***Edited*** Thanks for all the reviews!! Thanks for all the help, also. Maybe the italics will work in this chapter. Probably not, but we'll see. This chapter is going to be, um, kind of actiony (I think I just made up that word). Dumbledore IS going to be in this chapter, just to let you know. Well, on with the story!!
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Harry woke up when the car hit a rather large bump. He looked around, and saw that they were almost at the Dursleys. Harry's stomach seemed to do a flip-flop. He dreaded going back, but he knew that he'd be pretty useless without his wand, or so he thought. "Nice nap, Potter?" Snape asked. Harry just continued to look out of the window.
The moment that Harry dreaded came soon. They parked beside the Dursley car. Harry took a deep, shaky breath before he got out, and slammed the car door. Harry walked behind Snape, trying to cover himself up. When they got up to the door, Snape rang the doorbell. They heard a muffled 'ding ding' before someone answered the door. It was a rather large boy. "What?" Asked the boy. "Hello, you must be Dudley. Mr. Potter has come to get the rest of his things." Snape answered coldly. Harry stepped out from behind Snape, and stared hatefully at his cousin. "Oh, it's you." Dudley said. "Yes Dudley, it's me. Now let us in." Harry said in a blank tone. Dudley gave an icy glare at Harry, before moving out of the way.
As Harry walked inside, a rush of memories hit him. He stopped for a minute as flashes went by his eyes. He must've stopped longer than he thought, because he felt a hand on his shoulder. Harry jumped a little, and then looked up. He saw Snapes face, but it didn't look as mean and cruel as usual. If anything, it looked a little encouraging. Harry gave a weak smile, before he went upstairs to get his things he left in his 'room'. Snape was going to look for his uncle so that he could get his wand.
"Where's your father at?" Snape asked Dudley. Dudley pointed to the kitchen, before slowly following Harry up the stairs. Harry was already in the room that he stayed in, looking under the loose floorboard for things that he put in there. He found a bunch of letters from Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Hagrid, and anybody else that would send him letters. That was pretty much it, except for a few candy wrappers. When Harry bent back up, he saw Dudley standing in the doorway, smiling evilly. "What do you want, Dudley?" Harry asked, sighing. "You know, dad went completely berserk the day that he saw you were missing. Started screaming and everything. I think you deserved what you got for killing that boy. For everything you've done." Dudley said, rambling on and on. Harry decided to just try to go past Dudley, and out of the door. How wrong he was.
As soon as Harry came close enough, Dudley pushed him with so much force that Harry made a loud 'thump', causing the house to shake. Harry's letters were scattered all over the floor now, but he didn't notice. Harry quickly got off the floor, and charged right into Dudley, knocking him down. Harry may have looked small, but he was pretty strong. As Dudley struggled to get up, Harry ran down the hall. Harry looked back, and saw Dudley coming after him. As Harry looked forward again, Dudley gave an almighty jump, and pounced right next to Harry. Harry was already at the top of the stairs, when Dudley pushed him.
All three adults watched as Harry tumbled down the stairs. Two with looks of glee, and one with a look of horror. Harry landed with a painful 'thud' on the floor, coughing. Harry saw Dudley run down the stairs about to jump on him, when Harry rolled over. Dudley landed on the floor, with a look of pain on his face. Dudley rolled over onto his back, when Harry decided that this was his moment to pay Dudley back.
Harry got up off the floor as fast as one could after falling down a case of stairs, and sat on Dudley's stomach. Harry began to punch Dudley's face over and over, until Dudley couldn't even see out of his eyes, and his nose was dripping blood. Harry felt someone pull him into the air by the collar of his shirt, choking Harry. Harry began to kick his legs, and swing his fists into the air, successfully hitting the person holding him. Harry knew that it was his uncle after he had hit him. He knew his shout anywhere.
His uncle threw him against the wall as if he were nothing more then a pile of dirty rags. Harry hit the wall with his stomach, sliding down. Blood was splattered on the wall where Harry had been thrown, whether it was his or Dudley's, he didn't know. Harry flipped himself over, and saw Snape walking over to him, and his uncle walking away to the cupboard to get something. Harry knew what he was going to get, but he couldn't talk right now. "Potter, are you all right?" Snape asked, eyeing him to make sure he wasn't injured too badly. Harry just nodded, before his eyes widened. His aunt came up behind Snape, a rope in hand. Harry's aunt wrapped the rope around Snape's neck, and began to drag him away from Harry.
All the while, Harry's uncle came up to Harry with a rifle in hand; smiling so evilly that it would have made Snape do a double take. Harry looked over at Snape again, and saw that he was still struggling to get free. Harry looked back at his uncle as he heard the rifle fire. The bullet seemed to come at him in slow motion, coming in contact with his stomach. After the bullet hit him, he was in immense pain.
Harry saw Snape getting free from his aunts grasp, stunning her. Snape then blasted the gun from his uncle's hand, sending it to shards. Snape walked right up to his uncle, and punched him in the face. Snape must've sent a strong punch, because Harry's uncle went flying backwards, and passed out. Snape then rushed over to Harry, and examined him. He must've been in a pretty bad condition, because Snape's eyes went as wide as they could.
Harry began coughing, and blood poured out of his mouth. Harry's breathing was very shallow, as if he were taking his last. Harry let out a weak smile, and said quietly "Nice punch, Professor." Snape only let out a small laugh, as if he were keeping himself from crying. 'No.' Harry thought. 'Snape doesn't cry. Especially not for me.' Harry's thinking became fogged, as he got extremely tired. Harry's eyes started to droop, as sleep was about to take over him. "Potter?" Snape asked, beginning to panic. "Harry?" Snape asked, trying for a new tactic. Harry immediately turned his head to look at Snape. "You called me by my-" Snape put one finger to his lips, trying to keep Harry from talking too much. He didn't want him to waste his oxygen, or give up the rest of his strength. "Harry, listen, you can't go to sleep. Whatever you do, you can't go to sleep." Snape said, frantically trying to get Harry to stay awake. Harry just nodded his head up and down, signifying that he understood.
Snape began looking around for something that he could use as a Portkey. He found the piece of rope that Harry's aunt had used to try to strangle him, and immediately began working to make it a Portkey. After he was done, he placed his and Harry's hand on it, and they disappeared from the Dursley residence. They landed right outside of Snapes house. Snape ran in, and placed Harry on the couch next to the fire. Snape then threw some powder into the fireplace, and called out the name "Albus Dumbledore." Dumbledore's head popped into the fire, looking concerned. "What is it, Severus" Dumbledore asked. "Headmaster, I need you over here immediately. There's no time to explain. If you can, bring Poppy with you." Snape said; sounding more than concerned. Dumbledore gave a little nod, before his head disappeared into the fireplace.
Snape went over to Harry, and saw that he was still awake. He also saw that the gun wound was still gushing blood. Snape bent down next to Harry, and began talking to him. "Harry, I'm going to have to take off your shirt, and then apply pressure to the wound, okay??" Snape asked in a gentle voice. Harry nodded his head (yes), and Snape began to peel his blood-covered shirt off. Once it was off, Harry began shivering like mad. He was losing too much blood. Snape pressed both of his hands to Harry's stomach where the wound was.
Harry hissed in pain as he felt cold hands against his stomach. The pain shot through him even more. He could barely keep control of his thoughts. They were all rolling through his head like a bag of marbles. Harry looked up at Snapes face, and saw pure fear etched into it. Was Snape worried about him? It seemed like it. Harry heard a popping noise, and footsteps, before he passed out.
Blood oozed between Snapes hands. He knew that Harry didn't have much more time before he would die. He just hoped that Dumbledore would get there soon. He saw Potter look up at him, and then pass out as Snape heard a popping noise behind him.
"Albus, quick!" Snape shouted. He heard two pairs of footsteps. He guessed that Dumbledore had brought Poppy, after all. "By Merlin, what in the world happened?" Asked a very shocked Dumbledore. "No time to explain. Poppy, get over here and work on this boy, now!" Snape said, gesturing for the school nurse to come over there. She immediately went into nurse mode. "Gun shot." Snape said. Snape took his hands away from Harry's stomach, and blood began to gush out, again.
Dumbledore pulled Snape away from Harry, while Poppy set to work. Neither of the men could unglue their eyes from Harry's heavily bleeding body. Dumbledore was the one who snapped out of it first, and he began to drag Snape into the dining room. They each sat at the table, staring at each other.
"What happened, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, sounding extremely grave. Snape began to tell the story about what happened from the point where he rescued Harry from his relatives, to what happened now with the gun. Dumbledore was sitting up as straight as possible, listening to every word.
When Snape was done, Dumbledore was blazing with anger. He got up so fast from his chair that he knocked it over. The chair fell to the ground with a clatter. Dumbledore was so mad that you could feel it from just stepping into the room. This was the kind of anger that you only had nightmares of. "Severus, I will be back shortly. I'm going to have a few...words with the Dursleys'." Dumbledore said, before dissaparating.
Snape left the room to go check on Harry. When he got there, he saw Poppy giving Harry a potion. He couldn't tell what kind it was, because it was too dark, and he was too far away. Snape walked right next to Harry, taking a fair look at him. He looked about as white as paper, and he had a white bandage wrapped around his stomach.
"He's suffered a lot of blood loss, a few broken ribs, a pretty bad cut on his arm, another bad cut on his other arm, and very severe malnutrition. He should wake up in about 10 hours (9 PM). When he does, he will be in a lot of pain. Don't let him take any more potions. He's already taken too much, so no more for at least 3 days. He should rest for a week or two, depending on how he feels. Don't let him up on any condition under a week, except for personal needs. You will need to help him with that. What happened to him, Severus?"
Poppy asked the question with such emotion in her voice that she could make some people cry. "Albus will explain it to you. He went back to the Dursley residence to curse them." Snape said; feeling very exhausted. Poppy looked taken aback, but she dissaparated without further question.
Snape plopped down in a chair. It had been a long day, and it wasn't even over, yet. He decided that he would take Potter upstairs to his room, and then he would take a nap. So, Snape brought Harry upstairs, and put him in his (Harry's) bed. Snape didn't want to leave him all alone, so he conjured up a blanket and a pillow, and made a pallet on the floor.
Snape woke up to Harry whimpering in his sleep. Snape looked at his watch, and saw that it was 8:30 PM (A/N: Hey, I've taken a nap that long before, so it's possible). Snape decided that he should get up, since he had slept all day. He went down the stairs, into the dining room, and then jumped back a little when he saw Dumbledore sitting at the table. "Albus, what are you doing here?" Snape asked, sitting at the table with Dumbledore. "I thought that I'd check on Harry when he wakes up." Dumbledore said, the twinkle back in his eye. Snape nodded.
"So...how'd it go at the Dursleys?" Snape asked, curious as to what the Headmaster did to them. "Well, we made an agreement. If they ever touch Harry again, I'll curse them far worse than what I did today." Snape chuckled at that. "Yes Headmaster, but I'm very curious as to what you did to them." Snape said, curiosity in his voice. Dumbledore laughed a little. "I only turned them into little cockroaches. They'll be like for a week or so. Next time I intend to do something painful." Dumbledore said calmly, as if that type of thing happened every day.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Snape heard a yell coming from Harry's room. Snape and Dumbledore both raced up the stairs to see what was wrong. When they got there, Harry was thrashing about. He seemed to be in a lot of pain too, although he was asleep. Snape and Dumbledore went over to Harry, and tried to stop him from thrashing. Snape held down his arms, while Dumbledore held down his legs. Harry seemed to be holding his breath, too. He was beginning to turn different colors from lack of air. With his elbow and arm holding down Harry's arms, Snape tried opening Harry's mouth so that he could breath, but it was practically glued shut. "Open up, damn it!" Snape cursed, trying to get Harry to open his mouth.
When Snape finally got Harry's mouth open, Harry took in big gulps of air, and began coughing. Harry also began to calm down, so they didn't have to hold him down anymore. Harry's breathing was still very shallow, but at least he was breathing. Snape went over to a chair in Harry's room, and threw himself into it. It was going to be an extremely long week.
45 minutes later, Harry began to stir. Snape and Dumbledore were talking, when Harry let out a pained moan. Both of the adults looked at Harry contently. Harry looked around the room, trying to remember what happened, and where he was. "You're in your room, Potter." Snape said. Harry jumped at the sudden voice. Harry turned his head at such a quickness, that his neck groaned in protest.
As soon as Harry saw Snape and Dumbledore, he let out a big smile. No words were needed to say that Harry was happy they were both present. "Hello Harry. I see that you're awake. Severus, here, has told me what happened. But, you're looking as bright as ever. How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked, smiling right back at Harry. "Hello Professor Dumbledore. I'm feeling fine, thank you." Harry said, still smiling. "Did Professor Snape tell you that he slugged my uncle right smack in the face?" Harry asked, just bursting to tell someone about that. Dumbledore laughed. "Oh, really? Well, he was, of course, a little lacking of the details." Dumbledore said, now looking at Snape. Snape had a sheepish grin on his face. He wasn't really used to being bragged about.
"Well, Harry. Now that I see you're awake and seemingly fine, I must be going, now. Oh, by the way, I wouldn't really worry about your relatives anymore. They should be more afraid of you, than the other way around." Dumbledore said, before dissaparating.
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A/N: Well, didja like it? This chapter's sort of long, so that's why it took me a while to type it. I have no idea when the next chapter is gonna be. As most of you know, school is about to start up, and I'm still staying up 'till 5 in the morning writing this. It's about time I start trying to go to bed earlier. Oh, guess what? I have Microsoft Word now!! My friend gave me the CD. It's awesome!! Next chapter might have a little bit of hugging and stuff in it. If you don't like it, then you know what to do. Oh, and Mitchell, if you're still having problems, then I'll just e-mail the chapter to you. That goes for anyone else that's having problems reading the story. It's been working for me, so I wouldn't know what the problem is. Is anyone else having problems reading this story? Particularly the 6th chapter? Well, if you are, then just e-mail me. Well, gotta go. See ya' all later!!!