The Worst Summer

Chapter 2

Snape stepped out of the fire and dusted himself off. He hated using the Floo network, but since he could not Apparate from Hogwarts and he needed to get some information, it was his only choice. He looked up to see Arabella Figg approaching. "Severus, how nice to see you. I wasn't expecting any visitors today. Is anything wrong?"

Severus eyed Mrs. Figg. He really didn't care for the woman and her strange affinity for cats, but she was the closest source of information about the boy. Snape replied in a silky voice, "The headmaster seems to think there may be. Do you have any information?"

Arabella picked up one of her cats, stroking it as she spoke. "Unfortunately, no. I've had Mr. Tibbles keeping an eye out at the Dursleys’, but the boy hasn't left the house since he arrived. I've contacted Petunia several times, with the excuse that I had work for Harry to do, but she always says she has yard work for him to complete, which I know is a lie. I've been at a loss as to what to do, actually."

Severus thanked her for the information, got the directions to #4 Privet Drive, and hastily left the woman's house. As he walked the short way to the Dursleys, he fingered the potions in his robe pockets. The first, a remedy for superficial wounds did not concern the potions master. The other was an antidote for any ingested poison, including those remedies the Muggles tried to use. At the thought of this Severus quickened his pace. Surely the boy had not tried.....no, the headmaster would have told him to Apparate into the boy's room if that were the case. Still, he found himself relieved when he noticed that he had arrived at the home of Vernon and Petunia Dursley. He had little fondness for Muggles, and even less patience, so he stopped a moment to gather his thoughts before knocking on the door.

When the door opened, he was greeted by and tall, thin, horse-faced woman. She looked at him with a look of mingled fear and revulsion. "H-hello. I guess you are here to see Harry? C-come right in."

She opened the door and motioned for Severus to come in, looking around to see if neighbors had noticed before quickly shutting the door. Severus looked around. The house had almost an antiseptic look to it, as if nothing were ever taken out of place. He was brought back to his senses by the rambling of the woman in front of him.

"I-I swear. We've done nothing to harm the boy. He--"

Severus interrupted, "But the boy is hurt."

"Y-yes, I saw cuts on his arms last night."

"I need to see Potter immediately."

Petunia turned to the stairs, motioning for Snape to follow. Once upstairs, she stopped at a door, with a deadbolt on it.

"Have you been locking him in?"

"N-no, of course not."

Snape threw her one of his well known penetrating gazes. The woman was lying. Potter had been locked in his room at some point, although he could not tell how recently. "You will go. Mr. Potter will more than likely be leaving today. If I find out he has been harmed by anyone, those that met you upon Potter's return from school will be informed."

Petunia looked horrified. She nearly tripped in her hurry to run down the stairs.

Snape opened the door and glanced around the room. He was taken back by what he saw. It was a very small room, cluttered with broken Muggle articles. There was a small bed, and a desk with a straight wooden chair. Potter was sitting at the desk looking at what appeared to be a photo album. He had not even moved as Snape entered.

"Potter!"

Harry looked up and glared at the professor, "What are you doing here?"

Snape was doing his best to appear neutral. The boy looked so much like his father. Except for the eyes. He struggled to focus on the eyes. They were Lily's. Of course he was not just James Potter's son. Focusing on the boy's eyes helped Snape to keep his voice calm. "The headmaster is concerned about you, Potter. He sent me to check on you."

"Well you can tell him I'm fine." Harry turned and focused back on the book in front of him.

Snape walked over, took out his wand and conjured a chair. He sat down before continuing. "No Potter, I don't think you are. Your aunt seems to believe that you have been hurting yourself."

Harry tried to hide his arms under his desk, not even bothering to look up from his book. "What do you care?"

"It is enough that I do, Potter. Now show me your arms."

"No."

Snape pulled his wand back out, saying in a dangerous voice, "Potter, I do not wish to hurt you. Now show me your arms before I am forced to do something that you will regret."

Harry looked over and glared at Snape. He knew he was trapped. He had left his own wand in his trunk, not wanting a repeat of the events of last summer. There was no way he could get to it now and if he didn't show Snape his arms, then Snape would just hex him, and he'd see his arms anyways. Harry turned and held out his arms palm down.

Snape pocketed the wand, stood up, and reached over, turning Harry's arms over to reveal the cuts. He let go and reached in his robes and pulled out one of the bottles of potion and some bandages.

He applied the potion to Harry's arms, speaking as he did. "You think you can make the sadness go away by causing harm. You cannot. You may also think you deserve to be hurt because you blame yourself for your godfather's death. You don't."

He took some bandages, to remove the potion as it immediately healed all of the cuts. He reached down, grabbing Harry's chin and forcing him to look up, "This is unacceptable. If I find any more marks on you, you will not like the consequences."

Harry looked up at Snape with daggers in his eyes, and jerked his head away from Snape's grasp. "What do you know? You hated Sirius. You baited him, made fun of him because he had to stay at Grimmauld place. You wanted him dead, admit it!"

Snape was finding it very difficult to retain his composure. He sat down, and forced his face to appear neutral. "You are partially correct, Potter. I did hate your godfather, and I did bait him. However, I did not wish for the man to die."

"Yeah, right."

Normally, Snape would decapitate any student who showed this much disrespect, but he forced himself to remember that the boy was in pain. It took every ounce of will not to snarl at the boy. He forced a neutral stance when he replied, "My feelings toward you godfather are not the issue. The issue is that you are not handling your grief. Therefore, you will return with me to Hogwarts. Pack your things. We are leaving."

Harry sat back in the chair, folding his arms, and retorted, "I'm not going anywhere with you."

Snape removed his wand from his robes. "Very well. Pack!" Snape used the same sweeping motions with his wand that Harry had seen Tonks use the summer before. Then he turned his wand on Harry, as the items in Harry's room soared into the air landing in Harry's trunk. "Now, will you come willingly, or must I take you by force?"

Harry really wished he had his wand now. He glared at Snape for a few moments, knowing very well that he had no choice in the matter. "Fine." He stood, and as he did so, Snape stood and pointed at Harry's trunk "Reducio." The trunk shrank to be small enough to fit in his pocket. Then he turned, and used the same spell to reduce Hedwig's cage. He pocketed the items. Turning back to Harry and pointed towards the door, "Let's go."

Harry turned, and stomped out of the room and down the stairs. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Harry turned and said, "Where are we going?"

"To Mrs. Figg’s. I believe you know the way, so you can walk in front of me."

Harry saw Snape put his wand hand in his pocket, but Harry knew Snape wasn't going to let go of it. Seeing no way out of this he headed out the door, Snape trailing right behind him.