Snape reached the front door at Number Four and paused. A child’s voice was yelling “You let my dad down NOW freak.”
A quieter voice answered “I told you I don’t know how he got there Duddy. Oww.”
Snape heard scuffling, then a female voice saying “Boys -stop fighting.”
Deciding against an alohomora, Severus rang the doorbell, wincing as it played Jingle Bells.
“Not today, thank you,” snapped a harassed looking woman Snape could just about recognise as an older, blonder version of the Petunia Evans he remembered . He’d last seen her at Lily and James’ wedding, and it didn’t look as if the intervening years had treated her especially kindly. “Oh! …..Sev..Severus Snape? Oh, thank goodness, come in. I hope you’ve come to fix my husband.”
Severus followed her into a pristine hallway.
“Into the kitchen boys,” Petunia ordered. “Watch the television quietly while I talk with Mr Snape.”
He watched as a large blond boy shoved his way past a short, skinny child with sticky up hair that reminded Snape forcibly of James Potter. Not to be outdone, the smaller boy grabbed the back of his cousin’s shirt to impede his progress.
“The freak doesn’t get to watch telly when Dad’s mad with him,” whined the larger boy.
“Do as you’re told please, Dudley. You can have some chocolate biscuits if you behave nicely for Mummy.”
Once the boys were settled in the kitchen, Petunia gestured Snape into a sizeable living room somewhat over-cluttered with gaudy Christmas decorations and pointed to the wall beside the door where a large man with a large moustache appeared to be firmly stuck to the wall about two feet up from the ground. Snape’s eyes narrowed as he took in the threatening expression frozen on the man’s face, and the heavy cane still firmly grasped in his hands. A quick wave of his wand impressed Snape. A strong Sticking charm and a perfect Petrificus Totalis performed wandlessly, even if accidentally, must mean that the Potter boy could become a seriously powerful wizard once his Hogwarts tuition began. But Severus wanted to find out the full story of what had happened before reversing the accidental magic.
“Anything you’d like to tell me before I speak with the boy, Petunia? This”- he waved towards Vernon – “doesn’t look like happy families.”
Playing nervously with her fingers, Petunia replied. “Harry’s becoming more difficult as he gets older. There are more funny things happening than I ever remember with Lily. And Vernon’s scared of it! He tries to stop it by force, and punishments. It’s not his fault – we were given no choices or help in dealing with things and he’s just trying to protect his family.”
“I think you and I both know that’s not entirely true Petunia, but why didn’t you ask for help?”
“I don’t exactly have an owl,” she snapped.
“You could have spoken to Mrs Figg.”
“Mrs… you mean she’s a witch!”
“A squib…. never mind. Albus Dumbledore has some explaining to do.”
“First things first,” Severus continued. “I shall need to speak with Mr Potter alone for a few minutes, please. Maybe we could use his bedroom?”
**
Harry led the way to the cupboard under the stairs, and began to pull open the door before Petunia hurriedly told him to take Mr Snape up to Dudley’s second bedroom.
“Now, please explain to me what happened with your uncle earlier.” Snape sat on the bed in what appeared to be a store room, and looked into wide green eyes, as innocent as Lily’s when they’d first met.
“Me and Dudley were fighting because he stamped on my donkey ears for our Nativity play, and I knocked that big vase in the hall off its table. It broke, then mended itself again, and Uncle saw it do it when he came to tell me off. He doesn’t like it when freaky things happen, and he got his Smeltings stick out. It hurts, and I just wished he’d go away. Dunno how he ended up on the wall.” Harry paused to take a breath.
“Go and fetch me your costume ears, Harry.” Freaky things indeed.
Harry raced down to his cupboard and returned with a squashed pair of cardboard donkey ears obviously created from a cereal packet. Snape took out his wand and concentrated. Harry’s eyes grew like saucers as the ears turned into a grey furry headdress complete with a mask.
“How did you do that?”
“Just a little magic, Harry.”
“There’s no such thing!”
“No? Have you never done strange, unexplained things?”
“Well…..I make bad freaky things happen, sometimes.”
“Harry. Magic is real. You are a wizard, just like me. You have magic, just like your mum and dad did. Don’t look so worried,” Snape continued as a look of panic crossed Harry’s face. “We shall teach you how to control it. Now, why don’t you try those ears on.”
As Harry was diverted with trying on his costume, Snape took the opportunity for a light skim of the boy’s mind, and found verification of his suspicions plus a few slightly disturbing images. Dumbledore had better have some answers.
**
Severus returned downstairs, and after Petunia had sent the boys off to bed they moved into the living room.
“A few questions for you, Petunia. The boy is very skinny – I gather one of your husband’s punishments is withholding food. You don’t come off very well here. Don’t people question the size difference between the two boys?”
“I just tell them that Harry takes after my side of the family and Duddykins takes after his father,” Petunia whispered uncomfortably.
“Tuney. You were never skinny till you stopped eating properly after Billy Jones called you a fat cow when you started…. um….developing.”
“Vernon likes me slim.”
“Hmm. That cupboard is not acceptable either, Petunia……. back to bed Mr Potter.” Snape waited till he heard the cupboard door close again. “Well, we’d better sort your husband out, and have some serious discussion.”
Drawing his wand, and extracting a phial of lavender coloured calming draught from his pocket, Snape turned towards the large problem. Unsticking the man from the wall he levitated him over to the sofa, and passed the phial to Petunia. “I think the discussion may go better if you get him to drink this.”
Vernon roared a string of curses when Snape removed the Petrificus Totalis from the upper part of his body.
“Just drink it Vernon,” Petunia ordered. “He could make you anyway.”
**
“So, to summarise. One, there will be no physical violence between members of this household. I have cast a spell to ensure this temporarily. Two, Harry will be sleeping in the small bedroom upstairs by the weekend. I have moved all the junk into the cupboard in the corner. Three, I shall enquire of Dumbledore of any help or counselling that may be available to you. Four, I shall visit on Saturday to take the boy to Diagon Alley to buy some things for the room. He’ll be treated as Lily’s son should be for one day at least. I understand that the rest of you are out with one of your son’s friends on a theatre visit to which Potter is not invited.”
When Petunia and Vernon nodded in agreement, Severus stood up.
“Well, I think we understand each other now. I will send my owl in a day or so with a note of my arrival time for Saturday. He’s rather large and looks intimidating, but feed him some bacon and you’ll have a friend for life. I’ll see myself out.”
Snape paused in the hallway. “Goodnight Harry,” he ventured.
“G’night sir,” came the sleepy reply.
**
Snape strode along Privet Drive on autopilot. Dumbledore will have to make alternative arrangements for Lily’s boy. He’s not safe with that Muggle any longer, and Petunia hasn’t even explained to him about magic. He stepped into the entrance of a hedge-lined footpath he’d noticed on his way down to Number Four, and without his customary caution flicked his wand to return his clothes to robes before Disapparating with a much louder than usual crack.
The quiet streets of Little Whinging were temporarily disturbed as the small gang of teenaged boys who had been approaching Privet Drive looked at each other in confusion, then dropped their possessions, turned tail and ran away screaming. At the same time, the large tabby kneazle out on its nightly prowl of the neighbourhood streaked for home with an ear splitting yowl.
At Number Four Harry Potter slept peacefully with a smile on his face.