Harry woke slowly. For once he was pain free and comfortable. 'Wait', Harry thought, 'I'm supposed to be at the Dursley's. This definitely is not the Dursley's house. They make sure I'm as uncomfortable as possible.'
With this thought Harry tried to sit up, only to have a strong yet gentle hand lightly push him back down. Harry complied with out opening his eyes. Sighing Harry opened his eyes only to close them again when he saw that he was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts and Professor Snape was sitting next to his bed. "What happened this time", Harry asked in resignation.
"Well", Snape began, taking a breath to clear his head, " last night at exactly midnight, the wards on your house went off alerting those at Hogwarts that something triggered the wards." Severus stopped and let Harry absorb that information and thus ask the question to start the difficult explanation.
Just as planned Harry asked, "What set the wards off?" Harry mentally prepared himself for news of an attack, trying to ignore the lack of malice in his professor's voice. However what Snape replied threw Harry's entire world off kilter.
"You are not human, Harry", Severus said warily. Meeting Harry's eyes he saw the shock. 'The poor boy. Will he be able to handle this?', Severus thought to himself.
"Then wh- what am I", Harry asked in a small voice, unable to meet Severus' eyes. Severus sighed. The child sounded so broken, and so like Severus when the marauders started bullying him. And at that moment Severus swore to protect the boy in any way that he could. A hesitant 'sir' from Harry drew him from his thoughts and Severus realized he had yet to answer.
"You, Harry, are a Myrmidon. And before you ask questions please allow me to tell you all I know of your race." After receiving a nod from Harry, Severus dove into his vaguely outlined explanation. "Myrmidon are protectors. They have a destined pack, or family of the heart, as it has been called. These packs usually have around three or four members, each member having a role in the 'family'. The rolls usually include a father/mentor figure, a mother-like figure to love and guide you, and a mate. There can be more members but they are not nearly as important as these three. Only members of a Myrmidon's pack is able to heal them should they be injured. If a Myrmidon does not find these three members they will die. They have two weeks to find the first one. After that it is a month to find the next and after the second is found you have three weeks to find the third. If the Myrmidon only finds two members the death can be put off, but they disappear into themselves eventually dying. A Myrmidon will protect their pack above all else but were often used as security guards. Questions so far?"
Harry stopped for a moment and thought. Most of the answers had been straight forward with no questions necessary. He had only two questions and decided to throw them out there, still not sure why he was so comfortable around a professor that had made his life hell for five years. "What did you mean by 'no longer human? Surely I am at least still part human? And if only a pack member can heal them, then who healed me?"
"When I said you were no longer human, it was literal. The reason you felt so much pain you passed out was because your body was removing all your human genes, leaving you 100% Myrmidon. And as for who healed you...", Severus trailed off, uncertain if he should tell Harry he was part of his pack.
"Who", Harry asked growing a bit impatient.
"As for who healed you", Severus repeated a bit warily, "I healed you. Yes, I am a member of your pack. I believe myself to be the father/mentor."
"And you are okay with this", Harry said incredulously. Harry was, oddly enough, not bothered by this development, it seemed... right.
"When I saw you, beaten and bloody at the Dursley's, I swore to put aside any animosity I had towards you. It was never really meant for you in the first place. I am telling you all this because I feel you gave a right to know and, whether I like it or not I care about you", Severus scowled a bit when he said the last bit. Old habits due hard I guess. "Oh, and you may call me Severus, seeing as we will probably be living together now."
"Thank you, Severus", Harry said, extremely grateful that he hadn't been rejected, knowing instinctually that had Severus refused to be part of his pack he would have died. With that thought drifting about his subconscious, Harry drifted off to sleep with a gentle, calloused hand petting his hair.