The Boy Who Found a Home

Professor McGonagall arrived some time later, after the young Slytherin had dressed and escorted him to the infirmary. She led him on a winding path up through the school. Stopping occasionally to look out one of the many windows, the Transfigurations professor would comment on the view or a particular painting. Severus remained a silent spectre.

Minerva watched as Madam Pomfrey welcomed him with a brief hug; contrary to his normal self he accepted the physical contact and leaned into to her. A small jolt of pain struck the Deputy Headmistress; she would never be able to instinctively comfort a child as naturally as Poppy. Squaring her shoulders, Minerva walked from the infirmary.

"I could use your company today, Severus. All of this needs to be correlated and sent to the Ministry of Magic within the week. Would you like to help me?" Poppy asked, testing the waters.

He didn't reply, but kept the dirty coat clutched to his chest. The black eyes stared up at her.

"That pile needs to be sorted by subject. Within the 'accident' category, I have these sub-categories: lesson-related, student-caused injury and weather-related injury. Under illness I have: contagious, lesson-related, and weather-related.

"Would you sort them by those groupings, and then sort again by the date of the illness or incident while I work on this stack?" Madam Pomfrey enquired as she began to sort through her large pile. Severus listlessly picked at his parchments, not really doing anything.

Watching him from the corner of her eye, Poppy saw his chin tremble before a sob escaped; she pulled him onto her lap and rocked him gently.

"That's a good boy. You just cry all you want, you're safe now. Do you want to take a nap?" she asked. He shook his head.

"N-no," he replied and sniffed wetly. "I c-can hel- lp." He remained in Poppy's arms for sometime as she soothed him. When he brought a hand up and wiped his nose with the flat of his palm; she pulled a handkerchief from a pocket, put it into his hand, and pushed back a strand of hair that was caught by the damp under his nose.

"Go on and wash your face," she said in a gently bossy tone, and pushed him up off her lap. "You know where the basin is. Take all the time you want, I'll be here."

From where she sat, the witch could observed him stumble over to the basin. He turned on the cold tap and allowed the water to run in a silver stream until the cold water of the loch caused the metal tap to sweat. He scooped the icy water onto eyes that undoubtedly burned from crying; not appearing to care that some of the water ran down his arms and soaked his sleeves. Finally the young wizard took a flannel, soaked it in the crystalline water and placed it over his face to drive the heat from it.

Ten minutes later, he returned to Madam Pomfrey's office, the frockcoat dragging limply behind him. She glanced up and smiled briefly, before returning to her work. Severus sat in a chair next to her desk. He spent three hours watching her arranging the files.

"Are you as hungry as I am? Look at the time!" Poppy started in surprise, as she glance up at the wizards' clock on the wall over the door; there were far fewer hands visible now than during the term.

"Poppy?" a bass voice rumbled rose from the outer room.

"In here, Hagrid," she called out, cringing as a hollow metallic clank struck the door.

"Sorry abou' that. I brought sommat them berries from the meadow. They're a bit diff'cult for me ter pick, wha' with me great sausages of fingers."

Madam Pomfrey looked into a tin cup and smiled happily. Plucking a squished strawberry from the cup, she popped into her mouth and sighed contentedly. "Oh, this what summer tastes like. Here, try one," she passed a slightly less mangled strawberry to Severus. He cautiously bit a tiny piece off the end.

"Where did you manage to find them?" she asked.

"I found 'em near the front gate, when I was waitin'..." Hagrid suddenly looked about awkwardly.

Severus' lip trembled and he shrank back into the chair. The half-giant shrugged off his moleskin greatcoat and draped it over the top of the door. He sank to sit on a stool next to the desk.

Poppy quickly changed topics recognizing the potential danger. "Will you join us for sandwiches, Hagrid?"

With one arm, she guided the young wizard out into the main room. With a flick of her wand, four of the hospital tables rolled together, forming a large square surface. Waving her wand, a table cloth sailed across the room and draped over the table top. Taking a small pewter bell from her pocket, Madam Pomfrey rang it with a small twist of her wrist.

A large plate of sandwiches, a bowl of crisps, and a plate of biscuits popped onto the table. A jug of fruit drink, three glasses, three plates, and the attendant serving pieces appeared.

The school's matron placed a sandwich on each of their plates along with some of the crisps. She indicated that Hagrid should pour the fruit juice.

"Eat your sandwich," she urged.

"I'm not hungry," the boy answered quietly.

"Now, you must eat something," she cajoled.

"I don't like ham."

"Have an egg sandwich instead."

"My stomach hurts," he whispered, not meeting her eyes.

"Only because it hasn't a bit of food in it, dear. Eat as much as you can."

Severus looked down at the sandwich and poked at it with one finger.

"Go on, take a bite."

Slowly, dreadfully slowly, he picked the egg sandwich up and turned it around several times. He bit a small corner off and chewed it. His face had a look of disgust on it, as if the sandwich had been left out too long and the bread had dried. He choked the bite down and replaced the sandwich on the plate.

Madam Pomfrey's face didn't reveal the thoughts churning behind her carefully acquired façade of unshakable calmness; she thought his eyes had the empty and hollow look that the photographs of Muggle prisoners from Grindelwald's war had. The witch was resolved; she must coax him into eating and she must help establish a secure environment around him.

"Another bite if you please, Severus," she pushed, gently. The sandwich slowly was taken in hand again. He nibbled at a crust and began to lower the sandwich.

She watched as Hagrid, wise in the way of wild things, who knew when creatures needed special handling, tore off half of his cucumber and butter sandwich. With extreme gentleness, he passed across the table.

Severus ate half of the piece Hagrid gave him.

"Drink the juice," Poppy said. She watched Severus slowly drink a quarter of the glass. Hagrid winked at the grim face as the glass was lowered.

Once luncheon was completed, Severus remained huddled on the chair while Madam Pomfrey walked the half-giant to her office to retrieve his coat. "He needs close watching over, Hagrid. He needs the reassurance someone is nearby. He's a bit clingy."

"I noticed tha'. Severus is a bit like one of them high strung hippogriffs. I hope the Headmaster can find out wha' happen'd. I took his mum up ter Professor Dumbledore's office jus' before I come here."

"I hope Albus can resolve the issue quickly." She looked out at the boy sitting on the chair and yawning widely.

Before leaving the infirmary, Hagrid stooped down in front of Severus. The dark-haired boy stiffened, before falling into welcoming arms and sinking his face into the brushy beard. Hagrid tightened his hold momentarily before releasing the child. "I'll be seein' yer later."

"Time for you to have a lie down," Madam Pomfrey insisted, and led the yawning boy to a room off the main part of the infirmary. With a flick of her wand, she drew the shutters across the window and pulled back the covers on the bed. The hospital matron, in the painting hanging on the wall, dimmed her lantern as well, and sat on her chair beside the bed.

"You need to have a nap, Severus. I will be in my office. Call if you want me. Don't be afraid to call me for anything, all right?" She pushed him onto the bed and bent to untie his boots. Placing them under the bed, she pulled the duvet up and over Severus' shoulders.

Poppy rustled across the room and began to close the door.

"Noooo!" the boy whimpered worriedly.

"I'll just leave it ajar," she said, softly reassuring him.

After a half hour, she looked in and saw Severus sprawled across the bed, his head close to the edge, and one arm thrown across the frockcoat on his chest. The blankets were half on the floor. With a practised wand wave, she replaced the blankets. One hand moved his head back into the middle of the pillow. He didn't stir.

In another half hour, Madam Pomfrey returned to find Severus lying with his head at the foot of the bed. Her wand moved the blanket to re-cover his body. He murmured in his sleep. The frockcoat lay on the floor. Poppy picked it up and placed it next to Severus' face. It was filthy but she could not bring herself to take it from him, even to have it cleaned. It brought the child comfort, something he desperately needed, and she wouldn't take that from him no matter how disgusting the coat was.

***

It was a thoughtful Albus Dumbledore who walked slowly around the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry later that day.

From the window of his hut, Rubeus Hagrid, observed the slow circuit: first to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, then to the barns, then to the small pumpkin patch, over to the lake and finally up the hill to the wooden bridge. Then, the circuit began anew.

Occasionally, the Headmaster would pause for five or ten minutes, appear to talk aloud, as if in a deep discussion with another absent person. His long, sweeping robes dragged behind him on the grass.

The mid-summer light began to fade slowly, turning the sky golden in the west, and a cobalt blue in the east. Hagrid watched as the Headmaster stood looking out over the gently rippling Lake. The sun sunk beneath the horizon, leaving a fiery orange line which met with the deep lavender colour of the mountains. The Evening Star twinkled to visibility in the twilight sky, the one bright beacon in an otherwise darkening world.

In the dimming light, he saw the old wizard sit on a large rock overlooking the lake and looking like the loneliest man on earth.

Shrugging his moleskin coat over his shoulders, Hagrid walked from his hut toward the barns. He stopped in a small outbuilding, and took out a large haunch of venison, and continued to the paddock beside the barn. He hefted the raw meat over the paddock fence before bringing his fingers to his mouth to whistle a call to come in.

He raked old straw from the wall of barn into a large pile before spreading out fresh straw. Something butted his shoulder, and his hand absently patted the tall black shoulder of a thestral.

"Ah, Hagrid, I see you have tempted the thestrals into your paddock."

Long years of friendship had given the half-giant an insight into Professor Dumbledore's need to a have a sounding board for his thoughts.

"Headmaster, yeh'll be needin' them soon ter pull the carriages ter welcome the students back."

"Yes. Yes, soon we will be welcoming our students back to Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore said somewhat distractedly.

"Sommat botherin' yeh, sir?"

The Headmaster looked over to the animals tearing at the haunch. Nodding his head slightly, the wizard sighed sadly. "My guest gave me some rather troubling information."

Hagrid grunted and continued to spread the straw about the enclosure, knowing that the older man would tell him in his own time and way.

"I am certain you recall that Severus' father came to see me last autumn, after his son had been Sorted into Slytherin."

"Yer're right 'bout tha', Headmaster. Severus' father needed assistance gettin' up the stairs. He war wheezin' sommat fierce. We had ter stop a couple of times before we go' ter your office."

Albus Dumbledore rubbed one of the thestrals between its ears; it leaned into his hand. The fur cuff of his wide sleeve fell back, revealing closer fitting damask under sleeves.

"Lenis Snape was a student at Hogwarts well before you began your studies. He was Sorted into Ravenclaw the same term as Filius. He was a brilliant scholar, a man intensely interested in learning for the purpose of knowledge. Lenis was an excellent Arithmancy student. To my knowledge, once he passed his N.E.W.T.s, he spent years lost in the minutia of numbers.

"I never heard a bad word about Snape. No romance, no scandal and no debt. In all regards his was a life of exceptionally mundane quietness. Lenis led a quiet solitary life for over seventy years, until he married quite unexpectedly, some fifteen years ago.

"To be honest, I thought he loved his numbers more than people. So, when he married a witch, at least fifty years younger than himself, it was a shock.

"I never met Mrs. Snape until today, as she was taught at an academy on the Continent and did not attend Hogwarts." The Headmaster looked off in the direction of the castle. His thoughts seemed to overwhelm him again, for he turned back to glance in the direction of the lake.

Hagrid took a curry comb from the fence and began to groom the thestrals. Snorting in pleasure, the beasts shook their heads, relishing the feel of the comb against their coats. Hagrid's large hand followed the comb over their necks and flanks, sweeping the silky coats in a long stroking motion.

"Severus don't look' like his father and nothin' like his mum. His mum wasn' real warm when I went down ter meet her, neither," Hagrid said from behind one of the thestrals.

Rolling up his sleeves, the old wizard withdrew a handkerchief from one of his many pockets, and began to rub the coat of one of the beasts. It was as much of a condemnation as Albus had ever heard from Hagrid.

"I regret that I have not paid closer attention to Severus' unusual behaviour. Now, I wish I had."

"Why's that, Professor?"

Continuing to rub the thestrals' coats, the two men did not look at one another.

"Do you remember the seer who Headmaster Dippett interviewed fifteen years ago?"

"The one tha' choked on the apple an' died durin' the interview?"

"Yes, that is the very person, Hagrid. I was involved in the process of interviewing the candidates for the position of a new Divinations professor. I had the opportunity to talk with him; he was a genuine seer, Hagrid, for he foretold events that have been unfolding."

"Wha's tha' got ter do with Severus, sir?"

Taking in a deep breath, the Headmaster put down his rag and turned to watch the last hint of colour leave the western sky.

"Perhaps nothing, Hagrid. But, listen to what the seer foretold:

'A malevolent wizard will rise to wreck havoc;

Neither wizard, half bloods or Muggles shall safe be

For He will call himself the Dark Lord.

He can only be defeated

By one much tried

Born of wizard and Muggle...'

"He was unable to complete his portent."

"Tha's strange. But wha's tha' got ter do with it?"

"Perhaps nothing, perhaps everything."

"Would yer like a cup o' tea, Headmaster?"

Nodding, the old wizard smiled. "That would be most welcome."

Once seated in Hagrid's hut, each man held a large cup of tea in his hands before the Headmaster began to speak again.

"I believe the Prophecsy was about Tom Riddle, or, as he now styles himself, the Dark Lord. Think about the words in the Prophesy. He can only be defeated by someone who has had a difficult life, Hagrid."

"Wha's tha' got ter do with Severus, sir?" Hagrid asked blowing on his steaming cup of tea.

"Alas, until this afternoon, I thought it had nothing to do with any member of the Snape family. Today, however, Mrs. Snape was quite outspoken; and she used an innocent child to revenge herself."

"Headmaster Dumbledore, sir, how'd Lenis come ter marry sommat like tha'?

"He was charmed by her attentions and flattery. Sadly, she rapidly bored of the quiet life of scholarly pursuits and abandoned him. Lenis wrote to his wife for three years, begging her to return to him. She did not respond his letters." Albus smiled faintly.

"Then, the unexpected occurred while Lenis was researching at the British Museum and he met a middle-aged woman. She was researching in the same archive. They talked many times, and as Fate sometimes intervenes, they fell in love. Snape asked the Ministry of Magic to dissolve his marriage to Hydra on the grounds of desertion. The paperwork was duly filled out and signed by the proper dignitaries.

"Lenis married the woman and they were joyful to discover she was with child. Both eagerly anticipated the birth of their child. Eight months pregnant, the woman was cursed by witches or wizards unknown, in their home. Lenis discovered his wife unconscious and mortally injured by the attack. When she died, the child was cut from her womb.

"Heartbroken, Lenis brought his newborn son home to a house mourning its mistress. A scholar, Snape retreated to his books. His house-elves were at a loss of how to raise an infant, having only cared for adults for over fifty years. They struggled for two months before his former wife miraculously appeared on the doorstep."

Hagrid pulled out a large polka dot handkerchief and blew his nose loudly.

"Like many men, Lenis gave the care of his infant over to his wife. He was a trusting man and did not question how well or lovingly his wife would raise the child. I suspect she was not kind or lenient to Severus."

He drank for several minutes before sitting back in his chair. The old wizard put his hands up into the sleeves of his robes. Sighing, he began to talk again. "Lenis fell ill almost as soon as the Hogwarts Express left Platform 9 ¾. Severus wasn't aware until the owl arrived with the message that his father was near death.

"I thought, at the time his father died, that he had kept knowledge of his father's illness to himself; I now see I was wrong. When his Head of House, Madam Pomfrey, and I told Severus his father was about to die you could have pushed him over with a feather.

"You will recall that Poppy accompanied the boy home to visit his ill father. Lenis died within an hour of Severus' arrival. The heartless witch gave him no time to grieve and cremated her husband's remains that very afternoon. She ordered the boy immediately back to Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey and Severus returned the very same evening; he was quite silent, as you'd expect. Poppy was unsettled, yet she could not express what troubled her about the affair."

Albus sighed deeply and burrowed his hands into the fur edged sleeves of his robe. Gazing out the darkened window, Professor Dumbledore sighed again.

"Would yer like more tea, Headmaster? I got sommat them biscuits yer like," Hagrid offered through an emotion-thickened voice.

"The question is what we do about Severus now?" Professor Dumbledore asked himself slowly. "I must take care with him; try to make him aware I am genuinely concerned for his well being. Severus must understand that I will fight for him."

Hagrid sat back in his chair and thought, what a man Albus Dumbledore was, a man who cared for and loved all his students.

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