“I won’t be long Potter, I need to talk to the headmaster”.
“What're you gonna tell him, that I’m a failure at Potions, that I should quit whilst I still have the chance?”
“I was thinking of saying that, but thought otherwise, you’re not the only student to have been injured, it so happens that you messed up on a new potion”. With that, Snape had left the boy, making his way over to the headmaster's office.
Albus was standing next to his pet, Fawkes, the phoenix was glowing when it spotted Snape, alerting the headmaster who had turned to greet him.
“Hello there Severus, are you alright? You look rather pale”.
“I’m always like this sir, and I’ve never changed... It’s about the boy”.
“Ah, I heard that he injured himself pretty bad, but Poppy said that you’re looking after him, why didn’t you let Poppy take over?”
“A new Potion that only I know sir, it’s my responsibility”.
“Ah, well then, you can carry on with that, you two can bond, it’ll be like Lily all over again”.
“That’s... Uh... That’s not even good sir, anyway Potter has been cutting himself”.
“Are you certain?”
“No, I just came up here and blurted this out for no god damn reason – of course I’m bloody certain!”
Snape couldn’t help but feel like he was talking to an idiot, but truth is told, Albus was a very smart man, he only chose to be smart, which was not very often. Snape rolled his eyes when the headmaster chuckled at him, but then Albus halted to a stop, “you must try to find out why he is like that”.
“What if it’s his family?”
“Then he must leave them”.
“And go where?”
Albus gave Snape a knowing look, “you’re not answering me sir”, Snape replied but Albus waved him off, “go back to the boy, he needs you”. Snape went to speak but thought otherwise, he turned and left the room.
Snape found Harry trying to feel around the room, he had already knocked some things over and by the blood on his hands and the floor, he’d tried to fix them.
“Merlin Potter!”
Snape rushed over to the boy, startling him as he grabbed the boys hands, “you’re bleeding!”
“I didn’t mean to hurt myself, I tried to fix the –“.
“Not another word from you hear me”.
Snape pulled Harry over to the couch and sat him down, healing the cuts on his hands before repairing the glass bottles the boy had managed to destroy.
Snape took a deep breath before sitting down next to Potter, “Potter, can you tell me what caused you to cut yourself?”
“None of your business”.
“That’s no way to talk to your teacher”.
“I know, but I don’t want to talk –“.
“You will tell me”.
“Why?”
Snape felt like throwing himself out the window, “because I’m worried”, he could feel the boy tense, he too was surprised, Snape was worried for someone? It took a few minutes before the boy spoke, “my family”.
“Ah, thought so”.
“If you knew, then why would you ask?”
“To assume that it’s their family is very dangerous Harry”.
Again the boy tensed, even Severus tensed at the use of Harry’s name, “I cannot barge in and assume that it’s your family who made you like this”. Harry nodded to that answer, “do they physically hurt you?”
“Oh god no, they wouldn’t dare, not after I had blown up my aunty”.
Snape shot him an amused glance, “come again?” Snape wasn’t so sure he heard that right, “you blew up your own aunty, how on earth did you do that?” Snape asked and the boy answered with a shrug, “one of your greatest powers huh?” Snape leaned back in the chair, “but I still think you’re lying”.
“What?”
“The abuse, I’d say you’d just anger the even more if you blew up your aunty”.
“They didn’t abuse me okay!”
Snape glared at the boy who refused to look at him, even though he couldn’t see him. Potter then let out a yawn, Snape found this to be the best time to put the boy to bed. He stopped himself, Potter was three years old, he was in the sixth year, he was almost an adult. He shook his head and made his way over to the cupboard, “here”, the covers flew over the boy. Snape watched as Potter grabbed the sheets and spread his legs over the couch. Snape also grabbed a new cloth and replaced the old one, “how're your eyes?”
“They don’t sting anymore”.
“That’s good”.
“Professor”.
“What?”
“You like jokes?”
Snape instantly got up, only to be stopped when the boy grabbed his robes, “please, can’t I throw you one”.
“Make it quick”.
“Why did the chicken cross the road?”
“To get to the other side”.
“Correct, why did the crocodile cross the road?”
“Uh to get to the chicken?”
“Well done Snape”.
Snape threw a sour glance towards the boy, “that wasn’t even good”. Potter crossed hs arms, “fine then, you throw one at me”.
“No”.
“You’re no fun!”
“Go to sleep Potter”.
Harry had gone to sleep in about an hour, leaving Snape to think for a bit. He has to have a look at Potters memories, maybe when he’s asleep, then Potter wouldn’t fight him. Snape turned to the sleeping boy, his wand up, “Legilimens”, Snape whispered and he felt his mind leave his body as he invaded the boys own.
A house, he was in a house, the Dursleys he was guessing, in seconds he heard a man yelling, “boy, get down here at once!”
Snape watched in amusement as he watched Potter make his way down the stairs, his face was pale and showed no sign of happiness, one bit. The professor followed the boy into the living room, seeing the three Dursleys on the couch.
“You hurt Dudley”.
Petunia said, her eyes were wide with fright, “I never hurt him on purpose!” Potter said and Snape watched as the bigger man got up from the couch, stalking towards the boy with a menacing look, “you do not raise your voice at us you hear me?” Snape backed away few steps to inspect more. He almost gasped when the older man struck the boy across the face hard enough so that the boy fell to the ground. Snape watched in horror as the man brought his foot down on the boys back, hearing the scream erupt from the boy's mouth. Snape had instantly sprung forward, trying to block the child from the blows. But it served nothing as the older man had passed through Snape. He wasn’t real in Harry’s mind after all.
Snape sprung back into reality, almost gasping for air, by god that was horrible. He looked down at the sleeping boy, what would he say, that he invaded the boy's personal space? He didn’t know.

•
“Professor?”
Snape opened his eyes, looking into green glowing eyes, “Potter, why do you have the cloth off your eyes?”
“I don’t feel any pain, but I can’t see anything still”.
“That’s why I’m working on it”.
Snape grunted as he pushed himself off the chair and slowly made his way over to the cupboard. “I have a few things in here”, he said, “that I need to make in order to regain your eyesight”.
“So it’s all temporary, the eyesight thing”.
“I hope so”.
He pushed some bottles aside and sighed in relief, he hadn’t used this one particular bottle for anything. He looked back at Potter, who had his head turned to the professor, god Potter looked normal, no one would’ve figured out that he was blind unless he acted it out. Snape came to the boy's side, poking the boy's shoulder, “come, we have to go to the classroom, don’t dawdle”.
Snape hadn’t realized he was walking fast when he heard a crash and he spun around to see the boy on the floor, lying in a suit of armor.
“Oh, that’s right, sorry”.
He heard himself say to the boy as he went to his side to help him up. He’d actually forgotten that the boy was blind, “really professor?” Snape could hear the amusement in the boy's voice, even though he was trying to act tough. The classroom was dull as always and Snape couldn’t help but shiver. Making his way over to the cauldron on his table, “don’t be too close to me Potter”.
“But –“.
“No buts, now sit at one of the desks”.
Snape watched as Potter felt his way around the room to find his spot, Snape started up the cauldron and began mixing the ingredients, finally putting it into the bottle. “This will be ready in a days time, great,” he said to Potter who groaned, “can’t it be less?”
“You want to do this Potter?”
Snape snapped at him, he hated how the boy expected more, “you wanna hear another joke?” The boy asked and Snape frowned at him, “Potter, what’s with you and jokes Potter it’s unnerving”.
“Just trying to lighten up the mood”.
“Well don’t, you’re making me sick”.
Snape finished up the potion and levitated it so it could brew out the back for the day. He turned back to Potter, “come, we need to eat breakfast”.
“The Great hall, but I won’t be able to sit with my friends”.
“No not The Great Hall, my quarters”.
“What’re we gonna have, noodles?”
“Very funny”.
“Really, you actually thought that was funny?”
“No”.