Remus was the first to move, after they stood dumfounded at their discovery. He sent a patronus to Hogwarts as Severus shook off his stupor and scooped the damn boy up in his arms, apparently forgetting who he was. The group strode down Petunia's spotless hallway in fury, and Moody swung the door open and the mismatched gang vanished with a sharp and urgent crack! of apparition.
"Poppy? POPPY! We're here! Hurry up!" Madame Pomfrey swept down the corridor of the unforgivingly white infirmary, professional mask firmly in place. Pointing to a bed to direct the still somewhat stunned Snape, she shot spell after spell at Harry, her face dropping with each one. Shooing Mundungus and Moody from the ward, the two professors leaned over the bed to read the reports from the spells, and began to gather potions and ointments to assist Poppy.
Hour after hour passed by, as the-boy-who-lived fought for his hard earned life. He responded with a groan at best, utterly oblivious to the flurry of action around him. The bat of the dungeons became the hermit of the hospital wing, much to everyone's surprise. The truth of the matter was that the potions master felt somewhat guilty. He believed himself responsible for delaying the rescue of the boy with stubborn insistence on believing his apparently delusional fantasies of a pampered and delightful homelife. The ex-death eater did not want to believe that he had anything- anything at all in common with the chosen one. However, looking closely at the ch-brat, he even spotted physical similarities. They both had black hair, the boy's formerly rotund face had thinned (no doubt thanks to the Dursley's tender mercies) showing high cheekbones. His hair was growing too, giving the eerie resemblance more prominence.
The dungeon bat's musings were brought to a sharp halt by a groan form the bed. The ch-idiot was waking up. "Deigned to return to the living, Potter?"
Harry was awoken by a sharp eye staring at him. Groaning, the boy-who-awoke-to-pain was greeted by his favourite professor. However, the lack of usual malice was not lost on Harry, and vague memories of a black cloaked man carrying him induced a slight blush. "Why am I in the hospital wing? Has term begun?" "No, Mr. Potter. The order decided that you were to be taken to headquarters. We found you half dead. Perhaps you would enlighten us as to why?"
Severus made his move in the verbal tennis match. He was not above the use of legilimency, but he decided to allow the boy a chance to explain. He did not expect the violent flinch that Har-the potter boy produced, and was further astonished by the child crawling up the bed to get away from him. "NO no no… I just… I… fell. Down the stairs. Yes, that's it, I tripped, hit my head… that's all. That's it." If Snape had not been alerted to the fact he was lying by the constant denial, the boy's body language would have given it away in an instant. He wouldn't meet the professor's eyes, in a blatant attempt to avoid legilimency. Oh, if only occlusion was that easy. "So, if I were to ask your uncle, he wouldn't tell me that he had beaten you up for attempting to heal your previous beating?" While the outward expression was carefully schooled, Snape cursed enough to make a soldier blush inwardly. It was not a one off. Fuck.
"It was just a bit more than I could manage. That's all. I shouldn't have healed it, it was wrong of me…" The boy's murmur's tailed off. "Potter." No reply. "Potter". Silence."Harry". Startled by the use of his given name, he looked up. "I do believe that you should understand that it is futile for you to even attempt to lie to me. So I ask again. Was this the work of your uncle?" An almost imperceptible nod of the head was Ha-Potter's reply. Why Snape kept thinking of the idiot by his first name was beyond his understanding. With a sigh, Severus turned to the green-eyed boy in the hospital bed, suddenly struck by an unfamiliar wave of something. Pity, perhaps? No. More empathy. Squashing the feeling as soon as it arrived, he spoke in a clinical, detached tone. "Very well. Now, the question is, where shall we put you over summer?"
"I guess back at the Dursley's? I don't want to be a burden on anyone… they were just a little excessive this time, that's all…" Harry replied, warily. He knew Snape would be annoyed if he suggested anywhere else. However, the boy-who-lived was startled by the intensity of the potion master's reaction. "I would sooner take you in my-fucking-self than send you back there, you dunderheaded idiot! They were abusive! Why can't you understand that?" Snape himself was also confused by how passionate his response had been. "You are 14, Potter. You cannot honestly believe that your home life resembled normal in any way, can you?"
"Well… not normal exactly. But I was dumped on them; they didn't need another mouth to feed…" Exasperated, Severus nearly slapped the boy out of his delusion. Instead, he did something he never in all his life believed he would do. "HARRY. You are not the only child to go through this. You cannot seriously think that Hogwarts has never seen a case of abuse before? There are procedures in place. I understand them with far more intimacy than most. Get some sleep. Tell Poppy when you wake up." "You too?" the boy whispered, as though he believed it was a lie.
Snape had been abused? Snape? Really? Damn, they actually had something in common. Harry's mind raced as he asked for confirmation. "Yes." Was the clipped reply bestowed upon him as the formidable professor left the room in a billow of robes.
Severus' heart raced as he left the hospital wing. Tales of a sad childhood would race through the student population as soon as they arrived. But then again, would they? He was fairly sure that the world had dropped out of orbit as his opinion of the Potter brat was forced to change.