Title: Who Wants to Be the Bloody Boy Who Wouldn't Die?
Author: Iskjif

Beta: Keket Amara Melek (because I actually did have one for this chappie!)
Pairings: Voldemort/Harry (eventually), mild one-sided Severus/Lucius
Warnings: Okay, if you have a problem with my pairings and are still reading this after my warning, well as far as I'm concerned you have no rights… As far as I can tell this chappie is pretty mild. After all Sev and Luc are professionals. Just some brief mild slashy feelings and mentions of abuse.
Summary: Eventual HPLV. After the events of OotP Harry is apathetic and disillusioned. The Dursley's escalating abuse only serves to alienate him further. When Voldemort's followers come for him, the idea of torture isn't too unpleasant when it's at the hands of those who don't pretend to care.

A/N: Well this chappie was prolly one of the hardest things I've ever had to write! Writing Severus is hard! He's just developed enough that you have to worry about him being OOC and not developed just enough so that it takes a lot of work to figure out what's going on in his head! Tell me how you think I did!

Thank you everyone who reviewed, it always makes me really happy!

Oh! And just so you guys know, Sev and Luc are observing Harry on the same day as the last chappie, so part of it is sort of a retelling of that day from Sev's POV.

OoToO

Severus settled into a more comfortable position and tried to suppress his annoyance. He and Lucius had stationed themselves in a muggle 'car' just across the street from Potter's home so they could observe the goings on and pinpoint the best time of day to snatch the boy. They would then have to assess the wards on the house before they could proceed.

He tried to keep his mind clear as they watched and waited for the residents of the house to wake up but soon found his thoughts returning to the object of his annoyance.

Potter's arrogance and self-absorption never ceased to amaze him. For his levels of 'suffering' to have reached the point they had, where they had begun to effect the Dark Lord's sleep and concentration, was ridiculous. As if the boy really had anything to complain about. Being the 'Savior' of the wizarding world, the Potions Master was sure that Potter had every comfort he could ever wish for. He had to admit, the boy had recently lost his Godfather, but that was no excuse for his excessive angst. He had barely even known the mutt for two years.

His disgust aside, Severus was actually rather glad for this task for one reason.

Lucius.

It was very rare for his Lord to assign his two most power Death Eaters to a single mission, so Severus welcomed the chance to spend time with the blond man.

The two of them had never really interacted during their time at Hogwarts; Lucius had dated nonstop, leaving many broken hearts in his wake, whereas Severus had always been more studious. It was merely by chance that Severus had ended up befriending Lucius. They had been paired together during their Death Eater training and had been good friends since. The Potions Master had also begun to have feelings for the blond at that point in time and Lucius had been his beacon in the dark from then on.

His musings were interrupted as Lucius nudged him. He turned his attention back to the house and realized that there was activity. Their window was cracked open so that they could here anything that there was to hear and when he listened carefully he could hear faint shouting. He quickly cast a sense sharpening charm on both of them.

"-UP YOU LAZY BOY! COME COOK YOUR UNCLE'S BREAKFAST! WITH ALL THE TIME YOU'VE WASTED THIS MORNING HE'S PROBABLY GOING TO BE LATE!"

He heard a door slam and then shortly after a figure appeared in the window to throw open the curtains. Severus soon recognized it as Harry Potter. He was shocked to see that even from the distance, the boy looked awful. He could see a rather large bruise on Potter's face and the boy was wearing a shirt that looked as if it were about to fall off him. Then just as quickly as he had appeared in the window, he was gone.

And the rest of the day was full of shock, pain and shame.

All of his previous beliefs concerning Harry's life were shattered. The boy was not sheltered or coddled or even in the slightest bit pampered. Severus watched as the Griffindor that he had scorned for years was forced to work himself to exhaustion while his relatives sat and sneered over how terribly the boy was doing everything. Every insult and veiled threat sent him back, remembering his childhood and all the terrible pain.

Guilt tore at him. How could he have not seen this? And how could he have allowed himself to be blinded by his childish vendetta? How could he have added to this boy's pain?

He sighed in relief when, at noon, Harry was allowed to retreat to the safety of his room. He was a bit concerned that Harry still hadn't been allowed anything to eat yet but at least the boy could rest.

Severus could feel Lucius begin to relax just he did and they continued to watch the house.

It wasn't for several hours that anything happened and then it was only the man, Harry's uncle if Severus remembered correctly, arriving home from work. Lucius noted the time and then they continued waiting. They only had a little while to wait. Suddenly they heard a shout from the house and Severus wouldn't even have needed a charm to hear what was said.

"BOY!"

Both men jumped and were instantly at attention. When they listened closely they could hear thumping that they had earlier identified as one of Harry's male relatives advancing up the stairs. They waited tensely and then heard a sharp cry of pain and surprise.

"DUDLEY TOLD ME HOW YOU WERE LOOKING AT HIM THIS MORNING, YOU FILTHY FREAK! HOW DARE YOU BEHAVE IN SUCH A DISGUSTING WAY IN FRONT OF THE NEIGHBORS!"

The Potions Master looked at Lucius in shock and saw that his companion was equally wide-eyed with disbelief. The boy had done nothing to his cousin to warrant any retaliation, much less the wrath of his uncle.

The entire situation was simply heinous.

The two Death Eaters listened in horror to the sounds of the Savior of the wizarding world being beaten by his muggle uncle. Severus itched to run in and stop the beating. Every cry felt like it tore into his very soul. The only thing that stopped him from cursing the foul muggle was that he knew that they couldn't afford to set off the wards. If they did that, then the entire mission would fail and that fool Dumbledore would probably leave the boy right where he was.

Severus cursed himself for not thinking to examine the wards earlier.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, there was silence. Blessed silence. Then to their relief they heard the man thump down the stairs. Severus stayed silent as Lucius closed his eyes. One of the things that made the blond so powerful was his ability to extend his magical senses to assess a person's weaknesses and strengths as well as their overall health. Lucius would have made a brilliant healer had he not chosen the side of the dark, but as things were, it made the man a very valuable addition to any mission.

While Lucius made sure that Harry didn't need immediate help, Severus took the opportunity to just look at Lucius. He knew that it wasn't the best time to be admiring the man but it was so rare to be able to just look at the blond. Normally if he were to look at the man with any sort of feeling, Lucius would sneer and tell him to go 'play with his potions'. So despite the circumstances he seized the chance like a thirsting man grasping at water.

Abruptly Lucius' eyes blinked open and he looked shocked.

"Severus," The man said in awe, "I haven't seen someone's magic work like this since our Lord's recovery…"

The Potions Master blinked in confused amazement. Their Lord's recovery since his resurrection had been amazing. Had he more patience and less vanity, his body would have eventually achieved the same health and attractiveness that the potion Severus brewed had brought the Dark Lord. For Harry to be healing at that rate was practically incomprehensible.

After a few moments of utter dumbfounded speechlessness the pragmatism that had originally caused Severus to lean towards the dark side of things came back in full force.

"Well then, that would mean that he doesn't need immediate attention. We should decide when and how we will take the boy." Severus stated with as much detachment as he could muster.

Lucius shook himself slightly to clear his head. He was always a little disoriented after delving so deeply into someone's magic Severus thought fondly.

"The best time would be right after the man leaves for work at eight. Then we won't have to worry about him. It would be best to use as little magic as possible in this abduction." The blond man said once he had his composure.

Severus nodded his agreement, "I don't think we'll have to worry about too much fight from the boy. Even with our past mistrust for each other, I believe that he will take any chance to be away from his relatives."

Lucius looked thoughtful, "Well, before we can decide how we'll take him, we need to determine the extent of the warding on the house."

Severus agreed and they began to read the wards.

The Potions Master was instantly amazed at the simplicity of the wards. Did Dumbledore think the Dark to be so unskilled and disorganized? Anyone who was skilled at ward reading would have been able to find the weaknesses in the wards in moments. Severus sneered. Dumbledore was truly a naïve fool. He probably was relying on the power of the blood protection. Too bad that the old man was too much of a fool to see how little power it truly had.

The few wards that were in place were disgustingly easy to bypass as things stood. The only protections were that no magic could be performed on the premises without Dumbledore being alerted immediately and that no one could remove Harry from the house if they wished to directly harm him. There weren't even any protections for Harry's relatives. Had they been the good people that the Headmaster was convinced they were at heart, they would have been completely defenseless.

Severus and Lucius broke their contact with the wards almost simultaneously. Their disdain clear.

"We can just walk up and ring the bell in the morning and then just take the boy when he answers." Lucius said with a sneer.

"If we do it soon enough after the fat muggle leaves, we could do just that." Severus responded ignoring Lucius' sarcasm

Lucius looked shocked for a moment then nodded slowly, "We really could." He said in wonder. "That horse of a woman is lazy enough that she'd probably have the boy answer the door!"

Severus nodded his agreement and they both settled down to rest for a few hours now that they had a plan.

When the morning came they waited until the fat muggle left for work and then they went to the door and ran the bell. They waited for a bit and soon they heard the shrill voice of the woman shouting at Harry to get the door.

The boy opened the door with a bored look on his face. When he saw whom it was his eyes widened briefly in horror and he looked as if he wasn't quite sure what to do. But then, as if after a little thought, his whole frame sagged. Severus took him by the hand and led him down the lawn.

The Savior of the wizarding world didn't even put up a fight.

OoToO

A/N: Whew! I'm so glad that this chappie's finished! It was painful and I thought I'd never finish but I did! Yay! I feel so special! Hehe anyways! Remember to review and tell me what you thought! Was dear Snapey too OOC? Were his feelings for Lucius believable? Was it too fluffy or cliché? Tell me please!