Chapter 4: Happy Birthday, Harry! (BTW, You're A Wizard)
Spinner's End, Cokeworth July 23, 1996
Severus Snape and Harry reappeared in the blink of an eye in a dark sitting room. Severus gently laid Harry down on his comfortable old couch then turned and pointed his wand at the fireplace, starting a fire there. He then waved his wand around the room, lighting the candles scattered around the room, lighting the candles scattered about the room. These tasks completed, he turned back to the sleeping Harry.
Severus carefully removed Harry's shoes and socks, then took off the rest of his outer clothing, leaving only his briefs on. Severus then grabbed an electric blue quill and some parchment, setting them on the side table. The quill rose over the parchment and waited.
Kneeling next to the couch, Severus started the examination at Harry's feet. As Severus did this, he spoke aloud, talking about Harry's injuries in an almost clinical way. The quill made scratching sounds as it wrote down everything he said.
After Severus completed the examination, he stood up and started to put the quill away. He changed his mind and placed the quill back over the parchment. "Harry's body has obviously been through a lot of physical abuse. How much over the years, I don't know at this time."
"I will be healing the injuries to his head before waking him. After waking him, I will be giving him skele-grow for the ribs. I will be telling him about our world while allowing the rest of the bruises to start healing. If he gives me permission, I will use legilemens on him in a few days to find out if the abuse has been ongoing, or just a recent development."
Severus then got out another parchment, put the quill over it and told it "copy". The quill immediately began writing everything down on the new parchment. Severus then picked his wand back up and knelt down by the couch again, this time by Harry's head.
Severus then placed his wand on the gash on Harry's forehead and started mumbling a spell. As he cast his spell, he closed his eyes a bit and sensed that the bruising on Harry's brain was slowly healing. He put a bit more effort into his spell, a bit more of himself. The bruising started healing faster. After the bruising on the brain was healed, Severus then worked to close the skin until there was no outward appearance that Harry had ever been injured there at all.
Then Severus put his wand down and took a minute to reexamine Harry's head. After he reassured himself that the worst of the injury was healed, he quickly closed the wound under Harry's eye and repaired his glasses. After doing this bit of healing, Severus then took a quick break before deciding that it was now time to finish up.
Severus then picked his wand back up and pointed it at his potions cabinet. The cabinet opened and a big phial flew out and went straight to his outstretched hand. He then waved his wand over the table and a goblet appeared. After taking the stopper out of the phial and pouring some liquid into the goblet, Severus then put the stopper back in and sent the phial back to the cabinet. He then gently took Harry's hand and said, "It's time to wake up now, Harry."
When Harry finally opened his eyes a minute later, the first thing that he noticed was the strange man that he had seen at Mrs. Figg's house. When he sat up, the next things he noticed was that one, he was not in a sitting room that was familiar to him, and two, even though his head wasn't hurting for the first time in days, the pain in his ribs almost brought tears to his eyes. Severus, noticing the pain, sat on the couch and handed the goblet to Harry. "Here, this will help, " he said.
Harry took the goblet, but didn't drink from it right away. "Who are you? Where am I?" he asked. Severus looked at him and said, "I am one of your godfathers, Severus Snape, and you are at my house. Now, please drink that potion. It will help. I will explain as much as I can when you're feeling a bit better." Harry finally looked at the goblet, and then sniffed. "It doesn't smell so great" he thought, so he tipped it and drank as much as he could while holding his breath. Harry coughed and sprayed some of it at the taste.
Severus sort of chuckled, "Yeah, it's not exactly pumpkin juice, but it does heal broken bones. You sustained a few broken ribs this morning when you tangled with your cousin." Severus then handed Harry a throw pillow and a light blanket. "Here, I forgot that I needed to remove most of your clothes to see how bad your injuries were. Hug the pillow to your ribs for a while to help with the pain. With luck, you drank enough to heal your ribs in the next hour, but the pain might get a little worse before it gets better while the ribs are healing."
Harry covered up with the blanket and hugged the pillow as suggested before looking around a little bit more. The room was so dark that he had originally thought that he was in an inner room, but he noticed that there were heavy red drapes covering the window in the room. The fireplace was lit, providing warmth and light, and there were candles lit on several surfaces around the room. There was also a candle filled chandelier above the couch that he sat on.
All the furniture in the room looked older, as if the man in the room with him had either inherited them or bought them second hand. Everything looked like it was in good condition, even though it was obviously older. There was the couch that Harry was sitting on, plus a couple of matching lounging chairs. Two matching end tables were on each end of the couch. Harry could also see several doors from where he was sitting.
"How long was I sleeping, anyway?" Harry asked. Severus looked at him. " From the time that you fell asleep at Mrs. Figg's house to the time you woke up here?" "Yeah." Harry replied. Severus looked at the grandfather clock. "About one hour, give or take five minutes." Harry looked shocked. "An hour? How did my head heal so fast, then? I've never healed that fast!" Severus sighed. "I guess it's time we had part of that discussion I was waiting to have."
"Harry, like you, I'm a wizard. I healed your head using magic while you were sleeping." "I'm a what? " Harry asked. "A wizard," Severus replied. "Haven't you ever wondered why certain weird things keep happening around you?"
Harry thought back to things that had happened in his life. Things he had gotten punished for. He remembered that bad haircut that had grown back overnight. He remembered ending up on the school's roof when running from Dudley and his gang. He also remembered the time that his teacher's hair had turned blue after she had yelled at him for something Dudley had done. Then he remembered the snake at the zoo. "You mean that I actually did those things? But, there is no such thing as magic! Everyone knows that!"
"Stop thinking about what your uncle and aunt tried to beat into you! Those things really did happen. Magic is real to those born into our world. I feel that after a few years of training, you will be a great wizard, just like your father, James." "You knew my father? Were you there when him and my mum were killed in the car crash?" Harry asked Severus. "CAR CRASH? You were told that a car crash killed your parents?" Severus was astounded at the lengths that the Dursleys had gone to hide James and Lily's legacy from Harry. "Harry, they were murdered by one of the worst wizards in our history. That same wizard is also responsible for that scar on your forehead."
Harry started to say something, but was interrupted by a tapping at the window. Severus got up and walked over to the window. He pulled the drapes back to peek out the window. Outside the window was a couple of big barn owls with a big sack between them. Severus pulled the drapes back a little more and opened the window to let the owls in. The owls dropped the bag at Severus' feet, then one flew back out the window while the other flew to a perch in the corner of the room like it was waiting for something. Severus then waved his wand at the sack, moving it to the opposite end of the couch from Harry.
When Severus peeked inside the sack, he discovered a big bundle of clothing, a couple tins of cookies, and a letter. Severus picked up the letter and read, " Severus, Enclosed, you will find a bunch of muggle clothes that will fit Harry and some sweets to help fatten him up a bit. I hope to hear that everything is alright with him. Regards, Minerva"
Severus picked up a quill and parchment and wrote back to Minerva, "Minerva, I have had to do a bit of healing on Harry and then explain that he is a wizard. Apparently, the Dursleys kept his heritage from him, so I am having to start from scratch. Thank you for the clothes and sweets. The clothes he was wearing when he got here were very inadequate. Regards, Severus. P.s. Hopefully, your son, Leo can come and visit sometime before school starts. Harry needs to meet some nice kids his own age."
After writing the return note, Severus turned to the owl that had stayed behind and handed the note to it. The owl then went to the window and flew away. Severus then closed the window and turned to Harry.
"I hope you don't mind, but one of my coworkers knew that I brought you here with only the clothes on your back, so she sent you some of her son's clothes. She also sent you some cookies. Let's find out how these clothes fit, shall we?" Harry looked at him. "Umm…. okay, I guess. Anything is better than Dudley's old clothes, I guess."
Severus took the tins out first and set them on the coffee table before he turned the bag upside down on the couch. They found four pairs of black jeans, two of them artfully torn at the knees. They also found four pairs of black t-shirts with popular rock bands on them. Severus looked at the t-shirts, and chuckled, "Ah, Yes. I forgot that Leo likes his muggle rock band t-shirts." Harry looked at him quizzically, "Muggles?", he asked. "Non-magic folk." Severus replied. "Well, let's see how these fit, shall we?" Severus said.
Harry then looked around. "Umm...is there a place that I can go to put these on?" he asked. Severus then said, "I'll just go into the kitchen over there", and pointed at the door on his left. "It's almost lunch time, anyway. Is there a type of soup or sandwich that you prefer?" Harry thought about it a second. "I'll eat just about anything. I am quite hungry, but don't want to be a bother." Severus just sighed and asked, "How long has it been since you had a decent meal? By decent, I mean when was the last time your stoche was actually filled?"
"My stomache has never been full, but it has been almost a week since I had more than two meals a day, and more than two glasses of water per day." Severus almost choked holding back his rage at that statement. "Well, then, I guess it's going to be a hearty chicken soup and cheese sandwich. I'll be back in a little while. In the meantime, have a cookie or two from those tins and try on the clothes. You'll find that Minerva makes excellent cookies." Severus then left the room so that Harry could try on the clothes.
Harry picked up the first t-shirt. When he put it on, it was a perfect fit. He looked at the rest of the t-shirts, and found them to be the same size as the one that he was wearing. He then tried on one of the black denims without the holes, and found that this also fit comfortably. After checking the others, he found that they were also the same size that he was wearing, so he folded the rest of the t-shirts and jeans and put them back on the end of the couch. He then opened a tin of the cookies and found them to be ginger cookies. He grabbed two, closed the tin and sat down to nibble on the cookies while waiting for lunch.
A few minutes later, Severus returned to the sitting room. "Ah, I see the clothes fit! Funny, except for the hair color, you now look a little like Leo. Well, follow me, luncheon is ready now. I hope it tastes good...I don't cook for others very often." Harry just looked up, and shrugged his shoulders, "Like I said, I'm not that picky...If you would like, I could help out with the cooking every now and then. At least at breakfast, anyway. I can cook up bacon and eggs. I'm used to making those every morning, anyway." Severus replied to that, "If you don't mind my cooking, then I'm willing to give you a bit of a break from that task for at least a few days. You need to rest and gain a few pounds before I'll even consider having you do more than keeping your room at least neat." Harry stood up, "Okay, I guess."
Harry then followed Severus through the door into the kitchen, where there was a small table set for two. "I hope you don't mind," Severus told him, "but I figured that as long as it's just the two of us, we can eat at this table for now. I usually save the dining room for when I have more people over. I'll take you on a tour of the place after we eat and let you get set up in your bedroom."
Harry sat down, and noticed that there was a bowl of chicken soup, and sandwich and a glass of juice in front of him. There was also a glass of water there for him. "So, how long am I going to be staying here, anyway. I wouldn't ask, but I'm afraid that Uncle Vernon is going to call the police or something on you."
Severus scowled at the mention of Vernon's name, causing Harry to flinch away from him. "Please don't be afraid of me, Harry. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the people who were supposed to be taking care of you. Don't worry about them. I've already had a talk with them, and explained exactly who I am. I think that we have come to the understanding that you will be staying with me until school starts."
Harry looked at Severus with a bit of awe, then picked up his spoon and started eating. After lunch, Severus put the dishes in the sink, pointed his wand at them and walked away to show Harry around the place, just as he said he would. Harry stood and watched as the dishes seemed to wash themselves and put themselves into the drainer to dry. "You're going to have to show me how to do that!" Harry exclaimed. Severus just chuckled and said, "I'm sorry to say this, but since you are still under aged, you will be having to do the dishes the muggle way. As far as domestic magic goes, you will be learning that stuff in school soon enough. Now, let's grab the pile of clothes on the couch and put them away." Severus then walked back into the sitting room.
After Severus showed Harry where his room was and showed him where the bathroom was and so on, he went back to the sitting room, put some more logs on the fire, then sat down in one of the lounges. He invited Harry to sit wherever he wanted, then handed him a n envelope addressed to him. "This is the letter that you were trying to read when you ran to your neighbor's house this morning. Go on and read it."
Harry opened the envelope with shaking hands. Inside were two pieces of heavy yellow paper. The top piece was written in the same green ink as the envelope and with the same handwriting. It read:
Hogwarts School
Of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class; Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
After reading this letter, Harry looked at the other page. It had a long list of all the items that he needed to bring with him to school. Harry put the letter down, and sighed. "There is no way I'm going to be able to get all that stuff. I know that there is no way that I'm going to get my uncle or aunt to pay for that or for my tuition." "Your parents left you enough money for all that and more. They did not die paupers, and I have all the paperwork needed for you to be able to access the funds. Also, I know the person who is holding onto the key for your vault. He will be here next week, for your birthday, to take you there on August 1 to get everything you need. Unfortunately, I have an appointment that same day, so I won't be able to take you myself." was Severus' answer. For the rest of that day, Severus insisted that Harry relax, drink lots of water and juice, and eat when he was hungry.
For the next couple days, Severus answered as many of Harry's questions as he could. Several more owls showed up during that time with more clothes and snacks for Harry. Harry kept most of the clothes, except for one. It was a gaudy looking orange sweater with a red letter "R" in the middle of it.
On Wednesday, Severus finally decided it was time to ask Harry if he could see his memories. "Harry, have a seat on the couch. There is something important I need to ask you. I need you to listen first, then think about it for as long as you need before you give me your answer. I will answer any questions that you have at that time." Harry sat down. "This sounds serious, Uncle Severus. Okay, I guess that I'm ready to listen."
Severus took a moment to compose himself, then started. "I would like to use one of the abilities that I have learned called legilemens on you. This spell will allow me to see into your memories. I would not do this on you with or without your permission, but I need to see how long that your aunt and uncle abused you. I need to see how bad it was. If it was as bad as I suspect, I will be getting ahold of someone in the legal department at the Ministry of Magic on your behalf to take full custody of you if I can. Again, this is your choice. Now I'm going to give you a chance to ask me questions and give me your answer."
Harry thought about it for a moment. "Will this be painful?" "Physically, no it will not be painful. If I do this, though, you will be reliving these memories, yourself as well. Know that I do not wish to hurt you in any way, but I need these memories." "How do you cast this spell? How does it work?" " You will need to relax and look into my eyes. I will then cast the spell. Legilemens works only by eye contact in my case. Legilemens works by showing me your memories, almost like a moving picture. I will try to just sift through them. After, I will then make copies of your memories using another method on myself. These copies are what I will be sending to the legal department if necessary."
Harry thought about it for just a minute more. "Just one more question, then I'll let you do this. Is there any way anyone else will be able to get these memories from me? If so, then is there any way that you can teach me to keep any others out of my head?" "Good question. Yes, others could get those memories from you and use them against you. There is a way of blocking unwanted intrusions from getting into your head, which I will start teaching you later this morning. Is that alright with you?" Harry said, "Yes. And we can begin as soon as you're ready. I want to get this part out of the way as soon as we can. I don't like these memories. They wake me up at night all the time."
Severus then instructed Harry to sit there and relax. "It's important that you relax, because this spell will drain you if you try to fight the memories from coming. Know that they are just memories, and will not be able to physically hurt you a second time." Harry then relaxed as instructed. Severus then picked up his wand pointed it at Harry's head and said "Legilemens." As Harry looked into Severus' eyes, he started seeing things from his past.
He remembered when he was a baby, and had Dudley poking and prodding him all the time. He remembered his aunt taking a away from him and smacking his hand, because the spoon was floating in front of him and feeding him. He remembered his Aunt Marge's favorite dog Ripper chasing him up a tree when he was only 5. Nobody would call the dog off, and left him up in the tree until after bedtime.
He remembered every time that Uncle Vernon "took him to task" for every time he created accidental magic. He remembered every punishment from Aunt Petunia because of the reports of "bad behavior". (each report of bad behavior was because of Dudley and his friends chasing and teasing him.) Severus almost started laughing when Harry remembered the teacher's blue hair. Finally, Harry started remembering the snake at the zoo. Then the arrival of the first letter, and the result of Dudley trying to take it from him. The time spent in the room, and the conversations that Harry overheard came next. Finally, to the day that Harry met Severus.
When Severus finally broke eye contact with Harry, he had tears running down his face. "My dear boy! I don't even know how to begin. You have had a rough time of it, alright. I will begin teaching you occlumency as soon as you have a bit or rest, and something to eat." Severus then took his wand, pointed it at his potions cabinet as said, "Accio, empty phial." A small empty phial appeared with a stopper. After it flew to his hand, he turned his wand to his temple and held it the a second. As he slowly pulled it away, a silvery fiber like substance came from his temple. After he was done pulling this from his temple, he shook it over the phial, dropping it inside. After it settles in the bottom in a gaseous from, he put the stopper in the phial.
"Alright, now let's have a bit of a snack, then we will be getting to the occlumency lessons. I really do not want anyone to be able to use those memories against you!"
Over the next couple days, Harry was taught some relaxation techniques so that he could learn to block others from his mind. Before he knew it, it was Sunday night. Before sending Harry off to bed, Severus sat down and said to Harry, "Tomorrow is your birthday! I have invited a friend of mine, Rubeus Hagrid over to help us celebrate. He is also the man who will be taking you to Diagon Alley to get your supplies. I realize how you feel about big men. Just know this. Hagrid will not hurt you in any way. He will also be there to protect you. Also, for your protection, let's start calling you Harry Evans. Evans was your mother's maiden name. We will start practicing this name whenever around others, so that you get used to answering to it. Will that be alright with you?"
Harry looked at him, and said, "I guess. Is this because of my parents' murders? Am I still in danger?" Severus looked at him with pride. "Yes, it's precisely because of your parents' murders. No one will recognise the name Harry Evans. With your bangs grown to the length that they are, no one will be able to see the scar, either." "Alright, I'll do it. Well, Goodnight, Uncle Severus. See you in the morning."
Bang! Harry woke up the next morning with a start. Bang! "Okay, okay! I'm up! Just give me a minute and I'll get breakfast started!" Bang, Crash! Harry jerked up in the bed, and remembered where he was. He quickly put on a jumper and a pair of torn black denim pants, then ran down the stairs, to see the front door laying on the floor and Severus assuring a giant of a man that he could fix the door, so no harm, no foul.
"Err, Morning, Uncle Severus. Hi, Mr. Hagrid?" Harry said, as he looked up at a man who had to stoop to keep from hitting his head on the ceiling. The man wasn't just tall, he was enormous! He had wild black hair on both his head and his face. He looked kind of scary, but had crinkly black eyes that looked like they smiled a lot.
"This must be Harry.", the man said as he stooped down to put the door back in place so that Severus could fix it. "I haven't seen you since you were the size of a bowtruckle. You look a lot like James did at your age, but you have your mother's eyes. By the way, you can call me Hagrid." Harry just stared and nodded his head to let Hagrid know that he understood.
"Oh, Happy Birthday! Here's a little something I made for you. I might have sat on it a little, but it should taste alright just the same." Hagrid then pulled a slightly squashed box out of his pocket and handed it to Harry. It was a small cake with chocolate frosting and green writing on it that read, "Happee Birthdae, Harry." "Thanks! Maybe we can have this after lunch, right Uncle Severus?" "That's right, Harry. Let's put this in the kitchen for now, and start some breakfast. What would you like for your breakfast, Harry? After all, it is your big day. Not every day that our boy turns eleven, after all!"
Harry thought about it, and decided on bacon, sausages, eggs and toast with some pumpkin juice to drink. Severus led them into the kitchen and started preparing the meal. Harry and Hagrid sat down at the table and waited. "So, staying with Severus for now, eh Harry?" "Yeah, things weren't working out too well with my aunt and uncle. Severus has been helping me out a lot, and teaching me about the magic world for the last week. There is so much to learn!"
Hagrid made a sound, almost like "harumph" and then said to Harry, "Yeah, Professor McGonagall has told me a little about what happened, and Severus has also let me know a few things. You, know, Professor McGonagall tried to get Professor Dumbledore to allow her to foster you, but I guess that he decided to keep you out of the eyes of the magic world for a while."
Severus turned at that, and asked, "Did she really try? I didn't know. Harry would have been safer with her than at his aunt's place. I knew Petunia when she was still a little girl. She had a nasty disposition even then! I wonder why Dumbledore decided that it would be best to place Harry there instead of with Minerva?" He turned back to the stove and let the topic die.
The three of them spent the day together. Hagrid had brought a deck of cards with him, and between Hagrid and Severus, Harry learned how to play exploding snap. Severus had bought Harry a few items (like socks and briefs) that he needed, plus a few things that he didn't need. (like gobstones and Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.) They had the cake with luncheon, then had an early dinner.
"Well," Severus finally stretched and said. "It's an early start for all of us tomorrow, so I'm going to suggest that we all get to bed. Hagrid, would you like the extra room, or the sitting room?" "I'll take the sitting room, thank you. It's less claustrophobic in there." "Very well, I'll get you a blanket and a couple pillows, then say Goodnight." "Goodnight, Uncle Severus. Goodnight, Hagrid. See you both in the morning." "Goodnight, Harry", both men replied, then Harry went to bed.
