Chapter 1: Mistakes 

It was a nice night. The Halloween feast was over for most people, and most of the people in Little Whinging were going to bed. At Privet Drive number 4, the perfectly normal Petunia and Vernon Dursely were putting their son Dudley in bed. He was throwing a tantrum, because his mother wouldn’t read him anymore stories. She had already read three stories to him and didn’t want to read any more. But after having to deal with Dudley’s tantrum for nearly half an hour, she gave in and read him one more story. Vernon had gone downstairs to relax in front of the television and was therefore the only person in the house to see the news report about flying owls and falling stars. Since he had already met some strange people while going to work, he got a bit upset. He hoped it hadn’t anything to do with those horrible people, the Potters. He gave a small shudder at that thought and quickly tried to think of something else, like the nice holiday Petunia and him were going to go on next weekend. 

After sitting on the couch for several hours, he and his wife went to bed, with no idea that their normal life would be disturbed the next morning by the appearance of a little boy. This little boy was supposed to arrive that night. The tabby cat, which had been sitting on Privet Drive for the entire day already, was getting restless. At last she saw a strange looking man appear at the other end of the street. After he put out all the street lights he slowly walked towards Privet Drive number 4. The tabby cat then changed into a strict looking woman.

 “Hello Albus, I have been waiting for you all day now. So, do tell me, are the rumours true?” she kept looking at the older man, like a cat looking at its prey. The older man waited a while before answering.  

“Yes, it is true I am afraid. The Potters were killed. Only their son, Harry, has survived for some unknown reason. He only has a scar left on his forehead. Voldemort’s spirit has fled for now. For a while we can be safe again.” 

The woman dabbed at her eyes for a moment and then asked another question: “And Harry, where will you put him then? I do hope you won’t put him with these muggles. They seem horrible to me, and I’ve only been here for one day.”  

When the older man looked away for a bit, she knew the answer. “Albus, you cannot be serious. You want that sweet little child to be put with these horrible people? There won’t be much good coming from it, I can tell. You don’t need to be a Seer to see that.”

The older man sighed. “I do not have much choice. They are the only relatives he has left, and with Sirius arrested, and Remus with his condition you know I cannot let him go somewhere else. There are still Death Eaters walking around that would love to take Harry and kill him. We cannot let them. I have cast several difficult  protection spells around this house and it will be enough. In ten years he will start at Hogwarts and we can keep a close eye at him then.”  

The woman wanted to protest again, but was interrupted by the sound of a very large motorcycle. The motorcycle came flying down from the sky, and on it was a giant-like man with a small bundle in his arms. Carefully stepping down, he held the bundle to him.  

“Ah, there you are, Hagrid. I was wondering what was going on,” the old man said.  

“Jus' a lot of owls to avoid. Ya know how it is,” Hagrid said. (A/N: sorry, the accent is not my good point) 

The woman looked at the bundle. In it was a sleeping toddler, with black hair that stuck up in all directions. He was tucked in the blanket and seemed fine. On his forehead was a lightning bolt shaped scar.  

“So that is the scar he will have?” the woman asked.  

“Yes, that scar will remain. I cannot do anything about it. And who knows, it might be handy later on. Like the scar on my knee, it looks just like the...” Albus trailed of at the look the woman gave him.  

“Well Hagrid, would you please give him to me then. I wrote his family a letter, and it should work out alright.” 

The woman frowned and pursed her lips, but thought better than to argue again. It was hard to win from Albus. Hagrid gave Harry a cuddle, before handing him over to Albus. 

Albus placed him on the front doorstep and placed the letter in the blankets. With one last look back, the three people left Privet Drive.  

On the doorstep the little boy called Harry, from now on also known as the Boy-Who-Lived, was still sleeping peacefully, with no knowledge that his parents had died, and that he would have a very difficult time ahead of him. 

Chapter 2: Problems and Missions 

It was ten years after that horrible and also delightful night. Ten years of peace in the wizarding world. Now it was time to let their saviour go to Hogwarts, to begin his training as a wizard. But Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, was having a problem. The Hogwarts letters to the first years had been send out two weeks ago, but those addressed to Harry Potter, kept coming back to him unopened. Or the letters had nearly been burned and the owls looked ruffled, as if attacked. Albus was beginning to get a bad feeling. Perhaps he should have listened to Minerva, and not have left Harry with those muggles. But, on the other hand, what else could he have done? Although, if he was honest, he should have at least checked up on Harry in those 10 years he had been living at the Dursleys. That was another part of the problem. He wasn’t too sure they had actually kept Harry. What if they had dumped him in an orphanage or something? He didn’t know.  

Last week he had sent Hagrid to the Dursleys. Hagrid had come back rather angry. Apparently, Vernon Dursley had threatened with a gun, and had also shouted at Hagrid that he didn’t know a thing about someone left on their doorstep 10 years before. With that, Hagrid had to leave.  

Now, Albus was forming a plan. September 1st was coming closer, and he was needed at the school. But one member of his staff would be perfect for something like this. To spy and sneak around, trying to find out things about Harry Potter. Also, this member of the staff was used to muggle life, so he would be able to blend in. Other wizards had the tendency to not blend in so well for some reason or another. The only tiny problem with this member of the staff was his hatred for anything to do with the name Potter, and his love for Potions that would keep him in the castle.  

Today was the day Albus was going to convince his staff member to take a leave of absence (he had already arranged a new temporary Professor) and go look for Harry Potter.

Today was going to be tough, today was going to be a battle of wills. And Albus was planning on winning. Today.... there was a knock on the door. “Do come in, Severus,” Albus said.  

The door opened and in stepped, well, something with swirling robes, a lot of black, and a sour look on his face. Albus’ eyes started their damned twinkling.  

With a huff and a grunt that could be considered a greeting, the black, sour looking person called Severus Snape, went to sit in one of the chairs.  

“Hello, Headmaster, what is it that you wanted to speak to me about?”  He asked, coming straight to the point. He had, after all, been called away from a very difficult potion. The Headmaster seemed to be able to do that, always asking him to come when he was working on difficult potions. 

Albus took some time to give him tea and biscuits. Severus accepted the tea, but took no biscuits. “Yes, the matter I wanted to talk to you about. Always straight to the point with you, hm, Severus?”  

Severus decided to just take a sip from his tea. “Hm, well then. The thing is, I have a very difficult problem. And it takes a highly skilled person to solve this problem. If it is possible to solve it at all. So, after much thought, I could only think of one person fit for this job. And that happens to be you, Severus.”  

Severus didn’t look like it, but this got his attention. So either the Headmaster wanted him to invent/make some potion, or he wanted to use one of his other qualities.  

“And what, if I might ask, is the problem exactly?”  

Albus smiled a bit. He was pretty sure Severus was interested. “Well, we’ve lost one of our future students. And neither owls, nor Hagrid were able to reach this person. So I would need you to look for clues, for ways of finding out what happened to him.”  

“One of our future students? And you actually send Hagrid to deliver a letter? No wonder you couldn’t find him then.” But seeing the look on Albus’ face, Severus decided to keep the rest of his comments to himself, for now of course.  

“So, what is the name of this student, and where was he supposed to live, and how long ago did you lose him?”  

Albus twirled his thumbs for a bit. Severus took this as a bad sign. The Headmaster was hardly ever showing signs of nervousness.  

“Well, this will be the part you might not like, but we’ve lost Harry Potter.” Albus stopped talking then, knowing Severus would burst out any second now. He was right.  

“What?! You want me to look for Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived! You mean to tell me, you actually lost him?! Damned Albus, do you even know what you are asking of me?!” he would have ranted for a lot longer, probably starting with James Potter and what he had done to Severus, but Albus cut him off.  

“Yes, I know Severus. Unfortunately, we cannot find the location of Harry Potter. No tracking spells and devices could find him, we only know that he is still alive, somewhere. Now, let me tell you this: ten years ago, I left Harry on the front step at Privet Drive number 4, Little Whinging, Surrey. His aunt and uncle, muggles, lived there, still do by the way, and were supposed to look after him. I had put up protection against Death Eaters and explained everything in a letter. Then I left. I do not know what happened after that. I do know that everything points to the direction of Harry still living in Little Whinging, so that is a start. I am sorry to say, that it never crossed my mind to check up on him. I thought his relatives would take care of him. If you do this job, I have arranged for a substitute teacher. I found you a house on Privet Drive and a job as a literature and self defence teacher at Stonewall High, the local High school. Perhaps Harry might be going there. Will you accept this job, Severus?”  

It took Severus some time, but eventually he decided. To be honest he was getting curious as to where Harry would be, and what would have happened during those ten years. Still, he couldn’t believe Albus would be so stupid as to not at least check up on the boy once. He was their ‘saviour’ after all.  

“Yes, Albus, I will take the job. When do I have to leave?” 

A huge smile broke out on the face of Albus. “Excellent. You can leave within three days, the house is fully furnished and you only have one meeting with the other teachers before the school year starts.”  

He then gave some final instructions to Severus and let him leave.  

That night and the following day Severus was busy with packing his things, and arranging lesson plans for his substitute teacher, who, he was pleased to see, at least was getting near the level of a Potions Master. Two days after his talk with Albus, Severus was ready to leave.  

Albus walked him to Hogsmeade station. “And remember Severus, keep me posted at least once a week. Goodbye, and good luck!” With a wave Albus was going back again. Severus took his trunks and boarded the express train to London, ready for his mission to find the Boy-Who-Lived.  

Severus got out of the taxi he took at the London station. He had finally arrived in Privet Drive. But he didn’t like it already. It was too neat, too tidy for his liking. Walking towards the front door of number 8, which was to become his home, for who knows how long, he looked towards number 4. It looked normal enough. The garden seemed to be in a perfect condition, the windows were clean, even though he could see someone looking from behind a curtain. “The gossip-lover,” he thought to himself. The rest of the house didn’t reveal anything either. Minerva had told him some of the things she had seen on that day, ten years ago, and he agreed with her, on the bad choice Albus had seemed to have made. But what’s done is done, so now he had to concentrate on what had happened to Harry Potter, and where he was now. Perhaps the boy was a Squib, so he couldn’t do magic. But no, he dismissed the idea right away. Squibs were not even sent any letters from Hogwarts.

Seeing as how he was still standing outside his door, he opened it and walked inside. The house smelled clean and looked nice enough. The living room was done in blue colours, which he liked very much. The furniture was soft, but not too soft, and matched very well. Upstairs he had a big bathroom, a study, and two bedrooms. Downstairs there was also a kitchen and a door that led to the cellar. Severus was happy with the cellar, because it meant that he could still experiment with potions, even so muggles wouldn’t notice. After he had unpacked his clothes and personal stuff (he had shrunk them at Hogwarts so they fit in one bag), he went to take a walk through the neighborhood.

It looked pretty much the same in the entire street. Only his garden wasn’t as well kept as the others, but he would work on that. It wouldn’t do to stand out too much in here. Besides, he rather liked gardening. He would just grow some usefull herbs and plants for his potions and cooking. Severus walked out of Privet Drive and entered a nearby park. At this hour (10 o’clock) it was pretty abandoned. Only a really fat boy was there, with his friends. It seemed as if they were destroying the swings. He heard the name Dudley once, and saw it belonged to the fat boy. So that was supposed to be Harry’s cousin. He hoped Harry wasn’t just as fat. No wizarding students were that fat. Not seeing any sign of a boy with black hair, he walked back to his house. He would begin his search tomorrow.

The Next Day:

Today, Severus really needed to do some shopping. And seeing as how this woman, Petunia, from number 4, was also going, he decided to go to the same shop. So he walked a bit behind her, looking around. People were going to the shops, or to work, so he looked pretty normal, except for his hair of course. He had tied it in a pony tail, so it looked more muggle like. He also was wearing muggle clothes, still in black though. He wore black slacks, that fit him nicely, and a black button up shirt, with long sleeves. The top two buttons were undone, so you could see a bit of his collarbone. All in all, Severus was attracting some attention from the females around him. He did notice their stares, but thought they just looked because he was new around there, he didn’t think of himself as good looking. Even though Severus was one of the more observant people in the world, he was oblivious to those things.

Anyway, Petunia had entered a supermarket and so Severus followed. He bought several things he would like to eat and also some snacks and something to drink. He would come back when he ran out of this food. He went to the register, to pay, and bumped into Petunia.

“Oh, I am so terribly sorry. I hope I didn’t hurt you,” he said. Petunia wanted to snap at him first, but when she turned around, she shut up. He was the man who had moved in at number 8, and seeing as how she was always so very curious, she decided to be nice and take advantage of the situation.

“Oh, well, it doesn’t really matter, Nothing’s hurt or broken, so I’ll be okay. But, I hope you don’t mind me asking, are you the new owner of number 8 at Privet Drive?”

‘Bingo’ thought Severus. “Yes, I am, actually. Why, do you live in that street as well?” he asked, feigning ignorance.

“Yes, I do. I live there with my husband, Vernon, and my son, Dudley. We live at number 4,” she smiled at him. “Perhaps, you would like to come for dinner tonight, so you can meet them?” she asked.

Inwardly Severus was cringing away from her, he thought she was an awfull woman. But outwardly, he remaind polite and said: “Of course I will. If you do not mind the extra work it will be.”

She smiled again. “The work won’t be any trouble at all. My ...son, likes to help me cook.”

Severus noted the way she hesitated for a bit, when she said ‘son’. He also noted she hadn’t mentioned anyone else living with them. He hoped that Harry was still with them somewhere, instead of having to look for him who knows where.

“At what time should I be at your house, then?” he asked.

“Well, you can come around six thirty. So you can drink something with my husband before dinner. Will that be allright, Mr... eh,”

“Oh sorry, how impolite of me. My name is Snape. Severus Snape.”

She smiled at him one more time, before leaving the shop. He smiled back briefly, and was inwardly planning on how to take advantage of this situation. He would take his wand with him. Some tracking spells worked better when being really close to the person you wanted to find. So perhaps, when he was inside number 4 he could use the spell to see if Harry was near. He also knew a spell that could tell if someone had ever been in a building, and how long ago this person had been there. These would come in handy tonight.

Finishing his shopping, he went over some plans for the rest of the day, while working in his back yard. He didn’t want to see anyone right now.

That evening he was ringing the door bell right on time. The really fat kid, Dudley, opened the door for him. Sickenly polite he asked Severus if he could take his coat. Severus gave it to him, deciding to use a cleaning charm on it when he got back to his own home.

Then Dudley took him into the living room, where a fat man was standing. He presented himself to be Vernon, and immediatly started rambling about Drillings, the company he was working for. Severus shut him out after a few minutes. He only nodded once or twice and asked some questions. In the mean while he was trying to determine if the sounds in the kitchen were made by one or two people. Sometimes it sounded like it, and sometimes it didn’t. He knew that the fat boy, Dudley had gone upstairs. After all, it was hard to miss the small earth quake that had caused. He hoped they would put the boy on a good diet, but he didn’t think so.

Finally, dinner was ready. Severus was lead into the dinning room. It was decorated rather nicely for muggles. Severus had been to really high class dinners in the wizarding world, but this could do too. The food didn’t taste too bad either. What was a bit disturbing was the way Dudley had been eating, but Severus locked him out, and survived the dinner. He had the idea that Petunia had made some dishes, but not everything. She didn’t smell right for that. Because of all the potions Severus had to make, his nose was rather well developed (and no, we’re not talking about the form of his nose in this case), so he could smell those things.

After dinner, he asked if he could use the restroom, and quickly left the living room. Softly, he walked towards the kitchen. No sounds were coming from there, so when he peered inside, he wasn’t surprised to see the kitchen empty. He was surprised however, to see that pratically everything had been cleaned up already. So unless these muggles suddenly had a house elf, there had to have been someone else in this room. But the trouble was, this person had to have been very quiet, because Severus hadn’t heard anything.

Then Severus decided to go to the restroom and use the spells. Once in the restroom he locked the door and tried the tracking spell. It did do something. It actually started spinning for a while, till it stopped, pointing at the floor. Severus tried it for several other times, and it gave the same result. Trouble was, he was standing on the ground floor, and Vernon had told him they didn’t have cellar, because they had been having rats in it once. So they had closed their cellar and had it thrown full with cement. Perhaps the spell was still malfunctioning then. At Hogwarts and his new home it hadn’t worked proparly either. This could be caused by a blockage, or the person you were looking for was too far away.

Next Severus tried the other spell. The results were stunning. According to the paper, that held the answers, Harry had been in the house for quite some time. But somehow he had and had not been there after two years. Severus didn’t know what this could mean. So Harry had been in the house since then, but on the other hand, he had not been? He decided to find out more about that later. For now, he would join the Dursleys again and later contact Albus about this. It seemed this search could be even more interesting than he had thought.

Downstairs he made the excuse to go home, saying it was more tiring than he had thought to move and then being so busy. Petunia and Vernon let him go, with sickening sweet smiles.

Severus cleaned his coat right away when he got home. He didn’t want to catch some disease from that fat boy. He was glad Dudley was going to a private school, so he wouldn’t have to teach that thing... he shuddered at the thought.

When sat in his chair, he started to think about all the things he had found out today. Harry had been there for the first two years. So when he was three something had happened to him. The question was, of course, what had happened and why were there still traces of the boy in the house? The way the tracking spell was acting was worrying. Could there perhaps still be some room beneath the house? But then, he hadn’t seen a door in the kitchen and besides, why would you keep someone in a dark place under your house. Of course, he had known people who did such things, but they had been loyal followers of Voldemort, and had been either killed or thrown into Azkaban.

No, all this didn’t make him feel right, and neither did the very clean looking kitchen make him any happier. He would tell this all to Dumbledore, and see if he had any other instructions.

So that night, a worried Albus heard all the news his spy had for him, and after a long silence he just nodded and let Severus proceed with what he was doing. Albus would think this over on his own, and would later on always regret having left Harry at that doorstep all those nights ago.

Severus had been in Little Winging for nearly a month now, and he still hadn’t seen Harry Potter. He did have some clues that he was possibly there, but those signs were quite vague. The problem was, he knew there was someone else living with the Dursleys, but he couldn’t prove it. The way the kitchen had been cleaned up, the spells that told him Harry had or still was there. He still wondered why the spells weren’t working proparly. They only were disturbed if someone used great amounts of magic to hide his or her own excistance, or if the person was either dead, or near death.

Severus had been at the Dursleys a few more times after the first dinner. He really couldn’t stand them, and hoped that if Harry was still living there, he was allright. But he thought not. In the beginning of this mission he thought it would be pretty simple. The boy had probably been really spoiled and didn’t want to go to Hogwarts, but to some other school. Or perhaps he felt himself too good to learn more magic. Either way, he had thought that it would be pretty easy to find Harry and take him to Hogwarts. Now he had his doubts. And they grew every day. He had tried to find information about Harry at the primary schools in Little Winging, but he couldn’t find it. Of course he had used magic to get into the schoolsystems, but there had only been one Harry, and he had died three years ago. And that Harry didn’t even look anything like James or Lily Potter. So he thought it was pretty safe to say, that Harry would still be alive today.

Severus was thinking this over, while walking to the teachers room. At the school, the teachers had a weekly meeting to talk about problems in classes, students that needed extra help, or had some other things that could interfere with their schoolwork. Severus had already decided to introduce such meetings at Hogwarts when he would be back there. This way students could be helped sooner and it would avoid a lot of problems, like he himself had had to endure. All in all, Severus thought, those Muggles were really progressing with their schools and ways of teaching, he would like to have a computer at Hogwarts too. Would save him a lot of time so he didn’t have to write all those scrolls of parchment. Unfortunately a computer wouldn’t work in Hogwarts, because of the amounts of magic concentrated there.

Pulling himself back to the present, Severus stepped into the teachers room. He was rather pleased with the subjects he was teaching, although the combination of Literature and self-defence was a bit weird. But he knew enough about both subjects, and he could still practice his potions at his house.

Severus was sharply pulled back to the meeting when the principal started the meeting.

“Good day everyone. I would like to introduce a new colleageau to you all. This is Mrs. Foster. She taught at Victoria’s College, but is now starting at our school. She will be the new history teacher and she will also be counselor to students. She will also be the tutor to a new student. This student cannot talk, the tests weren’t clear if he was also deaf, but we get the idea he isn’t. So Mrs. Foster will also teach you sign language, although some of you already know it, I believe. This student will come here tomorrow. He will start his first year.We will place him in clas 1A, they are usually very nice.

According to his aunt and uncle he had been sick for nearly the entire summer, so we shouldn’t worry too much about his appearance. Although, I know his aunt and uncle personally, and everyone who knows the Dursleys know what I mean if I say we should take that with a bit of scepticisme. The students name is James Evans by the way. Perhaps I shall let Mrs. Foster tell you something about herself, and then you can tell her if you know sign language or not.”

At hearing the name ‘Dursleys’ and ‘James Evans’, Severus could practically hit himself on the head. Of course, they had just changed the name of the boy. It was high likely that Harry Potter was now called James Evans. That could also be the reason the spells weren’t working proparly. But why would they have changed his name? He really couldn’t understand those Dursleys. He wondered why the boy wouldn’t be able to speak. Perhaps he wasn’t so unscathed from the killing curse than everyone had been thinking. He would contact Albus tonight with this new information. Severus was rather glad about one thing though, he could do sign language. He had once had a good friend who couldn’t speak. And together they learned sign language, because wizards only learned spells to know what a mute was saying. They didn’t trouble themselves with learning muggle methodes.

Then Severus got a sharp poke in his ribs by his nice collegeau Mike. Looking up, Severus noticed it was apparantly his turn to tell Mrs. Foster if he needed to learn sign language. So he signed her ‘no, thank you, I already know this.’ She smiled at him and went on asking the other teachers. Severus couldn’t wait till tomorrow. He had class 1A the second hour for Literature and then later on the day at the 5th hour for Defence. So he would be able to speak and see James Evans.

That evening he contacted Albus and told him about his findings. Albus looked rather pleased, although he also wondered why the Dursleys had changed the boy’s name. Severus ended the conversation with the promise to contact Albus again tomorrow.

The next day, the start of the second hour.

Severus had made a place in his class for James/Harry (from now on I will refer to Harry as James, to make it a bit easier). He had put him rather in the front of the class, so the boy could read his lips, and see his sign language easy. And it would also work the other way around of course. He wondered how the boy looked. Then the first students started walking in. Severus wondered if they were whispering so much about James, or about something else. When everyone was seated, he looked at the door where James appeared. Severus noticed the black hair, that was sticking up in all kinds of directions (just like his fathers) although it reached his shoulders, and most of all he noticed the beautifull green eyes (just like Lily’s, he thought). Then he saw the rest of James. The boy was really pale, like he hadn’t been outside for a long time. Also he was very small. He didn’t look like an eleven year old, he looked more like an eight year old. His clothes were way to big for him, and they looked rather shabby. No wonder the other students had been whispering. He looked more like a beggar, than a students. He also didn’t carry his books in a bookbag, but in a plastic bag. By looking at him, Severus felt his last doubts about a spoiled boy fall away. Now he could only wonder why the boy looked like that.

Then he realised he was staring, and signed to James ‘do come in, you can sit here’ (he pointed to the table). Then he signed and talked at the same time: “I hope you all made your homework, because I will ask questions about it.”

The class took out their work and started looking it over. James slowly walked to his table. Severus noticed the way his eyes kept on looking from one direction to another, as if expecting danger from all around him. Severus also thought he saw him trembling a bit. James sat alone at the table and after looking at the other students, he also took out his Literature book. But he didn’t have his homework of course.

Severus decided to ask him some questions after class. They would be having a break then anyway.

The class went rather well. He had asked James some questions, and although he couldn’t answer them all without help, he was rather good, even though he missed a month of school. Severus was already working out a plan to get him up to date with the rest of the class. Unfortunately the class wasn’t very helpfull. James just looked to different for the other students to really like him or look for contact with him. And apparantly some students had been in the same class as him, at primary school. And then the rumours started going round.

After class Severus signed to James to stay seated for a bit longer. James did so, and kept looking at the table for a while. When Severus was sure the other students had left, he closed the door and walked to the table James was sitting on. Then he put his hands on the table, so James would notice he was there. It worked, James lifted his head and looked at him. Or rather, Severus noticed, looked somewhere behind him, as if he didn’t like making eyecontact.

“Well James”, he signed, “From what I have seen in this class, you are not too far behind. Could you tell me what you have learned already? Then I can make some work for you so you will be on the same level as the rest of the class.”

James didn’t do anything for some time. Severus decided to just wait. Then James started signalling: “I read some books this summer, because I was sick. But I do not know all the theory behind them, so I think I need to work on that. And I haven’t really had anything else, so that’s about it.”

Severus wrote it down and then said: “Very well, I will give you some work tomorrow, that you can make in class then. Tomorrow the others will get a test, so you won’t miss anything. I will just mark the work you will make as a test.” He hesitated a bit.

“Do you mind me asking, what kind of sickness did you have this summer, to make you miss a month of school?” right after he asked the question, he noticed he shouldn’t have done that.

James just tensed up, and his eyes started darting around again. Then he looked down at the table for a while. Seeing there wouldn’t be an anwer coming forward, Severus put his hands on the table again. James slowly looked up.

Severus gave him a small smile. “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. But if you ever feel like talking about things, school, or whatever, then you can come to me. I’m no Mrs. Foster and it will be all of the record. For now I think you should just enjoy your break and I will see you at Defense class this afternoon.” With that he stood up, motioning for James to do the same. James took his plastic bag protectively in front of him and walked out of the classroom. Severus looked after him.

In the teachers room he talked to some other teachers. James was the topic this time. Most of the teachers were also wondering what kind of illness the boy had had in the summer, and why his aunt and uncle put him in such awfull clothes. Severus was also wondering why his aunt and uncle kept him sort of hidden from the rest of the world. He had gotten a hold of the file from the primary school and read it all. The marks of James showed some rather weird things. He had been a very sickly child apparantly, and everytime he had been sick his marks had been low, but after a while they were one of the best from the class again, but then he got sick again. Severus soon noticed a pattern in this. He always got sick when his marks got rather high. Apparantly James was rather smart. This pleased Severus, if he was smart he would be able to pick up magic in no time. But he also wondered why the boy had been sick so often, could it be the effect of the killing curse, or was it something else? Did his aunt and uncle change his name for security reasons, or was there another reason for their behaviour towards their nephew? He didn’t know, but he was going to find out.

The other teachers started talking about the rumours they had heard about James. The students were talking about him a lot. Especially those that had been at the same primary school. They said he always wore those baggy clothes, and he got picked on a lot by his cousin Dudley, and his friends. James didn’t have any friends because the children couldn’t use sign language. The few children that tried to befriend him, had been chased away by the cousin Dudley. Severus didn’t like these stories. They reminded him a bit too much about his own childhood. So putting his thoughts on another path, he started making the work for James.

He was wondering how the defence class would be going.

Fifth Period: Self defence.

Severus was waiting in the gym. He had put some mats on the floor. Today the students would be learning to fall correctly and how to dodge punches. He hoped some students would show promise. So far, this class wasn’t too good at self-defence. Slowly the students came walking in. They were all wearing their PE-clothes, only James wasn’t. Severus walked over to him and signed: “Why are you not wearing other clothes? It will be easier for ths class to wear your PE-clothes.”

James looked at the floor for a moment and then signed: “I haven’t got any PE-clothes. My aunt still needs to get them for me. But I can move in these clothes, or I could just watch.” By the look of his hands, Severus could tell he really didn’t want to participate, but he decided to just try it for a little while.

“Well, you are in luck, I have an extra shirt with me, that you can use. The trousers you will just have to keep on, but at least you can wear another shirt.” Giving the shirt to James, he wached him trudging back to the dressing rooms. He let the rest of the class sit on the mats, and begin their meditation training.

The meditation training required silence from the students, so Severus was rather surprised to notice James had walked in again, without him noticing. So the boy could be really quiet then. He wondered where he had picked that up. He put James on a mat and signed him how to go about meditating. He had to sign it now, because he would have to close his eyes during the meditation. The rest of the class was meditating, only a few students couldn’t keep their giggles in.

Severus noticed James picked up on the meditating very quickly. Perhaps he had been doing it before, or else he was just a natural.

After a few more minutes he slowly called the class back from their meditation. When they were all looking at him, he started telling them what they would be doing this class. He had learned them a few punches last time, so they could practice in pairs. Because the class now had an uneven number, he took James to practice. He would have to call the other students to him one by one to see how well they could fall and dodge, but for now he would concentrate on James. It was luck that the defence classes had only started last week, so the boy hadn’t missed much.

Severus showed James how to throw a few punches, but he noticed there was hardly any strenght behind them. The illness had weakend James too much. He would have to work on the condition of James, then. So Severus decided to throw some punches to James to see how he would do. He noticed James wasn’t very comfortable. He had put on the shirt Severus gave him, and although it was still too big for him, Severus could see the arms of James were really thin, more bone than anything else. He hoped the boy could duck, or else he might break something.

Severus did get a big surprise however. When he threw a punch at James, at first the boy just stood still. Severus managed to avoid hitting him, although it was a close call. He noticed James trembling, as if expecting punishment. Then he decided to explain that James was supposed to avoid being punched. James gave him a startled look, as if to say: “Are you crazy?!” but then he nodded. Readying himself again, Severus took another swing at James. James moved out of the way really fast. Severus wouldn’t have been able to do it like that. When he threw a kick at James, the boy let himself roll into a ball and fall to the ground. Then he quickly stood up again, waiting for Severus to do something else. Severus was surprised, the other students as well he noticed, since they were all staring at them.

Severus nodded to James and signed: “you did very well James, I don’t think you will have many problems in this class, although you should work on your condition. But I will help you with that in this class.”

Then he let James practice with another students while he went and called all the students to him one by one. Unfortunately they weren’t that good. He kicked some of them, and there was only one other student that could let herself fall down the right way. She told him it was because of the horse riding she did. She had learned herself to fall right, so when her horse gave problems, she would be okay.

Then there was a commotion at the other side of the classroom. The student that had been practicing with James, was shouting for Severus to come and help. James was lying on the ground, very pale and shaking. He also seemed to have trouble breathing.

Severus quickly sent one of the students to get the schoolnurse, and let the other students go to get changed. He was looking James over for any signs of what caused this. The pulse was going too fast, and his breathing was erratic. Other than that he didn’t really want to do anything else, before the nurse could come. She came not more than three minutes later.

Together they lifted James up on a stretcher and carried him to the small room the nurse used for sick students. There they put him on the bed.

The nurse also checked the pulse and got him to ly a bit higher with his head, so he could breath a bit easier. In the mean while she questioned Severus about what had happened. When she heard his story (which wasn’t much) she lifted the shirt of James chest, to see if she could find anything there. With one look at his chest she motioned Severus to come and have a look as well. She could hardly believe her eyes. Neither could Severus.

James chest was really only stick and bones. You could count all his ribs, and his stomach was sunken. His arms were nearly only bones. The nurse decided to check the rest of his body as well, so they pulled the overlarge pants of. His hips were jutting out, and his legs were more like sticks. There wasn’t any meat on him anywhere. And worst were the bruises they found. Mainly on his back, but also on the inside of his upperlegs, and his front chest. Not on his arms, or face and only a few on the other parts of his legs, but enough to know this couldn’t be done by clumsiness. The nurse gave him a good look over, and declared that his collapse was because of exhaustion and malnutrition. She gave Severus a rather helpless look. He felt the same. This was really bad. The boy probably wasn’t sick this summer, unless his family helped him being sick.

The nurse prepared a nutrition drink for James and put him under some covers. James was so tired he din’t even react. Then the nurse beckoned Severus over to her desk.

“Damn this Severus. I have never seen such an obvious sign of child abuse, but this is going to get risky. You see, his aunt and uncle have quite a lot of influance in our community, so they can get us fired if we are not carefull.” She looked at James again.

“But I wasn’t planning on letting them get away with this. I’ll make some pictures and file it all away in the bank. I will also warn the principal. He doesn’t like the Dursleys anyway. But do you know anything else we can do? I know Mrs. Foster is good friends with the Dursleys, so we cannot go to her for help. Will you help?”

Severus didn’t need to think twice about that. He nodded. The nurse smiled at him. “Good. Now, we will need more evidence that the Dursleys did this, or else they can claim some other students did this and his ‘illness’ made him so thin. You live near them right? Could you collect information?”

Severus nodded again. The nurse looked a bit surprised at his easy admittion, as it’s not everyday you’re being asked to spy on people, but she didn’t know it was normal for him.

Then she suddenly stood up at the movement on the bed. James was waking up. He actually didn’t make a sound, so it was lucky the nurse was looking in his direction when he started moving.

She stood next to his bed, Severus on the other side. James looked grodingly up at them, then seemed to notice he was nearly completely naked in a strainge bed. So he panicked. His breathing got erratic again, and he tried to hide under the blankets. Only the nurse stopped him and started to speak to him in calming tones. This proved that James could still hear things, because he looked at her and calmed down. Seeing this, Severus signed to James

“James, we saw the way you look, and want to help. We want to get you out of the Dursleys hands. I actually knew your real parents, so I can help even better. Do you trust us enough for this? We promise to be carefull, not tell everyone about this and not let the Dursleys find out untill we can get you out. Will you help us?”

James seemed to panic for a bit again, but then relaxed more. He signed: “You knew my parents? They weren’t really drunk and lazy were they?” the last bit was added with hesitation.

Severus looked at him in surprise. So those Durselys had told him that his parents had been drunk and lazy? “No, they were not. Your mother was the kindest person I knew, and even though your father wasn’t a good friend, we got along. They were certainly not drunk and lazy. They worked very hard and loved you very much. Lily always came by to show me some more pictures of you and to tell me stories about you. So no, they were not like the Durselys told you.”

James smiled for a bit. Then he signed: “Will you really help me? Not just promise and then disappear?”

The nurse and Severus nodded. It seemed the story about his parents had helped to win the trust of James.

Than James nodded and signed: “Allright, I will help you, but please don’t let the Dursleys know I said this.”

And with that he smiled his first genuine smile of the entire day.

“Well James, I am sorry that I have to say this now, but I need to make pictures of your body, as proof that you were mistreated for a long time, so the Dursley's can’t claim that you did it yourself. I know it will be hard, but we won’t show the pictures to anyone else other than the principal and eventually the police who are not on Dursley's side. Will you let me make the pictures, James?”

James seemed to panic again when Nurse White started talking about making pictures, but after looking at both her and Severus for reassurance, he nodded slowly.

“Alright then. I will need to pull the covers off, and make pictures of your front, back and detailed pictures of the bruises. If you can’t handle it anymore, just signal it and I will stop for a moment. It’s just that I need to make the pictures today, so they are all very clear.”

James looked up for a second and then looked down again. He was clearly ashamed they were going to take pictures of him. When the nurse went to get the camera he looked at Severus. He was wringing his hands nervously as if he wanted to ask him something, but didn’t dare ask it.

“What is it James? Do you need to ask something?” Severus asked.

This obviously relieved James, because he signalled: “can, can you please tell me more about my parents someday? I-I don’t know anything about them, and...and I think...my aunt and uncle haven’t been really honoust. I think...I’d like to know more about them, please?”

Severus grimaced a bit inside. He had been good friends with Lily, but not really with James. They only got along for Lily’s sake. He wondered if he should tell the boy that his name was in fact not James Evans, but Harry Potter. He thought James would want to have proof of this, so he would contact Albus tonight and ask him for some pictures and evidence to show.

“I can tell you more about your mother. Your father and me, well, we didn’t get along very well. But I can tell some stories, and maybe one day you can meet one of their friends, he can tell more about your father. Perhaps I can find some pictures and some things to show you. Would you like that?”

Seeing the smile breaking through on James’ face, he knew he had made James trust him, a lot. He didn’t know if this was a good thing. He wasn’t supposed to be friendly, he was supposed to be a snarky mean Potions professor, except that he didn’t teach Potions right now, and the Muggle clothes he wore were a lot less threatening, which in this case, was a good thing.

Just then the nurse came back with her camera. James’ smile quickly dissapeared and he tried hiding again. Severus grabbed his hands, and made him stop shaking.

“It’s alright James. I’ll stay here, and make sure the pictures end up in a safe in the bank. It won’t hurt you to make pictures,”

he stroked James’ hair. James just looked up at him in surprise. It seemed he wasn’t used to such gestures.

Severus pulled the covers off of James, so his body came in full view. Nurse White quickly made some pictures, and since it was a digital camera she knew if they were alright immediatly. Then they turned James around, so they could make pictures of his back and of some bruises on this legs.

Severus helped James to stand and they made more pictures like that. Unfortunately James legs didn’t help him, and he collapsed against Severus. He just lifted James in his arms (noticing how little he weighed) and put him back on the bed again.

“Alright James, we’ve made enough pictures now. We will need to show them to the principal, but don’t worry, he won’t tell the Dursley's, he never liked them anyway. If you want, you can use the bathroom over there to take a bath, or to get dressed. But first I’d like you to drink this nutrition drink, because you will need the vitamins and minerals in it.”

James eyed the drink with some suspicion, but then drank it quickly. He grimaced a bit, and then gave the glass back to the nurse. She smiled at him.

“Very good James. Now, you just stay here, because I don’t want you falling down. Do you want to take a bath?”

He nodded. Then he signalled shyly: “I haven’t had a real bath for all summer,” he quickly looked down again.

Both Severus and the nurse raised their eyebrows at this news.

Severus signalled: “what do you mean not had a real bath?”

James stayed silent for a long time and then signalled: “I have to use the cold water from the garden hose and can only use a wash cloth,” he blushed, and refused to look up.

The nurse eyed Severus and then said: “alright, I’ll go and run the bath. Do you have any more classes today?” when Severus shook his head, she nodded and said: “very well, can you help James take a bath and clean him up? Then you can go to the principal and I'll stay with James, so we can tell him what we are going to do to help him.”

She quickly walked to the adjoining bathroom and soon the sound of running water could be heard. The nurse wanted to wash James clothes as well, but he didn’t let her. When Severus saw the look in James’ eyes, he explained it to the nurse. The Dursley's would certainly notice his clean clothes, and then he would be in trouble. Severus had experience in these matters.

After several minutes, Severus lifted James in his arms again and walked into the bathroom. There, he put the boy on the toiletseat, and felt the temperature of the water. Then he helped James into the water. At first James was really tense, as if expecting to be punished for being in the water, but when Severus carefully started washing his back, he relaxed.

Severus was really carefull. He didn’t want to startle James, and he also didn’t want to hurt him. He washed the back of James, and then started on his front, arms and legs. James seemed to enjoy it a lot, and stayed very silent.

Severus decided to wash James' hair and carefully poured water over it. James tensed up a bit, especially when Severus had to tilt his head back a little. But he relaxed again when Severus massaged the shampoo in his hair. When he rinsed it out, he made sure not to get shampoo in James’ eyes, since he knew how much that could hurt.

He let James sit in the bath for a little while longer, to make him relax more. It certainly worked, for he nearly fell asleep in the bath. Severus decided that this was a good moment to get James out of the bath, and he let the water run away. Then he lifted James out of the tub and carefully dried him off with a large towel. The towel was really big on James, because the boy was so small. Severus could wrap James in it, and still have towel left.

He helped pull the clothes back on and again lifted James and put him back in the bed. But before he had pulled the covers up, James was fast asleep. Severus smiled to himself for a bit. He rather liked this James, so different from his father, and so much more like his mother.

He took the pictures and went to the principals office, to see what they could do to help James. Severus still needed to see if James had magical powers and get him to Hogwarts, but for now, getting him out of the Dursleys hands would be more difficult and important.

The principal was looking curiously at Severus when he entered the office.

“Hello, Severus. Is there something I can help you with, or is this a social visit?”

“I’m afraid I need your help, sir. You know our new student, James Evans? Well, he passed out during Self-Defence class and in the nurses room, Nurse White and I found out some startling facts. Perhaps you would take a look at these pictures?”

With that he handed the pictures to the principal, who looked at them curiously. After he saw the first picture he started to look red, then rather pale.

“Damn,” was the first word he uttered, “those awful Dursely's. I knew they weren’t nice, but this? I never would have guessed.”

“Hm, the nurse and I were wondering what we can do to get him out of their hands? It’s obvious we cannot leave him there for much longer. James agreed to help, as long as we wouldn’t let the Dursley's find out about it. These pictures will go to a safe in the bank and will stay there until we have enough evidence and can find a reliable police officer to help us. Now, we would like to know how we can help him in school, without raising too many suspicions.”

The principal nodded and thought about this for a while.

“Well, he missed a month of school, so what if we give him a tutor hour every day, so he can work, or just relax here at school. If you would, I would like you to be there with him. Also, let the nurse check him every day. She can give him medicine, and we can keep an eye on his condition this way. I will look for a reliable police officer, and call the Dursley's to say James will need the extra hour each day. Let’s say every day at 3 o’clock, so when he’s out earlier, he can still stay at school. We should also make sure he gets something to eat and drink during this hour, since he obviously won’t get much with them.”

Severus agreed and waited for the principal to call the Dursely's. He could tell they weren’t very willing, but he didn’t know why, really. He decided to go by them after school, to make sure they wouldn’t punish James for something he didn’t do.

The principal gave the pictures back to Severus, who quickly walked towards the room where James and the nurse were waiting.

Severus tried to be quiet, but James still woke up. He looked at Severus with a hint of fear, but also with growing trust in his eyes.

“Well, James, the principal agreed to help. Every day you will have a tutor hour with me at 3 o’clock. When you finish school earlier, you can still stay at school. Of course you do not have to work during this hour, but relax a bit. We will make sure you get something to eat then, and a check up with the nurse. She can give you medicine and everything you'll need. Now, the principal called the Dursley's to tell you needed a tutor hour, and I'll stop by later, to make sure that they know it was not your fault. Also, the principal will look for a reliable police officer who can make a case against the Dursley's to get you out of their hands.”

James had tensed up at the mention that the Durselys were called, but relaxed a bit after hearing he would have an hour every day for himself. This obviously meant a lot to him. After he nodded that he understood, Severus told him that the hour would start tomorrow, and that he would help James get back home, since he was still a bit unsteady on his legs.

When they were in the beginning of Privet Drive, Severus asked James if he would like to walk home the last part on his own, or if he wanted Severus to walk with him to the door. Obviously relieved by this question, James signaled he would go alone. Before he could walk away, Severus stopped him and signalled: “if you ever need to get away from them, or wish to be safer for a while, you can come to my house. I live at number eight, and will make sure to leave the kitchen door open for you. Understood?”

James nodded. Severus decided to put the spell on the door right away, so the kitchen door would let James get in, but would keep Dursley's out.

He watched James walking a bit unsteadily but quickly to number four and go through the back door inside. When he was sure James was in the house, he walked to his own house and did the spell on the kitchen door. After drinking some coffee and preparing his talk, he walked over to the Dursley's house. After he rang the bell, he had to wait a little while before Petunia opened the door.

“Ah, Severus, how nice it is to see you again. Do come in. Do you want to drink something, or a snack?” she asked in a sickenly sweet tone. After he declined and went to sit on the couch he decided to go straight to the point. He couldn’t detect James anywhere near, so he wondered where they kept him.

“Well, I just want to come by and talk about James and school. Since he missed a month of the school year, and the start is always very important, the principal has decided to give him extra tutor hours every day. This way he will be catching up with the rest really fast, and we can avoid problems with learning. I know the principal has already called you with this news, but I wanted to tell you this in person, as I will be his tutor during these hours. James seemed worried that you wouldn’t like it, but I’m sure it’s no problem, right?”

Aunt Petunia couldn’t do much more than nod. Severus decided to use a slight charm that would make her stop doing anything to James. Unfortunately it would only work for a few hours, so tomorrow she could be angry at James again.

After some more small chatter, Severus was glad he could leave again. Even now that he knew James lived there, he still didn’t see him in the house. He decided that later this week he would try to find out where they kept the boy when he was at the house.

For now, he would contact Albus and start working on a potion that could help James heal and restore his growth. Before the potion would be finished a whole month would have gone by, and it seemed to Severus this could be enough time to try and tell James about his parents and the magical world.

Unfortunately Severus didn’t know his spell had stopped working really fast. So when Vernon came home, Petunia already told him what had happened.

The next day Severus was waiting anxiously for his first class to come in. James would be in this class and he was hoping everything was alright. But when James walked in, he knew straight away the Dursleys had still done something to him. James was only looking down, walking stiffly, as if in pain, and only glimpsed Severus in the eye with an accusing look. That was not good. It seemed the trust he had won yesterday was almost completely lost again.

Throughout the entire class Severus pondered over how to get that trust back again and how to help James. He hardly noticed he asked some questions twice or gave compliments to completely wrong answers. At the end of the class he asked James to stay again. James didn’t really seem to like this, but he stayed seated.

Severus signaled: “James, did they still do something to you yesterday? Because I had good hopes I had calmed them down. I am sorry if it made them even more angry at you.”

James still looked at the table, as if that was the most interesting thing in the entire world. Severus sighed. “Look James, you might not believe me, but I know how it is, that is why I really want to help you.”

Still not much more of a reaction than a little nod with the head. “I do hope you will still come to the extra hour. After all, the Dursley's expect you to go there now, and I’d rather like to see you then. You will just come to this classroom, and we will see what you can do then.”

This time James just nodded his head, stood up slowly and walked out.

Severus put his head in his hands and sighed. This could take a long time.

That day at three o’clock Severus was waiting in the classroom. When the door opened he looked up to see James standing there. He came walking in and sat on a chair a little way of from where Severus sat. James just took out his books and started doing homework. Severus walked over to have a look at what he was doing. James immediately tensed up and didn’t want to work anymore until Severus had taken a few steps back. Severus saw this as a rather bad sign.

He was surprised when the door opened again and Mrs. Foster and Nurse White were standing there. He wondered why they were both standing there, but would soon get his answer.

“I was wondering why you were giving my student extra tutor hours, and I do believe I should be involved with them.”

Severus had seen the reaction James gave when she walked in the room. He unconsciously moved closer to Severus, and tensed up. James really didn’t like Mrs. Foster and Severus remembered the nurse telling him she was good friends with the Dursley's, which would explain why she was appointed as extra help for James, so that he couldn’t tell their secret to anyone else.

Severus cleared his throat, put on his best glare and said: “Well, the principal has chosen me to help him, and if you do not like it, you should see the principal. And now, if you don’t mind. We have work to do, so you’d better leave this room. Nurse White, I believe you have the medicine I wanted to take for my illness?” This gave the nurse an excuse to stay longer.

She quickly caught on and nodded. Then she closed the door behind Mrs. Foster who left rather angry.

James relaxed almost right away, but then noticed he now was in a room with the two people who knew his secret. So he started to tense up again, only to be stopped by the nurse who handed him some medicine.

“There you go James. These are painkillers, some drinks for extra vitamines and minerals, and a fruit drink. I also got you a small lunch, because I assume you are not used to eating much anymore.” With that said she took out a small cup of yoghurt, mixed fruit (apples, pears, bananas, and oranges), and a slice of bread with butter on it.

James eyes widened and he wanted to start eating straight away but was stopped by Severus.

“James, before you eat, I would like to see what the Dursley's did to you yesterday. I hoped they wouldn’t do anything to you because of my visit, but it seems I was wrong. I am sorry for that.”

James only looked away and shook his head.

“And don’t think we believe they didn’t do anything to you, because you certainly act like they did do something to you and tried to scare you away from talking to us. Just believe us when we say that we are not going to let you down, and we are not going to abandon you just because they threaten to hurt you more.”

Hearing these words made James look up. Then he signalled: “Are, are you sure about this? You really mean that you will still help me?”

Seeing the nods from both Severus and Nurse White, James pulled up his shirt. His back was littered with fresh bruises and some cutmarks were also seen.

Severus closed his eyes briefly, as a sign of distress. How he hated it when something like this happened to his children. Yes, his children. The children in Slytherin did not always have such a wonderful family life, and he had seen several cases of abuse with his students. This helped him now, at least he knew how to deal with something like this.

“Well then,” he said, “we’ll just have to put something on your back to stop those wounds from getting infected, and to stop the swelling from the bruises. Do you have anything for that, Miss White?”

The nurse nodded her head and left to get those medicines. She would also go and take the camera again so she could make pictures, to have more proof against the Dursleys.When she came back it was to see James sitting stiffly on a stool, while Severus inspected his back carefully. She gave him the lotion that would stop infection and bruising as well, even though it didn’t work so effectively with bruising.

Severus then slowly started to rub the lotion on James’ back, who, despite his best efforts, could not stop the occasional twinge of pain. The nurse felt sorry for him, but was glad she could help him with this.

When the wounds were taken care of, they left James eating his lunch. He wanted to wolf it down, but after Severus told him that he would get sick if he ate it too fast, James decided to slow it down a bit for now. Still, it didn’t take him more than ten minutes to finish the meal.

After that Severus just let him work comfortably on his own. James didn’t mind, but he was more relaxed around Severus and the nurse. The quiet, however, was disrupted again, when the principal and Mrs. Foster came into the room again.

Apparantly, Mrs. Foster had tried to override the decision the prinicpal had made. It seemed however, that she had been unsuccesfull in her attempts.

“But look sir, I am supposed to help the boy, and how can I help him, when he suddenly gets extra class after school and I’m not even allowed in the room?” she whined.

The principal just sighed in frustration, looked apologetic to Severus, and said: “Well, it appears they are not doing strange things to my student, and therefore I see no reason as to why you should be present. In this hour you can help other students too, and Severus will make sure that James is up to date with the rest of his classmates soon enough, especially considering that it’s only Literature he is behind in. So, if you will come with me now, I have some papers that need to be filed in...”

And so, they left the classroom again. Not only Severus let out the breath he had unconsiously been holding, but James did as well.

It seemed they had come another step towards building the trust of James.

This continued on for about two weeks. Sometimes James would have new bruises, new wounds to nurse, but they were very far in between. Apparantly, the Dursleys didn’t want to be detected. Severus and the nurse made sure to give James enough food, attention when he needed it, and left him alone when he made it clear he didn’t want to be touched. When Severus drove him back home, he sometimes came in Severus’ house as well. Severus repeated several times that his kitchen door would always be open for James.

Unfortunately, the good period would change now, when the children got there first report cards home. James’ card was full with well wishes from his teachers and compliments on how well he had performed. His grades were one of the highest from the first years. Severus was very proud of him as well, and had complimented James on his prestations during their hour after classes. Somehow, Severus got the feeling that James was not pleased about his results, and he kept on wondering what it could mean, long into the night, until he fell asleep.

Severus’ sleep however got interrupted in the middle of the night, by a noise in the kitchen. Swiftly he stood up from the bed, grabbed his wand, then thought better of it, and put the wand in his sweat pants, and proceeded down the stairs. At the kitchen door he stopped to listen. Inside he heard someone stumbling and breathing harshly. If it was a burglar, it was a damn bad one. Severus made up his mind, just when there was a rather hard ‘clank’ sounding from the kitchen. Quickly he swung open the door, ready to attack, only to be stopped midway by the look of fear radiating from a bloody, broken and scared body of James, who was half lying on the ground and half lying on a chair.

“My God, James, what the hell did they do?” Severus asked, and just then James managed to grab him, and clung onto him in a dead panick.

Severus never was a man to start panicking, but the fact that he was standing in his kitchen in the middle of the night, with a very much wounded young boy he had actually started to like, did nothing to calm him down.

For a fleeting moment Severus didn’t know what to do, but then his years of being a spy and a potions master came back to him, and he walked (with James still clinging to him) towards the living room to call the principal and an ambulance.

It was rather difficult to pick up the phone seeing as how James was terrified of letting go of Severus. James was breathing harshly, and blood began to seep through Severus’s night clothes. Quickly he dialed the number of the principal, and when the man finally picked up the phone (after all, he was asleep), he told him the story, and asked if the man could contact the police, Nurse White and an ambulance, seeing as how Severus had enough trouble with James without having to call someone else too. The principal agreed and said he would arrive as soon as possible to help out.

Severus couldn’t do much more at the moment, he did unlock his front door, and tried to get James to let go, so he could put the boy on the couch and examine him, but James didn’t want to let go, and seemed to go into shock due to loss of blood. After ten minutes or so, Severus could hear cars coming into the street. They had turned off the sirens, probably because the Dursleys lived in the same street and the principal must have said something about the most likely cause.

Just when the door was opened, Severus felt James’ grip slacking, a sign that the child was falling into unconciousness. First to come in where the paramedics. Following them were two police officers, Nurse White and the principal. Gasps of shock rang through the room when they saw James, although the paramedics quickly started working on him, assessing what kind of wounds he had, putting in an IV-drip and attaching a bloodbag. They started cutting away the meager pile of clothes James wore (they were ripped in places, and soaked in blood by now), and got a good clear look of the wounds he had.

One of the police officers (a younger one), started making gagging sounds, and turned around to get some fresh air outside.

Severus had a hard time keeping his calm appearance. James’ body was cut open in places, there were signs of a belt having been used, words were carved in his body, and there were burn marks visible. Blood was coming from everywhere, and while the paramedics tried very hard, it was clear they needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

Meanwhile the police were taking pictures of the wounds, of the bloody clothes, of Severus’s state, as well as the state the kitchen was in. They called in reinforcements and started to follow the blood trail out of the garden right towards the Dursleys' house.

Nurse White, the principal and Severus were giving statements of how they had been gathering evidence, how they began to earn James’s trust, and what they knew of his living conditions (which wasn’t much, considering). Other police officers were preparing for the arrest of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. When they stormed into the house, they caught Petunia Dursley scrubbing the blood out of her carpets, mumbling about dirty little freaks that deserved what they got, and Vernon Dursley putting away a still bleeding belt, knife and hammer.

That was proof enough to get the two arrested (Dudley was a minor). The police officers that followed the blood trail of James were surprised to find out the trail went into the back yard of Number 4, instead of going to one of the windows (they had thought James might have escaped from the bedrooms). It led them right towards the shed, standing in the back of the garden. There was also a bloodtrail going inside, but it appeared James had been dragged from the house to the shed, and had somehow managed to escape from it.

When they went in the shed they got an even bigger shock. The trail led them to the back wall of the shed, where at first they thought the trail just stopped. But with some pushing, and pulling they discovered a small opening in the wall, which led into a very dark space under the shed. Since the opening was very small, a young woman was let into it, and even she had to crouch down under the shed.

With a flashlight, she saw a space of about three feet by three feet wide, and another three feet high. There was a small ventilation hole in the ceiling, but it was so small the air inside was stuffy and hot. There was hardly any room for a child, let alone one that was eleven-years-old. There was no light, not even a light bulb. Only a dirty blanket lay there, as well as a small broken bowl with very dirty water in it.

Pictures were taken, and this would assure the Dursleys a long and not-so-nice stay in prison.

Meanwhile, James was being transported to the nearest hospital, being in a somewhat better condition. Severus was accompanying him, and had to wait several hours while surgeons worked on the small child. Thank goodness he had Nurse White to keep him company. When James was finally put on the IC-unit, Severus was there waiting for him to wake.

This would take a while, and by the time James would wake up, the media would have gotten word of the case and there would be a whole lot of people be involved to investigate how nobody noticed this, how influential the Dursleys had been, and how James was forced to live.

But for now, James was recovering, Severus by his side, and on the other side of the country, and old man with a long beard and half-moon glasses, was silently crying and asking James and Lily Potter for forgiveness of what he had forced their son to go through.

It was two days ago that James had stumbled into Snape’s kitchen, and now he was still unconcious in the hospital. Snape hadn’t left his side, only to change into different clothes (they needed his bloodied clothes as evidence). His classes had been canceled for an undetermined time, and Snape didn’t care about it at all. He only wanted for James to wake up, and to see if he was alright.

The doctor’s weren’t sure if he had brain damage or not. They were pretty sure that James was going to have major trauma though. How could he not?

Snape was berating himself though. He could have used magic to help James, he could have taken him to St. Mungo’s, but no, he had his wand upstairs, panicked, and had called the police and the nurse even before it registered that he could do magic. And now it may cost James even more. At least the Dursleys were being dealt with.

Vernon Dursley and his wife had confessed within a few hours. Even if they wouldn’t have confessed, the police would still have won the case. There was just too much evidence against the couple for Vernon and Petunia to claim innocence (they did try though). The trial would be held in a week's time, Albus had some good contacts in the Muggle world and had pushed the case forward. There was so much evidence, it couldn’t go wrong. What Severus had kept from Albus (although he was sure the man knew about it) were the papers he had filed. He was going to do everything he could to adopt the boy and give him a good home.

Right now, he was talking to James, having heard something about unconscious people still being able to hear you.

“Please wake up, James. There’s so much I still need to tell you, so much to explain. Besides, you’re safe now, you’re lying in the hospital, and I’m waiting for you to wake up. The Dursleys are being held by the police, they can’t harm you anymore. Please wake up.”

A hand twitched. Snape grabbed it. “Come on, James, you can do this! Please wake up!” Eyelids fluttered. A soft groan was heard.

“That’s it, just listen to me and wake up, James. It’s okay, they’re not going to hurt you anymore.” James opened his eyes slowly and looked at Severus. He smiled softly.

James looked around in obvious confusion. “You’re in the local hospital, James, as I’ve just said. You’re quite safe here. I won’t leave if you don't want me to.”

James blinked his eyes a few times. It seemed he couldn’t get his arms up to sign with. “It’s alright, James. I’ll ask you questions and you only have to blink twice for yes, and three times for no, how does that sound?”

James blinked twice. “I assume that is the signal for 'alright' then.” Severus softly stroked James head. He noticed James kept looking at his hand wearily, but he quickly leaned into the touch.

“I suppose I should call in the doctors, to say you’ve woken up, but I’d rather sit here for a bit longer. Still, it’s important that the doctors have a look at you.” Severus bent to pick something up, and pressed the button that was used to call the nurse with.

Soon a nurse walked into the room, saw James awake, nodded to him and Severus and left to get a doctor.

When the nurse returned it was with a doctor, a police-officer, and Nurse White from the school.

James gripped Severus hand in fright, and tried to shrink back. “Shh, calm down, James, they’re not going to hurt you. It’ll be alright. I will stay right next to you.”

James just turned his head towards Severus and tried to hide. The police-officer and Nurse White decided to stay in the back of the room for now, seeing the reaction James had given to all of their presences.

The doctor checked James’s heartbeat, his mouth, throat, ribs, lungs, and used an instrument to see if James felt everything. It appeared everything was in order, for the doctor was smiling when he had finished.

“Well, James, it seems as if you have made quite a recovery. We had been worried for brain damage, but it appears you came out alright, relatively speaking of course. Your right arm is broken, and your left is sprained. Your ribs have taken quite some blows, and will be tender for at least a month. Unfortunately there will be scarring. The words that were carved into your skin, as well as scars from some stabwounds will remain. Perhaps in some time you can have plastic surgery for it, but not now. Those wounds are still very tender, so don’t move around too much.

"We’ve also treated the beltmarks on your back, they will heal nicely. The superficial burns will fade in some time, but there are three third-degree burns that will require plastic surgery as well. This will be done as soon as possible. There is however one thing we can’t really heal. And that is your right knee. It was too damaged, and even though we’ve been able to clean it up nicely, you are probably going to need a new kneecap. This will require another operation, which we will do next week. I am very sorry to have to tell you all this while you’ve just woken up, but I believe it’s best when we don’t keep such things from you.”

James nodded. Tears were silently running down his face. Severus gently wiped them off. “Thank you, doctor,” he said. The doctor gave James some more painkillers, told the police-officer he would be allowed to stay for 10 minutes maximum and left the room again.

Nurse White also came toward the bed, and took James's other hand.

“Hello James, I’m Officer Belton, and would like to ask you some questions about your life with the Dursleys. I understand you cannot speak and also cannot sign right now, so you can blink twice for yes, and three times for no. Do you understand this?”

James blinked twice.

Belton gave a small smile. “Very well then. As far as we found out you have lived with the Dursleys ever since you were just over a year old, is that correct?” James blinked twice.

“And have they always kept you in the shed?”

James became pale, but blinked three times. This was obviously not what the police-officer had expected. “So you didn’t always live in the shed?”

James blinked twice. “Did they keep you in the house at first?” James blinked in the affirmative. “In a normal bedroom?” James blinked in the negative. The police-oficer was at a loss. He wanted to ask where they had kept James, but James wouldn’t be able to answer that question. “Alright, when you’re able to communicate in an easier way, I’ll come back to ask that again. Did they feed you regularly?” Three blinks. “Were you forced to do a lot of work for them?” Two blinks.

And so on and on the questions went, until the ten minutes were over. James had become quite pale at some of the questions, and had revealed even more of the horrid environment in which he had been living. For one thing Severus was extremely gratefull. When James was asked if he was ever touched in an unappropriate way, he had quite clearly stated ‘NO’ with three hard blinks. At least they hadn’t sexually abused the child, but Severus would still love to kill the Dursleys. He did have some pleasure though. The neat and ‘normal’ family was in all the newspapers, and the bad case of abuse was repeated on the radio and television as well. The Dursleys would never be able to appear in public again without being lynched by a very angry crowd.

When Belton finally left, Severus couldn’t contain a yawn. James looked at him in amusement as did Nurse White (Rebecca, as she had reminded Severus several times already). “Perhaps it is a good idea if you go to have a shower, eat a bit and get some sleep, Severus, before you manage to get sick.”

James softly smiled at him as well. Stopping himself from rolling his eyes, Severus decided to obey, he was hungry and sleepy after all. And so he slept until the next morning.

*

A week later, James had improved enough to be able to sign, and Officer Belton had come back with a colleague that actually knew sign-language. James then told them he had at first been put in the cupboard under the stairs, that he had started doing chores as soon as he could walk properly, and that even Dudley had been allowed to punish him. They couldn't do anything about Dudley hurting Harry because he was a young child, and it was considered bullying.

The trial was at the end of the week and after hearing all the evidence and defense (which wasn’t much) the judge quickly reached a decision.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were charged with child abuse, child neglect, malnutrition/starvation, and attempted murder and torture. Albus Dumledore had hired the best of lawyers for James’s defense, and the evidence was so overwhelming the Dursleys were put away for 25 years each. Dudley was sent to his Aunt Marge. The Dursleys would never have that normal life they had always craved for.

James had burst into tears and had sobbed Severus’s whole shirt wet, before falling asleep. The only thing Severus had to worry about for now were the papers he had filled to adopt James - or rather to adopt Harry James Potter, and make him Harry James Potter-Snape.

He couldn’t wait.

Now that the court was over, and the Dursleys convicted, it was time for James to have his operation. The surgeons would make it easier on James by replacing the kneecap as well as several pieces of skin in one big operation, instead of having to do multiple operations. This could be too much for James. Luckily the skin that would need to be replaced was easily reachable during surgery, so they could have some people work on the skin, while others worked on the knee.

After the operation James’ leg would be put in a cast, and the parts of his body that got new skin would be wrapped up in bandages, to prevent infection. James was nervous for the operation, which Severus could completely understand. It was a shame that James didn’t know a thing about the magical world, for if he had, than he would have been transported to St Mungo’s. Now, such a move would probably send the muggles in an uproar, and James into a panick.

Severus had been giving James healing potions, which he had mixed in with James food, so the boy wouldn’t notice. And already he could see that the bruises disappeared faster, and the broken bones healed better. Unfortunately he couldn’t do anything for the kneecap and the burns, since it would be highly suspicious when those suddenly were healing, while they had been classified as ‘unsaivable’. Severus had talked about it with Albus, who had pointed out the fact that Severus would then have to change the medical records, remove memories from doctors, nurses, surgeons, and James himself. Severus didn’t wish to do that, and they settled on the operation. If anything went wrong, Madame Pomfrey had assured them she could fix it later, when James knew about magic.

Right now Severus was petting James’ hand and stroking his hair. James was nearly asleep from the anastaeatics. When he was fully asleep Severus was guided into the waiting room by a nurse. He would have to wait several hours before they could give him anymore news.

After pacing around, drinking lots of coffee (even though it tasted awfull) and glaring at the walls, the door opened.

Severus swirled around, afraid something had gone wrong, as the operation wasn’t even more than an hour underway. He relaxed slightly when he saw it was officer Belton, with someone he didn’t know.

“Mr. Snape? Do you have some time to talk to us?”

Snape nodded, and the two men came in. Severus noticed the unknown man didn’t wear a police uniform, and he wondered what this could be about.

“Mr. Snape this is Mr Franklin from Adoption Services (I don’t know the name of this!)

We are here to handle your request to adopt Harry James Potter.”

Severus looked up surprised. He didn’t think it would actually go this quickly.

“That is a pleasant surprise. Right now James is in surgery, so all I can do is wait. I believe I still have some hours before I can go back to James.”

Benton smiled. “Yes, that is why we came now, as you didn’t seem to want to leave his side all that much.”

Mr Franklin was putting papers on a small table. Severus thought the man had a pleasant face, and by seeing Officer Belton reacting to him in a good way, he decided this couldn’t be so bad. After all, he had all those documents from the muggle world.

“Mr Snape, as you know this case has gotten a lot of attention in the media. That is why there are quite a lot of applications coming in to adopt this young man. However, you were the very first, as well as a clear confidant of Mr Potter. We have several people looking over the other papers, but so far there is only one other serious applicant.”

Severus sat up in shock. What if James went to the other person? How could he take him to the magical world then? Of course, they could still take him, but it wouldn’t work if James couldn’t talk.

“Now Mr Snape do not worry to much. Yesterday I have spoken to the other suplicant, and even though it is not in our policy to do so, she has given me expressive permission to tell you who the other person is. You already know her as Miss Rebecca White?”

Severus sagged slightly in relief. If James were to be placed with Ms White, it would still be alright.

“And what else has she said?” he asked.

“That she feels you would be the perfect person to adopt Mr Potter, as long as she still gets to visit him.”

Severus chuckled softly. “I’d be happy to let her visit him. That is, if I actually become his new guardian. I don’t really know how you make your choice.”

Mr Franklin nodded. “Yes, we see if you have a stable income, a place to stay that is in good condition. Your family life, your history, that sort of things.”

Severus nodded. “In that case, I should point out that I will leave Little Whinging when the Christmas holidays arrive, as I have been offered a job at a boarding school in Schotland. We get a very steady income, and a place to stay as well. James could also attend school there.”

Mr Franklin made some notes. “And what is this school called?”

Severus gave up the adress they used for other muggles. “It’s called Draconis School for the Gifted. It’s a rather small school, so I do not know if you’ve ever heard of it.”

The man looked at him in a calculating way. “As a matter of fact I have heard of it. My niece goes to school there. She finds it a rather enjoyable school, I believe the words she used to describe it were something like: “just magically wonderfull.”

Severus didn’t know if he should feel happy, or if he should make a run for it. The decision was taken out of his hands however, when Mr Franklin continued.

“seeing as how I know the school, and get very detailed (he stressed the word slightly) descriptions of it, I believe I have enough information for now Mr Snape. You will be hearing from us again within the next month, which I believe, is how long Mr Potter needs to stay here?”

Severus nodded.

When Officer Belton had already left the room, Mr Franklin turned around.

“Do tell me Mr Snape, but why weren’t you surprised to find out that James’ name wasn’t really James Evans, but Harry James Potter? Seeing as how that piece of information has been kept from practically everyone? As far as my niece has told me, she has a teacher named Severus Snape, who just happens to have taken a sabatical this year. Quite a coincidence wouldn’t you agree?”

Severus paled, and stood with his eyes wide open.

Then Mr Franklin chuckled. “As I thought. You were sent to find him, weren’t you?”

When Snape nodded, he continued. “I can assure you already, that you are the boys new parent. However, the paper work will take some time, so it’s not official yet. And good luck at Hogwarts.”

With that the man left the room, Severus just standing there, feeling rather outwitted.

Several hours later found Severus still pacing the waiting room. After the stunning talk he had with Mr Franklin, he now had to wait till the operation was finished. Severus was thinking about the fact that soon he would have an adopted son. This thought made him stop in his tracks. A son! He –Severus Snape, all around growling bat- would be having a son. Of course, he had stopped in surprise over this thought for over six times before, but it still managed to knock him off course.

There was so much he needed to think about, so much to arrange. What ever was he to do? Would he need to live in Privet Drive number 8 till the Christmas holidays started, how would James react when he heard about the magical world? Would he accept it? And what was he to do about Rebecca? She wanted to visit James (and he was pretty sure she wanted to see him too, for some reason) but how could he arrange for this? How would he deal with James further on? What would James do when he told the boy what his real name was?

Was he really ready to go back to Hogwarts to tech, while he had James to take care of. After all, James would not be ready to go to classes himself. Perhaps it was better that he went to his normal house, and would make sure James recovered, before putting the boy in the bussy life of Hogwarts. It would certainly help building a bond between them. Also, he wanted to have Poppy look him over, see if James’ deafness could be cured by magic.

And so, he continued pacing once more, thinking about all he needed to do, and all he needed to work out. He did believe that he should contact Albus, to see what he thought about him not teaching this year. Perhaps it could all be arranged.

When the door opened he hardly noticed, but when someone lightly cleared their throat, he spun around. The doctor stood in the dooropening, smiling slightly.

“good day Mr Snape, I see you have been very worried for James. I can tell you that the operation went perfectly fine. We have managed to replace the damaged kneecap, and treated several of the third-degree burns with new skin. Of course, everything will hurt for some time, and we need to limit to risk of infections, but James is definately on his way to recovery. Right now he still needs to wake up from the operation, but you can go and sit at his bedside.”

Severus thanked the man hurriedly and walked over to the correct room. His heart started slowing down once he saw James was still sleeping. He wondered where the immense protective feelings were coming from, but decided he rather liked them, and that James deserved someone looking over him.

So he settled in at the bedside, waiting for James to wake up.

He never noticed Rebecca White coming into the room, and watching the wonderfull man she was slowly giving her heart too, and the lovely boy who had already managed to steal her heart away. He never noticed how she settled quietly near him, and kept supporting him silently.

Both of them completely missed the magical Phoenix that popped into the room later that day. The bird looked for a long while, thrilled softly, and popped out once he got the required result of the boy waking up.

Neither of them knew anything about the old man sitting behind his desk, looking at the images his Phoenix had provided him with, and neither noticed when he smiled. Nor did they know what the man was arranging.