantically running towards him "Severus! I was trying to heal harry with some help from Albus and Minerva when one of our spells all cross fired and… and...oh just come look!" she said pulling Severus to where harry had been the night before. In the bed was a five year old, he had long black hair that was sleek and silky. His eyes were an emerald green but they were in an almond shape, his figure was lanky and sleek, just like Severus'. The man gasped and rushed over to the little boy who looked up at him in confusion. "Harry… harry are you all right?" he whispered going to pick him up when harry flinched softly and nodded "I'm fine…" he mumbled even though you could tell the small child was in serious pain. "Harry, I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help you, will you let me?" he asked gently "do you remember who I am?" he asked once harry had nodded in consent to letting Severus heal him. Harry thought about it for a minute before saying "I don't remember who you are. But you make me feel safe, so I know that I know you… it's on the tip of my tongue…" he mumbled in an innocent voice. Severus smiled at his son as he gently cast charms to heal any sort of injury that the boy would have. Harry sighed in relief as the pain went away. Severus smiled and sat gently on the side of Harry's bed. The little boy looked at him for a moment a bit shyly before hugging Severus tightly. The usually mean potions master hugged his son back, and tears started rolling down his face again. After a minute harry hesitantly whispered "d-daddy?" and Severus held him even tighter "yes harry?" he whispered back. "Why did you leave me with the dursleys? Do you hate me?" the child asked and Severus pulled harrys face out of his neck "no harry, I could never hate you. Daddy had to go away and fight a mean scary man. But now he's back. And you're never going to have to stay with the dursleys ever again, you hear me?" he said softly. Harry nodded and hugged him again, wrapping his little legs around Severus' chest, his arms around the man's neck.
Severus smiled and held him closer, rocking him gently. He turned to poppy Albus and Minerva; the latter of the two were staring gob smacked at Severus, while poppy had happy tears in her eyes. Severus smiled and just pointed the couple towards the pensive that was now sitting just outside poppy's office. The two went over and stuck their heads into the pensive, after about half an hour of Severus and poppy talking quietly to each other about what charm he could have used to keep lily alive, Albus and Minerva had come back from the memories and were looking at the father and son with slight tears in their eyes. Severus turned to them and smiled slightly when they heard the door to the infirmary open. They all froze, knowing that no one should be in the castle except them and Hagrid and the footsteps they heard were far too light to be Hagrids.
/BREAK/
"hello Severus, I couldn't find you in your rooms so I figured I'd look in here for you, considering I need-"a smooth voice was cut off by a quick stunner shot by Severus before he even started speaking when Severus turned around he saw Lucius Malfoy standing their trying to get out of the body bind that was placed upon him. Severus started laughing loudly, causing Harry to wake up from his nap and look around the room at all the faces. When Lucius spotted the child sitting on Severus' laps his eyes widened dramatically "is that….?" His eyes read as he stared at Severus. Severus smirked slightly and placed harry down on the bed (not without a small whimper from the child though) and went over to Lucius taking the bind off of him. The blonde glared slightly at him before remembering what he had just seen. "Severus… is that a three year old harry potter?" he asked and harry piped up with an innocent voice "I'm 5!" he said holding up 5 fingers. Lucius' eyebrows furrowed together "you look like you're barely 3…" he mumbled and poppy shot a glare at him as did Severus. "The neglect from his relatives-"he spat the word "has left him to be a lot smaller than a normal boy his age" he said with flames in his eyes. Lucius backed up a step on instinct, "and just why do y-"he was saying when Severus cut him off "look in the pensive, all will be answered" he said just as an owl flew through the window. Lucius shrugged and put his head in the pensive as Severus took the scroll from the owl and sat back with harry who climbed into his lap and curled up against his chest again. "Ah my letter from gringotts has returned" he said and unrolled the parchment. Inside the paper read:
Dear Mr. Severus Snape,
I have received your letter asking about the information of a one harry potter. The fact that you sent a letter to me means that you now know that harry potter is not a potter at all, but instead he is your son. You know most about the boy already, official information includes-
Godfather: Lucius Malfoy
Godmother: Amelia potter. Nee bones
Birth name: Harrison Jackson Snape
Mother: lily Snape, nee Evans
Father: Severus Tobias Snape
Your son has also been placed in the hands and care of petunia Dursley (nee Evans) And Vernon Dursley.
I hope I have been assistance to you.
Lead goblin of the Snape archives
- Sot
Severus read over it and smirked slightly as Lucius was pushed back out of the pensive. The blonde had wide eyes as he tried to make sense of the situation. Severus tossed him the letter from gringotts and watched as his eyes widened further. Lucius looked up at him and before he could ask anything Severus smiled stopping the ex death eater dead in his tracks. "We promised each other that when we had kids we would make each other the others god father" he said and Lucius smiled gently going over and sitting next to Severus on the bed. Harry looked at Lucius with interest, he saw a spark of recognition in the little boy's eyes and he smiled moving some of his hair out of his eyes. "Hey there, do you remember me?" he asked softly and harry moved his hand in a so-so motion. "Well who do you think I am?" he asked gently. "Are you u-uncle Lucius?" he whispered holding tightly to his father's robes. Lucius nodded "yes I am" he smiled and went to pet his hair gently but harry flinched "you're not going to hurt me like u-u-uncle v-Vernon are you?" he whispered and Lucius' face fell "what? No! I would never hurt you harry." He said softly and Harry nodded moving back so he wasn't hiding so much from the man. Lucius bit his lip lightly and Severus noticed this as Lucius' worried face. "Lucius…. What are you thinking about?" he asked slowly and the other male looked at him "what about Draco? Him and harry have been mortal enemies' sense before they even started school together…." He said trying to work the situation out in his mind. Severus rolled his eyes, "harry baby are you well enough to go on a trip?" he asked and harry nodded. "Where are we going?" the little boy asked, "Yeah, where ARE we going?" Lucius questioned. Severus chuckled at his friend's confusion, "Malfoy manor of course."
/BREAK/
Severus picked harry up and grabbed Lucius' wrist dragging them over to the fireplace. "Might as well floo, considering it's the easiest" he said and through a handful of powder into the flames, they turned green and he stepped through with a rather scared looking harry in his arms. "Malfoy manor sitting room!" he said loudly and clearly before he was whisked away. When they stepped out harry was looking around in fascination and went to climb down from Severus' arms when Severus held him tighter. "Not so fast little mister." He said chuckling and Harry tried pouting but failed as a grin went on his face when he saw a little beagle pad into the room. "Puppy!" he squealed as Lucius finally stepped through the fireplace. "Yup, that's Sadie" he said picking up the small dog and holding her up to harry for him to see. He petted her gently and she licked his hand, the little boy giggled at the feeling before Lucius put Sadie down. Severus chuckled at Harry's excitement and walked him further into the manor, walking towards where he knew that Draco would be. Lucius cringed slightly at the explosion that he knew would come from his son, "Draco!" He called into the practice room. Harry quickly hid his face into Severus' neck, clutching tightly to his robes as Draco came out. "Yeah dad?" he asked before noticing Severus "oh, hey uncle Sev. Who's the kid?" he asked. Severus kneeled down on the ground to let harry get down "this is my son, harry" he said gently and harry turned to Draco. The 16 year olds eyes went incredibly wide "WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HES YOUR SON?" he screamed and harry flinched running away from him and hiding behind the closest thing he could find. "Don't. Yell." Severus ground out "ILL YELL IF I FUCKING WANT TO, ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO WALK IN HERE WITH POTTER AND EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT HES YOUR SON?" he shouted, he went to start screaming again when he heard quiet crying coming from where harry was hiding. He looked behind the book shelf and saw a sobbing and trembling Harry "please uncle Vernon… don't hurt me… I'll be good I promise, please don't hurt me" he cried.
/BREAK/
Draco's eyes widened as Severus pushed him out of the way and pulled harry into his arms "shhh shhhh harry, harry baby its ok. Calm down please, you're not there anymore, you're safe. Its daddy, you're safe harry... Shhhhh" he said rocking him and holding him tightly to his chest. Harry eventually started to calm down, his sobs turning into just soft whimpers. "Don't let him hurt me anymore daddy... Please" he whimpered. "I won't baby, I'll never let him touch you again" he said glaring at Draco as he did so. Draco was spluttering like a fish out of water as he watched the scene play out in front of him, he sat down on the ground near them "h-harry? Harry I'm sorry I yelled" he said quietly after a minute. Harry turned to him and sniffed softly "it's ok… are you uncle Lucius' son?" he asked curiously. Draco smiled crookedly and nodded "very observant, how old are you?" he asked "I'm five!" he said holding up his fingers again. Draco took harrys hands gently into his own "what happened to your fingers harry? They're all burnt and scarred" he said worriedly. Harry pulled his hands away and held them to his chest "when I burn the breakfast, they burn my hand… or really any other part of my body" he said quietly. Draco gasped quietly as did Lucius. Severus spelled a list of the injuries in front of Lucius and Draco. "This was from last night before he was deaged, look at the red words on the page," he whispered. When they looked down they saw about 300 red words that all said the same thing "violently raped" the two blondes gasped in horror and looked at harry who was looking around as if nothing was going on. Draco began to cry, pulling harry out of Severus' lap he hugged the little boy to him "harry I am so so so so so sorry" he whispered holding him tightly. "What for Draco?" he asked innocently confused. Draco just held him tighter "you don't know… but I'm sorry for it" he whispered. Severus and Lucius looked at each other sadly. "It had been happening sense his 6th birthday, I guess poppy and them saved him... Because he doesn't remember anything from after the age he's at," Severus said softly. Lucius sighed a bit in relief, and Draco put the small boy down on his feet. Harry went back over to Severus and curled up against his side. Draco smiled softly at the little one and wiped his eyes that were still leaking tears against his will. "So, Severus…" Lucius began and Severus looked up from playing with harry "when are you going to bring lily back?"
/BREAK/
Severus' eyes widened and he hit himself "how could I have forgotten about that! Ok, so I think I found the charm that I used to keep her from dying, and I have to say it in reverse to get it to bring her back" he said hoping that it would work that way. He put harry down and got to his feet pulling his wand out of its holster "might as well give it a shot now." He said slightly nervous, "blasphelm alomo" he practically whispered, a blindingly white light filled the room, causing all of the men in the room to cover their eyes to not hurt them. When they finally opened their eyes a gorgeous red haired woman was standing where Severus had cast the spell. "Lily…" he breathed going over and hugging her tightly, practically collapsing in her arms out of relief, having missed the way she felt in his arms. Lily clutched tightly to him "Sev…" she whispered and Severus moved, leaning down and kissing her gently. Lily kissed back clutching to him tighter. They both broke apart when they felt tugging on their pant legs, harry was down at their feet looking up at them, particularly at lily. "Mommy?" he asked and lily nodded, tears streaming from her eyes as she picked him up "yes baby, its mommy" she said kissing his temple. He smiled and hugged her tightly, Severus smiled and wrapped his arms around the both of them, holding them close and kissing their cheeks. "Come on guys, let's go home" he said softly, saying a quick goodbye to the Malfoys. He apparated them to spinners end where they would spend many more years in happiness, with their loving little family.