Disclaimer: It is all mine! Harry, Draco, Ron, Hermione, and Hogwarts! Oh, sorry, I must've been dreaming. Nope, none of it's mine except for, well the stuff that isn't actually in the books.

Chapter 6

Snape felt himself being led to another memory.

Potter was in the kitchen, making a soup of some sort. Delaney was in a highchair and Potter was feeding her some goopy red stuff.

Snape noticed the smile on Potter's face, and saw his happiness while giving Delaney another bite.

"Here comes the Hogwarts Express! (insert train noise here)."

Vernon chose that moment to walk in. Harry turned around and lowered his eyes submissively to the ground. Vernon opened his mouth.

"Boy, I am certainly not as dumb as you think I am, and I know your plan."

Snape could see the confusion on Potter's face, and so did Vernon. This only made Vernon angry.

"You thought you could placate me, sucking up her freakiness, but I KNOW that she's gonna be a freak anyway. For now, she stays, because Petunia is happy that she is supposedly normal again."

Delaney started to cry and her face became red because Harry stopped feeding her. Vernon walked over and fed her another bite to keep her quiet. This was done with no amount of happiness or joy a parent should have with their child.

Vernon continued.

"See, I know that when summer's done, you're gonna march yourself up to that freaky school of yours and tell everyone of your freaky cousin."

Potter started to shake his head back and forth.

"They will all come to the rescue, galloping on my lawn and save a fellow freak. They will take her to your school, where she will learn freakishness just like you."

Potter took a few moments, seemingly to find the courage to speak. "N..no Uncle. They will never find out, promise."

"You think that your principal will be able to threaten us not to hurt her, just like he did with you."

Poter, now seeing his words did nothing, stayed silent.

"But, let me tell you, boy, Delaney will eventually leave my house one way or another."

"And also," Snape watched as Vernon took a bottle from his back pocket. Potter began to sneak towards the staircase.

"you will not be able to tell anyone of her freakiness."

The vial was filled with a bright blue liquid, and reminded Snape of the way a potion would be stored. That would be impossible, scoffed Snape's mind, This man is a muggle, and one who passionately hates all things magical. Get a hold of yourself.

"Boy, this little bit of brilliance happened upon me by mistake. But, what a great mistake it was."

Potter now went up the staircase in a full out run, but he was not quick enough. Vernon caught him by the leg and dragged him back down to the kitchen.

Snape watched Potter be pushed to the ground by his uncle. Delaney, sensing the distress began to wail again.

"Now boy, I want you to remember this moment right here. Remember all that you need to keep silent, or Delaney sees the bottom of the river. Are you remembering?

"Yes sir, I swear."

Vernon's smile turned malicious, or at least more than it was before.

"Good answer, boy." He then moved the vial closer to Potter's mouth.

Dursley was on top of him, using his weight to his advantage and holding Potter down with his body.

Snape, horrified, pointed his wand at the man and said, "Crucio." The red beam of light shot straight through the man and the ground, disappearing into oblivion. Severus knew spells would not work in a memory, but he couldn't stand to see Potter so utterly defenseless and wanted to curse Dursley for his treatment of a wizard.

Vernon forcefully opened Potter's mouth and poured the contents of the vial into his mouth. He held his nose and waited for Potter to swallow. The next few seconds were filled with silence.

Snape was wondering what was happening.

Potter was no longer struggling under Vernon's weight- he too was just waiting for some kind of effect.

So also, it seems, was Vernon. Vernon got off of him and Potter stayed on the floor. He was starting to grunt with pain.

Potter, still curled in himself on the ground, let out a bloodcurdling scream that even Snape had a hard time hearing. And he heard his fair share of pained screams.

"Shut up, freak!" Vernon said in a harsh whisper. "I guess our fun is over. I don't want to wake up my precious pregnant pet (A/N: Try saying that 5 times fast!) with your screaming."

Potter's pain, Snape guessed, had gone past its pinnacle. Slowly the boy was able to lift himself from the floor.

Potter pulled himself to the cupboard where all his stuff was. Snape saw Potter flop onto the moldy cot and fall asleep.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Snape was back in his office with Harry Potter sleeping on his couch. This had become a recurrence and was no longer worrying. The worrying part of Severus' night was the last memory he saw.

He was surprised at the fact that there was a magical baby produced from such horrid muggles. The baby was exceptionally powerful if it was doing underage magic at a few months old.

Some of Severus' shock came from Potter's knowledge. He had truly done his research about magical cores. They were next to impossible to get rid of, but underdeveloped magic can be sapped from the core and moved to other locations.

The spell Potter had used, capere nova magica, was originally created by parents to prevent underage magic from babies who were a bit too rambunctious and could cause damage with their unfocused magic.

The parents usually used their wand to suck out a sphere of magic and released it out the window to join the magic constantly in the air. However, Potter didn't use a wand. He guessed the boy did not have access to his wand over the summer, and so could not release the magic into the air. But, he shouldn't have been able to do the spell at all, which meant that Potter was more powerful than Snape knew. On top of that, he then sucked the magic into his own body.

Snape didn't know what the repercussions could be of such an act, but he doubted it would be good.

He was once again confronted with the stupidity that is Harry Potter. Potter had another person's magic inside of him.

He was probably just desperate to save a child's life and didn't care about consequences.

His mind supplied that thought.

"How…. Gryffindor." Snape said with a sigh.

Severus sat at his chair and put his forehead in his elbows, which were rested on the desk.

Potter chose this moment to wake up. He shot up and blindly fumbled around the couch to find his glasses.

Severus stood and quietly set the pair on the floor by the couch and pretended they were there the whole time. He didn't need Potter to think he was going soft by taking off his glasses.

Potter eventually found them and put them on. He was still slightly groggy, but Severus did have time to think about much else because Harry immediately ran over and knocked him to the ground….

Or tried to, anyway, since Severus was probably twice his weight.

Snape, still standing, looked at the boy. Potter seemed frustrated that he wasn't able to get the professor down, but the frustrated look turned into fear as the seconds ticked by.

"Professor, what potion did you give me? You poisoned me, didn't you? I know you would. I was telling everybody, 'One day that bat was going to kill me.' It finally happened, right? I'm dying!"

Snape was getting a headache. "Potter! Stop your nonsensical drivel. I will knock you out, if that is your wish! But I can assure you that you simply passed out again."

Potter immediately stopped yelling.

That shut the boy up nicely! thought Snape.

"Potter," Snape started, "There are still many questions I want answered. For now though, I wish to hear of your plan regarding your magical cousin."

The boy's face got paler at the mention of his cousin, and he immediately cringed, preparing for the pain. However the pain never started.

Snape looked at him with intrigue and raised his eyebrow, as if saying, 'Get on with it.'

Potter lifted himself from the floor and opened his mouth, still apparently cautious of what could be said to cause pain.

"Um.. Professor. I know you are probably mad at my rash decisions. But, I couldn't let them kill her. Surely you understand that?"

Potter paused and Snape said, "Potter, continue. I wish to hear the ENTIRE story." But he gave a little nod to acknowledge that the boy's reasons were not completely imbecilic.

Potter sighed and said, "Okay. Well, I felt that my aunt was going to have a magical baby, so I took out a book from the library. It had a spell for unruly babies, to suck their magic so they would be safer."

"I thought that I could suck out her magic before they ever realized she was magical, you see. But, she was more powerful than I thought and did her first underage magic early. She wasn't supposed to show her magic for another few months."

Potter looked at Snape and he nodded to show him that he should continue.

"So, they found out she is magical and I had to tell them my whole plan."

Before Potter could continue, Snape interrupted.

"Potter, you know that it can't be a long-term fix. Her magic will eventually become stable and no longer able to be removed."

Potter appeared crestfallen at this.

"I know, Professor, but I wasn't really thinking long-term. I was just trying to keep her alive."

"By sacrificing yourself? Stupid boy! You are more important than she is and if your uncle killed you for thinking you performed magic, what would the Wizarding World do?"

Potter was starting to shrink away from the harsh words, but Snape was not finished yet.

"Plus, your uncle will probably kill her anyway! She is still a freak, magic or no magic, in his eyes!"

With this, Snape calmed down and looked at Potter's cowering form. He felt slightly guilty for yelling at the boy, but his hero complex was going to kill him some day!

Potter stayed cowering on the floor until Snape grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Potter, the Headmaster must be told. Regardless of the deal we struck earlier, the seriousness of the situation calls for it."

"No, please. The Headmaster is the one that makes me go back to the Dursley's every year! His one blind spot is their treatment of me! He will never agree to moving Delaney and angering the Dursley's. They are my 'greatest protection.'"

Snape would have been able to hear the sarcasm in that last bit even if he were deaf.

Potter continued, "I don't know how we can talk about it with each other, but talking to the Headmaster will also cause me pain. It's getting to be too much. Please sir, I will find a way to protect Delaney."

Severus looked at Potter and smirked.

"No, Potter. WE will."

A/N: Please review! It has magical powers!