Ask by DesertPlanet

Harry Potter had been cleared to return to Hogwarts.

The potions list the healers had given Poppy was long with differing doses and timing to be taken throughout the day. It would be an arduous task to keep some of them stocked if the boy was requiring some of the ‘as needed’ doses on a regular basis. But it was a task Severus was willing and happy to complete.

He had always prided himself on keeping the students in his house healthy and safe no matter what the outside world threw at them, and Po- Harry was no exception. The boy had been through hell for years and was now getting a life back.

The Dursley’s had been arrested as planned and the fall-out had been massive. The muggle news had been all over the case for weeks. Then the wizarding world got a hold of them. The young Dursley boy had been removed from his parent’s care by the muggles and did not have to stand trial, though word was he had already been placed in a group home after failing foster placement several times in a month due to his violent outbursts. Harry’s aunt and uncle, on the other hand, had to stand trial.

It had been no surprise when they received a life sentence in Azkaban. It was even less surprising when both Dursley’s were found dead in their cells within a week of being there. The bite wounds on the uncle’s neck which appeared to be made by a dog were shocking, but no one really cared what happened to the man.

As the trial of the Dursley’s in the magical world commenced, Dumbledore’s power and control over the school began to be called into question. If he had been so complacent to this child’s problems, were there others similar he had neglected to assist? While all evidence of his hand in placing Harry with his relatives was deemed circumstantial, the Wizengamot and the Board of Directors made the decision that it would be in the best interests of the students of Hogwarts to force the man into retirement.

Albus had gone willingly and taken the stone he had chosen to hide in the school with him. Why the man had decided to booby trap an entire wing of the school rather than properly deal with an artifact as important as the Philosopher’s Stone, he would never know. The presence of these traps was just the nail in the coffin for Albus’s tenure as headmaster.

Shortly after Albus left with the stone and Minerva took up the role of Headmistress, the body of Quirinus Quirrell was found in his office with the back half of his head missing. It was a grisly sight to behold for those who saw it. This, however, left a glaring gap in the teaching roster. Minerva struggled for several months to fill the spot, but eventually found a replacement in Remus Lupin. She had initially tried to get Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement so she could give the position to Severus, but without the promise of a famous student for his “collection” he had refused.

Severus had begrudgingly admitted that Lupin was a competent teacher, particularly in terms of teaching about the magical creatures of the wizarding world. Having him on staff was a great relief to all of the other professors as well as they had been having to divide up their time to help Minerva with the Transfiguration classes and filling in the gap left by Quirrell’s death.

It had taken several months to iron out many of these details, but by winter holidays staffing issues were rarely a problem and everyone was breathing a sigh of relief.

Having Mr. Potter back in the school felt as though the final piece of a puzzle had been found and put into its rightful place. While he was not “whole,” “fixed,” or “perfect” by any stretch of the imagination, he was back.

The Slytherin first year dorm had felt oddly out of sorts with one bed perpetually empty. Severus had debated removing the bed to give the other boys more room, but felt it was more important for them to remember their missing housemate. And remember they did.

It had started as small things: leaving an extra space for him at the dinner table, making sure there was an extra stool available in Potions class (though they often kept it in the corner so to not draw attention to it), and always leaving a spot in their ranks for an extra person. Somewhere along the lines, a few of the boys started writing letters to the boy. Severus would proofread each before it was sent to make sure they were benign in nature and had found himself surprised with the short letters of encouragement the boys would wish to send.

It had taken almost until Christmas break for Harry to respond with a simple “thank you,” but it spurred the boys on to continue to write to him. Eventually they started getting more complex letters back, which were shared amongst the boys. Any letter Severus received brought an air of excitement to the Slytherin table as it was likely from their hospitalized classmate.

The news Harry Potter was coming back had all of the boys scrambling to clean the dorm room. Some of the boys (namely Malfoy) had no clue how to clean, but were putting in a valiant effort to at least make their things look more organized.

Severus only hoped this enthusiasm would continue when the boy finally arrived.

Snow lay in thick blankets on the grounds, making it difficult for any student to walk around on the grounds. The chill made its way into the castle as well, leading many a student to be found huddling around the many fireplaces and furnaces throughout the school.

Despite the freezing temperatures, Severus found himself waiting patiently on the front stairs of the castle watching as the thestral drawn carriage made its way up the winding path from Hogsmeade, a large school trunk strapped to the back.

Severus nodded to the driver as the carriage pulled to a stop. The driver dismounted the carriage and opened the door to assist the occupants of the carriage out. Once the youngest of the trio had disembarked, the driver flicked his wand and sent the trunk into the castle where the house elves would take it to its proper room.

Severus looked at the young boy standing before him. In another life, he would have felt angry just at the sight of the child. The dark hair, round rim glasses, and ski slope nose looked exactly like the boy’s father’s. However, the eyes stood out starkly against the boy's pale skin, giving him an almost elvan appearance.

Slowly, the boy alighted the stairs, taking each step one at a time. One of the women with him held his arm to help steady him as he walked while the other carried a pair of crutches in one hand and steadied his other side with her free hand. There was a steady click as the boy walked from the metal brace steadying his left ankle.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, the woman carrying the crutches handed them back to the boy, who nodded his head in thanks.

Severus felt himself smile. His heart had always been hardened from years of torture and abuse of his own, some of which by his own hand, but he could always feel it warm slightly watching his most at risk students come back in better shape than they left. And Potter was no exception.

“Welcome back, Mr. Potter.”

Harry looked him in the eyes and smiled slightly.

The mediwitch and her assistant helped the boy to the door before giving him a brief hug and assuring him they would keep in touch. They then turned to Severus and said much the same thing, but as more of a threat. When they finally left, Severus turned and flicked his wand to open the massive doors to the great hall and ushered Harry inside.

The walk down to the dungeons was a quiet affair punctuated only by the sound of Harry’s crutches and braced leg. Severus was pleasantly surprised at how well the boy was managing the stairs and other various obstacles Hogwarts provided.

On arriving at the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room, Harry stopped.

“Sir?” He asked quietly. “Why did you do it?”

Severus stopped. There were many things in his life that question could be applied to.

“What do you mean?”

“Help me. Why did you help me?”

Severus stood for a moment longer as he processed the question. Duty. Righteousness. Honor. All of those words came to mind, but they did not represent why Harry Potter had been taken to St. Mungo’s or why he would now never be going back to their house.

“Help will always be given at Hogwarts, Harry, to those who ask for it. You made your way here, to safety, from horrors many will find unimaginable. You used all of your cunning and skill to get here. You needed and deserved any and all the help you could get.”

Harry stood there in shock, tears in his eyes. The mind healers told him he was deserving of assistance, but he had honestly thought they were lying to him so he would take his potions. To hear it from someone else's mouth was a shock. A good shock.

“Thank you sir,” Harry nearly whispered.

“Come,” Severus said, walking over to the entrance and giving the password. “You have friends to meet, books to read, and games to play.”

Harry smiled as he limped forward. He would finally get to meet his friends properly and not through letters. Physically, he was not perfect. Mentally even less so. But he was here, and he was alive, and he could tell his tale. And he felt safe to do so.

And in the end, that was all that truly mattered.