Authors Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited my story. A special thanks to those who reviewed. I love getting reviews and feedback about my story and I welcome any constructive criticism that you guys may have. So please enjoy the lastest installment of I Never Knew and leave any reviews you have for this chapter. Don't worry, it will probably start getting less angsty soon!
Edited: June 2, 2019 - New chapter titles going up as chapters are edited
August 3, 1993
Harry was extremely disoriented when he woke up the next morning. He was laying on a very soft surface, and it felt like a soft blanket was covering him. He blearily opened his eyes and blinked to try to bring the world into focus, but it didn't work. Everything was dark and blurry. He closed his eyes again as he began to register the dull ache throughout his entire body.
What the bloody hell happened? He thought to himself. Slowly the memories began coming back to him. Aunt Marge insulting his parents, accidentally blowing her up, Uncle Vernon's anger, him coming into Harry's room with a murderous look on his face… Try as he might, Harry couldn't remember what happened after his uncle came into his room. Maybe he was dead? That was a possibility, and the more he thought about it, Harry thought that perhaps he didn't mind being dead. He wouldn't have to put up with his uncle's beatings anymore, or his aunt's harsh words, or the rude remarks from students and professors at Hogwarts.
Yes, he thought, I might like this dead thing after all. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry realized that he should probably be more alarmed at these thoughts, but he pushed that feeling away and instead pushed himself into a sitting position. If he was dead, he might as well explore the afterlife.
He glanced around and noticed that it wasn't completely dark. To his right was a tiny sliver of light along the floor. As he watched, the sliver expanded and grew until Harry realized it was a door opening into the room he was in. He watched in trepidation as the door opened and a large shadowy figure stepped through. Horror clawed at Harry's chest as he frantically started reaching around him for his glasses. He froze when a familiar drawling voice came from the figure in the doorway.
"Your glasses are on the nightstand to your right Mr. Potter, as is your wand."
He hastily snatched both objects from the table and shoved his glasses on, bringing the potions master into focus.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Harry blurt out before he could stop himself, and he mentally cringed. Now he was going to get it. The potions master sneered at him before replying.
"I see your manners are as atrocious as ever, Potter. You are in my home, and you are going to treat me with respect. Is that understood" He levelled the boy with a scathing glare and waited for him to nod frantically before continuing. "I'm assuming you are hungry. Come along, we have a lot to discuss."
Harry immediately jumped out of bed and onto the cold stone floor, his body protesting mildly. He quickly followed the greasy git out of the room, glancing down to notice that he had different clothes on since yesterday. His shirt was still incredibly oversized, but it was clean and in good condition. He was still wearing the same dirty jeans from before, but they seemed to have shrunk, so they weren't nearly as big on him anymore.
The two made their way from the bedroom to the dining room silently. Harry was taking in his surroundings with wide eyes. The house (or mansion, as Harry suspected) was different than he thought the man's home would look like. Just like in the bedroom, the floors were all cold stone, and the walls in the hallway were a cool grey colour, although Harry could see that some walls in the rooms off of the hall had more colour even though it was mostly all dark green. Unlike the man's office and classroom in Hogwarts though, many windows were letting warm light into the rooms lining the hall. Harry had thought that the entire house would look like a dungeon.
By the time they made it to the dining room, Harry's stomach was churning anxiously. Why was he here and what was Snape going to do to him? On that note, what was his uncle going to do to him when Snape took him back. Oh boy, he was going to be so much trouble. Harry went back to his thoughts before Snape had opened that door. Yes, he definitely would rather be dead right now.
oOoOOoOo
Severus tried to rein in his irritation with the boy as he finally pushed open the doors to the dining room and waved Potter in, motioning for him to take a seat at the table that was covered in food. It was a struggle though as two parts of him waged war in his mind.
This was Potter for Merlin's sake! The insufferable, know-it-all, attention seeking, brat that he had to put up with the past two years.
But he was an injured and possibly abused child the more rational part of his mind pointed out.
That was still no excuse to be disrespectful! Just look at the first, and only, thing he said this morning.
He's confused and probably scared though. He woke up in a strange place after going through some sort of horror last night.
Severus glanced up from his seat at the table, and his irritation rose again. Potter was just standing there like a dunderhead with an odd expression on his face. He seemed confused, fearful even.
"Sit down boy" he snapped, managing to keep the usual venom out of his voice when he addressed Potter. The boy flinched and jumped so quickly into the chair that one would think that the floor was burning his feet. Severus pushed down the wave of guilt he felt when he saw how the boy reacted.
"You must be starving. Eat some breakfast, and then we will talk." His voice was much gentler than before. The boy still watched him warily as he hesitantly reached for some toast. He never took his eyes off of the professor, seeming to expect some horrible consequence if he did.
The two ate in relative silence for a few minutes, the older one trying to focus on the mornings Daily Prophet and the younger one sneaking glances at his professor every few seconds. Finally, Harry couldn't take the silence anymore and nervously eyed Snape.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Potter?"
"What am I doing here?"
Severus sighed at the question before folding his paper and putting it down. He couldn't concentrate on reading it anyway, but he had hoped that this conversation could wait until after breakfast, preferably after Dumbledore got here. He eyed the boy critically before the boy blushed and started fiddling with his food again.
"I was hoping you could answer that question actually,"
Potter's eyes snapped up to his, his expression bewildered.
"I don't understand. I'm at your house. I don't remember how that happened."
Severus again observed the child. He couldn't tell if the boy was lying or not and he tried to smother the snarky voice in his head telling him that of course Potter was lying to him.
"My wards went off last night. I found you outside of my manor, unconscious and almost dead. I brought you inside to heal you, and so you could rest." Severus watched the boy's panicked expression as he kept his tone and face neutral. "Now Potter, I want you to tell me what happened last night."
Potter immediately started shaking his head.
"Nothing. Nothing happened."
"Don't lie to me boy!" He snapped before could help himself. Potter flinched back, and Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Try again, Potter. How did you get into that condition and how did you get outside my home?"
The boy gripped the arms of his chair and looked like he wanted to bolt.
"Who did this to you, Potter?" Snape asked gently, but the only response he got was more head shaking. "Was it your relatives? Your aunt and uncle?"
"NO!" the boy almost shouted, his eyes wild and fearful. "No! It wasn't them. It was…. Uhhh… it was- a car! Yeah. A car hit me, and I uhh… I walked here? Yeah, I ran away because I am stupid and foolish and jealous of my cousin and a car hit me and-"
He was cut off by Severus who stood up from his chair and carefully made his way over to the frightened boy. He knelt beside the child and placed a hand his arm, ignoring the boy's flinch at the contact.
"Don't lie, child," he chided gently and held up a finger to stop the child from responding.
"Potter-" he paused again, "Harry… We can help you, but you need to tell me the truth. I have suspicions about what happened last night, and many other nights before that for that matter, but I don't have any proof, any evidence of who gave you those injuries. It is going to be much harder to remove you from a bad situation if you don't tell me what happened."
Harry suddenly shoved his chair back from the table and jumped away from Severus, who stood up slowly. The child was shaking his head again, and he looked close to tears.
"No! I can't! You don't understand. I can't." His voice broke at the end, and Severus looked at the child with pity. He seemed to be calming himself down at least, Severus thought. No good would come out of the Boy-Who-Lived making himself pass out. It was silent for a few moments before Harry spoke again.
"It's not their fault anyway. If I weren't so horrible, I wouldn't need to be punished." He looked up into Severus's shocked face. "What? You know it too. I'm a foolish boy, the stupidest of the dunderheads, I always make trouble, I don't have any manners, I'm lazy, I don't listen-"
"Stop!" Severus snapped. "Yes, you can be many of those things at times, but what 13-year-old boy isn't? And what was done to you was not punishment. It was abuse, plain and simple. Beating a child within an inch of his life is no way to treat him, no matter what he did. Understood?"
Harry just stared at him uncertainly but was saved from having to answer when a bell chimed throughout the house. Snape cursed and glanced towards the door and back to Harry.
"Quinly!" He called and the house elf popped into the room. "I believe that is Headmaster Dumbledore at the gate. Please escort him to my study. Harry, I have much to discuss with the headmaster. I would like you to find your way back to the guest room and wait there to be summoned. I will have Quinly bring you some more food when he gets back. You hardly touched anything on your plate."
With that Snape turned and walked out of the room and into another one a little way down the hall.
"Up the stairs, and third door on the left!" he called before snapping the door shut behind him. Harry hesitantly made his way back through the house, a lump in his throat and his stomach churning with more anxiety than he had felt in a very long time.
