Hi everyone!
I'll just explain a few things!
First, I'm sorry about Remus's hair mistake, you're absolutely right.
Second, I don't expect them to recognize Harry immediately. His fringe covers the scar and I'm sure there are plenty of little kids with green eyes in Surrey. Besides, maybe resembling James is a deadly giveaway but you don't just relate a small child to a former friend the first time you see him.
Third; yes, Remus knows that James and Lily's son's name is Harry. And yes, he knows that this little child is named Harry. Still Harry is a very common name so that shouldn't be a shock on him or anything.
I know that's a lot of coincidences into one but give me sometime guys, they will begin to suspect and will find out soon enough.
Thanks for the feedback!
Now on with the show…
Snape watched as the silent child entered the classroom. He narrowed his eyes at the way he avoided everyone's gaze and didn't talk to the other children. He held a broken pencil tightly in his tiny hand and the dark man frowned. Lupin had clearly asked for a set of regular pencils, color pencils and crayons for Tuesdays' classes. He turned his eyes towards the big, fat child that was already sitting down, babbling loudly and bragging about his new crayons. He had seen them get in the same car, yet they couldn't possibly be siblings. And if they were, why didn't Harry have the same stuff as Dudley? He sighed through his nose.
"Lupin, have you noticed the garments Harry is wearing?" he said lowly as the children entered the classroom and sat down, proudly showing off their utensils. Remus immediately looked up from the art works he was looking over, checking if they had a legit signature on them, and stared at the kid. "They are dirty and ragged. Not to mention ridiculously oversized."
"Well, this is an arts class, Severus. Most of the parents don't want their children to ruin their clothes so they dress them up in old ones." Remus explained, looking back at the papers.
"I also noticed that he didn't bring any of the materials that you asked for." The black-headed man said. He didn't know why he was so concerned for that boy.
"Oh, bummer." Remus said, casing a worried glance at Harry. "His parents probably forgot. That happens sometimes. I'll have to give him some of the spare ones I have."
Snape sighed.
"Do you know, by any chance, if Dudley and Harry are related?"
Remus frowned and looked at Severus with clear amusement.
"I seriously doubt it. Why?"
The man considered telling Lupin that he had seen Harry getting into the same car as Dudley; thus voicing his concern at the difference between both. But he just shook his head and looked out the window. Enough worrying for one day.
After leaving the stack of artworks on the desk – not noticing that one of them was missing – Remus grabbed a few color pencils and crayons from old boxes and walked up to Harry's desk. The child looked up at him with a bit of fear.
"Hey, Harry." He said, kneeling down to look at him in the eye.
"Hi." He answered timidly.
"I noticed you didn't bring color pencils or crayons." He said gently.
Harry looked away. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You forgot. It can happen to anyone. You can use these ones instead." Remus answered, placing them on Harry's desk. The other two kids sitting at the table with him raised their eyebrows and looked at the utensils.
"Really?" Harry asked, reaching for a crayon before withdrawing his hand, as if burnt. "What if I ruin it?"
"Well, then I'll just buy a new one." Remus answered, winking. He got up and walked to the front of the class. "Okay, class! We'll start now. Today we are going to learn how to draw. But first, I need to take a look at what you can do. We'll start with simple stuff. I want you guys to draw your favorite animal! You must color it as well, okay? Go ahead."
Snape leaned against the chair as the time passed by, crossing his arms and staring at the small, messy-haired head bent over the white paper that Remus had previously placed next to each chair. He noticed that he was fidgeting a lot, as if something itched. He would rub his right arm sometimes, gingerly, careful not to raise his long sleeve.
Remus sat behind his desk, putting a check on each of the artworks before re-stacking them to his other side, this time being mindful of counting each of them.
He raised his eyebrow as he noticed that one of them was missing. He frowned and looked through them again, this time noticing which.
"Harry?" he called. The small kid looked up from his drawing. "Can you come over here for a second, please?"
Harry slid off of his desk and walked up to the teacher. He stopped in front of him with a nervous face and fidgeting slightly.
"Yes?"
"Your artwork is missing. Remember you were supposed to hand it in today, signed by your parents?"
Harry looked down at his worn sneakers and nodded slightly.
"I-I forgot." He said quietly.
"Can you bring it tomorrow?" Remus asked gently. He was taken aback when the child shook his head harshly. "Well, why not?"
"Uhm… I lost it." He mumbled. He cringed a bit as if expecting a blow to the head. Severus swallowed.
"Oh, bother." Remus said. "Well, that's bad. But don't worry, Harry! Make sure you keep the other ones safe and don't lose them. I'm sure your parents would like to see your progress!"
Harry nodded before retreating and sitting back down, slowly.
'I'm reading too much into this child's behavior.' Severus thought as he jerked his head to the side and looked out the window.
After about twenty minutes, Remus got up from his desk and stretched.
"Come and see the drawings. Some of them are really interesting." He told Snape. The potions master rolled his eyes and followed his fellow up to the first table.
Snape uninterestedly eyed each drawing, trying to cover his disgust at Remus's attempts of cheering the kids up. They finally reached Harry's table.
"Hey, Harry. What are you drawing?" Remus asked as he stood behind the shy kid. "Oh, it's a stag! It's beautiful, Harry!"
Snape narrowed his eyes. He didn't know how Remus did it; he had been fairly certain that it was a dog. He crossed his arms as Harry once again rubbed his right arm gingerly before muttering a 'thanks', not daring to look up. Both men furrowed their eyebrows and Remus gave Snape a quick glance before moving on to the next table. Snape stayed for a few more seconds as the child timidly picked up a brown crayon and continued coloring his masterpiece. Then he followed Remus to the next table.
When the class finished, Harry once again stayed behind as he picked the colors up and walked up to Remus to give them back. The older man took them from the tiny child's hands and put them away, smiling all the while.
"Uhm, Mr. Lupin?" he asked softly.
"Yes, Harry?"
"I-I-I… uhm… It's just… Er – my parents really uhm, don't like to sign my… my works. Besides… eh… I m-might lose it… again." He said timidly. He handed the drawing to his teacher. "C-can you keep it for me?"
"Why don't they like to sign your works?" Snape asked.
"Th-they, er – they just don't." he explained nervously, fidgeting. He looked out the window and swallowed. "I have to go."
"Okay, then." Remus said, taking the drawing from Harry "I'll keep it for you but your mother will have to see it eventually."
Harry opened his mouth to answer but in the end he just nodded.
As he walked out of the academy, Severus pointed with his chin at the window. Remus looked over and frowned.
A tall, very thin woman was nagging at the child, and Harry just stood before her with his head bowed. Both men tensed as the woman raised a hand as if she was going to hit him, and the child flinched violently, but she cast a glance around and merely grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the car. Inside the car, Dudley was laughing and pointing at the smaller child. The woman didn't say anything to the fat bully. They both stared as the car sped away.
"Well, she is certainly strict." Remus said.
"Strict is a very gentle way to put it, Lupin." Snape said without taking his eyes off the window.
"Maybe she isn't his mother. Maybe their mothers are friends and she just comes to pick him up, but she doesn't like him very much." Remus said, trying to find some explanation to the strange scene.
"She almost hit him, Lupin."
"No, she just raised her hand." Lupin shrugged. "My mom used to do that too, just to scare me into obeying her. She never hit me but it never failed when I was around Harry's age."
Snape sighed and shook his head slowly.
Harry didn't want to get off of the car.
Aunt Petunia was really angry and she'd make him do a lot of chores, but he was tired and wanted nothing more than a nap. But when he hesitated for a second too long, Aunt Petunia grabbed his soft arm with her hand, digging his nails into his skin and dragged him over to the door, shoving him aside and nearly making him fall. He stumbled inside and quickly walked into the kitchen to prepare Dudley's afternoon snack. His belly growled as he pulled out bread, peanut butter, jelly and chocolate milk.
"Hurry up, you little freak. You still have to vaccum the living room, clean the bathrooms, take out the trash – " he tuned her out as he finished the sandwich and began to heat the milk up in the microwave. When she stopped talking, he simply nodded.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia."
"Good." She said before taking out the pans to start on the dinner. Sure, the freak could cook it, and he should, but she simply didn't want to sit around doing nothing all afternoon. Besides, the stupid little boy would surely burn everything.
Harry placed the plate on Dudley's night table and headed out to clean the bathrooms.
Two hours later, he heard Vernon's car pull into the garage.
He tensed a bit and continued furiously wiping at the stairs. If the man saw him working, he wouldn't hurt him too bad. Or so he hoped.
He jumped as the front door slammed open.
"I'm home, darling!" he called. Harry sighed a bit in relief. At least he wasn't angry. Petunia got out of the kitchen and kissed his cheek. "It smells fantastic. A perfect meal from a perfect wife to end a perfect day. The manager called me into his office today and it is very probable that I'll get ascended!"
"That's great!" Petunia squealed, hugging him.
Harry sweated nervously as he felt both pairs of eyes glaring at him and he slowly turned away from his chore to look at his aunt and uncle.
"The only bad thing about my day is that I still get to see this little freak. You useless piece of shit." He growled, stomping over to Harry.
The small child pressed his back against the stairs and looked at his uncle with wide, frightened eyes. That seemed to soothe the man's sudden anger and he glared at the small boy before huffing and turning away, straight into the kitchen. Harry sighed and continued cleaning the stairs. His calm was short-lived, though, as Dudley came stomping down the stairs, stepped hard on Harry's hand, and kicked the bucket of water down the stairs.
Harry cried out and held his hand, which now had an oddly bent finger that hurt a lot, and had no time to stop the bucket from tumbling down. The water splashed everywhere, and the puddle spread until it reached the pristine white carpet in the living room. The little boy's eyes widened and he got up, the pain in his hand forgotten, as Petunia came out of the kitchen, rolling pin in her hand, and ignored Dudley as he ran past her to say hello to his dad.
"Oh my God!" she screamed as she watched her carpet get drenched in water. It was just water, it would dry eventually, but the woman didn't care. "You can't do a simple task?! You idiot!"
"I'm sorry." He whispered. Tears filled his eyes and he bit his lip to keep them at bay. He had been working so hard all afternoon to get some scraps of food for the night because he was so hungry, but now he knew he'd go straight to the cupboard without anything. Not even a sip of water. He swallowed back the lump in his throat. "I'm s-so sorry."
Petunia glared at him.
"I hate you so much."
Now, you'd think a child wouldn't mind those words anymore if they were repeated to him over and over in an almost daily basis. But he had tried so hard all his life to make his family love him, if only just a little bit, that that sole phrase cut him like a knife. It hurt and he had to bite his lip hard not to start sobbing right there. His shoulders slumped down and he hung his head even lower.
The woman walked up to him and hit his head with the rolling pin. Harry felt to the ground, his mind dizzy from the unsuspected blow. Petunia didn't stop there, though. She forced him to stand up, pulling at the collar of his shirt, and hit him hard in the back, making him cry out. She pushed him down the stairs and he stumbled down, hitting his head once again against the floor.
"Go tell your Uncle what you did!"
Harry felt the usual sick fear in his stomach intensify. He got up dizzy, and felt blood running down his face from his forehead, where he had hit the ground. He cradled his hand as he slowly walked into the kitchen. Vernon had heard the whole scuffle, so he was now red in the face, glaring down at the little boy. His mustache quivered as he growled in annoyance.
"What the hell did you do know, freak?"
"I-I… I ruined Aunt Petunia's carpet." He said slowly. He heard Dudley snicker and he swallowed. It hadn't been him! It had been Dudley!
His face went deadly white as Vernon got up and unbuckled his belt. He delivered a hard punch to Harry's face, making him fall on the floor.
"Dudley, go to your room."
"But daaaaad!"
"Go to your room, now!"
"Ugh." Dudley rolled his eyes and left the kitchen.
Vernon then pulled Harry's shirt off and his pants down and raised his belt.
Snape frowned as he watched the small boy come into the class. He had been absent the day before, yet when they had asked Dudley why, he had just shrugged. The boy seemed tired, more than usual, and was walking weirdly, as if something hurt very much. One of his eyes was red ans slightly swollen, and he had a bruise on his cheek. He was cradling his hand, but Severus couldn't see what was wrong with it.
He swallowed as he watched the small boy limp to his seat, sit down painfully, and sigh.
"Lupin. Look at Harry."
But Remus had been looking at the boy, too. He had noticed the injuries, too. The painful way in which the boy carried himself, the sadness in his eyes… what had happened to him. He bit on his lower lip as the small boy leaned back on the back of his chair and jumped slightly, wincing, before sorely leaning fort, to avoid touching his back against the back of his seat.
"Harry?" he called. The other kids were still sitting down, taking their things out and talking to each other, so they didn't pay much attention to them. "Can I talk to you?"
Harry nodded and slowly got up, trying not to wince, and walked over to them.
"Yes?" he muttered, his head bowed.
Remus knelt down to be eyelevel with him and softly placed a finger under his chin to lift his head.
"What happened to you?"
"I tripped and fell down the stairs." He said without missing a beat. Severus narrowed his eyes.
"Didn't they take you to the hospital?"
"Yes. I was there yesterday. They only gave me a few medicines." He recited.
Remus looked up at Snape. The Potion's master glared down at the were-wolf and shook his head. He knew the boy had learnt those words by heart.
"Harry, you know you can tell us everything." Remus said. "If something is wrong, we can help you."
Harry killed the small ray of hope that formed in his heart instantly. He looked away. 'He says that because he doesn't know that you're a freak'.
"I just tripped." He muttered.
Remus sighed and nodded, patting Harry's head before getting up. Harry walked back into his chair and the class began.