AN:

I promised to make up to you guys & here I am giving you this chapter earlier. This Thursday I'm going to apply for university and I'm a pack of nerves. Unfortunately I won't get any news about me being accepted or not until July 28th... Wish me luck!

Dedication:

Guess what? My sister thought it unfair to have only one chapter dedicated to her so it seems I have to double-dedicate this chappie. So, to my sister & my Swedish friend Serpent91.

And You Didn't Even Know My Name

Ch. 4. A Man Took My Hand and Said "Don't Worry"

Pure, crystal clear tears were mixing with water and cleaning powder as he scrubbed the kitchen floor. It was the last part of the house left unclean and yet no one had come. He felt a painful stab in his chest as hope died. Silently, with no one to notice or grieve for it but him.

The clock stroke nine and the fireplace could be heard roaring for a couple of seconds. Soon enough a low drawl rang into the empty house.

"Severus? Since when have you started cleaning this place?"

Lucius heard noise in the kitchen and walked in only to see a small tearstained face looking up at him with eager green eyes. He threw a disdainful glance at the rag the boy must have been using to scrub the floor.

"And just what do you think you are doing, child?" he hadn't intended for his voice to sound so harsh.

Oh, my God! I messed up again. I knew I should have asked permission before. Little Harry thought. He felt bad for disappointing his savior. But at least he came back. He didn't left me. Harry was ready to take whatever punishment the man would see fit for his actions. It really didn't matter what it was. He came back.

Lucius waved his cane motioning for the boy to stand up. The child stood up immediately and put his tiny hands forward squeezing his eyes shot. As if he was expecting to be punished. And maybe he was. Lucius could feel his blood boiling again. One day - he thought – one day those filthy muggles WILL pay. And when that happens they will be praying for death before I'm done with them. Until then he had to take care of a small but very powerful and most of all guidable child. If he plaid his cards right than the boy's gratitude towards him would mean a lot some day.

What? Was all Harry could think as he heard the blond man's laughter and felt himself being easily lifted from the floor. The man had picked Harry up and put Harry's tiny hands around his neck. The boy looked in awe at the blond man who was smiling at him.

Lucius carried him to his room, put him back in bed and wiped his tears.

"Hush, little one! Severus will be back soon, I'm sure."

The boy nodded. Severus must have been the other man he heard last night. The one who treated his wounds and probably owned the house. Meanwhile, the blond man took a strange stick out of his cane and waved it around. Had he changed his mind? Was he going to strike Harry?

Lucius almost laughed as the expression of pure fear on the child's face changed to amazement when a tray of tea and a plate of biscuits appeared out of nowhere.

"This, little one, is a wand." He said gesturing towards the stick in his hand. "Any young wizard receives one at the age of eleven therefore you will have to wait a bit." He couldn't help but smirk at the child's huge eyes.

A wizard? But Uncle Vernon always said they weren't real. Was he a wizard too? Was this the reason he did all those strange things? Harry had to know the truth. And something told him that his savior would answer any question he had without punishing him.

Lucius frowned. The child was opening and closing his mouth as if trying to tell him something but no sound came out. Lucius could do nothing but stare as the boy seemed to be getting more and more frustrated and soon his frustration with not being able to utter his questions turned into fear.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssss

"Albus, we cannot go on like this! It's been two hours and we found no solution."

"I know, Minerva! I know!" Dumbledore's voice rang old and tired and silence embraced the room. "But there is little we can do. I will not reveal the boy's location to anyone and neither will you, Minerva. He needs to be kept away from all magic until he is old enough to understand."

"Headmaster, I know there are people who wish him dead among the Ex-Death Eaters. However, we should not be throwing away our lives and everything the Four Founders stood for just because Fudge wants to know where The-Brat-Who-Accidentally-Lived is." Severus' voice was dripping sarcasm and the hate in his tone seemed almost palpable.

Dumbledore raised his eyes as his Potions Master continued to talk.

"He would bring no harm to the brat, I'm sure of that. You said the house he is in is protected by blood wards. I do not believe that Fudge would be stupid enough to remove him from his loving family. More likely, he will just make public the happy home of The-Boy-Who-Lived. It would do well to his political image." He sneered.

Blue eyes watched him sadly in disappointment and when Albus Dumbledore spoke Severus knew he would have felt better if Dumbledore just cursed him.

"Fame, my dear boy, is as dangerous as Voldemort himself, if not more. If the boy really is to save the world some day, I fail to see how arrogance is going to come in hand. I thought it was you, Severus, who thought stronger than any of us that fame and arrogance weren't everything. Why would you want to let the boy become that way?"

Severus said no more knowing he had disappointed the only man to ever trust him. However he could not help asking himself why Dumbledore was assuming that the boy would be swept away by fame and glory. Maybe they should have more faith in that brat's power to keep his head on his shoulders. But on the other hand, he had been the first to doubt the child without even knowing him so he could not very well blame Dumbledore for taking all possibilities into account.

"Well, I suppose we may still stand a chance as long as the school governors do not want to lose their authority."

Spirits seemed to brighten at Flitwick's idea.

"We should talk to them. About a third are members of the committee that will meet tonight. The others are all heads of ancient and noble houses or have important positions inside the Ministry."

Indeed, Sprout had a point but Minerva knew better. And so did Dumbledore.

"Ah, I am afraid that might not be an option anymore."

Every gaze was directed to the old Headmaster as he spoke.

"We all know how Lucius Malfoy bought Fudge long ago. We all know he is not pleased with the influence he has over Hogwarts now. And we also know that all governors are afraid of him and that he will be at the meeting tonight."

Hope was dying in every soul but one. For him hope had only started to shine.

"Are you sure, Albus? Is there no chance at all?"

"I'm afraid not, Filius! I've talked to some of the governors before calling you. Some said they do not care, others that they will protest either by not showing at the meeting or by not voting at all. But none of them will actually say no." He sighed in defeat.

"Then all hope is indeed lost."

A heavy silence fell after Flitwick's dark statement. Eyes downcast, no one saw the evil glint in a dark obsidian gaze.

"On the contrary, it is there where all our hope lays." His voice was low and conspiring. When they looked up they were suddenly reminded why this man had been considered so dangerous when a Death Eater. Many would fear his mind more than his spells. There was a certain dark aura around him foretelling that for him the end justified the means and the look in his pitch black eyes spoke volumes of his determination.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Snape sneered both at Sprout's trembling voice and the fear that glittered for one moment in the others eyes. Dumbledore shook him head. He always felt uneasy at the way his ex-student seemed to delight in other people's fear.

"Severus?" he asked.

"What I meant, Headmaster, was that the answer to our problems is exactly the power that my fellow Slytherin, Lucius Malfoy, has over the board of governors and Fudge himself."

"Explain, my boy!"

"All we have to do is have Lucius change his mind. Is as simple as that." He smirked.

"Excuse me, my boy, but I fail to see how this is going to save us. No one can convince Mr. Malfoy to vote against."

At this, the young Potions Master's gaze hardened.

"Leave that to me, Headmaster!"

"Severus, what are you going to do, my boy?" Dumbledore's voice was grave and full of concern.

"Let's just say that Lucius owns me a lot. But I will tell you no more. Some things are better left unknown, Headmaster!" he said cryptically and left the room.

Dumbledore didn't need to know of his plan. It would endanger both him and Lucius if it was to be discovered. Moreover, he knew Dumbledore well enough to figure out that the Headmaster of Hogwarts would find his plan totally unethical and almost unfair.

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Snape appeared home to find the place not quite as he had let it. The windows were opened and his first thought was that someone might have broken in. But a thief would have turned the whole place upside down in his quest for valuable things and the house was nowhere near messy. Actually it looked cleaner than Snape ever remembered it. What on Earth had happened there? He had no house elf to do that and there was nobody else who could…? Then he remembered the child upstairs. But he would have been too injured and in far too much pain for such an effort.

Severus hurried towards the boy's room and threw the door open.

"And just what do you think you are doing, Lucius?" he hissed in a dangerously low voice, echoing the first question Lucius has asked the child.

Lucius raised his eyes to meet Severus' burning gaze. What had he done to attract so much fury against him? However Lucius was famous for the clear mind he could keep in dangerous situations and when he realized what had made his old friend so angry he started laughing. It must have been quite a sight for his friend to find him, wand raised, with a crying child in said child's room. It was funny but understandable why Severus had reached the wrong conclusion once again. Still, his laughter did nothing to improve Severus' mood.

"Well, I fail to see what you find so hilarious, Lucius!"

Severus' voice clearly spoke trouble and little Harry was amazed when all the blonde man did was smirk.

"Oh, my friend, you jump to conclusions far too quickly!"

Severus narrowed his eyes.

"Then explain yourself!" his tone was too demanding and Lucius did not like it in the least.

"Please refrain from giving me orders, Severus! It would do you no good!"

Now Harry knew for sure that his savior was walking on very thin ice. The man called Severus smiled an unpleasant smile. It was clear he did not take it kindly to being threatened in his own house.

"You are in no position to threaten me, Lucius. Not when I could so easily ruin you."

"Ruin me? You? Please, Severus, don't make me laugh! Just make yourself comfortable and let us have a little chat to clear things out. Do feel like home!" Lucius' voice, though calm and collected, was shadowed with mockery and sarcasm. Severus closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again there was a certain glint in them that made Lucius Malfoy shiver. Snape spoke in an even tone, his voice still low, choosing his words carefully.

"You seem to forget, my friend, that underestimating me will serve no purpose. I have an injured child in my home and you seem to have something to do with him. And I happen to know Arthur Wesley and to want to recover my credibility in the magical world."

Severus smirked as he saw the meanings of his words sinking in. Lucius' expression hardened for a second than it became impassible again. But he found nothing funny anymore.

"However, you had a wonderful idea, Lucius. Let us sit and clear thing out."

Harry looked at the two strangers as each of them took a sit in an armchair and the blond man explained to the raven-haired one everything, from finding the "little one" rubbing the kitchen floor to discovering that the child could not talk. Once the story was over the dark haired man sighed.

"So you had your wand raised because you were checking the child's ability to speak."

They looked like they had forgotten about him. Little Harry smiled sadly to himself. It was nothing new to him yet it hurt every time. Just then the man called Severus got up and came to sit on the edge of the bed. He looked straight into Harry's eyes and little Harry could feel a strange presence in his mind. Then the man asked him kindly in a velvet-like voice.

"Is it true child? All Lucius has said so far, is it true?"

Harry nodded slowly. The man seemed pleased and unnerved with his answer at the same time.

"I don't want you to get out of bed again until you are recovered except for using the bathroom. I know you wanted to show your gratitude and believe me it is greatly appreciated, but next time you wish to help just ask what I would like you to do." He told him in a smooth voice, which strangely demanded nothing but obedience. Harry nodded again. This seemed to please the man, who now turned to the one called Lucius.

"It would seem I have misjudged you again, Lucius. My apologies."

Lucius waved the apology away. His eyes were sparkling with unspoken victory.

"So you have decided to keep the child after all."

Harry's heart made a double flip. He got a new home. A new home with someone who might, just might care about what happened to him.

"But of course I have, Lucius. Though I do not see for how long or how we are going to make an adoption possible without having his other guardians give up their rights."

Harry's eyes shadowed a little. He was small, but he knew enough to understand what that meant. His Aunt and Uncle could claim him back anytime.

The shadow in the child's eyes did not go unnoticed by Lucius' trained eye. He winked at the small boy, thus shocking both the child and Severus. When he spoke his eyes were laughing

"Severus, Severus! I thought you knew me better than that. There is an old law, rarely used nowadays, which states that once an orphan child leaves willingly the safety of blood wards those caring for him so far lose any rights they had over him."

"But what if he was adopted? Things change then, don't they?"

"In this case there was no adoption, only guardianship."

"How can you be so sure?" Severus asked bewildered.

"The child would not have called them Uncle or Aunt, but Father and Mother. And given he is magical, an adoption spell would have made it impossible for me to remove him without his parents approval." At the incredible look Severus was giving him Lucius added smugly.

"You keep forgetting that charms were my passion during Hogwarts."

Severus shook his head.

"Well, Lucius, it seems all we have to do is find someone at the Magical Child Protection to make me the boy's father quickly and without too many questions."

"Leave that to me! Narcissa has a good friend there who will be more than willing to help."

Harry could not remember a moment in his life when he had been happier. He was getting a father too.

Lucius stood, ruffled the child's hair and made to leave.

"Just a moment, Lucius."

He stopped and turned around, but did not like a bit the look in Severus' dark eyes.

"Yes?"

"I am in need of a huge favor and only you can help me." He smirked. "Much like the situation you were in when you brought this child to me."

Lucius knew the sound of blackmail when he heard it and he pretty much discovered that he did not like to switch roles from blackmailer to blackmailed. However, he also knew that he did not have much of a choice this time so he answered as evenly as he could.

"What is it that only I can help you with?"

Severus smirked. Oh, how he loved it to have great Lucius Malfoy at his will.

"It's not that much, only that law that is to be voted tonight. You see, I really like the way things are at Hogwarts right now and it would make it uneasy for me to raise a child while on probation or worst while unemployed, don't you think?"

Lucius could not believe his ears.

"You want me to vote against, when I supported Fudge all along?"

"You claim to be an intelligent man, Lucius. I am sure you will find a way to expose the disadvantages of such law to our Minister." He said silkily.

The Malfoy Senior thinned his lips and inhaled.

"Very well. You can be sure that the magical laws will have no addition of the sort tonight."

"Neither tonight nor another time." Now Lucius knew he was cornered.

Severus could feel the anger rising in Lucius and he knew that there will be payback for this blackmail, but right now he couldn't care less.

"Fine." He made to leave only to be stopped once more, but this time by a tiny hand on his own.

Lucius looked down and saw a small boy handing him his cane. He had forgotten his cane in the boy's room and the child had descended to bring it. The warm hand on his own and those big green eyes full of unspoken gratitude seemed to dispel all the anger he felt. This child was worth more than a stupid law. He had enough control over Hogwarts as it was; there was no reason as to why not do what Severus had asked him.

Severus watched in fascination as one of the most feared Death Eaters, the Dark Lord's right hand, knelt in front of a small boy and took the child's trembling fingers in his own hand.

"Thank you, little one!" he smiled while taking his cane and kissed the tiny hand he was holding. "Be a good boy for your father, will you!"

And he left leaving a shocked child and a bewildered and slightly angry Severus behind.

How dare he give the child permission to call me father? How this boy will call me is entirely my business! How did I get myself in this charade anyway? I am no father.

Severus took the boy's hand harshly and almost dragged him back to his room. Once the boy was in bed he took the Pain Reliever and made the child drink it, oblivious to the pain the boy felt when swallowing.

"For Goodness sake, child! It won't taste any better if you drink it in stages."

Harry forced himself to drink it, but couldn't. His throat hurt so much, making every gulp seem like swallowing a knife.

Severus was getting frustrated with the child's pretence of drinking.

"Sweet Merlin! Just put the damned vial down if you don't like it. But keep in mind that your pain won't go away by itself."

He watched the child as he clenched the sheets in his tiny fists and squeezed his eyes shut. But he had no idea what pain the boy was facing until he raised one of his small hands to rub his throat. The anger Severus was feeling switched its direction from Lucius to himself. In his fury towards the Malfoy Senior he had forgotten that a Pain Reliever had a couple of ingredients that could cause even greater pain if the drinker had open wounds inside his throat.

"There, there!" he said as smoothly as he could. He raised his wand and muttered a few spells to reveal the exact cause of the pain. Overstressed vocal cords, a swell on his larynx and an oversized festering abscess, clearly untreated, right where the tongue ends.

"Wait here, child! I'll be back shortly with some potions that will heal you in no time."

Harry watched with eager eyes as his new father came back, sit on the edge of the bed and made him drink two more potions.

"It will hurt, but after this the pain will stop and you should be able to talk again."

And it hurt indeed. Never before had Harry felt such pain in his throat, but then again never before had he had someone to hold his hand in times of pain like the dark-haired man was doing now. Suddenly the pain stopped and he could drink the Pain Reliever without forcing himself. Harry was grateful. He tried to thank the man, but no words came out again. No! screamed his little mind when he realized he couldn't talk. What happened to me? He said I'll be able to talk. How am I ever going to thank him now?

Severus watched uneasily as the small child struggled to voice his words, but none was coming out. Frightened green eyes full of questions finally rose from the covers to meet his. And for the first time Severus Snape did not delight in other people's fear. If anything he found himself disgusted that he could not bring solace to that child.

"Here, drink this! It will help you sleep and everything will be better when you wake up."

His gaze followed one small shaking hand as it took the vial and brought it to an equally small mouth. Was it normal for this child to be that small? How old was he anyway? His shining eyes were full of tears but he refused to let them fall. So all Severus Snape could do was sit once more in the chair near the bed until the boy would be safely asleep. He made the child lay down and squeezed his tiny hand.

And as sleep claimed him with all his fears, little Harry could hear a low but strangely tender voice whispering to him.

"That's it, child! Just get some rest! No need to worry anymore!"

Severus could see the frowns on the little forehead disappearing and soon the child's breathing evened.

And only when he was lost to the land of dreams and nightmares the unshared tears started to fall and for the second time in Harry's life an adult's hand wiped them.

AN:

Ready folks! I'm eager to know what you think if you're willing to let me. :)