Chapter Twenty
It was too late.
Harry straightened his posture, not taking his eyes off of the Dursley's. "Y—you're home," Harry said, wiping his forehead with his right hand, only to realize that it was that hand that he was holding the black cloak in. He immediately put that hand behind his back.
"Boy?" Vernon said, glancing at Snape suspiciously. "Who's this?"
Snape got up from the couch, bowing his head slightly. "Severus Snape, sir. I…" He paused, his head still bowed. What was he? "I was waiting with Mr. Potter until you returned home."
"How long have you been here?" Vernon asked, still eyeing the Potions Master suspiciously.
"Oh…" Snape started, not bowing his head any longer. "I had noticed Mr. Potter… wandering the streets," he explained, wondering if that was the right thing to start off with. "He told me that he was lost. So I brought him back here, after he told me where he lived, to find the house empty."
"Well, uh," Vernon started, clearing his throat. "The boy here went missing before we had left. We had been searching for him for a while, that is why we were out."
"You've been out searching for Mr. Potter for two weeks?" Snape said with raised eyebrows. "I think that's a long time for you to be searching for Mr. Potter without returning home for any necessary reasons."
"Uh, yes, well…" Vernon cleared his throat again. "Thank you for finding him for us, Mr. Snape. Now if you'll excuse us," Vernon took a step towards the door, turning the handle and opening the door, an indication that he wanted Snape to leave.
"Very well," Snape said, nodding his head abruptly. He turned to look at Harry, who gave Snape a pleading look. Snape took his eyes off Harry and started towards the door. Vernon slammed it shut as Snape walked out, and his mustache twitched as he gave Harry a look.
"You went out of your cupboard after I specifically told you not to?" Harry just stood straighter, trying to show the man that he wasn't going to be afraid by just a loud voice.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon," Harry said, trying to keep his voice from wavering. "It was getting too stuffy in there. I needed some air, and then there was nothing to eat, so I went out to see if I could get something and then Pro—Severus Snape came and—"
"Enough!" Vernon hollered, becoming annoyed with Harry's babbling. "Get to your cupboard." Harry didn't move a muscle, but kept his eyes glued on Vernon Dursley.
"What?"
"You heard me!" Vernon said angrily. "Don't ask questions! You're going to stay in your cupboard until I tell you to come out. You're going to stay in there to make up for not listening to me the first time." Harry stay rooted to his spot, looking at his uncle in horror. To make up the time that he did not stay in his cupboard? Why…that'd be…two weeks. "Get!" Vernon yelled, causing Harry to jump. "And where in hell did that ruddy bird come from?" He demanded. "Get it out. Out!" When Harry did nothing, Vernon sighed in exasperation. He dragged Harry by the collar towards the cupboard and threw him in.
-
The door to the cupboard slammed shut in Harry's face as he sat, once again, on the lumpy mattress. His eyes wandered the stuffy cupboard in disgust, and could only think of the room Snape had let him sleep in. It wasn't as small as the cupboard that he was in; definitely not. The sheets that lay tangled in the cupboard weren't as silky as Snape's, nor were they green. The sheets were beginning to fray, and holes could be visibly noticed.
A shrill scream came from Petunia, and Harry could hear her feet jump up and down on the floor in the kitchen. "Snake!" Petunia shrieked. "Snake! Get it out!" Harry sighed. He wondered if Slyther was all right. Harry looked up as he soon heard a loud tapping on the door. Harry hesitated before he slowly dared to open the cupboard door.
"Ember," Harry said fondly, letting the owl perch on his arm. "You're all right. I'm glad." He shut the door. "How did you get in, Ember?" Harry let his eyes wander the cupboard, searching for something to write on.
Finally, he found a small scrap of paper that would be adequate to write on. "Now, I just need a something to write with." There was absolutely nothing to write with, until he found a pen lying on the floor. Harry picked it up and turned to the scrap of paper, making a small scribble on it. The pen was barely working, but it would just have to do.
Dear Professor,
I hope you're going to come back for me. They are going to make me stay in the cupboard for two weeks… that's what uncle Vernon made it sound like, any way. I don't like it. Please come get me.
Love,
Harry.
Harry read his letter over a few times, to make sure it was perfect. Spelling and everything. "Here, Em," Harry said, not needing to fold the paper since it was barely big enough to write his letter on. He slipped the paper in Ember's bill, like he usually did when he sent letters. "Give this to Severus Snape at Hogwarts. Make sure he gets it." Ember hooted in response, and the door to Harry's cupboard swung open, and Vernon glared at Harry.
"How'd that ruddy owl get in here?" He demanded."Get it out. Now! I don't want any freak bird in this house, got it?" Harry nodded quickly.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon. C—can you let me out for a minute so I can let her out?"Harry asked tentatively, bracing himself for some loud yelling.
"Make it fast,"Vernon said, dangerously quiet. "And you're to come straight back; no funny business." Harry nodded, quickly getting out of the cupboard and strode towards the door to let Ember out, the small piece of paper still clamped tightly in her bill.
"Give this to Severus Snape at Hogwarts," Harry said quietly, as to not let any of the Dursley's hear. "Make sure he gets it. Don't come back either, just stay there, all right? I don't want the Dursley's to get mad that you're back." Ember hooted and flew off, and Harry made sure to return to his cupboard quickly before he was yelled at again. Vernon made sure that Harry wouldn't try to get out from the cupboard by locking the locks on the door.
Harry? Slyther's voice questioned. Are you all right?
"Barely," Harry muttered, hoping that Slyther heard him. "Are you? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
I'll live, Slyther responded. Will you?
"I don't know," Harry said. "But I can't stay in this cupboard for two weeks, Slyther. I'll die of suffocation. It's too tiny."
Do you think the greasy human will come to get you? Slyther asked.
Harry was quiet for a minute or two, contemplating that question. Would he? Harry could've been so sure that he had grown on Snape, just as Snape had grown on him. They had been arguing very seldom, and had been bonding just a bit more when they had been making potions together. "I don't know," Harry repeated. "I hope so."
-
Snape was greeted, when he had returned to Hogwarts, to Harry's owl. Snape took the paper from its bill and read its messy message, though at some points the ink that had faded into nothing, and then reappeared soon after it disappeared.
"Two weeks," Snape muttered, "in a cupboard."
"What are you going to do, Severus?" A calm voice inquired from behind the Potions Master. Snape turned around, the letter in his hands, to find Dumbledore standing in the doorway.
"I don't know," Snape admitted. "What can I do?"
"Go get him, of course," Albus said.
Snape sighed. "I don't think so—"
"Severus," Albus started. "You do think that the Dursley's are unfit to care after somebody as special as Harry?"
"Yes," Snape replied, without any pause or hesitation. A small smile settled on the Headmaster's thin lips.
"Then do something about it," Albus responded, leaving Snape to think.
-
It was too quiet in that cupboard. Too dark, too dusty and too quiet. What would Harry do to entertain himself for two weeks? Stare at spiders? And what about the Dursleys—were they planning on even feeding him?
"Mr and Mrs. Dursley," a voice that sounded far away addressed. Harry pressed his ear against the door and held his breath, listening intently.
"Ah, Severus Snape, correct?" Vernon said, putting on his best voice. "How can I help you?"
"I'd like to speak to Mr. Potter," Snape continued. "If that's all right with you?"
"I, uh, well," Vernon said, clearing his throat, "he's, uh, sleeping." Harry could almost hear Snape's eyebrows raise. Harry noticed him do that at times when he didn't believe somebody.
"Sleeping?" Snape repeated. "It's noon. I've been watching over Mr. Potter for quite a while now, including today, and he doesn't sleep when it's noon."
"Well, Mr. Potter was becoming tired, so I put him to bed," Vernon replied. "Now my wife, son and I have to unpack, so if you'd be so kind as to excuse us—"
"Unpack?" Snape repeated. "I thought just a while ago you had explained to me that you had been out for two weeks, looking for Mr. Potter?"
Harry could just imagine Vernon Dursley turning red in the face. "Well, uh, yes, now if you can please excuse us, Mr. Snape."
"I find that you and Mrs. Dursley are unfit to care after Mr. Potter," Snape said, his voice becoming cold.
"Unfit!" Vernon exclaimed. "Unfit! Petunia and I are very well fit to care after that fre—boy. How dare you come into my home saying that we are unfit?"
"I'm just stating the truth, Mr. Dursley," Snape said briefly. "I am well aware that you had one a trip to Mexico, and left Harry Potter alone in the house for two weeks. As I have said previously, you are unfit to care after Mr. Potter."
"Vernon." Harry heard Petunia say quietly, "He's one of them." There was a moment of silence, before Vernon said,
"Get out of my house now."
"Not unless Harry Potter comes with me," Snape said firmly.
"You're just another one of those freaks," Vernon spat. "Get out of this house immediately."
"Very well," Snape said curtly. "Just take me to where Potter is, and then I'll leave."
"You'll leave," Vernon said, "without that boy."
"Immobulus," Snape said, and Harry started to wonder why Snape had said that. What would that word that he uttered possibly do? "Alohomora." Harry's eyes widened as the door swung open.
"How did you do that?" Harry exclaimed excitedly as he scrambled up. Snape led Harry to the door. Harry looked at Vernon, amazed, as the beefy man was just there, not moving at all, and Petunia and Dudley were acting frantic over it.
"It's called magic, Potter," Snape said as Harry rushed out of the Dursleys' house and began to examine the grass on the front lawn.
"It's Harry," Harry corrected the man, feeling a bit disappointed that Snape still referred to him as his surname.
"Harry, then," Snape repeated. Harry couldn't help but grin as he found Slyther and picked him up from the grass. He could definitely tell that things, from now on, were going to change.
-