I'm not a fan of rescue fics, but I figured, an acquaintance was feeling a bit less than fresh and perky and it never hurts to try something new. I'm telling you, though, it's really hard to write against canon like this. (Says the chick that wrote a HP/Little Mermaid mix.)
This is sort of a prequel? to Dream in Silver, but you don't need to read that one to get this one. Pre-slash.
Please comment and critique! C&C is love!! And I, uh, once again apologize for the rough, un-beta'd nature of this.
An Unwanted Intrusion
Vernon stared at the man at the door for a long moment, immediately suspicious of the stranger. His hair was much too long, for one; the black, greasy locks were just long enough to brush the man's shoulders. The simple black suit he wore was nearly ten years behind the current trends, though it was both clean and impecably pressed. The tie around his neck was knotted almost absurdly high, and the scowl on his face was about as inviting as a tar pit. A silver snake pin glimmered discordantly from its place on the man's lapel.
It was much too late for a social call, and Vernon did not like the look of the gaunt, hard-eyed man. He glowered at the man in the black suit with mistrust.
"Whatever you're peddling, we're not interested," he said roughly. The man's eyes, as black as his attire, blinked slowly as his lips thinned.
"I would have been most astonished if you were," the man said, taking a step towards Vernon, intending to enter the house. He placed a thin, long-fingered hand on Vernon's chest. Vernon stared at the yellow-stained fingers in disbelief as the man none-to-gently pushed the much larger man to one side.
It took a moment for Vernon to understand what had just happened. His face blotched with rage and he clenched his thick hands. "Now see here!" he bellowed, for a moment forgetting the open door and the half-asleep but always nosy neighbors. "I don't know who you are, but no one just barges into my house--"
The man in the black suit turned to him, and Vernon's voice caught in his throat at the sight of the thin rod in the man's hand. He had a gut feeling that was no mere stick in the man's hand; he was one of them. Cold fear travelled down Vernon's spine.
Petunia emerged from the top of the stairs, wary concern on her face as she pulled a dressing robe over her cotton nightdress. "Vernon, what's going--" She froze at the sight of the man in the black suit. Her long face paled as her eyes narrowed. "You..."
"Petunia, go back to the bedroom and call the police," Vernon called out, uncertain as to how he would be able to protect her while that man stood in his way. Thank God Dudley was in bed already, recovering from the trauma of whatever had happened at the park today. He wouldn't have been able to bear having his son in danger as well.
Petunia's expression was a combination of fear and rage as she looked at the intruder square in the face. "What are you doing here?" she said.
Vernon stared at his wife in disbelief. She knew this freak?
The man in the black suit leered at his wife, the sight of which made Vernon's blood boil. "It's good to see you after so long, Tuney," the man sneered, a malicious glint of humor in his black eyes.
Petunia lifted her chin and looked down at the man in the black suit. "It's Mrs. Dursley now," she said in such an imperious way that Vernon could not help but feel pride for his dear pet.
"Oh, you will always be that nasty, jealous little girl to me," the man said, amused. He took two steps up the stairs.
Petunia almost took a step back, but she stood her ground even as the man drew closer. "And you're still that same nasty, horrible boy from Spinner's End," she retorted even as he stopped a mere two steps away from her.
"Well, it seems that we can't change what we are no matter how much we wish it," the man said, his tone as sympathetic as poison. "Can we, Tuney?"
"What do you want?" Petunia asked, not moving aside for the man in the black suit.
"I came for the boy," the man said, the words sounding flat and disinterested even to Vernon.
Petunia stared at the man in disbelief. "Why?"
"Do I need a reason?" the man said. "I'm surprised you're not falling over yourself with glee over the thought of ridding yourselves of him." He shoved aside Petunia as easily as he got by Vernon at the door. Vernon rushed up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him and went to stand in front of Petunia to protect his fragile wife from the man.
"But Dumbledore said he has to stay here," Petunia protested.
"Is that right?" the man in the black suit said as he examined Potter's door. "Are all these locks functional?" he said almost conversationally as he waved his wand at them. They clicked themselves unlocked in rapid succession.
"I say, good riddance," Vernon interjected, his frustration giving him a headache. "After what he did to my boy, he deserves everything he's getting."
"Does he?" the man in the black suit said, turning his head towards Vernon and looking at him with one black eye. "Let's hope that the trial goes in his favor. We wouldn't want to have him living here all year long, would we." He sneered at Vernon, perhaps sensing how much the thought of having that boy under his roof constantly would upset him.
The man turned the doorknob and stepped into the bedroom. Before Vernon could enter with him, the man slammed the door closed behind him. Vernon reached for the doorknob and turned it, intending to follow, but the door refused to budge. The man has locked the door behind him as well.
He looked over at his wife. She was clenching the collar of her dressing gown nervously. "I'm going to get the keys," he said to her. "I don't care who that man is, I want him out of my house."
The bedroom was chilly and dark. The light from the street lamp outside was casting uncomfortable shadows into the room. Severus found the light switch and flicked the lights on. The room wasn't nearly as hideously red as he had assumed, but it looked as disorganized and as dirty as he had expected.
On the bed was Potter, his bare back facing him as the boy lay on his side. The crisscrossing welts there were still red and a bit of blood had dried along the edges of the more vicious ones. The boy looked over his shoulder, his green eyes wary before widening in surprise.
He nearly jumped to his feet and turned to face his professor. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of shorts for the night, exposing his scrawny chest and knobby knees. His face seemed naked without his thick-framed glasses, leaving the sharp green eyes exposed. His hands were clenched at his sides, his right clutching something small in his grip.
"You came," the boy said, disbelief warring with wariness in his voice.
"You expected otherwise?" Severus said as he joined the boy on the other side of the bed. The boy moved as Severus approached, keeping his front facing the taller man and his back to the wall. "And I can only guess as to why you called for me tonight."
"I... didn't mean to call for you," the boy said, his mouth turning downward defiantly as he spoke.
"No," Severus said. "Of course not." He took hold of the boy's bare arm and moved him to take a better look at the belt marks on the boy's back. "Seems I'm too late to punish you for your stupidity today," he mused, gently touching a dark-red welt.
"You already know what happened?" the boy said.
"The Daily Prophet ran a special edition on the incident," Severus said, watching as the boy bit back a moan of pain as his touch grew just a bit less gentle. "It isn't every day that a celebrity such as yourself makes such a foolish mistake."
The boy pulled and glared up at him. "There were Dementors, Snape," he said. "I had to protect myself somehow."
"Never once thinking that was what they wanted you to do," Severus said, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders. He pushed the boy down, making him sit on the edge of the bed. He kept his hands on the boy's shoulders for a split second longer than propriety would have allowed before withdrawing. "I knew you as big a fool as your father, but to fall into their trap as recklessly as you did--"
"I didn't know it was a trap, Snape," the boy said, looking up at him with hot earnest. It was a look Severus was quite familiar with, first with his mother, and now with him. It made his heart ache seeing it now, without the black frames of the boy's glasses in the way. "How was I supposed to think it was?"
"No, that would have been beyond that pack of mulch you call a brain, would it," Snape said with a sneer. The boy responded with a scowl.
It took Severus by surprise, the sudden, hot desire to kiss the boy full on that scowling mouth. His dry, red lips were beckoning his baser nature, and his eyes, so much like his mother's, only drew him in closer. "I can't take you with me tonight," he said in a murmur.
"Why not?" the boy said, his eyes wide.
"The headmaster would not approve of you leaving your home without his protection," he said.
"But, why do I need his protection?" the boy said, his muscles flexing with tension. "You could just take me to the Burrow. The Weasleys took me in before. Or," he continued, an unexpected flush darkening his cheeks and ears, "wherever."
"Wherever," Severus echoed.
The boy looked up at Severus's face, just as defiantly as always, but there was a shyness there that unnerved him. "Wherever," the boy repeated.
There was rapid, frantic knocking on the bedroom door, startling them. Severus cleared his throat and pulled away, dismayed by how close his face had been to the boy's before the interruption. He straightened and took out a small vial from the pocket of his jacket. He held it out to the boy.
"For external use only, Mr. Potter," he said as the boy took the vial with his left hand. The boy blinked owlishly at him. "The welts on your back, boy."
"How am I supposed to put this on myself?" the boy said, as ungrateful as ever.
"You'll find a way," Severus said silkily. "And please refrain from using the pin again any time soon. I don't think I can slip into your home as easily as I had tonight."
He went to the door and undid the locking and silencing wards he had cast on it. He opened it with a jerk and glared at the couple crouching in his way.
With a flick, he cast a Memory Charm on them both, unconcerned if the silent Obliviate would damage the Muggles' minds. It was risky just coming tonight, only to check in on an impulsive fool of a boy. He could not afford witnesses as well.
He looked over his shoulder at the boy still sitting on the bed. The potion vial was still in his hand. His green eyes were staring right at him, asking for something that Severus was not certain he could give.
He briskly turned away and left, walking over the Dursleys as he moved towards the stairs and down to the back door.
Harry listened to Snape's steps fade away. He could almost hear the kitchen door open and close again over the groans of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia as they got to their feet. Before the two could see them, Harry quickly dropped the silver pin and the vial in his hands and kicked them underneath a pile of clothes near his bed. He was already to his feet when his aunt and uncle recovered enough from whatever it was that Snape had done to them to notice their surroundings.
"Why are you still awake, boy?" Uncle Vernon said with a growl, making Harry wonder if Snape had Obliviated them before leaving. "Go to sleep!" He flicked the lights off and as Aunt Petunia glowered from over his shoulder, he slammed the bedroom door shut. They clicked the deadlocks into place quickly, anxious to go to their own beds, or to make certain he would not escape.
He sighed and reached down for the vial and the pin. He groaned as the motion stretched the injured skin on his back. He scooped up the pin and the vial with one hand and settled onto the bed with a thump.
He looked at the viscous liquid in the vial for a long moment, once again annoyed that he would have to apply this to his back alone. Why couldn't Snape volunteer, or, better yet, taken him like Harry had hoped? His cheeks warmed at the thought of Snape's hands on his back again, rubbing in the cool-looking potion into the skin.
He shook his head, hoping to shake the stupid thought out of his head. He laid aside the vial and looked at the pin again, but that only made his cheeks hotter.
Snape was wearing the pin's twin on his lapel, the silver snake emblazoned on it practically winking at Harry as Snape came in. The pin in Harry's hand didn't seem as nearly magical as the one Snape wore, but it was the only link he had to the man. Knowing that the call had worked, and that Snape would come back if he used the pin again, was a greater comfort than Harry had first thought it would be. He wished that he had the same sort of connection to Sirius, Ron, and Hermione, but, and his cheeks flushed hotter at the thought, having Snape nearly at his beck and call was a good thing as well.
What do you think? Please review! I'd really like to know :)