Finding Home Chapter Nine: Severus Snape

It was about six o'clock in the morning when a loud buzzing sounded in Severus Snape's bedroom, alerting him that somebody, witch or wizard, was standing at his door. The snoring stopped abruptly and a growl came from under a mound of blankets.

Normally Severus would already be up at six in the morning, but contrary to popular belief, he did like to have the occasional lie in. Lately he hadn't been getting much sleep and it was all the Potter brat's fault. Oh yes, he had never even met the brat and he was causing trouble.

Sometime between the time period of the middle of May and the middle of June the horror had disappeared. Severus remembered it like it was yesterday.

~Flashback~

Severus was standing in his personal potions lab brewing a very experimental potion. He'd been working on it for over three years, trying to prefect it. The potion that was being brewed in a solid gold cauldron was a potion that would hopefully cure blindness. Currently, even in the magical world, there was no cure; there were experimental surgeries that only worked about one in one hundred times. It was a potion that could change people's lives, if it ever succeeded.

Suddenly, just as Severus was adding a couple of newt eyes, someone burst into the room rather loudly, startling him into dropping one too many newt eyes in the potion. The potion, coloured red, suddenly turned into a nasty green colour and started hissing angrily, spitting glops of potion everywhere. Severus felt rage build up inside of him. The potion that he'd been working on for over three years takes two weeks to brew, almost constantly. He was exhausted and it was supposed to be the last day of it, and now he had to start all over. Severus turned around, fire in his eyes and glared at the old man in purple robes.

"Severus, my boy, there's been an emergency!" Albus squawked, looking rather flustered. Severus was unimpressed, almost nothing would be worth sabotaging his potions for.

"It had better be important, Albus, I am a very busy man and since you've made me destroy my potion, I need to get started again right away." Severus growled dangerously, banishing the ruined mess.

"It is, it's about Harry Potter." Albus said looking lost. If anything that seemed to fuel Severus' rage.

"Harry Potter? What about the brat? Has he gotten in trouble already? He's only what, six?" Severus asked in disbelief. "What trouble could a six year old possibly get into?"

"He's gone missing and I need your help in tracking him down." Albus said. "Nobody has seen him in a couple of weeks and the wards have alerted me that he isn't there anymore. It could be possible that a death eater has gotten ahold of him."

"Death eater? Weren't the wards supposed to protect him from that?" Severus asked in disbelief.

"Yes, ultimately," Albus said, "But if Harry was say, at the park, they could have gotten him them."

"So basically the only way the brat is safe is if he is in the house at all times?" Severus asked, again in disbelief.

"No, it stretched to the yard as well." Albus said, as if that was any better.

"Albus, you cannot keep a child locked in a house and their yard at all times, even I know that!" Severus exclaimed. "It sounds as if the Hogwarts's wards would have done better than that!"

"Enough Severus, are you going to help me or not?" Albus asked, his blue eyes hard. Severus knew that by the sound of Albus' voice, that there was no getting out of it. It may have been worded as a suggestion, but it wasn't.

~End Flashback~

They'd been looking for the Potter brat every day since then, for weeks. It was the middle of August, and they'd started looking for him at the end of June, beginning of July; it was as if the child had fallen off the face of the earth. It was the strangest thing. No tracking spell could seem to track him for very long. If anything they only got the general direction of the boy, and eve that they weren't sure of, since they'd never actually found him.

Severus rolled over and growled again. He had hoped that if he ignored whoever was out there that they'd just leave. He didn't know who would be out there anyway, all the Hogwarts staff would use the floo, and most of the Death Eaters were in Azkaban, except Lucius, who also would use the floo.

Whoever it was, it was obvious that they weren't leaving so Severus heaved himself out of bed, grabbed his wand and transfigured his clothes into robes, then stomped down the hall to answer the door. When he swung the door open grumpily and didn't immediately see anybody he was going to be furious, but then a whimper on the ground caught his attention.

At first all he could do was stand there and stare at the naked child sleeping on his doorstep, but then he realized; the boy was very young and very naked. Where had the boy come from? And why in the world was he naked?

Severus was tempted to shut the door and forget about the child, but he knew he couldn't do that, no matter how much he didn't like children. Then he remembered something, his wards had gone off, meaning this boy was a wizard. But there weren't any wizarding families around where he lived, had someone just abandoned him? Severus grumbled unhappily as he knelt down to pick the child up, but when he touch him, the child's eyes flew open and he started backing away as if he was going to be hit. Even Severus didn't have the heart to snap at him, seeing the terror in the kid's eyes. Something obviously had happened, and whatever it was wasn't good.

"Come here, child." Severus said, in a surprisingly soft voice. Severus almost choked when he heard himself, he didn't even know his voice could go that soft. He made a mental note never to use it again after that day. The child stopped and looked at Severus with wide green eyes.

At seeing the boy's eyes, Severus felt his heart flutter, they were so familiar. But in his tired, sleep deprived mind, he couldn't seem to make the connection, try as he might.

"How did you get here?" Severus questioned gently, the poor boy was shaking so hard he was surprised the boy wasn't vibrating across the ground. The boy looked around quickly, then shrugged his shoulder.

"You don't know how you got here?" Severus wondered, his eyes narrowing. The boy shook his head and looked away, Severus thought he saw some tears and wanted to run away, he had no idea how to deal with a crying child! But he stayed put, because even the evil potions professor didn't have the heart to leave a child completely naked and scared, out in the world by itself.

"Where are your clothes then?" The child looked down at himself, then blushed and covered himself up with his hands. The boy then looked up like he wanted to say something, but couldn't.

"Can't you talk?" Severus asked in wonder. He'd never met a mute child before, it might not be so bad, at least he would be quiet. The boy looked away again, still blushing.

"Alright then, why don't you come in and I'll give you some clothes to wear for right now." He suggested, then stood up and held the door open wide. The child hesitated then carefully stood and entered the house, but only just. Severus had to nudge him in just so he could shut the door.

"Stay here, I'll find something for you to wear." Severus said, then disappeared down the hall. When he returned a couple of minutes later carrying a black shirt, the boy was standing in the exact same spot, Severus didn't think the boy had even looked around for his eyes were glued to the same spot on the wall.

"Here, put this on for now." Severus handed the boy the shirt, but didn't let go. He had suddenly noticed something, a shimmering; it was a glamour. Silently he pulled his wand out and took it down, then gasped. There were scars everywhere on the child's body. There were scars on his face, neck, arms, legs, stomach and back. But the ones on back seemed to be the worse. Most of them hadn't even healed all the way and were infected, they looked like they were caused by a belt.

"What happened to you, child?" Severus asked softly, turning the boy around and looked the boy in the eyes. The child quickly looked around and ignored Severus' question. Severus sighed, he was already getting annoyed but he refused to get mad and frighten the child even more.

"Alright, well come in so I can treat your injuries." He grumbled. The child looked up at him in surprise, like he expected him not to treat the wounds or something. How absurd! When Severus started walking away the boy cautiously started following.

"Sit down here and turn a bit so I can see your back." Severus said, then pulled out his wand to summon the cream he would need. The child obeyed, even if somewhat hesitant. Again, all Severus could do at first was stare, who would make such terrible wounds on a small child? Not even his own father made marks like that. Carefully he began to apply the cream, making the boy gasp.

"Does it hurt?" Severus asked, halting his movement. The child shook his head quickly, but Severus knew it was a lie. After all, how could you not hurt with such wounds? Severus mentally cursed himself for not thinking of it and summoned a sleeping potion.

"Can you swallow this for me?" The child eyed it with fear, but swallowed it anyway. The child soon fell asleep so Severus laid him down on his stomach, so he could continue putting the salve on. I didn't take very long and after he was finished he ran a diagnostic on him. There defiantly was evidence of abuse. A couple of bone had been broken and healed wrong, and then of course the scars.

Severus shook his head in disgust at whoever would do such a thing. He rolled the boy over and immediately froze, there was something there. He quickly spelled the shirt onto the boy, which hung down to his knees, and then looked at the forehead again. There, hidden behind a fringe of hair, was a lightning bolt scar; this child was Harry Potter.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Harry was confused and scared yet again, but the man didn't seem like a huge threat. Even when he pulled out a black stick, he hadn't hit Harry with it. The man had said some funny words and a jar came flying out of nowhere, it was strange!

But then the man wanted to put the cream on his back, but he didn't want it. He didn't want to turn his back on the stranger, Harry knew that you never turn your back on an adult, even if you trust them. It's way too easy for them to hurt you if you do, so Harry learned. But Harry didn't see any way out of it, the man looked stern and he knew to listen to stern adults.

When the man first started, it sent a shock of pain through his back and he was unable to stop the gasp. Then the man asked if he was hurt, him! The only people to ever care if he was hurting was Mrs. Goldstein, Ryan, an Eleanor, why did this stranger care?

The man then turned Harry around and told him to drink something, it looked awful and smelled awful, but he didn't want to disobey, he didn't know what punishments with this man consisted of, so he drank it. Harry almost spit it back out, it was so terrible, but he managed to keep it in and swallow it. Not long later harry started to feel really tired, he tried to keep his eyes open, but the more he tried, the harder it go. The next thing he knew he was asleep, dreaming of hugs and cuddles.

.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Stacy groaned as the phone rang. She turned over and squinted at the clock, it was only midnight. Then remembering the incident with Mike and Vivian, she quickly dove for the phone.

"Hello?" She called into the phone. If they had hurt the little boy she didn't know what she'd do, the child would never trust anybody ever again.

"Stacy." The voice said. "Harry's gone."

"Gone? Eleanor?" Stacy asked confused. "What do you mean gone?" There was a long pause on the other line and when Eleanor started talking again, Stacy could tell she was crying.

"Ryan has been touching little Harry." Eleanor cried. "And he's been having Harry touch him."

"Sexually?" Stacy asked, already feeling sick.

"Yes." Eleanor said, still crying. "I didn't know! Stacy, I didn't know! And now Harry's gone and we don't know where he is!"

"Calm down." Stacy instructed, already putting her clothes on. "Where was the last place he was left?"

"Ryan left him in the bathroom after he…after he…and Harry's clothes are still in there," Eleanor said. "His clothes are there but he isn't. Wherever he is, he's naked. We checked the whole house and he isn't here. Do you think he could have used magic?"

"Maybe," Stacy said. "Listen, I'm getting ready right now, I'll be over in a couple of minutes."

After they hung up Stacy went into the bathroom and ran a brush quickly through her hair, she needed to find Harry. The poor boy was probably so lost and confused. With that thought in mind, she raced to her car, and then raced all the way to the Atkinson's.

When she got there the police were already there, and Ryan had been taken away. Eleanor was standing on the step talking to an officer, she was crying too hard to really get any words in though.

"Do you have a picture of the boy?" The officer asked just as Stacy had come up. Eleanor nodded and went to the house, then came back with a picture of Harry at a table filled with presents.

"This was taken on his birthday." Eleanor sniffed, handing the photo over. The man took it and put it into his file.

"We'll do everything we can to find him." The officer said, then walked back to his car.

"It's alright, Eleanor." Stacy said, wrapping her friend up in a hug, acting more calmly than she felt.

"I'm married to a pedophile, Stacy!" Eleanor cried, "And he hurt Harry! He said he hadn't ever touched our girls that way, but how do I believe him? How did I not know what was happening? Apparently it's been happening for weeks and I never knew!"

"It's alright now, Eleanor." Stacy said, leading Eleanor into the house. "Let's have some tea to calm our nerves and we'll discuss what has happened." In truth, Stacy wanted to cry. In a way she felt like Harry was her own son and whatever hurt him, hurt her as well. But she knew she had to be strong, he friend needed her and the police were out looking for Harry. Things would be alright.