AN: This is a Revenge on the Dursleys oneshot. Technically this is part of my As Potter is to Snape universe, but I want to make it clear that it doesn't actually happen. Snape promised that he wouldn't do anything to them and he keeps his promises. This is simply the product of me rage quitting my job and needing to take my feelings out on something lol.
Warnings! This fic shows psychological torture. Please don't read if this may make you uncomfortable.
Say His Name
"No! Please, no!"
The strangled cries caught the attention of Severus and Remus immediately. They had been talking in the living room but as soon as they heard the sound of Harry's scream, they both leaped from their seats and ran upstairs.
Bursting into Harry's room, Severus went to his bedside as Remus waved his wand so that the candles ignited, illuminating the room.
Harry didn't even seem to notice that they had come in. He was sitting up in bed, his knees were brought up near his chest and his hands were carded through his hair, pulling it tightly as his body was wracked with sobs. The blankets were in a tangled heap on the floor.
"Harry?" Severus said as he attempted to coax Harry into looking at him by putting his hand on his back; his shirt was soaked in a cold sweat. Harry jerked away violently and dug his heels into the mattress, pushing himself away from Severus and up against the wall.
"No! Don't touch me!" Harry shouted. His breathing was erratic and shallow as if he couldn't take in enough oxygen.
"Harry, it's me." Severus said as gently as he knew how. "It's Snape and Remus. No one's gonna hurt you, Harry. I promise. But you need to calm down, okay?"
The books on the shelves and the glass chess pieces that were laid out on the coffee table began to shake.
"Severus," Remus said quietly as he watched a bishop come perilously close to falling off the table.
"I see it," Severus replied, not taking his eyes off of Harry. He slowly reached over and picked up Harry's glasses from where they sat on his nightstand. "Harry, how about you put your glasses on?" He laid them on the bed and pushed them over, careful not to startle him with any sudden movements. He knew all too well what this was like for him. He was sure that he wouldn't even need to ask Harry what the nightmare had been about.
Even as tears still streamed down Harry's face, he picked up the glasses and put them on his face. "Please," Harry begged and Severus felt his heartbreak for the child.
"Harry, please calm down. Let's take a breath. Can you do that for me?"
"I-I c-can't," Harry stuttered. He clutched at the sheets so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"Yes, you can," Severus nodded. "Just try. In your nose, out your mouth." Harry closed his eyes and tried to take in a deep breath. It was ragged and unsteady but it was better than nothing. He let it out as slowly as he could. "Good job, Harry," Severus praised him, "Now do it again. You can do this."
Harry did his best to breathe evenly for the next few moments and Remus watched as slowly the books and chess pieces began to stop shaking. He also breathed a sigh of relief. Severus continued to talk to Harry in quiet tones that he hoped were calming enough to help Harry relax. He figured he must be doing something right because, after a while, Harry opened his eyes and released his grip on the sheets.
"Snape?" Harry said suddenly.
"Yes?" But Harry didn't say anything else; he simply launched himself into Severus's arms and held on tightly to his robes. Severus sighed. "It's alright, Harry. I'm here."
It took a while, but eventually, Harry had fallen back to sleep and Severus and Remus went back downstairs. As they retook their seats in the living room, Remus sighed.
"How often does that happen?" he asked.
Severus reached over to the table between their chairs and opened the bottle of firewhiskey he had there before pouring two glasses, passing one to Remus.
"Not as often anymore as it used to," Severus replied before taking a drink and relishing the way the amber liquid burned his throat on the way down.
"Do they often involve him making things shake?" Remus was staring resolutely at the flames in the hearth, his own glass resting on the table beside him.
"Sometimes, though he's never actually broken anything yet."
"Yet," Remus spat the word as if it were something that tasted awful in his mouth. "I don't want to imagine how bad it would need to be before he broke something. He's thirteen years old, Severus! He shouldn't be having nightmares like this in the first place."
"I know, Remus," Severus said quietly. "You have no idea how badly I would like to make them suffer for what they did to him. How much delight I would take in watching them beg for mercy." He shook his head, "But that only happens in my dreams." Severus froze, his glass halfway to his lips. "That's it," he murmured before replacing his glass on the table. "Jenka," he called and immediately the small elf appeared.
"Yes, Master Snape?"
"Jenka, please watch over Harry for a little while. If he wakes up, come and find me, alright?"
Jenka nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, Master Snape. Jenka will be watching Master Harry Potter very closely."
"Where are you going?" Remus asked when Jenka disappeared and Severus stood up.
"Little Whinging. Would you like to come?"
"Sev?" Remus was already on his feet and following Severus towards the front door. Once out on the front porch, Severus disapparated on the spot and Remus followed suit a second later.
Severus and Remus apparated to a spot just down the street from the Dursleys' house. The houses on Privet Drive were mostly dark at this time of night, but that didn't deter Severus in the slightest. His robes billowed like a cape behind him as he stalked up the street to Number Four. Remus kept pace beside him, though he still had no idea what they were doing here.
Severus raised his fist and knocked loudly on the front door as Remus eyed him in confusion. "Severus, it's late, no one is awake. What are we doing?"
Severus paid him no mind and knocked again. This time he rang the doorbell for good measure, and sure enough, a moment later a light flicked on upstairs followed by the sounds of very heavy footsteps coming towards them. Severus pulled out his wand and Remus did the same, ready to back up his brother in whatever plan he had concocted.
"Who in the devil is it at this hour?!" Vernon Dursley growled just before opening the door.
"Evening, Dursley," Severus said, his tone dripping with disdain as he pointed his wand at the whale of a man in front of him.
"W-who are you?!" Vernon spluttered as he backed away into the house, nearly knocking over the small table that sat just inside the hall. "You-you've no right to be here!"
"Vernon!" Remus cut his eyes to the stairs where Petunia was now standing, peering down at the scene in front of her. He pointed his own wand at her.
"Do come and join us, Mrs. Dursley," Remus said pleasantly, "We were just about to start the introductions."
Petunia tried to back away but Remus simply flicked his wand lazily at her and she levitated down beside her husband, screaming the entire way.
"Now see, if you'd just come down when I asked, I wouldn't have had to do that," Remus said with a small grin. He turned to Severus, "Perhaps we should put up a silencing spell?"
Severus smirked. "Already did. Thought we might need one."
"Oh, good." Remus smiled at the Dursleys. "So no one will hear any screams."
"Not even their sleeping child upstairs. Tell me, Dursley." Severus moved in close to Vernon, pointing his wand at his neck and pinning him with a look Remus had never seen before. It was so cold and malicious, he was sure only Death Eaters had ever witnessed it. In that moment, Remus knew why he'd been so good in his role as spy. He knew why he had been picked out by Voldemort himself. Severus Snape was not someone to be taken lightly. "How does your son sleep? Like a baby? Is he plagued with nightmares, memories of being beaten and starved? Of being locked away in a closet not big enough for a dog?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Vernon insisted in a voice that he hoped sounded calmer than he felt.
"Do you hear that, Remus?" Severus asked as he stepped away, though keeping his wand raised. "He doesn't know what I'm talking about. He must have a very short memory. I think it's time he remembered, don't you?"
"Definitely," came Remus's reply.
Severus waved his wand and suddenly an image appeared out of thin air. It was of Harry and Vernon but they appeared to be greyish-silver like the ghosts at Hogwarts. The scene began to play out and it was the same one that had played that day in the hospital wing when they finally learned the truth about what had been happening to Harry at the hands of his relatives.
Severus, having seen it before, didn't watch, but Remus's attention was caught and he found himself growing angrier with every crack of the belt that hit Harry's skin, every scream that forced its way out of Harry's mouth, every time he begged for this "man" to stop hurting him, Remus wanted to tear him apart limb by limb.
The video ended as it had the last time it was played, with Vernon breaking Harry's ankle by stepping on it. Anger flowed from Remus in waves. His eyes flashed amber as he snarled at Vernon, a growl from deep in his chest growing louder as he took a step closer towards him.
"He deserved it!" Vernon clearly hadn't taken any notice of the obvious change in Remus as he shouted at the two wizards in his house. "That freak was nothing but amenace and a burden! I'm glad to be shot of him!"
Remus's wand was suddenly in Vernon's face, a hex on the tip of his tongue, but suddenly Severus was in his peripheral vision, placing a hand on his chest and pushing him back slightly. "Not yet, Remus," Severus said.
Severus turned back around, satisfied that Remus wouldn't do anything yet. "Deserved it, did he? How so?"
"He was just dropped off here without even asking us if we would take him in, but we did it anyway. Out of the goodness of our hearts, we took that brat in. Clothed him, fed him, gave him a place to sleep. He should be bloody grateful we did as much as that! But what I wouldn't do is take from Dudley to give to him! As far as I'm concerned, that boy was just fine with the scraps from the table. There was no need for him to go complaining because we asked him to do a few chores in return for our kindness. And he can't even do those right!" Vernon pointed to where the screen had been, "I'm not about to stand around and let him disrespect me in my home! If he can't obey me, he'll take the consequences!"
Severus, though seething inside, simply turned to Petunia. "And is this how you feel as well?"
Petunia nodded. "Yes, the boy needed to learn some manners. You couldn't take him anywhere without him showing his freakish ways everywhere we went. I didn't want that around my Dudley. He's perfectly normal! We all are. We are just a normal family, in a normal house on a normal street, living perfectly normal lives. Just as it should be! I'll not have that boy come in here and mess that all up! If we couldn't squash those abnormalities out of him, then he simply wouldn't be allowed out."
"So then you admit to keeping him locked up?" Severus asked. "Your own nephew. Your blood. Lily's son?! You admit to neglecting and abusing Lily's son?! Her child?! The very person she died to protect. You treated him like rubbish! And you have no remorse? None, whatsoever?"
"I do not," Petunia replied, her head held high and her eyebrows raised. "My sister was nothing but a freak just like her husband and just like that boy."
"Harry!" Snape thundered and for the second time that night, Remus watched as things began to shake, this time more violently. Books fell from their shelves and china rattled in the cabinet. The pictures that hung on the walls and sat atop the mantle were shaking as well, the frames in a few even cracked. "His name is Harry!" Severus pointed his wand at the locks that were still fastened onto the cupboard under the stairs and immediately the door flew off its hinges, making Petunia scream and cling to her husband. "Let me hear you!" Severus shouted, now standing so close to Vernon that the mustached man could feel his breath on him. "Let me hear you say his name!" Severus punctuated each of the last three words with a sharp wave of his wand and with each wave, a hole was busted into the wall above their heads.
"Harry!" Vernon and Petunia screamed at once.
"Again!" Severus demanded and they obliged once more.
Just like that, everything stilled. Remus stood quietly off to the side, and though he was no less angry than he'd been before, he was calmer now. He put a hand on Severus's forearm and Severus glanced at him before taking a deep breath.
"Alright," said Severus as he waved his wand in several complicated swirls around the house. "As far as I'm concerned, what you've done to Harry in this house is unforgivable and this is how we're going to settle it." He turned to Petunia. "You cared more for how the rest of the world saw you than you did for your own family. Because of that, the rest of the world will never see you as normal again. No matter what you do or how hard you try, they'll always look at you as if there's something strange about you that they can't quite put their fingers on. They'll talk about you in whispers and whenever they see you walking up the street, they'll close their doors and lower their blinds, not wanting to be seen talking to the freak in Number 4. And it won't matter if you move, because it will be the same wherever you go. 'Petunia Dursley, there is just something so abnormal about her.'"
Petunia didn't speak. She wanted to, but suddenly found that she couldn't open her mouth or even make a sound! Her eyes went wide with shock as she looked from her husband to Severus and back again.
"Oh, that's from me," Remus said with a smile, "I simply find the sound of your voices to be absolutely irritating. Like nails on a chalkboard, you know?" He gave a dismissive wave and said, "You don't have to answer that; I know you're a bit tongue-tied. But no worries, it should wear off an hour or so after we leave. And if it doesn't, well, I'm sure Dudley wouldn't mind it much if he never had to hear your voices again either."
Inwardly, Severus was quite proud of Remus at that moment, though he tried not to smile too much. Instead, he turned back to Vernon and calmly said, "Now, what about you?" Severus twirled his wand between his fingers as he paced back and forth in front of Vernon for a moment before coming to a stop once more in front of him. "Do you know that I can break your legs with a quick wave of my wand?" Though he couldn't speak, it was clear what Vernon thought of that! He seemed to be trying to press himself back against the wall in some feeble attempt to escape. "It wouldn't even be hard," Severus continued. "With another wave, I could charm that belt of yours to follow you around endlessly, beating you till you were a bloody mess on the floor, and even then, it wouldn't stop. I could cut you without ever lifting a knife. Slice your body a thousand times and then heal those cuts just so that I could start over. I could make you feel pain beyond your comprehension. You would beg for death assuming you could stop writhing and convulsing on the floor long enough to get out the words. You would feel so much pain that you would wet yourself and not even notice or care."
Severus moved away from Vernon and took a step towards the table where several framed photographs of Dudley sat proudly atop the rich mahogany. He picked one up and inspected it closely before walking back over to Vernon and holding the picture out to him.
"I could do all of that and more without even flinching. Fortunately for you, I'll only be that monster in your nightmares. I hope you were sleeping well before I knocked on that door, Vernon Dursley, because you'll never have another peaceful night's rest in your life. You'll learn, and rather quickly, what it's like for Harry, living with what you've done to him. Waking up panicked, unsure of where you are or if it was real or just another nightmare. And it won't just be nightmares of how you treated Harry, though of course there will be a lot of those. No, Dursley, I suspect your nightmares will take a different shape entirely." Severus gave a pointed look at the photograph before he turned on his heel and made his way to the door, Remus right beside him.
"Oh," Severus turned back around, "and you can't have a father like mine without believing in second chances, so the spells can be broken of course, as most spells can, but I won't tell you how. Let's just say, that if and when it ever happens, you'll know."
Severus opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Remus nodded to the Dursleys and followed him. A moment later, they disapparated from the street, leaving the residents of Privet Drive in their peaceful slumber.
Most of them anyway.
End