Harry Hunting
Little Whinging, December 21st, 1986
Of course it wouldn't snow. Not that Severus was romantic and needed a white Christmas. But still he would have enjoyed his vigil over Privet Drive Number 4 more if it snowed instead of this drizzle. Normally the Potions master would not be roped in for those check-ups, Dumbledore did not think it prudent. Severus started to think on why, exactly. The Death Eaters had found out little Harry Potter's living arrangements pretty soon after their master's demise. They had tried to blow up the house, even to abduct the Dursleys, but the wards had held tight. Now there was little to no interest directed at the boy among his former friends, most of them lived their lives, secretly enjoying peace, too. The Lestranges might think differently, but they were safely locked up in Azkaban.
Severus' order was to watch the house until he saw the boy and then report to Albus. Christmas holidays had already started, therefore he did not expect to see the boy up bright and early. He had made a detour to a hardware store in the area, as he had several plans for his house on Spinner's End. At 11 am he started his vigil, Disilliusioned under a beech tree in the small park at Privet Drive, that afforded him a diagonal view towards number four.
At half past a group of three boys of about six years rang the door. A large blond boy came out of the house and together they ran – or in one case waddled – towards the park. Severus wondered about Potter. Was the boy ill? Minerva had told him that he had black hair and glasses. Even if he had left the house before his cousin – none of the boys now throwing stones at the ducks in the little pond behind him fit that description.
Just as he was leaving to investigate, maybe looking through the windows of the Dursley home to see his charge lounging in front of a TV, bundled up warmly, he heard cautious steps approaching from behind. Turning around slowly he saw a small child in ill-fitting clothes coming towards him, his eyes always on the group near the pond. When they moved to change directions the little urchin scrambled up the beech tree behind the Potions master. Severus could hear his hurried breaths, see his bluish fingers. The boy had a hard time to get a grip on the bark with his over-large trainers. During one such maneuver his glasses fell down and tumbled into the sodden leaves around the beech. A quick glance showed the group of ruffians approaching, snatches of words like "Harry-hunting" drifting over to where man and boy were hidden. Severus' small hope of "Harry-hunting" being an insensitive appellation for a good-natured game of hide-and-seek died as he noticed how frantic the boy pressed himself against the tree. Still, if they looked up, they would see him.
The largest boy – young Dursley obviously – was first, and when he stepped on the glasses, who broke with an audible crunch, Severus acted, Statue of Secrecy or not. He cast a Do Not Notice Me spell around himself and the child on the tree. The gang seemed to remember a new video game waiting for them at home and left.
Only then did Severus notice the acrid smell coming from the tree. The little one had wet himself. Re-enforcing his previous spell the Potions master slowly shimmered into view. With a very gentle voice he addressed the child still on the tree.
"Relax, they are gone."
Only whimpering was to be heard.
"Harry, won't you come down?"
The boy tried, but slipped with his trainer. He clung to the tree as if his life depended on it.
"I am going to catch you."
Still the child was not looking at him and his answering mumble was nearly inaudible.
"`m wet."
"I am going to dry you."
That made him turn his head. Meanwhile Severus had cast a drying charm on the embarrassed kid. The fright made him lose his hold on the tree and the Potions master chastised himself for not taking into account that Harry Potter might not have heard about magic, yet. Catching the surprisingly light child he put him down.
"That's magic! You're a freak!"
"Mr Potter! I do not appreciate being sworn at!"
"Hnh? But, only freaks can-"
The step the elder man had taken towards him made the boy cowering and stop speaking with a speed that made Severus uneasy, as it spoke of an ingrained behaviour. Behaviour he recognised because he knew where it came from. He made a decision, worthy of a Gryffindor …
"Harry, would you like to spend the holidays away from your relatives?"
"Relatives? You mean Aunt P'tunia?"
"Yes, her and your uncle and cousin."
"Would I have to go to Aunt Marge? Because I don't want that, her dogs are very bad and she never calls them back, and-"
"Harry, no. You would be staying with me."
Severus could not have pinpointed when he had reached that decision during the last twenty minutes, he only knew that no child should spend his Christmas holidays between neglect and being hunted.
Harry quickly made two steps back, craning his neck towards the house, poised for flight.
"Sorry, sir, I cannot. We have learned at school not to go with strangers because they will do unspicc-, undespec-"
"Unspeakable things, probably, or despiccable things."
Thankfully the boy was not so desperate yet to trust the first stranger coming along.
"Would it be all right for me to ask your Aunt Petunia?"
With another quick glance at the still empty driveway of the house the boy nodded and started to walk. He took Severus to the back door. His cousin and friends could be heard from upstairs, as Harry quietly called out for his aunt. Petunia appeared, drying her hands on her apron.
"Sev!"
"Petunia, hello."
She ushered them into the kitchen and closed the door.
"Finally somebody came for Harry! I do not know how many times I wrote to Dumbledore! We have to be quick, Vernon is coming home early today. Harry, will you pack your things, I am fetching all your documents."
Only when the boy started to cry fat tears Petunia realised how her words must have sounded to Harry. She knelt down and drew him into an embrace, whispering "Harry, you remember how we have talked about hiding freakish things that happen to you? And how they scare your uncle, scare him so much he is, ah, unkind to you?"
"Gimme the belt, you mean?"
Now Petunia was close to tears as well.
"Yes, that too. Severus here is a freak like you and he knows how to control magic. With him you can learn and will not get punished if something happens."
"Will I see you, and Dudley?"
"You are a big boy, Harry. Surely you can remember when I told you about good secrets and bad secrets? Not telling Uncle Vernon that I am visiting you would be a good secret, but it might be some time before I can see you. And Dudley would need to learn how to keep a secret, before he can come along."
"Ah, he cans, Aunt P'tunia, he cans! You never found the chocolate he kept behind his Legos!"
Petunia Dursley visibly drew herself together, struggling to keep an optimistic façade.
"Well then, we both will see you soon."
She left the room and a thoroughly flabbergasted Potions master followed the boy to a cupboard under the stairs. Potter Jr tore a big black rubbish bag from a roll and started to fill it with everything in the small, cramped space. Hearing Petunia coming downstairs again he went into the kitchen.
"Here, Sev, I even prepared a guardianship-agreement with a solicitor, in case the Ministry of Magic tries to interfere."
"Please start at the beginning, Dumbledore always reassured us that Harry was fine here."
"Fine, pah! Maybe until the first time he did accidental magic in front of Vernon. Harry hid himself in the cupboard then, and Vernon decided that it was to be his new room. I tried to make it as comfortable as possible, but there's not much I can do without him noticing. Look, Severus, it would be better if you are gone before Vernon comes home. I will tell him that a friend of Lily has come back from overseas and wants to spend Christmas with Harry. I will write to you and tell you everything you need to know. Please don't send an owl back, use the post and charm the letter to look like an advertisement for diet food, he won't look at that. Or call me on the phone."
"All right. But Tuney, you don't need to take any cr-"
"Vernon is a good husband most of the time, only he gets completely irrational when confronted with magic."
Severus was doubtful. His mother had always insisted that his father was a good man when not drinking. Unfortunately he had very few memories of Tobias Snape being sober.
"If you say so. You will tell me if you change your mind?"
"Yes, I will. – Harry, where are your glasses?"
The boy looked to the floor. Severus answered instead, "One of the boys stepped on them by accident, Harry had lost them when he climbed a tree."
"They did not fit properly anyway. You will have to get new glasses for Harry first, he is blind as a bat without."
"I see fine!"
"You will see better soon, Harry. Severus can take you to a wizarding doctor, and you may have unbreakable glasses there. Be a good boy for me, will you? Severus was your mother's best friend, he will take good care of you."
By then Petunia was crying as well. Harry had started to sniffle again and hid in his aunt's embrace. When a car was heard in the driveway she pushed him into Severus's arms after a quick kiss and ushered both out, through the back door.
Severus kept the little boy tight and whispered, "Hold tight, Harry, this might feel uncomfortable." They re-appeared on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, where the Potions master cast a glamour over the boy before shrinking the bag with his possessions. Neither the optician nor the helpful young woman at Madam Malkin's batted an eye over Severus' short explanation about a fire at a friend's house.
The little boy had been quiet for far too long in Severus' opinion. His experience with small children was rather limited, and the wizarding world was totally new for the child, but surely he must have some questions. The Potions master had the nagging suspicion that Vernon Dursley had not liked questions. Or any peep from the unwanted nephew. Still he did not want to linger any longer in Hogsmeade, the less people saw him with a little boy the better.
"Harry, we are going to Apparate again after collecting your new glasses, but it is for the last time today, all right? And back home we will have dinner."
Harry nodded, and his stomach growled. Looking away he mumbled something that sounded like `loo´ to Severus. Not taking any chances he stirred his young charge to Madame Puddifoot's establishment, where there was the least chance of meeting an acquaintance.
"No need to be embarrassed. I am a bit peckish as well. We will have tea and sandwiches here and freshen up a bit."
A very relieved six year – old darted to the restrooms as soon as they entered the tea-room. Severus ordered pumpkin juice, tea and sandwiches, which were already on the table by the time Harry came back. The boy could not stop looking at them with big eyes, but still waited until the elder man told him to eat. After the second sandwich had vanished with astonishing speed young Potter looked around and then at Severus.
"This is very pink."
"It is. Do you like it?"
"The sandwiches are good. But it is very bright."
"Ok. I take it that you won't want you room to be painted in pink, do you?"
"My room?"
"Yes." He might as well explain everything to Harry rather sooner than later.
"I was sent to see if you were all right at your aunt's house. I did not know that Petunia had tried to reach somebody because her husband was abusive to you."
"Ab- what?"
"He hit you, didn't he, when you did, ah, freakish things?"
"He did. Or when I didn't complete my chores. Or gave him lip."
"Harry, you are a young wizard. You can't help doing accidental magic, that's what you used to call freakish things. It is like sneezing or snoring, one cannot control it until later, when the wizard is older. Did your uncle hit your cousin as well, if he did not complete his chores?"
"Dudley didn't get any, at least not from Uncle Vernon. Aunt Petunia sometimes gave him some, but not any longer, not since he complained to his father about it."
"It is not right to treat any child like you have been treated and it is not right to make a difference between you two. If Dudley had gone to your mother and father, they would have raised you as brothers."
"Aunt Petunia tried."
"I realise, but still she thought it better for you to live elsewhere."
"When will I see her again?"
"As soon as possible. Do you know their phone number?"
"Of course. I am a big boy!"
"You are. And tired, I think. Let's finish our shopping and get home."
The optician had Harry's glasses ready. The boy could not stop exclaiming over every new detail he noticed, his old glasses must have been very outdated indeed. Severus began to get tired himself therefore he decided on take-away for dinner. He apparated them to the back alley behind the chippy on the corner of Spinner's End. Harry looked green for a moment but got better as soon as his nose registered the smell.
"Wow. Can I have chips?"
"Yes, that's why we're here. I would like for you to eat fish as well, and peas."
"Really? I never got something besides chips when Dudley went to McDonalds! And I ate them in the car."
"You will get fish and chips and peas and you may chose a soft drink as well, because you have been very patient today. Usually I wouldn't let you drink these sugary concoctions, they are not healthy for children."
"Hnh? Conc-what? I get to try squash? I never had it! Thank you, sir, Severus, sir!"
Severus was getting embarrassed as well as impatient.
"Let's get going, Harry, and please don't call me sir, call me Severus."
Squaring his shoulders the young boy slipped his hand into the Potion master's.
"All right, Severus, I am ready."
Twenty minutes later they were sitting at the kitchen table in Severus' house, Harry in a state as near bliss as possible and his host with a strange case of constricted throat. He really had to get the boy to bed and start thinking, for today he had acted like a true Gryffindor, charging in before thinking things through.
While waiting for Harry's new glasses Severus had sent a Patronus to Albus, telling him that everything was all right and he would see him on January 3rd. Thankfully no Slytherins were staying at the castle this year. He had two weeks to think of a solution that kept the headmaster out of the loop and Harry safe and healthy. Seeing the boy's eyelids growing heavy he said, "How about you have a bath while I ready your room?"
Harry perked up and followed Severus upstairs. There, far from the fireplace in the living room, the old house was chilly.
"Can I use a little bit of warm water?"
"Of course, how else would you wash?" The child ducked his head, telling the Potions master quite a lot with that gesture. He was not sure whether to leave a six year old alone during bath time but when Harry struggled with the ancient tap of the bath-tub Severus stayed. And had to use all his considerable willpower to reign in his magic when he saw the marks of Vernon Dursley's belt on the thin ribs of the child. Harry, oblivious to his guardian's struggle, had undressed without hesitation when he saw the bubbles the elder wizard had magicked into the tub.
The child finally asleep in Severus' old room the Potions master tried to remember everything Dumbledore had ever said about wards for Harry's safety. The trinkets in the headmaster's office monitored whether Privet Drive 4 was the boy's home and whether he was alive. A short absence should not raise any alarms there but on the long run a different solution had to be found. Severus rued that he did not know halfway enough about how wards worked. But he knew someone who did. He activated his Floo.