Harry,
The Dark Lord couldn't believe he had actually sent a letter to the child. What could've possessed him of doing so? Wasn't he away from him to stop being so attached?
How are you, child? I surely hope you're okay. Snape may not be the best of guardians, but believe me, he is trying his best.
Why was he thinking of that goddamned child so much? He wasn't that special. He had met abused children before. For god's sakes, half his army could be a fitting example.
I am aware that your birthday will be in three days. I don't know if I'll be able to make it, but I'll do what I can.
He didn't want to see him, but he kept thinking of him. He almost threw up at the thought, but he had to admit it. He missed the child. Why, he didn't know. He was a weak kid. Orphaned, like himself. Abused, like so many others. Cute… like Nagini. But what was it? It couldn't be that he had a part of him inside… could it? Because Nagini did, too, and whether he loved the animal, he didn't really miss her that way.
There is no point in this letter, to be honest. I just wanted you to know that I didn't leave because I wanted to. I left because I had to, but it won't be long before I return. I promise.
It won't be long, he had said. His mind said that it would be long. It had to be long so that he could be 'cured' of this foul feeling the child was giving him. But something else was telling him that he'd return. What was it, though? What was that 'something else' that kept gnawing at his mind?
I told you once that we'd get you a wand once you turned eleven. I will get it. I am a man of word. We'll go to that special place I mentioned before where we can get everything, although perhaps I'll have to go disguised. We don't want people to start talking…
Oh, what would the world say? Is that Lord Voldemort? Oh my God! Voldemort is back! He – he has a child! A child? That's Harry Bloody Potter! Oh, no! We're doomed! Where are the aurors? Where is Dumbledore? Fuck this shit! I'm leaving London!
Anyway, you are perhaps playing and I won't keep you from doing so any longer. I'll see you soon, Harry. Do try to have fun around Severus!
Regards,
Tom Riddle.
Sentiment. Pathetic.
Harry was jumping up and down, giggling, his scars forgotten. Snape raised an eyebrow as he looked at him, his arms crossed across his chest. He waited until the tiny child settled down and sat on the bed, rereading the letter, licking his lips. Snape rolled his eyes and leaned on the doorframe.
"I-it's the first letter I've ever… I mean… No one had ever written me a letter before!" he squealed with joy.
"Amazing." Snape muttered. "So, child… Come downstairs. You're already late for your meal and I'd advise you to consume it before it rots." He said coldly. "I'll be accompanying you."
Harry looked up at him with wide eyes. "Really?"
"Yes. Now, hurry."
Harry jumped from the bed, beaming. This day just kept getting better and better. He rushed down the stairs clutching the letter to his heart and made his way to the dining table. He sat on his usual spot at the end of the large table, and Snape sat at the other end, looking down at the food. Harry clutched his spoon and began to eat the delicious tomato soup. Snape looked at his manners with disgust, but didn't say anything. Let the Dark Lord raise him.
"So, child…" he said after a while. Harry looked up. "There's a… guest coming today."
"A guest?" he said after swallowing.
"Yes. She's a friend of the Dark Lord."
Harry looked at him with slight worry. He wasn't really good at meeting new people. "Is she good?"
Good? Ha. "I suppose it depends." He said. "She'll be staying with us for a while. I just thought I'd let you know ahead of time, so that you won't be surprised."
"What is she called?"
"Bellatrix Lestrange."
Harry was drawing when he heard the front door opening. He hesitantly got off of his chair and walked slowly out of his room. From the banister, he could see Snape greeting someone. The person had black robes with a hood that went over their head. He frowned a little and stretched his neck to see better. The person took the hood off to reveal a female face, framed by curtains of curly, crazy black hair that looked more like a nest for drunken birds. She smiled and Harry shuddered. Everything on the woman screamed 'Totally insane'.
"Severus!" she exclaimed.
"Bellatrix."
"Oh, come on, Sevy! Didn't you miss me? Why the long face?" she cooed, taking her cape off and giving it to the waiting elf behind her.
"I am not much of an emotional person, Bellatrix."
"No, you're a boring snake." She said, rolling her eyes. "So, what's been going on around here? Goodness, I've been gone for so long."
"Good thing Azkaban didn't ruin your… spirit." He said. She didn't seem to get the sarcasm.
"Azkaban is nothing for me, Sev." She said. She looked around and then leaned in to whisper something to him. Harry strained to hear. "I heard the Dark Lord brought the Potter child along for the ride."
Harry creased his eyebrows. What ride?
"Yes, he is here as of now."
"He is? I thought he was staying with the Malfoys!"
"He was, but the Dark Lord brought him over for an undefined period of time. He is upstairs." Snape said. "Follow me. I'll show you your quarters and you'll get a chance to meet the br – the boy."
Bellatrix smiled in that demented way she knew so well. Harry walked quickly back to his room and sat back on his chair to finish up his drawing. He was coloring the sun when he heard the footsteps stop behind him. He hated it when people were behind him, so he quickly turned around. Bellatrix was even scarier up close. He swallowed as she smiled sweetly at him.
"Hello, baby." She said softly. "How are you?"
"Uhm… F-fine Ms."
"Oh, please call me Aunt Bella."
Aunt. Aunts and uncles were never good. Aunt Marge, Aunt Petunia… Aunt Bella. They were all nuts. Was Bellatrix cruel as well?
"O-okay, aunt Bella." He muttered. He expected the expression of pure disgust and hatred that his aunts always threw at him when he mentioned their names, but was surprised when this woman smiled widely and ruffled his hair. He saw Snape's eyebrow twitching, but his expression remained blank. Bellatrix walked – and she did so very oddly – up to Harry's drawing table and saw his drawing and the crayons scattered around. While she inspected the drawing, Harry inspected her. She wore by far the weirdest clothing he had ever seen. The black, long dress looked a lot like a witch from Dudley's books. Hadn't they told him that witches didn't look like the ones from fairytales?
"This is such a cute drawing." She said softly. Harry didn't reply. He looked at the long-heeled leather boots she wore. Not even aunt Petunia wore such long heels. How did could she even walk on that? "Who are they?" she asked.
Harry's eyes wandered to the table and he glanced at his own drawing, blushing. "It's Mr. Riddle, Draco, Mr. Snape and me." He said quietly. Bellatrix looked at Severus briefly and smiled. The man's eyebrows rose. The child had drawn him?
"It's such a cute drawing." She said. "I'm sure Severus would love to put it on his fridge."
Harry's eyes brightened up. He had always wanted his drawings to be put on the fridge. When he was younger, he had tried to make his aunt and uncle love him by giving them drawings he spent much time and effort on. Petunia or Vernon always ripped them apart, burnt them or threw them into the garbage saying they were ugly, worthless and horrible, just like him. He always thought that his drawings were prettier than Dudley's, but Petunia and Vernon always hugged Dudley and kissed him, saying that his drawings were so beautiful, and he was such a great little artist. And they, of course, always put them on the fridge.
But his hopes died suddenly when Snape scoffed. "I don't want drawings on my fridge, thank you very much."
Bellatrix glared at him. "Shut up! It's a great drawing."
"I wouldn't want it even if it was the Mona Lisa."
"Severus…"
"It's okay." Harry said quietly. "The Dursleys didn't like my drawings either."
Bellatrix widened her eyes at Snape and jerked her head in Harry's direction. Snape sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Fine. If it pleases you I'll put the damn drawing up on the fridge."
He was not going to do it, but he didn't want Bellatrix bitching on him. He was on his last nerves since Dumbledore had written him a letter, right before Bellatrix arrived, telling him that he was sorry, but he had already hired a new DADA teacher. He knew he had to get his being under control or he'd bitchslap Bellatrix and break Harry's neck. His eye twitched when Harry looked up at him with hope and innocence in his eyes.
"Really?"
"Well, well. It would seem you have a heart, Sev."
"Quiet." He growled. He jerked his head and turned around. "Make haste. I'll show you your quarters."
"He's a cute little boy." She said.
"He's a nuisance."
"Don't be so cruel, Severus." She said. "He's had a rough life."
"He's a wimp. I had a rough life as well, and you did, too."
"We were sniveling little rats when we were ten." She reminded him.
"Not me." He said. "I was rough and hardened by the time I turned eight. He's just like his father… weak, pathetic, attention-seeking, dim-witted…"
"Now, now" Bellatrix said amusedly, "Is the child a nuisance, or is your lost love a nuisance, Severus? The child is not responsible for these things." She said. "He didn't choose his father."
"But the father certainly chose the mother."
Bellatrix was about to reply, but a scream broke the silence upstairs. It surprised her. She had tortured many people before, but few times had she heard such a desperate scream. It was as if someone was getting a very, very strong Cruciatus curse.
"I won't repeat myself, boy. WHAT. HAPPENED?"
"I-I don't know! I swear!"
Vernon smacked him on the cheek again. "You think I'm an idiot, don't you?"
"No!" he cried. "It wasn't me! I don't know how it happened! I don't know! It wasn't me, I swear!"
"Shut it, Potter." He said. "Dudley's face became fuchsia right after you ruined your homework and you mean to tell me it wasn't you?"
"B-but… He wuined it! I was finishing my sums and he bwoke it in half!"
Vernon punched him again. "Don't blame Dudley for this!" he roared. "Now, how do we fix it?"
"I don't know!" he wailed. "I don't know, pwease!"
He was punched again. The blood that had been running down his chin and nose for a while was now a cascade. He couldn't breathe properly and was choking. Vernon growled and turned.
"You just wait. I'll be right back."
Harry hugged his legs and grabbed the front of his pants in his tiny hands. He didn't want to miss school again. They were just learning to add, and he was quite good at it, but if he didn't go, he'd get behind and wouldn't learn how to subtract. He sobbed and choked on the blood that ran down his nose and mouth. Vernon came back minutes later, clutching an iron rod in his hand. Harry screamed in fear.
"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!" Vernon roared, slamming his boot into the child's ribs. The small kid whimpered and wrapped his arms around his torso.
"Pweas." He pleaded. "Unca Vewnon, p-pwease."
"I said shut up." Vernon growled. With that, he slammed the rod against the child's head."I'll beat the goddamned freakishness out of you, boy." And he began to strike the small child with barely controlled strength.
He didn't stop, even when Harry was trembling feverishly from the awful pain as the blows tore into his skin like razor blades. His cries of agony didn't subside, but they did grow distant when he curled into a ball to shield his battered body from any further abuse. Unfortunately, that was futile, since Vernon noticed his little attempt to escape from the pain and increased the force of his blows. Some time passed before Harry became too weak to scream and his cries died down, his small body unable to maintain his fetal position anymore. All the while, however, Vernon panted demeaning sentences, just to make Harry feel even more worthless and useless that he already did on a daily basis.
"You are such a fucking freak." He said as he slammed the rod for the millionth time. A gut-wrenching sound of bones cracking reached his ears and he smiled. "You are disgusting" crack, "hideous" crack, "revolting" crack, "useless." Harry was whimpering now, unable to stop himself. "I don't even know why we keep you here." He said, each word punctuated by a blow. "You are just a nuisance. Your parents killed themselves in a car crash for being drunken bastards and we get you. A freak." Harry didn't know how we was conscious now., He was positive that the majority of his bones were broken. The pain was proof of that. He just wanted it to stop.
'Stop. Pwease. It wasn't me. I don't know how it happened, pwease. I'm sowy', he tried to say, but it all came out as a broken sob.
"You are an ungrateful son of a bitch." Crack. "We feed you, cloth you, shelter you, educate you" crack, crack, crack, crack…"and you just won't stop making our lives a living hell."
Harry heard Vernon asking him something, but a blow to his head finally rendered him unconscious.
"Harry! Harry!" Bellatrix exclaimed trying to wake the writhing, screaming boy. "Harry, wake up."
Harry gasped and blinked a few times, looking up at the woman. He recoiled from her touch and pressed his back against the headboard. He swallowed and looked back and forth between Bellatrix, who was sitting on the edge of his bed, and Severus, who was standing behind her. He sniffed and hastily cleaned his tears with the back of his hand.
"M-miss. Bellatrix." He muttered.
"Aunt Bella, Harry. I already told you."
"S-sorry."
"No need to apologize, little one." She said softly. "Look at me, baby. What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
"I-I'm s-sorry for waking you up."
"You didn't wake us up." Bellatrix said. "We were talking downstairs. Are you okay? Do you want some milk, some water?"
"Uh…" he looked up at Severus. The man was glaring at him. "No."
"Okay." She said softly.
Only, Severus wasn't glaring at him. He was reading his memories. He was seeing the nightmare. Oh, horror.
"Potter. Why don't you go and wash your face?" he said. "I have something to discuss with Bellatrix."
"Yes sir." He mumbled. He climbed off the bed. His whole body was still trembling, but he managed to walk out of the room and into the bathroom down the hall.
He sighed and sat beside Bellatrix. "That boy is something, isn't he?" she said.
"That's an awful understatement, Bellatrix." He muttered. "The boy's mind is completely destroyed. Unfortunately, he is beyond repair."
"What do you mean?"
"Correcting his mind is impossible now unless we obliviated him. But the Dark Lord won't permit it."
"Why not? If he obliviates Harry, then – "
"Because the child's weaknesses are the Lord's strengths." He said. "But we'll dwell on that matter later. Right now, there's only one thing we can do with Potter."
"Mind to tell me what it is?"
"Restore his mind. We can't erase his memories, but we can help him grow out of them."
"I think I understand you now." She said. "We can help him get over them even if he doesn't forget them completely."
"Yes, but I do believe it will be a painstakingly slow process."
"Being a Death Eater is a job of patience, Severus. We're trained for it."
Snape rolled his eyes. "I wasn't trained to babysit an abused kid."
"Oh, please. Of all the houses, tell me which has the greatest rate of abused children."
"Slytherin."
"And you are the head of it, Severus. You can do this."
"I'll go bring the brat a glass of water."
"Right."
Harry came back slowly. Bellatrix was sitting on the bed, looking around. Harry swallowed and stood on the doorway.
"Hey, you're back." She said when she noticed him. "Come and lay down. Severus is bringing a glass of water for you."
"Okay." He muttered. He walked over to the bed and climbed on it.
"Hey, you're still trembling." She said. "What was your dream about?"
"M-my f-f-family."
"They used to hurt you, yes?"
Harry hesitated. Vernon used to say that they hurt him because he deserved it. If he told Bellatrix that they indeed hurt him, would she believe that he had to be hurt as well? It had worked for Marge…
"Y-yes."
"Oh, baby." She said. She began to get closer to him, but Harry flinched backwards, covering himself with the blankets. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." She whispered, looking into his wide, terror-struck eyes. "It's okay." She said. "I won't hurt you, baby."
"I-I d-don't… I didn't mean to wake you." He said. "I-I'm s-s-sorry."
"Harry, I already told you. We were not sleeping." She slowly dragged herself across the bed until she was sitting right next to him, facing him. "Harry, I am a friend of the Dark Lord. Just like him, I would never hurt you. He protects you, and I'll protect you as well."
"Why?" he said.
"Because… you're a very special child, my baby."
"You're a very special child, Dudders, baby. Not like that rotten freak over there."
"Really? You think?" he muttered.
"Yes." She said. "Yes, you are. Do you trust me?"
Harry slowly nodded. He realized suddenly that tears had been rolling down his cheeks for a while now. Bellatrix reached out slowly and cleaned his tears with her thumbs, ignoring the way he flinched. She continued stroking his cheeks even when they were clean. Harry felt a lump rising in his throat. He was used to people touching him only to cause him pain. Her touch was so light and soft… He slowly leaned into it.
"Hey, listen. I know Snape is a boring git, and the Dark Lord is always busy… but we all care for you. We'll protect you. All of us." She said. Harry nodded and sniffed. "Come here."
She pulled him in for a hug and Harry didn't resist. He was just surprised. No one had ever hugged him before. Not even Mr. Riddle. She held him tightly and he felt that what had been one of his wildest dreams was coming true. He just couldn't hold it in and burst into tears and sobs. Bellatrix rubbed his back.
"Shhh… It's okay, little one. You're going to be okay. It's okay." She muttered, rocking him back and forth. It only made Harry cry louder. He tried to stop, but couldn't. Bellatrix rubbed his head as well and hummed a low song for him, trying to ignore the way his body trembled. "Shhh… We'll be alright. They're gone now." She soothed. "It's alright."
Harry's cries slowly became sobs, whimpers, shuddering sighs, and finally quieted as he fell asleep. Bellatrix helped him lie down and covered him.
"Who would've thought that you could calm a brat down?" Snape said. "You could help the matters around here."
"He needs people who care for him."
"And you just met today."
"He's only ten."
"Eleven soon."
"He's Lily's child, Severus. Doesn't it bother you?"
"To the core, yes. But I'm not going to spoil the heck out of the brat."
"He's a long way from spoiled."
Both left the room quietly. Harry sighed softly in his sleep, a small smile plastered on his lips.
Review, please :)
