Severus was bottling a potion when a familiar white owl came flying through the small open window

Severus was bottling a potion when a familiar white owl came flying through the small open window. Harry’s owl, Hedwig, hooted repeatedly at him until he sealed the vial in his hands and approached her. She held out her leg and hooted urgently. The Potions Master quickly removed the letter and scanned it quickly.

He dropped the parchment and strode over to his potions cabinet. The dark-haired man searched through his stores and grabbed a few specific vials and placed them carefully in his robes. He locked his office as he left and walked quickly to the gates of the school. With so few remaining for the holidays, he didn’t run into anyone, students or professors. As soon as he reached his destination, he placed a temporary invisibility charm over himself and Apparated away.

Severus landed outside the muggle hospital and walked quickly inside. He found the nearest restroom, where he entered and removed the invisibility charm along with changing his appearance to match that of an average muggle.

“Where can I find Harry Potter?” Severus demanded of the nurse at the front station.

She scowled at his tone but looked up the boy’s information and gave him directions to the children’s ward. As he entered the boy’s room, he spotted Catherine and her two parents sitting near Harry’s bed. The boy himself looked terrible. He was pale and had an IV needle in his arm along with a rather large bruise on the side of his head.

Catherine spotted him first. “Severus! I am so glad you came. Is there anything you can do for him? The doctor said that he is experiencing memory loss due to the hit on his head. Something about swelling in his brain. It just sounds bad and I didn’t know who else to contact.”

Severus nodded throughout her explanation. “I have a potion that will reduce the swelling, and that should restore him to his proper state of mind. If that does not work, I have several other potions to try, however they are primarily used with memory charm incidents. I am not sure how they would affect him.”

She nodded wearily. He could easily see that she was exhausted from the whole ordeal.

“I will give him the first potion and then we shall wait to see if it has helped any before trying the other methods.” Severus pulled out a vial with a bright pink potion in it and approached the sleeping boy. He gently shook the boy, who groggily opened his eyes.

“Drink this,” Severus said softly.

The boy opened his mouth and grimaced as the liquid went down his throat. He fought to keep his eyes awake, but failed and was soon asleep again.

“He will sleep for several more hours and when he wakes, we will find out if the potion was effective or not.” Severus explained.

“Will the potion be affected by any of the medications in his system that the nurse gave him?” Eleanor asked.

Severus shook his head negatively.

Nicholas, who had been silent throughout the entire exchange, got to his feet. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “Even if this doesn’t work, you came quickly and tried to help my grandson.” He held out his hand and Severus shook it.

The retired military man got a sudden gleam in his eye. “Perhaps you’d be interested in helping me with one more favour?”

Severus saw the look in the man’s eyes and looked cautiously at him.

“Would you be interested in returning to Cathy’s home with me? Connor is supposed to stop by to grab his belongings…” the older man trailed off with a small grin.

Severus smirked.

When the two arrived, Connor was already in the house gathering his belongings. He looked up briefly as the two entered before turning away again. Severus caught sight of the fresh bruises marring the man’s face. He glanced over and give an approving glance to Nicholas, the only person who would’ve likely done such a thing to Connor.

“How long will it take?” Nicholas asked. “For you to gather all your belongings?”

Connor shrugged, keeping his eyes focused on his task rather than the two men in front of him.

“I believe I can help with that,” Severus said as he pulled out his wand. “Pack,” he muttered. Connor jumped as his personal items flew from upstairs and all throughout the house, landing neatly in front of him. Severus muttered another word, Connor jumped again, as all the items flew into a box that he was holding, one that surely wouldn’t be able to hold all of his stuff. He was rather surprised when the box didn’t feel any heavier either.

Connor didn’t comment, but he placed the box on the ground and turned to finally face the two men. He focused his gaze on Nick and said, “I just want you to know that I really loved your daughter.”

Nick stared at him silently before speaking, “I don’t doubt that, but with my daughter came my grandson, a boy who should not have been subjected to your mistreatment. You knew that she would choose her child before you yet you still proposed and married her. If you didn’t like children, you should have found someone else to marry.

“I have a daughter that needs to be comforted right now over the loss of her husband and a grandson that needs to be taken care of. Goodbye and get out of this house and don’t ever return.”

Connor stared at him for a moment and picked up his last box and headed towards the door without looking back once.

Severus, who had been silent through their conversation, pulled out his wand and pointed it at the retreating man’s back. After a few silent incantations, he stashed the wand again and smirked.

After Connor left, Nick turned back to him.

“Alright, spill it. What did you do to him? He didn’t look any different,” the older man observed.

“He may not look any different to us, but any woman that looks at him with interest will see a balding man with bad acne,” Severus explained.

Nicholas laughed. “I like it. Anything else?”

The Professor shrugged, somewhat innocently. “I might’ve added in a spell that causes him great discomfort when he tries to be... intimate, shall we say, with anyone.”

Nick’s laughter rang through the quiet house and Severus’ satisfied smirk lasted for the rest of the afternoon as he plotted the final piece of revenge, which would be executed at a later date.

Catherine walked back into Harry’s room and approached the sleeping boy. She gently smoothed his hair back in a motherly fashion and smiled when the boy opened his expressive green eyes.

“’lo mum,” Harry mumbled.

“Hi Harry,” she replied softly, trying not to cry. Professor Snape’s potion must have worked since he remembered her this time.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, taking a seat beside the bed.

Harry sat up slowly and reached for his glasses. He slid them on and the room around him came into focus. He spared a quick glance at his mum and noticed that she looked as if she hadn’t slept properly in the last few days.

“I’m fine,” he shrugged. “How long have I been here?” he asked, looking around the room. There was another empty bed in the room, which he figured was located in the children’s ward due to the colourful images on the walls.

“It was only yesterday that you,” she paused and sniffled, “were hurt.”

Harry looked down. He knew that everyone knew about Connor now and felt ashamed, and yet relieved at the same time. He didn’t want his family to see him weak, but it was too late for that. The damage was done and at least Connor would be out of the picture.

“What’s going to happen now?” the boy asked softly.

Cathy took a deep breath. “I am filing for a divorce immediately,” she looked down at her hand, which was bare without her wedding ring. “C-Connor will be brought up on charges as well.”

“What?” Harry asked with surprise. “Why?”

“Why?” Catherine repeated, shocked. “Because he abused you! He needs to be punished for that!”

Harry shook his head slowly. “I don’t want to go through a trial,” he whispered.

The strawberry-blond woman placed her arm on Harry’s shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. “It will be okay,” she promised. “I can’t stop the proceedings anyways since the doctors collected evidence when you arrived. The charges have already been filed. It is likely to be several months, possibly even summertime, before the trial proceeds.”

Harry sat there silently, not looking at his mum. He didn’t want to go through this but it seemed he had no choice.

“Why?” his mum asked quietly, pulling him from his musings. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

The boy looked pointedly at his hands. After a few minutes of silence he answered, “I was… ashamed,” he admitted with difficulty. “I didn’t want to ruin your marriage or to make a big deal of it all.”

“Oh, Harry,” she leaned forward and hugged him tightly. Harry clutched her and tried to stop a few tears that leaked out.

“Please, please don’t ever hide something like this again. I wish you had told me sooner that he was hurting you or that you just didn’t like him. I’m sorry,” she said pulling back. “I failed you as your mum by being too blind to see that the man I was married to was hurting my own son. I’m so sorry.”

Harry reached forward this time and held onto his mum. “Please don’t think that. It’s not your fault. It’s mine because I didn’t say anything.”

She held tightly onto the boy. “How about we call it even? It’s neither of our faults,” she compromised with a small smile as she pulled back.

Harry returned the smile and nodded.

“So, when do I get out of here?”

By the time, Nicholas and Severus returned from Cathy’s home, Harry was awake and being discharged. The doctor had released Harry, after testing him to ensure that his memory was indeed back, and gave them strict instructions to return if Harry has anymore problems.

“My mum told me that you helped me get better,” Harry said to his Potions professor. “Thanks.”

“I would have done it for any of my students,” the man replied uncomfortably. He felt as if he’d been thanked too many times already, all for one potion that merely took an hour to brew.

“Shall we go home?” Eleanor asked coming up behind the group. She’d been on the phone for the last hour talking to a lawyer about the case with Connor.

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “Let’s go home.”

Harry waved at his mum one last time as the train moved forward. He watched out the window until she and her parents were no longer in site. He leaned against the seat and rubbed his eyes tiredly. The last few days of vacation had been tense. His grandparents had even been staying at their house, insistent on being there in case Connor came back for any reason. Harry wasn’t sure how long they planned to stay there either.

He considered dozing off for a bit in his quiet empty compartment, but decided against that. He wasn’t likely to get any sleep anyways. Last few nights, he’d been waking up in a cold sweat, after dreaming of Connor. The dream Connor didn’t harm him; rather the man kept coming back for his mum, just as he said he’d do if Harry told anyone. He’d been able to get past the nightmare by checking on his mum but now that he was going back to school, he wouldn’t be able to do so. He’d have to hope that she was safe and sound.

Harry was interrupted from his thoughts as his fellow Slytherin friend, Blaise, came inside.

“Hey Harry,” the dark skinned boy said, plopping down on the other seat.

Harry managed a weak smile. “Hi Blaise,” he greeted.

Blaise looked at him seriously for a moment, an act which wasn’t commonly found on the playful boy’s face. “What’s wrong?” he asked, leaning forward.

Harry shrugged. “Nothing. Doesn’t matter anyways.”

Blaise looked at him before sighing. “I can tell you won’t budge. Fine, fine.” He sighed dramatically, going back to his usual playful banter. “So how was your hols?”

“Fine,” the dark-haired boy replied shortly. “Yours?”

“Great actually. Got loads of gifts, and thanks for yours by the way. Did you like the quill set? I didn’t want to get you another book. You’re nose is buried in enough books as it is,” he added teasingly.

Harry smiled, a real one for the first time in a few days. “You don’t ever change, do you?” he asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes.

“And even though you didn’t get me any books,” he said, pausing as he reached in his bag. “It doesn’t mean that other people didn’t.” Harry held up the book that Susan got for him and grinned.

Blaise sighed dramatically and placed the back of one of his hands against his forehead, before falling against the back of the seat. “What am I going to do with you?” he whined.

“I need some sugar,” Blaise announced suddenly, bouncing to his feet excitedly.

Harry laughed. “Looks like you’ve had plenty already.”

The other boy shrugged and then grinned. “Can’t have enough! You want some? I’m going to find the sweets trolley.”

“No thanks, I’m fine right now,” Harry replied.

“Alright, suit yourself,” Blaise said, heading for the door. “Be back in a bit.”

A few minutes after Blaise left, two more people entered. Harry looked up and sighed. “What is today, National Cheer Up Harry Day or something?”

“Why of course it is,” the Weasley twins replied together.

“Didn’t you get the owl-”

“That said a certain young, thoughtful-”

“Innocent, firstie looked unhappy?”

“And who,” Harry interrupted before they could continue, “Told you to come cheer me up?”

The twins glanced at each other and then said together, “Blaise.”

Harry groaned.

“Ahh, don’t be mad,” one said. The two twins plopped down on either side of him.

“Blaise passed us on his mad trolley hunt-”

“-He’s a bit barmy without his sugar, you know-”

“-and suggested that we come cheer you up-”

“-He’s right too. Harry does look a bit peaky, wouldn’t you say Gred?”

The other twin agreed and Harry tried to suppress a grin at their antics. It was a bit hard to follow which one was speaking when they jumped back and forth.

Harry yawned, feeling tired after his restless sleep the night before. Fred –or at least he thought it was Fred– saw the sleepy look on Harry’s face and got to his feet, pulling his twin with him.

Fred looked at Harry seriously. “I’m sure you don’t want to talk about it, but if you ever want to talk to us, just come find us.”

“We may be fun and games all the time, but we can be serious at times,” George continued.

“I know we’re Gryffindors-” Fred said.

“-and you’re a Slytherin-”

“-but don’t let that stop you from coming to find us.” Fred finished.

“Now get some sleep-”

“-you look like you could use it-”

“-and don’t forget to use our Christmas gift on Snape,”

Harry raised an eyebrow, as if saying, ‘do I have a death wish?’

“Or the Slytherins,” George amended, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

“Bye guys,” Harry called out. “Thanks,” he added softly and they nodded back.

Harry felt his eyelids drooping and couldn’t resist the urge to curl up on the seat. It wasn’t long before he was asleep.

Sometime later, Harry became aware of two people talking quietly. He kept his eyes closed and listened.

“I’m worried about him,” Blaise admitted.

Harry wondered if he looked that bad that Blaise was really worried over him. He knew he hadn’t slept that well but was it that obvious? He probably should have slept better, knowing Connor wasn’t living there anymore, but he couldn’t stop worrying about his mum’s safety.

Harry was torn from his thoughts as a female voice responded.

“Did he say what happened?” Harry recognized the voice as belonging to Susan.

“Nope,” the other boy replied quietly. “I think it had something to do with his family though. Not sure what happened but something must’ve.”

“What could’ve happened over Christmas break?” Susan wondered. “It wasn’t…” she whispered so softly that Harry strained to hear her, “You-Know-Who was it? I’ve heard some rumours about him still being alive somehow.”

Blaise shook his head. “I doubt it was that. It must’ve been serious though because I’m almost certain I saw Professor Snape standing in the shadows watching everyone board the train. I don’t think professors are usually here at the train station unless for a specific reason.”

Harry let their voices wash over him as he concentrated on what Blaise had last said. Why would Professor Snape have been at the train station? The only reason that came to mind was to make sure that Connor didn’t show up and cause trouble. Perhaps the professor was worried Connor would meet them at the station and go after Harry for revenge before he made it on the train and back to school. Harry wasn’t sure the reason why he’d come, but could barely repress the smile threatened to appear. It was obvious Professor Snape cared, not that he’d ever admit that of course.

With those thoughts in his mind, Harry fell into a peaceful slumber.

Later that night, Harry pulled out his Invisibility Cloak and shoved it under his pillow before closing his curtains. He’d told Blaise he was tired and going to bed, but he wasn’t really sleepy. With the refreshing nap on the train, he wasn’t ready to go to bed. Once all his roommates went to sleep, he planned to sneak out and test out his new Invisibility Cloak.

Within a little over a half hour, the rest of his roommates turned in for the night. Harry waited another ten minutes to be sure that they were asleep. He peeked out of his curtains and saw that everyone had closed theirs as well. He pulled the cloak over himself before slipping out of bed. The Common Room was deserted except for two students talking quietly in the corner. Neither noticed as the door opened and the invisible boy slipped out.

Harry wandered the halls for a while, enjoying the peaceful silence. He held his breath as he passed Professor Sprout, but she never noticed him and he kept on walking. Harry had turned down one corridor when he spotted Mrs. Norris. The cat –who Harry really didn’t like- seemed to know someone was nearby because she started meowing loudly in the quiet corridor.

Wondering if Filch would come investigate, Harry decided it was best to duck into a nearby room. He slipped silently in the room and ensured that the door was closed, preventing Mrs. Norris from following him if she tried.

Harry glanced around the room and spotted a tall cloaked object. He tried to contain his curiosity, but couldn’t help but approach the object. He gently lifted the white cloth and tried to peer underneath it, but instead the entire cloth came down. A puff of dust flew up when the cover disturbed the room which obviously hadn’t been inhabited for quite some time.

Harry covered his mouth and tried not to breath in the dusty air, until it settled down. Coughing might alert any of the professors patrolling nearby of his presence.

Harry turned his attention to the unveiled object. It was an extremely large mirror. Across the top, an odd phrase was written, one that didn’t make any sense to Harry. He stepped in front of the mirror and that was when he saw it.

His family.

He saw his mum, Lily and dad, James, both staring at his proudly. Harry felt his breath catch as he stared wonderingly at the picture. Just to check, he looked over his shoulder and didn’t spot them standing beside him. In the background, more people appeared, this time relatives, judging by similarities to them and his parents.

Next to his birth parents, Cathy and her parents appeared. They looked at him with pride as well. Harry grinned happily at the image. It was perfect. His whole family, they are happy and proud of him. It was perfect, but Harry felt as if someone was missing.

Another figure appeared on the side of the mirror and Harry leaned forward to get a better look. Standing off to the side, nearly hiding in the shadows, was none other than Professor Snape. He looked like the snarky professor that he is, but he too was smiling proudly. Harry felt his heart swell with emotion as he gazed at all the faces in the mirror.

A crash from outside the room stirred Harry from his musings and the boy panicked. Filch was outside nearby muttering to himself, which caused Harry to dash for another door in the room, one which he hoped was an exit.

Harry had taken a few steps down the corridor, when he realized he’d left his cloak on the floor of the mirror room. He turned back to dart back in the room when he caught sight of Mrs. Norris coming around the corner. Knowing that the cat was lurking nearby meant that Filch must be close by as well. Harry tried to open the closest door to him, but it wouldn’t budge. He whipped out his wand and muttered the unlocking spell as quietly as he could and sighed with relief when it clicked open.

Harry slipped inside and closed it softly behind him. Mrs. Norris could be heard prowling around and meowing nearby. Harry heard her hiss when she came close to his hiding spot and was afraid she was going to alert Filch, but instead she ran off. Harry could hear the caretaker talking to his cat as they continued to wander the school corridors for students out of bed.

The dark-haired boy sighed with relief, turned around and then gasped when he caught sight of what must have scared Mrs. Norris off. Sleepily standing up was a large dog. Not just any dog, a three-headed one at that!

Harry backed against the door as the three-headed beast stood up. It looked rather groggy after being woken but with three sets of jaws, he didn’t want to risk seeing just how friendly the dog might be. Harry’s breathing sped up as his left hand reached behind his back, grasping for the handle while his right held out his wand.

He finally managed to open the door and slipped out just as the three heads came growling and snapping at him. He slammed the door shut and ran. He dashed across to the door where the mirror was, entered the room and slumped down on the ground in front of it. His breathing was very erratic as he tried to calm down. It was too much for one night and he couldn’t seem to breathe properly. All of his frustrations came to the surface as he sat on his knees in front of the mirror.

He was livid with Connor and all that he did. Angry that the man hurt him. Angry that he threatened to hurt his mum. Angry that the man was still haunting him in his dreams; even though he was supposed to be happy now that the man was gone. The irritation he experienced when students stared at him in wonder for being the bloody boy-who-lived and all that nonsense. The annoyance he underwent when other students whispered bad things about him after he’d been sorted into Slytherin. Everything that he’d been upset over recently, or had bottled in for some time, came to the surface in full force. He felt like throwing or breaking something but had nothing nearby to destroy.

It was too much for Harry to handle and he broke down. He tried to stop the tears from flowing down his face but couldn’t do anything to make them quit flowing. His frantic breathing from his encounter with the three headed beast, combined with the tears running down his face, made breathing difficult. He tried to catch his breath but couldn’t manage a deep breath. Before he could panic, a tall figure crouched down in front of his and held his face in his hands, causing the boy to stare directly at the man in front of him.

Professor Snape was talking to him but the ringing in his ears made it hard to hear what he was saying. Finally, the ringing quieted and he was able to hear that the man was talking to him, coaching him to breathe slowly, in and out. Harry thought of the rain, the one sound that soothed him when he was frustrated or scared. He could see every single drop as it fell, he could hear the splatter as it hit the ground and even smell the fresh scent of the rainwater.

Harry opened his eyes and looked into the dark eyes belonging to his professor. He felt his face heat up and looked down.

“How are you feeling?” Professor Snape asked.

Harry shrugged. “Tired now. I’m sorry, sir, for freaking out.”

Severus waved off the apology. “Do not concern yourself over that. It was bound to happen, considering all that has occurred recently. No doubt you have been bottling up your emotions and felt it was necessary to release them tonight. Might I ask what in particular caused it?”

“I don’t know really, sir,” Harry said. He motioned towards the mirror, “Have you seen this before?”

Severus studied it before turning his gaze to the boy before him. “Yes, I know what this mirror does. Do you understand what it showed you?”

“Not really,” the boy admitted. “It showed me my family, my entire family.”

The man nodded and motioned to the words along the top, Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. “I show not your face but your heart’s desire.”

“Why did it show me my family?”

“Perhaps your deepest desire was for your parents, both who you likely don’t remember much of.”

Harry nodded. “But yet, I saw my mum, Cathy,” he said. “And other people that aren’t my related to me by blood,” he added, with a slight blush. He didn’t think he would be able to tell Professor Snape that he’d seen him in the mirror too.

“You consider them your family do you not? Family is not only in blood,” he supplied.

“Oh,” the boy replied. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Harry yawned.

The Potions Professor got up off the floor and held out his hand for Harry to take. The boy accepted and was pulled to his feet as well.

“I believe it is time for you to return to bed, Mr. Potter.”

Harry nodded and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak. He turned towards the door and pouted slightly when he saw the Professor holding out his hand expectedly. The boy sighed as he handed the heirloom over to his professor.

“I will keep this, at least until tomorrow, when I will decide what to do then. You are to meet me in my office at seven o’clock for detention for being out after hours.”

Harry looked at the man in shock. He certainly wasn’t expecting a detention.

“Relax Potter,” the man said. “I won’t have you scrubbing cauldrons, at least not this time. Instead you and I will be having a chat concerning the use of this cloak,” he held it up, “for one thing. In addition, I would like to talk more on the matter of tonight. Talking will help you release some emotions that you have built up and unless you want a repeat of this event, I suggest we work on this now.”

The first year nodded dejectedly. Part of him did want to talk about everything, but he couldn’t bring himself to actually start talking about it. He knew that Professor Snape would poke and prod him until he said something and Harry only hoped that the words would come easily once he got started.

“Yes, sir,” he added.

“Come; let’s get you back to the Common Room.”

As they walked, Harry turned towards the man and asked a question that had been bothering him. “How’d you know I was even out? I mean, aren’t you usually in your office grading or doing whatever professors do at this time of night?”

The man smirked. “I have wards on the entrance to the Common Room that alert me when any first year students leave the Common Room at night.”

“Why only first years?” he asked curiously as they approached the entrance

“Primarily because they are new to the school and may or may not know their way around. They are also not as likely to be able to defend themselves against someone, should they be attacked. By second year, I trust that you can either defend yourself or have the common sense to stay inside during the night.”

Severus stopped at the entrance, turned towards the boy and said, “Good night, Mr. Potter.”

Harry mumbled the password and stepped inside before turning back to his professor. “Thank you for helping me, sir. And good night.”

As the entrance closed, Harry saw the Professor’s cloak billowing as he stalked down the dark corridor.