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Chapter 4- A Visit to the Ministry

As soon as Severus strode out of the grate at the ministry a wand was jabbed forcefully at his face. "Name and purpose," a snide voice demanded. Severus looked down to see Robert Anderson, a low level Ministry worker who always made his skin crawl. All Severus had to do was narrow his eyes and the wand was rapidly lowered. "I'm so sorry sir," Anderson stuttered, "Right this way."

As he led Severus away he blubbered out an apology which Severus promptly ignored. When they reached the lift Severus pushed him away. "I do not need an escort to the Auror Department, Anderson," he snarled and then entered the lift to the idiot stuttering, "No, of course not, sorry sir…" The lift sped away before he could finish his apology.

As soon as he stepped into the Auror department Severus knew he had greatly underestimated the reaction of the ministry. Flyers were stacked haphazardly up to the ceiling with Harry's bloodied face from the day before on them, "Undesirable No. 1" plastered across the top. In the corner of the cramped room the Minister stood in front of a slew of reporters showing them the damage from the night before and listing statistics about how many had been wounded and killed in the attack of the "mighty dark wizard." Who also happened to be ten Severus thought sarcastically.

He pushed his way through the crowd to the head of the Auror Department's office, Madame Bones. She sat in there with a grim look on her face, barking orders at the few aurors that weren't already out searching or dead. Silence split the office the moment Severus entered. Bones and the three other aurors stared at him, their mouths hanging open as if they had just seen a ghost. Severus thought with exhausted amusement that in a way, they had.

"Severus," Madame Bone gasped out, the first one to break the silence. She shook herself and regained her normal ordering voice. "I expect you to debrief me on what just occurred and where have you been for the past 12 hours in," she glanced at her watch, "about a minute." She turned to the other aurors, "You know your duties. Now go."

All the aurors gave one last shocked glance at Snape then rushed out of the office. Severus collapsed heavily into the chair on the other side of his boss's desk, watching as she crossed the room to whisper in the Minister's ear. He glanced back to look at Severus, who met his gaze steadily.

They both turned to say something to the press and then walked back together to Bone's office. Walking back Fudge looked as confused as always and Madame Bones looked absolutely livid. She burst in; apparently having decided in the minute that she had been away that Snape's absence had been completely unacceptable. "Where the hell have you been?" she practically shouted at him.

Fudge winced at her cutting tone but Severus just looked up with a polite, phony smile fixed on his face. "Would you like for me to start from the beginning?"

"Cut the crap, Severus," she fumed, sitting angrily in the seat across from him leaving Fudge to scramble for a seat as they engaged in a brief glaring contest.

Severus finally leaned in once Fudge found a seat, looking calmly at his two bosses and starting in an even, objective voice, "Last night the magic wards at Potter's Aunt and Uncle's house went off off the charts. Auror Moody, who was keeping an eye on them contacted me and a handful of other aurors, I trust you know who." Bones nodded and Fudge quickly bobbed his head to appear as if he actually knew what was going on.

"We arrived at the house to find it utterly demolished, burning down in flames with Potter standing in the front yard covered in blood. He didn't respond to anything we said to him and the muggle authorities were approaching so we apparated him to the ministry. When it became apparent that he had performed the magic that blew up his house, killing all three of the Dursleys, we placed him in an interrogation room."

"I was watching him through the observatory glass before we were supposed to go in and question him. He looked right where I was so I took a preemptory measure and attempted to read his mind." Madame Bones gave him a sharp look and Severus pointed out that legilemens would have been used anyway considering the boy had been refusing to talk before continuing.

"There was some type of mental wall in his mind… it was more powerful than any I've ever felt, even with the most powerful wizards well- practiced in occlumency. I was not prepared for the wall so I was blown back by the force of it. The boy panicked at the feeling of someone invading his mind and started straining against his restraints. A few aurors rushed in and I believe one attempted to touch him to calm him down. This had the opposite affect; causing him to let out an astonishingly powerful burst of accidental magic which accounted for all the damage you see."

"I was the only one left conscious after the explosion due to the fact I was on the other side of the glass so I rushed to the scene. I attempted to calm Potter but he was terrified beyond help. I reached out to grab him when I sensed he was about to flee and he managed to apparate away with his remaining power." Both Bones and Fudge were staring awestruck at him now- a burst of accidental magic was one thing but a child his age, who grew up with muggles, being able to apparate was another thing entirely. Severus took a deep breath, his story was about to get even stranger.

"When I performed legilimens on the boy and he reflected it he must have gotten a brief look inside of my mind because he apparated to a cabin that used to be owned by my family and is now long abandoned. He tried to shake me off as we traveled and I was rendered unconscious as soon as we landed due to the effort it took to hold on. As soon as I awoke and found no trace of Potter I came here."

The end of his story was met with silence as the two wizards in front of him stared at him with looks of disbelief ranging from "he must have hit his head in the blast" to "I hear there's an empty bed next to the Longbottom's at St. Mungos". Severus waited with barely concealed impatience.

Finally Bones seemed to snap into action, her look of doubt easing from the trust she had in Severus as a well- practiced auror. "Go see the healer," she ordered him. He gave her a dark look. "Now," she barked. "Then you will show us where this cabin is and then you are taking the week. No complaints."

Severus stalked out of the room, putting on his best angry glare for everyone in the vicinity, but secretly he was glad for the break. It gave him plenty of time to figure out what to do with Potter.

The healer fussed over Severus until he finally promised her he would sleep for at least 15 hours after this and avoid any strenuous activities. Severus wondered if taking care of an abused boy with serious psychological and physical issues counted as "strenuous."