Chapter 5

As soon as they left the restaurant, Harry said, "You knew my parents?"

"Yes," said the professor shortly.

Harry guessed that the professor didn't welcome questions any more than the Dursleys did, but he really wanted to know what was going on, so he tried again. "Magic's real?"

"Yes."

"And you're magic?"

The man stopped and studied him. He said, "The appropriate term is wizard, Potter. And yes, I am a wizard, as are you."

Harry looked up in shock. "But I c-can't be a wizard."

Severus arched an eyebrow at that. They had come to stand in front of a park, so Snape led the boy to a nearby bench. He sat down, motioning for Potter to join him. "Then how else can you explain how you apparated to northern England last week?" he asked.

At the boy's questioning gaze, he added, "Apparition is a magical form of transportation, Potter."

The boy sat quietly for a moment, and then said, "But why does everyone think I climbed up on the school chimney?"

Remembering what McGonagall had said, Severus replied, "There is a wizard who believes that it is safest for you to live with your family right now. Since they are muggles..."

"What's a muggle?"

"A non-magical person." Leveling a stern gaze at the youngster, Snape said, "Do not interrupt again."

Satisfied Potter would now listen, Snape continued, "Since they are muggles, they would have difficulty believing the truth. That wizard modified their memories so that that they believe you were only on the rooftop, instead of halfway across the country."

"Oh," said Harry. "So all the strange things that happen to me are magic?"

"Most likely," said Severus. The boy fell quiet for a few moments. Severus rose to continue the journey to the child's home when he noticed an elderly woman he recognized coming down the street. Damn! He should have known Dumbledore had his spies in the area. He grabbed Potter, and headed for a copse of trees. He knelt down, pulling the boy to him, and said, "You must be very quiet."

Harry whispered, "Why? It's just batty old Mrs. Figg."

Severus turned the boy and swatted him hard. "Do not question me," he growled. He had made sure that he and Potter were well-hidden, and now was trying to determine whether it would be safe to use magic in the area. He tapped the boy's head to disillusion him and a cat came to stand in front of their hiding space and began to wail. Well, there was his answer. He held the boy close and apparated away.

As soon as they appeared in Snape's sitting room, Severus tapped the boy's head again to reverse the disillusionment spell. He led Potter over to the couch and sat down, moving the child so that he was standing in front of him. He grabbed the boy's chin and forced him to look up until their eyes locked. "If you ever choose to question my orders again, I will turn you over my knee and spank you until you are very sorry indeed. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

"Yessir," said Harry. He didn't want to get on the professor's bad side. The man had a hard hand! Harry jumped when he heard the professor yell, "Mitsi!"

Then the strangest creature Harry had ever seen appeared. It was shorter than he was, had bat-like ears, tennis-ball sized eyes, and wore a tea-towel for its clothes. The creature bowed low and said, "How can Mitsi be serving Master Snape, sir?"

"Find McGonagall and tell her to come here at once," growled Snape.

The creature bowed low again, and disappeared. The professor said, "Before you ask Potter, that was a house elf."

The man rose and strode over to one of the bookshelves. He came back with several books in one hand. He pointed to the couch, ordered Harry to sit, and handed him the books. "These should keep you occupied for the time being," he said gruffly.

Harry opened the first book, A Child's Guide to Fantastic Beasts. Once opened the picture on the front page started talking to him! The man wore a strange dress like the professor's and told Harry that if he had any problems reading the book to ask any one of the people in the illustrations, and that they would help him. This was the neatest book Harry had ever seen!

"What is the meaning of this?" Minerva asked, pointing to Harry. Severus did not respond to her immediately, instead he ordered his elf to watch over Potter. He led McGonagall into the kitchen and said angrily, "You did not inform me that the headmaster had spies in the area!"

"Whatever are you talking about, Severus?"

"Arabella was there!"

"Oh, I had forgotten about that. Yes, she lives a couple of blocks away from Potter, but I doubt there are any other protections."

"But you cannot be sure?"

"No. But if there had been, Albus would have known that Harry had disappeared before you brought the boy to him last week. He was as surprised as everyone else when you came in carrying the child."

Severus paced the floor for a few moments before turning to Minerva and saying, "Can you watch Potter for a few moments? I need to get a few items from my lab."

When McGonagall nodded, Severus turned and disappeared behind a door. Minerva decided to see how the boy was faring.

Since his cover had already been blown, Severus saw no need to continue to dress as a muggle. After changing into more comfortable clothing, he scanned the shelves of his lab. The first thing he sought was kneazle repellent. Using a spray bottle, he doused the bottom of his robes with the potion. Then he found and swallowed a potion to mask his magical signature. Lastly he looked for the haud-contineo potion. It was illegal, but it would serve to protect the boy. Before the night was out Severus was going to make sure the whale of a man and his son could never harm Potter again. Snape also grabbed his bag of often used potions before returning to check on his charge.
Severus returned to the sitting room to find Potter sitting on the couch next to McGonagall. The boy was holding a green dragon, and Minerva was showing him how to make it roar. "But what happens when the batteries run out?" asked Harry.

McGonagall laughed and said, "This is a magical dragon, Harry. It will always roar if you want it to."

"And it's mine to keep?"

"Of course it is, child."

Harry hugged Minerva and said, "Thank you! I never had a toy that was all mine before."

Severus cleared his throat. McGonagall looked up at him with unshed tears in her eyes. "What are we going to do?" she asked.

"For now, we will have to return him."

"But Severus, you just heard the boy..."

Snape held up his hand and said, "If we were to take Potter now, the entire wizarding world, and most likely the muggle world too, would be searching for him. The situation must be handled delicately."

"Then what are you going to do?"

Severus took a seat in the armchair and said, "I have a way to prevent Potter's uncle and cousin from harming him. And before you ask, no, I will not tell you the specifics. I plan to spend the rest of the weekend monitoring the situation."

McGonagall said, "Very well. I do not like it, but until you have a better idea, I guess this will have to do." She stood up and stalked out the front door, closing it with a bang.

Potter was looking at him with wide eyes. Severus wasn't sure what to tell the boy. So instead of explaining, he said, "You will never speak about the things you have seen today. In a moment we will return to your relatives. When we get there, you will walk home as if I am not around. I will be close by, but you will not be able to see me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry. "But..."

"But what?" Severus said in exasperation.

"Will I get to keep my dragon?" asked Harry softly.

"Why would you ask such a thing?"

The boy seemed to shrink into himself again. Severus vowed once more that those muggles would pay. When he called the boy over to him, the child came obediently, although he refused to look up and had a death grip on the toy McGonagall had obviously transfigured for him. Severus took a deep breath to quell the anger welling up inside of him. He lifted Harry's chin, forcing him to make eye contact and asked in a neutral tone, "Why are you afraid that someone is going to take your dragon away?"

" 'cause I got it here, and it's magic. If I'm not supposed to tell anyone I was here, then how can I tell them where I got it from. Plus if Dudley sees it, he'll just take it away and tear it up."

Damn it all! The boy was inching his way into Severus' heart with each new fact that he revealed. Snape sighed, and picked the child up and set him in his lap. At first, Potter sat very stiffly. It was quite obvious to Severus that the boy had very little experience with being cared for. Snape said, "No one is going to take your dragon away. I will put a charm on it, so that no muggle will even know that it's there. But to get it home, I will have to shrink it, as it would look strange for you to be carrying an invisible toy."

Potter held tight to the dragon for a few more moments, before cautiously holding out the toy. Severus tapped the dragon, and the boy watched in awe as it shrunk until it was small enough to fit in his pocket. Placing Potter back on his feet, Severus announced that it was time for them to go. The boy gave him no argument, but Snape saw the look of longing the child shot at the book he had been reading. Shaking his head at how soft he was becoming, Severus shrunk each of the books he had gotten out for Potter, and deposited them in a pocket of his robe.

He walked over, and picked the child up. "Apparition will be easier for you if you hold on tight." The boy obeyed, and Severus apparated them back to the outskirts of Little Whinging. Once there Snape disillusioned himself and ordered the boy to begin walking home. He followed at a close distance. They had barely reached the park when Snape saw Arabella coming towards Harry almost at a run.

"Harry! Where have you been, child?" she asked as she seemed to be checking the boy for injuries.

"Playing," lied Harry.

"You are not supposed to be out this late, young man!" Arabella scolded.

"I went home, and the car was gone and the doors were locked," he lied again.

Figg looked askance at the boy. She obviously didn't believe him, but without evidence to the contrary, Snape knew there was little she could do. The kneazle repellent was working wonders. Two of her 'cats' (Snape could tell by looking that they were at least half kneazles) had appeared, but they came nowhere near Snape.

The woman decided to take Potter with her. Severus chose not to follow. He would have to find the boy's home on his own, but as he had memorized the address that Mcgonagall had given him, he was sure he could find it quite easily. He had gone only a few more blocks when he found Privet Drive. His thought as he passed the square looking houses was that muggles had no imagination at all. Checking to make sure there were no unwanted eyes watching, he discreetly unlocked the door and entered the house. He made sure to lock the door back as he didn't want the Potter's relatives to be aware of his presence. He muttered a soft 'lumos', and proceeded to explore the house.

It was antiseptically clean, and the walls were covered with pictures of Potter's cousin. There was nothing in view that would suggest that the boy even lived here. He checked the kitchen, and then headed up the stairs. The first bedroom he came to was full of broken toys. He thought perhaps it was Potter's room, but the wardrobe was empty. He moved on to the next room, which was full of all sorts of muggle contraptions. The walls were lined with posters, and there was a comfortable looking bed in the midst of the chaos. Severus supposed that his must be Potter's cousin's room. He went on to find two more rooms, one which was obviously the master bedroom, and another which was probably the guest room. So where did the boy sleep?

Severus went back downstairs. Maybe there was a room he missed. But after checking all the rooms again, he found not one sign of Potter's existence. His eyes fell on the only door he had not opened. Surely not! But as he opened the door to the cupboard under the stairs and peered in he knew this had to be where the boy slept.

There was a small cot, with a threadbare blanket. A very few broken toys were scattered around. Severus fumed. His house elf had better quarters!

After placing several spells to mask any magical activity, Severus found an out of the way corner of the sitting room, and prepared to wait for the muggles' return.

Harry was now sitting on Mrs. Figg's couch, being forced to look at picture after picture of her cats. He hated it here. The house smelled like cabbage. To make it worse, she had grilled him about where he had been the last few hours. Harry had told the best lies he could, remembering he wasn't supposed to tell what had really happened.

At first he thought maybe it all had been a dream, but then he put his hand in his pocket and felt the shrunken dragon. He wanted to take it out, but remembered what the professor said about muggles not being able to see it.

All too soon, he heard the familiar sound of his uncle's car pulling up in the drive. Harry gulped. He didn't know if the professor was still around, and knew his uncle was sure to me mad about what had happened at the cafe.

He was not wrong. He could see his uncle's face from the couch, it was purple with rage. "Is the boy here?" he demanded.

Mrs. Figg called Harry over. He came very reluctantly. As much as he hated Mrs. Figg's house, he had a feeling he was safer here than going anywhere near his uncle. He tried to scoot around him and run to the car, but his uncle grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. After Mrs. Figg shut the door, Vernon turned and shook Harry like a rag doll, saying, "You'll be sorry this time, boy!"

He drug Harry to the car, and all but threw him into the back seat. Dudley was sniggering at Harry's plight, and punched him as soon as Harry was within his reach. Despondent, Harry curled into a little ball as close to the door as he could. Dudley continued to punch him all the way home. His aunt and uncle said nothing, of course. Harry wondered what happened to the professor. He had said he was here to protect him, but where was he when he needed him the most?

As soon as the car pulled into the drive, Harry jumped out and ran to the house, hoping to find a way in, and into the safety of his cupboard.

Snape saw the muggle's car pulling into the drive and moved to the window for a better view. He saw Potter race to the door, obviously very frightened. Seeing his uncle lumbering towards him, Snape opened the door for the boy. Potter raced to his cupboard. A few moments later the man came in and hollered, "Get out here boy! I'm not finished with you yet!"

Snape noted with satisfaction that the bulky man couldn't fit through the cupboard door, and it was clear that he could not reach Harry. Snape waited until all three muggles were inside before stepping out of the shadows and saying in a deadly voice, "Silence!"