Never Expected

Disclaimer: All the Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

This is a SS and HP mentor fic. There will be no slash in this story.

I hope you like the story!

I have had wonderful responses for the first chapter of the story within hours, and I kid you not, it is currently 2:57AM, and I have managed to vomit another chapter out, just because I was so encouraged and motivated by your reviews! I am just going ahead to post it without reviewing it though, hope there aren't any major mistakes! Keep the reviews coming you guys! I hope I don't disappoint you in the meantime!

Previously on Never Expected Chapter 1…

"I will not coddle you boy. Get up now!" Severus said as he walked briskly towards the boy and yanked him up by the arm.

Severus had not missed the wince on the boy's face as he pulled on his arm, neither did he miss the bruise that he saw momentarily as the boy's shirt was pulled along with him.

What Severus seemed to have missed, or chose to have missed, was the possibility that the boy could have been abused.

Chapter 2 – Finding Out

Severus narrowed his eyes at the boy, who continued to keep his eyes shut even as he tried to wiggle out of Severus' grasp. Severus' mind whirled with things that he should say to make the feeling in the back of his mind go away, as well as that stupid clench in his heart that made him feel horrible.

Suddenly, memories of what he had noticed about Potter in the past flew in and out of his mind, each memory reminding him of what a poor job he had done for this boy. He had placed his personal prejudice of Potter's father over his wellbeing. He had chosen to ignore what he had seen, believing instead that it was not likely that the pompous, haughty and proud James Potter would have arranged for his son to be sent to a place where he knew he would be mistreated. He knew Potter would have wanted the best for his son, even if it means that his son was spoilt senseless. One particular memory of Potter during one of his lesson, who had flinched away abruptly when Weasley tried to remove something from his hair only to back into the burning cauldron in their third year.

This was entirely unacceptable. Severus had kept a grudge all these years. He had meant to be spiteful to the child, to vent all his pent up anger that he had against James Potter that he could never let out when he was alive. He wanted to make Potter feel small and unwanted, because that was what his father had done to him. But he had not known that by doing so, he had been adding on to the child's situation.

Severus shook his head slightly in an attempt to clear his mind. No, he could have been mistaken. The boy may not have been abused. The bruise might be from some rough housing. It is fairly common in the boys' dormitories. Don't make it out to be something so big Severus Snape. Ask the boy.

Severus hesitated for a moment before he gathered his wits, and asked tersely, "Potter, the bruise on your neck. How did you get it?" Severus felt the boy tense up completely in his arms as he froze; his eyes flew wide in shock, before he doubled over in pain.

Severus stood alarmed at the boy that writhed in pain on the floor. He hadn't expect that Potter would be shocked enough to open his eyes, exposing them to the light and air. Right now, Severus expects that all Potter would feel is pain, and it was a miracle that he was not screaming or passed out.

Harry tried to ignore the intense pain in his eyes as he squeezed them shut. Snape knew. Snape saw. He is going to mock him, and tell everyone. Whimpering in pain, Harry could barely hear the professor telling him to take deep breaths, while scolding him for being incompetent, not understanding a simple instruction.

Harry wanted to yell at him to stop fussing over him as he felt the professor's hands over his face, trying to get him to look up. He pushed Snape's hand away from his face, trying to squeeze his eyelid tighter together. The pain was excruciating and he wanted to shout or kick something.

"Potter. Listen to me! You have to stop struggling! I need to apply this soothing drop into your eyes or it will keep hurting and you might lose your sight!" Snape said as he tried once more to grab Harry's arm that were currently flailing about.

Hearing the drop in tone of Snape's voice made him realize that it could be quite serious, and Harry fought the urge to move away from the professor as he felt his presence coming closer to him.

Snape guided him by his shoulders towards the bed and instructed for him to lie down and concentrate on his breathing. Harry bit his tongue, trying his best not to retort and say something stupid like 'you try to breathe while hurting like a bitch!'. He didn't want any trouble. He just wanted to get out of the hospital wing without Snape asking any more questions or finding out about his body's condition.

Harry barely registered Snape's instructions over the pain that he was experiencing. Uncle Vernon's beating hurt, but they usually caused pain that passed through all over his body. The pain that he had now was concentrated on his eyes only, and it was a sharp pain that kept stabbing at his eyes.

Harry felt warm liquid being poured on top of his eyelids, and he heard Snape yelling at him to try to blink his eyes to get the soothing drop into his eyes. His mind comprehends the instruction. Harry knows it was good for him to try to blink, but he was so afraid that if he opened his eyes, the excruciating pain would hit him again, and he really didn't want to go through that again, not when the pain seems to be ebbing away slowly already.

"Potter! Don't be afraid to open your eyes! The effect of the soothing drops will be instant. You will not feel pain like you did!" Snape said harshly when he noticed that Harry was not following his instructions to blink, "Don't make me force you to open your eyes Potter!"

Harry nodded in at the command, and took several deep breaths before he gathered all the courage he had and blinked as quickly as he could.

The effect was instantaneous. The professor had not lied. He felt the pain disappear in a second, now the stabbing pain has become an uncomfortable throbbing. He felt himself breathing better now.

"This will only help with the pain for now. Keep your eyes closed. When Poppy comes back she will do the necessary healing for your eyes. This is not my expertise. I can only help to relief the pain." Snape said as Harry felt a cloth being applied to his eyes, wiping away the excess fluid.

Relaxing now that the pain is almost totally gone, all Harry wanted to do was take a nap. This was a horribly eventful day, and he did not want to be awake any longer. He just wanted to sleep the rest of the day away, and not face the potions master's questions.

As if reading his mind, Snape started, "It is not quite the time to sleep Potter. We are not done. You have yet to take a bathe nor answer my question."

Hearing this, Harry allowed his senses to go into utter panic once more, but this time, he made sure that he had his arm over his eyes, ensuring that he would not be tempted to open his eyes again. "I- I will take my bath soon."

"And my question? About the bruise." Snape stated before becoming quiet as he waited for Harry to answer the question.

Harry was trying to think up excuses he could use to answer the professor. He had practiced for this over and over again before he came back to Hogwarts, just in case any of his classmates or roommates saw his injuries while showering or changing.

A part of Harry so badly wanted someone to know about what was going on. He wanted to be loved and held just like Dudley was when he got hurt. But he knew that of all persons to find out, Snape would be the last to know. He would mock him to no end.

"Noth-Nothing. I fell." Harry stammered, sighing at his own excuse, knowing that it was completely bogus sounding and the professor was definitely going to his bluff.

And he did. Snape scoffed at his answer, "Really Potter? Did you think I was born yesterday? Where do tell, did you fall at, what did you fall on to give you such a gloriously large bruise?"

Harry racked his brains as quickly as he could, his breath quickening as he realized that he could think of no good scenario to convince his teacher, "Ta-Table." Was all he could muster at the moment and Harry felt like smacking himself for coming up with such a ridiculous answer.

There was silence for moment before Harry heard the scraping of a chair being pulled towards the bed, and the sound of the professor taking a seat beside his bed.

Severus knew now, for sure that the boy was hiding his abuse. It was obvious how he suddenly clammed up. The excuses he sprouted were ridiculous, and Severus knew he caught him unexpectedly. Should the situation be different, maybe the boy would have come up with a better excuse. But for now, he was sure that the boy was being abused.

Now that Severus knew, he had to take a different approach, just like he did with his Snakes that had the same problem. No more snarky comments or spiteful insults. He had to be serious and calm, show a bit of concern, in order to coax the boy into talking about it. It was routine for all the cases that he had worked with. But for a strange reason, this did not feel at all routine-like to Severus.

It did feel extremely personal though. He wasn't sure if it was because it was his childhood bully's son, or if it was because it was Lily's son he was looking at. Or just the fact that he had chosen to ignore the signs for so long. He felt guilty. He had allowed this to go on for years, until now.

Peculiarly, Severus realized suddenly that he had strangely become bonded to Potter in a warped way. Ever since he had entered the school, Severus had been keeping tabs on the boy subconsciously. He hadn't realized till now that he had been doing so, but he realized that he could think of several things about Potter that he probably should not have known. Like how Potter like treacle tarts very much, and does not like to use utensils when he eats chicken or any winged animal.

Severus realized in an instance that he had come to care of the boy mysteriously. Most likely because he could feel the resemblance he had to his mother. Lily was the only woman in his life that he loved and cared for. In fact, the only person he cared for. Looking at the fragile boy that laid on the bed, looking like he was about to spring out of bed and out the hospital wing, Severus sighed, willing his pride away. Do this for Lily.

Taking a deep breath, he started, "Potter. I know that we have not been in good terms." Severus paused, rolling his eyes when he heart Potter mutter 'understatement' under his breath, "But I want you to know that I am not going to judge you for anything. I just want to know where did you get your injury, and if there is more to it. What we discuss right now will not be information shared to anyone else. I am only going to listen and try to help as much as I can."

Severus could see the frown that etched on the young boy's face as he considered what he said. Severus thought that all was going well until the teen spoke, "Don't lie." The boy's voice trembled, almost in a deadly whisper, "You don't care about me. You just want to know so you can make fun of me."

Severus fought the impulse to smack himself on the head, knowing that it was his fault that the boy had thought so, "I assure you Pot- Mister Potter, that it is not true. I may have been harsh on you, but this is a serious matter, and I have your best interests at heart."

Potter lowered his voice and spoke so softly that Severus had to crane his neck to hear him, "You lie. Don't start pretending that you care Snape. You have always hated my father and me. I know because you always remind me. You just want to hear that I have suffered so you can have a good laugh at it." Potter's voice was raised and his fists were clamped tightly, "I bet that even if you had an ounce of concern right now, it is just a fleeting thing, you are doing this on whim. You don't care! You don't have it in you to care!" The boy sat up abruptly, and Severus noticed a tear escaping from the side of Potter's eyes before he turned away from him. "Just give me the salve. I will shower and apply it myself. Leave me alone."

Severus knew that that was one solution, to leave the boy alone to process what had just happen, and let him come to him at his own time. But Severus felt like if he left the boy now, it was just confirming the boy's thoughts, that this was fleeting moment for him, "No." Severus intercepted Potter's actions as he tried to get off the bed. Pulling the boy back down, Severus continued, "I apologize if you think that this is just a joke to me. But it is not. I assure you Potter; this is a serious matter to me. I am not trying to make a joke out of you, and neither is this a fleeting concern. I am genuinely trying to help you." Severus had his hand on either arms of the boy, trying to stop him from leaving the room.

Potter tried to stand up again once more, pushing his arms against Severus, throwing Severus off his balance in shock, "Leave me alone!"

"I am not going anywhere Potter, until you give me the honest answer to my question!" Severus raised his voice to match Potter's intensity his hands going towards Potter to try to grab the boy again.

"FINE!" Potter shouted, throwing his arms in the air in mock surrender, not allowing Severus to grab ahold of him. "My uncle hits me! My cousin- My cousin likes to gang up with his friends and be-beat me up! My aunt does noth-nothing about it! I get hit for doing the chores in-incorrectly! I get hit because I stare at Dudley the wron-wrong way! I get hit for breath-breathing because I am such a fre-freak! Are you happy to hear that now sir? If you are, ple-please just give me the salve and leave!" The boy was now in a full out sobbing, tears falling rapidly from his still closed eyes as he collapsed into a heap.

Severus' heart clenched in pain at he came to the full realization of what Potter was admitting. Potter- No, Harry's wretched sobs rang out in the otherwise silent hospital wing, and Severus found himself staring at the crumpled form of the poor child, suddenly filled with the urge to hold him.

I'm glad to see that people are starting to read this fic already! Thanks for all the reviews! I hope my brain keeps getting inspired and I keep vomiting chapters out for you!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Message me or leave a review if you would like share anything with me!

Love,
theroadsofar.