-139 Reunited

The moment Severus was dressed, he called forth Dobby.

"Master Snapes, how may I serves Harry Potter's father," Dobby asked, with a low bow, nose almost touching the floor.

"Find my son, then come back and tell me where he is at," Severus demanded. The house elf disapparated with a pop.

Barely a moment passed before the house elf appeared again. "Master Snapes, sir, Harry Potter is back with those bad peoples"

Severus grabbed hold of the small elf's scarf and pulled him closer. "What bad people are you talking about?"

Dobby shook with fear, "M-m-aster Snapes, sir …Harry Potter is b-b-ack with the M-m-muggles… back at n-n-umber four P-privet D-d-drive."

Severus immediately released the tiny house elf and stormed out of the dungeon. He ran passed Albus and the Minster, without stopping to explain where he was going.

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As hard as it was to forgive the people who had made his life so miserable for so many years, Harry felt a great sense of liberation for having mastered his hatred towards them. He felt as if a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He stepped into the house feeling better about having come here to begin with since it put closure on his bad memories. He could hear Dudley in the living room, trying to explain to his parents that Harry hadn't used magic to beat him.

Dudley's tone of voice sounded as if he had been repeating himself for some time, "I already told you, Harry didn't use his wand! For crying out loud, he beat me fair and square! Now stop talking about it already!"

Vernon still sounded as if he didn't believe Dudley, "Come on now, Duds, think hard, did that little freak use any other sort of hocus pocus on you? There's no way that scrawny Potter could have beat such a big strapping boy like you."

Harry stood in the hallway trying not to laugh as he heard Dudley tell his parents to bugger off and leave him alone. He tried to go up the stairs as quietly as possible but Aunt Petunia must have heard that squeaky step on the staircase.

"He's here! Vernon, Harry's here!" Petunia whispered.

A second later Harry heard his uncle's loud voice, "BOY, get your sorry arse in here …NOW!"

Bloody hell, Harry had thought he could sneak by without having to deal with this lot. He dragged his feet as he walked into the living room. He almost stepped back out when he saw who else was sitting in there.

"You've done it now, boy!" Aunt Marge shrieked, with a half empty glass of brandy in her hand. "It's like I always said, spare the rod, spoil the child!"

"Boy, what do you got to say for yourself? Don't think I don't know how you used that funny business to beat our Dudley here!" Vernon screeched. He had that manic look to him that always made Harry's stomach twist.

"I'm sorry, I got a little out of control," Harry tried to explain.

"Get in here and take a seat," Vernon screamed with a chubby finger pointing to the only wooden chair in the room.

Vernon grabbed hold of the back of Harry's shirt when the boy walked passed him. He slammed the teen into the heavy wooden chair face first. The sound of bone breaking was heard by all in the room. Both, Dudley and Petunia shrieked for Vernon to stop!

Harry fell to his knees but managed to get up and turn to sit down. He clutched at his broken nose with his hand. Blood dripped through his fingers and onto Aunt Petunia's impeccably clean carpet. It took a moment for the sharp pain of the break to subside. He was barely aware of the shrill scolding Vernon was being given by both his wife and son.

"Petunia, the freak deserved it!" Vernon beseeched.

"Dad, I'm not going to tell you again, Harry didn't do anything wrong!" Dudley said through clenched teeth. "He won, fair and square!"

"Thanks, Dud," Harry said, using his shirt to catch some of the blood. He was shocked when Petunia handed him a fresh towel but then he thought maybe she had just done that to keep her carpet from getting stained.

"You should have never let him into this house!" Aunt Marge said in a high and mighty tone of voice. "You did the right thing Vernon, the boy deserved to be punished!"

Harry glared at the old hag before turning his attention to his uncle. His anger towards the awful man was rising as Vernon puffed his chest out with pride.

He was just about to get up and deal with Vernon Dursley when the front door slammed open with a bang! Harry stood up, grabbing his wand from his back pocket and pointing it at the living room door. A dark figure stepped through the hallway door and into the living room.

Petunia and Marge screamed, Dudley tried to hide behind the two women sitting on either side of him and Uncle Vernon looked as if he might be having a heart attack.

"Dad," Harry whispered out, lowering his wand.

Severus surveyed the scene before him. His gaze stopped on his son. The boy had a swollen lip, a cut above his eye and a nose that looked as if it were recently broken. It troubled him to see the uncertainty in his son's eyes directed at him.

The two women on the sofa let out a scream as he started to walk into the room. Vernon Dursley backed as far away from him as the room would allow.

The sight of his son's battered face pushed Severus beyond reason and without hesitating he raised his wand pointing it at Vernon Dursley. His blasting curse was thrown off course as his son grabbed hold of his arm.

"NO!" Harry yelled, gripping his father's arm. "He's not worth it!"

The blast blew a hole the size of a quaffle, through the ceiling. Everyone screamed as bits of drywall and wood rained down on them! Harry could see part of the bathroom as he looked up through the hole.

Vernon stumbled back and fell over the foot stool, "Get out! Get out and take that freak with you!"

Harry had to use both hands to hold Severus back from attacking the bastard. He knew Severus would end up killing his uncle if given the chance and there was no way he would lose his father now to Azkaban.

"No, Severus! He's not worth it!" Harry pleaded as he hung on tightly to his dad's arms. "Please, just leave him be."

Severus lowered his wand over hearing the desperation in his son's voice. It shocked him that the boy would defend the man who had caused so much damage to him, "Why, Harry? Why would you want to save the man who did this to you?"

"It's not him I'm trying to save," Harry softly replied.

Severus felt his chest constrict with pride. The boy was remarkable. That emotion fought with the fury he felt towards Vernon Dursley. He reached out and tilted the teen's face up to him.

Harry occluded his mind completely, it wouldn't due to have his father see the abuse Vernon had afflicted against him.

"Dudley and I had a boxing match, that's all!" Harry tried to explain. He heard his cousin whimper so he added, "It was just for fun!"

Severus sighed, knowing Harry was trying to protect someone. His gaze shifted to the overtly large boy whimpering on the sofa. He felt a small stab of pride at seeing Dursley's son looking far worse off than his own son.

He squeezed Harry's shoulder before saying, "Fine then, I'll refrain from killing the bastard but only due to your benevolence. Get your things so we can leave this unseemly place."

Harry nodded, most eager to leave here for good. He hesitated leaving the room since he didn't want his dad left alone with these people, there was no telling how long Severus would be able to refrain from hexing them. He pointed to the cupboard under the stairs as he turned to walk out of the room, "Could you grab my broom from under the stairs, sir?"

Severus glared at all the people in the room until they were all whimpering with fright. He stalked out of the room, feeling as if there were more to the story than his son was telling him. He opened the cupboard door, stooping to step inside the tiny room and grab hold of the broom. It took a moment to come to terms with the fact that this had been his son's bedroom for most of his childhood.

The tiny cupboard was cold, dusty and crawling with spiders. His gaze stopped upon a child's crayon drawing of a boy on a bike without wheels. The picture brought back so many precious memories. He was still feeling his own guilt over his treatment of the teen these past few weeks. He pressed a hand to his chest as grief overtook him. The boy had suffered too much in his short life and he had attributed to that torment.

He was pulled from his grief when he heard that ghastly woman he knew to be Dursley's sister, talking about his son in the other room.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Vernon, way back when you took that awful boy in fifteen years ago. I warned you way back then to drop it off at the closest orphanage," Marge Dursley hissed out, reminding Severus of his own hateful aunt.

Severus could hear Petunia Dursley hissing for the other woman to shut up.

"You should have never stopped beating him when he was boy. It's partly your fault that he turned out this way," Marge said in a bolder tone. Like I always say, when there's something wrong with the bitch then there's something wrong with the pup."

Severus could hear Vernon's whispered response, "If I had to do it all over again, I would have just left the crying brat on the porch to freeze to death in the rain."

Severus felt a sharp surge of hatred take hold. He couldn't have stopped himself even if he had wanted to. He stepped out of the cupboard and strode into the living room once more. He leaned the broom up against the wall and stowed his wand in his cloak pocket before making his way over to Vernon Dursley.

Without using any magic, spells, hexes or curses, he picked Vernon up off the floor and slammed him into the wall. With a savage release he summarily began to beat the living daylights out of the pleading man. Everyone's pleas and cries fell on deaf ears as Severus struck blow after blow. He had never felt such a deep hatred for anyone, not even for Voldemort. He didn't stop until he felt a hand grip his shoulder and a quiet voice in his ear.

"Please," Harry implored. "It's over, He's less than nothing to me now."

The moment Severus let go of the obese man, Vernon slid down the wall and onto his sizeable backside. Vernon slumped against the wall, blubbering like a baby.

Harry didn't take his hand from his father's shoulder as he started to lead him out of the room. He didn't trust Severus to keep from pulling his wand out and using it on the remaining family. On their way past Dudley, Harry stopped to say, "I wish things could have been different for us."

Dudley nodded, "Yeah, your not so horrible after all."

Harry gave him a half smile, hearing the backhanded compliment.

Severus couldn't stop himself from giving Petunia a piece of his mind. He looked her in the eyes, "You were given a great responsibility that you failed at miserably. Lily is sorely disappointed in the lack of care you offered her son. You've no idea just how disappointed your entire family is in you."

Petunia looked crestfallen and slightly panicked, "How do you know!?! You can't commune with the dead, can you?"

Severus nodded, "Lily was a very talented witch. She left charms in place that would let her know how her son was getting along. I do believe she knew everything that you and that hideous husband of yours has ever done to the boy."

All color drained from Petunia's long horsy face. She clutched at her shirt and looked around at the ceiling, as if Lily were watching from above.

They began to leave the room when Severus heard Marge Dursley whisper out, "Petunia don't listen to him, you gave that boy more than he deserved."

With his wand hidden under his cloak, Severus wordlessly sent a silencing curse at the dreadful woman. She opened her mouth to say another scathing remark, only to find out that she no longer had a voice. Her panic would have been amusing to watch but Severus thought his son needed to get home, and away from this ghastly dwelling.

Severus took hold of Harry's broom and they walked out of number four Privet Drive for the last time … ever.

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Hi Friends,

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I think it would be spectacular if I heard from every single person who put this on their favorite list!!! And maybe even worth another bonus chapter by this Friday :+)

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Rachel