A/N: just a quick note sorry if this makes little or no sense me and my proof reader have been up all night have gone mad and keep yelling BING at odd moments I do apologise if this isn't up to scratch! WARNING contains naughty words at the end…. BING!
Disclaimer: you know the drill don't belong to me!
Chapter 20
Severus was functioning on auto pilot, after several attempts at bringing Harry out of his catatonic state at the house they had left for Hogwarts. Severus carried his child through the school in a daze; he couldn't feel anything but sheer blind panic, he'd only just got him back he couldn't lose him again not now. Instead of taking him to the infirmary, he took him back to his quarters. He lovingly placed his son on his bed, fighting the tears that threatened him; he was so cold he didn't react to anything. Severus put him in the bed and went to sit in the chair by the desk, Poppy would be along shortly to check on him.
The mist swirled round him he could hear the voices, and he did feel the spells that someone use to try and bring him back, the problem was he didn't want to go back it was safe here. He couldn't feel here he'd escaped he just needed a minute to compose himself. It was quiet, he like the quiet no one asked him questions he didn't want to answer. There was no pain in the mist, he sat and watched it swirl around him. He had already decided to go back but he just wanted a little long to enjoy the peace. He'd go back in a bit.
Two days past and Harry didn't move nor speak, people came and went from his bedside, his father remained, no one could convince him to leave his sons side. He just sat there in silence praying to all Gods to bring his son back.
He wasn't alone he felt it he looked through the mist,
"Sirius!" he ran to his godfather and hugged him "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to talk to you Harry, you need to go back"
"I don't want to"
"I know" he stroked his hair away from his face
"It's safe here"
"Harry please I know you're in pain, but go back to them it's going to be hard but in time you'll get through it I promise" Harry felt the tears on his face
"I want to stay with you"
"You can't. please go" Harry nodded Sirius smiled
"I love you"
"I love you too" and then he was gone, the mist started to clear, colours came into focus.
Three days, he didn't want to give up on his son but he had barely blinked in that time. He sat on the bed and looked at him, did his eyes just change? He saw a flicker, but it was gone, he sighed perhaps it was his imagination. But then again it was back, the lifeless glaze began to lift, as he watched the bright eyes of his son came back Harry turned to look at him. Severus pulled the boy into a hug and held him, unwilling to let him go.
After a long moment Severus let Harry, he placed his hands on his shoulders and looked into the emerald eyes
"Are you ok?" Harry nodded, Severus was not convinced,
"Come on we're going to see Poppy" Severus rose from the bed and led the way out of the dungeons, Harry followed him, keeping several paces behind him.
When they arrived the infirmary was deserted, Severus pointed to a bed,
"Wait there" Harry stood by the bed not wanting to sit back down, he had done as his godfather asked, he didn't have to like it. Poppy bustled in and started to check Harry over, Severus fire called Dumbledore to inform him on Harry's progress. She was just finishing when Severus returned.
"Well he seems fine Severus, but he needs a good feed. Again." She muttered before leaving them, Severus eyed his son
"Are you hungry?" Harry shook his head, Severus sighed
"Harry you haven't eaten for three days, you must want food" Harry stared back at him. The silence was beginning to unnerve Severus.
"Are you going to say anything?" Harry was finding the floor fascinating; Severus was getting a little concerned.
"Please say something. Anything, jump up and down and shout at the unfairness hex me to hell and beyond but don't just gaze at the floor" Harry looked up from the floor to Severus and still didn't utter a word. A lump formed in Severus' throat could his past state lead to a form of amnesia, had his son forgotten how to talk? He grabbed Harry by the hand and without a second thought headed for the headmaster's office with the intention of flooing to Grimmauld place and getting help.
"Harry first we're going to the Order" Harry took the floo powder and stepped into the fire, and glared at Severus. Severus rolled his eye right he's not talking. He took a handful of the powder threw it Harry and shouted
"12 Grimmauld Place" at it, to his relief Harry vanished; he stepped into the fire and followed.
Harry stumbled out the fire at the other end; Molly and Hermione were in the kitchen and bustled in
"Harry it's good to see you up and about have a seat" Harry wasn't given much of a choice as he was steered by the shoulders to the table. A large bowl of soup was deposited in front of him. Harry poked a croton with the spoon but didn't eat any. Severus appeared a few moments later,
"Where's Albus?"
"He's talking to Mad-eye in the living room why?" Severus turned and stalked out without another word. Hermione watched the path Snape took and shook her head
"Does he have any other tricks that one is getting old" Harry smirked into the soup. Ron appeared at the door,
"Harry you're back!" Harry raised an eyebrow
"Ron it is amazing how you feel the need to state the painfully obvious" Hermione huffed before sitting down next to Harry,
"You really should eat you know" Harry shrugged, Ron came and sat on his other side and an uncomfortable silence settled, on them. Finally couldn't take it
"I'm going to help Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen" she said before leaving in a cloud of fabric which would have made Snape proud,
"Me too" muttered Ron and scooted out after her. Harry found himself alone in the dining room with no one between him and the front door.
# # # #
Severus stalked through the door to Albus
"Ah, good news about Harry"
"Not exactly, there's a problem" the twinkle in Dumbledore's eye dulled a little
"What's the problem?"
"He won't speak it's almost like he's forgotten how" Albus thought about this for a
moment,
"There have been case that a child exposed to a severe trauma refuse to talk. Give him time Severus he needs to heal" the conversation was cut short by alarms sounding throughout the house.
# # # # #
Harry got up and glanced through to door leading to the kitchen, Ron Hermione and Mrs. Weasley were engrossed in cooking, he quietly snuck into the hall, it was empty he snuck up to the front door, it clicked off the latch making minimal noise, he snuck out the door, just before the door slid shut he thought well that was easy the door clicked home and a series of very loud alarms went off. Fuck not so easy then he bolted back to the alley that he hid in last time; he rounded the corner just as the order started piling into the green.
Harry scooted back to the hole he hid in; it was ten inches wide, he cleared his mind and slowly took form,
"HARRY DON'T!" as before Hermione was in time to catch the end of the transformation, but not in time to stop him. By the time she reached the hole he was already out of site, he wasn't hiding this time he was running. Hermione shouted for help, Severus was the nearest thinking like Hermione he would go back to his old hiding place, he skidded to a halt by her.
"Is he in there?" he kicked the hole.
"No, I'm shouting at the wall for my health" she snapped
"How it's barely a foot across"
"He changed and slithered away" Severus' head snapped round so fast he almost had whiplash
"He what?!" Hermione flushed
"He's an animagus" Severus took this in
"And slithered" Hermione rolled her eyes
"He's a snake"
"A snake!?"
"Yes a cobra" Severus was stunned
"Are you sure it was him?"
"Well, lets see I saw him change and then there was a cobra rearing at me and I don't know about you but I haven't seen a cobra on the streets of London for quite a long time"
"Don't get sassy with me girl" he snarled before shining his wand through the gap, Hermione crossed in irritation
"He's long gone now Professor" she sneered before storming out the alley, he cape billowing behind her, Snape raised an eyebrow, apparently he had more of an effect on the girl then he thought.
Harry didn't stop he kept going out the other side of the alley, he looked around, his lowered height warped his sense of perception, he saw a door open, it was dark on the other side, he snuck in before thinking of what he was doing. He found himself in a large muggle club, it was daytime and so there were only a few members of staff milling around, Harry found a small dark corner coiled up and went to sleep. He was woken half an hour later be panicked screaming.
"SHIT! There's a fucking snake in here" Harry sat up, forgetting he was still in his snake form, causing the women to yelp louder.
"That's enough Elizabeth" a voice snapped, from behind her. A new women came into sight and glanced at him. The new women sighed
"Go get Kirsty and leave, lock the door behind you, you can come back in two hours and finish setting up" when the first woman didn't move the new one became irritated
"Now would be good" she snapped, the woman nodded and left. Harry heard hushed voices and a door click. He was left alone with the women giving the orders. She sat down on a chair by the nearest table, Harry could see her properly, she was tall, slender and was wearing leather trousers and a top that proclaimed "I FRY CATS" written in the correction fluid Harry used at primary school, her hair was long and purple at the front and green at the back. She studied him from a minute;
~You can come out now little one I won't hurt you~ Harry was surprise she could speak parseltongue he slithered towards her, up the table leg so he was at eye level with her. He calmed a bit, he thought he was going to die when he had been discovered. Unbeknownst to Harry as he did his colour went from pure black to dark grey, the women raised an eyebrow
~Wizard's should know better then to come near muggles~
~How did you know I was a wizard~ Harry hissed back she smiled;
~you change colour~ Harry took this in the mood ring, it must be causing it. He looked at her
~Who are you?~ he hissed
~I'm Outkast~ she said, Harry sat up to look at her better, this action caused his snake body to rear up, his hood opened, revealing a disjoint lightening bolt across his scales. She rolled her eyes
~no need to ask who you are Harry Potter~ Harry was speechless. She ran her had through the multicoloured shoulder length hair.
~come with me I'll take you somewhere safe~ she put her arm out, Harry coiled round it, he felt her warmth and found it oddly reassuring, she rose from the desk and left the main club, out in the offices she went up a small staircase. She paused briefly to open a door and let them into a large studio apartment. She went over to a round pine table and Harry got off her.
~You've gone green~ she laughed, Bloody ring Harry thought. She looked tiredly at him,
~are you going to change back or are you enjoying the view of my cleavage?~ Harry went purple Outkast laughed again
~well I can guess what that colour means~. Sheepishly crawled down a table leg to the floor before taking human form again.
Once Harry had turned back into human form he felt Outkast's scrutiny, she circled him and raised an eyebrow
"Well you're not what I expected" she said, she shrugged and headed for the kitchen
"In the words of the Great Albus Dumbledore; Tea?" Harry nodded
"You're a witch?" He said suddenly
"No I'm a moose" she said deadpan, Harry grinned. She finished making the tea and handed him a cup waving her hand in the general direction of a worktop
"Sugar is over there" Harry went over and helped himself. Outkast curled into a chair she indicated for Harry to join her. As he did he noticed a tank by the television, inside was a small black, red and gold snake just under a meter long
~Tell your guest not to ssssstare~ it hissed angrily at Outkast, Harry blushed
~Sorry, I didn't realise I was staring. What is your name~
~SSSalem~ it his rather irritably, Harry looked at Outkast quizzically
"I have a warped sense of humour" she winked at him. Harry laughed and sat back down
"So what were you doing in my club aside from terrifying my staff?" Harry stared at the floor
"That bad huh?" She said ruefully, Harry sighed
"Worse" he looked around,
"Nice place, just out of interest why are you living as a muggle?"
"Ah diversion tactics, I know them well ok I'll bite – I got bored"
"Bored with what?"
"The wizarding world, all that prophecies, spell, bonds and all that crap" Harry was
surprised,
"Funny I always found the wizarding life more interesting" Outkast raised an eyebrow
"Clearly you have had a very sheltered life" Harry stared at her blankly
"Why are you called Outkast?" She rolled her eyes
"Ok, you have a brain use it. I live as a muggle severing all contact with the wizarding worlds using as little magic as possible, why do you think I'm called Outkast"
"Oh" was about the only thins he could say, he started to draw himself into a ball. Outkast nodded understandingly
"Well that explains why you're here" she said casually, Harry looked puzzled, she ignored it
"So what was it? Physical, psychological, emotional, sexual, verbal?"
"E – all of the above" Harry said surprising himself – he had never told a soul ever and in the space of a hour he had told a complete stranger all of it. She nodded again
"Ain't life a bitch?" with that she wondered back to the kitchen and stuck the cups into the dishwasher before kicking it shut.
"Ok Mr. Potter you can either stay here for up to week or you can go back to Albus" Harry didn't know what surprised him the most, that she offered him a weeks reprieve or that offered him just a week.
"Why a week"
"A number of reasons, one – school will start soon, 2- people will worry and three- locator spells will break my wards in a week" Harry's eyes went wide
"Does that mean that Voldemort will be able to find me?"
"In a week yes, but don't worry he won't attack"
"Why not?" Outkast rolled her eyes
"You really don't know who I am do you?" Harry shook his head, she sighed
"Ok firstly promise me that you won't leg-it until I have finished" Harry nodded
"Secondly if you do leg-it you'll head straight for Albus" once again Harry nodded,
but he couldn't anything she could say to make him want to leave
"Ok have a seat Harry" Harry sat at the table, Outkast sat next to him, she took a deep breath
"Right, my birth name is unsurprisingly not Outkast" Harry nodded he'd got that far on his own
"It's Ayesha Riddle" she said, Harry's eyes went wide
"Riddle? As in Tom?" she nodded
"Yeah that would be my dickweed of a twin" if it was possible Harry's eyes got even went wider
"But he's old and you're…… not" he finished lamely, Outkast laughed
"Yep I'm physically 25, I found that I liked being that age and stopped" she shrugged
"Anyhoos when Tome started his whole I-want-to-rule-the-world obsession he asked me to join him"
"But you didn't" Outkast shook her head
"I told him to shove his wand up his ass and his dick in a lawnmower" Harry smirked
"Needless to say he was none too impressed with me and once he had gathered a few minions/followers/toys/cannon fodder he had me dragged in front of him and tried to force the issue. But my power is as strong as his and it didn't work, well not exactly, instead of the Dark Mark mine was white" She pulled her sleeve up revealing her left fore arm, sure enough the familiar snake and skull where there and white. Outkast continued
"I knew that our power was the same and we could fight to the end of time without either of us making any headway, so we didn't fight but every time I get wind of his little gathers I tend to… gatecrash"
"Gatecrash?"
"Yup gatecrash" Harry nodded wondering what that meant
"Right I think that's all you I need to explain so are you staying?" Harry nodded
"Fairy Snuff" she said walking over to a door and pushing it open
"Behold the wonder of the guest bedroom. Go to bed it's going to be a long night" she
said mischievously. Harry went into the room and flopped onto bed I wonder what
that's all about he thought before falling asleep. He didn't notice Outkast standing in
the doorway uttering protections spells, nor when he woke hours later from a relaxing dream did he know it was because she was holding the nightmares away.