Calamity by MellarkandArt
Summary: A visit to The Burrow from a frustrated Arabella Figg brings about a series of events that causes a paradigm shift for both Harry Potter and Professor Severus Snape.
Categories: Healer Snape, Parental Snape > Biological Father Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Arthur, Dumbledore, Molly, Ron
Snape Flavour: Snape is Angry, Snape Comforts, Snape is Kind, Snape is Loving, Snape is Stern
Genres: Angst, Drama, Family, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Abuse Recovery
Takes Place: 3rd summer
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Emotional Abuse, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Profanity
Prompts: A day to remember
Challenges: A day to remember
Series: None
Chapters: 15 Completed: Yes Word count: 41497 Read: 50753 Published: 08 May 2021 Updated: 01 Aug 2021
Tribulation by MellarkandArt
Ron, Ginny, the twins, and Harry were all in the backyard of The Burrow playing Quidditch when Mrs. Weasley called for Harry to come inside.

It had been several days now since Harry first arrived at The Burrow and he was feeling much better. Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t let him do much of anything besides sit on the couch for the first few days, but today she had finally let him come outside to play with the other kids.

He groaned, wondering if perhaps she had changed her mind again and decided that he was too delicate to be flying around on his Nimbus 2000. Mr. Weasley had gone to Privet Drive to retrieve it for him, along with some of the other things that he had left behind.

Harry worried that Mr. Weasley would get into an argument or something with the Dursleys, but he returned far too quickly for that, which was an odd thing in of itself because surely Aunt Petunia would have been home and she would have had a fit over a wizard Apparating at her house.

He dismounted his broom and handed it over to Ron to use while he was gone, as the Nimbus 2000 was better than any other broom on the market (well, besides the Nimbus 2001… and the new Firebolt model), and headed towards the house.

“Yes ma’am?” Harry questioned politely when he reached the backdoor. Mrs. Weasley smiled at him.

“Professor Snape is here, he has some things that he would like to discuss with you,” she said, the corners of her mouth dipping slightly.

Harry bit his lip. This morning he had finished the last of the nutritional potions that Professor Snape had given him last week, but he didn’t see why they would need to discuss it. He could have just handed the potions over to Mrs. Weasley and been on his way.

Mrs. Weasley guided Harry to the living room before she went into the kitchen, leaving him alone with Snape, who was seated on the sofa, tapping his chin impatiently.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Potter,” he said. Harry eyed him warily as he came into the room and sat on the loveseat across from the professor.

“I trust that you have been taking your potions properly?” Snape asked him, taking the new batch out of his robes and setting them on the coffee table in front of Harry.

Harry nodded. That was at least one task Snape had assigned him that Harry hadn’t screwed up.

“Yes, sir. You can ask Mrs. Weasley, she has been keeping track of it as well,” he said softly.

Snape shook his head. “There is no need for that, I can take your word for it.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. Since when did Snape take anything he said at face value?

“I wanted to speak to you about your living arrangements for the time being. Are you… happy here?”

Harry just stared at him. Had Snape become his social worker or something? Why would he care if Harry were happy?

“Er- yes, sir, I suppose so. The Weasleys are really nice. I like it here. Why?” A sudden thought occurred to him. “Oh, is Dumbledore making me go back to the Dursleys?”

“The headmaster is no longer in charge of your welfare.” He seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. “As is standard in situations such as this, I have filed an abuse report with the Ministry. You will not be returning to your relatives, ever.”

Abuse?

“You- what? They don’t abuse me!”

“No?” Snape asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“No! I know that they aren’t the best of guardians, and maybe they don’t particularly like me, but, Professor, don’t you think you’re blowing this a bit out of proportion?”

“Were the injuries that I healed just ‘accidents’? Do keep in mind that I have a complete history of your medical ailments, and it does not add up to falling down the stairs, or out of a tree, or even a boyhood scuffle. You have a long and complex medical history which all points towards one thing.”

Harry shook his head swiftly. “Neglect, maybe.” he said quietly. “But it’s not like they planned on having a second kid. They do the best that they can for me.” Why was he defending them? He wanted to be away from the Dursleys more than anything in the world!

But he had been through this whole song and dance before, in primary school. Talking only made things worse.

“Are you aware that your relatives have been receiving a stipend every month from a fund your parents set up for your care should they not be able to do so themselves?”

Harry stared at his palms. He hadn’t known that. Aunt Petunia always said that it had been difficult for her and her husband to take in their nephew. He had spent his whole life wearing hand-me-downs and eating the leftover scraps because he was the charity case. He’d known that they could probably do a little better for him than they had said they could, but he never considered that there was a whole entire fund just for him…

“Harry,” Snape said gently, startling him out of his daze and causing him to look up at the use of his first name and the gentle tone coming from the mouth of his harsh professor.

“I know that it is not easy to admit when something is wrong at home, or even to recognize that something is wrong… but I assure you that the way your relatives have treated you is absolutely barbaric and inexcusable. It is abuse, and they have been charged for it.”

Harry put his head in his hands. “C-charged?” he asked, voice muffled by his hands.

Snape hummed and drew a letter from his robes. “There will be a trial, the date has been set for January 11th. You will have to take that day off from school.”

“Why?” Harry muttered. “I don’t need to be there.”

Snape sighed deeply. “Unfortunately, you do. The court is requiring your testimony.”

“They want me to testify?! I-I can’t testify!”

“I am afraid that you must,” Snape said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I know that it is not ideal, but it should not be too difficult-”

No, I’m not doing it! They didn’t even do anything wrong, they treat me like I deserve and it’s fine. It just got a little out of hand one time, okay?”

Potter,” Snape snapped and Harry flinched at the tone. Snape closed his eyes tightly for a moment before continuing in a softer voice. “I am aware that this is difficult for you to comprehend, but I will attempt to make you understand that the way they have treated you is unacceptable. You in no way deserve it.”

“I don't want them to go to prison because of me,” Harry whispered. Snape shook his head.

“They will not be going to prison because of you, they will be going to prison because of their own actions, which just so happened to be against you. It is in no way your fault, the blame rests solely on them.”

“But if… if I weren’t the way that I am, they wouldn’t have been that way. They treat Dudley just fine, I’m the one they have the problem with. If I hadn't been around, they wouldn’t have done bad things.”

“Stop with this way of thinking, Harry. It’s the way they are, not you. They are cruel and vile people. Just because they are only that way with a particular portion of the population does not make it okay. Do you understand?”

Harry shrugged. Snape sighed once again.

“What if Miss Granger’s parents treated her the way that your relatives have treated you, hm? Would you say that she deserved it?”

“No!” Harry exclaimed loudly.

“Why not?”

“She hasn’t done anything to deserve that, she’s just a kid.”

“As opposed to you?”

“It’s different.”

“How so?”

“It just is.”

“Is she not a magical child? Are her guardians not muggles?”

“It’s more than just that! I’m weird in all sorts of ways…”

“I do not care if you went out dancing stark naked on the streets of London, you are a child and there is absolutely no excuse to treat a child the way that they treated you.”

“It’s still different. She’s their kid, I’m… the Dursleys never wanted me.”

“Be that as it may,” Snape sighed, apparently out of truthful words of comfort. “They allowed you to live in their home but yet treated you like an outsider. More than that, they treated you like a house elf. No one has the right to treat a child the way that they treated you.”

“Why,” Harry swallowed thickly before continuing, “why are you being so nice to me?” he asked quietly. Snape rolled his eyes.

“You have extremely low standards, I would hardly call it being nice. But… I do realize now that I have been wrong in the way that I have treated you. I can not make up for it, but I realize my mistake and will endeavor to do better by you in the future.”

Harry stared at him in shock for a moment before nodding slowly. It didn’t make much sense, but he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity of Snape being tolerable towards him. He bit his lip. “I still don’t want to testify,” he said quietly.

“It is quite alright for now, the trial is still many months away. You have plenty of time to prepare yourself so there is no need to fret over it just yet. I would however encourage you to take the time to reflect and come to terms with what you have gone through. I believe that it would be beneficial for you to talk to someone about it. Keeping things all bottled up inside yourself will only allow for wounds to fester.”

Harry scoffed. “I don’t need a shrink, Professor. I’m not crazy.”

“I do not recall suggesting one, although talking to a counselor would not mean that you are crazy. I was under the impression that you have friends with whom you could discuss it with, or Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and… I would be available as well, if you so wished.”

Harry had taken to staring at the professor a lot throughout this conversation, and now Snape seemed to be doing the same with him. There was an odd look on his face, replacing his usual sneer. Harry couldn’t place what it was and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Snape looked away for a moment. He once again seemed to hesitate before meeting Harry’s eyes once more.

“Harry,” and Harry was once again shocked by the gentle tone in which Snape said his name. “I am sorry that you must go through this. I wish…” he trailed off. It seemed like there was a lot more he wanted to add, but he just shook his head slowly and stood.

“Continue to take your potions. I will come again next week.”

Harry bobbed his head in response. “T-thank you, Professor.” Snape offered him one last nod of acknowledgement before departing from the living room and leaving Harry to wonder who had been using Polyjuice potion and why.

***

Severus sighed, leaning back in his chair at Spinner’s End. Today had been the first time he’d seen his son since he found out that he was his son. He was looking better, physically at least.

He had heard from several people that Harry hated the Dursleys, so he hadn’t really even considered that Harry might not think that his treatment at their hands was wrong or unusual. He should have realized. Just because Harry wasn’t screaming the signs of abuse didn’t mean that he was not struggling with the effects of it. He had lived with them for twelve years, of course he would think that the way they had treated him was fine.

It was still the first civilized conversation he had ever had with his son.

Severus had taken Arthur’s advice and thought more on the situation. He still came to the conclusion that Harry would be better off living with the Weasleys. He seemed to be happy, as happy as a traumatized child could be, anyway. He had friends there. The last thing Severus wanted to do was disrupt his life. He deserved peace, peace that could be found by living with Molly and Arthur Weasley.

All Severus had to offer Harry was Spinner’s End and himself, and Lily’s child deserved better than that.
The End.
End Notes:
chapter six, my favorite chapter so far! I hope you liked it as well. I may post another chapter tomorrow, but I don't know. I thought that I would get a lot of writing done this weekend but apparently, my parents have other plans. I do have the next chapter written, but I'm still facing the issue of what direction I want to go in and I may have to change some things in that chapter.

thanks for reading!!


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