My Father's Shadow

Chapter 3

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Severus Snape was not ready for the anger his newfound son displayed as he uncurled himself from his self-imposed ball. Then he stood, with his eyes blazing in a mixture of fury and fear.

"Don't bait me Snape," he hissed, attempting to piece together the tear in his robe he had gotten when he'd fallen.

Severus was not amused. "Tell me who did it Potter, otherwise I will be forced to use Veritaserum to find out."

"You have no right to threaten me!"

"I am your father," Snape spat out. "However unhappy I may be with that, I refuse to allow someone to defile the family name by assaulting you."

Any confidence that Harry had been considering with his greasy Potions Master fell apart at those words.

"I see you care about my emotions in the whole thing," Harry's voice was dripping with sarcasm."

"One discovery does not cause a change of heart Potter," Snape snarled. Severus pulled out his wand to fix the tear in Harry's robes. Harry scampered back timidly.

"I'm going to fix that tear in your robes Potter," Snape said in annoyance. But this comment seemed to frighten Harry more as he began to race up the stairs.

"Stupify," yelled Snape, and Harry fell forwards, banging his mouth against the railing. For a second his mouth welled up with blood. Then, just as quickly the blood disappeared.

Severus had a confused look on his face as he approached his son. Then a look of understanding crossed his face. "Ennervate," he muttered and Harry sat back up, rubbing his jaw.

"Take off the glamour Potter," commanded Severus, who sighed when Harry looked away determinedly. "No matter. Finite Incantatem Glamourie."

The spell fell from his son's body, leaving a boy who shocked Severus. He had significant Snape family features and Severus found himself looking at a mixture of Lily and himself. Lily's most prominent features, including her emerald eyes, had been stirred with Snape's features. Anyone who knew them would know without question that this was their son.

The boy in question was currently trying to make himself into a spec, trying to cover every feature of himself. However disconcerting Severus found it to see his spitting image in such a wreck, he needed to see what injuries the boy and accumulated.

"Take off your robes," he commanded but Harry only shuddered harder.

Severus sighed, "Accio clothes."

Harry was left with his boxers and was shaking fervently, but Severus couldn't take an evaluation of his condition while he was still rolled up. "Petrificus Totalus." Harry's body snapped open and froze.

Only years of careful training kept a neutral expression on Severus' face as he surveyed the damage to his son's body as Harry's petrified (quite literally) eyes darted back and forth. Inwardly he cursed as he spotted the cracked ribs, the lacerations that cut across ever visible space on Harry's body. Glancing suspiciously on the small marks darting across the boy's arms,

Severus resolved to ask about them later.

Bending down, he pried Harry's mouth open and noted with disgust the number or chipped teeth, doused with blood from his earlier fall. Cleaning up the blood with a flick of his wand, he turned his son over carefully to inspect his back. This time he could not contain the horrified gasp at what he saw. Not only was his back riddled with scars and bruises, three words were encrypted as scars. One on his back, the other two on the back of each leg. The word was the same in each place. Freak.

"Finite Incantatem," he whispered and Harry groaned and turned over, gazing at the horror-stricken look Severus had not been able to remove. That was when the tears started to flow from Harry's eyes and Severus was left not quite knowing what to do. So he decided to do what he did best. He sneered. Surprisingly this seemed to help Harry gain some self-control.

"Come, we're going to my office. The other students will be back from dinner shortly."

Harry just stared at him with something of a lost gaze. For a moment, Severus could almost imagine that he felt something. But it couldn't be could it, he couldn't begin to love this boy who he had hated for so long could he? It seemed that more than Potter's problems needed to be worked out.

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Ok, short chapter, but this was just a filler basically. Next chapter will be all the really serious stuff.