Snape stood there in the doorway, listening to Black and Potter's conversation with remorse. He felt his mouth curl into a sneer as Potter thanked Merlin that he wasn't going to end up with him after the war was over. He then decided to make his presence known.
"The feeling's mutual, Potter...." He sneered, taking pleasure in the fact that the boy had jumped when he had spoken.
Snape stopped to take in the true appearance of Potter. He no longer looked like a Potter, but a Snape..... He still had those damn green eyes!
Snape quickly regained his composure as he continued.
"Ah, Severus you're here!" the headmaster said cheerfully, his eyes twinkling, completely oblivious that the tension in the room had just escalated greatly.
Sirius scowled at the Potion's Master and Harry frowned as he looked between the two, who were looking at each other with absolute loathing.
"Have you decided what you are going to name your son?" Dumbledore continued with the same tone, apparently deciding to ignore the animosity between Snape and Sirius. "We have told Sirius about the situation and he has decided that he is going to be Harry's pet dog as well as his guard dog!"
Snape rolled his eyes in annoyance and sneered at Black, "Are you sure he can handle such a feat, Albus? After all, he couldn't even handle sitting around all day wasting space without getting himself killed..."
Black growled, "At least I wouldn't walk out on my son if I ever had one!" he snapped and Snape's face twisted slightly as he opened his mouth to retort.
Harry looked from his godfather to Snape, he could sense the feelings coming from both men and all of them were the same: Hate, loathing. Harry winced, the feelings were so strong.......so.....overwhelming...
A noise of distress rose in the back of his throat and Remus placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" he seemed to be the only one who had noticed since Sirius and Snape were arguing and Dumbledore was to busy repremending them.
"Yeah..." he said finally, sounding slighlty out of breath. That was a lie and he knew that Remus could sense it, but the man said nothing.
".....is none of your damn business Black!" Snape was shouting.
"Severus!" Dumbledore exclaimed, but he was cut off.
"I make it my business! He's my godson! Therefore I will not let you use him and then cast him aside like discarded garbage after this damn war is over just for your own bloody safety!" Sirius shouted back, his voice threatening.
"Now honestly!" Dumbledore cut in. "You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves! You're acting like children!"
Both men ignored Dumbledore for once in their lives and continued arguing.
Harry groaned and swayed slightly.....he felt dizzy....
"Harry?" came Remus' concerned voice. "What's wrong?"
"It...it feels so....overwhelming...." Harry whispered. "Could they just stop for a second? My head is pounding and they're so loud..."
"You'll get used to it, dont worry...." Remus said soothingly as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "It wont seem so overwhelming once you get used to it, I gaurantee it..."
"And what about my hearing being so magnified?" Harry asked almost pitifully. "Will I get used to that too?"
Remus sighed, "That's a little harder to get used to......" Harry groaned.
".....all your fault!! If you hadnt of cancelled his Occlumency lessons..." Sirius was yelling before Snape cut him off.
"Well if he hadnt been so nosey and hadnt looked into my pensive!" the man countered.
"Stop acted like a child!" Sirius yelled back. "Stopping Occlumency lessons when it could mean Harry's life just becuase the boy was curious? All teenagers are curious! Don't you remember how curious you were, Snivellus?"
Snape whipped out his wand and pointed it threateningly at Sirius. "Give me one good reason Black!" he spat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldnt..."
"ENOUGH!!" Dumbledore roared, any trace of calmness completely gone, he now looked downright furious actually.
Harry mentally thanked Dumbledore before he groaned and promptly fell over.
"Harry!!" three voices said in unison as everyone except Snape hurried over to the fallen boy. Remus was of course right beside him so he gently gathered the boy up in his arms.
"Harry?" he asked cautiously as he shook the boy gently. "What happened to him!" Sirius demanded as he fell to his godson's side. Remus glared at him and Snape (who was watching the scene with an odd look on his face).
"You two is what happened to him! You two sitting there arguing over the past! The past! Something that NO ONE can change! He's only just recently became a werewolf and his senses have been inhanced dramatically over a short period of time! His body isn't used to it!" Remus explained in a frustrated voice. "Not to mention the fact that he can now sense things and people's feelings......like I said, his body isn't used to it, therefore the rather strong feelings of loathing that you and Snape over there were expressing was an overload for him...."
"Will he be alright?" Sirius asked, looking both concerned and guilty.
Remus sighed, "He'll be fine....he just needs some rest..."
Sirius nodded, "We'll need to get him to the Hospital Wing......but...he can't be seen..."
"We'll put the Invisibility Charm over him again..." Dumbledore said, taking out his wand. "I daresay Harry will be rather displeased to wake up only to find himself in the Hospital Wing yet again!" the headmaster chuckled slighlty as he cast the charm.
Sirius transformed and they walked out, Snape walked over to the door before Dumbledore's voice stopped him, "Severus, would you stay here for a moment? I would like to discuss some issues with you involving Harry's family...."
(A/N- I should have stopped here...)
Snape sneered, "And why, pray tell, would you want to talk to me about Potter's perfect homelife?" he asked coldly.
Dumbledore sighed, "Harry has been trying to keep me from telling you.....but you are his father and you need to know what your son is going through...." the old man broke off as he stared at Snape, who now looked more confused then irratated. "He will be mad when he finds out what I have told you.....but you have a right to know..."
Snape sighed and sat down in the chair across from the headmaster's desk. "Well get on with it!" he snapped impatiently though he had to admit to himself that he was quite curious about what the normally cheerful headmaster was so grim about, especially when it had to do with Potter.
Dumbledore nodded, and with a wave of his wand, he summoned some tea for the both of them.
"I know that you may think that Harry has been given more attention then a child should be given.....but that is not true.....he has not been treated as a king....." Dumbledore paused to sip his tea, he looked rather forlorn. Snape frowned as he slowly stirred his own cup.
"Let me tell you a little bit about his life, Severus..." the headmaster continued. "When he was first discovered on the Dursley's doorstep fifteen years ago as a baby, he was immediatly shoved into a rather small cupboard that was under the stairs....he was then ignored by his Aunt and Uncle when he would cry out for them when he was hungry........he was given about half a bottle about once every three days if he was lucky....barely enough to keep a one year old alive..."
Dumbledore looked at Snape, the man had a slight frown on his face. The older wizard sighed and continued, "Now you know why he is so small for his age.....he has suffered from severe malnutrion ever since he was a baby. Harry grew up being treated worse then the Malfoy's treat their house elves. He was given his cousin's old clothes and only was fed table scraps.....if there were any..."
Albus sipped his tea again, feeling slighlty soothed as the warm liquid poured into his mouth. "He was beaten if he did anything wrong and he was insulted if he did anything right. I'm surprised the boy even knows what love is considering how much his aunt brushed him off and how much his uncle hit him for things he didnt do or didnt understand exactly HOW he did it....anotherwards, accidental magic..."
"He was pretty much treated like that until he attended Hogwarts.....did you know that he didnt even know he was a wizard until he was eleven? That his aunt and uncle denied him his letter? Not only that but one of the worst things is that the poor boy didnt even know what his name was until he was five, when he first attended Muggle School. He thought his name was 'boy' and 'freak'......." Dumbledore trailed off, taking out a hankerchef to blow his nose before continuing.
"Even when he went to school at age five, he never had any friends.....his cousin chased off everyone and his aunt and uncle convinced the whole town that he had a mental problem...." Albus paused once again as he dabbed his eyes. "After he discovered he was a wizard, his relatives backed off a little, until this past summer......they found out that Sirius had died.... He was beaten more brutally and was lucky if he had food, which usually consisted of stale bread or old cheese, once a week if he finished all of his chores..." Dumbledore finished quietly.
"You see, Severus, you and Harry are more alike then you think......" he paused, "I dont even know the full extent of what his uncle did to him.....he doesnt like to talk about it that much....."
Snape was holding his still full teacup.
"Severus.....was there any indication that Harry was being abused during your Occlumency lessons?"
Dumbledore asked softly.
Snape blinked and cleared his throat, "There was.......certain indication that Potter's relatives had been unkind to him but not......abuse..." his voice was toneless as he tried to comprehend the fact that his son was being abused and he hadnt even recognized the symptems. "I just assumed that it was a nightmare that he had had...." he thought about the memory of the dog chasing Potter up a tree while his relatives laughed from the doorway. "...or that he was just making it out to seem like he never got anything he wanted from his relatives..." he thought of the memory of Potter's cousin riding a muggle contraption called a 'bike' and Potter watching him with jealousy.
Dumbledore stayed silent as he watched his Potion's Master digest the information he had just told him.
Finally, Snape shook his head slowly, none of this was adding up.....
"This cant be true, Albus..." he said quietly and the old man frowned in slight dissapointment as Dumbledore said, "And why not, Severus?"
"It...it doesnt add up! He has acted spoiled ever since he first set foot in this castle! Always acting as if he were above the rules! There is no way that an abused child could act that way!" he snapped.
Dumbledore sighed, "Severus....you can be so shallow-minded sometimes..." he looked up at the scowling man, "if you do not believe me then follow me and see for yourself.... The glamours that Harry cast on himself were probably broken when I took off his appearance charm...."
He signed for Snape to follow him to the Hospital Wing.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"Oh my!" Poppy gasped as she inspected Harry's true injuries. "He was hiding them with glamour!" she whispered to Remus, who nodded his eyes glued on a particular nasty bruise on Harry's right leg.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius, who was in a chair as Padfoot, had his teeth bared slightly as the dog eyed a bruise on Harry's cheek.
The Hospital Wing was empty once again, Poppy had finished up with the boys that had arrived about an hour ago and no one had come since.
Footsteps were heard and Poppy's eyes widened as she quickly pulled the curtain around Harry's bed and turned just as Dumbledore and Snape strode in, Dumbledore looking glumy and Snape looking rather sour.
"We would like to see Harry..." Dumbledore told Poppy bluntly. "Severus has yet to be convinced about Harry's true homelife...."
Poppy stared at Dumbledore, looking as if she were going to protest but he gave her a stern nod and she did as she was told and pulled aside the curtains.
Snape's bored expression morphed into one of utter disbelief and slight horror as he saw the full extent of his son's injuries.
To say that Harry was littered with bruises, welts, and cuts was putting it quite simply. He was covered with them along with some other suspicious looking scars. He was skinnier then normal, his ribs jutting out in abnormal ways, making it clear that his ribs were broken. His face had a large bruise that stood out against his pale skin vividly. His right wrist was bent in a very odd position also.
Snape put a hand to his mouth as he felt bile rise up in his throat. He turned away as he tried unsuccessfully to ward off unpleasent memories.
"Proof enough, Snape?" Remus snarled coldly, glaring at the man with hatred.
Snape said nothing as he turned back around and glanced uneasily from Harry to Dumbledore to Remus and then back to Harry, who was still unconcious.
"I....I....he..." he tried to unsuccessfully form words as he stared from Harry's broken body to Remus' accusing eyes and back to the unconcious, abused body of his son.
'Oh Merlin....' he thought to himself as he stared at the bruise on Harry's leg. 'Oh Merlin....No! This....this can't be....no!' He felt a burning sensation in his eyes as he stared at the pale boy that resembled him so much, weazing shallowly on the bed, bruises, welts, and cuts marring into his unusually pale skin.
He couldnt take it anymore. He couldnt stand here and stare at his son's body, littered with signs of abuse....he had to get out of here...
"Severus..." Dumbledore began but the man ignored him as he turned around and fled from the Hospital Wing.
It was a rather uncharcteristic sight to see the Potion's Master without his robes billowing behind him dramatically. OKAY! Hello once again everyone! Thanks to all my reviewers once again!