Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear	By : Japhia Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 12300 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I make money from this fiction. JK Rowling owns it all and I love her for it.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
"SILENCE! Be silent or I will clear this court." The head Witch of the Wizengamot beat her gavel into the desk, effectively silencing the room. "Vernon Dursley, you are hereby sentenced to life in Azkaban prison-"

"No..."

"-with no further trial and the kiss." Her wooden gavel came down once more and she stood.

"NO! VERNON!!" Petunia screeched from her seat. She was bound with partial body bind so she could understand and speak, but not move from her spot. The woman had been sentenced as well to 10 years in Azakaban for aiding her husband in the vile crimes committed against an underage magical child.

In all her years Griselda Marchbanks had never seen such a horrific crime. As she left the stand to enter her chamber she could hear the screams of the muggle's wife. She would not abate the woman's sorrow at the loss of her husband, nor would she attempt to calm her. Petunia Dursley, though not the ring leader of this family, had assisted her late husband by doing absolutely nothing, while knowing full and well what had gone on. Harry Potter had saved the Wizarding World at the young age of 14. He had lost his mother and father, classmates, and the only father figure he'd had to that point, only to come home to this wretched group. What she would give to hear Albus's thoughts, to know if he was aware of this abuse.

The office door clicked shut and she sighed. When Minister Fudge had been sacked and the new Minister Rufus Scrimgeour had wanted to put more work into the inner workings of the ministry, Griselda, an elder of the Wizengamot had been made to step up once more and be head witch. She thought herself a fair judge of both fact and character. The silver pensive along the wall practically glowed with the violent memory pulled from the mind of Mr.Dursely. With a need to see this memory one more time, she dipped her face in and her heart clenched before the scene had even begun.

Vernon and Petunia were gathering clothes into two large suit cases. Vernon rushed his own and his wife was careful to keep her flowered dresses pristine. Once done, the man nearly waddled down the hall, Griselda following him and wishing so that there was something she could do to stop him, but knowing fully well that this was nothing more then a memory, albeit horrific. She turned her back to the scene, not wanting to see it again. Instead she watched in the reflection of a window pane as the small boy was awoken from his sleep by being thrown against the corner of his desk. The dead owl looked as if it had starved to death and the sudden splattering of blood on it's white feathers tore her back to where she was. Harry screamed and cried, begging for things to stop, offering anything for his uncle to unfist his hands, to let him be. It earned him another smashing into the desk corner. This abuse lasted for what felt like hours but truly was just 5 minutes, and finally the chosen boy went quiet.

"Bloody waste of space. Should have called the police and had you in a ruddy home for boys." The whole time he spoke he continued his wrath, throwing the limp form around the room, blood splattering on ever surface. At last she turned to see as Vernon threw the boy down for the last time, his eyes closed and his chest barely moving. He kicked the boys foot which covered a loose floorboard. She looked over his shoulder and saw again as the boys wand, a photo album, a few sweets, and two birthday cards were pulled from it. Vernon ripped the photos from the pages, tearing them into pieces, as if they were another extension of the Potter boy, just a part of him he had not touched yet. The wand, with all the magic it possessed, had no advantage , no standing over the other items as it too was broken into splinters on the floor. The lump had a very hard time getting from his one knee to both feet.

The memory skipped forward as she refrained from following him. Upon returning, Harry was met with a rope and pulled from the room, arms ties to his ankles.

A sudden knock brought her back, the menacing memory swirling in the pensive, looking just as deadly as any evidence she had seen in trials previous. From the shelf above, her wrinkled hand took a vial, uncorking the end and dipped it into the liquid.

Another knock came. "Come in." The door gave only the slightest creek, as it swung in, allowing her visitors to enter. "How is he?" She knew by the footsteps and the tell tale drag of a very long robe whom had knocked.

"For the moment he's stable. He's been placed into Saint Mungos and has not woken up just yet." Severus was smooth in his words and he did not ask to take a chair. He simply stood and watched the old woman as she corked away the memory of Harry's abuse. "He has sustained many broken and fractured bones and has been given a very large dose of skele-grow. From scars found on him, I'll wager that this was not the first time, but it was very sure to be the last."

Her blue shoes carried her back to the desk and she waved a hand for him to sit, but he declined. "Arabella Figg gave you little to no information to go off of and you followed your instincts. Severus Snape, if you had not been there, Harry Potter would have made the newest issue of ever obituary on this planet." fingers pressed into her temples and she rubbed them in circles. "What about Sirius Black. He was with you, where is he now?"

"The dog is at his Master's bedside." He sneered but one could see it was no more then an attempt to elevate his own mood.

"You never fail to amuse yourself do you? Even as a student you were insufferable with your rude comments, and disdainful remarks about those that you did not like. Did it ever occur to you, Professor Snape, that acting on the level of one's own bullies, makes you no better then them?"

Snape was well aware of this lesson. This woman had been a professor of muggle studies when he was a 4th year and she had witnessed many of the cruel situations Severus had been involved in. He never started them, but he always acted as though he did once he was involved. Knowing no answer would come, the witch continued. "He will remain in Saint Mungos until such a time as he is better and able to walk and function on his own. At the moment, and I am sure you are aware, young Mr.Potter is still under age and has no blood relatives-"

"Black is his legal God father. He can live with-"

"He cannot. Black may be his legal God Father, but black has no livable residence. The black family home, former meeting place for the Order of the Phoenix was nearly decimated and he has expressed no want to rebuild or move back in." Her words were stressed as though she had repeated this message a thousand times over.

"The wolf's residence is still-"

"Inhabited by werewolves. You are just as aware of the Lupin home as any of us. He provided his home as a place for other werewolves to live before he died. They are legally allowed to remain their as long as they don't pose a threat to anyone."

"The Weasleys. They have 7 ruddy children, living in that house, and the youngest two are both his friends. That woman would be ecstatic to see the boy in her home." Try as he might to keep his cool, Severus could see where this was going and he'd no desire to see it happen.

"If you had 7… nay 9 mouths to feed, would you truly want to make it 10?"

"I don't see the issue."

"Severus. The Wizarding world is coming down from a very dramatic and wide spread event. Families have been destroyed and lives have been lost all for the sake of a man who exemplified hatred for everything he was. Perhaps you recall a muggle who attempted the same thing but took it much farther then Voldemort ever did. Would you honestly ask a family involved in such a tragedy to take on more responsibility?" She turned on him then, angry at his obvious attempt to dodge her decision. "What did you lose?"

He cringed at her words. "I've lost-"

"Nothing. You. Lost. Nothing. Your parents are gone, you have no close nor extended family, and I'm sorry to say, you have no friends. Pardon me, Lucius Malfoy is just fine."

"How dare you."

"Prove me wrong." The old witch stood behind her desk, palms flat on various parchments. "Your home stands unscathed. Your job is not vacant. You were not injured, you lost no one who meant a great deal of significance to you. You may have been the one to kill Albus, but even by your own admission, the man meant as little to you as the dirt on your shoe. If it were not for the memories Albus left behind, you would be in Azkaban with the rest of them." She took a breath. "Your actions both during and after the war have been valiant enough to over look what you did under the service of Voldemort. But you are far from innocent."

"School has already begun. I have classes to teach-"

"Don't give me that. The post you want is occupied and you hate every student that walks into your classroom. If you had it your own way you would run an apocrathy selling your own potions and ingredients. You would allow not a single person to walk through your doors, but rather everything you did would be delivered by owl. I'm sure if you could, you would spell away the doors all together. Mister Potter will need someone more vigilant then the school nurse. I'm sure she is capable, but even she doesn't have the eye to see past fact and read between the lines." She signed a parchment and folded it, sealing it in an envelope and holding her hand out for him to take the item. "There are copies. Don't bother tearing it."

The darkly robed man held back a growl of frustration, snatching the damned thing from her hand and storming back to the door.

"Severus. Take care of him. He could use someone who might even pretend to care." She smiled now as his robe disappeared from her door. A steaming cup of tea sounded so nice right then. "Totty." A little elf popped into the room, a tray in hand with a single cup of tea. "Mint?" The elf simply nodded with a delightful smile on her face. "Lovely. Thank you." The elf popped away and left the witch to relax in her chair, sipping quietly and wishing the world was so different from it's current state.

Sirius could not get the image from his mind. His Godson strung up like a piñata, like a marionette. Upon entering the shed they had found Harry. He had been left upside down, tied by his mid calf on one leg, his thigh and ankle on the other. His arms had been tied painfully behind his back. He bled from the ropes, and was covered in dried blood from he beating he'd been through prior to it. He made to get the boy down but Snape had stopped him. "If you loosen those ropes, he will die… if he isn't already dead." The man came forward and felt the boys neck. His finger traveled from spot to spot, pushing prodding, and stopping to feel until he looked at the other.

"Well? Don't you dare tell me he's gone." He'd been on the edge of a mental break down when Snape assured him otherwise. All he could do was watch as a full body bind was cast and a Levicorpus to float Harry along.

"Are you coming or are you going to stand and gape?"

He ran his hands through his hair as he looked up at the unconscious boy laying on a hospital bed. How could he have let this happen? Were there no signs of abuse? Was this the first time? So many questions ran through his mind as he contemplated what had happened. James would have given this boy the life he deserved. Lilly would have made the best mother ever.

"You know Remus called you his cub? He thought of you as his pup. If he was still alive I bet you could have come live with us. We would have had the best time pranking people and teaching you how to become an animagus." The grin on his face was wide and bright as he imaged what could have been if Voldemort had been stopped earlier.

"She's making me take care of him."

Sirius jumped to his feet, scared shitless by the hooked nose man's sudden interruption. "Holy hell, man. I was talking to my Godson. You could have knocked at least."

"He's not responding to you. He's unconscious."

Sirius turned and flopped down in his chair, legs and arms spread in a most undignified way. "You said she's making you take care of him. The hell does that mean?"

"You have no place to stay, he has no family, the Weasley's home is practically busting with people who want him and for some reason that means I am now in charge of his life and well-being."

They sat there in a comfortable silence, surprising to both considering their past relationship. A few nurses came to check on Harry, one administering another mouth full of Skele-grow, another replacing his blankets, and another simply checking to see that he was in stable condition still. Tea came again from one of the elves and the potions Master was glad to have it, where the new Transfiguration professor turned it down. Severus was nearly asleep when sirius broke the silence once more. "I don't think you watching over him is the best idea." He was slumped in the chair like a child, the arms just under his shoulders.

For different reasons then the shorter man, Severus knew this statement to be true. "I agree."

"I mean you're snarky, you hate children, and you hated James. Your hate of James Potter has fueled your hatred of Harry even before you met him. With the passion you have for hating him, I'd hate to see how you would act if you thought of the fact that he's also half of Lilly." The silence that followed his nonchalant statement was deafening. "Remus told me."

"He had no right to. My relationship with the boy's mother is none of your concern." He sipped his tea a final time before he stood, fixing his robe around his shoulders. Sirius did not utter a word as he knew it was a touchy subject for the man and he didn't really expect him to elaborate anymore. So there was little surprise when the door quickly opened and shut leaving Sirius and Harry alone again.

"I thought he'd never leave… could you imagine Harry? What if Snape had been your father instead of James? I don't think I'd have allowed that to happen. I was so protective of your mother. She was like a sister to me. Did I ever tell you…"

Long into the night Sirius sat and talked. He spoke to the unconscious boy about his parents, about living with werewolves, about being on the run, about his love for Remus Lupin and about his final days. When the nurse came back, Sirius had fallen asleep, a book under one hand, and Harrys hand in his other. When the Gryffindor finally awoke from his comatose state, Sirius would be there for him, come hell or high water, he would be there. He'd never been able to be the person there, but this time would be the first and far from the last.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

ChaosLady - I love a good cliffy and I think it's 90% of the time, a great way to start a fic. I hope this chapter helped!

SinfulMind - :D You know it! I'm hoping this is still an interesting story now.

Talented_Mrs._Lupin - Yes, Ma'am!

BAFan - Poor Hedwig indeed. It's 50/50 for with. You just never know if she's gonna be ok or saved at the last minute.

djaddict - Here you go!

cullenandpotterlover84 - He does, doesn't he. We'll just have to see where it goes.

juju kitty - When I started writing it, I wasn't even sure why I had Sirius still alive. Then I said, "This is my story and Ima make all the cool people still alive!" Then it was a chorus of YEAH's in my mind and I said, well this is gonna be fun. I think I expected their bickering to be much more juvenile, but after living with Remus for a while, Sirius was kind of forced to finish growing up. I hope you enjoyed this 2nd chapter. :3

delia cerrano - XD I wish I had someone next door who was an HP fan. I swear the closest HP fan friend I have is in the next state up. I'm just not down for an 8 hour drive to see her. I'll just wait to Dragoncon 2014 to see her. :<

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear