Harry Potter was really starting to hate his birthday again. Hatred for this particular day of the year was something he hadn't felt since the one followig his first year at Hogwarts when he was no longer the only one that July 31st was important to. In the last two years however Uncle Vernon had reconstituted his yearly present for Harry. The beating of his life. This year's session was most definately the worst and Harry could no longer feel much of anything...he was simply indifferent or...numb.

The summer was just like all the others. Lonely and painful. As Harry sat alone in his room he thought to himself..."No, this summer is worse." Sirius was still on the run. Cedric was dead because of him. And Voldemort had finally returned to destroy his life...again. He had also been forced to lie and tell the Weasleys that he could not visit them this time due to the Dursleys finally wanting to spend the summer with him, getting to know him. He still wasn't completely sure they bought it. Hermione, he knew, had most definately guessed what was going on and what was going to happen to him this summer. Ron on the other hand...well he hadn't known his friend could be so gullable. Ron seemed disappointed but also happy for Harry since he was finally getting some attention from his family.

This is what made Hermione so different from Ron. Hermione had always been the one Harry was always closer to. Yeah he could talk to Ron about anything that concerned teachers, or Quidditch or just regular guy stuff but Hermione was the one he always craved talking with when it was serious. He told her about that night in the maze the second they got on the train home after catching her on her way back from the prefect compartment. She was frightened by some of the tale but she was also more level headed than Ron and therefore able to mask her fear long enough for her to tell Harry that she wasn't going anywhere, that she was there for him whenever he need her and that she would never abandon him.

The reason Harry knew with absolute certainty that his beautiful Hermione would have never swallowed his pile of lies was because, not only was she his girlfriend and he could never lie to her successfully, but also because she knew what Ron did not.

Hermione knew the truth.

Yeah, they're paying attention alright. He thought with no small amount of bitterness.

It was really more like Dudley was paying attention to his gang of friends and beating on the neighborhood kids, Uncle Vernon to how much physical injury and pain he could possibly inflict on Harry without killing him and Aunt Petunia was paying attention to the happiness of her husband and to the possiblitly of any "freakishness" Harry might be practicing. But Harry wasn't stupid. He knew that the second he even tried to use magic, self-defense or otherwise, he would never be going back to Hogwarts again. That just wasn't an option.

Hermione would know this the second she had read "I won't be leaving Privet Drive this summer" because she had seenthe truth with her own eyes only weeks ago.

Flashback:

He needed this. He needed the wind and the hight and the adreneline rush, and the absolute and total quiet of the skies. There was no practice today for any of the teams so Harry had decided to take advantage of the open pitch to just...fly. He needed it more than he had thought. He needed to feel free - just for a little while. He loved Hermione more than anything in the world and it wasn't as thought she sufficating him or anything but the weight of keeping something from his girlfriend, Hermione of all people, was a heavier weight than he had originally anticipated.

Here he could let the weight off himself for a bit. He could be free. Here he was so high Uncle Vernon could not touch him and no one could see him as the disappointment he constantly felt like..

After he finished his workout, thoroughly out of breathe and more relaxed than he had been all year, he went to the showers. This one time, he didn't lock the doors to the team locker rooms, as he thought he was perfectly alone.

He was wrong.

Hermione had decided to forgo the studying this evening after dinner in exchange for spending sometime with her boyfriend. Harry had been obvious to her that there was something weighing on him this year (more than than the obvious) and even more so as the year drew to a close. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach that it had something to do with those horrible beings the Headmaster called his family, but Harry would always ask her to talk about something else if she ever brought it up. This is why she had only ever brought it up twice at the begining of the year. She knew he didn't want to bring the Dursleys here, so to speak. The magical world was a refuge for her love and although she grew steadily more suspicious of those people, she would not bring them into the only place Harry had to escape them. She desperately wanted to know what was bothering him so but she knew if she asked he wouldn't tell her and she loved him too much to force it, although part of her felt she ought to.

But for today atleast she was going to just offer up her company. Free of books and classwork, just some free relaxing time with his girlfriend. She didn't find him in the tower and the teachers hadn't seen him except for Professor Snape. The man was nearly positively pleasant to be around lately and she didn't dare question why.

When she had asked, Professor Snape had no problem with telling her that she could most likely find Harry on the newly fixed Quidditch Pitch as he had last seen him heading outside with his broom over his shoulder.

Now Hermione was just at the entrance to pitch. She looked to the skies expecting to see her favorite seeker doing some insane move that would make her heart stop. Unfortunately she was disappointed. She looked from one end of the pitch to the other but there was no one flying around out here. She turned around, set to go look for Harry in the tower again, when she noticed the door to the Gryffindor changing rooms open.

"Well duh, of course he would take a shower after flying, he always does." she thought, unbelieving that the thought hadn't first occured to her when she didn't see him flying.

She changed direction and headed to the changing rooms. She stopped at the door and listened. She didn't hear any showers running, nor the rustle of clothing so she assumed that Harry was atleast decent enough for her to see him, and walked in intending on finding her boyfriend on a bench tying his shoes or checking over his broom.

"Harry!" she called out, so as not to startle him.

He didn't seem to have heard her so she went further in to find something she had never expected.

Harry was shirtless, doing exactly what she had thought, tying his shoes, when she saw him. That isn't what stopped her in her tracks however. She had seen Harry with his shirt unbuttoned and in short-sleeves so she knew he was 'very' handsome. What she had never seen before is what she saw now.

Scars. Many of them, too many in fact. They littered the whole of Harry's back.

Through no will of her own, Hermione let out a gasp of shock.

It was this small noise that immediately drew Harry's attention to the fact that he was no longer alone and that whoever was here could easily see what he had done so well to hide for years. He knew that he couldn't just sit there so he stood up, and braced himself for whoever he was about to face concerning his darkest secret. As he turned around and finally saw who was there, he realized there was no way for him to prepare himself for her knowing.

Hermione.

His girlfriend, his love, his Hermione, that he had kept this from.

Harry froze.

"Harry..." she let out in a strangled whisper.

"Hermione hold on!" Harry desperately tried.

"Look it's no big deal ok, I can handle him I promise, it only happens when he's really angry or drunk so really..." he rattled, not realizing that he just gave Hermione more information than she had and far more than he would have wanted to.

Hermione for her part had noticed that Harry was so paniced about her seeing him this way that he was rambling without thinking. She however wasn't going to stop him if this was the only way to get the truth. She knew what he was hidding in part, and as she listened to him ramble on she suddenly pieced together the puzzle, the picture she got however was the one she hoped she wouldn't.

She was livid.

"Your uncle did this to you!" she exclaimed, outraged. 'He gave you all those scars?"

"..."

"Harry please, tell me the truth." she begged. "There is no one else here but me I promise you that, please tell me!"

"Yes" Harry whispered, but Hermione heard him.

Harry couldn't bring himself to look his girlfriend in the eye anymore. The minute he heard her ask her question, he knew that not only had she enlightened the thought once already, but also that he had given her the final pieces she need to actually put the majority of the picture together.

"Why didn't you tell me Harry, you can trust me with anything" Hermione had to ask.

This got his attention immediately. Did she think he didn't trust her? That was an outrage! Of course he did, it had nothing to do with that...

"Hermione! I love you more than anything in this world you know that! I trust you more than anyone please believe that." Harry explained and pleaded.

"But Harry..." she didn't understand. If it was some guy thing he had only wanted to share with Ron, that she would get. This...this didn't make sense to her at all.

"Hermione" he stopped her. He could see in her eyes that she was lost. She couldn't comprehend why he would keep this from her. To be honest, in her shoes, he would have had the same problem but it had nothing to do with trust.

"Mione, I DO trust, I love you, nothing could ever change that. Me not telling you about...my uncle had nothing to do with that. Love, I am your boyfriend, I am supposed to protect you, to make you feel safe. I want to do that. I'm also constantly looked to be some great powerful person. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think I couldn't do that. I didn't want you to be disappointed in me." Harry finished.

Hermione Granger was, for lack of a better term, stunned stupid for a minute. When her brain caught up with her she didn't utter a single word at first.

She kissed him.

Harry was the next to be stunned it seemed. He knew Hermione inside and out and yet he still hadn't thought she would react this way to this new information. After a minute he finally decided he didn't care. She didn't seem cross with him or upset so he just enjoyed himself. He closed his eyes and allowed her to kiss him with all she was worth. Her left hand was busy softly stroking his cheek while her right went into his hair.

She was going to make Harry Potter see reason whether he liked it or not.

She finally pulled back when she felt the beginnings of air becoming a problem. As she open her eyes and met that beautiful emerald green she adored so much a new level od determination set in to make Harry see how wrong he was.

"Harry Potter what in the name of Merlin could ever make you think I would be disappointed in you? Yes it's true that I don't like that you didn't tell me what that sorry excuse for a human being has done to you but your reasoning is completely ridiculous!" she began. "Do you think I don't know what would happen if you even tried to defend yourself using magic while at home? Whether you were being mutilated at the time or not Harry they would have snapped your wand and I know that is why you didn't try it. Your Uncle is supposed to love you but at the very least treat with some level of decency. I am livid with Vernon Dursley and his wife Harry, for allowing such a brutal man to torture that last connection she has left to her sister. Even more so a child!" Hermione had to stop here for a moment. She was so angry!

"Hermione, love breathe!" Harry ordered. She was turning red, and he was slightly worried about her. Still the sight that she was so enraged for him made his heart give a gentle tug. She smiled at him and after she took a breathe she finished what she had to say.

"Harry none of this was your fault and you deserved none it. You are good and you are kind and strong. Nothing short of becoming a Death Eater yourself could make me think any different of you. I love you." she finished softly. The whole through her speech she looked him directly in the eyes, making him believe her words.

"I'm sorry" he said.

"It's Ok Harry, but don't forget that what others do to you is not going to make me love you any less, it just can't be done." she replied.

Harry lent his forhead against hers as his arms encirlced her in an embrace. He relaxed with her in his arms, "I love you so much Hermione" he whispered softly. As she smiled, some of the wieght of his situation had finally begin to lift.

End flashback

Harry didn't think he would ever forget that day. He had been so terrified of seeing such disappointment in those stunning brown eyes when all he got was what Hermione had given him all along. She loved him unconditionally. That night in the common room, she heard it all. Harry told her almost everything. He got angry, his magic made the portraits around the room shake, she calmed him before anything serious happened, and when he finally realized just how much he had let out of hiding...he broke. And his wonderful, loving Hermione was still there for him. As his shoulders shook and the sobs overtook him sitting there in front of the fire, she held him in her arms with his head on her lap and his arms holding onto her knees for dear life. She let him get it all out and for the first time in all his life, Harry Potter simply...cried.

So yes, Hermione Granger knew without a doubt why Harry would not be seen until September. Harry only hoped that while he really didn't want anyone to see him in such a bloody and beaten state, from a muggle no less, a part of him was crying out to her from Surrey to tell someone...anyone! To help him.

As his vision started to fade from the pain that he could no longer ignore with thoughts of those he loved, he looked out his window at the stars. The last thing he saw before everything faded to black was a letter fall from the air gently to the corner of his desk with probably the most beautiful handwriting, besides Hermione's, spelling out...my son.

When Severus Snape woke that morning he had no idea how much his life would change by the end of the day. Rather he had no idea how much his life would be restored to what it should have been or that a restoration was even needed.

As he sat on his bed now however, he simply did not know what the think. The exquisite handwriting on the envelope of this letter he would forever know, anywhere. He had not seen it in many many years and the problem was that he had never believed that he would again. As he stared it, he could feel the magic that came with it and he could only think one thing...

Lily

He finally gathered himself to read her last letter to him and as he turned it over and made the smallest break in the seal, his own mind became a wirlwind of memories that he hadn't realized he'd ever had to have forgotten in the first place.

Lily, sweet, beautiful, seventeen year old Lily holding him in one of her earth-shattering kisses that had once brought his world to a standstill, with her hands tangled in his long black hair.

Him and Lily, sitting out by the lake after dinner gazing at the stars together. She was wrapped safely in his arms as he played with her long, soft, red hair. Her fingers gently trace his pale face as she picked her head up of his chest to look him in the eye. "Severus, I love you." she confessed.

He was momentarily stunned but when he came back to reality, his could reply with, " And I will always love you my sweet Lily".

Severus's dormant heart gave a jolt. He now new with out a shred of doubt that it was indeed her magic he had felt a moment ago and it was her who was assaulting him with his own long lost memories...making him remember what he knew to be true.

"I love you" Lily cried. Her body was so warm and soft as they made love, having snuck down to the Room of Requirement. His hands he just could not keep still. He answered her words as he began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck.

"Lily, oh I love you", he whispered in her ear. "You are so beautiful" He held her closely, never wanting to let her go. "I'll never leave you, my Lily" Her arms tightned around his shoulders as she reveled in is strength, safety and love with which he continued to shower her.

As he relived that particular memory, the rest seemed to slide back into place without him having to relive each an every one. As he sorted out what his love was trying to make him remember, he was beginning to feel ill.

Sirius Black hanging him upside down infront of everyone, not James.

The Slythering Prefect claiming he shouldn't have accepted help from a 'Mudblood'. He never said such a thing to Lily!

The engagement ring he gave to her for her 17th birthday under their tree at their park on Spinner's End, and Lily had agreed to marry him!

Their wedding day, Lily, more beautiful then ever with her stunning white dress and gorgeous smile.

But she claimed to have married James, (not Potter) because Severus had asked her to for her own safetly, he had to help Lucius as best he could.

Lily telling him she was pregnant...

"Harry!" Severus exclaimed in a somewhat strangled voice. He felt his heart give a horrible wrench as he thought of all the pain he had caused him, Harry...his... his own son!

"Oh Lily, what have I done?" he cried. It was then that he remembered he still had yet to actually read her letter. He immediately switched gears for the moment and set out to rectify that problem.

With trembling hands he picked up the aged piece of muggle notebook paper and began to read the last words of the only woman he had ever loved.

My Dear Severus My love, it pains me to write this letter but I must for tonight all was lost and the grave errors that have been made must be rectified immediately. Oh Sev, I saw it all. I know by now your memories have finally come home to you. I am angered that they were every taken in the first place, for yes they were stolen from you. I have seen what is most likely disturbing you now and know that we forgive you and soon he will as well.

Harry

Our son,

Your son, my love.

Let it be known that I am well practiced in rolling over in my grave! That self-righteous, maniputative old coot needs a reality check Sev and now! Albus Dumbledore stole you memories and he stole your son from you! That idiot is so consumed with the greater good he willing to sacrifes our little boy. If I wasn't already dead by the time you read this, I would kill him myself! Unfortunately that sort of justice will have to wait.

Severus you must help him! Harry is in danger. You know where that crackpot sent my baby, and he is not safe there! If you are reading this then unfortunately far too many years have passed but you can still help him. And regardless he will want your help love, he will. Today is your Harry's 15th birthday. I was only able to send the letter this "soon". You musn't delay. He is YOUR son Severus Snape and I know that by now you remember your love for him. Show him!

As you embark on the path your lives should have taken Severus my love, remember this: You were a good father then and you still are. You can love Sev, Harry is proof of that, and you DO deserve to be loved, so regardless of how I know you and him were made to treat each other. Let him forgive you and let him love you as he will remember he does.

I will always love you and am always in your heart should you ever need of me.

Forever my deepest love,

Lily Flower

As Severus finished the letter, he stared for minute at what was signed at the bottom. "Lily Flower". He had given her that nickname when they had started dating in their 5th year, and he was the only one to ever use it. James Potter, the man who actually lived with her, claimed to be her husband to the world, never once made use of his term of endearment.

Suddenly he felt something in him shift. His eyes went from her signature to the words in her letter.

"Your son"

A second later he was out the dungeon door heading towards the grounds in order to apparate to an address that for years he had no clue why he had made a point to memorize...until now.

4 Privet Drive

Severus Snape was going to go get his son.

My Love, My Mione,

I hope this finds you in good time, knowing Hedwig it will as I swear she knows everything and understands the problems here. I have something to tell you that you are no doubt not going to like or believe for that matter. I will not be going to the Burrow this summer. My Uncle has decided he wants the whole family to spend more time together, with me really so that they can better get to know me. I won't be leaving Privet Drive this summer at all actually. I wish desperately that I could go to the Burrow with you. I miss you more than you could ever know. Please let your parents know I send my love and that I hope to see them on September 1st. I'll see you on the train, have fun and keep an eye on Ron for me.

Love you more than all the lillies in the garden,
Harry

!ESAELP epans rosseforp rof dnes !esaelp em pleh enoim . s.p

When Hermione Granger finished reading the letter from her boyfriend, she was shocked to say the least. Oh, by no means was shocked that his uncle would want to spend time with Harry. No, what shocked her was that Harry actually tried to pull off that excuse as if she would be ridiculous enough to actually believe it! The idea alone that Vernon Dursley could have a caring bone in his obese body for his nephew was not only propsturous, it was sadly, laughable.

"And Harry knows that."Hermione thought stangely.

She looked back down at the letter, marveling at the idea that she was meant to buy this load of codswallop when she noticed that post script at the bottom. It was written along the very edge of the page where she hadn't noticed it the first time she read the letter. It almost looked like scribbled babble that didn't make much sense at first, the more she studied the line of words, she finally understood what was wrong with them...

'They're backwards', she concluded, with a swell of pride that her love had thought of this and knew that she would eventually figure it out. She immediately ran to her mirror and held that letter facing it against her midsection, hoping to be able to read what Harry obviously wanted her to know but no one else. What she read sent chills of fear up her spine.

"mione help me please! send for professor snape PLEASE!"

Hermione stood rooted to spot for all of 3 seconds before she shook some sense into herself and went trying to help her boyfriend. She knew the horrors that Harry had suffered in the thing the Headmaster dared to call a home and she was genuinely terrified of not getting the Potions Master to Privet Drive in time. As she was wondering about how to get a message to professor, the answer hooted right at her...literally.

"Hedwig! I should have known you would have waited for me to catch up! Hold on girl, I'll get him help I promise." Hermione swore to the familiar.

She, like Harry, knew that Hedwig knew when her master,her human was in danger. Hedwig loved Harry and Hermione could only imagine how fast Hedwig had been determined to fly in order to get to her house in good time. She just knew that this bright and highly intelligent owl would stop for nothing until she found Professor Snape and he was at her Harry's side to aid him.

As soon as she was done with the last word of her letter to the Professor, Hedwig didn't waste any time. She instead jumped up, grabbed the still open parchement in her strong beak and flew out the window in a flurry of white, set on her mission to find the man that would save her human.

Hermione sat at her window and watched as the beautiful owl flew off into the sky. She sat there for so long by the time she was driven back out of her worry and her dispair, the sky had gone dark and the rain had begun to fall.

"Hermione, love are you alright?" her father's question drifted to her ears from her doorway.

She just sat there silently as she shook her head all the while holding out her letter from Harry for him to read. When Steven was done reading he too was worried for the boy. He had met his little girl's boyfriend at the beginning of the summer before the kids' fourth year and the two gentlemen had been sending letters to each other all year. Steven knew what Harry went through at that house though he was never told, and he now understood his beautiful daughter's such broken hearted expression...she was terrified and she wanted to help him.

"Oh sweetheart.." he tried to sooth her and sat down on seat with her bringing her into a hug, something he used to do when she was little and afraid of thunderstorms.

"Daddy, what if no one gets there in time to help him?" she asked. Hermione looked up at her father and he could see her eyes begging him for an answer.

"We'll wait until morning darling and go from there." he told her softly, at her outraged expression he hurried to explain his reasons. "Hermione, whether they get to Harry tonight or not, you still would not hear anything from anyone until morning as it is already late."

Steven watched his daughter wrap her head around his logic and with a nod of her head she slid off his lap and curled up under her blankets. She stared straight ahead at a photo framed on her nightstand of her and Harry at Hogwarts but made not a sound as he came over to tuck her in, leave her a kiss on her head and make to leave her be for the night. She stopped him before he even made it to her door.

"Yes, my sweet girl?"

'Thank you daddy." she whispered softly. He had almost be able to here her.

"You are most welcome Hermione". With that he turned to leave, and just as he was about to close his door, he heard what he thought was the most heart wrenching words his daughter had ever uttered...

"You can't leave me Harry Potter...I love you too much to loose you now." Hermione spoke the words with a strangled whisper of conviction to the stars, and as her father continued on he had only one thought in his mind.

'May god help those people if they take Harry Potter away from her'

For while Steven Granger loved his daughter and thought the world of her, he knew that should she have to live in a world without Harry, there would be Hell to pay.

HAs far as Severus Snape was concerned, the Headmaster was the luckiest man on the planet today. The only reason being that, if not for him needing to get to his son as fast as magically possible, Severus would be headed in the opposite direction of the one he was currently running in. He could see the front doors of the castle in front of him. He had so much adreneline running through his veins he was almost tempted to blast the damn things from their hinges. As he past through them, he had barely stepped foot on the grass of the grounds before he heard the frantic sounds of an owl. He looked up to see a very panicked looking snowy owl heading straight for him. The only snowy owl that ever resided at Hogwarts, that he knew of, belonged to...

Harry

He lifted his arm, as he had seen his student do many a time, and let out a call to the frenzied creature.

"Hedwig!"

The owl darted for him, pushing her wings to carry her faster, as fast as the poor thing could fly. When she was close to him she landed on his arm after making sure he grapped the parchment she had firmly held in her sharp talons. On his arm, her concern for her human was palpable. She hooted her impatience and worry so much that Severus feared the familiar may give herself a stroke. He calmed her for a few second before glancing down at the letter she had carried. He knew the handwriting immediately, it was from Harry's girlfriend, Granger. What he read made his blood run cold.

Professor Snape

Please you must help me! Harry is at his relatives house in Surrey. Please you must help him, I beg you! He has written me, asking to send for you. He is not safe at that house, no matter what the headmaster may tell himself and I am certain that something is very wrong. He wrote to me saying that his uncle will not let him leave their home the entire summer, until September the first. Professor please! You must hurry for I just know that if he is to stay in that hell hole he will not make it to September.

Please Professor Snape, please save him!

Hermione Granger

Now Severus was well and truly frightened. He had to leave and now! The not so soft bite to his ear brought him out of his panic induced haze and was much appreciated.

"Fly Hedwig, go to him, I promise I shall follow, I will get him out of there." Severus told the familiar as he pushed his arm up to let her off. She took off immediately, giving him a small nip in gratitude before depating.

He watched her fly for all of 3 seconds before he took off at a full on sprint for the gates, turning on the spot and apparating as soon as the iron gate closed behind him with a bang.

When Harry awoke, he silently thanked the magic he was born with, and not for the first time, for keeping him alive. He tried opening his eyes carefully before shutting them when the pain it caused in his head was almost as bad as the "Voldemort Headaches". He lay on his floor and tried to breathe as slowly and carefully as he could so as to reduce the agaony in his ribs. As he lay there just letting air go in and out of his severely bruised lungs, he suddenly remembered the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness. A letter. He saw a letter appear out of the air as if waiting for the right moment to come to him. As he thought about it before, the writing on the envelope came bareling back into his mind.

Such beautiful handwriting, so close to his Hermione's... but the word's told him it wasn't from his girlfriend.

My Son

It was from his mother. He didn't know how he knew it, he just knew in his heart that the letter on his desk was from the one woman he longed to know more than anything in the world.

As he was thinking about the likelihood that he could get the letter and hide it from his relatives, he heard the front door being unlocked and someone creaking it open slowly. He was immediately on alert. He didn't think there was any reason that anyone of the house's other occupants would be sneaking into the house but he didn't trust them for anything. He then heard a sound that assured him it was not one of his mother's relatives. A clacking..on the floors...then the stairs. Boots. In fact he knew that sound like he knew Hermione's voice from miles away. The light, footfalls sounded different than whenever he had heard them before, different on hardwood as to stone, but he was certain he knew who was walking up those stairs and stopping at his door.

The door was unlocked, Harry could feel as well as hear the magic opening the 4 locks. As it creaked opened slowly and he heard a sharp intake of breath as well as a wonderful smell he hadn't realized he knew yet. The figure came closer to him, step by step, boots making their familiar sound on the floor of Harry's prison. He could feel the body heat as well as the energy of his magic as the man drew down to floor next to Harry to get a closer look at him. Harry cautiously tried to speak.

"Professor Snape?" he asked softly, his voice cracked slightly.

Severus Snape had apparated right across the street from the house where is son was meant to be. It looked as if no one was even there.

"Good, this will make things easier...but I will come back", he thought vengefully

He had unlocked the front door easily and noticed that the enitire house was much too quiet. It had given him the creeps. He slowly walked around, noticing not a single picture of his beloved Lily, nor her precious son. It was as if there was no such person as Harry Potter to have ever stepped foot in the home. He continued on up the stairs only to stop at the first door he saw, and a sense of fear clawed at his heart when he saw the locks on the outside of the door. He took out his wand once again to open the door. When the last lock clicked open, he slowly pushed open the door, afraid of what he was to find in here.

What he found made him want to string Dursley, and especially his wife, up by there entrails and leave them for the thestrals at Hogwarts.

His son, his Lily's most treasured little boy, lay bloody and beaten on his floor. He was curled in the most conveluted version of the fetal position Severus had ever seen and looked as if he was trying very hard to breathe without causing anymore pain. his eyes lay shut almost peacfully but by the damage on the boys face looked like it would cause Harry great pain to open the even if he had tried. He finally snapped back to reality when a soft breeze ran across his face and through his hair. Sandalwood. That alone was enough to snap him out of his shock and get him moving. Trusting that Lily was right (as she usually always was), he gentley knelt on the floor next to his son. The son he had betrayed and prayed the boy would forgive enough now to let him help him. He was about to call to Harry, to see if he was awake when the boy beat him to it. His voice came out in a strangled whisper.

"Professor Snape?"

Was that relief he had just heard?

"Harry" he let out.

Harry for his part was thanking every star in the sky that he had such a brilliant familiar and an even more brilliant girlfriend. Hermione had figured it out. She had sent Hedwig to the Professor. He had no idea why he had specifically told Hermione to send for him. Something inside him told him that Professor Snape was who he needed right now. Something told him, he could trust this man more than any other. His body completely sagged in utter relief that the man had come for him.

Severus watched as Harry took in that his potions master had come for him. He saw that the boy truly looked relieved to see him. He looked down again as his noticed Harry try to move.

"Shhh child be still" he ordered gently, he certainly did NOTwant his child injured any further. He very carefully leaned down to pull the child into his arms so as to carry him. His son let out a very slight whimper of protest to the movement.

"I know Harry, it's alright I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey. You're safe now." he whispered to the boy. He sat there for a minute longer, just holding his son. He held his child to his chest with a hand on the head of soft black hair that he only now noticed was getting longer during the summer than he had ever seen it.

As his professor brought his head to his chest, Harry could hear the man's heart beating incredibly fast. He felt the strong arms hold him protectively, bring his own long teaching robes around him in order to shield his body more from the world around him. It was then that Harry's heart gave a soft jolt, his mind swirling with memories he feared he would never remember.

Long red hair surrounding his face as he let out a baby's giggle. His mother was playing a game with him, her beautiful smile comeing to sight as she brought her face up again.

That smell, potion ingredients, engulfing his senses and chasing the monsters away from his dreams as his father held him in his arms.

Another black haired man with glasses, telling him that daddy had to go away for a little while, that this man would be here for him until he got back. Reassuring him that daddy loved him and always would.

When Harry came back to himself it was with a painful intake of breath. He then noticed that scent surrounding his senses again. Potion ingredients. Rosemary, Aconite, Sage, and Sandlewood. The Sandlewood actually reminded him of his mother, but the rest...

"Daddy" cam Harry's whispered cry.

Severus actually stopped breathing for half a second. Did he really just hear that correctly? He looked down to see Harry trying to bury his face further into his robes, and taking as many deep breaths as he could. He strained his ears but he was sure his child was muttering something else...

"Rosemary"

"Sage"

"Aconite...also known...monkswood...wolfbane..."

He could barely hear the boy but still he heard him...and he understood him. Those were what his robes smelled of. Those were probably the strongest smelling ingredients he used where the smell never came out of his robes, no matter what he did to them.

"Harry must remember them...he remember's as I do."Severus surmized. He then thought about what made him remember in the first place and began searching the room for it. There on Harry's desk sat a letter, yet it seem to be unopened. As he felt his child snuggle into him more, he decided to just take the letter with him along with the rest of Harry's things. He could give it too him in the hospital wing when the child was feeling better. When he was sure he had everything after having summoned all of his son's belongings, he slowly lifted them off the floor with little protest from his precious cargo. He looked to check and found Harry fast asleep. He allowed himself a small smile.

He dropped a kiss on his child's head, whispering, "Come my son, let's go home." before turning on the spot and doing just that.

They were going back to Hogwarts, they were going home.

Albus Dumbledore had better remember one thing...Hell hathe no fury like a woman scorned.

Poppy Pomfrey was not a stupid woman by any means. She wasn't blind either. The headmaster may be her employer but the man infuriated her to the core. She currently sat at her desk in her office going over the potions she had made for her, setting them into the specific kit she put together every summer for the last four. Ever since a certain green-eyed little boy first stepped foot in her infirmary. Yes, these potions were made and in abundance, and put aside just for Harry Potter. She would never admit it to anyone but a select few, but she had a special place in her heart for that sweet child. June was especially hell for her. Every year, at the end of term, Poppy would storm into Dumbledore's office and inform him of the same thing as the year before.

The boy was mal-nourished.

The child was neglected.

Lily's child was beaten.

And every year he refused to believe her. Refused to even look at the medical scans that she repeated every single time Harry was treated. Every year she had sit back as the headmaster sent the poor child back to that hell, instead of where he belonged.

But this year everything would change. She had felt the magic in the air for the last week. Poppy knew that magic anywhere, almost as well as her own. It swirled and flew all around the castle and especially her infirmary. She knew that she would be seeing Harry soon...she hoped she was wrong, but Lily Snape was rarely, if ever wrong. Oh yes, she knew the truth. She also know what her best friend had done. Her other best friend and the child she loved, would finally be where they belonged, and have the family they so dearly deserved.

She looked up from the potions in front of her and her eyes caught the calander on her wall.

31 July 1995

Harry's Birthday

This time she heard the magic reak havic through the whole wing and stilled.

Oh, dear Merlin...

The Hospital wing doors slammed open with a resounding bang lifting her from her chair. The scream that followed it had her bolting from her office...praying to all the magic in the world that it wasn't what she thought.

The second Severus landed and saw the Hogwarts gate, he took off at a sprint. Careful of the broken child in his arms. He stormed through the doors and sped through the corridors with one destination in mind.

The Hospital Wing.

He fequently cast looks down at his son, who was somehow snuggled quite closely in his arms. While he wouldn't dare move him, Severus could not, for the life of him, figure out how Harry was curled so tightly in on himself as he was...without being in agonizing pain.

A breathe of magic flew over his head and by his ear.

"I hear you Lily, I hear you." He spoke softly to the walls. That magic was hers and hers alone. Lily was here some how. He didn't dare question it either. There was a tone, a feel to that magic floating among the castle walls, that he knew well.

She was NOT happy.

Oh Dumbledore, you are SO screwed.. he thought.

The white doors to the infirmary came into his field of vision and he picked up his pace carefully. Before he even reached them, they flew open with a bang.

"POPPY! HELP ME!" Severus cried, carrying the precious cargo in his arms over to the bed that he used so frequently.

The mediwitch came running out of her office seconds later, her eyes catching his before that set on the bundle he had brought to her.

Poppy saw Severus and then she caught sight of Harry.

"Oh Merlin! Harry!" She blew out, then immediately setting out to mend him as quickly as possible. Severus have swifly moved to the opposite side of the bed to sit and watch over his son.

Suddenly, as Poppy's scans finished and the last potion was spelling into Harry's stomach to heal him, the most powerful burst of magic came swiftly though the infirmary. It swirled around the room for a while before melding into the stone walls.

"Yes Lily, I know. I hear you woman, no need to get to testy with us." she spoke to the air around her. Severus nearly choked on his own breath.

"Poppy..." he began to question.

"Yes Severus I know who this child is. I know what has been done to him...and to you. Just as Lily does." she informed before he could even ask.

"It's her...she's here. I do not know how but.. " Severus let out. Poppy looked up at him with a soft look in her eyes before they became hard, angry.

"Yes, she is and she's livid." she growled out.

Not one of them heard Harry stir from his sleep. Neither one noticed him take in all the magic in the room, surrounding him. He heard their converstation, and suddenly closed his eyes letting him soak up the feel of his mother. Let himself bask in one of the only things he would ever have of her. Madam Pomfrey's comment about his mother brought him back to the present. A part of him just knew that his mother was the reason he had begged for professor Snape. His mother was there for him, knew what had happened and she was pissed.

An old adage ran through his mind and he had to voice it as Madam Pomfrey voiced how angry his mother truly was.

"It is never wise to anger the dead." he said softly.

"It is never wise to anger the dead" he said softly.

Severus and Poppy both snapped their heads to him so quickly, Harry was sure they could have gotten whiplash.

"Harry!" Madam Pomfrey let out, surprised. "Oh my goodness, you gave us all one hell of a scare, child." she told him, as she began to scan him once again, now that he was awake.

While the Mediwitch ran her scans, Harry's mind wandered to one thing. His mother had left him something. Something she clearly, very dearly, wanted him to know. Harry had no clue where any of his things were, but the man beside him would. Gathering his courage, like the any Gryffindor, he finally found his voice just enough for...

"Professor?" he asked very quietly.

Severus almost didn't hear him. He tried to look the boy in the eye but Harry lay in his bed, fidgeting with the bed clothes, refusing to look anywhere in his direction.

"Not that I really blame him",Severus thought.

Severus had no clue how he was going to fix the mess of a relationship he now had with his son, but he knew he had to try. Truly, Harry was well within rights to tell him to sod off and walk away from him. Severus knew that was a possibility and feared it. He had missed so much of his son's life, had refused to see what was right in front of him this whole time. Though it may very well take an act of Merlin himself to repair the last 14 years of damage to this boy, four of which he only amplified, Severus was certain that he could not run out of fear. For now, he figured answering him would be a good place to start.

"Yes Harry, are you alright?" the Potions Master asked him calmly, yet gently, so as not to frighten him.

As he waited patiently for Harry to answer him , he noticed something. The poor child seemed to want something. The man could see his eyes shifting around looking for whatever it was, almost desperately, and yet he seemed nearly afraid to ask for it. Severus had to assure him that, whatever it may be, there was no harm on asking.

"Harry?" he pushed. Harry continued to look anywhere but at the man sitting next to his bed, even as said man got up and slowly sat down on the bed in order to get his attention. His frail hand kept fidgeting while the other was held still at his side.

"Harry, please look at me, my child." Severus pleaded. He barely noticed the epitaph that had slipped off his slips.

He had no idea how Harry might take his "evil git, Potions Professor" calling him his child, but at the moment he really didn't care. Severus slowly reached a hand out, and gently put two of his fingers under his son's chin lifting his head until the two were eye to eye.

Black met green for almost a full minute before Harry let out a choked response.

"My letter...it was on the desk..." he nearly whispered. Severus could see there were tears beginning to form in those emerald orbs.

"It's alright child, it's there on the stand beside your bed." he assured.

As Harry's head swiveled around to confirm his professor's words, said man watched as the boy's body nearly melted in relief when he saw that his mother's treasured letter to her only son was safe.

He knew that Harry would not just immediately accept him, no matter what he may or may not remember. He was also sure that Harry would want to read those words from Lily alone. Severus understood that feeling of having something of Lily that he didn't want to be shared. He had every intention of showing his letter to his son but he still felt, his son being the exception, that her words to him were his and his alone. He would not take such a treasure away from her son.

"Harry, if it's alright with you, I would like to send a message to Ms. Granger, letting her know that you are indeed in safe hands. She seemed very worried for your safety." he cautiously asked.

Harry's head snapped around for a second before he brought it down to his chest again, nodding his acceptance to the idea.

"Thank you professor, I would really appreciate that." he admitted shyly.

"You are very welcome Harry. I will leave you in Poppy's hands for now, and I'll be back to see how you are doing in the morning." he told him calmly.

Though Harry was surprised, he didn't want to turn down the company.

"Yes, sir. Goodnight." Harry answered politely.

"Goodnight, my child." was Severus's reply.

As Harry watched his professor leave he could have sworn he saw the man's lips lift upward into a smile.

Harry may be more than just a little out of it, but he had a pretty good memory. As he lay there in bed, waiting for Madam Promfrey to finish assessing him, he recalled the snippets of memories that had assaulted his mind while in the professor's arms. His mother, James Potter, and . . . Professor Snape. He knew he would have to face it eventually, knew that he and the Hogwarts Potions Master were in need of one hell of a conversation. For now he intended to lay back, relax under Madam's Pomfrey's gentle care, and rest. For the first time in weeks, he felt safe again.

"Harry, love, you're in for a rough week." The Medi-Witch informed him, bringing him out of his musings for the moment. He could hear the apology in her tone.

"How much damage this year?" Harry asked her. She was nearly shocked to hear him sound almost bored. She sighed. He was too used to this after all.

Poppy let out another sigh before answering her favorite patient.

"Your back, ribs, and left wrist are going to be the problem. Those welts will need to be treated every day before you go to bed and also throughout the day if they get irritated. Your ribs are healed but still severely bruised and will be very sore for the remainder of the week. I insist you to rest and not over-exert yourself, please. Also the bones in your left wrist were crushed." The witch nearly growled out the last part. "To be on the safe side, while the potion does its job, I've put a muggle cast on the wrist to keep anything from happening to it that might damage it further. Be sure not to get that cast wet, alright? I'll check on everything again at the end of the week and see what to do then, ok, Harry?" she informed him.

The concern in her eyes made him feel warm. He may not like having to lie around all day but right now he decided to let the kind woman hover all she wanted.

"Yes, ma'am, thank you." he answered softly, even offering up a small smile for her. He got a caring smile in return.

"Oh you are most welcome, love. Now relax and get some rest. I put some Dreamless Sleep Potion in the stand here should you need it. Sleep if you want to Harry, I promise there will be no one to bother you here." she assured him kindly before running a soothing hand over his head and going off towards he office for the night.

As Harry laid back in his bed, his shoulders finally able to relax, he knew he was closer to home than he had ever been.

As Severus entered his private quarters, he let out a breath he hadn't evn realized he had benn holding. In the Owlery, he had magically penned a message to Ms. Granger assuring the girl of Harry's safety. He would have used a school owl but, Hedwig, it appeared, had been watching him with a keen eye and had snatched the parchment and took off toward Kensington before he could blink.

Now back in the dungeons, Severus took a moment to think.

Harry Potter was his son.

IS my son, he corrected himself.

Harry knew it too, of that the Potions Master was certain. As he sat down on his bed he thought over the boy's behavior in the hosptial wing. Harry hadn't seemed afraid of him. He hadn't even seemed all that surprised by his professor's sudden change in demeanor around him. He was however, rather skittish, amlost as if hewere afraid of something.

Severus's mind was a whirlwind of possible answers. His eyes's moved around the room as he pondered until they fell on Lily's letter resting on his bedside cabinet.

The letter.

Harry's letter from . . . Lily.

There was always the belief that the attack on Harry was the reason he had no memories of his parents or the only year he had ever had with them. With Lily's word's ringing in his ears, Severus now knew the real reason. His son's memories had been taken from him as his own had been.

He didn't believe for a second that Harry might be afraid of those memories. He knew without a doubt how the young man had struggled with not remembering a parent's love... his mother's love. What Severus now believed was that Harry had no idea that Severushimself had memories of being his father. The boy was uncertain of how Severus would react to such information. He wasn't afraid of the Potions Master himself, but of ...

rejection.

The weight of knowing his son was afraid of, yet practically expecting to be turn away fell heavy on Severus's heart. He loved his son. His beautiful, bright, special little boy. He had been robbed of that love and affection for his child and they both were suffering. While Severus could blame his own father for being uncertain of fatherhood, it nearly killed him to know that Harry could do the same with his own uncertainies.

He laid back in his bed remembering the days of holding his baby boy in the safety of his arms, watching him sleep or his smile light up the world around them. Only one negative thought penatrated his peaceful dreams as he succombed to sleep that night.

What have I done?

Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore had never been a heavy sleeper by any stretch of the imagination. Still, when alarming shrills rang through his office and into his chambers, it shocked him clear out of bed and had him bound of to his shelves.

As he entered his office the first thing he noticed nearly sent the old man into a panic. On the shelf behind his desk sat a very exclusive monitoring insrtument for a muggle home in Surrey; the thing was going bloddy haywire.

Albus knew that such a racket coming from this device could only mean one thing.

Harry has left the confines of Petunia's home, he rationalized.

As the headmaster began to pace his office, trying to find some way to get Harry back to him and where he needed to be, his eyes caught something on his desk that hadn't bee there earlier. He made his over and as he got near enough, began to read.

It was a letter.

A letter, with words that made Albus Dumbledore's blood run cold.

You picked the wrong child - L

He had to find Harry. He had to find Severus as well, or all his plans would be for nothing. This was not supposed to happen. He was not sure what had happened exactly or why Harry was no longer at his aunts house but he knew that the letter still on his desk could not mean good things for him.

Albus Dumbledore was well aware of what he had done. He was not however aware that anyone else knew of what he had done. He knew that Harry was Severus's son but it didn't matter. Severus was unaware of it now and Harry was rightfully led to believe what Albus wanted him to. Although the letter made Albus nervous, he refused to let himself be frightened.

"The woman is dead for Merlin's sake!" he thought.

No, Harry out of easy access was a small hinderance but not a major problem. And Albus was certain there was no way for Severus to remember anything. Things would go as they should.

"Nothing to worry about, a dead woman can do nothing to ME." Albus said to himself.

The headmaster strode out of his office then, heading towards the Hospital Wing, thinking perhaps Harry had gotten someone to bring him to Madam Pomphrey since the boy couldn't just take what he got with his mouth shut.

As the door closed he never noticed Fawkes burst into flames and disappear nor the copious amounts of magic begin to stir in his office, ready to reak havoc.

Poppy sat in her office thinking about her dearest friends and how things should have been so much different for the young man now lying in her infirmary. It was cruel what the headmaster had done to Severus and Harry. She understood Lily's anger and she had every intention of letting her do as she please to senile old coot as she sits back and enjoys the show.

She was torn from her thoughts by the sound of footsteps crossing her threshold, ones she knew well.

"Speak of the devil.." she whispered to herself.

The mediwitch stood and made her way over to office door and as she looked out on her only patient, the sight that met her eyes made her smile.

Severus barely managed to sleep 2 hours. He woke in the dead of night and the only thing he could think on was Harry. He had told Harry he would back to see him in the morning, but that didn't mean he couldn't check on him while the boy was sleeping did it? Now that he knew what had been stolen from him, and what Harry himself could deny him, he hated the thought of losing even more time with his son.

"Even if he has no idea I am there." Severus rationalized to himself.

With resolve in mind the Potions Master got out of bed and made his way to the Infirmary.

He made his way over to the only occupied bed as soon as crossed into the ward. As he sat down next to Harry on the bed, facing him, he couldn't resist the urge to card his fingers through his child's soft hair.

"Just as it was...as I remember."he thought.

The longer Severus sat there and looked at his sleeping boy, he found himself fearful. Severus knew he had been not just awful, but cruel to Harry in the four years he had know him. Granted it was not of own volition but it still mad Severus fear the Harry would turn him away. Harry had gained throughout his life more one reason not to trust adults, himself included. Though the thought alone pained him, Severus would not blame the boy if he did dismiss him.

As much as Severus wanted to stay here all night and hold vigil over his baby boy, he would not intrude on Harry's sleep, nor his personal space. Yes, he would back in the morning as promised, but only to briefly check in on the young Gryffindor's health. Then he would wait. He would ask Poppy to let him know when Harry had read his own letter from his mother and then, if Harry wanted to see him. He stood to leave but before he left...

"I love you Harry, my son." Severus whispered into Harry's ear, leaving a father's kiss in his hair before he left his son to his dreams.

As he left the ward, he failed to notice the Matron leaning against the frame of her office door, having watch the entire scene with a pleased and hopeful smile adorned her face.

It had always boggled Harry's mind as to why all the adults around him, at Hogwarts at least, took him to be a heavy sleeper. He couldn't be when he hardly ever slept to begin with but even when he did sleep, the survival part of his brain was always awake, always on high alert. Harry heard the professor come in to the ward, felt the bed shift from the weight as the man sat down along side him. He had felt the long fingers card through his hair, soothing him. And he had heard words from his Potions Master, words he thought he would never hear in his lifetime.

"I love you Harry, my son." he heard in the most gentle tone he had ever heard from an adult in his life.

With the small, and dare he say...loving, kiss dropped on his head as his...father left...

Harry Potter finally slept, truly slept for the first time in almost a decade.

As morning crept in through the high windows of the Hospital Wing, Harry began to stir. He took a mental check of himself and he noticed with surprise that he felt better than he had in years. He felt the muggle cast on his left wrist but other than the unfamiliar weight, it wasn't painful. He managed a small stretch before his body started to twinge so he laid himself back down carefully and looked around.

The wing was empty, as would be expected during the summer, and while there was slightest sterile feel to the room, he couldn't help but revel in the sense of safety he felt here. He also noticed the smell. Instead of the room smelling of fresh linens as it usually did, Harry felt like he was enveloped in a blanket of Sandalwood.

"I know that smell...where do I know that smell from?" he wondered. Hold on...

Harry's snapped to his right so fast he nearly went dizzy but his eyes immediately latched on to the envelope placed neatly among the potions, his wand and glasses, which he now saw had been repaired at some point. He carefully plucked his glasses from the table to place them on his face. Once he could see properly again, he slowly and painstakingly maneuvered himself to rest against the head board, turning his head once more towards the table next to him.

The letter.

His letter.

His letter...from his mother.

He grabbed for the letter and placed it gently in his lap, running his fingers reverently over the handwriting adorning the envelope. My Son.

Taking a deep breath, gathering all his Gryffindor courage, he turned it over and with hand shaking violently, opened the envelope. As soon as he broke the seal, Harry felt and overwhelming swirling in his head as memories he wasn't even aware he had came rushing back to him.

The soft voice of his mother singing him to sleep with her Celtic Lullaby.

Sitting on his daddy's clothed knee in the garden as daddy whispered to him, his mother running flowers across he little hands and through his tiny fingers.

Long black hair surrounding his face as he let out a baby's giggle. His daddy was playing a game with him, his smile comeing to sight as he brought his face up again.

Strong arms, dressed in dark warm cloth, cuddling him close, soft black lock brushing his baby face, tears as his daddy whispers, "I love you Harry, my little Imp."

Another black haired man with glasses, telling him that daddy had to go away for a little while, that this man would be here for him until he got back. Reassuring him that daddy loved him and always would.

Sandalwood, Rosemary, and Wolfsbane, all coming out of his comfy blanket that his mother had made for him, the one his daddy cuddled him in. It was wrapped around him, felt like daddy was cuddling him. And then the pretty smells are gone and his head feels funny.

Harry came back to reality with a jolt. As he processed everything, he went from confused to hurt to angry. All his life he longed for memories of his parents, but especially his mother. He craved any information he could get, true, but all anyone talked about was James Potter. He wanted to know about the woman who loved him so very deeply she gave her life for him. Now his head was full of memories he was never aware he had ever even had, and yet he could stop himself from getting angry that someone had actually stolenthose from him.

He wanted to know who had the nerve to take something so precious from him, no matter how old he was, wanted to know what gave them the notion that who ever it was had any right to do so. He ran his hands through his lengthening hair out of pure frustration only for them to land back in his lap with a quietsmack.

His letter.

He still hadn't even read it yet. So caught up he got in injustices...had he actually forgotten it was there? Now his mind had re-tracked itself. He was shacking all over justthinking about what his mother could have said to him.

He gathered his will and for a second time, took a breath to calm himself and slowly pulled the parchment from it home.

My Sweet Little Boy,

Oh, how I wish I could be there to hold you and tell you how much I love you. My greatest treasure is what you are Harry. The most wonderful gift I could have ever been granted. I know today if your 15th birthday.

Happy Birthday my child.

My gift to you is the truth. The truth you were so cruelly robbed of. Harry you must listen to me. While James Potter loved you with all his heart, he was not your father. He was never my husband nor the man that I loved.

Your father is Severus Snape.

I know by the time you read this, it will be very hard to believe or accept but Severus truly was the only man I ever loved. It pains me to know that my sweet, loving husband will have been reduced to a bitter, hateful man. Hopefully you now remember what I am trying to tell you. He loves you Harry. He has always loved you.

Professor Dumbledore is a manipulative old man. There is a ridiculous prophecy he believes in and is willing to destroy yours and your father's lived, living by it. He stole those memories from you. He is the one that made you father into the "evil potions master". This deplorable man stole your father from you my son and be sure - he will be very sorry indeed.

Open your heart little one. Let Severus in. Let him love youas I know he does. He had gotten a letter from me just as you. I will have done the same as yours so he will remember I promise you.

Do not blame him Harry. He was robbed and toyed with just as you were. Blame the man that caused all of this. Blame the man that truly deserves it.

Stay safe and remember that I am always with you.

All the Love in My Heart,

Mum

When Poppy left her office in the morning to check on Harry, she was not expecting to see him half sitting up, nearly hyperventilating. She quickly made her way over to him, making her steps just loud enough that he would hear her approach. As she got close to him, she could see a piece of parchment sitting in his lap, and tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"Harry? Are you alright? Are you in pain?" she asked.

She had to be certain exactly what could be troubling him. Either he had moved himself up and was now in pain and therefore stuck, or this had something to do with the letter sitting nicely in his lap. Poppy had a feeling it was the latter, but before she could ask again to be sure, Harry answered without a single word. He merely handed her the letter for her to read.

She read to basics. She already knew the truth anyway. Though she was bound to never reveal it until they knew themselves, she still knew. She skipped over the special words from mother to son, those were meant for Harry and Harry alone. She would not take those from him, not a chance in hell.

"Is it true Madam Pomphrey?" Harry asked her. His voice had broken the silence but it sounded so small and so broken and unsure, she had to mentally remind herself that he was almost seventeen...not seven.

"Which part, dear?" she asked. There was more than one thing in the letter that he would be expected to question. She hoped he was asking what she thought he was.

"I know Professor Snape is my dad. I do remember, little things. M-Mum said...the Headmaster did this. Did he? Did he take away my only family, all that I had left of my mother? Did he really DO this to me?" he begged her for the truth. It wasn't that he didn't believe his mother, he did, but Madam Pomphrey had always been there for him, and she had never lied to him. He felt compelled to ask.

Though the truth is what he wanted, her answer didn't help much.

"Yes, Harry. What she wrote you is the truth." she spoke to him softly. She saw the raw emotions cross his face and his emerald green eyes fill with more tears just waiting to fail. She watched as he tried with great effort to hold everything in until finally she could watch it no more.

"Harry, love, would like a Dreamless Sleep Potion now, or a Calming Draught?" she inquired, desperate to help his pain, if only for a little while, but the boy shook head to the negative.

In that moment Harry Potter wanted only one thing. He did not want potions, or explanations, or anything else.

"I want my dad." he informed her. He said with absolutely no hesitation at all and sounding so small she didn't hesitate to assure him before striding to her office and over to her floo to get the boy exactly what he wanted.

Severus was reading an old muggle novel, of Lily's, in the sitting room of his quarters when the fireplace grew aflame with the school matron's head floating inside it. The second he saw who it was in his floo, Severus jumped from his seat in a near panic.

"Poppy, is Harry alright?" he asked her frantically.

"Physically he is healing an no worse that he was yesterday but..." she started, she was wondering about the look on Severus's face if she told himexactly what Harry had said to her.

"But what? What is it Poppy, please tell me!" he anguished, the woman was starting to scare the hell out of him. What she said though nearly gave him a stroke.

"He's asking for you. He read the letter from Lily this morning, he asked me if it really was Dumbledore that did all of this and I told him the truth. He seemed upset, which is understandable, and when asked if he need a potion to help calm him, he said, and I quote: 'I want my dad' .". she told him, and then promptly disappeared from the fireplace. She made sure to catch a good glimpse of his expression first...priceless indeed.

It took Severus a minute to realize that the medi-witch was no longer there and as soon as he processed what exactly she had said, he flew from the dungeons as fast he could. He could have used the floo, but he remembered his son's whispers from when he had found him, whispers of the scents on his robes. The floo would distort the scents and if, even at almost seventeen years old, they were still a comfort to Harry, then he would take any little bit of help he could find.

He sped through the halls of the castle, he thought about what it was exactly that had upset Harry. His first thought was finding out that Severus was his father, but the remembered how Harry had asked for, no,demanded him.

"I want my dad."

He wasn't sure what Harry remembered from opening the letter, but he knew that his son remembered him and was not turning him away. His son was not rejecting him as Severus was sure he would. That thought alone carried him all the Hospital Wing without him even noticing until he opened the doors and laid eyes on his child.

Harry was sitting up in his bed, staring off into space, and falling down his face were...

Tears

That alone propelled Severus from his spot at the door, over to Harry's bed. He sat down without a single word, and with a gentle touch brought his son's eyes to meet his own. As soon as Harry focused on the dark, familiar eyes locked with his, he snapped. He suddenly collapsed into the potion master's chest. His arms wrapped tightly around the older man's rib cage as he tried desperately to bury himself in the warm, soft, black robes...only one word came from his lips.

"Daddy"

Severus, damn near tears himself, put his own arms around the child, who was now very quietly sobbing into his chest, and without a single word, maneuvered them both so that they were laying down on Harry's bed. Severus felt the Harry struggling around a bit, trying to find the most comfortable way for him cuddle into his robes. He let him be as he watched for any sign of a whimper or a cry of physical pain from the young man. As Harry finally settled himself, curled up to Severus's side, his head resting on Severus's chest so he could hear his father's heartbeat lull him back to sleep, Severus continued to hold him.

He then laid his head upon his son's and let himself rest, knowing that safely wrapped in his arms once more, lay his treasured little boy.