WARNING! This chapter has description of child abuse.

A/n: Re-posted 08/22/2013

italics = Thoughts

WARNING! This chapter has description of child abuse.

Chapter 19 - Sirius and Severus getting along?

Harry stayed in silence for a few minutes trying to find the right words. He had never told anyone about what had happened to him in the Dursleys house. The closest Harry ever came to telling someone about what happened to him at his relatives' houses was his first grade teacher, and that was only after she had confronted him about his relapse in class.

You see, Harry's first month at school was made of pure joy. All right, so Dudley made it almost impossible for Harry to make friends, but he was out of his cupboard, and he was learning things, and he just loved to learn new things. And he was actually good at learning. It was the best month of his life so far. At least, until his first report was sent home. Harry new he had done well. And he had, he had done very well on his first month of school. Much better then Dudley. And that was the problem. After he was punished for "obviously cheating and lying to his teachers", Harry became withdrawn, completely lost interest in learning and spent his days at school looking out the window, even after the teacher had made him sit at the other side of the classroom.

She tried to talk to him, saw how he had changed, but it wasn't till she saw a hand shaped bruise in Harry's shoulder that she decided to make a house call and went to talk to the Dursleys. Two weeks later, she was out of the school, never to be seen again. Harry never let anyone see how much he liked to learn or how much he actually knew. He also became more cautious about hiding the marks Vernon left in his body after his "lessons".

"You know you can tell us anything, right, Harry?" asked Sirius, he got more and more worried the long Harry stayed silent.

"When I was three years old, I asked aunt Petunia why I have a scar on my forehead" started Harry at last "she said it was a souvenir of the accident that killed my parents, that my father was a useless drunk that couldn't even drive a car right. Then she took my plate from me and gave it to my cousin, and told me to stay quiet and don't ask stupid questions. It was the first thing I ever heard about James and Lily."

Sirius wanted to say something, defend James' honour, curse Petunia... anything. But he knew that if he interrupted Harry there was a high chance that Harry would stop talking, and he knew the three of them needed to hear what Harry had to say.

"A few weeks after that I asked uncle Vernon why I couldn't have a big room, with a real bed, like Dudley. He slapped me, grabbed me by my neck and throw me in my cupboard, telling what a freak I was and how a disgusting thing like me didn't deserve to have a big room. I stopped asking questions after that."

Severus wanted to kill Vernon and Petunia. None of them had the right to lay a hand on Harry or starve him. But like Sirius, Severus knew that there was much more to be said, and that only after that they could begin to help Harry face his fears and, maybe, start thrusting an adult.

"Aunt Petunia started teaching me how to cook when I was four. I helped with breakfast, minding the eggs and bacon. I only let it burn once. Aunt Petunia holded my hand over the burning stove for a whole minute. Afterwards she made me pull up all the weeds on the garden, without gloves. It was the first time she actually hurt me. Normally she would just scream at me and hand me to uncle Vernon so he could give me one of his 'lessons'."

It was the second time Harry mentioned one of these supposed lessons, his uncle gave him, and Sirius were dreading what they had entailed.

"Harry" Severus said, to Sirius relief and utter terror "what happened during this... lessons your uncle gave you?"

Harry's eyes became bright with tears not shed, and for a second, Severus thought about hugging Harry and telling him he didn't need to say another word. But he stayed still. Nothing would make him stop loving his son, but every word out of Harry's mouth made him cringe with guilt. Guilt that he wasn't there when his son most needed him.

"It was just... a spanking..." it was the murmured answer "at first..." the second part was just a gush of air, but neither Sirius nor Severus needed to hear it to see that "just a spanking" was not what happened.

"And afterward?" Sirius asked slowly, when Harry had stayed silent for several moments.

"It was just a spanking... it hurt, but it was only his hands. But then he caught me eating one of Dudley's cookies... and... and he... used the belt. The buckle."

Severus was beyond angry. How dare they hit MY son! I'll kill him! Sirius thoughts were almost the same. And Harry defends him, like he deserved to be hurt like that! I'll SLAUGHTER them!

"And... that's it." said Harry feeling defeated "you can send me back now. Now that you know what a freak I am. I couldn't even defend myself from a muggle, how am I going to save everyone from Voldemort?"

And before Sirius or Severus could say anything, Harry was running, going up the stairs and locking himself in his room. He jumped in the bed and let the tear fall. It was the first time he cried since the very first time Vernon had hit him.

In the living room, Severus didn't know what to do. His instincts were telling him to go up and talk to Harry, make the boy understand that nothing would make Severus send him back to that hell of a life he had with his relatives. But he also knew that at the moment Harry wouldn't believe anything he could say. Harry was too full of self-hate to understand that Severus would never leave him. Especially not now that Harry was starting to trust him.

Harry ended up sleeping the day away, only waking the next morning, not knowing if his memory of the day before was an accurate one. Cautiously he went down stairs and went into the kitchen. What he saw almost made him believe he was still asleep. Severus Snape and Sirius Black were calmly sitting at the table, talking civilly.

Sirius was the first to notice the teen.

"Good morning, Pup." said the animagus "how are you feeling?"

Harry could just stare at them.

"You're not at each other's throat?" he asked, the fact that the day before Severus and Sirius had behaved while Harry talked was completely wiped out of his mind.

"I know how much the life of this mutt matters to you, Harry, so I made the effort to not cause him any permanent injury." was Severus sarcastic answer.

"What your... father meant is that we are perfectly capable of staying under the same roof without cursing each other. As long as we have something in common, in this case: you." explained Sirius.

Harry still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Sit down, Harry. You need to eat something. How about a piece of you birthday cake? You only ate one slice yesterday." said Severus. The idea of Harry eating just cake as breakfast wasn't something he would normally condone, but after all the drama the day before, he thought his son deserved to be pampered a little. Not that he would ever say that out loud.

Harry did as his father suggested and the three of them spent a calm time eating. But after a while Harry couldn't stay quiet anymore, he was bursting with curiosity.

"Are you staying with us, Sirius?"

"If you want me to..." he answered hopeful.

"Really?" asked Harry looking at Severus "he can stay?"

"Black and I reached an... agreement. I think you are old enough to have a... pet."

"Dad!" protested Harry.

"Don't be offended in my stead, Harry." said Sirius "That's exactly what I'll be. This way I'll be able to stay near you even when you go back to Hogwarts."

Harry looked at them with tear in his eyes, and then he got up, hugged Sirius hard and then threw himself at his father, thanking them again and again.

"Now that that is decided, we can start discussing how you are to behave while at the Weasleys. Black is going with you, so you'll have to care for him." said Severus after Harry had gone back to his place.

"When am I going to meet the Weasleys?" asked Harry.

"In three days. The World Cup is this weekend, you're going there the day before that."

"All right."

"I want you on your best behaviour, you hear me? If I hear from Molly or Black that you misbehaved I'll revoke your Hogsmeade permission."

"I'll behave! I promise!" was Harry answer. He was even happier to know that Severus would let him go to Hogsmeade, Dumbledore had refused to acknowledge the permit Sirius had written.

"It's a deal, then." said Severus before he got up and went to his lab, doing what he normally did during the day, leaving Harry and Sirius to talk and get to know each other.

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