CHAPTER 21
Severus woke up with a headache. Not an unusual occurrence, especially after he had indulged in one too many glasses of whiskey the previous night.
Damn the boy.
The headache, however, prevented him from realizing only several minutes into his morning absolutions that it was far too quiet in the house.
While Potter's nightmares had lessened to a degree after Draco's visit, it was also true that the boy would always wake up between five and six a.m., and Severus would be able to hear the boy making his bed and getting dressed when he walked past his room.
It was now five past six, and the house was, for all purposes, still completely asleep.
Severus yanked the door to the bathroom open and stalked out, rapping twice with his knuckles on the wood before opening that door as well.
The room was empty.
Acid slithered its way around Severus' stomach as he marched downstairs, only to find that floor equally deserted.
"Potter?" he thundered, glancing in the small back yard, which was also empty.
He immediately reached the telephone and rang Dumbledore. Nobody answered.
Pressing down the panic and keeping it away from his mind – which needed to stay clear and sharp – was a deep, and frankly homicidal, rage.
He hurried to the library shelves in the living room and knocked books to the ground in his haste to reveal the smartphone he kept only for emergencies. He closed his eyes and practiced five different meditation techniques while he waited for the phone to switch on.
He tried Dumbledore again, then Tonks. After that he tried the number to Scotland Yard that connected him directly with all of the Order of the Phoenix.
Finally someone picked up. Unfortunately, it was Agent Moody, not a great fan of his back from the old days.
Hadn't he gone in retirement already!?
Needless to say, he was less than helpful. Severus hung up on him after the first two growled sentences. Glancing at his watch, he barely took in the time. Harry had been missing officially for more than half an hour, and he still had nothing to go on but the fact that Dumbledore was obviously up to something and he was using the boy for it.
Severus would not stand for that.
He dialled four other numbers – only one of which was inside Scotland Yard – and cashed in all the favours he had accumulated as a spy and when that proved lacking, resolved to blackmailing. In less than fifteen minutes he knew what Dumbledore had planed and was marching towards a helicopter Lucius had sent for him.
The pilot drove to the middle of the forest in Wiltshire. They searched the thick foliage for human activity and once they found it, the helicopter sought a clearing to land.
Severus didn't waste any time in pleasantries as he departed from the pilot and all but ran through the trees in the direction he had seen the gaggle of paramedics and police uniforms.
The scene that was presented to him almost let slip the panic he had been carefully subduing.
Bellatrix and Rodulphus Lestrange were being restrained by five agents, Dumbledore himself was there, talking sternly to a bald man foaming at the mouth.
Severus took it all in but didn't let his eyes linger. At last he spotted a shock of disarrayed black hair and a thin, almost translucent hand.
"Harry…" he murmured, more to himself than with the intention to call out. Then he was pushing aside paramedics and gently grasping that thin, translucent hand and almost sagging in relief when he felt the weak but steady pulse under his fingertips.
"Excuse me, sir, who-"
"What happened here?" Severus interrupted, not caring one wit what the medic had to say.
"That is classified, sir, who-"
"I am the boy's guardian and you will tell me his condition and what happened. Now." He used his best silky-threatening voice, staring straight into the man. He visibly gulped while his colleagues shuffled around.
"The damage is not life-threatening. He has lacerations on his forehead but was otherwise un-injured. Once at the hospital we'll be able to confirm everything and conduct a more thorough analysis. Psychological trauma is not to be excluded since…" here the man looked over where Dumbledore was still interrogating the man.
Voldemort.
He looked quite different from the last time Severus had seen him, working as a spy among his so-called followers. Fanatics and other assorted criminals really.
"Take him to the closes hospital then. You better contact me as soon as he wakes up or if there is information about him you need to discuss." He dismissed him. Then took a hold of the man's uniform. "Contact me and only me, do you understand?" he hissed. The man nodded hurriedly. Severus let him go and watched as he loaded the stretched inside another helicopter stationed there.
"Severus Snape, professor at Hogwarts College." He gave his contact number to a woman medic who looked brighter than the idiot he had talked to. She nodded minutely and the helicopter took off.
"Severus! My dear boy," Dumbledore chose that moment to acknowledge his presence – Severus did not flatter himself by thinking the old man hadn't known exactly what he was doing and where he was the second he had stepped into the clearing, if not before.
"Dumbledore." Severus' tone wasn't as warm, "pray tell me the meaning of this." It was closer to a hiss.
"We have apprehended Tom Riddle." Dumbledore said – dare he say it – jovially. Riddle growled and started hissing like a madman. Which he was.
"What was Harry Potter doing here?" Severus continued, almost blinded by his rage. The panic had faded with the relief of finding the boy alive. Now his anger could overrun all his senses unchecked.
"Please calm yourself, Severus. Harry is alive and will be taken care of. Of course, we will be needing his testimony at the trial-"
"Harry will not be standing within ten kilometres of that man again, Dumbledore." Severus interrupted. His voice was again, soft silk. Blue eyes regarded him without their usual twinkle. They knew Severus was not one prone to hyperboles.
"Of course… that is understandable. Perhaps a separate, discreet environment can be arranged for his testimony-"
"No." his tone was final. "He will not be revisiting the events of these last few days, whatever they may be. You will keep the boy out of this. He has done enough." Spit flew from Severus' mouth at his vehemence.
"Now, now, my dear boy, Harry's words could-"
"I don't care if Harry's words could be able to grant Riddle the death penalty, Dumbledore. You have enough evidence and witnesses and years of them that you can do without him."
At Dumbledore's narrowed stare Severus gave an almighty sneer.
"You will not seek him out again, Chief." He intimated, then spun on his heel and marched towards the helicopter of the two remaining that was preparing to leave.
Severus sat down on the plastic chair beside Harry's cot. The boy was asleep, drugged to his eyeballs and with thick bandages over his forehead. Other than that, he looked peaceful.
Severus thanked the heavens there were no biping machines or oxygen tubes tying the boy to the bed. Hospitals had always greatly unsettled him and after those couple of close calls during his spying days, he had been over glad he hadn't had to set foot in one for over twenty years.
Of course he would have to break even that so favourable trend because of Potter.
A soft knock on the door.
"May I come in?" Draco's voice floated over his shoulder. He gestured with his hand, not bothering to turn or speak aloud.
"My father only just told me. I came as soon as I could. I-" the boy was doing an admirable job of keeping his emotions in check, the beginning of a ramble the only betraying tick. Severus stopped him with a glance.
"The doctors say he's alright?" Draco asked. Severus nodded, eyes back on that delicate form on the hospital bed.
"But what happened? Father wouldn't give me the details-" Severus stopped the overflow of words which were sliding towards whinging.
"Dumbledore organized some sort of trap. Potter was bait, was manipulated to willingly offer himself as such. Scotland Yard and the Phoenix agents found them just in time." Severus summarized tonelessly. The thought of what Dumbledore had done, playing with the life of a child, still sent hot red waves across his entire body.
Draco stepped forwards and grasped Harry's hand carefully.
"Is he in a medical coma? When will he wake up?"
"He went through a traumatic experience but wasn't dangerously injured. He's only sedated and on a lot of morphine. He'll wake up when he's ready."
"Will he be okay?"
Severus didn't answer. As if the boy hadn't had enough hardships already, Dumbledore went and added facing off with his parents' murderer…
Calm.
"Can I stay here? And go home with you?" Draco asked in a small voice. He looked suddenly so much younger than seventeen.
"I'm not going home tonight. You can stay as long as you want, I'll arrange a way to get you home." Severus said curtly, before standing up from his chair and walking over to the yellowish sofa in one corner of the room. Draco promptly took the vacated seat and grasped Harry's hand a little more firmly.
A/N: hello people! I'm sorry this chapter is a little short but I din't want to leave you guys with the cliffy for too long. Also, I'm kind of concerned this isn't up to my usual standards... I just find Sev's POV the hardest and I want to do the character justice so... it took a while and I'm not completely happy with it.
I'll go over it later for typos and the like but i really would appreciate your thoughts!