Chapter two
Severus pov
"Ah, Severus my boy, come in, come in." Dumbledore said in his normal cheerful voice. "Lemon drop?" "No thank you, Headmaster." Severus replied, in his normal grumpy voice. Now, that the formalities were out of the way, the headmaster had a serious look on his face. Severus frowned. That look usually meant that either he had gone over the line and punished a student- usually a Gryffindor- way too hard, or Potter was in trouble and Severus had to go save him, and since school wasn't in session… "Severus, I need you to go check on Harry. I am worried, he has not sent a letter for several days, and I fear something is wrong." "Albus, I will not go check on Potter! I am certain that nothing is wrong. The spoiled brat is probably too busy being pampered to write, or they have gone on vacation, or something! You cannot make me go!"
ten minutes later
'He made me go...'"Well, this is it." He said out loud to himself. He was standing in front of Potters house, and had to almost force himself to walk up to the door and knock. The door was opened by one of the biggest persons he had ever seen, not counting Hagrid, and he looked at him in disgust. Was this supposed to be a boy?! He shuttered inwardly, while presenting himself:" Good day, my name is Professor Severus Snape; I'm here to check on Mr. Harry Potter, I teach at his school. May I come in?" the boy didn't answer, he just turned parchment white, and ran back into the house, trying, with no luck whatsoever, to cover his enormous arse, while yelling to his dad" DAD! It's one of them! He's here to check on the freak!" before he even finished the sentence, an even larger man came from Severus assumed to be the living room, and walked towards the still open door in what was supposed to be a threatening manner, and towered over Severus while saying in an angry voice:" You have no business here. Go away, and don't come back!" with that said, he tried to close the door, but was stopped by Severus foot in the door opening. He forced the door open, stepped inside, and closed the door behind him. "Now you listen here Dursley, and you listen well. I am here because I was sent here to check on Potter, and I am not leaving until I have checked on him. Capeech?!" he started out talking, but at the end of the sentence, he was yelling.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two other members of the Dursley family, and gave the large man a hard push, so that he staggered a few steps backwards, toward his family. "Now, where is harry?" the Dursleys were all trembling with fear, and none of them answered him. He frowned, and decided to look for himself. He left the Dursleys in the hall and walked up the stairs and looked into the rooms he found. The first was clearly the master bedroom, the next a boys room, probably the Dursley boy's room. The next was the bathroom, and then there was a spare bedroom. He frowned. Where was Potters room? Then he noticed the last door and looked at it with horror. There were several locks on it, and there was a cat flap on it too. He opened the door with a few unlocking charms, and gasped at what he saw. Harry Potter was sitting on the floor next to a small bed, and was cutting his wrists with a small silver dagger. He was naked and bruised all over, and had dried blood here and there on his body, mostly, Severus shivered inwardly, between his legs. The little boy turned slowly, and Severus could see scars everywhere on his pale skin. What shocked him the most, through, was the lost and empty look in his eyes, and the tears that still ran down his cheeks. Just then he weakly closed his eyes and slumped to the floor, unconscious. Severus hurried over to the bleeding and battered child, who had just tried to take his own life. He wrapped his cloak around the boy and stood up, and with a wave of his wand, everything was packed, shrunken, and in his pocket. He healed harry the best he could, and fed him a potion to help with the blood loss.
He walked down the stairs with Harry, and paused in front of the Dursleys that still hadn't moved from where he left them. Severus glared at them so hard that he was almost surprised that they did not drop dead on the spot. He shifted the boy to be able to hold his wand and noted with sorrow how the light the boy was. Almost like a twelve year old, not the sixteen years old he was. He lifted his wand toward the Dursleys, and cast Legilimens on them.
I got angrier by the minute, these people treated him like a dog and a house elf, they never fed him, and when they did, it was only scrapes, leftovers, old bread, or the like. I saw how the boy was being bullied and beaten by his cousin and his friends. I saw five or six boys, with Dudley in the front, chase poor Harry down the street and beat him up when they caught him. And I saw Vernon Dursley beat harry to an inch of his life, saw him rape him; force him to suck him off, and so many other things. It made me sick!
He was so angry that all glass within a ten meters radius shattered into billions of billions of small pieces. He activated the two way mirror he always made sure to have on him, and send a message to Tonks, telling her to send a team of Aurors to the Dursley residence. She complied, and not two minutes later there was six Aurors standing in the hall, arresting the muggles, including Tonks. She took one look at the shivering and bloody boy, and said:" We have to get him to Hogwarts!" Severus merely lifted an eyebrow, in a 'no kidding' way, and followed her out onto the street. Thank god it was dark outside. They appeared to Hogwarts and ran as fast as they could to the hospital wing. They put Harry in his usual bed and split up. Tonks went to get Dumbledore and Remus, and Severus fetched Poppy and helped her take care of harry.
Tonks pov
'I don't believe it… why didn't he say something? Oh, I knew it was a bad idea to bring him back there, I knew it!' she remembered Remus and Harry talking last summer, when they came to pick him up…
flashback
"Harry, I wrote a letter to your uncle and aunt to tell them not to worry…"
"Oh, believe me, they won't." Harry said,
"… and that you're safe…"
"That'll just make them disappointed."
"… and that you'll return back here next summer."
"Do I have to?"
end flashback
She had thought it cute back then, but now she understood the meaning behind the words, and it broke her heart. She had never heard him complain, about anything, or beg for that new broom that would just be a dream to own, or anything, like most teenagers do. Now she understood. She heard a fake cough next to her and saw Minerva and Flitwick stand there looking at her oddly. She looked around to try to find out why and discovered that she stood in front of the gargoyle that led up to Dumbledore's office. She had probably stood there for quite some time, too. "Is something wrong, Nymphadora?" Flitwick asked, and was even more worried when she did not even complain about the use of her first name. she just nodded quietly, and suddenly, she just started sobbing. "Dora! Aw, don't cry darling…" Minerva had always been like an aunt or a grandmother to her when she went to school, and right now she needed the support of a grandmother. "What's wrong, Dora, dear?" Tonks just shook her head, and allowed herself to bury her head in Minerva's shoulder, let the usually strict lady give her a hug, and let the tears flow for a few seconds. She reluctant pulled away, and regained control of herself, and dried her eyes. Her hair had turned into a sad grey color, like rainclouds, but she didn't notice.
She said the password, and stepped onto the stairs, while saying over her shoulder:" come along, you need to hear this too, I think." When they stepped into the office, Dumbledore looked up in surprise. "Nymphadora, Fillius, Minerva, to what do I owe the pleasure?" They sat in the offered chairs, and they all looked expecting at Tonks. She sighed, and started to explain:"About an hour ago Severus called me, through the two way mirror, and told me to send a team of Aurors to number four, little whirring. Meaning, to where Harry lives. I went there with five other Aurors and I found the Dursleys, shaking in fear in the hall, with Severus glaring at them in such a way that would make a Basilisk proud. In his arms was what I thought was a bundle of blankets, until it gave a painful moan. While the other Aurors arrested the Dursleys on Severus command, I took a closer look at the blankets. It turned out to be Harry himself, wrapped in Severus cloak, covered in blood, moaning and shivering. We brought him here, and Severus took him to the hospital wing, while I went here to tell you and firecall Remus. I asked Min and Fillius to come because I felt they deserved to know" by the end of the tale they all looked shocked, Minerva had tears in her eyes, and Albus looked older than I had seen him in years. Fillius was the first to regain the power of speech.
"You must go see him. Run along now." He said sounding sad in a way that did not match well with his high voice. "I will call Remus, you just go check on harry." Albus, Minerva and I hurried to the hospital wing.
normal pov
When they came there they were surprised to hear sobbing from the other side of the door. Harry couldn't be awake already, could he? When they pushed the door open they got an even bigger shock: Poppy was sitting on a hospital bed across from Harry's, with her face buried in her hands, and Severus was sitting in a chair next to Harry's bed with an empty, shocked and kind of lost expression on his face. The boy was on the bed, with a warm blanket pulled up to the middle of his chest, and his arms lying on the blanket, next to his legs. He had bandages on his naked chest and around his wrists, which had small bloodstains on them, where the blood had gone through. there was bruises on every piece of visible skin, and the bandages did not quite cover the word slut that had been carved into his skin.The most shocking thing, through, was the fact that the potions professor had one of Harry's clasped tightly in his. they walked in without a sound as to not disturb the peaceful, yet very sad feeling.
Not ten minutes later the door opened again, and in stepped the small charms professor with Remus right after him. When they saw the small figure on the bed they both snapped after breath, but otherwise kept quiet. Poppy, who had pulled herself together after about five minutes, looked up and said:" Well, now that everybody is here, do you want to know of his injuries?" everybody nodded, and Poppy pulled out a long sheet of parchment and read out loud:"he has five cracked ribs, two of which has already healed halfway. unfortunately, they were not set first, and would cause him constant pain. i will have to break them again, and set then right, before healing them, which will hurt alot. His left ankle is broken as well, and his right shoulder is dislocated. he has internal bleeding, and a light concussion. furthermore, he has not been feed for almost five days, and he is very dehydrated." she took a deep breath, and visibly steeled herself, before continuing."He has the words Slut, Faggot and, " deep breath "Murderer carved into his chest and back. He has been raped for a long time, the scaring goes years back. I can't say the exact time, but i am certain that it started before he went to Hogwarts. Also, he has marks from whips and belts all over his legs and back. There are also many scars on his wrists and arms, that look like they are self inflicted. there are several very deep ones that shows earlier attempts of suicide. there is also a self inflicted word carved into his left wrist: JINX."
By the time Poppy stopped talking, everyone in the room is starring at either her or Harry in total shock, and the only one that does not have tears streaming down their cheeks was Severus. He cries inwardly through. His face is his usual cold mask, but everyone cuold see the pain in his eyes. slowly but surely, the mask breaks, and one, two, three tears run down his face. It is the first tears he has shed since he was twelve, and now that the barrier is broken, he just cries, and cries. he cries for his mother, who was murdered in i fit of rage by his father, he cries for all the pain he has gone through in school, he cries for Lily, and James too, who died to save their son, he cries for all the people he has ever hurt, while being a death eater, he cries for every jealous, hurtful, hateful word he as ever uttered to the boy, but mostly, he cries for a little angel, who only ever wanted to be loved and cared for, but instead he was hurt and neclected, and abused, and ignored, and hurt in just about every way possible, yet, he still kept hoping for someone to help him, to save him, but nobody ever came. And in the end, he desided to try to save himself, by trying to kill himself.
