Severus never was a man to start panicking, but the fact that he was standing in his kitchen in the middle of the night, with a very much wounded young boy he had actually started to like, did nothing to calm him down.

For a fleeting moment Severus didn’t know what to do, but then his years of being a spy and a potions master came back to him, and he walked (with James still clinging to him) towards the living room to call the principal and an ambulance.

It was rather difficult to pick up the phone seeing as how James was terrified of letting go of Severus. James was breathing harshly, and blood began to seep through Severus’s night clothes. Quickly he dialed the number of the principal, and when the man finally picked up the phone (after all, he was asleep), he told him the story, and asked if the man could contact the police, Nurse White and an ambulance, seeing as how Severus had enough trouble with James without having to call someone else too. The principal agreed and said he would arrive as soon as possible to help out.

Severus couldn’t do much more at the moment, he did unlock his front door, and tried to get James to let go, so he could put the boy on the couch and examine him, but James didn’t want to let go, and seemed to go into shock due to loss of blood. After ten minutes or so, Severus could hear cars coming into the street. They had turned off the sirens, probably because the Dursleys lived in the same street and the principal must have said something about the most likely cause.

Just when the door was opened, Severus felt James’ grip slacking, a sign that the child was falling into unconciousness. First to come in where the paramedics. Following them were two police officers, Nurse White and the principal. Gasps of shock rang through the room when they saw James, although the paramedics quickly started working on him, assessing what kind of wounds he had, putting in an IV-drip and attaching a bloodbag. They started cutting away the meager pile of clothes James wore (they were ripped in places, and soaked in blood by now), and got a good clear look of the wounds he had.

One of the police officers (a younger one), started making gagging sounds, and turned around to get some fresh air outside.

Severus had a hard time keeping his calm appearance. James’ body was cut open in places, there were signs of a belt having been used, words were carved in his body, and there were burn marks visible. Blood was coming from everywhere, and while the paramedics tried very hard, it was clear they needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

Meanwhile the police were taking pictures of the wounds, of the bloody clothes, of Severus’s state, as well as the state the kitchen was in. They called in reinforcements and started to follow the blood trail out of the garden right towards the Dursleys' house.

Nurse White, the principal and Severus were giving statements of how they had been gathering evidence, how they began to earn James’s trust, and what they knew of his living conditions (which wasn’t much, considering). Other police officers were preparing for the arrest of Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. When they stormed into the house, they caught Petunia Dursley scrubbing the blood out of her carpets, mumbling about dirty little freaks that deserved what they got, and Vernon Dursley putting away a still bleeding belt, knife and hammer.

That was proof enough to get the two arrested (Dudley was a minor). The police officers that followed the blood trail of James were surprised to find out the trail went into the back yard of Number 4, instead of going to one of the windows (they had thought James might have escaped from the bedrooms). It led them right towards the shed, standing in the back of the garden. There was also a bloodtrail going inside, but it appeared James had been dragged from the house to the shed, and had somehow managed to escape from it.

When they went in the shed they got an even bigger shock. The trail led them to the back wall of the shed, where at first they thought the trail just stopped. But with some pushing, and pulling they discovered a small opening in the wall, which led into a very dark space under the shed. Since the opening was very small, a young woman was let into it, and even she had to crouch down under the shed.

With a flashlight, she saw a space of about three feet by three feet wide, and another three feet high. There was a small ventilation hole in the ceiling, but it was so small the air inside was stuffy and hot. There was hardly any room for a child, let alone one that was eleven-years-old. There was no light, not even a light bulb. Only a dirty blanket lay there, as well as a small broken bowl with very dirty water in it.

Pictures were taken, and this would assure the Dursleys a long and not-so-nice stay in prison.

Meanwhile, James was being transported to the nearest hospital, being in a somewhat better condition. Severus was accompanying him, and had to wait several hours while surgeons worked on the small child. Thank goodness he had Nurse White to keep him company. When James was finally put on the IC-unit, Severus was there waiting for him to wake.

This would take a while, and by the time James would wake up, the media would have gotten word of the case and there would be a whole lot of people be involved to investigate how nobody noticed this, how influential the Dursleys had been, and how James was forced to live.

But for now, James was recovering, Severus by his side, and on the other side of the country, and old man with a long beard and half-moon glasses, was silently crying and asking James and Lily Potter for forgiveness of what he had forced their son to go through.