Hi! This week as gone by so quickly...Enjoy the chapter, there will be more announcements at the bottom!

Chapter 48

The Mutt Returns

Severus watched Draco shrug his shoulders and follow Potter into the flat without question. The potions master wished that his godson had decided that they should leave after seeing that she was alright. Instead, Severus found himself walking into an unfamiliar flat that smelled of expensive perfumes and was decorated with modern furniture.

He heard voices coming from a small nook a few meters away. There was a small kitchen there and George Weasley was sitting in a chair with his head back and his eyes were closed. Potter had an ice pack over his eye and had a hand on one of his shoulders as she whispered something in his ear. Draco had seated himself on the counted across from them.

The ginger muttered something along the lines of "good to know" and eventually took the ice pack from Potter's hands and let it sit on his face without her help.

"Do you mind telling me what happened?" Severus snapped, tired of watching the scene in front of him.

Potter sighed, "My Uncle is a disgusting human being and tried to get me alone all summer. You can imagine the different things that he'd want to do to me. I warded myself in my room with runes I had learned and kept to myself. Towards the end of the first week in the house started to feel weak. I knew that I needed George near me, so I got in contact with him and he came to my rescue. Luckily, my Uncle didn't find out. It wasn't until today that he even knew of George's existence. When he broke through the wall a lot of things exploded and something hit George in the eye. We came straight here. Fleur is getting ready for a job interview. She had told me about this flat a few weeks ago and wanted me to see it. It was the first place that came to mind when we needed to get out," she explained quickly and Severus couldn't if she was telling the truth.

"For some reason I doubt that you're being honest with me, Potter," he sneered and she huffed.

"Fine, would you rather I show you?" She challenged. Severus raised his wand at the invitation. Draco hopped off the counter and was bout to stop his godfather, but Harri shook her head.

The potions master walked up to the girl and brought his wand to her face, making direct eye contact with her, "Legilimens!"

Severus could feel himself enter her mind smoothly and found himself in front of a large manor. Potter, or at least a subconscious version was standing near a marble entryway, arms crossed.

"Welcome to world of my memories. I'm here to guid you through my mind safely. There are a lot of traps set in various rooms, so don't stray too far," she warned walking through the large entryway. Severus raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect her mind to be so well protected, then again, Black was a pureblood and the majority of them are forced to learn Occlumency at a young age. He probably taught Potter.

When the potions master entered the home he found himself in Petunia's house. The door slammed behind him and Potter was sitting in the staircase, watching him with Lily's green eyes.

"This memory is from the first day that I arrived. Dinner had just been served. Follow me to the kitchen," Potter said getting up quickly and walking silently towards the kitchen.

When they entered the subconscious version of Potter was leaning on a wall, watching her family eat dinner. Two whales, a horse and Potter were sitting at the table. Potter was eating silently while the two whales stared at her with lust in their eyes. Severus could see her pull out a necklace and shine it in their faces. He saw that it had a rune to repel people etched into it, obviously the men in front of her were rather thick because they didn't stop. Potter frowned and looked at the marking, trying to figure out what was wrong with it...

The memory began to fade and he and Potter were back at the steps. "The look in their eyes didn't leave. I knew what they wanted and I wasn't about to let them take advantage of me," she explained as a memory started.

"This memory is from the fifth day I was here. You might want to move away from the door," she advised and he jumped out of the way right as the door came crashing open. A large beefy man that Severus recognized as her Uncle came barging in.

"Where the bloody hell is she?" her Uncle snarled as he came in. Severus saw Petunia peek her head out of the kitchen.

"In her room, Vernon. Why don't you leave the little freak alone? You've been obsessing over her for the past five days," she said, blue eyes narrowed dangerously, clearly at her wits end.

Vernon grunted and began to talk to her. The potions master was not paying attention to either of them and turned towards the stairs. The subconscious version of Potter motioned for him to go up the stairs as she glided up them like a phantom.

Severus followed her and watched as she walked through the door to her room. He approached the door and walked through it like Potter had. He found the subconscious version of her sitting on the windowsill watching her past self, who was lying on the bed. Severus looked over Potter before Weasley had showed up and noticed that she did indeed look sick. There were bags under her eyes and she looked thinner than she had when he last saw her in the kitchen.

The silver mirror was lying next to her bed and she was playing with a charm bracelet. There were school books lying open on her desk, her owl was missing from its cage and there was a small cat curled up on the floor under her chair. Severus' lip curled at the mess. He was glad that his godson was a neat freak.

Seconds later her door swung open and she jumped up from her position on the bed. Her Uncle barely fit through the door. "Girl, your Aunt told me what you did to your cousin!" The potions master's eyebrow raised, wondering what she could have done to him.

"You mean after I punched him and broke his nose for pinching my arse? You can't tell me that you condone his behavior? I'm his cousin!" Potter shrieked indigently. Severus had seen what she had done to Alya's face in second year after she punched her. He couldn't imagine a stronger version of Potter punching another teen.

Her Uncle walked up to her and cracked his knuckles threateningly. "All I heard was that you used your freakishness to hurt him and now you're going to have to learn your lesson," he told her. He went to grab her, his hands not going towards her arms, but further south. His eyes were full of lust, but her wand was out in seconds, pointed at his neck. Distain written on her every feature.

The memory faded and Severus saw Potter lying in bed again, but this time she had a black eye and there were bruises on her arms, but there was a victorious smile on her face. Her cat was curled up on her chest and she was petting it absentmindedly. The subconscious Potter was nowhere in sight. "Showed him not to mess with me. I hope he tells the doctor that his niece broke his leg in five places and shattered his nose. I just hope my bruises heal soon, otherwise Sirius will come here and kill my uncle," she said to no one in particular.

Suddenly, a white blur approached the window and knocked on it. The bird was holding some sort of animal in it's talons. Whatever it was carrying was thin and had a red bushy tail.

"Hedwig? What have you go there?" Potter asked opening the window, letting the snowy owl in and drop the load she had been carrying. It dropped to the floor and Severus realized that it was a fox.

"A fox?" she muttered going to close to the animal. She stuck her hand out to it hesitantly, not sure if it would bite. The fox tackled her onto her bed and began to lick her face.

"You're a friendly little guy, aren't you?" she asked with a slight laugh. The fox then started to change shape quickly and George Weasley took its place. The boy was an animagus?

"I've been told I'm friendly once or twice," he told her with a smile, but then it changed to a frown, "What happened to your face?"

"George, that is not the first thing you should ask your girlfriend," she told him with an unamused look on her face.

George traced the patterns of the bruises on her face and arms and realized that they were shaped like hands. "I'll kill your uncle if you'd like. He shouldn't be treating you like this," he told her, completely serious.

Though, within seconds the bruises began to fade. "With you around the bruises won't last very long. On top of that, I've started to ward my room, take a look at the door," she told George and Severus turned around right as the memory of Weasley did. He looked at the complex warding ruins on the door. Even though this was a memory he could almost feel the magic coming from them. The potions master turned around to the couple again. Weasley had laid down next to her, one of his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

"You're a brilliant witch, you know that?" he asked with leaning down for a kiss. The scene faded quickly and the subconscious Potter appeared again. She had a light blush on her cheeks.

"Sorry about that," she muttered and the scene changed to Potter looking out the window and loud crashes coming from outside. There was a ginger fox destroying everything in the yard, from breaking flower pots to unearthing her prized roses. Petunia was chasing it, but it managed to get into the house. More crashes could be heard and Potter smirked.

"Basically, the rest of the summer went like that. It was a lot of fun watching my Uncle and Aunt chase down George. Now, I'd like you to leave my mind," the subconscious version of Potter said and Severus found himself being forced out of her mind.

The potions master felt himself jerk awake and found himself on the ground. Weasley was holding Potter up and Draco was hovering over him. It was a few moments before both of them righted themselves. They all sat down at the table, no one dared to speak.

"Why did you trust me with finding you? I haven't exactly been the most understanding of professors," Severus asked, curious. He finally believed her after she let him invade her mind.

"Because, Draco trusts you and I know you have good in you, Professor," she replied sincerely and Severus blinked.

"What did you say?" he asked, not in a rude tone, but in one of genuine shock.

"I said that you have good in you. That isn't that shocking of a concept is it?" she replied with a raised eyebrow. Severus shook his head. He felt like he should remember that sentence from somewhere.

An awkward silence followed for a few minutes. No one really sure where to take the conversation.

"So, where are you going to be staying for the rest of the summer?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I got in contact with Tonks. She's going to be picking me up here and taking me to the Order's Headquarters. She said that you're welcome to join us if you want, Draco," Potter replied and Severus' heart sank slightly. He enjoyed having Draco around, it gave his dark house some life.

"It'd be nice to see the Headquarters, but I still have stuff and Sev's and I don't think I should just leave him by himself. He broods enough with me there. I don't even want to think about what he'll do without me," Draco told her cheekily. Potter rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you want. Luna is at the Headquarters though. That's the only reason I extended the invitation," she said with a smirk and Draco's cheeks heated up considerably. Luna? As in Luna Lovegood? Draco was smitten with Luna Lovegood?

"I-I don't think that's the only reason you brought that up," Draco stuttered out and Potter's grin increased tenfold, making her look just like her father.

She was about to say something when she heard a knock on the door. Potter's wand was out in seconds and she approached the door quickly. Severus hated to admit it, but she looked deadly. A few moments later he heard a squealing noise from the door and saw Potter hugging someone tightly around the neck. There wasn't just Tonks at the door, there were two other men with her. One had sandy brown hair that was starting to grey and the other had a mop of moderately long black hair and was currently hugging Potter...it was Lupin and Black.

"I thought you two weren't going to be back until late August!" she said surprised, still hugging Black.

"We found what we were looking for and decided to head back early. We were going to surprise you for your birthday the day after tomorrow, but you beat us to that!" Black replied hugging her again and then pulling her away and looking her over. Severus saw his eyes linger on the scratches, but also on her face.

"What did I tell you about growing up! I don't see you for a month and a half and all of the sudden you look like a young woman! I told you that you weren't allowed to look mature until you were forty!" Black scolded and Potter laughed and threw her arms around him again.

"I missed you, Sirius," she whispered and he hugged her back in shock.

"We're clearly missing something," Lupin said, stating the obvious, but nonetheless moving Potter and Black into the house with Tonks closing the door behind them.

So, this will be the last chapter in Snape's POV, for now. I miss Harriet's POV…anyway, I don't think I'm going to be getting my old story back anytime soon. The website isn't answering me so as I said in the previous chapter, I'm uploading the old chapters to wattpad.

Okay, I gave a really big hint for what's going to happen in sixth year in this chapter. You can leave a review as a guess! I've had this little hint planned since book two. =3 Sixth year is going to be lots of fun for me.

Um, so there will be a review goal, though it will be a lot smaller since my fan base is scattered. The review goal is 22, though I'll probably still post regardless, the fan base is still very messed up. I'm trying to get to everyone that alerted to be, but there are 500 of you and I'm only on the letter N. I've made it through half the alphabet. =) I doubt that this will ever be as successful as Harriet Potter-The Marauder's Heir, but I want to finish this series like I promised.

If anyone has any questions where to find the early chapters or a question about the chapter leave it in the reviews or PM me, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

~Animerocker

PS
I don't own Harry Potter