Author's Note: I am so, terribly sorry! I will try to work at faster updates, but it is hard to rewrite an entire thing. Hope this makes up for it though. And I'll hopefully have the next one up soon.

For now, here is the official second chapter! It's not long but we have a whole new situation where Severus discovers Harry's gone and he even has some allies! You also get more news on why Remus had to leave the country and what Sirius is doing in all of this. There's definitely more to the characters as I think I'm going to have them more involved somehow. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts!

Chapter Two: The Rescue

Hogwarts: Headmaster's Office

"Headmaster." Albus looked up from the papers before him to one Severus Snape, who stood before him. The man looked unusually haggard, but he had only just finished his five year mission, looking out for any signs of Voldemort. He had recently, by that Albus means not even an hour ago, returned from Albania, the last known place Albus had for a potential sighting of Voldemort's wraith. He would spend the next year on sabbatical recovering before returning to Hogwarts.

"Yes my boy?" Albus asked with a twinkle in his eyes and a lemon drop popped into his mouth. Severus barely refrained from grimacing in disgust at the yellow muggle candy.

"Where's Harry?" he asked, having passed the 9th birthday party, where he saw Liam and his parents. He had looked around before coming to Albus's office in hopes of spotting his pseudo godson, but hadn't spotted him or the werewolf that was his actual godfather. He'd probably always be a little resentful of the wolf for being able to legally and officially hold that title. He remembered the boy from when he had held him for the first time at the twins' first birthday, just as he remembered caring for the boy up until he had to leave when he was four. That, he figured, had been one of the most difficult things he had ever done. Then, to make it worse, he couldn't keep in touch due to the very real concerns of other Death Eaters searching for their lost Dark Lord and keeping an eye on him. It had been too much of a risk.

Albus blinked, before putting on a soft, understanding look. "Well, we began tutoring Liam and training him when the boys were four. And without you there, Harry had become rather closed off. We figured, for both the boys' sakes, we would separate them for a while. We would tutor and train young Liam, to prepare him for what lies ahead. And place young Harry with someone who could take care of him, in hopes of keeping the boy from resenting his brother for all the attention he got."

Severus held back a scowl before continuing. "So that's why the wolf wasn't down there? He's raising Harry elsewhere?" He asked. Now Albus looked pained.

"No. Unfortunately, when we- that is, Lily, James, and I- made the decision to separate the boys, Remus had been gone on a mission himself getting intelligence from wolf tribes. And when he had returned, it had been around the full moon, so... he hadn't been informed about young Harry's placement until afterwards." Here, Albus let out a heavy sigh that Severus recognized as regretful, but not for what he did. More for something he probably lost. "And when he had learned of who young Harry had been placed with, he rather disagreed with it. When we insisted that Harry was fine, he left. The only one who's heard from the man is Sirius, but he's rather miffed with it too and won't tell anyone what Remus has told him." Albus finished explaining, sounding put out by the whole thing. Like they were all still children throwing tantrums. Which to Albus's old age compared to theirs, was probably exactly what the old man thought.

"I see. And who did you place Harry with? I wouldn't mind stopping in and checking on him." Severus said, not really revealing anything about his thoughts. Albus was too content over all to notice.

"Why, Lily's sister, Petunia." Albus replied cheerily. Severus felt his blood freeze. He remembered Lily's older sister. Blonde, tall, and horse faced as they got older. He remembered that the woman was fiercely jealous and petty when it came to Lily and would often call Lily a freak and unnatural. And last he heard, even at the Potters' wedding, she hadn't changed much. Surely Lily wouldn't submit her child to the vile harpy's abuse. Severus wanted to believe that. Wanted to believe that fame hadn't changed the woman he had considered a sister so drastically that she would abandon her youngest to such a cruel fate. Surely.

"And you said you, Potter, and Lily agreed to this?" he asked carefully, face blank.

"Yes. In fact, Lily suggested it." Albus answered jovially.

"I see. I'll be heading off, Headmaster." Severus said, not even waiting for Albus to wave him off as he briskly left the office, heading for the Great Hall that the birthday party for the tw- for the Boy-Who-Lived- was being held in. He looked around, trying to spot the fiery red hair of his childhood friend. He ran into Black first. "Black." he said coolly, still keeping an eye on where he spotted Lily. "I need to speak to-."

"You don't." Sirius said, sounding oddly... serious. Severus hated the man's name, as Sirius and serious had never belonged in the same sentence to Severus's knowledge. He stiffened as he caught the man's words. Surely not?

"And why is that?" he asked, voice cold and hard. Warning.

Sirius took a deep breath. "Because I can tell you that what you're angry about and wanting to know... It's true. They placed Harry with those... creatures." Severus's breath caught in his throat. "Remus has been looking for them, and I've helped with whatever I could figure out. Unfortunately, Remus has been forced out of the country for his own health and well-being since the werewolf hunts, as illegal as they are- have hit a peaking point. The fervor is keeping him from returning for another year at least. On top of all that, James and Lily haven't made even a token attempt at finding Harry. They keep insisting that Petunia, as a mother, has matured and that Harry's just fine. But it's Petunia. And the only reason I'm still here is because I can't abandon my godson." Sirius sighed, noting the white knuckled grip of the potions' master's hands as they clenched into fists. "You can approach her and ask her for more details about why they got rid of Harry. But you're not going to like the answer she's going to give you. Or the way she's going to do so." Severus nodded. He knew the mutt was telling him the truth, but he needed to hear it from her own lips.

He approached her, betraying nothing of the roiling storm in his chest. He noticed Sirius was keeping an eye on them, though also one on James Potter. 'He wants to prevent the man from interfering in case Lily or I get upset and begin to draw attention.' he realized. He never thought he'd be thankful to the man before now.

"Severus!" Lily grinned upon seeing her friend. She noted how he was a bit haggard and just knew the man had pushed himself. "Oh Sev." she said with exasperated fondness. Severus almost flinched, remembering a small raven haired one year old shouting that same name in joy eight years ago.

"Lily. I heard you gave Harry up to Petunia." he said, sounding conversational. He was hoping, desperately, that this was all one big joke. Praying that his little raven would run into the Great Hall, maybe from one of the many secret passage ways that could be found all through out the great castle. His heart sank when Lily nodded. Not worried or ashamed of what she was going to say.

"Yes, actually. We began Liam's early year tutoring when he was four, shortly after you left. Harry had begun to isolate himself, upset at you leaving. He understood that it was an important mission but he didn't handle it well. And with us trying to get Liam prepared with all of the trials ahead of him, we began to worry that Harry would resent Liam, so I suggested we leave him with Petunia." she answered, sending a soft smile Liam's way where he was chatting excitedly with his father about his new toy broom.

"But, you remember what Petunia was like when we were kids, don't you?" Severus hedged, voice just slightly worried. Lily sighed before chuckling.

"Sev, we're all adults now. Tunie is a mother herself. Harry's fine." Lily assured him.

"Have you checked up on him at all?" He asked, not believing a woman like Petunia could change. Not when it came to what they were.

"Well, I did look into it once, but apparently they had moved by then. And a part of our agreement after the wedding was that we'd never contact them via magical means, such as owls, again. She hadn't left a forwarding address either, so we couldn't send anything the muggle way even if we wanted to." Lily huffed with a laugh, like that was just typical Tunie. Severus felt... numb. But he had one more question to ask, before he left and renounced her from there on.

"Did you not try to train Harry along side Liam?"

"No." Lily replied, confused.

"Why?"

"Severus, Harry wouldn't have gotten anything from the training. He's practically a squib, after all." She didn't say it in a mean way, more like a simple fact. Which made it worse, if Severus was honest.

"What? Why would you think that?" He asked confused. He had witnessed Harry perform plenty of strong, accidental magic when he watched him while the others were out and about dealing with the public and their adoring fans. Remus was present for a bout or two as well. So how could they think Harry Potter was a squib, or close enough?

Lily gave him a near condescending look that made Severus want to hex her. "Severus, he never displayed any accidental magic around us. And I'm pretty certain, as his mother, I would know." she added. Severus looked at the woman he once considered a sister with a look of such contempt that Lily actually stepped back in alarm. With nothing more than a look indicating that the woman was scum beneath his shoe, he turned and left her behind. Ignoring her calls for him to stop. He noted how Sirius Black blocked her way while James was still with his son, the duo glaring at him. He sneered at them, and his black robes billowed behind him as he left the Great Hall. He had a child to find. And with Black's patronus giving Sirius the latest information he had on the boy, he apparated from Hogsmeade and to Surrey. Now he just had to track down his raven.

Harry knew that he had been in the cupboard under the stairs for going on eight hours now. The Dursleys were going to the zoo then a dinner and even the movies before staying at some fancy hotel Marge had recommended. He had last eaten or drank anything the day before, so at the very least he wasn't completely starving, which was a nice change. The moment he had woken back up after having lost consciousness for... a couple hours, if his internal clock could be trusted, he took stock of his injuries, knowing that Vernon had done a number on him this time. He wonders what he did to deserve this thorough of a beating, or if it had just been because Vernon was unhappy about the problems Harry knew the man was facing at work. Probably that, actually, as he had been extra careful to keep anything 'accidental' from happening. His ribs were broken, and he wouldn't be surprised if one of his lungs had been punctured if the bloody saliva that he was spitting up was anything to go by. He definitely had a severe concussion; his wrist was broken as were three of his fingers. Vernon had brought out the belt as well, just to be extra thorough. And he could feel the burning contusions along his back, which would explain why the back of his shirt was tacky and sticking to him. He could also see a few bloody cuts on the inside of his arms and wrists from where he had tried to protect himself at least somewhat. He also knew his throat was bruised from where Vernon had nearly choked him into unconsciousness.

Harry tried fighting the exhaustion and heaviness that was trying to drag him into darkness, this one deeper than any he had been in before. He lost a few times waking and dozing fitfully as the hours ticked by. And all the while he could feel that his magic was struggling to repair something he hadn't even made a note of yet or was simply unable to. He was struggling to keep his eyes open again and was just about to give in when a knock sounded on the front door. He froze, unsure of what to do. Vernon would not have left that day if he was expecting a visitor. The knock didn't come again, and Harry ultimately decided that they had left. But then the door opened, and soft footsteps sounded on the hard wood floor. Were they being robbed? But a robber wouldn't knock, surely. As he heard the footsteps moving around, Harry had a sudden crazy, and possibly reckless, thought. He was losing too much blood, and he needed help. He didn't even know all of his injuries and the darkness was creeping stronger than before. So even though it might not work, he tried. He knocked, weak and quiet as it was due to the blood loss. He was worried the intruder hadn't heard him, but the footsteps stopped and were soon making their way to where he was weakly knocking. Praying that he would get help.

He heard the steps stop in front of the cupboard and the locks being removed. He winced at the light that filtered into the dark abyss of the small space he had just been trapped in. He barely glimpsed a dark and familiar- even after five years- figure. "Harry?" the deep voice asked in grave concern. Harry smiled.

"Sev!" the call was weak and tired, but relieved and thankful none the less. Then he fell into the darkness that had been trying to drag him down for the past however long he had been fighting it. He didn't even register the strong, but trembling arms that caught him.

It took Severus Snape longer than he wanted to admit finding the residence. But he had found it though, after several hours. He had just known that his little raven was here. He wasn't sure how, but he knew. He came across Number 4 Privet Drive and knocked a couple times. When he got no answer and made sure no one was watching him, he used a wandless 'alohomora' to open the door and enter the residence. He hadn't explored much, though he did note the pictures on the wall around the entrance and on the mantle of the fireplace in the living room. There wasn't a single dark-haired boy in any of the photos. Just the horse-faced woman he recognized as Petunia, her walrus of a husband, and what looked like a blonde beach ball. His lips curled in disgust about to go deeper into the house, then he froze when he heard the knocking. It was soft, and weak. And he doubted that they would continue for much longer. He found the cupboard under the stairs, a bad feeling rising in his chest when he saw the locks. He quickly unlocked them the same as he had with the entrance and pulled open the door. Simultaneously, his heart shattered, and his magic raged.

There was Harry. His little raven. Pale, beaten, bloody, and bruised. Hopefully, he wasn't broken. "Harry?" he asked.

"Sev!" the boy replied, relieved and weak. Wetness that came in a shuddering cough the boy probably didn't even realize he had made before he fell unconscious. Severus almost hadn't caught the boy in time.

"Oh, my little raven. What did they-?" he looked into the small and cramped space that was almost too big for the boy who looked no older than six, despite being nine. There wasn't even a mattress on the floor it was a couple ratty rags that couldn't even be called rags that were soaked with blood. There were cleaning supplies in the space, reinforcing that this was, in fact, a cleaning cupboard. He saw only two small piles of rag that he could guess, vaguely were supposed to be clothes. He even noted the spiders and the signs of dried blood here and there.

He had to occlude his mind quickly so he could think about what he needed to do next. He needed help. As good as he was, he wasn't up to par, not after half a decade running around and barely resting. Harry would need more than just him to fix this. But what should he-? Severus took a deep breath as an idea flitted through his mind. It was risky, but it was his only option, if he wanted to protect Harry from both these monsters and the Potters and Albus. After all, it was clear that they didn't care and maybe never did after that Halloween night. They would just get rid of him again, so he would take the boy with him. He didn't know how much time he had before the monsters returned, so he worked quickly. He used an old, dark transfiguration technique on one of the dead spiders in the cupboard, and before he knew it, there was an exact replica of the boy in his arms in the cupboard. The only difference between them being that while the one in his arms was dying, the one in the cupboard was already dead. The image made him shudder. He removed the magical residue and his signature from the cupboard, then reapplied the locks. After locking the door of the house from the inside, he apparated away. There was only one family he trusted enough with the raven in his arms.

Author's Note: And Harry is rescued. I hope the chapter flowed well enough. Please let me know your thoughts! I'll have the next one up soon.