It was a dark, foggy morning which Severus thought was very fitting for the day. At least Harry made the morning easy. As soon as he had woken his son, Harry dressed, took his inhaler and nutrition potion with no persuasion, and nibbled at his toast and jam before they had to leave for court. As soon as they arrived, Addie pulled Harry into the side room to finish his homework and work on other crafts. Severus was grateful for the drama free morning as he was able to catch with Wallace before the trial began once more.

               Petunia was the last to take the stand. And Severus knew she’d try to make herself sound like a victim. Her answers to all of Dolion’s questions were innocent and disgusting, at least, in Severus’s mind.

               “So, you never taught Mr. Potter to climb up a chimney to clean it?” Dolion asked.

               “No,” Petunia answered honestly. “I would never do that to a child. As I said, I tried to keep Harry as comfortable as I could, but it truly was challenging. He was so traumatized by what happened with his parents, comforting him was very hard. I was only trying to distract him from his pain by having him help me around the house. He loved it. I thought it was helping him as his mood was improving.”

               “I see. And just to clarify to the court, why did you not report your nephew missing when he left the house and Severus claimed to have found him wandering the street?”

               “He’s left the house before,” Petunia said. “A couple times, actually, and I’d always panic but right before I’d call the police, a neighbor would call and say Harry was at their house hanging with a friend. He always came back in the morning, and I figured it was good for him to socialize so when he turned up missing again, I assumed he had taken off to a friends’ again. Foolish of me, I know.”

               “Thank you, Mrs. Dursley,” Dolion said. “No further questions.”

               Petunia nodded with a smile as Dolion returned to his seat, then she flashed her smile to Wallace expectantly. Severus narrowed his eyes at her, but Wallace was hardly fazed as he stood up intently, smiling back at Petunia.

               “Good morning, Mrs. Dursley,” Wallace greeted. “So, it sounds to me like you really did your best to care for Harry even after all his traumas.”

               “I did. It wasn’t easy.”

               “No, I can’t imagine it was.” Wallace moved around the table and walked toward Petunia with slow purposeful steps. “So, you tried distracting Harry’s pain by making him help you around the house?”

               “He liked to keep busy.”

               “By making breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Cleaning the bathrooms and the kitchen? Chimney sweeping?”

               “He wasn’t a chimney sweep,” Petunia denied. “He’s never climbed up a chimney. He only helps clean the fireplace.”

               “I can’t imagine a way a young boy would be covered head to toe in soot in the way Harry was by helping to clean the fireplace.”

               “Then you must not know many young boys,” Petunia said with a smug look.

               “Perhaps not,” Wallace agreed. “The only time my boys are covered head to toe is after playing football in the rain, and that’s with mud, not soot. There’s a lot of falling and slipping and rolling around that’s required till they get to that point though. So, how is Harry helping you clean the fireplace?”

               “He helps brush out the soot,” Petunia said. “He may play a little with it despite my saying no. Grabs fistfuls and throws them around the air. It covers him.”

               “To the point he looks like this?” Wallace asked, holding up the picture of Harry covered in soot.

               “He has never looked like that,” Petunia said. “That picture is clearly staged.”

               “What about Harry’s knowledge of a chimney’s structure? When Harry talked to the police, he gave very detailed descriptions about how he cleaned the chimney. How he had to pull himself up to a shelf on the inside, which was narrow and challenging to get around and on top of, but once he got in there, he was small enough to shimmy up the flue. He also had to dust off the shelf as well after he scrubbed the walls of the flue clean, which means he had to get back down the chimney then crawl up it all over again. That’s a lot of accurate information for a little boy to know.”

               “He was probably coached to say those words.”

               “Let’s move on,” Wallace said, pocketing the picture. “Harry stated that in order to stay small enough to fit up the chimney, you fed him small meals. Very small meals, as we heard earlier in this process, usually a breakfast consisting of a bite of eggs, a tomato, and a glass of milk. No lunch, and maybe a few bites of dinner now and then. Is that what you also fed your other kid, Dudley.”

               Petunia made an annoyed face at Wallace before saying, “Harry was a picky child. That’s all I could usually get him to eat.”

               “You mean to tell me that a busy, hard-working and growing, might I add, young boy would only eat a few bites for breakfast and dinner and forgo lunch?”

               “Yes. As I said, he was a picky child.”
               “I see. And when you kept Harry busy, he also assisted making breakfast and dinner, which is a useful skill to learn so young, did Dudley ever help?”

               “Objection,” Dolion called.

               “Stay on topic, Mr. Wallace,” Judge Meyer said.
               “I’m making a point,” Wallace said. “What about the ten-minute bath rule? Did Dudley have that rule as well.”  

               “Harry had a tendency to stay in the bathtub too long,” Petunia said as she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “He needed that timer to help him get clean in a timely fashion.”

               “I see, I see. And when he didn’t finish in a timely fashion, you—what? Locked him in his cupboard as punishment? Did Dudley get those kinds of punishments, too?”

               “No, I would never . . .” Petunia glared off to one side briefly before shaking her head and saying, “I never locked anyone in a cupboard, especially Dudley.”

               “Especially Dudley? But not Harry?” Wallace frowned in mock confusion as he paused in front of the jurors.

               “I mean both of them.”

               “So, you treat the boys in your care fairly? Give them the same number of presents, which is none. You let them skip school whenever they feel like it, especially if they are doing chores around the house.”

               “Objection,” Dolion tried to interject but Wallace spoke over him.

               “You ignore medication when it’s needed for the boys and let them play around in dangerous soot. Is this how you treat Harry and Dudley?”

               “Stop talking about my son like that,” Petunia growled, her left eye twitching slightly.

               “Your son? What about Harry?”

               “I just mean . . .” Petunia bit her lip before sighing. “Dudley isn’t Harry. They’ve had different experiences.”

               “Different experiences that you supplied them. Did Dudley ever want to help clean the chimney?”

               “And have him inhaling it?”

               “Well,” Wallace huffed. “Harry helped you, didn’t he?”

               “Objection!” Dolion tried again. “Badgering the witness.”

               “It certainly didn’t bother you that Harry inhaled the soot, aggravating his asthma.” Wallace continued despite the Judge’s final warning to move on and either ask a question or make his point.

               “Harry was a freak!” Petunia snapped.

               There were gasps all around the court while Wallace frowned at Petunia, crossing his arms as he paused in front of the witness stand.

               “You people,” Petunia snarled at everyone in the room, “have no clue—no idea—what these people are.” Petunia glared at Severus. “You have no understanding of the freakishness I had to put up with and the danger it put my whole family in. There’s a whole world of it kept in the dark from all of you, and if you knew, if you’d seen it, I bet that you would have done the same!”

               Unbeknownst to the people in the court, including Petunia and Severus, Harry slipped through the doors of the courtroom as silently as he could, clinging to a coloring sheet. Everyone was captivated by Petunia’s words, and he tiptoed down the aisle and through the swinging door at the end where he slithered up to Severus, putting the coloring sheet down in front of his father proudly, starting Severus.

               “Look what I did, Daddy,” Harry said. He smiled proudly at his t-rex that he had finished coloring from yesterday.

               “What are you doing in here?” Severus asked. “Where’s Addie?”

               “She had to go to the loo,” Harry explained. He tapped his colored picture again. “Do you like it? I bet t-rex would have been . . .”

               Harry trailed off as he heard what Petunia was saying.

               “Harrys parents,” she said, “were freaks just like him, and it got the two of them killed. I wasn’t risking anything happening to my family, so yeah, I kept that boy busy. Kept him in his place and made sure he knew he was nothing.”

               “Harry,” Severus whispered harshly as he reached for Harry to pick him up, but Harry jerked away from him, walking around the table.

               Wallace saw the movement out of the corner of his eyes, and he gave Petunia a hard look as he asked, “You never loved him, did you?”

               “Objection!” Dolion shouted. “Your honor—”

               “No,” Petunia affirmed. “How could I?”

               Harry gasped and jerked back as if pulled by an unseen force.

               “How could anyone?” Petunia continued.

               “That is enough!” Judge Meyer demanded.

               “Aunt Petunia,” Harry cried, running toward the witness stand. “I’m sorry, I can fix it.”

               Severus grabbed Harry before he could reach the stand, lifting him as he began screaming and kicking.  

               “I can fix it, Aunt Petunia!” Harry cried, struggling in Severus’s grasp. “I’m sorry! I can make it better. Tell me what I did wrong. What did I do wrong? No!” Harry tried kicking harder against Severus as he was carried further away from the witness stand.

               “Remove the jurors,” Judge Meyer said. “Lawyers, my chambers now.”

               “Aunt Petunia, I’m sorry!” Harry continued to cry, tears streaming down his red face. “What did I do wrong? Tell me. I’ll fix it, I promise! I’m a good boy. Let me go. Aunt Petunia! What did I do wrong?”

               Petunia never looked at Harry once. She allowed an officer to cuff her as she was led out of the room, keeping her hair in her face to obscure herself from any eyes.

               Severus managed to get Harry out of the courtroom and into the small side room Harry had been coloring in. Addie returned with an apologetic face as he stepped in and set Harry down, then had to kneel and catch Harry before he collapsed to the ground. Harry cried harder as he buried his face into his hands, his glasses threatening to fall off. Severus removed them, handing them to Addie before he wrapped his arms tightly around Harry.

               “I’m sorry,” Addie said, “I stepped out for a minute . . .”

               “It’s okay,” Severus said, though he wasn’t really sure who he was directing it to. He squeezed his son as Harry sobbed harder into his shoulder. He scooped Harry up and stood, swaying with his body as he shushed Harry.

               “I’m sorry, Harry,” Severus said softly. He kissed Harry’s temple, then rubbed Harry’s back as he began to cough and wheeze slightly.

               “What did I do wrong?” Harry murmured into Severus’s shoulder.

               “You didn’t do a thing wrong, honey. Not a thing.”

               “She doesn’t love me.”

               “I know. I’m so sorry.”

               It was several minutes before Harry’s sobs turned to sniffles. Severus continued pacing the room slowly, rocking Harry and shushing him as he did. Addie offered a hot chocolate to Harry, who finally pulled away from Severus enough to take a few sips. It was a few more minutes when Harry settled enough that he only rested his head on Severus’s shoulder, blinking blearily. At last, Harry’s eyes closed, and he fell asleep.

               It was then that Wallace knocked softly on the door before entering. He gave Severus an apologetic look. His face saddened at the sight of Harry’s tear-streaked face.  

               “I’m sorry, Severus,” Wallace said. “I got caught up in getting the truth out of Petunia and . . .”

               He shook his head, knowing there were no words for his behavior and the cost it did to Harry’s emotional health.

               Severus didn’t say anything. He focused on rocking Harry in hopes it would help his son have good dreams.

               “Judge Meyer is disappointed in the disorderly behavior,” Wallace continued, “but he will not call a mistrial due to the sensitivity of the case. And thankfully, it’s time for closings and then the jury begins deliberating. That could take hours. Days if they wanted it to. I’ll keep you posted.”             

               Wallace took his leave while Severus sighed, glad this whole ordeal was almost over.

               Severus stayed in the small room with Harry napping against him. He chatted with Addie about what was talked about during Petunia’s questioning and Addie was surprised by Wallace’s emotional technique. Severus wouldn’t have minded it so much had Harry not been a surprise eavesdropper. Although, somewhere deep in the back of his mind, he was glad Harry knew the truth. Now, his son could really begin healing. Still, it hurt to see Harry fall apart as everything he knew about his world crumbled around him.

               Closing arguments took all of thirty minutes, yet two hours had passed since the jury deliberations began. It unnerved Severus that it was taking so long, as he was sure it was an obvious loss for Petunia. Had he missed something the jurors had seen? He felt unease settle on his chest, and the weight was uncomfortable. He shifted Harry against him, but it did not help lift the crushing pressure, so he tried occluding. With no thoughts, he focused on Harry’s breathing against him, his son’s hair ticking under his chin, and the rhythmic fall and rise of Harry’s chest. He became fully enveloped in this moment and nothing else in the world outside of this moment mattered.

               Another three hours passed; Addie went home; and Harry was awake against him as Severus read a third storybook to him. Finally, there was a knock at the door once more.

               Wallace slowly entered, smiling softly at Harry.  

               “We won,” he said.

               The drive home was bittersweet. Petunia was found guilty on all counts of child neglect, abuse, endangerment, and abandonment. She would be spending twenty-five years in prison, plenty of time to rethink her life choices while Harry healed and grew up in the way he should have been cared for all along.

               The healing would be slow, Severus knew that, but he did not like how quiet Harry had been all day. After waking from his nap earlier that day, tears threatened to fall down Harry’s face almost immediately, and Severus quickly distracted him with a few books. Now, Harry was just quiet, sitting in his car seat snuggling Spikes as he stared out the window, watching the world blur by.

               “We’re picking up Iris before we head home,” Severus said, trying to spark conversation. “I’m sure you’ll be happy to see her again. I know I’ve missed her.”

               Harry stared in Severus’s direction but said nothing.

               “Are you hungry? I can stop somewhere if you’d like. Do you want fish and chips? Hamburger?”

               Severus didn’t care much for the fast-food chains, but he was willing to spoil Harry a little if it’d perk him up a bit. Harry shook his head, however, and Severus licked his lips as he thought of something else.  

               “Okay. How about some music?” Severus fiddled with the radio, trying to find a station that played decent music that might appeal Harry. He became frustrated when he started getting more and more static, then turned the radio off in exasperation. “Or not. Are you okay, Harry?”

               “I’m okay,” Harry said. “I want to go home.”

               “I know, and we will. We just have to stop by Tori’s house first, then we’ll head home.”

               Harry returned to staring out the window, leaving Severus to his own depressing thoughts on the whole situation.

               It was a long forty-minute drive until they arrived at Tori’s Georgian style house. Severus pulled up the long driveway, parking a few feet from the entrance. He looked back at Harry.

               “Do you want to come in and say hi to everyone?”

               Harry shook his head.

               Severus sighed, but he left the car running as he stepped out and headed inside the house. A few minutes passed before Joshua ran out the front door with a smile on his face, Enid the spaniel running at his feet. Joshua climbed in on the other side of the car, hopping over Iris’s car seat and seating in the middle seat.

               “Congratulations, Harry,” Joshua said. “Severus said you won.”

               Joshua held his hand up for Harry to high five, but Harry only stared at Joshua. Joshua lowered his hand and frowned.

               “Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

               “I don’t know,” Harry replied honestly, his lower lip trembling.

               “You’re okay,” Joshua said with confidence. “Everything’s going to be a hundred times better now. You’ll see. You have Severus now. He’d never leave you or do anything your aunt did to you.”

               Harry thought back to Petunia’s scorching words.

               “Promise?” Harry asked.

               “I pinky promise,” Joshua said, holding out his pinky. Harry locked his pinky with Joshua’s. “The truest and strongest of all promises. At least, that’s what Dad says.”

               Harry smiled at Joshua.

               “I’ll see you at my birthday party, okay? You’re coming right?”

               Harry nodded, even though he wasn’t entirely sure. He wanted to go, but was Severus going to take him? Would he be allowed to go?

               Joshua smiled before hopping out of the car as Iris and Severus walked out of the house, Tori following with Esther on her hip. Harry watched as Severus and Tori whispered to each other softly while Iris jumped in her car seat, enthusiastically greeting Harry who smiled at her before looking back at Severus and Tori. Tori flashed a sympathetic smile at Harry and gave a small wave. Harry didn’t react.

               Severus wished everyone goodnight, smiling at Esther as he signed “goodnight” to her, while Esther shyly hid her face against her mother’s shoulder, signing “night, night,” back to Severus.

               The drive home was a lot quicker than the drive to Tori’s from the courthouse. It only took twenty minutes before Severus helped his sleepy children out of their car seats. Harry retreated to his bedroom to dress and change while Severus assisted Iris with her bag and suitcase. He dressed for bed, brushed his teeth, then went back into his bedroom and reached for his inhaler.

               He paused, his fingertips brushing the device.

               “That child was taking money away from my poor Dudders. So, I never picked up his prescriptions.”

               Harry felt tears well in his eyes and his throat tighten up on him. For the first time, those words spoke a whole new meaning to him. Aunt Petunia had only wanted to spend money on Dudley, not him Because she didn’t love him.

               “Making a child climb up a chimney is dangerous and illegal,” Severus had once said. “You could have been killed. It’s aggravating your asthma; you could have suffocated.”

               “I don’t have asthma.” Because Aunt Petunia never told me, Harry thought. She tried to kill me. She didn’t love me.  

               Harry couldn’t breathe. He grabbed his inhaler and took in a shaky puff.

He still couldn’t breathe, so he took another puff.

               Then another.

               Then another.

               “What are you doing?” Severus said as he walked into Harry’s room. His eyes widened and he snatched the inhaler away. “How many puffs did you take?”

               Severus reached into the drawer of Harry’s desk and pulled out a folded paper that Severus began unfolding frantically, trying to read the tiny print on the sheet that kept unfolding into a larger sheet. He swore under his breath as he struggled to understand the muggle medication information. He tossed it aside and summoned a vial. Harry watched him as tears escaped his eyes.

               “Here,” Severus said, holding the vial to Harry’s lips.

               Without question, Harry took a long drink of the vial. The revolting taste made his nose scrunch while the smell stung his eyes, bringing out more tears. He pushed the vial away weakly.

               “That should neutralize the medication,” Severus said. He pocketed the vial then sat down on Harry’s bed, pulling Harry up to sit next to him. “What was that about? You know it’s just one puff for right now. What were you thinking?”

               “I don’t know.” Harry’s lower lip trembled. “Aunt Petunia didn’t love me. I did everything she wanted, and it wasn’t enough. Why wasn’t I enough?”

               “Oh, Harry.” Severus pulled Harry into his lap and Harry snuggled into his chest. “I’m so sorry. Petunia . . . she didn’t have any room left in her heart to love you. That’s not your fault and there was nothing you could have done to change that.” Severus kissed the top of Harry’s head before running his fingers through Harry’s messy hair. “But you don’t have to worry about her anymore. You have a family who loves you very much. Trust me, we have plenty of room in our hearts for you.”

               Harry closed his eyes against Severus’s chest.