Disclaimer: Still brunette, sill Canadian, still not J.K. Rowling.

At midday Severus Snape was still searching the park for Potter and his cousin. When the letter had said park Severus had not expected it to be this large, and unfortunately the place was crowded with muggles so using magic was not an option. The normally menacing man was dressed in muggle clothing which (in his opinion) was not nearly as impressive or terrifying as robes, but when among muggles do as the muggles do, as the old saying went. He stalked through the park looking and listening for any indication that the boys were in the vicinity.

"Have you seen this boy" a loud ringing male voice said to his right and Snape glared as a flyer was shoved in front of his face and he was met with a picture of an overweight, blond boy , and looked up to meet the gaze of the man he assumed to be the boys father because of their similarities. "He's been missing since last night, kidnapped by the boy we had to take in when his lazy parents were killed in a drunken car crash" the blond man said angrily, "my wife and I send the boy to a school for criminals, St. Brutus' you know-" Snape however had effectively quieted the mans tirade with a single glare, did the simpleton really think he wanted to hear his life story. "I've not seen the boy" he told him putting the flyer in his pocket. The other man seemed disappointed that he couldn't share his tragic story with the stranger, but he simply said, "The home number's on there if you see the boy. My wife and I are desperately worried" and walked away.

Snape stood silently watching the man leave, before he had been approached he had heard a rustling in the bushes he was sure of it. He went to check though and no one was there, and he made a decision that if he didn't find the boys in the next hour he was leaving no matter what the consequences. With a sigh he continued to search, he had been hoping to enjoy his vacation.

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

Dudley Dursley was frightened, more so than he had ever been in his entire life. He had heard the voice of his father, and desperately wanted to just run home and be safe with his mum and dad, but he knew he couldn't do that. Vernon was a monster, he had seen it with his own eyes, and he was worried that Harry might be getting worse, but at the same time he was angry that the freaks hadn't found them yet. He knew the owl wouldn't be able to get the letter to anyone, let alone anyone who could help his cousin. He had managed to drag Harry away from where Vernon's voice had been, and he knew he had made the right decision, in the light of day Harry looked even worse than he had expected. His skin was varying shades of black, blue, and purple, he had a lot of cuts with dried blood on them and he just didn't look at all healthy.

Suddenly a blood curdling scream came out of the mouth of his cousin and Harry was shaking. Dudley didn't know what else to do, but he clamped his hand on top of his cousins mouth and muffled the screams. However, he obviously wasn't quick enough because a dark shadow loomed over him, they had been found.

When he heard the sharp intake of breath he knew it wasn't his father though and he turned around still trying to muffle his cousins sounds though he had stopped screaming and now lay sobbing though he was still asleep.

"When did Mr. Potter sustain these injuries" Dudley heard the tall man ask as he also fell to his knees beside him and began examining his cousin. With shock Dudley realized that this must be one of the people from Harry's world, and he was here to help. Dudley thought he would recognize him from the times he had had to go with his mum and dad to pick Harry up from the train station, but he didn't. "Can you speak, or are you as dunderheaded as your father" the man snapped at him.

"Um, um, sometime l- l- last night" Dudley stuttered as he watched the man pull out a vial of something a dark pinkish color, open his cousins mouth and force him to drink it. "Wait, my father, when did you meet him?" Dudley asked suspiciously, "and what are you making him drink?" He worried that maybe this wasn't one of the freaks after all, maybe it was one of his fathers friends and he was poisoning his cousin.

The stranger pulled a flyer out of his pocket and handed it to him, and he gazed at it with shock. It was a poster that claimed him missing, he had never even thought that his parents might try something like this, if anyone had seen him… he didn't dwell on the thought as he realized the stranger was speaking to him. "It's a blood replenishing potion Dursley, it's the only one I thought to bring with me because it will keep him stabilized long enough so that we can return to my residence and I can heal him there" the man said and grabbed his arm.

Suddenly he felt like he was being suffocated, but when he could breathe again he was in a very nice room that he didn't recognize. The tall man was laying Harry in a large bed and Dudley jumped when a loud crack sounded and there was an ugly little thing with eyes like big blue tennis balls standing in the room. He ran across the room so that he was as far from the thing as he could get, and hoped it didn't see him.

"What can Palmer do for Master Severus" the little thing asked the tall man.

"Palmer, please fetch my stock of healing potions, and bring something to eat for Dursley" the man, apparently called Severus, (a strange name if Dudley had ever heard one) told the thing and motioned towards him. Within moments it returned with a case full of vials like they used in chemistry at Smeltings which it then attached to the wall beside Severus and a tray of food which it handed to Dudley. He took it nervously and thanked it looking wearily at the drink because it didn't resemble or smell like anything he had ever had before. Noticing his look Severus told him it was pumpkin juice, and it was a wizard thing and that it was very tasty, and not to bother him while he took care of Potter.

Snape on the other hand was overwhelmed just looking at the numerous injuries Potter had received. He summoned parchment and a quill and ran a diagnostic spell over the boy as the quill listed his current injuries from most serious to least. Once the quill was done Severus began reading and turned, if possible, paler than usual and set to work first giving Potter a potion that would put him into a healing sleep. He didn't want to think about what would happen if Potter awoke before he was done tending to the injuries, the pain would be excruciating.

"How did Potter get injured" he asked Dursley as soon as the boy had finished eating and had ventured out of the corner, though he noticed the boy hadn't touched the pumpkin juice. He had a sinking feeling that he knew how Potter had been injured, but he didn't want to believe it. He just wanted Potter to be the golden boy again, the one treated like gold by his relatives, and arrogant as his father, but the uncles tirade had effectively killed that notion. He heard a mumble from Dursley, but since he was busy concentrating on using healing spells and forcing potions down Potters throat he hadn't been able to make it out. "Speak up Dursley" he growled at the boy.

"It… it was my father" he heard the boy say and pursed his already thin lips, he had suspected, but had not wanted to be proved right. The idea that he would miss something like abuse in one of his students, especially after what he had gone through as a child was unacceptable to him, but yet it seemed he had.

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

Dudley stood quietly next to the Severus man while he worked, he could see that his cousins breathing was evening out, and after he had put some gooey purple stuff on his bruises at Severus' request the bruises had started to fade. Dudley's worry about his cousin began to recede and now he started worrying about himself. He was with a man he did not know, and had no clue where he was, and his cousin, the only one who could potentially protect them with his magic was in a deep sleep. Suddenly the Severus man grabbed his arm and Dudley was afraid that he was going to do that thing where Dudley couldn't breathe again, but instead found himself being steered out of the room.

"There's nothing you can do for him, and you've been through a lot today" Severus said, his voice not nearly as sharp as before, "We're going to have dinner and then you're going to tell me what you know while a room is prepared for you. Potter shouldn't awake until morning and you will need sleep as well." Dudley was relieved when they arrived in a small dining room, but had to admit he missed the telly at home, having a discussion with this man didn't seem like it would be much fun. The dinner on the table smelled delicious though, but there was that icky drink by his plate again and that little creature, Parker, or Pompom, or whatever it's name was was waiting beside the table.

"Palmer, please ready the room next to our other guests for Dursley here" Severus said to the thing that was named Palmer. Dudley hoped he would remember that.

"Yes, Master Severus" Palmer said with a loud bow and then he disappeared with a loud crack.

They ate in silence for a few moments and then the whole story just came pouring out of Dudley.

"Well, Mum and Dad never liked Harry. They called him the freak and he did do freaky things. One time he even set a snake on me at the zoo, that was just before that scary giant came and told him he was a wizard and that he was going to that school for other freaks just like him" Dudley began, "And I guess Dad especially wasn't nice to him at all, but I don't think he really hurt him until this summer, not even when he blew up Aunt Marge. It was all my fault, I got expelled from Smeltings because freaky things started happening and I always seemed to be in the middle of them, and someone ended up in the hospital because they got blasted against the wall and they blamed me even though I didn't even touch the guy. So Dad knew it had to be Harry's fault because freaky things are always his fault and they were probably teaching him how to do freaky things long distance at the school he goes to."

"Should I assume that in your father's house freaky is a synonym for magic and freak for wizard" interrupted the man sounding quite snide.

"Yeah, Mum and Dad really don't like that sort of thing, they're very proud that they are 100% normal, but Harry was kind of a threat to their normalcy" Dudley admitted.

"The day when beating a child is considered normal is the day that tany goodness in humanity ceases to exist" Severus said darkly, but then Dudley went back to his story.

"Anyways, at the beginning of the summer Mum took me to visit Aunt Marge for a few weeks, but when we returned home Harry was back to sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs instead of my second bedroom. I wanted to ask Harry if he had any idea what could have happened at Smeltings, so on my first night back at home I was going to go talk to Harry and see if he knew anything, but when I went to go see him Dad was with him, and he was drunk and he was blaming Harry for my getting expelled" Dudley explained nervously, "and Dad started hitting him, and hitting him and when Harry fell he just started kicking him and beating him with his belt, and then I ran back to my room because I couldn't watch anymore. Once I knew Dad was asleep I went and broke Harry's school stuff out of the basement where he'd locked it up, and then I got him out too, but he was unconscious and I didn't know what to do so I sent the latter with his owl and told it to find someone who could help him, and well, you know the rest of the story."

It had taken him quite awhile to get the story out around the food he was eating, though he still didn't touch the juice. Snape noticed and called Palmer back and got him some water instead.

"Dursley, I think it's time for you to sleep now, your cousin should wake tomorrow, and he will be quite worried if you're not there, especially if he sees me" Severus told the boy, before Dursley could ask he answered the unasked question, "I am one of your cousins professors, his Potions professor to be exact, and we have never gotten along. Though you have obviously not treated Potter perfectly in the past you removed him from the situation which is more than I've ever done for him." By this time they had reached the bedroom next to his cousins and Dudley poked in his head to check up on his cousin, but he was sleeping soundly and suddenly Dudley was tired as well. "There are nightclothes in the dresser, they will shrink or expand to fit. If you have need of anything in the night simply call Palmer and he will come immediately" the professor told him.

Dudley walked into the bedroom and marveled at the gigantic bed, his parents gave him everything he wanted, but he had never even seen a bed this large. When he put on the nightclothes it didn't even disturb him when they magically changed to fit him even though it normally would, he was just too exhausted to care. As soon as his head hit the fluffy pillow he was out like a light, though in a corner of his mind he still worried deeply about Harry. Unfortunately he was awoken in the middle of the night by terrified screams from the room next door.

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

A/N: Wow, more than twice as long as last time. Hope you're enjoying it, and as always reviews are welcomed. A special thanks to the following for their reviews:

wingnutdawn

kewr69

Fire From Above