A New Beginning

~Fire Tiger Ki~

Chapter 2

"Boy!" The name had been spal out as his aunt pounded on the cupboard door. Quickly the small child, being no more than 3 years old, got up and got dressed.

"Yes Aunt Petunia?" Squeaked the child, timid and fearful of crossing his 'guardians.' They were never nice to him and only fed him the scraps that fell from the table. He had to wash the dishes, windows and a number of other chores before his uncle got have not been going well at Grunnings, causing Vernon to be even less pleasant than normal, in fact the company itself was on the verge of bankruptcy and having their doors shut once and for all. Heck they had even taken back the company car they gave Vernon, so needless to say he was displeased about that.

As Vernon's life became more stressful at work he began to take up a rather strong habit of going to the pub on the way home from work. One drink would lead to another and then to many more, typically the bartender would cut him off and call the drunken fool a cab home. Of course the fact that he had to take a cab home put him into a worse temper than he was when he left the bar. This particular evening Vernon was stumbling into the house, freshly delivered home via cab from the pubs after work, quite ill-tempered. Not only was he angry about the car situation it seemed as if he had received news earlier that day that his Salary was being cut almost in half, being a top paying employee was not always a blessing.

The company was making a last ditch effort to pull itself out of the shadows of it's former self. Harry was finishing up the dusting to be done for the day,with his back to the entryway he was unaware of his Uncle's arrival and the foul mood he was in tonight. Beside the door, like most homes on this street, was a container to place umbrellas and walking sticks. Vernon found his hand on a walking stick, he picked the walking stick up and let the other end of it rest in his left hand. Something about the carefree attitude his nephew had while dusting really set his blood to boil. As tinges of red hue invaded the edges of his vision he approached his nephew from behind, bringing the walking stick up above his head, and brought his makeshift weapon down on his nephew.

Harry let out a noise, a yelp filled with shock and pain, and fell to the floor. The fine porcelain vase he had been dusting shattered beneath his prone body, causing pieces of fragmented ceramic to embed into his arms and hands. A sharp kick to the child's side sent him sprawling onto his back, watery emerald eyes fell upon his attacker. Vernon, still fueled by his drunken rage over unrealted things, brought the walking stick down on his nephew time after time. Harry had tried to gain his bearings and tried to get away but his uncle would catch him by his clothes, arms, legs, anything he could grab a hold of.

Petunia came home from the market an hour or so later to find Vernon passed out on the living room floor, though from first glance it looked like someone had broken in and attacked him. Another sound caught her attention, at first she ignored it, until she looked around the room and saw Harry curled up in the far corner of the room on the floor. His arms and hands were covered with scratches, legs covered in fresh bruises, clothes ripped in places. He was not wearing his glasses and it seemed as if his nose was more crooked than normal. Despite her dislike for her nephew she felt sorry for him, she approached him cautiously, He didn't deserve this treatment but she was not going to say anything to her husband about it. She brushed the hair out of Harry's eyes, a gentle gesture yet it caused him to flinch back as if she was about to stike him.

"Shh, You don't want to wake your Uncle up do you?" She whispered as she pulled the small child up into her arms. Gently she carried him over to the small cupboard under the stairs and laid him inside on the thin bedding. She looked into Harry's eyes, a weak smile graced her lips as she say bits of her sister in this child. internally Petunia never really hated her sister, she let her jealousy get the best of her when they were children and then when Vernon came into her life she followed his lead.

He was a man who liked things to go his way and she was a woman who wanted people to like her, so she would go along with anything. A groan came from the livingroom as Vernon began to stir. As she heard the movement coming from the living room she got up and closed the door with a light 'thud.'

"I'm sure you deserved it, freak" Petunia spat as she addressed the child on the other side of the door. The already darkened cupboard room faded away...


Harry opened his eyes, expecting to see the metal trash cans and the boxes that he fell asleep near. It was too dark to make anything out, though he did feel something laying on his leg. Without too much trouble he was able to slip out of the bed, he was able to make out the bed, oh yes the very comfortable bed that he had wanted to stay in but his instincts said to run. As his eyes started to adjust to the darkness of the room he tried to rid his mind of his nightmare, the memory refreshed in him mind. With the belief that he can make it to the door without making too much noise he began his journey across the dark room. Something caught the corner of his eye, a dark mass slumped over the end of the bed, probably what was on his leg earlier.

His mind made up that he needed to get away from this room, this unknown person, he bolts for the door. Slipping out of the room he found himself in another room. This room was lit by a fireplace, the flames dance and flicker with life. The room seemed to have stone walls and decorated in crimsons and black, with a bit of Silver thrown in to add flavor.

"What the Bloody 'ell?" His voice seemed to echo off of the stone walls, causing him to cover his mouth quickly and drop low to the ground. His attention went directly to the door he entered the room from, to make sure his words had not drawn the attention of the sleeping stranger. It wasn't until he let out a long sigh did he realize he has been holding his breath, His attention returned the the object that caused him to speak in the first place.

On the mantle of the Fireplace he saw a photograph but it was moving... really moving, like it was a cage holding small people inside doomed to repeat the same actions over again for all eternity and longer. Moving away from the mantle and the odd picture he moved around the table and sat down on the black plush leather couch. There was a letter on the table, He had always been a curious person, he reached out to pick up the letter to read it.

All he had managed to read was the date before the fire in the fireplace grew in size and burned a brilliant green hue. The event in and of itself caused him to trip over the couch as he jumped up and over the back of it. Before landing on the ground with a sickening thud he could see a man come out of the fire. The man spoke and pointed a stick at him. All of a sudden he could not move, like he was tied up but there was nothing on him, the only thing he could move was his eyes.

He saw a man emerge from the bedroom, most likely the man that was slumped over the end of the bed. He was unable to move and began to panic, frantically searching around the room for something or someone to help him... anyone.


"What the Bloody 'ell?" came a distant voice that was unknown to him, the recent events have all but drained him. Sleep returned to him, through not as captivating as it just was, until he heard a loud thud from the front room followed by a voice he did recognize.

The words 'Petrificus Totalus!' followed directly after the thud, which cause Severus's head to snap up. Noticing the lack of human form in his bed he could only imagine what was going on in the next room, this was not good. He made his way to his feet and rushed out into the front room, to see just what he feared he would.

"Albus, what the hell are you doing!" Severus's eyed the old man carefully, wand at the ready, while taking note of his son's position.


Albus had been talking care of some paperwork for the upcoming school year here at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had to ensure the letters to the incoming 1st year students were sent out, as well as reminding the Faculty of the Start of term Meeting coming up soon. Minerva had left an hour prior to work on her class material and to take care of last minute Head of House duties.

He decided to go check up on Severus and his new found son. He walked over to the fireplace and retrieved a small pouch from the mantle, taking a handful of the dust, he returned the pouch to the mantle. He then tossed the dust into the flames, causing them to flair up brilliant green, He spoke the words 'Severus Snape's Personal quarters, Hogwarts School" and then stepped into the flames.

Upon stepping into the Potion Master's personal quarters someone or something that had been sitting on the couch had made the attempt to hide, they landed with a thud on the other side of the couch. Seeing the letter that he knew to be the one from Lily to Severus, Albus pulled out his wand and cast a 'Petrificus Totalus!' on the person trying to hide. He then heard hurried footsteps coming from the bedroom, Severus stood at the door between the two chambers, wand in hand.

"Albus, what the Bloody hell are you doing!" Demanded Severus.


A/N: 3 Reviews in the 1st 24 hours. I am really happy. ^_^ I had started this chapter before I posted the original story and somewhere between when I wrote it and when I was typing it I became a lot more inspired. So I say thank you to ange87, mitremlap and Akerri-dogi for being my first 3 reviewers.

^_^ Read and Review Please and Thank you.