Even without the warnings from the old wards he had surrounding the spare room; the screams would have woken him.

Calling them screams, however, was probably being generous. It was more akin to a terrified gargling sound, and just *hearing* them made Snape's throat hurt.

He rushed into the room and over to the bed where Harry was thrashing under the blankets. The boy was pale and crying.

"Potter wake up!" He reached out instinctively and held the boy's face in his hands. "Harry open your eyes, you're safe, you're with Professor Snape." He brushed the boy's fringe off his forehead, along with some tears. "Come on, Potter. Look at me!"

Harry stopped screaming, but did not fully wake. Instead he screwed his eyes shut and threw his arm up over his face.

"S'ree Unko" he began to croak over and over. It took Severus several minutes to figure out what he was saying, and once he did "Sorry Uncle" felt like the two worst words in the English language.

As fearsome as he wanted to be, he did not want the boy apologizing for having a nightmare. That was too much, even for him. He laid a long, thing finger against the trembling lips.

"That's enough, Harry. Quiet now. Your uncle's not here and it's not necessary to apologize. You're at Hogwart's with Professor Snape." The boy wizard continued to hide behind his arms.

"Come now, Mr. Potter. I know you're better than this. Don't let them pull you into your fear. Your Uncle is not here, neither are your attackers."

That seemed to work, and Harry finally opened his eyes with a sniff. Snape was sure he was aware of his surroundings when the boy coloured, and then turned and buried his face in the pillow. Severus indulged him for roughly half a second and then shook him by the shoulder.

"That's enough of that. You need to get up so I can clean things up." At that Harry pulled the blanket over his head. Snape was sure he would have groaned if his throat hadn't been torn up. "I said enough, Potter" he repeated as he pulled the boy to his feet in the middle of the room. As he cast a quick cleaning spell on the boy he added "If you think having an accident is such a tragedy you desperately need to gain some perspective."

Blank, sleepy eyes just stared at him as he turned the cleaning spell on the bed and quietly added a warming charm.

"It's not a big deal" he translated. With a small push he indicated for his student to get back in bed.

Harry did as he was told, climbing back into bed and pulling the covers up almost over his head. He thought his teacher would leave him to his misery, but instead of hearing footsteps he felt a weight settle at the end of the bed.

"What's wrong?"

He didn't move, and after a moment Snape repeated the question. Harry flung the covers back and turned to face the man, though he stayed rather curled up. He finally began to move his hands. One word, repeated.

Immediately Snape reached for his book. Harry was glad he had marked the pages of the signs he had learned. Still, it took the professor a minute to search.

Once he found the page he wanted, he turned and regarded Harry seriously, but not meanly, Harry thought; almost with concern. It was tough to place, not many people had ever looked at him like that before.

He was waiting for something. At a loss Harry made his sign again. Snape's lips tightened and he sighed.

"Scared. Yes, I know you're frightened. And with good reason. You were hurt rather brutally. Combine that with the - " he paused here and swallowed the descriptive he wanted to use "deplorable treatment from your muggle relatives and it's quite understandable that you would be affected."

At this the potions master got up and grabbed one of the previously unnoticed stuffed toys that were littered about the room. What is this room? Harry wondered at the discovery. He also noticed a small wardrobe, more toys and many, many books.

By that point Snape had finished transfiguring the toy into a chair, and begun settling the covers around Harry's shoulders once again. Harry watched as the blurry form seemed to settle in the chair for the long haul.

"Now go back to sleep. I will remain here until you do."

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

"You look positively wretched, Severus."

He only grunted, and began to shut the door in Minerva McGonagall's face. Unfortunately his reflexes were poor when he was running on too little sleep, and she managed to wedge her foot in the door.

"I need to talk to you. It's rather urgent."

"Then by all means," he ground out and gestured for her to come inside. He refused, however, to make her any tea.

She launched right in. "What time did you release Harry Potter from detention last night? It seems he didn't show up to his dorm last night. No one seems to know his whereabouts yesterday beyond your detention."

"I'm sure he's fine."

"Be that as it may, what time did you release him? Did he mention where he was going?"

"He did not, in fact, go anywhere. He's sleeping, which I would like to be doing. So if you'll excuse me."

"I will do no such thing. What on earth are you talking about ‘asleep'?"

"He. Is. Asleep. As in, in bed, eyes closed, probably snoring."

"You'll have to help me out a little bit further, Professor Snape."

"He was here for detention and fell asleep. He was then put to bed, where he remains."

At that moment he felt the ward alarm tingle in his pocket. The boy was out of bed and apparently eavesdropping. So for his benefit Severus added "Though hopefully not for long. I do have things to do." And with a very subtle flick of his wand he shut the door of the spare room.

"And he's still here?"

"You're quick in the morning, Minerva. Yes, Potter's still here."

"And you did not send him back to his room why?"

"It didn't seem prudent to wake him up knowing he would never go back to sleep."

The witch looked taken off guard, but only snorted in disbelief. "I won't even begin to ask how that came about. Just send him to the Great Hall for breakfast, would you?"

"I will release the boy when I see fit."

McGonagall just sighed and let herself out of the Dungeons.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Harry woke, taking a moment to remind himself where he was, clearing his head of the fogginess of the night before. He tried not to flush when it all came back to him, but thankfully he was distracted by the voices in the other room.

"What time did you release him? Did he say where he was going?"

Harry shrank back into the bed a little, and persisted in pulling the blankets over his head like he wanted.

McGonagall was here looking for him. Oh, he was going to be in so much trouble for not returning to the tower last night. But mostly he was afraid Snape would tell her what happened. Maybe he should get dressed in case the man wanted him to leave right away?

The muffled voices tempted him, however, and he wandered over and peeked through the bedroom door. He didn't see much, however, besides Snape sneering at his head of house before his potions teacher gave a small flick of his wand and the bedroom door closed.

Harry almost yelped in surprise, but managed to stop himself. Clearly Snape was pretending he was still asleep. But then why had he told McGonagall he wanted him to leave as soon as possible?

The man was far too confusing. Not knowing what else to do, Harry picked up his BSL book and began to practice.

First a sign for Hermione, and the Ron - their initials forming the sign for friend.

Then:

Teacher,

Thank you

You're Welcome

I'm sorry

Scared

Happy

Good

Bad

Don't want to

Please

Help

After several minutes of doing so there was a knock at the door, followed by the professor's voice.

"Breakfast is ready."

He was so shocked at the fact that he wasn't being shoved out the door, that he sat there slack-jawed for a moment, until Snape called out,

"Now, Potter!"