Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Vulpes	By : Relevant_Peach Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 8819 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters described here. I make no money from this work.

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Severus stood and prepared to flood to the Leaky Cauldron, where they would be able to apparate to Surrey. Before he’d taken a step, he felt a soft touch around his ankle. The fox, forgotten to this point, was standing in front of him, regarding him sharply, one paw touching his shin. “You can’t come” he said. The fox huffed.

“Minerva, perhaps you could keep Severus’ familiar company while we’re gone?”

Minerva smiled at the creature, and Severus continued to the Floo.

The squat, unattractive home in Surrey looked exactly like all of the others on Privet Drive. Dumbledore’s heart really wasn’t in the transfiguration of his robes into Muggle-appropriate garb. Severus secretly wondered if he delighted in sporting the most garish combinations he could dream up. Severus had transfigured his robes into a pair of severe black trousers and a black button-up shirt, while Dumbledore sported an enormous paisley jumper and a pair of tartan knickerbockers. Severus shuddered. His day was strange enough without seeing Albus’ unadorned shins. He stuffed his wand into its holster as Albus knocked firmly on the door. Quite some time passed before an enormous man opened the door. “What?” He asked impatiently.

“Good evening Mister Dursley. May we come in?”

“Who are you?” The man looked at them sharply before he paled. “You’re from that freak school, aren’t you? Well get off my doorstep, we won’t be dealing with the lot of you anymore”

“Mister Dursley, we have some questions”

“I don’t care what you have. Get out of here before I call the police”

Severus sneered. “You wouldn’t like what I’d do to you before they arrived”.

The man paled, but Dumbledore said “Severus,” mildly. Severus scoffed and pushed the man aside, entering the sitting room. A tall thin woman came in, wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

When she realized who had arrived, she gasped. “Hello Tuney,” Severus said, with an unpleasant smile.

“You’re that dirty freak boy who polluted my little sister’s mind. Get out of my house” she spat.

“Certainly. Once you tell me where your nephew is.”

Her face darkened. “He’s gone.”

“Gone where?”

“As if he’d tell me. He just left one day, without saying a word to any of us. Left all of his freak possessions here.”

Severus took a deep breath. “So, you’re telling me, that your sixteen year-old nephew, the boy who you have been charged to care for, left with no warning, leaving all of his belongings behind?” She nodded. “When?”

“I don’t remember.”

Severus leapt to his feet, wand drawn, before anyone could react. “I’d advise you to think very carefully about your responses, Petunia. Neglect is a very serious charge, even in the Muggle world.”

“You don’t scare me!”

“Oh, you should be very, very frightened” Severus replied in low tones. Petunia paled. “When. Did your nephew. Disappear?”

“About t-three weeks ago” she stammered.

“And you chose not to tell anyone?” Dumbledore’s voice had lost its normally pleasant tone. “Mrs Dursley, you know that your nephew is not safe out in the world. You know the consequences if he is harmed”

“I thought he was with you!”

Dumbledore exchanged a look with Severus, and he pointed his wand at her nose. Petunia squeaked in alarm. “Legimens,” he intoned, looking deeply into her eyes. The visions within her brain were unpleasant: Slamming the door to a tiny cupboard, the pitiful wails of a toddler coming from within. A small boy, cuffed on the ear for burning the breakfast. Petunia’s own voice, calling the child a freak, bemoaning that they’d ever been saddled with such a burden. Petunia battering the boy with a broom handle until he sunk to the floor and huddled in a ball. It went on and on, and by the time Severus reached Petunia’s discovery of a bedroom devoid of occupancy, he felt ill. This went beyond neglect. This was far more than idle resentment of a child not asked for. This was torture. Removing himself from her vile mind with a shudder, Severus looked at Albus. “She’s not lying, although she’s a loathsome creature, and I can’t understand what you were thinking leaving a child here. Potter disappeared three weeks ago, leaving behind all of his belongings.”

“Did he take his wand?”

“I’m uncertain, Headmaster. We should examine his room”

They climbed the stairs to a door that bore several padlocks, and a slot in the bottom. Severus was reminded of a prison cell, where food was shoved through a slit in the door. With a soft “Alohomora”, the door swung open. Severus’ heart sunk further. To call the room depressing was an understatement. A small mattress was in the corner, devoid of sheets, pillows, or any comfort. There were no personal items whatsoever. Severus was unsure whether it was because the boy didn’t own any, or if he’d taken them with him. A tidy pile of worn-looking clothing sat in one corner, and an empty owl cage was in the other. Severus wondered if Harry had taken his owl with him when he’d finally fled this place. If, indeed, he had fled.

Severus spied a loose floorboard, and, recalling his own boyhood, pried the board up from the floor. Inside, was a journal, Harry’s wand, a broken shard of mirror, and a battered looking parchment. He again reached into the cache, feeling a smooth fabric. As he pulled it from the hole, he realized what he was looking at…or rather, wasn’t looking at.

“The boy has an invisibility cloak?” he asked, irritated in spite of himself.

“Not now, Severus. It’s extremely worrisome that he didn’t take his wand with him. Is there anything of note in the journal?”

Severus opened the pages of the journal, and turned to the last entry. It read:

August 5, 1996

I think that I’m getting so close to achieving the transformation. Just think, by this time next week, I might be an animagus, just like my Dad and Siri!

Things have gotten worse around here. I had to send Hedwig to the Burrow yesterday. They haven’t fed me in a week, and I’m concerned that if she doesn’t eat soon, she’ll be too weak to escape. It’s so quiet without her though. Vernon decided I’d missed a patch of grass when I mowed the lawn this morning. I managed to escape having my arm broken, but it was a near thing. I don’t dare tell Ron and Hermione about what’s happening here…they’ll just complicate matters. I figure Dumbledore must have some reason for me to be beaten and starved, right? Surely there’s a point to all this suffering, even if it’s just to more finely hone me as his weapon? I wish that Sirius were still around. I’m likely fooling myself to think that he’d be able to help me, honestly, he was more of a kid than Ron is, but it’s a nice thought. Three more weeks, and I’ll be back home at Hogwarts. I hope I survive it.

This is why I have to figure out the animagus thing. That way, if it gets too bad, I’ll just transform and go hide somewhere. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be faster than Vernon in my animal form.

“Albus” Severus said. “How much did you know?”

“I worried” Albus admitted. “Even a boy as clumsy as Mister Potter seemed suspiciously marked up at the completion of each summer. I asked him repeatedly if he wanted to tell me something, but he never did. He told me that his cousin and he liked to roughhouse. Like a fool, I took him at his word, trusted that if it got to be too much, he’d tell me”

“Did you ever ask him more directly? Did you ever send anyone to inspect his living conditions?” Severus knew that he hadn’t…If Dumbledore had wanted an inspection done, he’d have asked Severus himself.

“No” Albus’ voice was quiet.

“Harry wrote in his journal that you were honing him as a weapon. If that’s the way he saw things, he’d never have complained”. It galled Severus a little to be standing up for James Potter’s son, but abuse was something that hit close to home for him. It was why his snakes knew that they could come to him for protection if things were difficult at home.

“I can’t figure out why he’s a Gryffindor, though” Albus said thoughtfully.

Severus raised an eyebrow at him wryly. “Really?”

“Well, yes, of course Harry’s obvious qualities make him a very believable Gryffindor, but the hat knows that abused children go to Slytherin. It’s a protection measure. The qualities of Slytherin house are such that a child with family troubles will find a family of his own in Slytherin house. It’s the reason why you’re their Head of House. This shouldn’t have happened”. Albus put his hands over his face. His eyes were moist, and he looked haunted. “I’ve failed him, Severus. Over and over, I’ve failed him. And now he’s gone”

“I’m not certain that’s true. What if he managed to find his animagus form?”

“But Severus, how could he possibly have made it to Scotland?”

“I’m sure I don’t know. I’m just saying it’s curious that an extremely precocious fox arrived at Hogwarts not long after this entry was written. Of course I could be wrong, Albus, but you know how I feel about coincidence”

“You might be right at that, Severus. Meanwhile, I don’t think we’ll find any additional answers here. Let’s pack up Harry’s things and return them to the castle. Even if he’s not already there, he’ll never be returning here again”

“Tuney!” Severus said sharply. “Where would we find Harry’s trunk, and his schoolbooks?”

An alarmed squeak from the hallway identified where Harry’s Aunt was. Wordlessly, she pointed downstairs. “C-cupboard” she stammered. Under the stairs, a cupboard, with just as many padlocks on it, sat innocuously. Severus spelled it open, and peered inside. A battered school trunk was there, certainly, but it was the other things inside that gave Severus pause. A small pallet lay on the floor. Like the mattress in Harry’s bedroom, this one was devoid of sheets, pillows or blankets, but looking closer, Severus noted a number of dark stains that could only be blood. Adorning the walls were a series of childish drawings. An enormous man with a hairy face, a crudely drawn motorcycle. A tall figure dressed in black, holding a stick, green lightning bolts extending from the end. This had been Harry’s bedroom for a time, Severus realized.

He levitated the trunk from the cupboard, the nausea from earlier returning in full force. Underpinning the sickness though, was a quiet, deadly force of rage. Severus looked at Petunia, who was cringing against the wall. “You were always a vicious creature, Tuney” Severus said quietly. “but I can’t imagine how twisted you have to be to treat your own flesh and blood this way. Did you enjoy getting revenge on your smarter, prettier sister? Do you feel like you won?”

Her thin face twisted. “Oh yes, my perfect sister, perfect Lily. You always did have a crush on her, not that she ever gave you the time of day. She was as unnatural and wrong as you are, Severus Snape, and I curse the day her freakish son darkened my doorstep. I did my duty. I kept him alive. How dare you judge me?”

“I don’t need to judge you, Tuney. Lily, I’m certain, already has. She’d be so disappointed in you. What have you become?” Severus’ voice was soft. He’d never liked the woman standing in front of him, but he was truly shocked that she could justify her actions so. “Albus, let’s go. There’s no reason to stay”

“There’s just one more thing we need to do” Albus said firmly. The twinkle was absent from his eyes, and he looked at Petunia with distaste. “Mrs Dursley, I warned you that you were to keep Harry from harm. I told you about the blood wards that had been erected to protect him. To find out that you’ve not only ignored your responsibilities, but also that you’ve actively hurt Harry…well, I’m afraid that that the blood wards will reap what you have sown.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Do you recall the letter I left you, when I entrusted Harry to your care? I said that any harm that befell him would be visited upon you as well.”

“But…but”

“No, this is beyond my control, I’m afraid. The moment we leave here with the last of Harry’s things, every ounce of suffering that Harry experienced will be visited upon the one you love the most. I’m afraid that your son is in for quite an unpleasant time. He will feel every injury, every bout of loneliness, every insult. Good luck to you, for I’m afraid that you’ll need it”. Albus turned to Severus. “Shall we?”

As they walked to an apparation point, Severus turned to Albus. “I didn’t realize that blood wards such as you described were possible”

“They aren’t” he said mildly. “But I know a spell, very old magic. I may have wronged Harry by leaving him here, but Petunia’s actions can’t go unpunished either. Let’s go fox hunting, Severus”
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