Snape and Remus exited the house silently and made the short trek to the Dursley residence without a word exchanged between them.
When they arrived at the house, Remus knocked on the door once. A chair inside scraped backwards and a light set of steps made their way to the door. It flew open faster than either man could expect it and they both came face to face with their old nuisance, who stared back at them looking perplexed.
“What are you doing here?” she sounded almost whiny, like she would in the old days when he and Lily would go camping in the backyard together and she was told she had had to play nice with her younger sister and her friend. Severus brushed past her and into the house while Remus followed silently, both ignoring the squawk of indignation coming from Petunia.
Inside, a muggle television was playing some brightly lit show and the two males of the home were staring at it as though it were revealing the secrets of the universe to them. The patriarch was the first to break his gaze from the moving picture box, and his eyes first landed on Remus with his brow scrunched up in unplaceable familiarity,
Suddenly, as his eyes drifted to Severus himself, his face flushed red and took on a look of anger.
“I know you!” The largest man bellowed, standing abruptly from the dining room, and stomping his way to the two of them with a fist waving comically. Petunia slammed the door shut and went to stand at the foot of the stairs whilst her husband moved forward animatedly. Severus lazily pointed his wand at the man, freezing him mid-step in his approach.
“Where is she, Dursley?” Severus asked warningly. When the muggle scoffed, unperturbed. Severus could feel his temper rising already and Lupin tried to place a pacifying hand on his shoulder, only to have it shrugged off.
“As if I would tell the likes of you,” he jeered as if he had any sort of parity in the situation. Before Lupin could even try to stop him, Severus surged forward, and the large man started moving backwards until his back slammed into the hallway closet. He pointed his wand right under his multi-layered chin.
“Don’t make me ask again,” he hollered. The overfed child, staring from his seat in the dining room, swallowed heavily before his mouth fell open in shock at never having seen his intimidating father look so vulnerable; especially being so at a thin piece of wood being pointed at him.
“School. She went to school,” he lied unconvincingly, his eyes crossing to try and look down at the weapon pointed to this throat.
“We know how weekends work, you oversized whale,” Severus seethed. He pushed the point of his wand into the red-faced man’s throat. The muggle let out a choked wheeze and he tried to further back away from the man as though he were trying to blend into the closet.
The oversized child squawked annoyingly from the dining room and Petunia floated around her husband and the former death eater looking angry and desperate.
She turned fiercely to the other professor, eyes wild and teeth bared menacingly, “Aren’t you going to stop him?”
Lupin gave her a relenting look, “Nothing I say will stop him, Tuney. You know that.”
Petunia’s face turned a fierce scarlet, and she bared her teeth at him. Severus looked back without intimidation, knowing that she was close to screaming at this point. He vaguely wondered if she ever grew out of those tantrums that she used to throw when she was a child. He remembered the particularly large screaming fit she had thrown when she was fifteen, when Mrs. Evans forbade her from going on a date with Charles Rutherford, the local delinquent. He and Lily had been sitting at the dining room table, doing their summer homework when she stormed past them, red-faced and practically feral. She shot them a wild glare that would have been scary had she not had her hair piled on top of her head with a lumpsum of mismatched clips and her face not resembled a Pollock. Lily and Severus were lucky enough to have been able to hold their laughs until after she screeched in fury once again and stomped upstairs. He heard her screaming in her room until he had left to go back home.
As unsurprising that would be, it was amusing to think that she hadn’t grown out of her tantrums and was preparing to start screaming right then and there in front of both her husband and son.
A shy knock from somewhere behind him Severus from considering the possibility of taking deliberate action to provoke her screaming fit, arresting his thoughts as a silence fell over them all. As the two uninvited guests tried to determine where it came from, Petunia paled significantly as the knock repeated itself from the cupboard under the stairs. When Severus gave him a sharp look, Lupin reached a shaking hand towards the small storage area in order to unlock the two locks that kept it firmly shut. Severus stared as the doorknob twisted and the door swung open.
Initially, Severus did not know what he was looking at and slowly all the pieces fell together. She sat up on her arms, looking as if she had just woken up from a fitful sleep. She was bundled up in a throw, resting on a tiny, yellowing mattress. As if the cupboard weren’t small enough, a stack of cleaning supplies occupied the corner of it, leaving her to make do with less than half of the already limited space.
His eyes flitted over the pathetic excuse for a bedroom before landing on the bleary-looking Harriet, honing into her eyes – well eye. One eye because the other was nearly swollen and bruised shut. He continued to trail over her form, taking in injuries that somehow seemed worse than what he had healed only the week before and undoing all of the work he had done to heal her.
“P-Professor Snape?” She regarded the pale man tiredly, unaware of his shock at her current habitation. A tired smile stretched across her face, none the wiser on the state of every adult in the room, “You came.”
She then noticed his position, holding her wheezing uncle to the staircase with his wand and she was suddenly wide awake and alert, “W-What’s going on?”
She clutched her head, rubbing her temple gingerly and Severus feared the possibility of a concussion in addition to whatever caused her that black eye. He looked at Lupin, who had been standing and staring with equal shock at what they were witnessing. Severus’ glare must have snapped him out of his state because he bounded unsteadily towards the child, who whimpered and scrambled back into the cupboard at the sight of his unfamiliarity. Lupin held up his hands in a placating gesture, before reaching one hand in his pocket and pulling out the bar of chocolate. Dursley tried to escape his captivity only to freeze once again when Severus turned back to his, wand sparking harmlessly but with an implied air of intimidation.
“Hello Harriet,” he smiled kindly, holding the candy towards her, “Remus Lupin, I was a friend of your parent’s.”
“You knew my parents too?” she gaped as she started inching outside but Tuney let out a noise of warning and Harriet immediately clammed up and froze in her spot.
Severus noted the Tuney’s bloated son’s leer towards the candy, practically drooling at the sight of it. Lupin seemed solely focussed on failingly comforting the scared child. Severus sent the man at wand-point as well as his wife a furious glare before he dropped his wand and shoved the obese man to the side.
Harriet slowly crawled out upon the sight of Severus’ approach, timidly accepting the chocolate bar from the werewolf. Severus crouched down in front of her, taking her chin into his hand. She held the chocolate helplessly in front of her, relieved green looking into strict black.
“Are you feeling dizzy? Tired?” he asked, intentionally keeping his voice low in the case that she did. Her half of the storage room was filled with small pieces of trash that she decided to display like treasure including a modest collection of broken toys, rocks and other small trinkets that lined the shelves behind her head, all illuminated by a bare, flickering overhead lightbulb. A piece of paper that proudly read Harry’s Room was taped above her head with three coloured-pencils and a pile of construction paper resting on the shelf under the sign.
He absently started pulling out his healing supplies with his unoccupied hand, turning her head from side to side to assess the severity of her black eye. She shook her head for no. Lupin gripped his cane firmly in an attempt to control his anger when the turn of her head revealed more bruises on the back of her neck.
“My head hurts a little,” she mumbled, offering Lupin a shy smile when she noticed his grim stare in her direction. Severus pulled down the collar of her t-shirt slightly, where he was met with an endless mottling of hand-shaped bruises that connected to the path of them on her forearms and the hidden ones he somehow knew she sported on her back. Severus did not think he brought along enough bruising balm for all the injuries she was sporting. She reached up to push away loose hair from her face and Severus caught a set of severe lashes inflicted onto her small hands, almost an exact replica of the ones he had healed only a week ago.
“That’s to be expected from an injury like this,” He allowed himself to run a gentle finger over her bruised eye, pulling away and resting his hand on the lumpy mattress beside her when she winced at the touch, “However, no ringing in the ears? Is your vision blurry?”
She shook her head once again and Severus decided that should she have a concussion; it was mild enough to be dealt with until after her more pressing wounds, fearing infection more than a headache if that was what it really was.
Harriet glanced out towards the huddled Dursley family, hearing the patriarch huffing and as red as a toadstool as he sat on the stairs. Petunia tried to step closer towards the three of them, only to be met with an animalistic flash of eyes on her form from one of her former foes. Lupin was failing at controlling his anger as each new bruise presented itself, transfiguring the staff back into his wand and pointing it at the approaching women, halting her into place.
“Where did those injuries come from?” he demanded scathingly. Petunia narrowed her eyes, pinching her entire face into her signature grimace.
However, her husband was the one that answered, “The bloody whelp manages to get herself into trouble.”
Part of Severus hoped that Lupin had taken his wolfsbane potion that morning, while another part of him considered the possibility to apparating away with the child so that the werewolf could have free reign to desecrate the wretched muggles as he wished. Harriet watched him cautiously becoming distressed when Lupin’s nails started to turn black and grow longer as he started to lose his temper. She started to inch back into the cupboard once again in search of safety.
“Lupin,” he warned him, extremely cautiously, “you’re scaring her.”
The werewolf immediately deflated at the news and his sharp, werewolf nails shrunk back down until he was left with his normal human hands. He turned away from the cowering trio, his face once again relaxed and even sheepish as he made his way back to them.
“I apologize, Harriet. I mean you no harm,” he mentioned, tucking his wand away. Harriet nodded apprehensively at him, before glancing down at the chocolate unsurely. She silently held it back up to him, as though he had given it to her with the expectation that she was to return it. Lupin smiled sadly at the seven-year-old and shook his head, pushing it gently back towards her chest in indication that she could keep it. She clutched it close to a baggy paint splattered shirt, behind a ragged and equally large flannel that she had pulled down to shield her forearms from his scrutiny. She had poked holes into it so that her thumbs could protrude from a seam in the cuffs. She crawled back into her confines to bury the candy away briskly before enthusiastically crawling back to greet the snide man.
“Are you a professor at Hogwarts too, Mr. Lupin?” she asked politely, ignoring his apology as curiosity got the best of her now that he no longer seemed to pose a threat. She also wore a pair of grey jeans that were somehow closer to her size and showing off just how small she truly was. Unable to help himself at her innocent inquiry, he nodded and elaborated.
“Indeed. I teach Defense Against the Dark Arts,” he started, noting her confused reaction with amusement, “You will certainly be in my class one day.”
“Shut up, you freaks!” Vernon yelled, causing both the young girl and her cousin to whinge, though the former in much distress as opposed to indignation like the latter. A nervous Harriet dropped her hand on top of Severus’ from where it rested beside her and Severus begrudgingly allowed it, “Shut up! Don’t speak of that in our house.”
Severus ignored his demand, feeling the lacerations that grazed her palm on the back of his own hand.
“Is that why you hit her, Dursley?” Harriet’s hand gripped his own, indicating that his accusation was accurate, “Did she say something you didn’t want?”
The previously red-faced Dursley turned immediately pale at the accusation, indicating that the two wizards had hit the nail on the head. A quick analysis of his bruised knuckles proved his hypothesis correct.
While Severus did not need any more proof as to what was happening in that house, it was clear as day that there was no alternative explanation anymore if Severus was looking for one. Petunia sat down shakily next to her husband and child, gripping the edge of the table with an impressive ferocity as she turned just as pale as her husband.
“It’s because she wouldn’t let dad throw away that letter she got, that’s why,” the son elaborated ignorantly, snatching a piece of bacon from a nearby plate with grubby hands. He hadn’t stopped flickering between the chocolate bar in Harriet’s hands and the television running away incessantly from inside the dining room, oblivious to the looks that the rest of them were giving him. Petunia burned holes into the ground, unable to make a move to shut her son up. Behind her, Severus found a small pile of clothing that was burrowed neatly in the furthest corner of her bed, on top of which Severus could somewhat make out the parchment paper of the letters he had sent.
“Is that why she is in a cupboard right now?” Lupin asked him, appalled. The boy scoffed and went to grab another waffle from the pile in the centre of the table.
“No, that’s just the freak’s bedroom,” he sneered, far too menacingly than a child should before biting into the slice of bacon, oblivious to the rising tension amongst the adults in the room in favour of filling himself up.
Severus gripped his wand apprehensively with his free hand, turning back to addressing her eye. She refused to look at him, paling in shame at her cousin’s remarks, “I can heal it, but it may hurt a little.”
Harriet nodded slowly, consenting to whatever treatment he was suggesting.
Severus reacted without warning, pointing the wand at her injury before immediately hissing episkey.
She gasped in pain, groaning as the mottled skin healed itself.
“Ouch,” she added belatedly, pressing gentle fingers into the entirely uninjured skin as Severus tucked his wand away easily.
Thinking that that was well and over with, Severus started to fiddle with the cap of the dittany tube with his unoccupied hand though he knew realistically he did not bring nearly enough to treat all of the injuries she was sporting. He did not think half of those injuries would even heal with dittany alone.
To their collective surprise, however, Harriet then started to cry.
Before Severus prepare himself, she leaned forward into his chest and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. She buried her face into him and started to cry harder. Lupin let out a huff that was largely surprised and perhaps even amused as the scene in front of him unfolded. Severus tugged on her once, but her chokehold was so firm that the half-hearted attempt was entirely useless.
“That hurt a lot,” she bawled.
“Get a hold of yourself, Potter,” but despite his harsh command, the potions master’s tone could not have been less authoritative as he dropped the tube and reluctantly wrapped his arms around her as well. As little as he wanted this, even he couldn’t bring himself to shove away an injured, crying child. But she didn’t respond in the slightest, opting to release the occasional sob and grip at his collar instead.
Minding her head, he lifted her out of the closet and stood. He settled her into his hold and allowed her to wail away into his shoulder as he approached Lupin.
Petunia looked oddly neutral at the sight of them, while Vernon refused to look at them entirely. Their son seemed no longer interested in the confrontation and he had entirely returned to his food, eating with a dead look in his eye while staring at the television.
“I won’t leave her here, Severus,” Lupin told him in a low, firm voice and Severus knew that there was no arguing it.
Harriet’s cries had muted down to simple sniffles, but Severus made no move to put her down, deciding it would be easier to just carry her rather than have to yank her away and risk Lupin’s nagging should she start to cry again. Harriet did not seem to mind either, relaxing her arms and absently brushing a finger on his charmed wool coat.
Severus sighed and defeatedly tucked away his healing pouch, much to Lupin’s confusion. Knowing there was no possibility of convincing Lupin to just leave and defeatedly admitting to himself that he would be unable to convince himself of such as well, he just said, “Poppy could treat these better than I could.”
Relief washed over the professor’s face and, to the ire of Severus, Petunia insistently and uninvitedly chimed on, “We are leaving for the cottage today, likely until Tuesday. Take her until then.”
“Were you ever planning on taking her with you?” Severus bit out. Petunia frowned, having the audacity to look offended at the implication.
“Obviously,” Vernon answered on her behalf, “Who knows what that wretched thing would do to our house if we left her here alone.”
“I’m not a thing,” she voiced so softly that it could not have been meant to be heard by anyone except Severus himself, into Severus’ neck before turning to press her forehead into his shoulder again. Severus rubbed his hand down her back only once, hoping it was enough to ensure her that she indeed was not.
Having heard enough, Severus turned to Remus to motion that they leave and the werewolf more than readily flung open the door. From his shoulder, Severus could hear a small noise of discomfort from the cold and Severus just again remembered that she was wearing only the most threadbare of clothing despite the below zero weather.
From behind them, Petunia watched her shiver and let out a noise of consideration. Severus was toying with the possibility of transfiguring his coat into something for her but when he turned, he found Tuney making her way to the closet from where she dug into the back to pull out a decently warm, large sickly green sweater and held it towards Severus without looking at him.
Vernon scoffed and went back to his breakfast, but Petunia ignored him and justified her odd attempt at humanity, “I won’t let her into my house if she is sick.”
It was not a perfect solution; a perfect solution would have been providing her with appropriate winter clothing, but it was a surprising gesture regardless. Severus cast a spell and suddenly, Harriet was sporting the sweater. Subsequently, Petunia wiped her hand on her apron, as though the touch of magic near her was enough to dirty her.
Remus still let out a huff of concern as he immediately whipped out his wand as well.
Impervious he started before also casting a brief warming charm on her. She let out a noise of appreciation and absently buried herself further into the raven-headed man’s hold.
Finally deeming her ready to leave and anxious to get back to the school so he could deposit her from him, Severus jerked his head to silently usher Lupin outside and started to step out. From behind them, the door slammed shut and the noise echoed in the quiet streets before everything went silent once again.
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