Undiscovered by Alexis18
Summary: Dumbledore has requested Snape retrieve something valuable for the Order and stop Voldemort from getting his hands on it. Unfortunately Snape is also required to take Harry as they need a Parselmouth. Along the way, both learn more about each other and Snape's ideas and assumptions are proven incorrect.
Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape, Teacher Snape > Unofficially teaching Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Dumbledore
Snape Flavour: Snape is Angry, Canon Snape, Snape Comforts, Snape is Kind, Overly-protective Snape, Snape is Secretive
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Injured!Harry, Kidnapped!Harry
Takes Place: 5th summer
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Bullying, Torture, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 17 Completed: No Word count: 80694 Read: 63758 Published: 17 Jan 2018 Updated: 27 Jan 2019
SSsssssecrets by Alexis18
Running on adrenalin, they sped through the tunnels faster than any other day. Snape didn’t say a word, for which Harry was grateful. He didn’t want to speak either. He had questions, like how had Snape known? What exactly had Snape done to set the group against them? where to go now? but he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

Instead he focused on placing one foot in front of another and the gross squelching sound it continually made. After a while his vision started blurring but he didn’t falter, even when little black dots sometimes swam in his sight. He’d worked hard before, from being in the hot sun weeding at the Dursley’s, to studying all night for the Triwizard Tournament, this was manageable. It was actually Snape’s endurance that surprised him; the man moved fast and didn’t even break a sweat. He supposed Snape’s second ‘profession’ required fitness.

After what happened the other night, he found himself constantly grabbing at the wand inside his cloak. Touching the long stick of wood and reassuring himself it was there. Snape was currently casting enough light for them both to see by so it wasn’t needed to have it out. Still occasionally he couldn’t stop himself from taking it out. He couldn’t believe he’d ever been stupid enough to leave himself unarmed, he carried his wand everywhere, except for that one moment. He wouldn’t make the same mistake ever again.

Something felt vaguely wrong and he looked up to find Snape frozen. He himself immediately stopped moving, mirroring Snape, and looked for the source of danger. He found it, barely two meters away. A large fat snake with bright red stripes running down its scales and across its belly. It poked it forked tongue out while eyeing them.

“Potter…… now would be a good time to intervene.”

It was true, the snake moved ever closer and raised its head. He began speaking, hoping that it was partsletoungue.

Uh, Stop! we’re friend not foe. ” The Snake immediately changed its focus from Snape to him.

Isss that right? And whysss would I believe you?

He was stumped, how could he convince the reptilian? Then he noticed the broken fang.

That,” He gestured to his own teeth, “Must hurt a lot.

The snake shut its jaw, when it next spoke it turned so that the fang was obscured from view.

Perhapssss.

He looked to Snape, who did not look happy in the least at his lack of understanding.

“Do you have a pain killer potion that would work on a snake?”

The man, for once, looked perplexed. Then understanding dawned as he connected Harry’s gestures with the snakes broken fang.

“You want to help it?”

Harry gave him a small deprecating laugh, “I’d say that’s in our best interests sir.”

The snake was looking quite agitated by being left out of the conversation, Snape seemed to sense this and moved to retrieve the vial more quickly.

He handed a pale yellow and green potion to Harry. The Gryffindor then held it out to the snake,

This can prove we are friend. It will take away the pain, you will need to drink it though.

The Snake curled around itself a few times deciding before its head remerged. “Alrightsss then, young one.

It held its arrow shaped head out and opened its mouth, Harry poured the vial in. They sat in tense silence, the snake flicking its pink tongue out.

Once a minute had passed it hissed softly, “You are correct fledgling, it hassss removed the painsss. I thank you

Harry breathed out a relieved sigh, Snape made eye contact with him and he nodded softly.

It seemsss I was wrong to attacksss you. Let me repay you.

He listened curiously.

There issss two thinngsss you should perhapssss know. Up ahead you will findsss another challenge. The previous humansss who completed it, scratched out itssss original instructions so that othersss would fail. To passs you must reveal a secret. Something that meannnsss something to you and that you have told no other living soul.

Harry listed intently to every word the snake spoke.

You should alssssso beware, these tunnelsss don’t follow the rulessss of the above the ground world. They move and change in wayssss that shouldn’tss be possible. Good luck fledgling.

The Snake seemingly finished and nodded its head once before slithering away.

Snape looked at Harry, clearly asking him to explain. “I presume that snake is not going off to find more of its friends and attack us in our sleep?”

“No, actually it was quite grateful for the pain reliever and wanted to help us.”

“It did, did it?” For some reason Harry was finding talking to Snape, and talking to the snake, to be eerily similar.

“Yeah, it said two things…” He relayed what the reptilian had said trying keep the words the same as best he could.

The professor rested his hand on his chin for a few seconds, “I suppose we shall better go see what its talking about then.”

They didn’t have to walk far to find it. The cavern was small and a very tight space, lit by one green flame in a metal holster fixed to the wall.

In the middle was a column of grey stone, smoothed and polished. It was obviously the centrepiece of the room and Harry and Snape walked cautiously towards it.

Now that he was closer he could see a small orange gemstone sitting on top. Then he noticed the writing beneath it,

To continue on you must give up something of which you value, hold the stone and…

He couldn’t make out the rest, etched crisscrossing lines obscured the words from view. The sentences were completely illegible. Snape too read it, and stared around the room.

“ I suppose this is what you cold-blooded friend was referring too.”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“However, it is a question of are we willing to trust to a snake?”

Harry snorted a bit.

“Something amusing Mr Potter?”

“Uh well… I think its just funny sir. You, the head of Slytherin, asking if we can trust a snake.”

“I suppose there is a certain irony in that.”

Harry stared back at the words wishing their meaning would become clear if he simply stared hard enough.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

“For once in your life Potter, you may be correct.”

Rather than take the insult, he said “Potter this, Potter that. You promised to call me Harry remember?”

“Fine… Harry.” it wasn’t exactly said with a friendly indentation, but Harry took what he could get.

“So, you or me first?”

Snape didn’t answer, instead he walked straight up to the pedestal and placed his hand on the glittery stone.

“I threw out my latest potions experimentation due to the monkswood being too acidic when combined with boomslang skin.”

Harry thought that had to be one of the most boring ‘secrets’ he’d ever heard. Still he waited for something to happen, some exit to be shown. Nothing did.

“I think, I think sir, it has to be a secret you actually value. One that you haven’t told for a reason.”

“Oh? perhaps you would like to give it a try then.” Snape angrily moved aside to allow Harry full access.

Damnn, he definitely didn’t want a turn. What was he even going to say? a secret that meant something, that he hadn’t one anyone else. That unfortunately ruled out everything he’d ever told Ron and Hermione, and that was a-lot. A couple of things about him and Voldemort came to mind but he’d Dumbledore about all that.

Something came to him then, a distant memory that hadn’t thought about for years. But he wasn’t about to share that in front of the person who used any and all information to mock him.

Unfortunately Snape had noticed his realisation,

“Come now Pott..Harry. I know you’ve got something, surely you little secret isn’t worth the lives of every person at Hogwarts. Because that is what will happen if this stone falls into the hands of the Dark Lord. Are you willing to trade all their lives for your privacy?”

No, he was not. He tried desperately to think of something, anything else, but nothing came. He took a tentative step forward to the menacing honey orange stone.

“Could you, ahh. Just not listen or something?”

The look he got was a very clear no.

He muttered to himself in way of motivation, “Alright here goes, just gotta talk about one little thing. Faced much worse before…even if this is a little pathetic…”

He placed his hand on the cold stone, surprised to find it fixed to the pedestal, and stared blankly at the wall ahead. He didn’t move his gaze once he started speaking.

“When I was younger, about 5 or 6, there was this really cold week. Sometimes, in winter it snows in Surrey and this was one of those times. I… there had been this…. altercation inside the house and I was sent out. I walked around for a few hours and came back, but the door was still locked. I was freezing, I only had a shirt and pants on and it was snowing heavily.”

He took a deep breath,

“I walked around for ages, until it got dark. I remember feeling so cold that I didn’t know where I was going — I couldn’t see properly either. I accidentally walked onto this lake covered in ice and I… it started to crack and I fell in.”

“I can’t remember much about that part, only that I was sure it was over, that I was going to die. Then the next thing I realised, I was in a warm room next to a fireplace, wrapped in blankets. A teenager, about 17 or 18 walked in. He was surprised but glad I was awake and okay. He had jumped into the lake and saved me, he told me he thought I wouldn’t make it. I’m pretty sure it was my magic that kept me alive. He gave me a hot chocolate and told me to stay the night. I was super happy, even though I’d just fallen into a lake.” One hell of a freezing lake.

“The next day I had to go back to the Dursleys. I made sure I remembered his name though; Mathew Cresus. Everyday for the next 5 or 6 months I went back to that house looking for him. I never found him.”

He couldn’t stop the blush rising from his pathetic admission and he glancing at Snape was out of the questions. Although if he had, he might’ve seen something different from the usual scowl. Throughout his story the stone in his hand grew warmer. Now it was hot to touch, but not uncomfortable. There was a small ‘pop’ noise and a doorway appeared. Eager to leave, Harry moved towards it.

He got a few steps forward before noticing Snape wasn’t behind him. He turned around and saw the problem, Snape couldn’t get past the doorway. Every time the man tried to put his arm or leg through it bounced off like some kind of force field.

“It appears, that to pass, I must also speak.”

Still too embarrassed to say anything, Harry nodded dumbly. He walked back through the doorway and found it had no effect on him. He stuck his hand through just to be certain and found he could pass in and out as if there was nothing there. Not even a flicker or magic to attest to its existence.

Knowing he couldn’t help, he stayed silent and let Snape decide on his own secret. A few minutes of deliberation later, Snape walked up and assumed the same position Harry had when speaking earlier.

He levelled a rather vicious glare at Harry, “If you tell anyone about this….. I promise the Dark Lord will not be your biggest concern.”

“I won’t tell anyone I swear.” He raised his hands in what he hoped was a placating movement.

He also wished he made Snape swear to the same secrecy as well.

The professor stared dead ahead, like he could force the wall to crumble by staring at it.

“After the ….fall out, between Lily and I, we still sent presents to one another on each others birthdays. Lily’s gifts were always extravagant and personal, I looked forward to them every year.” He sounded as if every word was being forcefully pulled out of him.

“When her present for my 18th arrived I was too… scared to open it. I’d become a Death Eater and I could only imagine she’d sent something….unpleasant. Especially as she’d just married James. I could never bring myself to unwrap it, even after — especially after ---- her death. To this day it remains unopened in my chambers at Hogwarts.”

Harry couldn’t give a voice to the millions of burning questions he had. The shock of everything Snape said sunk in. He felt more confused then ever about his mothers life and how it involved one Severus Snape.

Said man walked purposely to the doorway and didn’t even hesitate before stepping through it. He met no resistance and continued on. Seeing it as his cue, Harry hastily walked forward until he was behind the professor.

He didn't have the words to say anything about his or Snape’s admission, neither did Snape apparently. So they stayed quiet.

***



The boy was staring, he could feel it. Was it too much to ask that Potter give up his insatiable curiosity for a few minutes? he supposed it was. At one point or another he guessed he would probably tell Harry about his friendship with Lily.

He hated that stupid challenge, it was pointless and useless. He expected something better from a Slytherin. Not this emotional Hufflepuff nonsense.

Although he wasn’t the only one being forcefully embarrassed. Harry’s story had been truly aggravating, he realised that perhaps they might’ve lost the boy-who-lived before he even got to Hogwarts. Albus’s careful manoeuvring will have been for naught, his little weapon destroyed before it could ever be moulded. And his own promise? If the boy had died then, he would have failed terribly. If was infuriating how they were all looking for the danger in the wrong places and it had been the boy who’d had to pay for it. The story had been yet more evidence of categorical neglect and abuse.

The only thing he could do now was to make sure those abominable relatives were dealt with. He had seen his fair share of revenge acts from other Death Eater’s and he certainly had some ideas. Then came the conundrum of the boy himself. Where was he to be placed? It wasn’t as if he could become a Ministry minor like other orphans, and who was there to take him? perhaps Minerva or one of the other teachers who favoured Potter could be convinced.

Presently however, he was very much charged with Potter’s protection. And he’d already failed. If it hadn’t been for the boy’s bout of accidental magic then…. the thought didn’t bare thinking about. He could only hope that blasted stone was close by. He was done with this place.

They were unfortunately settling down for another restlessness night of sleeping on stone. He was sure to cast a few extra wards around them this time, aware that they now had potential pursuers in the tunnels. He would’ve cast more but admittedly, he was tired. He would never show it but the days were taking there toll. He’d almost been tempted to take a pepper-up or energy restorer potion but had been worried about the potential that they’d make him fuzzier later on.

He glanced across to his sleepy charge and wondered how he was faring. He was quite astonished the boy had yet to complain, it made sense since because of his ability to hide injuries. That reminded him of the injuries he himself had inflicted, he hoped they were mostly healed. Hope wasn’t enough though, he needed proof.

“P..Harry. How are your injuries from the glass?”

The boy was actually startled, probably from the fact that not a word had been said for several hours.

“Uh, their fine sir.”

He sighed loudly in an act even he had to admit was a tad dramatic.

“Show me.”

there it was, panic that once upon a time, he would’ve been overjoyed to see in Harry. Today, it left him with a very uncomfortable feeling.

“Please Harry.” It was said with a tone much gentler than one he’d ever use months ago.

It was plain as day the struggle that took place across the teenagers face. He could only wait until common sense won out.

The boy nodded, an action Severus would normally reprimand, and moved fingers to undo his cloak and take off his shirt.

Severus once again had to fight a little to keep the impassive look on his face as his eyes were drawn to the silvery scars. He forced himself to look at the much newer remnants of cuts. Thankfully they were healing, all of them closed. Although there was always room for improvement.

“It looks like there healing fine. I still could give you a mild remedial potion though, it might speed up the process a bit.”

Harry immediately shook his head, he couldn’t blame the boy for the distrust. Harry bit his lip before speaking and Severus made sure he was listening closely.

“Do you... Actually don’t worry.”

“What?” It came off a little more intimidating than he meant it.

“Well, you don’t have anything to stop it scaring do you?”

Ah, that made sense. He could understand why Harry would want a few less scars.

“Yes.” Harry’s face brightened and felt a little guilty about what he had to say next. “But I didn’t bring any of it with me. When we return I will be sure to give you some.” He intended to make good on that.

“Oh, Thanks.” There was a note of disappointment but it will still said with gratitude. Who knew that a Potter would ever speak to Severus with gratitude? Though he wasn’t just a Potter was he? it wasn’t just those eyes either, he realised that now. The gentleness, the selfness that quiet yet often fiery demeanour; that was all Lily. Before he could stop it, it slipped out of his mouth,

“Has anyone told you how much you are like your mother?”

One of the very few times he’d said something without meaning to. Harry regarded him quizzically then his expression turned darker.

“Sometimes. Dumbledore and Remus mostly. Though… It kinda doesn’t mean much to me. Don’t get me wrong, its… Well I never knew her, its like being compared to a total stranger. That and the fact that it was used as an insult for so long.”

Without meaning too it seemed he opened up an interesting line of questioning.

“An insult? How so?” he couldn’t help a little bit of anger bleeding out.

“Well my Aunt said it a lot. She used to always say I was like my no good parents, drunk and laze-abouts. Said it was in my blood.”

He didn’t know what angered him more, than insults at Lily or what they had told her son.

“Yeah that was pretty crap. I had no idea how they’d died actually until Hagrid told me, I thought it was a car crash.”

“A car crash!” He said unknowingly mirroring Hagrid.

“Like some common muggle accident?! and you believed this?”

“Well I was two at the time, what was I supposed to think? That there was a whole other world involving magic and my parents had been hunted down by a dark wizard because of a prophecy that existed about me? I barely understood what a car crash was!”

He knew it had been unfair to accuse Harry of believing them, hearing it spelled out, he saw just how many lies his relatives had told him. The mere thought of 11 years without knowing the true reason for Lily’s and Potter’s death made him cringe.

“Yes you are right. Your beliefs were entirely plausible and it is in no way your fault.”

That seemed to deflate some of the tension and both finished setting up some of their bedding. There was one other thing that was annoying Severus though and he couldn’t let it go.

“Earlier, you seemed unhappy at the comparison between you and your mother and not just for the fact that she was a stranger. Why?”

Harry’s face was turned away from him but he could still hear the words perfectly.

“Sometimes I just wish they weren’t so well known by everybody. All my life I’ve been compared to my mother or father, it gets tiring. I’m not either of them, I’m not Lily, not James, I’m just Harry.”

The words spoken with so much sincerity they actually managed to have quite the impact on Severus. It was true he was of the many guilty for comparing the boy, he hadn’t seen the 15 year old as a person in his own right. What he hadn’t realised was the fact that he wasn’t the only one measuring the boy up to his parents.

Harry, still turned away, shrugged half heartedly.

“Sometimes I wish I could change my eye colour and looks, I reckon that would make things different.”

What a strange thought, many times he wished the boy had been born without the infernal green eyes, but the thought of a world where they didn’t exist just seemed cold.

To be honest, he didn’t know what to say.

“Sir, I’m sorry if this is way out of line but.. When we get back, I think you should open that present. I may know nothing about my parents but if my mum was anything like me…. well I would never send something cruel to Ron or Hermione regardless of what they did.”

Again the boy had managed a feat not many had done and left him with no words. Harry was perhaps the one person who might be able to predict what Lily would do and if what he said was true then… perhaps he really did have nothing to fear. The thought filled him with optimism and took off some of the weight that box had left him with. He couldn’t say nothing so he said what he normally would say,

“It is none of your business anyway. ”

He couldn’t see it but he could imagine the expression on Harry’s face, again those small tendrils of guilt bothered him.

“Okay, sorry sir.”

A voice, perhaps his conscience, was urging him to say something more. It was certainly not the first time he ignored that voice, he was not a nice man and his days of listening to some moral compass were long gone.



***

The next day passed in a blur of cave walls and wand light. Somewhere along the way everything had turned rather dewy, and not in the nice forest kind of way either. No more like an empty sewerage tunnel dewy. At one point Harry had gotten bored and changed the light at the end of his wand to a nice shade of indigo. Bathed in a purple glow, everything looked more interesting. Snape hadn’t made a comment so every now and then he’d change it to a different colour. He was particularly fond of blue; it reminded it of the sky that had been so absent recently.

He couldn’t shake the fixation with his wand either, it just felt wrong whenever it wasn’t in hands. Again the perceptive professor, Harry’s new nickname for him, noticed. He gave Harry a bit of a weird look every-time he turned it over in his hands but had made no substantial comments so far.

He liked whatever weird truce he and the professor had worked out. It certainly beat the hatred from before. Sometimes he even found himself amused by the mans sarcastic comments, when they weren’t aimed at him. He swore that Snape too seemed a little more tolerant of him as well.

That night broke the monotony of tunnel walking in more ways than one.

After having settled in and falling asleep, unbeknownst to Harry and Snape, others approached. Unfortunately the tunnels had positioned two groups rather close together. Donavan, a scout sent out by the others, felt the wards. He immediately went back to his own group and reported his suspicions. All of them had been in agreement,

“We need the boy, we’ll never get past that ruddy door otherwise.”

“Besides I think we owe him a few anyway for what he did to to you Tommy.”

For Thompson, not wanting to speak the truth, had blamed all his injuries on the younger wizard. It was much easier to explain it as a volatile act of accidental magic then the deliberate act by the man in black it had been. Seeing their leader injured in such a way had brought feelings of rage out in the others and they were eager for payback.

It was now only a matter of getting the little twerp. If possible, they’d try to avoid the other man. He was a fully trained wizard and it was obvious they’d be better off not trifling with him.

Donavan, the strongest out of the group in terms of magic, spent a while trying to deconstruct the wards that would likely wake their prey if crossed. He was by no means a great wizard so it had taken a great deal of energy, after it was done he had fainted from the exhaustion.

The group put him in one of their tents and returned to the cave that housed Severus Snape and Harry Potter. It was decided that only three of them would go in, Jerry, Thompson and Mike. Less chance of waking the older one that way. Mike was one of the few among them who could perform any small spells. He managed to cast a silencing spell across their shoes and had tried, and failed, to cast charms that obscured them from view.

Harry, oblivious to the danger now moving towards him, was sleeping steadily. However, even in sleep he had a tight grip on his wand. Mike cast the strongest silencing spell he knew on the boy then nodded to the other two. All were grouped around the slumbering teen, Mike on his right, Jerry at his head and Thompson on his left; closest to the Snape.

They moved in rapid unison. Jerry placed hid hand tightly on Harry’s mouth and Mike and Jerrry restrained his arms and legs. The moment Jerry’s hand made contact with his face, Harry’s eye’s flew open. Upon seeing the three shadowy figures he knew he was in danger. He went to kick and yell but his voice came out as silence and he could barely move his arms and legs more than a few centimeters. He could still feel his wand in his hand and tried desperately to free it. A strong fist collided with his head and an agonising bolt of pain went through his skull. When it had calmed to a dull ache he realised he was being moved. He fought as much as he could, writhing and squirming to free his wand hand. Finally he managed to shake it out of the grasp of one of the men and tried to shout a stunning spell, only to find once again no sound escaped his mouth.

Quickly he thought of a spell he could perform silently and hoped to merlin it would wake Snape up. A strong white glowing ball of light was thrown across the cave, briefly illuminating everything in its path including the malicious expressions across his attackers face. He recognised Thompsons and fought even harder; panic, fear and anger all mixing together. A fist connected with his stomach and he immediately doubled over in pain, choking for air. He lost any opportunity he had and his attackers descended in a flurry of blows that caused excruciating pain. Again and Again his head was hit until one blow was so strong it knocked him out completely.

Snape a blinding white light hitting the wall before everything went back to black. Hearing nothing, he looked around. His eyes adjusted and he could make out a group of dark silhouettes moving away.

Instantly he sent his own lumos into the air to act as a light. He recognised the men and sent a stunning spell their way that missed by a hair and wildly searched for Harry. His breath caught when he noticed the limp scruffy figure the men were dragging away. With rapid succession he was wordlessly firing complex hexes their way in an impressive feat of magic. One of the men had put up a block that broke on contact with one of Severus’s spells. It had been weak but it bought the men enough time to sprint and disappear into darkness carrying the limp teenager.

Severus was on his feet and running, his heart pounding hard in his chest. He shot spell after spell but the tunnels divided into three and he had no way of knowing which route the men had taken.

He yelled loudly in frustration and fired more blasting curses down the tunnels. He was hesitant to do anything more damaging lest he hit Harry. When there was no yelp of pain or solid thud to indicate he’d hit anyone his fear set in. Then came the actualisation that they had taken Harry. They had taken the very person he was charged with protecting. It was the terrible image of them carrying away Harry’s unmoving body that stayed with him as he looked into the never-ending darkness.
To be continued...


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