A/N: So this is a one or two shot depending on how I end it. This story has nothing to do with the previous two chapters that I have posted. Let me know what you think of this.
The Servant Boy
Part I
Harry was lying in his bed and staring at the small ceiling of his equally small bedroom. His heart felt like lead and his skin was cold and clammy, the cold sweat that dripped from his brow merged with the few tears that spilled from his eyes. Harry wished he could say he felt so horrible because his uncle had worked him mercilessly today, or because he had had a rather bad bought of food poisoning from eating some of the left over scraps from the rubbish bin. But in all honestly, even though those previous statements were true, Harry could put the issues from the horrible incidents of the day on hold for the simple reason that he was in mourning.
Sirius had died less then three weeks ago and Harry's wounds were still fresh and raw. It seemed no matter how hard he was worked, or starved or ignored and isolated from his friends, the pain Harry felt for the loss of his beloved friend Sirius beat any other pain or feelings of sickness that were present.
His summer had barely begun and he had already been over worked, under fed and locked in his room for the rest of the time. But the truth was he didn't notice anything other then the throbbing that twisted and mutilated his heart. Sirius was dead; his one chance to escape this place and have a real life, a real family and now his godfather and good friend had been murdered by that twisted bitch of a woman Bellatrix Lestrange. One day Harry would make her suffer, but for now all he could do was lay in his room after a long day of ungodly chores and horrible stomach cramps and wish that he had jumped through the veil after his god father.
"Boy! I say boy! Come down stairs!" Came a yell through his door as the locks twisted open and a knuckle brought loud banging noises on the old wood. Harry was tempted to ignore the command, as he wasn't sure he could make it down the stairs with out hurling. Harry wasn't a stupid person, he knew the chances of getting sick from eating out of the garbage were high, but he hadn't had a decent meal in days and he had been so hungry. Perhaps if Harry hadn't been forced to do so much work his hunger would have been lost to his depression but as he was using more energy then he was taking in he finally gave in and stole something that he knew wouldn't be missed.
"Get up freak!" Came the call of his uncle again, it wasn't as loud as it normally was and Harry was surprised. He slowly stood on shaky legs, wincing as he felt the blisters from his sunburn stretch across his shirt. Tomorrow he didn't give a care of the repercussion; he was stealing some damn sunscreen from the bathroom.
Harry exited his bedroom and slowly made his way down stairs, only pausing a moment to try and keep his stomach down. If he threw up on the new carpet Harry realized the blisters wouldn't be a problem anymore. The belt would pop each one, mostly likely adding to the mess on the carpet and creating further misfortune for himself.
He finally crossed the threshold into the living room and put his hand on his stomach and wavered a little, "Yes, Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked. Noticing that his aunt and cousin sat next to Harry's uncle staring off behind him the boy felt a shiver run up his spine and he turned to see who was behind him.
Professor Snape was sitting on the love seat staring at him with a rather curious gaze. Harry felt his eyes go wide and his jaw drop and he quickly tried to straighten out his rather disgusting clothes and as he tried to flatten his hair to his head his knees shook slightly.
"Prof-fessor…. I… what are you…" Harry couldn't finish and suddenly felt a fat hand take him by the scruff of his neck, "Sit down and shut it." Uncle Vernon said with a little less force then he normally did, he pressed Harry down onto the floor and the boy blanched a little as his stomach shifted. He wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at his professor who was still eyeing him with an expression Harry had never seen before.
"Now, the boy is here. What is the meaning of this? Why are you here?" Uncle Vernon asked as he released Harry and placed his hand on his knee only a few inches from Harry's head.
If it had been Dumbledore the Dursley's wouldn't have laid a finger on Harry but they didn't know Snape. They didn't realize he could be more dangerous in a different way. Not that Harry expected Snape to run to his rescue or warn the Dursley's to lie off of him. He just hoped, that if he offered to scrub the man's cauldrons for the entirety of next term that the man wouldn't reveal anything embarrassing he might learn while here.
"I was sent by Professor Dumbledore to check on Mr. Potter. He hasn't been writing or keeping in contact with anyone from school and Dumbledore wanted to make sure that he was doing okay considering the recent events that occurred."
"Recent events?" Uncle Vernon asked with curiosity.
Snape stayed silent and Harry knew he was going to vomit; he wiped his forehead again and gave a very soft groan.
"Quiet." Vernon hissed and rather gently smacked the boy upside the back of the head. Harry felt a wave of dizzy nauseous heat rise in his chest and head.
"The loss of his Godfather had surely taken a toll on the boy…" Snape started in his icy voice.
"The loss of who Severus?" his aunt asked and Harry jerked his head to look at his aunt. How the bloody hell did she know his name?
"I see Harry has not informed you of any of his recent activities while at school then?" Snape asked in a rather disturbed tone.
Harry's head turned to look at his uncle who was glaring at him.
"D-drinks!? Anyone want drinks." Harry asked and his voice cracked horribly. Dudley who had been silent until now gave a snort and murmured, "Faggot."
Harry, whose whole day had been bad enough as it was, felt anger rise in him and he turned to look at Dudley and said softly, "Sadist."
Before Harry could move Dudley was up and grabbing him, "SHIT!" Harry said as the boy grabbed him by his hair and tossed him to the wall. His head banged on it but not hard enough to really hurt.
"ENOUGH!" cried Vernon and Dudley sat back down with a huff, "Go get the bloody drinks you fool." Vernon said surprisingly soft.
Harry jumped up and rushed from the room and into the kitchen. He took a moment and allowed his breathing to calm down. His anger swelled up after a moment when he realized what this meant. Snape was in his living room, with his relatives. No doubt taking pleasure in his appearance and the whack he had just taken from his cousin. He would have to deal with this all year now, now doubt the man would take advantage of this. Harry kicked the garbage can and then instantly regretted it. He pulled it back close and lost the small amount of food he had in his stomach. Though he doubted the half eaten spoiled banana and small piece of left over meat had been doing him any good in the first place. His legs gave out and he sat on the floor feeling the sickness take hold.
He only waited long enough for it to pass before he quickly set water to boil and managed, despite his shaky hands, to set a tray with the proper amount of teacups and a small plate of cookies. When the water boiled he added the tea and then placed the teapot on the tray and slowly made his way back to the sitting room.
When he entered only Snape looked at him and he quickly served everyone excluding himself, he didn't think his stomach could handle it plus he never usually was allowed to partake anyway. Once everyone was served he crossed to the fireplace and sat with his back against the wall and winced. The blisters on his back were so sore. Harry thought he might be sick again and wanted to be able to make a clean get away incase he needed the bathroom.
"As it remains, you are still the only legal guardians he has." Snape said a moment later.
"Not surprised, even if the man was still alive I couldn't see him being able to put up with the brat. Never does enough around here and he is rather cheeky." Vernon said not even glancing at Harry.
Normally he was used to being treated like he wasn't in the room during a conversation but with Snape here it felt bad, really bad, like he was suddenly not even a human. He was used to his relatives treating him like dirt but to have a professor do it, even one as cruel as Snape, Harry felt annoyance and frustration rise up in him.
"So, this Sirius Black, he knew the boy's mother?" Aunt Petunia asked.
"And Mr. Potter's father, he was a family friend."
"And he was a freak like the boy too?" Vernon asked finally nodding towards Harry.
Harry noticed his aunt stiffen and watch closely as Snape slowly set his teacup down next to him.
"Freak?" Snape asked glancing towards Harry's aunt.
"You one of them too?" Dudley asked before aunt Petunia could reply. Harry felt his heart go cold; Dudley rarely ever spoke when someone from his school came around. Ever since Harry had met Hagrid and the whole incident with the pigtail, Harry's cousin usually held his tongue.
"No." Harry said softly. Everyone looked at him and Harry sighed, "He isn't a freak. Just different."
There was a moment of silence, as everyone seemed to realize that the tension was growing thicker.
"Look Mr?"
"Snape." The professor said.
"Yes, right, Mr. Snape, the boy is fine. He seems a little more lethargic then normal but he is fine. He is keeping up with his chores and mostly stays in his room. If there is anything else then?"
Snape looked over to Harry and the boy very barely shook his head no and watched as the professor looked back at the three muggles before him.
"There is one other thing, I need to speak to Mr. Potter alone a moment."
Harry perked; did the man have a message from Dumbledore? Snape would have left at any chance given to him if he could so if he had to stay longer it must be a message from Dumbledore.
"Very well, take him up to his room, I am tired of looking at him anyway. When he's done with you come back down and clean up this mess." Vernon stood and headed towards the kitchen and Harry's aunt followed. Harry stood on shaky legs and crossed to his professor as Dudley stood and shoved him. Harry went sideways but was shocked to find he had been caught by his professor who gently set him right. Dudley walked from the room and turned to look back, "So, the guys are meeting at the old construction site tonight, if you aren't there for a quick game of H.H. we will just come and find you tomorrow while your weeding the garden." The boy smiled and walked off towards the kitchen.
"Go suck an egg you bloody vulture." Harry murmured as he looked at his professor.
"Is it a message from Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
Snape simply motioned for him to lead the way and Harry sighed as he headed for the stairs.
Once in his room Harry sat on the bed and tried to ignore how ill he felt. He removed his glasses to wipe his face and then replaced them to see Snape looked around thoughtfully.
"What?" Harry asked feeling his embarrassment rise to his face. "My room is small because I'm small. You saw Dudley; you think he could fit in here? Let alone all his junk and his bed?"
"I doubt it." Snape said under his breath and Harry couldn't help the small smirk that came to his face.
"You feel alright Potter?" Snape asked and Harry looked up at the man through foggy eyes.
"Fine sir, what is the message from Dumbledore?"
Snape didn't say anything but he did pull out his wand and Harry anxiously stared at him.
"Relax Potter." Snape said as he gently waved the wand over him. A piece of parchment appeared and Harry could see writing on the other side.
"Is that his message?" Harry asked.
Snape didn't say anything but Harry saw the man's brow furrow as his eyes scanned the paper.
"Potter, take off your shirt."
Harry froze and slowly looked up at the man and a feeling close to fear and panic swept over him.
"Uh, Professor I…"
"Your. Shirt. Potter." The man said through gritted teeth.
Harry knew better then to disobey his feared potions professor when he gave that look, slowly Harry removed his shirt and felt some of the blister's puss was sticking to his shirt. When he finally got it removed Snape grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him up, "Turn around."
Harry did and tensed a little waiting for a jab at him; instead he was greeted by silence. A moment longer and Harry felt a single finger gently touch his skin. He spun around and reached for his shirt on the bed, "Don't bother." Snape said reaching into his robes.
He pulled out a medium sized jar from his cloak and took hold of Harry's shoulder. Harry reluctantly allowed the man to spin him around and soon Harry felt a wonderful sensation on his back. Harry couldn't help himself and he sighed and relaxed into the touch. Several minutes later the blistering pain of his sunburn was almost completely gone.
Harry turned to see his Professor replacing the salve in his robes. Harry was about to open his mouth to say thank you when his stomach let out a rather disgusting noise and Harry grabbed his stomach and ran to the small trash bin in the corner of the room. His cold sweat had returned and a wave of sick hit him hard. He tossed up mostly liquids and phlegm now. There just wasn't anything in there to get rid of.
When he finally stopped he pushed himself away from the bin and leaned against his closet door, "Sorry." Harry said as he closed his eyes a moment to stop the room from spinning.
"You have food poisoning." Snape said.
Harry nodded and said almost with a smirk, "Don't eat out of a rubbish bin, it's never as tasty as it looks."
Snape snorted and then reached into his robes again and pulled out another vial, which contained a light blue liquid.
"Drink." Harry shook his head, "I can't throw up anymore, to tired, I will just choke on it."
Snape didn't respond, he simply tilted the bottle to Harry's lips and the boy drank reluctantly.
His stomach gave one last grumble of protest but then settled and Harry instantly felt better. His sweats and shaking stopped and his stomach felt normal and rather full for once.
"Thanks." Harry said looking at his professor.
The man nodded and stood to walk back over to the piece of floating parchment, "Excellent." Harry said standing and crossing back to his bed, it had been days since he had let Hedwig out for a fly and he finally felt good enough to do it. He opened the cage door and the bird took off so quick that Harry almost lost his balance.
"Sorry! Sorry! I haven't been feeling well Hedwig!" He cried as the bird flapped around him and pecked at his head, "It won't happen again, I promise!" With that the owl took off through the window and into the night sky.
Harry turned to see Snape eyeing him up and down, "Yes?" Harry asked again though his tone was friendly. At this point, aside from his feelings about Sirius, Harry felt so much better then he had earlier. He couldn't bring himself to be snippy with the man.
"Your wrist Mr. Potter, and the bruise around the back of your neck…how did these injuries occur?"
Harry's smile faded and he felt the good feeling that had been ballooning him into a good state of mind start to deflate.
"Dudley. Him and his friends."
"I see, and the three broken ribs from last summer?" This made Harry falter.
"I uh, you know, I was climbing a tree to prune some… wait, how did you know my ribs were broken?"
Snape motioned with his wand and the piece of floating parchment came to Harry who grabbed it and read it quickly.
"A diagnostic Spell?" Harry asked as he scanned the rather large list of injuries.
"Though Diagnostic spells can cover most of a person's life history of serious injury on one or two pages you only have about two years here and it would take about fifteen to twenty pages or so to show the rest of your medical history."
Harry released the page and looked at the man with angry eyes, "So?" Harry said allowing some of his attitude to surface.
"So it seems that you have a very large amount of injuries to go through and most of them do not coincide with you and your friends little romps with the dark lord."
Harry turned away from the man, who as of yet, had not raised his voice or spoken one word of negativity towards him. Snape was not being himself and Harry didn't like it.
"Potter I…"
"I don't want your pity Snape… I just want to turn seventeen and then get the hell out of here." Harry was looking out the window trying to see if Hedwig was on her way back yet, he felt a large warm hand on his shoulder.
"I don't pity you Mr. Potter. I pity the people would could do these things to a child and not feel an announce of remorse."
"I am not a child. I don't think I ever was. Is it so much to ask for the pain to just stop?" Harry said as he felt the man step closer.
"No. It's natural and honestly I am surprised you lasted this long with out breaking."
Harry spun around and knocked the man's hand away, "Just stop it, you don't know anything. Not about me, or my problems…"
"You're in denial." Snape said in an icy tone.
Harry reached for his wand and pulled it out pointing it directly at Snape.
"Who the hell are you! You're not Snape. The real Snape wouldn't give a damn about me or my problems."
"I can assure you Mr. Potter, I am myself."
"Prove it!" Harry snapped.
Snape looked him straight in the eye and said, "During your Occlumency lessons you, being a rather nosy little brat, saw something in my pensive, something that only the Headmaster knows about. It had to do with your father."
Harry felt his legs grow weak and his hand slowly lowered, "I never told anyone…" Harry said as he realized that this was really Snape in front of him.
"For which I am surprised, if not reluctantly grateful."
"I'd never… seeing my father… do those things." Harry walked over to his desk and set his wand down, he placed his hands on the cool wood and leaned there a moment.
"To see that you were right, that my father was nothing more then a bully. He was a cruel man that found pleasure in other peoples torture and torment… and everyone tells me that I am just like him." Before Snape could react the boy had grabbed the small chair and wiped it across the room. It gave a nasty crack and lay in pieces on his bed.
"He was nothing but a – a…"
"He was young." Snape said trying to move forward towards Harry.
"He was cruel! He was everything that I try not to be! He is the embodiment of all the things I find disgusting in a human being. I grew up with people like him. People who pick on you because you're small or weak, because you don't belong or are different, because you're a freak. When I saw that memory I didn't know how to handle it, I thought it must have been a lie, something you fabricated to hurt me. But I knew deep down it was the truth. And every day after when I looked in the mirror and saw his reflection where mine should me, I just wanted to cut him out of me."
Silence fell for a long moment and then Snape tried to approach again.
"Mr. Potter, there are something's we can't change. The way your father was, what he did to me… you can't change that. But you can prevent it from happening again, you have prevented it. You may look like James Potter, but you are not him. It's taken me far to long to see that and you may find this hard to believe, perhaps even unbearable to hear, but as I see it, you are just like your mother and like myself….in all honesty your kindess and love-"
"Like you?" Harry asked looking up as the darkly clad man.
Snape seemed to hesitate; it was like a frame from a movie that had been stopped randomly while it was playing.
Harry was going to tell the man to forget he had asked when his professor started to undo the buttons of his robes.
Too shocked to speak, too terrified to see where this was going Harry stood frozen, unable to speak or move or reach for his wand.
Snape removed his final shirt to reveal the top half of his body and at first Harry didn't notice anything. But as Snape slowly turned around Harry noticed large but faded marks on the man's arms and torso. As Snape turned his back to the boy Harry's eyes grew wide. Scars littered the man's back, belt marks, burn marks, cuts and small gashes covered him.
"You were-" But Harry didn't finish as he moved forward without realizing it. His hand reached out and a finger gently traced a mark on the man's back. Goose bumps appeared on the pale flesh and Harry pulled back coming out of his trance.
"I'm sorry Professor… I didn't mean to." Harry looked at the floor because he wasn't sure he would ever be able to look the man in the eyes again. So much had been explained about the dark brooding man before him. So much had been shared with out the need to actually talk. When Harry felt a finger on his chin several minutes later his eyes were raised to look into the dark shadows of Snapes.
"Between you and me, I've eaten worse things then what you may find in the rubbish bin. Sometimes I would get so hungry I would eat the scraps left over from the fish market down the street."
"Did you ever feel so disgusted with yourself afterwards that you wondered why you didn't just end it then and there?" Harry asked gazing into the man's eyes and hoping Snape's answer would help him.
"I actually tried once. Your mother found me in a tree we used to play by, hanging from a rope." Snape pointed to his neck, which was usually covered by a collar, and Harry saw a burn mark.
"Rope burns seem to hurt longer then a regular burn and sometimes I think I can still feel the rope around my neck."
Harry took a deep breath and then moved away to sit on the bed, the wood behind him shifted and he picked up a piece of one of the legs.
"I thought of stabbing myself once, right here in the heart. I'd never have done it though. To scared of what I might miss, people I might never get to meet or places I would never get to go. But after being locked up for so long, either under the stairs or in this room… if I had never gotten my Hogwarts letter…"
Snape nodded, "I wouldn't be here either. Hogwarts became my safe haven growing up. It is only natural with how warm and protected the place feels."
Harry nodded and watched as his professor started to redress. Harry reached for his shirt and a small laugh escaped his throat.
"What is it?" Snape asked.
"Never thought I'd be half naked with my potions professor… kind of weird… in a good way."
"There are a lot of things that have happened in my life recently that I would have never expected, yet they are before me and I have learned to deal with them. You will too in time."
"Could I… at school… If I need someone to… if I keep it a secret…"
Snape kept his face blank as he said quickly, "If you need someone to talk to, about this particular subject matter or perhaps other things that may bother you… you know where my office is."
"Thank you professor." Harry said as he watched the man get ready to leave. Snape approached the door and turned and with a flick of his wand repaired the chair on the bed.
"One last thing Mr. Potter, I was sent here by the headmaster to check on you. I've done that, but now I must go give him a report. Please be aware of what this means and know that you'd do best to prepare yourself, I will be seeing how soon you can be moved from here. Enjoy the rest of your summer."
Harry could do nothing but nod as his potions master left with a flurry.
A/N: So Read and review and let me know what you think! I have a second part that I am working on but am not sure if I should post it. Do you think this will work better as a one short or a two part?