Severus had always believed the other shoe never fell, that was until James stole Lily and there was nothing he could do about it. That was the shoe hitting the ground, and as far as Severus Snape was concerned, Harry Potter was said shoe.

Everyone knew James Potter and Severus Snape didn't get along in school, and the same was said for Potter's gang of miscreants. They disliked Severus, and Severus disliked them. In their younger years at school however it hadn't morphed into hate or loathing, just simple dislike. It was then for Severus and the Marauders as it was now for Harry and Draco, and that was nothing special because there were similar rivalries all over the school. James and Sirius would pull a prank like filling Severus' bag with pudding while he was busy trying to transfigure a pincushion in class, and Severus would retaliate by turning James hair Slytherin green or bright pink by way of slipping a potion into his drink or getting someone else to put it into the Gryffindor's shampoo bottle. They might exchange nasty words in the corridor, but it was tit-for-tat and Severus never really felt any of them meant the words that were said. "Maybe wash your hair sometimes, yeah Severus?" James would call, and Severus would sneer and shoot back, "I could only aspire to have pink hair like yours someday. It's a lovely look."

Even when Sirius pranked Severus by luring him out during the full moon to see a real live werewolf and Remus almost tore his face off in the Shrieking Shack, that had not been enough to make Severus hate them. Severus hated that the teachers had never given the Marauders any real punishment for the deed (and it took him a long time to forgive Dumbledore and McGonagall), but not the four Gryffindors who had done it. Peter and James had shoved Severus out of the way before Remus had gotten close enough to do him harm, and weeks later Severus never got in ‘real' trouble for orchestrating all four boys waking up naked in the Great Hall right as the breakfast rush came in. Tit-for-tat.

The one who turned things nasty was Sirius, who never understood why James and Remus and Peter never took it further than they did. In 5th year as Severus grew closer to Lily than he had ever been before, Sirius egged his friends on to bigger and better things than simple pranks. He spread rumors about Severus that weren't true, put his clothes down and spread word of Severus' poverty and half-blood status to the entire school, and besmirched the Prince family name (for marrying into such a dirty, poverty stricken Muggle family and producing Severus as an heir). Even though James wielded the wand that took Severus up into the air by his ankles, it was Sirius who was egging him on, whispering things that weren't true into his ear about Severus and Lily. And then it was Sirius who pulled Severus pants down in front of the crowd. Severus had called Lily a name he would never forgive himself for, and suddenly it felt like Sirius Black had won his war against the poor boy from Spinner's End. That was the day Severus began to hate Black, because from there, even though Severus had long since felt he'd lost the war with him, Black kept stepping things up against him until finally Severus was released from his hellish fifth year and allowed to go home in peace.

Only home didn't equal peace for him when his father was frequently drunk and raging against Severus simply for existing. Strangely enough, when all that had gone between Severus and James had not been enough to cause him to hate him before, it was Tobias Snape that caused Severus to skip straight past hate to loathing, and everyone knew that Severus Snape loathed James Potter. They all thought it was the rivalry between them, but they were all wrong. Only Severus knew. He suspected James knew as well, but James had eventually ended up dead and that left Severus alone with his loathing.

Severus, exhausted from his fifth year at school, exhausted from being tormented endlessly by Sirius Black in an ever escalating way, returned home to Spinner's End to his father. Eileen had died the year prior, and now Tobias was all Severus had. Tobias too seemed to realize that Severus was all he had, and that made him angrier and took his drinking to new heights.

For the first month and a half of summer Severus stayed out of the house as much as he could to escape his father's anger, his biting words and his fists, but he had to return home at some point to eat and sleep. That was when Tobias would corner him and give him a black eye or shove him into a wall as he passed by him. It generally never went beyond that however. Severus still had a place to sleep, his father still worked and provided food and clothes, (even if they were from the second hand store), and occasionally, even if it was a rare occurrence, his father shot him a look of approval when Severus did something particularly smart, like figuring out how to patch the leaky roof when they had no money to do so.

It was into this horrible summer that James Potter and Remus Lupin decided to insert themselves into his life, and it was this act that made Severus loathe them both. Yes, those at school knew Severus was poor, that he wore second hand clothes and read used textbooks, because Black made sure they all knew. Yes, the school thought his hair was greasy, because that's what Black called it. Yes, Lily was mad at Severus currently because of what Black had caused Severus to call her. That was the extent of it though. No one, not even Lily truly knew what Severus dealt with at home during breaks. No one knew until James and Remus came to London to visit Black and found that he wasn't home, and decided instead to figure out where Severus lived so they could engage in their regular tit-for-tat during summer months simply because they were bored.

A visit to Lily's house where they encountered Petunia told them where Severus lived and within an hour of their arrival in London they had found the crooked house on Spinner's End. They had also found Tobias drunkenly beating Severus in the alley between two houses.

"H-hey! Cut that out!"

Severus heard James Potter's voice but he didn't understand it. He wasn't at school so it didn't make sense. Then again, not a whole lot had made sense to him at that point. His father had never taken things this far before, but he was now. Severus had chanced coming home at lunch, believing his father was at work and found him home and already drunk and the living room in shambles. It had taken Tobias less than a second to start shouting that all that was wrong with the world, and with his life was Severus' fault, that Severus by his magic had somehow cursed him with his birth, and that he was no longer welcome on Spinner's End. Severus should have left then, should have not tried to go up the stairs to lock himself in his room or try to get his things. ‘Should haves' would have been nice if he was smart enough to think things through, but he hadn't been smart enough at the time and Tobias had decked him hard enough to put Severus into a stupor. He'd dragged Severus out of the house by the back of his shirt collar and proceeded into the four foot gap between their crooked house and the next one, where he screamed Severus even more senseless and hit him until his face was bloody, his hair was a mess and his lip was trembling.

"I said stop!" It was James Potter's voice again, but they weren't at school. Severus chanced a glance to the street and found James and Remus standing there, looking both scared and uncertain. Tobias punched Severus one last time, hard enough to knock him unconscious, before turning to the two teens at the entrance to the alley.

"Move off," he said, drunkenly waving them away. "It doesn't concern yeh."

"Leave him alone," Remus said, hand shaking as it gripped his wand. "Back away."

"Yeh'r from that school. Freaks like him."

"Freaks who can curse you into next Wednesday," James said. His voice shook like Remus' hands. It wasn't everyday that you had to face off with an abusive adult. In fact, for James and Remus they'd never had to deal with such a situation before.

Tobias cursed and stumbled past them and then up the two crumbling steps into the crooked house. He slammed the door and the two Gryffindors exchanged glances before they moved into the alley to Severus.

"He's alive."

"What do we do with him?" James asked.

"He can't go back in there, and I don't think he'd appreciate it if we took him to St. Mungos."

"Lily's house?" James suggested.

"She's not even home and won't be until tomorrow. There's no way Tuney Evans is gonna let us clean him up or keep him there."

"Well we can't take him to Sirius' house either," James said. "Sirius would never have it and he'll be back soon, and your house is out."

Severus never knew the conversation that had gone on between the other two boys about where to take him and how to get him there, but he knew they'd settled on taking him to Hogwarts in the end. Apparently they dragged his unconscious form a mile and a half to Black's House, borrowed Sirius and Regulus' brooms, and flown him cross country to Hogwarts. Severus did remember waking up several times in flight and having James yell at him to hold still or they'd both plummet to the earth and die, and he remembered the two Gryffindors helping him clumsily up the castle steps and into the Entrance Hall. Unfortunately he remained conscious after that and would forever remember the humiliated feeling of the Headmaster finding the three of them in the Entrance Hall, Severus covered in dried blood, face swollen, one eye bloodshot, and James and Remus covered in Severus' dried blood as well.

"What has happened to him?"

"I think he'd better tell you sir," James said.

"Severus?" Dumbledore questioned. The Headmaster had been younger then. There were still a couple streaks of auburn in his hair and his beard hadn't been nearly as long. He'd only been headmaster since Severus' second year at school, and Severus imagined this was a first for him, having three students show up at nearly midnight in the middle of summer holidays covered in blood.

Severus looked away and didn't answer him, so Dumbledore tried Remus instead. "Remus?"

Remus shrugged as best as he could while still holding one of Severus' arms over his shoulder.

"We can say we didn't do it," James said quickly as the old man's eyes traveled between the two Gryffindors and then once again took in Severus' face.

"Let's get him up to Poppy. Fortunately she came back from her holiday early."

The Headmaster got Severus onto a floating stretcher and levitated him up to the Hospital Wing, where Poppy tsked and tutted over the state of Severus as she healed him, and grew ever more irritated that none of the boys wanted to tell her what happened.

At some point that night James and Remus asked if they could use the floo to get back home and asked if the Headmaster could write them some sort of note to give their parents so they wouldn't be in too much trouble for going missing all day and half the night. The headmaster and Gryffindors left and Severus, finally on the mend fell asleep. That had been mid August, and Severus had been surprised when the Headmaster had told him the following day he could stay at Hogwarts until school started in a couple weeks. Severus had been pleased he could stay, and somewhere the Headmaster and McGonagall had dug up clothes for him to get him through the last two weeks of summer. What he hadn't been pleased about with the situation was that Dumbledore wanted Severus to tell him exactly what had happened that summer.

At first Severus had refused. He'd lasted a whole three days before the Headmaster had convinced him it was in Severus' best interest to tell him how he got his injuries. And then Severus had broken and told him about Tobias. The Headmaster had thanked him and left him alone for a couple days, and at the end of his first week back at Hogwarts, had shown up again with Severus' things from Spinner's End.

"You went back?" Severus asked, eyes shining and worried and confused.

"Your father and I agreed that you'll be living here now. I was able to secure all of your belongings. I'll be taking you into Hogsmeade and Diagonalley tomorrow to get clothes and school things for the upcoming year."

"But- my da doesn't have money for all that." Severus usually traded services like Potions tutoring with older students to get their used books from their previous years.

"He'll have no further part in your life Severus unless you want him to, and then only after you have come of age."

Severus still didn't understand. "So- the school is paying for my books?"

Dumbledore sighed and then looked Severus in the eye. "You're my charge now. Don't worry yourself overmuch about it Severus. From this point forward I'll see to it that all your needs are met. You're to come to me if you need anything, do you understand?"

Severus had nodded, even though he hadn't understood. He hadn't understood until years later that Dumbledore had really meant what he'd said, that Severus was his charge, even after he'd come of age.

As it turned out, James bringing Severus to Hogwarts was the catalyst for James being given Prefect status. Previously Dumbledore hadn't believed the Gryffindor capable of the maturity required for such a position, and so James had missed out on being a Prefect in their 5th year, but a week and a half later when their sixth year started, James Potter had a shiny new Prefect badge on his uniform. As it also turned out, Severus found that he loathed James and Remus in a way he never thought he would have. James thought Severus might have been grateful, but like most people when thinking about Severus, he'd been wrong. James and Remus hadn't told the school or their classmates what had happened, and they never asked Severus about it after that night they'd brought him to Hogwarts bloody and bruised, but Severus was forever waiting for the other shoe to fall after that. He was waiting for the news to be spread across the school that his own father had beaten and abandoned him. He was waiting for them to tell Sirius so Sirius could use it against him in his every interaction with him, but it never came. Lily tentatively forgave Severus for his slip of tongue the year before, yet still what had happened over the summer never came up.

Severus always knew the other shoe would fall, and he loathed James and Remus because of it. They knew, and they would use it against him, some way, somehow. Then in the middle of their seventh year James stole Lily right out from under his nose, and there was nothing Severus could do about it, because if he did James would retaliate by using what he knew to make Severus' life at school hell. James must have known it too, because he was careful never to meet Severus' eye when they crossed paths and he was with Lily. To make matters worse, James and Lily had a son together, a son that Severus had to loathe because he loved Lily too much and she could now never return that love to him with such a child in the picture. Less than a year after that James Potter was dead. He could never use what he knew against Severus now, but it was too late for Severus. The shoe had already hit the ground.

Part Two - The Second Boy, The Headmaster Who Used What He Knew, And The Lasting Of More Than Three Mere Days

Harry James Potter was pissed off, and he didn't care who saw it. There was no way he could cover up his black eye, his split lip, or his bruised face. His clothes hid his other bruises, but his face was enough to announce to the whole world that The-Boy-Who-Lived had been beaten to a pulp. It angered Harry and really, if there was something good to be angry about, this was it. Draco would have a field day with it. Let him, Harry thought to himself as he climbed off the carriage with friends who couldn't hide their worried looks.

Hermione had threatened to send an owl ahead of them earlier, before the train had pulled into the station, and Harry had told her not to, but at some point she'd disappeared for a few minutes and he was sure she had anyway. When they made it to the top of the steps and into the Entrance Hall, there were no staff to greet them though.

"You didn't send an owl?" Harry asked skeptically, albeit quietly.

"You told me not to Harry," Hermione said stiffly, "I respect your right to be an idiot."

Harry huffed and strutted into the Great Hall as if he owned it and was angry that there were other people there without his permission. He knew what it looked like and he didn't care. People did look, but the anger across his face was enough to turn their eyes away from the bruises until he'd passed and they could safely look at his back without a laser hole being burned right through their skull. Harry, Ron and Hermione took a seat at Gryffindor halfway down the table and when Harry heard his name whispered behind him by some younger Ravenclaws he turned and glared until their whispers hushed abruptly.

"The staff are going to notice," Hermione said.

"So?" Harry snapped.

"Calm down mate," Ron said, trying to keep the peace. "She's looking out for you."

"By pointing out that my life couldn't possibly get any worse at this moment?"

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances and Ron muttered, "McGonagall's coming over."

Harry huffed and looked down at the table. Maybe he should have let Hermione send an owl ahead. It might have prevented a scene like this and prevented even more attention from being drawn to him, if it were even possible to draw more attention.

"Mr. Potter, are you all right?" she asked, voice lowered and full of concern.

"Do I look all right?" he snapped, though he immediately regretted it. He knew better than to talk to professors like that.

Ron put his hand on Harry's arm to bring him back to reality but Harry was already there.

"We're sorry Professor," Hermione said quickly before Harry could apologize himself. "I should have sent an owl ahead."

"Perhaps you and Mr. Weasley should accompany Mr. Potter and I to the Hospital Wing Miss Granger."

"No," Harry said flatly as he stood up. "You two stay and eat."

Ron and Hermione sat back on the bench but they exchanged a worried look with McGonagall before she and Harry moved past the students still trying to find seats and into the now empty Entrance Hall. The Headmaster was already there waiting for them.

"Harry my boy, what has happened to you?"

"A dragon ate me," he said, voice too full of sarcasm. He wanted to yell as the Headmaster and McGonagall exchanged a look, the same ones his friends had been exchanging all day as they rode the train. This wasn't fair, none of it. "I'm fine," Harry huffed. "Nothing happened."

"Nothing turned your face black and blue?" McGonagall said skeptically, voice somehow conveying both worry and irritation all at once.

"Nothing," Harry mumbled, feeling chastised for having brought his head of house to irritation with him. He'd only meant the angry act to be conveyed to the students, but Harry found that the more he acted it out, the more he genuinely felt angry about having to return to school like this. He couldn't keep talking to the professors as he had or he'd end up in detention before the night was out though. The last thing he needed was to start the year in his housemate's bad graces because he'd lost them a hundred points before anyone had even had the chance to gain any.

"Let's get you to the Hospital Wing Harry."

"Yes maam," Harry mumbled again, no longer interested in meeting anyone's eye and instead staring at the flagstone floor.

"I'll send Madam Pomfrey up," Dumbledore said quietly, "and I'll be along as soon as the sorting is finished."

"You don't have to baby me," Harry said looking at the Headmaster. "I know Professor McGonagall has things to do. I can get to the Hospital Wing myself and you can both go to the sorting."

"Nonsense Harry," McGonagall said to shush him, and ushered him along towards the stairs leading to the next floor, leaving the Headmaster staring after them with a saddened look.

"But you're in charge of the sorting," Harry said as they rounded a corner and made for another set of stairs. "You're the Deputy Headmistress."

"And Professor Snape is third in command," she said, not missing a beat. "As my duties as Deputy Head sometimes take me other places I'm needed, there's a need for a third. It won't be the first time he's lead the sorting ceremony. In fact, he almost lead it your first year, but I was able to make it back with moments to spare so I could lead you all into the Great Hall."

As they continued up through the castle towards the Hospital Wing, Harry wondered what the sorting might look like with Snape in charge. McGonagall had greeted Harry and his peers in that dark stairwell and had been gentle with them, knowing they were all scared. Snape would probably make the new kids wet their pants before they even got into the Entrance Hall. He wondered what Snape would say to them about Gryffindor and Slytherin. Maybe Gryffindor would end up with no new first years at all this year and Slytherin would have a double class size.

They made the Hospital Wing and it was only a few moments later that Madam Pomfrey bustled in behind them. "Sit there Harry, yes that one. I don't suppose you want to tell me what happened?" When Harry just looked at her, she shook her head. "No, they never do. Take off your shirt. Don't mind Professor McGonagall Harry," Pomfrey half scolded when he gave her a dirty look at the command to disrobe. "She's helped heal more students than you might think. Come to think of it, she's been up here when you've come in unconscious before."

Harry huffed again and took his shirt off, intentionally not looking at them because he didn't want to see their expressions at all the damage.

"Did someone do this to you on the train Harry? Is there another student we should be worried about having injuries that need to be seen to?"

"No."

"If I ask her, will miss Granger confirm that?" McGonagall asked.

"I was with them the whole time. We had a compartment to ourselves. We didn't even see the lady with the snack trolley."

"Did you get into a fight prior to boarding the train? Today or in the days before coming to school?"

"No," Harry said, keeping his eyes averted as Madam Pomfrey ran her scans and then brought over several potions bottles and tins of healing salve. "I can do it," Harry said when she unscrewed a lid of bruise balm, and Madam Pomfrey handed it to him.

"I'm aware," she told him. You can do your chest and arms. I'll do your back and face." At the dirty look Harry gave her she said, "I'm not above taking points for arguing."

"I know," he said, subdued. He'd seen her take points off Ron for arguing about wanting to leave the Hospital Wing earlier than she was willing to let him, and once he saw her take five points from Draco for arguing about taking a potion that looked as nasty as it smelled. Harry had made a silent promise to himself on the way up not to start Gryffindor out in the negatives this year, so he wouldn't argue with Madam Pomfrey if he could help it.

"Harry," McGonagall said, sitting in a chair beside the bed where Harry sat on the edge as he began smearing bruise balm up and down his arms. He glanced up at her but looked back at the balm to see what he was doing. "Would you be more comfortable talking about it with the Headmaster? Or Professor Snape?"

Harry scoffed but didn't say anything for fear Pomfrey would take points even if she wasn't the one he was mouthing off to.

"I only meant because they're male," McGonagall said, sitting back in the chair and smoothing her dark green robes down in front of her.

"I told the Headmaster what happened," Harry said. "A dragon chewed me up and spit me out." It was talking back, but it was better than what he would have said if he'd made a comment about Snape. His mind drifted again to the man and what that would look like if they dragged the man up there so he and Harry could have a ‘man to man' talk about Harry getting the crap beat of him by his uncle. He doubted Snape would believe him, and Harry would likely end up with a month's worth of detentions for getting into some imaginary fight with an imaginary student. Snape had accused him of that sort of thing before and Harry had let him believe it when he'd come back from holidays with a visible bruise. Harry would never say it aloud to anyone, but sometimes having someone around that always believed the worst in him worked to his advantage. It was a great way to get the conversation away from the truth. He only hoped he wouldn't encounter Snape until tomorrow when other Gryffindors had had a chance to earn some points before he lost a whole bunch of them.

Madam Pomfrey was still smearing bruise balm on his face when Dumbledore came in forty five minutes later. She had insisted on not missing any spots and gotten the back of his neck and even the back of his ears even though there were no bruises there.

Dumbledore sat down in the chair Professor McGonagall had just vacated for him. Apparently she was going back to the feast. "I'll try to be back before you go to the tower Harry."

"Harry," Madam Pomfrey warned, and Harry cleared his throat and thanked McGonagall before she gave him a small smile and left the ward. Dumbledore watched the quiet exchange with amusement before his face turned serious. Harry tried to ignore the concern he saw there by looking away.

"I want you to tell me what happened dear boy," Dumbledore said, and in that moment the concern in his voice was really enough to make Harry want to tell him. He wouldn't tell him though. People could see the bruises, and they could make their guesses, but it wasn't real until he told the truth. It would only be rumor, and he bet Snape could change that rumor to Harry fighting in London before boarding the train. Surely a detention and heavy point loss would start that rumor on it's own. The second he told though, everyone would know the truth.

"Dragon," Harry said quietly.

Dumbledore sighed slowly and quietly. "Harry, whatever it is, I'll listen. You won't be in trouble for telling me. I'm very concerned about what happened to you. If it was truly a dragon, you know I would seek out that Dragon to be certain it's not a danger to anyone else."

"What if I just got into a fist fight in London?"

"Like last year when you returned and Professor Snape gave you detention?" Dumbledore asked quietly. Harry knew he wasn't buying it. Let him not buy it. Harry wasn't going to say a word. "Will you let him give you detention for it this year too?"

"Just don't let him near me til' tomorrow when we actually have some points to lose," Harry said half jokingly, even though he was entirely serious about it.

Dumbledore looked up at Pomfrey. "Will he be able to return to his dorm tonight?"

"Certainly. The bruises will remain for a few days but they'll start to heal with the balm. He'll still be in some pain, but there were no broken bones, no malnourishment or anything else concerning revealed in the scans. Just bruises and swelling."

Harry picked up his shirt and pulled it back on, trying not to act as though he were doing so gingerly. He stood up and made sure he had his wand. As he turned to leave Madam Pomfrey said, "And Headmaster," Harry paused to hear what she had to say, "I'm entirely sure he was in a fight." Harry turned to look at her, unable to believe that she was backing up his made up story until she finished with, "With a much larger, and perhaps older person." Harry frowned and restrained from growling as he made for the door. He did remember to pause and tell her thank you, though he didn't look to gauge her reaction before quickly moving out into the corridor. He was unsurprised to find Ron waiting for him a few steps down the hall, leaning on the wall with his hands in his robe pockets.

"They let you out already?" Ron asked.

"It's just bruises."

"Looked like a lot more than that," Ron said.

Harry shrugged.

"Snape led the sorting."

"Yeah," Harry said quietly as they made their way towards Gryffindor.

"I thought it'd be worse."

"Was it?"

"Seems like we got the same number of kids as every year," Ron said. "None of the first years came into the Great Hall in tears."

"Funny," Harry said, "I wondered if he'd make them cry."

"It was weird, having him do it," Ron said. "He seemed to enjoy it. Like... he took pride in doing it or something."

"McGonagall said he's third in command and he's done it before."

"Maybe he's angling for McGonagall's job," Ron said.

"Or Dumbledore's," Harry said with grim satisfaction. Ron grinned at him. Saying things about Snape was one of their favorite pastimes and Harry wondered if Ron had brought Snape up with the intention of cheering him up. Usually they only did it to irritate Hermione, who insisted on correcting them if they didn't call him Professor, but- "Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming."

Ron grinned as he glanced sideways at his friend. "Hermione's furious with you. I didn't know there were that many ways to call someone an idiot. She might have come otherwise."

Harry laughed in spite of the fact that he felt like doing anything but.

"You tell them you got into a fight again?" Ron asked.

"Dragon."

"You shoulda said werewolf. That woulda thrown ‘em for a loop."

"Only if I wanted to be locked up for three days at the end of the month."

"It's not too late," Ron said, his voice raising at the end as though he had hope of convincing Harry to tell.

Harry kept his mouth shut. He knew Ron wasn't referring to telling them he was fighting with a werewolf. It'd be easier for Ron if Harry told, he thought. Then Ron wouldn't be one of the few who knew what life at the Dursleys was like for Harry... wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Harry didn't know what to tell him though. He wished Ron didn't know, but silently, he was glad he did. That was enough for Harry, that someone knew and he had someone to commiserate with. No one else needed to know, because there was nothing to be done about it.

"Dumbledore said he'd track the dragon down... keep it from hurting anyone else."

"Kind of him," Ron said quietly as they neared the entrance to the tower.

"He'd take it back if he knew."

"Yeah."

Ron gave the new password to the portrait and it let them in. Parvati told them Hermione had already gone to bed and Fred and George gave Harry a hard time for a few minutes about fighting with mountain trolls. They knew about Harry too and had likely guessed where his bruises came from, though Harry was grateful they only joked about it in front of the others instead of really giving him a hard time.

Later, as Harry lay in bed unable to sleep, staring into the darkness of the hangings above his bed, he wished he could tell Dumbledore the truth just this once. It would hurt too much to tell him and then have him do nothing about it though. There was no slaying Harry's dragons, so there was no telling. It was too bad really, because it was one hell of a dragon.

* * *

Severus didn't want to be called into the Headmaster's office, not for this. He dreaded it in fact. Severus wasn't one to put off that which could be done as soon as possible however, so he didn't wait to be called upon, and was waiting in the Headmaster's office before he got back from the Hospital Wing.

"Severus." Albus sounded tired as he moved past him to his desk.

"Albus."

"You saw him? At the feast?"

"I saw him biting his friend's heads off and scaring younger students as he sauntered into the Great Hall."

"He seems very angry."

"I'd be angry too if I'd been caught after wrongdoing," Severus said. He wanted to make his stance on Potter clear. Potter hadn't come to school looking like that because he'd been abused. It was because he'd been fighting again. It was his own fault for showing up battered. If he had any sense he wouldn't pick fights with those more able with their fists to begin with. Dumbledore gave Severus a serious look that quieted him however, and Severus took a seat in the more comfortable of the two visitor's chairs.

"Poppy was of the opinion that he was beaten by someone much larger than him. Someone with power behind their punches."

"Poppy believes every child that comes in has been abused."

"Poppy believed it of you," Albus said, pulling a sheet of parchment out and making note of something on it.

Severus held back the huff that wanted to escape him. He was beyond letting juvenile impulses overtake him. "The boy is a troublemaker. What did he have to say about the state he arrived in?"

"He said he'd been chewed up and spit out by a dragon. Later he said he'd been in a fight."

Severus nodded with a smirk. He knew it. Potter was usually pretty forthcoming with his wrongdoings once called out about it. It was one of the child's only redeeming qualities, that he didn't continue lying when caught.

"Severus, I don't believe for a moment that he was fighting, not by choice. If by some circumstance he was and we could prove it, I would be happy to speak with him about the behavior and then drop the matter."

"But you don't believe him? Are you calling Potter a liar?"

"What did you feel Severus when I'd been asking you for days about what happened to you?"

"Why do we have to bring up my circumstances when they are clearly different than Potter's?" Severus snapped, before closing his mouth to bite down on his anger. This was exactly why he'd dreaded being called up here. He knew the Headmaster was going to try to get him to talk to the Gryffindor golden boy.

"I want it proven that the circumstances are different, or that they aren't," Albus said.

"And you want me to do so?" Severus asked.

"Wouldn't you relish the chance to prove he's been fighting? I assume that's why you were waiting in my office for my return."

"I came because I knew you'd call me here to begin with." Severus felt it was grossly unfair of the old man to use what he knew against him. Here, look what you've been through, that means you're to be the one to speak to students we suspect have been abused henceforth. Well, not all students, just Potter. There had been a girl Minerva had spoken to almost a decade ago, but it turned out in that case that there had been no abuse. Severus certainly wasn't the only case of abuse to show up at Hogwarts, but he had been the most recent that had been proven true. It wasn't possible that Potter junior had been abused. He was too cocky. Everything about the child said he'd been spoiled rotten, just the way James Potter would have wanted it. He wasn't quite as bad as Sirius Black had been, but Severus wasn't holding his breath for The-Boy-Who-Lived to turn out much better by the time his years at Hogwarts were at an end. The fact that Albus knew Severus' history with James Potter and had chosen him to speak to Harry was a gross injustice.

"What makes you think the boy will tell me anything?"

"Have you not said you found the boy to be truthful in the past?"

"Only when he's been caught," Severus sneered. Harry made him feel like he had to be on his toes at all times in order to catch him in his wrongdoing.

"Then catch him Severus," Albus said seriously, and Severus knew he had no right to refuse given all the Headmaster had done for him... all he'd overlooked about him to get him into a teaching position at Hogwarts, one he clearly didn't deserve but had been given anyway.

Angry, but not wanting to feel like a child storming out of the room, Severus stood calmly and said, "If that will be all Headmaster?"

Albus gave him a knowing look at the use of his official title, and said, "Give him until tomorrow before you talk to him."

"Because?" Severus asked, feeling testy.

"Apart from the fact he's clearly had a long day and it's nearly ten at night, he mentioned wanting to be sure there were points for him to lose before he ran across you."

Severus did let out a ‘hmpf' at that and then with a nod to Albus he left. How was he to ‘catch' the boy at something that had happened before he'd shown up at school, whatever that something was? The Headmaster wanted it to be abuse. He wanted Severus to prove it was, but Severus knew it couldn't be. If there was something Severus hated to be it was a disappointment to the old man, which was something else Albus knew and had used against him in assigning this task. How ironic, that the man he had loathed had never used what he knew to torture him, and the man he loved as a father did?

* * *

Severus had a free period during the same hour Harry had Study Hall in the Great Hall and decided not to put off speaking with the brat until after dinner. He wanted to get it over and done with and report back to Albus by dinner that he'd fulfilled the task he'd been given. He could have no idea that Potter had determined himself not to make that possible.

"Potter, I require a word."

Potter made a show of rolling his eyes and acting angry as he packed his books up and shared a knowing look with Weasley before following Severus from the Great Hall. Severus didn't fail to catch the look Potter gave to Gryffindor's hourglass as they passed it in the Great Hall. Severus looked too. It looked to have at least forty red rubies in it.

"Forty Potter."

"Yes sir."

They continued down to his office in the dungeons, where he closed the door and threw a quick ward at it. Potter flopped into the hard guest chair and gave Snape a smirk. Severus paused at the look and the way the brat was conducting himself. Typically the boy tried to avoid angering him, but not today.

"You find something amusing?" he asked, already feeling as though the boy's mere presence was grating on his nerves.

"No sir," he said, smirk still in place. He ran a hand through his hair as if smoothing it back would help his case, and then leaned back in the chair as if he wasn't worried.

Trying not to grit his teeth, Severus said, "You're to explain your presence last night looking as though a hippogriff had gotten hold of you."

"Big hippogriff," Harry said nonchalantly.

"I'm not here to play games with you Potter."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"The truth. You were fighting again weren't you?" Severus demanded. Potter shifted, and Severus wasn't sure at first how to explain the change in the boy. He'd already been leaning back in the chair as though he was cocky and had not a care in the world, but somehow that had fallen from his posture and he seemed... relieved.

"You caught me sir. There was this really big guy in London. My aunt dropped me off a few hours before the train was due and I went out to get a bite to eat. I'm not allowed to use my wand or I would have had him."

Severus narrowed his eyes and when he didn't immediately say something Harry shifted nervously in the seat. He no longer seemed relieved or carefree. There was an anxiousness that radiated, if ever so slightly, from his posture. Severus let his eyes rake over the healing black eye, split lip, and bruise down the side of his face and neck. The boy had his school robes on or else Severus would have been able to see his arms.

"And just what did you fight about?" Severus asked. He raised his hands as if asking, what harm could it do to tell me since you're already in trouble. "Just so I know what to tell the Headmaster when he asks why you're in detention for the next month."

"Guess he didn't like what I said." Harry tried to put on the air of confidence again, but his smirk wasn't quite as believable as it had been before Severus had seen the boys earlier slip.

"Which was?"

"He was taking his time at the breakfast counter making up his mind. I didn't want to wait around for him so I muttered something about slow and dumb."

"I see," Severus said. "So there in front of a breakfast crowd he pummeled you?"

"He glared at me and got his breakfast and left. I got mine and when I left he was waiting for me."

"What restaurant did you go to?"

"I-" he faltered and squinted as if trying to think of an appropriate answer. "I dunno," he said after a moment. "It was in the subway around the corner from Kings Cross. Some Muggle place."

"What did you order?"

"I thought this was about my future detentions," Harry said, a glint of anger in his eyes.

Severus glared at him and said, "As the Headmaster has previously informed me, I am not allowed to take points for something that happened before the official start of term, or else I would have thirty off of you for being such a dunderhead Potter. I can however give you detention for behavior unbecoming of a Hogwarts student, whether the infraction happened on or off of school grounds."

"Doesn't seem fair," Harry said, though he seemed relieved again.

"A loophole to account for field trips," Severus said, voice lowered. "Two weeks detention with me Potter. Seven p.m. Monday through Friday. I do not have the time or desire to supervise detentions on weekends."

"Yes sir," Harry said. He stood up and moved to go, but Severus cleared his throat and Potter half turned to make sure he was dismissed.

"Does that suit Potter?"

"Sir?"

"I assume you'll make a show of your detentions in front of the school. Does two weeks suit your need for a cover story, or should I assign more?"

"C, cover story?" Harry wiped his hand on the side of his pants as if it had suddenly grown sweaty.

"I'm sure you've done something wrong that I don't yet know about that is deserving of detention, or will do, so I am not technically abusing my power for giving you detention for a fictional infraction."

"It's not-"

"Don't test my patience Potter. You will tell me the truth during detention. Get back to study hall. I will check to be sure you made it."

Harry swallowed and opened the door once the privacy ward had been removed, and slowly made his way down the corridor back towards study hall, trying to work over all Snape had said. I'm not abusing my power for giving detention for a fictional infraction. He knew Harry had lied. It was the only thing that made sense. Last year Snape had bought the fighting bit hook line and sinker, so why hadn't it worked this time? Dumbledore must have spoken to Snape since last night. Snape trying to get the truth out of him didn't make sense though, unless Snape thought Harry had been out doing something even worse than fighting. Snape would never believe his uncle had caused his injuries. It wasn't in Snape to believe such a thing.

"You lose points Harry?" Dean asked when he came back to Gryffindor table and sat down in the middle of the group of 5th years.

"No," Harry mumbled. "He's not allowed for things that happen off school grounds before term starts I guess."

"Well that's good," Seamus said, going back to his Charms homework.

"So you got off with no punishment?" Ron asked.

"Two weeks after dinner detentions, for fighting and behaving in a way unbecoming a Hogwarts student," Harry tried to repeat it as Snape had put it. Ron gave him a knowing look but didn't ask anything else. Hermione didn't scold him either. Harry and Ron had never told her, but he suspected she'd figured it out. Not much got by her.

Harry pulled his schoolwork back out, but he did little more than stare at it for the rest of study hall. If Snape didn't believe he'd been fighting this time, did that mean he didn't believe Harry had been fighting at the end of the previous summer? Harry had only come back with a black eye last summer and had looked a lot less pathetic than he had last night. When he looked in a mirror in the bathroom between classes later that day, he supposed he still looked pretty pathetic. His lip had mostly healed, and the bruises had changed color and now looked a lot less fresh, but he still looked as though he'd been through the ringer. It didn't matter what the infraction had been, his uncle had been a real jerk for sending him back to school this way.

"All right mate?" Ron asked as he came out of a bathroom stall behind him and found Harry leaning on the sink and staring angrily into the mirror.

"Yeah," Harry lied, "we'll be late for Defense if we don't hurry."

Harry was nervous through dinner about the upcoming detention and hoped Snape had planned something like cleaning cauldrons or mopping floors. Because Harry did good work during detentions and because Snape usually couldn't stand the sight of him, he usually left Harry alone to do menial labor.

Harry was dismayed to find that the broom cupboard with cleaning supplies was locked tight when he made it to the dungeons and wasn't already open for him. He found Snape in his office, door open and waiting for him.

"On time for once Potter," Snape said. Harry was always on time, but he suspected Snape enjoyed saying things like this to him as much as Harry and Ron enjoyed saying things about Snape behind his back. Harry didn't sit as he expected (hoped) to be sent off to start cleaning something in a classroom or down the hall.

Snape stopped grading whatever summer homework he'd been looking over and looked up at Harry. "You have a choice Potter. You can tell me what I want to know and skip detention- go sit in a classroom for an hour and do homework to show your peers you had detention."

"Or?" Harry asked. Snape narrowed his eyes and Harry thought he'd smile with whatever grim thing he was about to say, but he didn't.

"Or you can go do a two hour detention, scrubbing cauldrons or floors and then come back here and tell me what I want to know."

"There's nothing to tell sir."

"Detention first then."

Harry sighed and gripped the strap of his book bag. "What am I to do sir?"

Snape looked back up from the paper he was grading. "For a fictional infraction? You will have to figure it out yourself Potter. Find something to clean and clean it. Or don't. You will return here in two hours with nothing but the truth on your tongue."

"What if I don't have anything to tell you?"

"We have two weeks of detention to figure it out, don't we?"

Harry mumbled something about making something up, but Snape heard.

"You could make something up," he agreed. "Though it would do nothing but put off what is to come. You will tell me Potter."

Fat chance, thought Harry as he moved off and used his wand to unlock the broom cupboard down the hall. He pulled out the broom and a mop bucket and decided to attack the long straight corridor Snape's office was in. Sweeping and mopping that would make him visible to any passing Slytherins and prove he'd been in detention at the least. At least Snape was being halfway decent about it. He'd given Harry a choice of what to do (which was downright strange), instead of telling him to scrub floors on his hands and knees without a mop or some other task meant to be harder than necessary. Being able to use a broom and mop meant the task was done in thirty minutes though, so Harry dragged his supplies to a dungeon classroom and cleaned the floors there, and then did the same in two more classrooms before he returned the supplies and went back to Snape's office to tell him he was done.

"All done sir." Snape waved his hand without looking up from his grading as though saying it was all fine and dandy.

"Am I dismissed?"

"Do you have something to tell me about the incident before you arrived at school last night?"

"I ran across a troll."

Snape looked up, face expressionless. "A pathetic attempt Potter."

"I already told you what happened."

"Return tomorrow at seven."

"Do you want to know what I did tonight?"

"For a fictional detention?" He seemed amused and at the same time not amused. "Be gone."

Confused, Harry picked up his bookbag and left, once again feeling as though he had to figure out what Snape was playing at. Harry really didn't know what to tell him to make him believe him. He supposed he had another day to figure it out though.

"How was detention?" Ron asked when Harry got back to the common room.

"Disgusting," Harry said. "I pickled toad spleens."

Neville looked disgusted and Harry sat down to do homework with Ron and Hermione in a corner of the common room, though for a second time that day, Harry did little but stare at his work. What could he say to Snape that would really make an impression?

* * *

This time Severus didn't need to seek out the Headmaster. It was Albus who stepped out of the floo into his office five or ten minutes after Potter had left. Severus supposed the man must have waited on word that the portraits had seen Potter heading back to Gryffindor before coming down. There was a reason they kept so many portraits around the castle. It was the same reason Severus didn't allow portraits in the dungeons anywhere but outside of the Slytherin common room and between Slytherin and the stairs leading to the Entrance Hall.

"Severus," Albus greeted.

"Albus."

Albus smiled, glad Severus seemed to no longer be miffed at him and was using his first name again instead of his title.

"You spoke to him?"

Severus pretended to not be interested and continued grading the third year summer assignments. "I did."

"And?"

"He did two hours of detention and then told me a troll went after him."

"It was a dragon last night."

"I am aware."

Dumbledore sighed and sat down in the same chair Harry had occupied that afternoon. "You really should do something to spruce up your office Severus. It's so uninviting."

"You think that would get him to talk to me?" Severus asked seriously.

"It couldn't hurt," Albus said, though Severus doubted he meant it.

"I don't know what you expected. He dislikes me. Minerva or Poppy would be better suited to get answers from him. Perhaps Rolanda or Hagrid."

"You are the person I asked."

Severus didn't ask why. He didn't have to.

"Severus... did you tell him about your own experience in this area?"

Severus set his quill down and splattered red ink across Alice McCormac's essay on Dragon blood. Angry at the mess and with Albus both, Severus snapped, "That is my personal information."

"But you expect Harry to share his personal information with you?"

"You expect that," Severus reminded him, "though I can't fathom why. If I tell him and he has not had a similar experience, that information would become public in a matter of minutes after he left my office."

Albus thought on that for a few moments and asked quietly, "Then you truly believe he was in a fight in London? That the injuries did not happen at home?" He looked at Severus until Severus' eyes came up and met his. Severus picked up the quill again and wrote a grade at the top of the splattered paper and then set it aside to dry.

"Whatever he did, he did not get into a fight in London."

"You have the same suspicion the rest of us have then?"

"I reserve judgement until the truth is told." It was in that moment that Severus was forced to reevaluate his earlier opinions of Potter, with Albus staring at him as he did. Potter was not truthful when caught. He'd clearly caught him in his lie that afternoon and reinforced that assertion during detention, yet Potter hadn't come clean. Potter was a liar, and it surprised him.

"What are you thinking dear boy?" Albus asked.

Severus pulled himself from his thoughts and began marking up the next essay. "You don't want to know."

* * *

Despite what Severus had told Albus about not expecting results, he'd really believed it would be easier to get Potter to tell him the truth. After all, he'd only lasted three days before he'd told the Headmaster. A mere three days, he thought with disgust. It had been two weeks and Potter was still holding onto his secrets, whatever they were. He'd made mention of a dragon several times, and the troll again as well. He'd tried to convince Severus up down and sideways that he'd been in a fight with a ‘very large man' in London, but every detention ended the same way, with no answers Severus could take to the Headmaster. There was one detention left for the boy to serve, and he wasn't certain how to get the truth out of him short of Veritaserum, which was only a little more than slightly illegal to use on those under age 17 without their guardian's permission. He was not however going to tell the boy his personal life story, that was for certain.

Potter appeared at his office door, looking smug and wary at the same time. The boy wanted to celebrate his victory but wasn't certain if he could yet before his last detention was over.

"What am I to do tonight sir?" Harry asked, setting his bag down just inside the door. It was the same every night, and every night Potter came up with something new to clean all on his own (Severus had checked).

"Sit."

"What am I to clean sir?"

"Clear the air. Have done with the falsehoods."

Harry frowned and sat down, though he looked uncomfortable.

"Do you have rat spleens to pickle?"

"Do you?" Severus asked, sitting back in his chair and adopting the once smug and confident look Harry had taken in the seat across from him.

Harry didn't say anything, so instead Severus asked, "Did you really call Draco Malfoy a rat fink outside of Transfiguration this morning?"

"I knew he'd tell," Harry said, irritated as he sat back in the chair and relaxed a little.

"He did not. Professor McGonagall reported at the staff meeting this afternoon that you seemed to be angry with everyone and everything."

"Wonderful," Harry sighed in frustration.

"What are you so angry about Potter?"

Harry rubbed his forehead for half a second and then quickly pulled his hand down, looking angry. "Nothing. What the hell are you so angry about all the time?" He looked stricken as soon as he'd said it though, and looked up at the Potions Master to see what kind of tongue lashing he'd receive as a rebuke.

"Dragons, trolls, and a man in London. What do you have for me tonight?"

"I keep telling you the truth about the guy in London but you won't believe me," Harry insisted. "I've been making stuff up just to please you."

"Of that I'm certain. Tell me Potter, what would you do if I slipped you Veritaserum during one of your meals, quite by accident of course?"

"Fine. Go ahead. Hermione said it's illegal, so I assume the Headmaster will have to fire you. We'll all be sad to see you go though."

Severus could tell he'd startled Harry when he laughed out loud at the boy's sarcasm. It wasn't funny, it was disrespectful and Severus wasn't sure why he'd laughed, but he had. Harry looked perturbed after he'd gathered his wits long enough to snap his mouth shut.

"Is my detention over?" Harry asked. It had barely been five minutes since he'd arrived, but he seemed anxious to leave and Severus wondered if that meant he was making the boy uncomfortable enough to slip up and say something that resembled the truth.

"Go Potter. Do not return tomorrow at seven."

Harry practically leapt out of the chair and grabbed his bag off the floor. Before he could open the door Severus said, "Just tell me one thing Potter, before you go."

"Sir?"

"Do you really plan on returning to that house at the end of the school year?"

"What house?"

"The one where you're beaten and mistreated." It was the last card Severus had to play. Harry didn't say anything and didn't make a further move to leave. The silence stretched on for almost another minute before Severus decided to fill it himself and see if it got him anywhere. "Every time I suggest to you that this is a detention for a made up offence... the offense of getting into a fight with a man in London, you don't object. You don't correct me or insist it's real. You insist you're telling the truth about it at other times, but not when I talk about why you got the detention. If you are telling me the truth about a fight in London, why can't you keep your story straight and maintain the story across all lines of communication?"

"I don't know what all that means," Harry admitted, hand still on the door knob. He was so close to physically escaping, but he seemed glued to the spot, unable to answer or make anything up at all.

"It means I caught you."

"But I didn't do anything," Harry said quietly.

"That is my point. You are serving detention for something you did not do. You did not fight with a man in London. Nor did you face down a troll or get eaten by a dragon. So tell me again Potter. Lie to me one more time so you can get out that door. But I want to know if you really expect to return to that house. Put on airs and act like a self-assured boy who knows I've got it wrong." It'd be simple really, the boy had done it off and on for two weeks already, and possibly even in the years before this.

"I can't go back to that house Professor," Harry said. He looked up at Severus and Severus was a little taken aback at how lost the boys green eyes looked. They looked empty. Hollow and uncertain. The boy radiated anything by self-assured. "That house doesn't exist," Harry said, letting go of the door knob and moving back to the chair. Severus felt like it was an answer that should have gotten the boy out the door, but was the truth at the same time.

"It doesn't exist?"

"I don't have a house to go back to. They moved. Without me."

"When?" Severus didn't need to dare the boy to lie again, and his voice was nothing but serious.

Harry sat down, this time on the very edge of the chair, as if he didn't intend to stay.

"The day before I got on the train to school."

"And the bruises?"

Harry bit his lip to keep it from trembling, and Severus realized that he was simultaneously angry and also sitting on the edge of his seat, waiting to hear the truth for the first time.

"Uncle Vernon manhandled me out of the house and into the car to London. I fought back when I shouldn't have. I wanted my stuff for school... my owl. He drove me to London and dumped me in front of the train station and said they'd be gone by the time I got back from school again."

Severus waited to hear what else the boy would say, and as he waited, his eyes flickered to what remained of the boy's bruises. They'd almost gone now, but they were still faintly visible around one eye and on his neck. He realized now the bruise on his neck was probably a handprint from pushing the boy down into a car against his will.

"I hitched a ride back to Little Whinging, and broke into the house in the middle of the night for my stuff. Then I ran because Uncle Vernon chased me out of the house again, yelling he'd kill me if I came back. I walked all night and finally caught another ride to London. I didn't have money for breakfast. I just sat around the platform until the train pulled in and people started to show up."

"Didn't your friends have questions about your injuries?" Severus had wondered if he'd lied to them too or if they'd been complicit in it all.

"Ron and the twins knew already. They rescued me one summer in Mr. Weasley's flying car in the middle of the night."

Severus reached back into his memory and remembered Harry and Ron flying that car to school, but he couldn't recall another incident with it.

"And miss Granger?"

Harry looked down at his hands and shrugged. "She's smart. I'm sure she figured something out."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't," Harry said.

"A dragon?"

"Uncle Vernon's face gets all red when he yells at me and calls me names, like it's on fire. And he is a huge man. Stupid and dumb like a troll. When we got to London he pulled me out of the car, and when I tried to get back in, he slammed my face against the door and left me on the ground as he drove away."

Harry wasn't crying, Severus knew because he'd looked at the boy's eyes, but he seemed emotionally done for the night. Before Harry picked his bag up again to leave he said, "You can tell Dumbledore all that, but it won't make a difference, you know?" Harry looked up and his expression seemed pained, but earnest. Apparently the boy had a lot to cover up with all the anger he'd been throwing around the last two weeks. "He promised he'd take care of the Dragon... make sure he couldn't hurt anyone else again. Or me. He only meant it as long as he didn't know who it was though. He said himself when I asked not to go home at the end of first year, that I had to. Every summer I have to go back. Til I'm 17. He'll just figure out where they moved and move me back in. Doesn't matter what you tell him sir. Doesn't matter."

Harry got up and left, and Severus sat back in his chair, disturbed and angered by what he'd been told. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, hard. He wasn't altogether certain what to tell Dumbledore that the boy had told him. It would really upset Albus if he heard that Harry didn't believe in him to help solve his problems... to keep him safe. It would cut him to the core. Severus felt cut too. It wasn't that Harry didn't believe in him to help, because clearly he believed there was no resolution to the problem. It was just that his own old wounds felt raw and fresh, as though they'd opened again. Severus had never seen his father again after the day James and Remus had taken him to Hogwarts. It hurt to be thrown out. To be unloved and unwanted. Harry, apparently, knew all too well what that felt like, and there was nothing Severus could do about it. Not a damn thing.