The Silvanimus by Star Polaris
Summary: Long before Harry goes to Hogwarts he makes a decision that will change his whole existence.
Categories: Master Snape > Apprentice Harry Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required)
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: General
Media Type: None
Tags: Alternate Universe
Takes Place: 0 - Pre Hogwarts (before Harry is 11)
Warnings: Physical Punishment Spanking
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 10 Completed: Yes Word count: 30098 Read: 73227 Published: 01 Sep 2007 Updated: 01 Sep 2007
Trouble by Star Polaris

Winter 1990

Harry winced as the door opened with force and his guardian stepped into the headmistress' office. From the corner of his eyes he looked up to gauge the man's mood, but the blank look only told him the man was angry, not how angry he was. The Headmistress looked up from her paperwork and stood to greet her visitor.

“Mr. Snape, a pleasure to finally meet you, I only wish the circumstances were better.”

The man nodded and shook the hand he had been offered. The he turned his intense black eyes to Harry who was trying to hide himself in the chair he was sitting in.

“Go wait for me outside.”

“Yes, sir.”

Harry didn't think twice about obeying, he just stood up and left the room. Then he turned to the woman who invited him to take the sit his pupil had just abandoned.

“What happened?”

The woman sighed. “For what I have been able to gather, this has been going for a while now. Bruno Handry started school this year, he is two years older than Harry and has a love for taunting people. I don't know for what reason he has been cornering Harry regularly. We've tried to put a stop to it, but so far nothing has worked. I don't know what he said today but Harry punched him before anyone had the chance to interfere. Bruno also landed a few kicks before we could separate the two boys. Bruno will be expelled, we can not keep him here any longer as he has been bringing trouble for as long as he has been here. Harry on the other hand presents me with a problem. I can not abide him getting into a fist fight but I can also understand that it is in part the fault of the teachers for not being able to reign Bruno in. I would like your input on the matter.”

Severus leaned back into the chair, a deep frown on his face. “What would you normally do with a student who had physically attacked another?”

The woman shrugged slightly. “At a first offence it would be two weeks suspension. Second offence it would be a month and third it would be expulsion. Harry has never had such a problem before and under the circumstances I'm not sure how to proceed.”

Severus crossed his hands on his lap. “I believe you should proceed as you normally would. Harry has to learn that every action has a consequence.”

The headmistress raised an eyebrow. “Even though he was nearly goaded into it?”

“Fighting is never a good answer to a problem, there are many other ways to handle such a

situation. For starters he could have informed me about it.”

The woman smiled slightly. “Boys are reluctant to talk about those kind of things.”

Severus gave her a small smirk in return. “Oh, I know that, but it doesn't change the facts. It hardly matters any more, Harry made his decisions and I have made mine. So, unless you don't agree with me I'll keep Harry home for the next two weeks.”

The woman nodded and stood up. Severus followed her out of the door and after saying his goodbyes he started to stalk through the corridor, a single look ensuring that Harry was following him. When they arrived at their usual tree, Severus tree-jumped without even waiting for him. Harry gulped slightly, it had only been two weeks since he had started to learn that method of transportation and he still felt uncomfortable using it. Especially after Severus had shown him a barrage of pictures of people who had stayed stuck while trying to move too far away. He didn't really fancy staying here till Severus remembered he could not tree-jump on his own, it was half way November and it was freezing cold. On the other hand the other Silvanimus had been very clear, under absolutely no circumstances was he allowed to tree-jump on his own. Deciding he didn't really fancy angering his guardian even more. He sat down close to the tree, huddling himself into a tight ball to try and stay warm.

He didn't know how long he remained there, he had lost all feeling in his arms and legs and was starting to feel drowsy. Suddenly he heard cursing and he was lifted from the floor in a single move. A warm cloak enveloped him and he started to shiver as he was pressed into a strong chest.

Severus tree-jumped once again towards their home, cursing his own stupidity as he tried to infuse some warmth in the small body shivering against him. He had been so angry with Harry that he had forgotten that he had absolutely forbidden the child to tree-jump without him. He always made sure his apprentices knew the danger of using that kind of transportation which helped curve their wish to experiment. It was no wonder Harry had preferred to wait for him instead of risking it.

Once they stepped into their home, Severus immediately headed towards the bathroom located on the lower level, undressing his little bundle as he went. Harry tried to fight him, as he didn't want to lose his clothes, even though they must be freezing, but Severus was relentless. In a matter of minutes he had Harry undressed and in the bath.

Harry was much recuperated when Severus finally allowed him to leave the bath. The older man had remained silent the whole time, just checking the water's temperature and adjusting it with a charm from time to time. Once Harry was out of the bath, he was handed a pair of warm pyjamas and sent to the kitchen where Severus quickly prepared him some soup to warm him up further.

Harry watched as his guardian moved through the kitchen. He could tell the man was furious by his abrupt movements and strained silence, and tried not to draw attention to himself. Once he had drunk his soup, Severus sent him to his room. It was barely four in the evening, but the older man had told him he better stay up there till tomorrow or he would be in even more trouble than he was now. Quite intimidated, Harry hurried to his room and sank into the bed. On one hand he would have preferred to know his punishment already, on the other he was quite relieved at the reprieve. He had never seen Severus so furious at him and he could only hope the man would have calmed down by tomorrow.

That evening, his dinner popped into existence around seven. Harry blinked slightly, he had fully expected to go to bed without food but it seemed Severus had other ideas. He quickly ate his dinner and once he was done he started to get drowsy. Scowling he quickly moved to the bed. He just knew the man had put a sleeping potion in there. The good thing about it would be that it would allow him to sleep since he doubted he would have gotten much rest otherwise.

The next morning Harry woke to the sound of a new tray popping into existence on his table. Somehow his dinner tray had been removed the night before. He quickly got up and dressed. There was a note on the tray that told him to get into Severus' office at nine sharp. Quickly Harry ate, trying not to think about what awaited him.

Twenty minutes later he was knocking softly at the man's door with sweaty hands. Severus' voice was cutting sharp as he told him to enter his office. The older man didn't even make him wait, as he often did just to make him nervous. Instead he was bid to approach him. Suspecting what was coming, Harry slowly walked closer to his guardian. Just as he had expected he was tugged over the man's knees as soon as he was within reach. Strong slaps started raining on his behind before he even had a chance to regain his breath. It was a show on just how angry Severus was at him when the man didn't stop as soon as Harry started to cry. Harry had learned that the punishment would go on until he started crying so he would usually not do much to repress his tears knowing it would spare him quite a few slaps. Not this time though, Severus seemed fully determined to show him exactly how angry he was at him.

Harry's behind was on fire when his guardian finally stopped the spanking. With a smooth movement Harry was put on his feet, tears still streaming down his face as he rubbed his eyes with one hand and his ass with the other one. Severus took him by his shoulders and forced him to look him in the eye despite the tears.

“You will never again get into a fist fight with anyone. Do you understand me?”

Harry sniffled and nodded. To his surprise he was then hugged tightly to the man. Severus didn't usually comfort him when he was being punished, thinking it was counter-productive, but this time he seemed to make an exception.

Severus rubbed the boy's back gently until he stopped crying. He knew he had been much harsher than he usually was, but this was important, he would never allow Harry to believe, even for an instant, that fighting was the best solution to a problem.

Once the boy had calmed down, Severus motioned to one of the chairs that stood in front of his desk.

“Sit down.”

Harry winced, it would be murder to sit down right now, but he was not about to test the other man's patience. He went to the chair and sat down carefully, trying to keep most of his weight on his legs but he already could tell he wouldn't be able to keep that up for long so he relaxed slightly, wincing as the pain registered in his brain.

Severus watched on, leaning against his desk, as Harry tried to find a comfortable spot, knowing there was none. In other circumstances he would have been amused at the boy's restlessness but not now. Once Harry finally stilled, he started to speak.

“I want you to explain several things to me, and keep in mind your further punishment will depend on your answers so they better be very detailed and truthful.”

Harry winced, wondering what else the man would do to him. “Yes, sir.”

“What exactly did that boy say that provoked you enough to punch him despite knowing damn well you are not allowed to fight with anyone.”

Harry shrunk slightly in his seat. “He has been saying for weeks now that I am just a teacher's pet and a weakling, and that the other children only play with me because I can help them with their homework. I didn't mind him much since he says that about a lot of people. But today he started on how my parents had probably dumped me here with you because I was such a weakling, how they could probably no longer stand to have me around. I'm sorry I punched him but it hurt.”

Severus sighed and went to kneel in front of the child, not surprised to see tears wetting his eyes again. The subject of his parents was not one Harry broached very often despite knowing that Severus had known them both. “That little bastard doesn't know what he is talking about, Harry. I knew both of them for nearly ten years and I know that they would have been very proud of you. You are growing to be a strong and intelligent boy, the fact that you get good marks is nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, it is something you should be very proud of since you work so hard to get those marks. I'm sure if your mother were alive right now she would love to brag about it, she always was quite obsessed with her own marks.”

That last remark finally brought a small smile on the child's face. Returning to his previous position, Severus asked the second question that had been bothering him. His tone was not so cold any more even though it didn't allow room for lies.

“Why didn't you tell me you were having problems at school?”

Harry frowned slightly. “At first it wasn't so bad, he was just annoying and I didn't pay him attention. I think that's why he got it in for me. The other children he bothered either ended up crying or ran to a teacher, I just acted as if he didn't exist. I mean, I had had to deal with Dudley, Bruno was really not as bad as my cousin. When he wouldn't leave me alone I thought of telling you, but if the teachers hadn't been able to deal with him, what could you have done? You're not there during lunch period and Bruno knows better than to try anything when we get out of school.”

Severus sighed. “There were quite a few things I could have done, Harry. I know I don't use much magic around here, mostly because I prefer to use it only when it is necessary, but there are several things I could have done to remedy the situation. A visit to his parents would have been a nice place to start.”

Harry shrugged. “It wouldn't have helped much, his father is just like Bruno, he is probably congratulating him right now.”

There was a bit of bitterness in his voice that made Severus narrow his eyes. “If you expect to be congratulated for punching anyone then you don't know me very well.”

Harry hunched a bit. “That's not what I meant.”

“No, you are probably just thinking it is unfair that you are in so much trouble while this other boy is probably tormenting some other child right now, not knowing that in a few years he might get in trouble with the law if he keeps it up. Am I right?”

Harry was forced to nod as that was indeed what he had been thinking. Of course, when Severus put it like that it didn't sound so good. “But I wouldn't punch anyone again.”

The older man snorted. “And if I had asked you yesterday morning you would have assured me there was no way you were going to punch anyone. Tempers are sometimes hard to control, Harry, it is difficult to try and think rationally when you are angry. Nevertheless you know what will happen if this situation happens again, because no matter what the other parents chose to do, I will not allow you to get into fights unpunished. Is that very clear?”

Harry sighed. “Yes, sir.”

Severus nodded. “Good, now, you have been suspended from school for two weeks, that means you'll have to do the work on your own. You're also restricted to your room for those weeks. Take your time there to think about what happened and how you will act if the situation were to repeat itself. Understood?”

The child nodded, eyes firmly trained on the floor. “Yes, sir.”

Severus straightened and returned to his seat. “Get going then.”

Gratefully, Harry jumped up from the chair and quickly left the room, happy at least to be up from the chair but not looking forward to his confinement. Severus had used that kind of punishment before knowing that Harry hated not having anyone to interact with. In some ways it reminded him of his time in the cupboard. The first time he had been confined to his room he had had a panic attack, since Severus had closed the door with a charm so that he was not able to open it. It didn't matter that the room was at least three times the size of his cupboard, that Severus popped his meals at the right times into his room and that he had a bathroom of his own. The feeling of not being able to get out had sent Harry into a frenzy. From then on, Severus refrained from locking the door in the understanding that Harry would stay put until he was told otherwise.

Once in his room Harry quickly removed his trousers as they had been rubbing against his sore ass. Not really wishing to see the damage Severus had done, he went to lay down on the bed. He knew he wouldn't be doing much that day besides reading a bit and dozing as he was not about to sit down anywhere any time soon.

It was late that night when Severus finally went to bed, he had been trying to concentrate all evening without much success, debating whether he had been too stern with the child or not. He was passing Harry's room when he stopped. Casting a quick charm he checked that the boy was asleep and entered the room. He had to shake his head when he saw the child sprawled on the bed, his covers mostly on the floor. The room was quite warm thanks to the permanent warming charms that were on the walls but that was no reason not be covered. Silently, he re-arranged the covers and tucked the child in, watching the peaceful face. He dreaded to think the problems he was going to have with him when he started Hogwarts. Being surrounded by other teenagers all the time had the tendency to make even the most well behaved boy wild and Severus wasn't really looking forward to try and keep him in line. Maybe he was just getting too old for this.

Shaking his head, the man turned around and left the room, unaware of the green eyes that regarded his retreat sleepily but with a pleased smile around the small mouth. Harry turned around, wincing slightly as his ass made a brief contact with the bed. His guardian may be stern and demanding, hard to live with and often bad tempered. But he cared about him and that was, in the end, the only thing that mattered.

The End.


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