Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
"What's the rush Potter?" A cold voice called from below, causing Harry's insides to clench together as he closed his eyes.
He hated that tone of voice, he hated the way it rang in his ears as it echoed down the tiled corridors, but most of all he hated the pain that usually accompanied it.
Harry struggled to gulp down air as he attempted to calm himself down. He knew who that voice belonged to, and he knew he was safe, but it was hard for his mind to remember that.
"Is there a particular reason you're just standing there, Potter?" They asked as Harry remained glued to his spot.
"No sir." Harry responded as he made himself turn around to face the man who sounded so similar to his uncle.
"There has to be some reason Potter, and I fully expect one, or has all of that time with those dunderheads you call friends impeded your ability to respond?" Snape questioned as he quirked an eyebrow at Harry.
"No Sir." Harry replied as he tried to relax, but as he continued to watch his professor, he found it harder and harder to do.
"Very well" Snape barked after several moments of silence making Harry jump, "If you can't come up with a reason I'd nevertheless be interested in hearing the excuse you've no doubt come up with in the inevitability that you'd be caught breaking the rules as you are now."
"I-I do-don't ha-have one si-sir." Harry stuttered as he started to shake, fear beginning to consume him.
"Are you certain?" Snape asked as he advanced a step, causing Harry's insides to clench tighter. "You always have an excuse." despite being asked a question, Harry remained silent, grasped tightly in the clutches of depilating fear at the fact that his potions teacher was coming closer to him.
"Then again, you can get away with almost anything, can't you?"
'Please Stop, Please!' Harry screamed inside his head as Snape came ever closer. 'Please, Please, please, don't do this to me. Not here, not now!' Harry was on the verge of tears when Snape came to a stop three paces away from him. By now he was violently trembling and his insides hurt from just the thought of the professor coming any closer than he already was. 'Please just stay there, please don't come any closer!' He begged internally.
In a matter of seconds the gap between them was closed, and Snape was practically at eyelevel and just a few mere inches away as he stood on the step below him.
"Pl-pl-ple-please, do- don't hu-hurt m-me" Harry stammered out as he continued to violently shake.
*HP*
Severus stood there, dumbfounded at the boy's words. Sure Elizabeth had told him that the boy had been abused, but to what extent, he had not truly known, until that moment.
The Potion's Master felt his blood run cold as he observed the trembling teen. No one deserved to feel the way that boy did, no one. At that moment, Severus vowed to make sure that Harry would never go back to his current place of residence regardless of what anyone insisted otherwise.
He was going to make sure that his son was safe. Cautiously, Severus grasped the terrified teen's arm and began to descend the stairs with the obviously damaged child in tow. There was no way in hell he was going to leave the boy standing up at the head of the stairs like that. He had enough practice with raising a child to know that you just don't leave them to their own devices when they were upset, hurt, or in this case terrified. It would only serve to make matters worse.
*HP*
Harry continued to stand paralyzed as he observed the man that stood so close to him. His heart rammed painfully inside his chest as he tried to figure out the man's reason for being so close was.
Usually when someone was that close to him they wanted to strangle him, belittle him, or beat him to the point of unconsciousness. As Harry wracked his brain for an excuse to escape, to get as far away as possible so he could gather his nerves and what was left of his pride and dignity, Snape raised his hand.
Without thinking Harry violently flinched as he prepared for the man's large hand to make contact with his body. Much to the teen's surprise, there was no blow, instead, the man that terrified so many students before him gently grabbed his arm and carefully tugged him down the steps. To anyone that was watching the scene it would have seemed perfectly normal to see the dark professor dragging a student downstairs for a punishment. But Snape wasn't pulling him down the stairs to the dungeons to punish him. As far as he knew, Snape was going to 'help' him.
The descent into the castle's dungeons was silent except for the sounds of their shoes hitting the tiled floor. If Snape had any comments, he kept them to himself, which was fine with Harry, who was still shaking.
He doubted if Snape started to verbally abuse him he would have stayed in one piece. If he freaked out simply from being confronted by the man for walking along the stairs, who would have known what would have happened if Snape would have actually tried to wound him with his comments.
Harry's musings were broken as the sound of a heavy door being shoved open rang in his ears. He really had not paid attention to where the man led him, he thought they were going to the office behind the potions classroom, but by the look of it, they were nowhere close to the classroom.
*SS*
Severus was relieved the boy followed him without putting up a fight. He knew the boy was still distraught by the incident on the staircase, but the Gryffindor seemed to keep everything together as he lost himself inside his head.
Once he came upon his private office, the Potions' Master whispered the password and shoved the heavy door open. As they entered Severus directed the still shaking boy to the nearest chair and ordered him to stay there as he went to his personal stores to fetch the appropriate potion of the child. It took several moments to locate the shimmering blue liquid that was commonly reserved for victims of the Cruciatus curse.
"I want you do drink this." Severus stated as he approached the boy again. "It will stop the shaking and calm you down." Harry said nothing as he took the vial from his professor and managed to swallow it without spilling.
"I'm sorry Sir." Harry said quietly a few moments later. The horrid trembling he had been experiencing slowly dissipated leaving him drained.
"What is there to be sorry for?" Severus found himself asking, in a somewhat comforting voice. "You did nothing wrong. Did you?"
"I panicked sir." Harry answered as he examined his worn out tennis shoes.
"There is no rule against panicking when you feel that it is necessary, Mr. Potter." Severus stated, 'I use to do that when I was your age' he added silently to himself.
"Sir?" Harry asked as he slowly stood up from his chair, apparently he felt he was well enough to leave. "Why did you bring me down here?"
The Potions' Master felt his heart stop, how could he answer that question without being thought of as soft. Yes he wanted to help the boy out but you just don't discover that you are someone's father and start to smother them; one has to gradually ease themselves into their everyday life, like Elizabeth had.
"It saved me a trip." Severus replied as he looked at Harry. "I would have had to come down here to get you a calming draft if I had escorted you the Hospital Wing. And as much as I love being surrounded by teenagers I had no desire to race up and down flights of stairs to please Madam Pomfrey when I can do it myself."
"Oh." there was a tone of disappointment in the child's voice as he quickly drew his eyes away from the coldest teacher, aside from Professor Binns perhaps, Hogwarts had ever seen. "Well . . . Thank you Sir."
*HP*
Harry quickly bolted from the office as the first signs of tears appeared in his eyes. It seemed as if Elizabeth had been lying. The man had no desire to help him. He, just like the majority of people Harry had met, just wanted him to feel like the burden he was. Even thought he had not been paying attention, Harry managed to find his way out of the dungeons before his magnificent eyes began to cloud with water.
The ascent up to the seventh floor seemed shorter than normal, but Harry just attributed it to the fact that he was now silently crying. 'No one wants to help me' he thought as he moved from the landing towards the portrait. 'If they did wouldn't they just come out and say it?' After several moments of gaining his composure, Harry whispered the password to the Fat Lady and slowly made his way up to his dorm where he laid down and allowed the rest of his tears to run free.
AN: I know it's been awhile, but I've been busy and lazy, and I wish to apologize. Anyway, I hope this was a decent chapter. Poor Harry