Miss Potter by Rachlan

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, only the plot!

From Chapter 3:

Changing his mind halfway through walking in the doorway, Severus turned around and promptly disapparated again, this time taking Harry and him to his home in another part of London.

Moments later, Severus spoke quietly to the child in his arms: "Welcome to Spinner's End, Potter."

Chapter 4: A New Explanation

Severus had chosen to bring the boy to his- admittedly dreary- home because the potions lab in the basement would have the ingredients needed to heal the boy of his injuries, however he might have sustained them. After entering his seldom-used home, Severus lay Harry down on his own bed in the master suite, if one could call it that. His home was small and dark, but Severus liked it because it was the one place he could call his own. His rooms at Hogwarts were nice, but they didn't really belong to him. This place, this house, was his own and he loved it. Severus shook his head. Back to the matter at hand... Harry. How on earth did the boy manage to attract trouble like bees to flowers? This was considerably more trouble than usual, however.

Severus went to the kitchen, filled a bowl with warm water and grabbed a soft rag. He then set about carefully washing the boy's wounds, starting with the neck. The potions master could not contain a gasp at what he found beneath all the blood. Severus quickly jumped back from the child, rubbing a charm that he carried around his neck at all times. At the same time, he raced to the small fireplace. He had a floo call to make. And the recipient of that call was not going to be very happy with him....

End Snape POV

"Wake up, Potter."

Harry slowly opened his eyes, staring in confusion at the ceiling of a dark room. He blinked several times, trying to figure out where he was and what had happened to him. He was very, very tired and had a sharp pain in his neck as well as in several other places.

Harry was startled when he heard Snape's gruff voice speak out of the darkness. "Potter, you have an unbelievable knack for finding trouble and I am very tired of rescuing you from these situations. So if you don't mind-" the voice sounded rather weary- "could you try and keep yourself out of trouble for a while?"

He watched as the potions master approached the bed, his face eerily lit up by the light of a single candle in his hand. "W-water?" he asked feebly.

The man nodded once, put the candle down on the bedside table and exited the room. Moments later, he returned with a glass. Harry drank the contents down greedily. "Slower, Potter," he murmured. The boy handed him back the glass after a moment- Merlin, he was weak!- and fell back onto the pillows, exhausted. He looked at the older man carefully, then said listlessly, "What happened?"

Snape sat down in a chair by the bed that Harry hadn't noticed before. "I was hoping you could tell me. What is the last thing you remember?"

"I- I remember running into that alleyway to catch my breath and hide-" from you- "then someone hit me on the head with something. That's all. What happened to me?" Harry asked the man in a panicked voice.

Severus sighed in a 'why do I always have to pick up these messes' sort of way. "I can't tell you right now as I don't know most of the details myself. All I know is that you have a head wound, which I bandaged, three broken fingers on your left hand, a broken femur, and your arm is fractured. I force fed you Skele-gro while you were sleeping which should take care of your major issues. I also gave you a blood replenishing potion-" or two or three, but Severus didn't say that aloud- "because your neck was bleeding."

Harry's hand went to his neck automatically and felt a bandage there. "Is that all?"

"Well, you have a concussion. You may have other internal injuries so I believe that we are going to have to leave for Mungo's shortly."

"What? No! Surely you can take care of everything, can't you sir?"

Severus smirked a bit, then said, "Thank you for that vote of confidence, Potter. But no, I am afraid that despite my considerable genius, I am not a medi-wizard and can only do so much for you. Here, drink this." He handed Harry a vial of greenish liquid.

Harry made a face but obediently drank it down. "What is it?"

Snape scowled fiercely at him. "You naïve fool! That could have been poison! You are far too trusting. NEVER ever drink a potion without knowing what it is first."

Harry made a face at him, not liking his insults but knowing he was right. "Fine, fine. But what... is... it..." Her voice faded as she slipped into sleep.

If he were still awake, he would have seen Severus Snape smile, mutter "dreamless sleep, idiot" and exit the room.