After being rooted to the spot for a few more moments, he jumped into action. He cast a stasis spell on the potions so they wouldn’t be a danger, then leant down next to the boy.
“Potter? Potter?! Harry?” He couldn’t keep the fear from his tone, if he could get the boy to regain consciousness it would be a good sign, but his anxiety just doubled as there was no reaction.
He carefully levitated Harry out of the potions labs, making sure not to dislodge any of the glass. He made it to the boy’s rooms then placed him down on his stomach gently. Tentatively he removed the shirt with a flick of his wand to see the wounds better.
He couldn’t hold back the gasp that escaped his lips when he saw everything.
There were the wounds inflicted by the glass that Potter had just fallen on, now liberally bleeding, but there were others that were much older. Bruising was evident across most of the boy’s back, as were the partially healed cuts and welts. Even more alarming was the thin silvery scars, evidence that this had been going on for a while.
All at once everything clicked into place, the bruising cream, the clothes, the locked trunk, sending the owl away. It was ^^his relatives that had done this, apparently doing it for some time. He cursed himself, for not seeing, he cursed all the adults who had contact with Potter. How had the boy’s so called ‘godfather’ missed this? or Albus? that man knew nearly everything that went on. He felt his blood boil as he thoughts of the cockroaches that had dared lay a hand on a kid in this manor….... He would not let it stand, no matter his animosity towards the kid.
Had it not been for the fact that Potter was now in front of him requiring healing, he might of just paid another trip to Privet Drive. As it was Potter, Harry, came first and he tried to block out his extraneous feelings.
He quickly accio’ed vials of potions including, pain reliever, blood replenishing, strengthening solution, essence of Murtlap, the bruise cream and more. He coaxed the boy into swallowing the pain reliever and the blood replenisher then used his wand to slowly and painstakingly levitate each shard of glass out of the cuts they’d created and discarded them in a bin. He could seal the small cuts up but the larger ones required bandages. After making sure every gash was covered and not prone to start bleeding again be began smearing on the bruise cream. The one he was using now was much stronger than the one he’d originally given Potter, it worked well but couldn’t heal every bruise and some stayed a stubborn greeny yellow colour. He gently turned the boy over and found even more bruises which he quickly set to work at.
Throughout the whole ordeal Potter stayed frighteningly still and he quickly cast a diagnostic specific for concussions, he breathed an audible sigh of relief as it displayed the boy had only developed a minor concussion and would be okay. Only when there was nothing else he could do did he conjure a chair and let himself fall into it, face buried in his hands.
Guilt was gnawing at his every fibre. The way he’d seen those green eyes light up with fear haunted him, how had he ever managed to lose control like that? He had failed so miserably, he didn’t see anything but what he wanted to see in the boy, even when it had stopped making sense. Then he had gone a step further and pushed Potter, resulting in his fall onto the glass, perhaps it was even similar to how his relatives treated him.
So this had been the secret the boy had been hiding, he cursed himself for not confronting it sooner. The fact the boy had been suffering every summer…. it was appalling. Every year they had been sending him back to those despicable people, every year they had failed to notice anything was wrong. He couldn’t believe he had constantly called the boy spoiled, in all the times he’d pictured Potter’s home life it had always been with the boys relatives fawning over him. He briefly wondered if Potter had ever tried to tell anyone, something he would certainly ask the boy when he woke up.
That brought him to his next task, he would not, could not pretend he’d seen nothing. He had no idea how he was now meant to help the boy, but he would try, he had to after all he’d done.
If Lily knew she’d be rolling in her grave, Snape had sworn to protect her son and now….. now he was the one hurting him. He stayed at the boy’s side the entire night.
***
Harry felt the strange detachment that only came from being unconscious, like sinking into a pool of liquid lead. This wasn’t the first this had happened, far from it, he’d wondered exactly what he had done to set his uncle off this badly. Normally accidental magic was enough to push his uncle too far but he didn’t recall using any. In fact he was having trouble recalling anything at all.
There was a small sort of panic at the idea of not remembering anything and he fought hard to work his way back into consciousness. He could tell he was lying down on something, something much softer than his rough mattress. He felt a bit exposed in his current position and tried to bring his knees closer in an effort to make himself smaller. Unfortunately the movement made his back ache terribly.
“Stay still.” The voice was soft and cool. It certainly didn’t belong to any of the Dursley’s.
Carefully he opened his eyes and and the blurry image of a deep blue room met him. Next there were small blobs of shapes, he managed to recognised a door, his trunk and a wardrobe. One of the blobs started moving and he realised that it was a person. He looked at the person intently and noticed they were wearing only black. He was sure he only knew of one person that wore such dark clothes and carried such a distinctive intensity, though how he ended up here Harry had no clue.
“Pr’fess’r?” The word didn’t come out nearly as smooth as he wanted it too and he figured it must have been almost inaudible but the dark blob nodded.
He felt the cool metal of his glasses being put on his face and everything came into much greater focus. Then a rush of memories came flying at him, Snape taking him from the Dursley’s to go on some Order mission, spending time in Snape’s house reading and studying, going to Diagon alley and most importantly the argument with Snape. He couldn’t help the reflexive flinch that came when he saw the potions master mere meters away. Something like sadness flashed in Snape’s expression but it was gone as fast as it came.
“How are you feeling?” His words were tinged with something akin to concern, something he thought he’d never hear from Snape.
He wondered that himself, how was he feeling? well there was a dull ache across most of his back and chest but that was almost imperceptible if he kept still, his head was pounding with a terrible headache but all in all it wasn’t too bad.
“I feel fine.” then came the next question he was scared to ask.
“Sir. What exactly happened?”
Agains Snape’s mask briefly slipped and Harry recognised flashes of guilt.
“We were in the potions lab and we had an… argument. I lost control of myself and pushed you, you fell and hit your head and landed on glass from a broken jar. I have done my best to heal most of the cuts but there are some which will simply need time.
Snape almost seemed to ready himself for the next bit. “I ….. apologise, it was not right of me to lose control like that and it resulted in you being injured.”
it took him some time to digest all of what Snape had said. He did remember that terrible argument but he had no recollection of falling. Most strange was the fact that Snape had just apologised, he didn’t think he’d ever heard the man apologies to anyone before. Then another realisation dawned on him and he felt very sick, he didn’t want to ask but he needed to know….
“When you healed the cuts by the glass did you ……” He couldn’t quite get the words out
“See the rest of your injuries? Yes I did. Would you like to explain how you obtained such injuries?”
Cold dread settled in the pit of his stomach, Snape couldn’t know about that, the thought mortified him.
“I fell down the staircase, sir, I was tired and it was night time and I slipped.” He spoke just a bit too fast and Snape’s gaze stayed at it’s frightening intensity.
The professor’s next words were deep and slow. “Mr Potter, I understand if you do not want to explain everything right now but I must ask that you, do not, lie to me. Can you promise to do so?”
He thought carefully, he was pretty sure he could hide what he wanted without lying and he was not sure how Snape would react if he didn’t agree so he hesitantly nodded.
“Okay Sir, I promise.”
Snape seemed placated and his eyes stopped burning holes in Harry.
“What time is it Sir?” He had no clue how long he’d been out and he was anxious to change the topic.
“I believe it is 6:37am.”
What!? he’d been out most the night then, why was Snape still here? he hadn’t possibly stayed with him that long. Another more pressing concern alerted him.
“We are still leaving today right Sir?” He hoped this hadn’t put a stop to any of the original plans.
“Well that remains to be seen. It depends on your condition, as I stated earlier it is dangerous to go on this undertaking injured.”
“But Sir I’m fine!” He made a valiant show of sitting up completely and moving around without any sign of pain
“Yes, the picture of physical health.” drawled Snape completely unconvinced.
“Well if you are so keen to prove how ‘fine’ you are shall we have breakfast?” Harry nodded and stood up, his back did hurt but it was nothing he couldn’t deal with. When he noticed Snape watching him he gave him a lopsided grin and made his walking as normal as possible.
***
That child will be the death of me, Severus thought to himself as the made their way to the kitchen. He was glad that the intense environment had dissipated somewhat and carefully studied the boy as he ate.
The idiotic Gryffindor was now making a show of good health and he didn’t believe it for a second. Instead he averted his eyes and watched Potter from his peripheral vision. There were a few winces and he moved carefully when he thought Severus wasn’t watching. He was in two minds about going; he was not about to take a 15 year old boy who can’t stand upright properly into a potentially dangerous environment however, this would be the only chance they would have for the next three months. If the Dark Lord found out that stones location in that time…..it would be suicide to go after it.
“Potter, cast a spell.” That certainly got the boy’s attention.
“What? I’m still not allowed to do magic Sir.” Snape fought the urge to roll his eyes,
“Do you honestly think the ministry could track magic here? the wards make you invisible including most magic you do, barring the unforgivables of course.”
“Wait I’ve been allowed to do magic the entire time?!” He felt a small hint of amusement and the edge of his mouth twitched subtly.
“Yes, now would you like to demonstrate by casting a spell?” He was checking to see the strength of Potter’s magic.
“Okay, sure.” The boy was openly smiling now, a small part of Severus was glad that Potter could still be so happy after what happened with his relatives, the larger part of him however found it quite irritating and he matched it with a scowl.
Potter withdraw his wand and pointed it at his cup. “Avolare”
The glass grew a small pair of white feathery wings and began flying towards the kitchen.
Severus raised an eye brow at Potter’s choice of spell but the boy was stupidly grinning at the now manically flying cup and didn’t even notice. Eventually even Potter got sick of the thing and he pointed his wand at it
“Finite Incantatem.” the glass fell and broke into two clean pieces
Well at least the boy could perform minor spells, he still wanted a better example if he was going to risk both their lives on it.
“Thank you for ruining one of my cups, however I’ll need you to cast something a bit more taxing. A Patronus perhaps?” He knew it was a hard ask, most fully fledged wizards struggled to produce a corporal Patronus. Apparently Potter was determined to show him he was in full health because he nodded and closed his eyes presumably focusing on a happy memory.
“Expecto Patronum.” He said it at a normal volume but with quite a bit of force.
Silvery light escaped poured out of Potters wand and formed an impressive Stag. Potter gazed proudly at it and slowly let it dissolve.
“Did I pass your test?”
He had, with flying colours managing to cast a patronus on his first try.
“Yes but that by no means we are going. Your magic is strong but physically I’m still not sure.”
Potter looked slightly frustrated but nodded.
“Sir please, I know whats at stake here and I really don’t think we should risk cause my back hurts a bit.”
“Never the less, the decision is mine. I will make the final call.”
He was going to have to decide soon he realised, everything was mostly packed but he definitely wanted to go during in the day.
For the next hour he continued to think on it, Potter was trying to make it look like he wasn’t waiting by immersing himself in one activity or another but he continually saw the boy glance his way expecting an answer. It was after the roughly 18th time he’d done this, Severus decided.
“We will be going, but, you will not exert yourself at any stage. You will take all potions without complaint and you will notify me immediately if think anything is wrong.”
Potter was grinning and nodded,
“A verbal response please Potter.”
“Yes sir.” Severus eyed the boy critically but Potter truly looked like he’d agreed with all the conditions he’d outlined.
“Have you packed?”
The boy was about to nod before thinking better of it, “Yes.”
“Good, are you ready to leave in 5 minutes?”
“Yep.” Potter was practically buzzing with excitement now,
He abruptly left to grab the bag he planned on taking, making sure to add extra pain relievers, bruise salve and blood replenishers. He also managed to finish off making the polyjuice potion from the night before since he had mostly forgotten about it. Because of this he had really taken 15 minutes to finish and when he walked back into the sitting room he was met with a fidgeting teenager who stood holding his own bag. He was surprised to see Potter wearing the cloak he’d bought yesterday, at least he knew it was being used.
“Ready?” it was more of a statement then a question and Potter barely had the chance to nod before Severus grabbed the boy’s arm and apparated them both away.
***
There was a terrible sensation of being squished and pulled before he was thrown into a hard rocky floor. Pain flared up his back and he bit his lip, hard, to stop from making any noise. Snape stood next to him watching and he was glad he stifled the noise. He carefully stood up and looked around, it seemed they were in a cave, there was light coming from behind them but it was still a bit dim. Snape pulled out his wand and with a silent Lumos, lit up the entire cave.
“Soooo is this the place then?” Now lit by his wand, it was very easy to see Snape’s scowling expression.
“Of course not Potter. Besides it being a mystery where exactly the stone is, the whole place is covered in anti-apparation wards. This is the only spot that’s not completely inaccessible, it would seem this is the entrance.”
The cave was rather bare, small stalactites hung from the roof and the whole thing was made of a dark stone that looked rather hard to break. In front of them were 3 pathways that led into complete darkness.
“Which way do we go then?”
when there was no response Harry nearly laughed,
“You don’t know? I thought you woulda mapped this whole place out before we went.”
Snape seemed irritated at the lack of respect as well as his own lack of knowledge and turned to reprimand the boy.
“Well Potter. Like I said before this whole place is completely unknown. When the wizard who created the stone hid it, he didn’t just leave a map for anyone to find! You will also speak to me with more manners than that, I am still your professor even if we aren’t at Hogwarts.”
Snape finished his mini tirade and was left with question of which way to go. As he knew next to nothing about the place it was a really a one in three chance, the wrong tunnels could possibly lead them to a trap and he had no way of combating that. He was going to keep track of where they went though in case they needed to find their way out again.
“Point me North”
Harry instantly noticed what he was doing but chose not to remark on it. Snape conjured a piece of paper and pencil, he drew a sketch of three different pathways and drew one of them with bolder lines and thicker lines. Harry guessed this was going to be the path they were taking.
His assumption was proved correct as Snape started walking towards the right-most tunnel and he followed obediently.
It was after about half an hour or walking when Harry began to get bored, the cave really didn’t change much from its bare state and Snape had said nothing. Instead he was forced to wallow in his thoughts; so Snape had seen his injuries, he was rather shocked that Snape wasn’t mocking him about it or at the very least hadn’t asked a single question. Well that was fine with him, if Snape didn’t mention he wasn’t about to discuss it, especially when they had much more pressing matters to focus on, like for example this never-ending cavern.
He plucked up a bit of Gryffindor courage and spoke.
“Sir, how long do you think this cave is?”
Snape didn’t even show any reaction and continued walking at his brisk pace.
“I don’t know Potter.”
“Do you think we’re going the right way?”
“I don’t know.”
“How far…”
“Potter! I know next to nothing about this place and do not have an answer to your incessant questions.” Snape cut him off harshly.
Harry took that as sign not to say anything else and continued to follow the light of Snape’s wand. Boredom gripped him again and he began to count the stalactites on the ceiling.
He was up to 236 when he spotted a small movement to his right, he’d fallen slightly behind Snape and there was now not much light lit where he was. He ]became on guard but didn’t stop walking, he felt rather than saw the movement again and looked at the spot he was sure it came from. There was a long black thin snake against the edge of the wall and the it simply met his stare and poked its forked tongue out, he was about to to tell Snape when it moved instantaneously and slithered far away in the direction they’d come.
He figured it didn’t matter much now and increased his pace so he was closer to Snape and the light. He was glad for the warmth his cloak was providing as it was rather damp and cold down here.
More time passed when Harry became brave enough to ask another question,
“Sir, am I allowed to use magic down here?” He knew Snape would at least be able to answer this one and he really did want to know.
“I think that would be a good idea Mr Potter, we have no idea what we’ll find down here and it would be wise to use every weapon available to us. I doubt that the ministry will be able to sense any magic you may do down here as this place is so concealed and hidden.”
He smiled brightly at the answer, Snape hadn’t even made a disparaging comment and he was allowed to use magic. He took out his own wand and muttered a Lumos, instantly the tip of the wand brightened and more of the cave was revealed. He waited for Snape to say something but the professor remained silent.
His happiness was short lived as the march into darkness continued, after awhile even counting stalactites was not enough to take his mind off the sheer boredom he felt. Not to mention fatigue; he had no idea how long had passed but he was almost certain that it must of been quite a few hours based on the tiredness into his entire body.
A while later and he was ready to simply rest on the cold stone of the cave floor. He was just about to say something when Snape spoke first.
“We will rest here for the night.”
relief washed through him and he watched as Snape managed to impossibly pull out food and sleeping matts out of a very small bag, he briefly wondered exactly what else was in there.
The professor picked up a twig and enlarged it until the point it resembled a log, he repeated this woth another one and began constructing a fire. He pointed his wand and spoke a clear Incendio, a small red spark jumped from his wand and set the logs and twigs alight. The cave was now basked in warm glow and their long shadows were thrown against the walls. Harry felt the warmth of the fire and gravitated towards it, his feet were particularly cold. Snape held two bowls filled with stew and Harry’s mouth watered at the smell, when Snape handed the bowl to him he began wolfing it down.
Snape still gave no comment and Harry was beginning to feel like something was off about the man. It was disconcerting to say the least that he hadn’t been throwing insults non-stop at Harry like normal and he was almost relived when Snape gave his next comment,
“Potter we may be in a cave but must you insist on eating like a heathen?”
Snarky Snape he could deal with,
“Sorry Sir, but you have to admit it’s good stew.”
Snape rolled his eyes “Yes well, Polly is quite the cook.”
They sat sitting in front of the fire enjoying the reprieve from their aching muscles before Snape’s next question made Harry wish they were back walking in the dark caves.
“Potter, how did you really obtain your injuries?” The professors tone wasn’t nearly as cutting as normal.
“Does it matter sir?” he wished Snape would just let the matter drop
“Yes it most decidedly does.” Snape’s full attention was on him and he wanted nothing more than to fade into the stone beneath him. Instead he tried to muster up as much courage as he could and spoke causually
“I got them at home Sir.” He hoped if he made it sound boring Snape wouldn’t press for more, unfortunately the potion master was to intent on finding out more.
“Why were you in a cupboard when I arrived?”
Harry gritted his teeth and refuse to speak he’d be damned if he ever told Snape about that god-forsaken cupboard.
“The marks on your back, who made them?”
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter!”
Snapes face grew dark at his outburst but surprisingly faded back into it’s stoic mask quickly.
“Potter you will have to give me answers at one point or another, I will be able to get them out of you. After all I did pack Veritaserum.”
He paled at the threat and truly hoped Snape wouldn’t follow through, he could only imagine what he’d say if he took the truth-inducing serum.
“Why the hell do you care, it doesn’t make a difference one way or another.”
“Potter, I am your professor and it is my duty to be aware of such things. Who gave you those injuries?”
his next answer was so muffled it didn’t even make sense to his own ears.
“A little louder please.”
“My bloody uncle alright?”
Snape looked somber but not surprised, Harry had enough of this interrogation.
“Sir, may I retire for bed.” His tone was a bit clipped but he didn’t care he couldn’t even met Snape’s eye.
“Yes you may.”
glad for the dismissal he quickly turned away and and unrolled his sleeping mat, he unclipped his cloak and draped it over himself as a blanket. He was asleep within minutes.
***
Serverus didn’t move from his spot by the fire as the boy’s breathing steadied and he lapsed into sleep. He was a little put off by having his suspicions confirmed. He still had so many questions that needed answers, was this a regular occurrence? did they do worse? what had Potter done to earn such a punishment? not that it was ever justifiable. He felt a little bad about threatening Potter with Veritaserum but the boy needed encouragement to speak and he wasn’t exactly the soft and gentle enough to coax it out of him.
Their trek through the caves had proved immensely frustrating. He had no idea if they were even remotely close to nearing the stones location or heading towards some deadly trap. He hated the fact they had basically no choice but to continue forwards and he was a little worried about how long they would be here; they couldn’t last forever; eventually they would run of food and water or they’d go mad at being stuck in theses caves. He tried to put his worries to rest, they’d only been walking one day, they had enough provisions to last for a while.
His gaze landed back on the boy soundly asleep and he felt a very uncharacteristic emotion, the teenager already had the weight of the wizarding world on his shoulders, now to find out how he’d been raised….. He may dislike Harry Potter but those muggles would be brought to justice, he was after all a death eater, there were some benefits.
It's Me. I Am the April Fool