Chapter Text
Harry didn't think he liked his new life much more than his old one really.
Sitting in the dark in a bed that was so soft he feared smothering in the danged thing, he was trying to count his blessings, the way someone once insisted he do, and while he’d had to ask what a blessing was, and the teacher had gotten mad at him and yelled and he’d had to write all the things he was grateful for down on paper and then got yelled at more for being disrespectful and trying to get people in trouble when he had things like bacon fat and his cupboard on it…..
Learning to do it had been no fun at all but now he liked doing it, listing all the good things in his life, and bacon fat was still one of them, because Aunt Petunia always made him do the dishes so he could lick the pan clean, and mouldy bread was thrown away as soon as it had a single greeny blue spot on it so moldy bread was a good thing too, especially in summer when it got spotty really fast.
Aunt Petunia always complained and threw it away but Harry had to do the rubbish too, so got to pick through it, and loads of good things got thrown away so rubbish was on his grateful list too, especially when there was too much bacon fat so he had to wipe the pan out with a paper towel and could tuck it into the bag of thrown away bread to suck on later as he portioned the bread out across a few days.
When he learned he got to go to Hogwarts because of being a wizard though his good list had to change which was really bad, because when the letters chased them all over the country Harry lost his cupboard, which was the biggest thing on his list of good things in his entire life.
Yes it only had a flat old lounge chair cushion in it to sleep on but he'd been collecting rags and thrown away bits of clothing all his life so he had a Harry shaped nest in it just for him. And no one could get in, just him, so yes they locked him IN but mostly they locked themselves OUT which suited Harry just fine, he loved tiny spaces.
Because of Hogwarts though he’d lost that safe place and was forced to move into Dudley's second bedroom BUT he was not allowed to touch any of the things in the room, other than the bed, which was bare and open and exposed and dangerous.
Terrible.
Awful even.
In one fell swoop Hogwarts had taken the biggest grateful off Harry’s list and thrown it away, Harry hadn't even been allowed to take his things out of the cupboard, it was just locked tight and his things taken from him.
Safe, but not his anymore.
Reaching up to wipe the tear away he tried to think of good things about Hogwarts now he was here.
Food?
That was good, great even, but he wasn't allowed to take any with him after a meal because food wasn't allowed in the dorms or the rest of the school.
So breakfast, lunch and dinner were wonderful but it was a loooong time between dinner and breakfast so in a weird way Harry was even hungrier now than before.
He’d tried tucking just an apple or a roll in his pocket but got in trouble for it both times so didn't try again.
The weird thing was though he saw other kids do it, the twins had pockets stuffed with treats all the time but not Harry, never Harry, he got caught, the food taken away and scolded too.
He did try and eat extra at meal times but if he forced himself it just made him sick, and after throwing it all up he was even hungrier.
So food was good and bad now, instead of just good.
Friends?
Well, he knew how Dudley’s friends acted, and he’d watched other kids for years as they were friends with each other (never him, much too dangerous to risk that) and thought he knew how friends should act.
Should.
Should should should.
Looking past his curtains at the floor covered with candy wrappers from where Ron had dug through Harry’s trunk and eaten all his sweets after finishing his own, and over there was a broken quill, Harry’s quill but broken by Ron who’d then complained that it was Harry’s fault for buying such a bad quill, and what boy would ever use a peacock's feather for a quill anyway cause they were for girls and had spent a long time on the subject, long enough so Harry finally just said it was okay, he didn't mind.
He did mind though, he minded a lot.
Ron took Harry’s stuff, used it like it was a gift, usually broke or ruined it in some way, and then gave out to Harry for having stuff that could be broken.
Friends didn't do that, Harry was sure of it.
Hermione?
She didn't break Harry’s stuff but any time Harry had something she thought was too good for him she took it to "protect" it. Like Harry couldn't be trusted with his own stuff.
All his books had gone that way, other than the basic text books, and any time he tried to get them back she just said it was fine, that of course she’d give it back in a while but she was using it right now and why did he need it, and oh, no, if it’s not class work then you can wait….
Harry’d waited weeks already, and not one of them had come back to him, or his notebooks, or his actual proper pens and pencils or his art pad and colored pencils or any of his good stuff.
If he was using it in the shared bedroom then Ron’d get it and take it down to the common room to use and then she’d take it away, or Harry would try and use it down there himself and she’d get it off him.
By now all he had left was his basic quill, scrolls, and textbooks.
She’d even taken the scroll he’d been drawing on, said it wasn't for art it was for school work and she’d give it back when he stopped being so wasteful.
But how could he be wasteful with his own stuff when they had it all? And it was his, surely he could waste it if he wanted too?
The worst part though was, they kept everyone else away.
Harry had no chance to make any other friends because they got between him and anyone friendly and were so not nice other kids gave up, and if Harry tried to get away from them it was all where did you go, why did you go, what were you doing, how dare you go without us…..
How dare he.
He wasn't daring, he just wanted to get away but they kept catching him and dragging him back!
The teachers were as bad, if they caught him anywhere not class related, the great hall, on the way to and from the dorms or the library then it was points taken away and how dare you roam around alone and yet, other kids got to do it.
Just not Harry.
Wiping more tears away he wanted help, it was so confusing, any time he looked at the big teacher table his head hurt and all the teachers got frustrated with him for not being perfect but praised the other kids for trying, and he was afraid of Dumbledore who stared at him all the time and it looked like he was smiling but it wasn't a happy smile, it was like he was weighing Harry and Harry was the wrong so bits had to be cut off or stitched on and the man was deciding where to start.
Friends and good teachers didn't do that, Harry was sure of it, cause he’d watched at school for years now so even if it didn't work for him, he did know how it worked.
Afraid.
It hit him then like a blow, he was afraid.
Afraid in a way he’d never been in the cupboard because at home Harry knew the rules, knew how to survive, here he didn't know the rules and was going to die.
It was a full body realization of how dangerous it all was, and how he was being set up.
Set up for what he didn't know, but he knew the feeling, Dudley’s gang did it, set things up so Harry would get the blame, and this felt the same.
Giving up wiping the tears he simply buried his face in his hands and wept, breaking the rule of silence by whispering brokenly, "I wish I had help!”
A muffle crack and Harry almost fell off the bed he flinched so hard, and the thing on the bed with him now flinched back just as hard and they both froze and stared and then, a tiny tiny voice, “Youz is askings for helps?”
Not able to speak Harry just nodded, and the thing looked out the window at the light now faintly showing the world as more than a black curtain behind the windows and it said, “I is not beings able to helps youz but I is knowings someones who cans.”
Harry shrugged to show he was listening but didn't understand and the thing nodded and got up on its knees, “I cans takes youz to the bankies, they goblins might be helpings youz cause youz is a Potter Black Peverell and a few others and youz is related to lots and lots and lots of families, Tink is not remembering thems all but Goblins who is really being called Dverger but bad Dumbles is not lettings us calls them properly any mores is good at helpings so might helps youz.”
A long silent pause as Harry wiped his face again, tears finally easing up from sheer confused hope, and he nodded again frantically when it, no, her, maybe her anyway, Tink, said, “Do youz wants me to takes youz there?”
“Good, we is goings.”
A snap of long fingers and Harry was scrambling up off the cold wet very hard ground and Tink took his hand and together they walked into the bank, where a few startled glances were cast his way, maybe because of how early it was or that he was in pajamas but no one got between him and the first teller so Harry tried to speak, failed, and would have kept trying but a snap of fingers and “Youz is drinking this.”
A bottle of something was handed up to him and he gulped it down and found his voice as the world didn't get any easier to understand but it suddenly didn't matter, all he had to do was be calm and calm was easy now.
Standing up on tip toes he caught the edge of the counter and said, “I need help to run away, and Tink said Goblins help powerful wizards, and I don't know if I’m powerful but I do have some gold so that might help me get away but Hagrid took my key away and wouldn't give it back and I know you need my key to get to my gold for me to pay for help so….”
“How do I get a new key please?”
Dark clever eyes stared at him and Harry smiled but Tink tugged at his elbow, so he looked down to see her giving him a smile but not showing any teeth and Harry realized suddenly he’d just done it wrong an said, “Oh, I am so sorry,” looking up he asked, “is it manners to not show teeth or just not smile at all?”
“Oh, oh no, I was rude!” Even the calm drink couldn't stop a hitched sob as he covered his mouth so he wasn't having worse manners even than before, “I didn't mean to be rude, I won't do it again.”
He tried to smile maybe properly if it was just no teeth but even that didn't work, no smile came to him after he dropped his hands so he just stood looking at the wall behind the goblin, cause adults didn't like him to look at them but wanted him to to be where they could see his face, and maybe goblins were the same.
“Dverger.”
“What?”
“Not gobblin, we are Dverger, and you were unintentionally rude through ignorance, not malice, and you are a child, so are forgiven.”
“Really?”
A regal nod but Harry had to be sure, “You're not going to hit me or call me awful things or take my food away or or or anything?”
Startled flailing as the person said, “NO! Of course not, we don’t do…… oh.”
Standing briskly, the person now known to Harry as Dverger but hadn’t Tink said it too but he got distracted when they hopped down out of sight and a door opened and they said, “Right this way!”
Feeling totally out of balance now because usually when he was rude, mean it or not, he always got in trouble, even at Hogwarts he’d already had detentions and lines and held back after class to be lectured on respect and paying attention and….
It wasn't fair.
If the goblin, no, the Dverger forgave him for being rude because he was young and didn't mean it, then why was he in trouble all the time when he made mistakes, because he was young and didn't mean those either.
Wasn't a school where he was supposed to learn the same way all the rest were learning?
But they didn't get in trouble like he did, so it wasn't fair.
Following along, still feeling a bit floaty from the drink even if it didn't keep him very calm, he stopped with the still unnamed person opened a door, called “Harry Potter and House Elf Tink, Here For Help!” then stepped aside and let Harry and Tink go in.
Another Dverger waited for him, again on the far side of an expanse of wood and stone, a fancy desk this time but unlike all the times before, this time the being stood, and bowed.
For lack of anything else to do Harry bowed back, and the being smiled without teeth and said, “You may call me Cleave, we have much to talk about and very little time to do it.”
“Madam Tink, will you place a doppelganger into Heir Potter’s bed please, that should gift us with a tiny bit more time, and be sure to pull the curtains closed.”
“What is your schedule today, Heir Potter?”
“Oh, ummmm breakfast, and then detention at eleven.”
The stern faced person cocked their head and asked, “Detention?”
Nodding Harry said, "Yes, Professor Snape said I wasn’t paying attention properly which made my potion go all gloopy, so I got detention.”
“In your opinion, did anyone else merit punishment for that crime?”
“Crime?” But looking at the person now seated watching him, Harry could see humor in the eyes so he relaxed a bit and said, “Not really, although Hanna’s potion caught fire, and Nevils exploded, and Borus’s one melted through the bottom of the cauldron.”
“All yours did was become gloopy?”
A morose nod and then Harry’s head snapped up, because Cleave said firmly, "That is not fair, little one.”
It was said as a fact, and something in Harry was relieved but he checked, just to be sure, “Is it really not fair?”
“Are you a potions master, Heir Potter?”
“No?”
“Are you teaching the class, Heir Potter?”
A simple thought of him dressed up as Professor Snape had him giggling, "No!”
“Are you perhaps a first year student only a few weeks into your first term of school?”
“Yes, I am that.”
A stern look now and Harry sat up a bit straighter, “Did you in fact pay attention to the lesson and try your best?”
A sniffle as Harry nodded, “I tried, I tried but Hermione wouldn't stop talking, and insisting I was doing it wrong, and she grabbed the cactus spines and put them in whole but they needed to be cut up but she wouldn't listen and I’m sorry, it’s just excuses, I know that but she didn't get in trouble for it but I did!”
Looking at his hands now he didn't see Cleave move but the person was suddenly just there, taking his hands in their long fingered ones as they said, “You did nothing wrong, those are not excuses, they are reasons the potion failed.”
“My final question, did your professor ask you any questions or try to understand before they gave you detention?”
Unable to speak for some reason Harry shook his head, the image of Professor Snape towering over him, scalding words about how stupid Harry was pouring like lava and how Harry wished he’d just hit him instead cause bruises and welts healed but words stuck around and kept hurting forever and….
The strangest thing happened then, Cleave hugged him, and Tink joined in, holding Harry as he sobbed.
Why it all hurt so much was weird cause by now he should be used to it but the hug was really nice.
*
Not much later Harry‘d been given two potions to drink, nice ones this time, and it made his tummy feel enough better to actually eat the puffy crisp crackers and drink the tea Cleave gave him and was listening to the Dverger talk about things.
Many things.
Many confusing things but it all started off with, “Slicer indicated you wished to run away?”
Expecting to be yelled at for being a coward, Harry’s jaw dropped when instead “GOOD, it takes courage to know when to retreat! And a thinking mind to plan the way first!”
“However, Dverger are bound to neutrality by treaty, so no one at the bank can help you beyond what a client may expect.”
“Do not be downhearted, information first, then a plan, and then you return to your bed.”
“You, Heir Potter, oh, thank you,” he said to open air as a key appeared on his desk, going on as if that was normal, "are heir to several noble houses, notably Potter, Black, and Evans."
He didn't mention the other names a simple heir search had turned up, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Peverell, as well as Gaunt and Riddle because those needed investigation first.
"The heirships are complicated indeed but most of them come to you through family but some via blood adoption from an enemy, which rest assured I personally will be looking into later today so you are not to worry about them right now!”
“All of them now descend unto you simply through being here with me as I inform you as to their existence, but being underage, all you have official access to is your trust vault, which is cash only.”
“However, if you give us permission to audit your vaults - ” “ YES! Oh,” covering his mouth in embarrassment, Harry said much softer, “Yes please!”
“Good, sign here and use the dagger to prick NO child! Not a finger, those hurt much too much, and certainly NOT at that angle! Look, see, here, the base of your thumb where it is most plump, place the tip of the dagger there, do NOT push, let the weight of the blade.... good, see, now, let it drop onto the page.”
It didn't hurt much at all, just a tiny sting, not like when the doctor took blood the time Harry fainted in class, that hurt lots more.
This was easy, and when he looked back at it after he watched the blood suck into the page, the tiny wound was gone.
“Neat!”
“Indeed, magic is neat.”
“We will do the audit across the next five days and then Tink will return you to me for my report.”
- Cleave did not tell Harry that Tink was a bank House Elf working at Hogwarts, that simply was not information the young Wixen needed right now. -
“At that time I will tell you what resources you have for the future, provide your heir rings, and if you allow it I will advise you as to your best course of affairs.”
“Now, finish your tea, oh good,” reaching for the items that had just appeared on his desk, “we do have a few things you may take right now, first is this.”
A weird strap kind of thing had Harry cocking his head as he tried to work out what it was only to be told, “Give me your wand arm, good, thank you.”
Having it strapped on for him Harry didn't have to ask as it was explained to him. “It's a wand holder, place your wand in so, and to retrieve it you do this.”
Cleave gestured a sweep of his arm, hand flat and pointed palm downwards and at the end of the flat down angled sweep he gripped something tight, like an invisible wand.
“Oh!” Hoping up in excitement Harry tried it and threw his wand across the room where he scrambled to get it, blushing at failing so badly.
“No child, this is a new thing, to succeed you must try! And remember, to try is to fail, to fail is to learn, to learn.... is to succeed!”
“Again, not quite as fast.”
It took almost half an hour to do it properly ten times in a row, each time Harry failed he had to start over, and when he finished at last he was dancing with how it felt to win!
To not be yelled at and to be helped just like he was normal.
A normal kid!
Cleave said, “Good, very good, from now going forward you will do that morning and night until you return to me. The goal is for you to catch it perfectly fifty times in a row. No slacking on your practice lest I hear of it.”
Not daring to even guess what an angry-at-Harry Dverger would do, all he did was nod but Cleave came close, silent on his feet despite wearing boots and said gently, “All that would happen if you did slack off is that Tink would bring you to me and together we would practice. Expecting a child to be a child is fair, expecting a child to be a perfect yet tiny adult is stupid, and not fair.”
“The world isn't fair Heir Potter, but it is up to all beings of goodness to make it more, rather than less, fair.”
“Humans are correct though when they say practice makes perfect, so practice with your wand, it could well save not just your life but others as well.”
“Remember always: “A warrior surrounded by enemies is a warrior still, no matter how outnumbered.”
Holding it up he then said, “This is the school bag you should have been allowed to purchase, look here and you will see it is bottomless, water repellent, and only opens for you.”
“In it you may carry all your supplies, a few of them we have already replaced for you and placed within.”
“Look at all of it later and repack to your liking then, time for us now is swift flying.”
“Our final order of business today is, take out your wand.”
A successful grab as it flew from the holder had Harry grinning, and Cleave showed him the gestures and the words of a warding spell.
“It is for your bed, Hogwarts gives no one any privacy but this will do for now, that’s it, imagine a wall around your bed, solid over and under and all around, a box of air that none can get through.”
It took an hour and Harry was dripping with sweat by the end but he managed to cast perfectly formed wards ten times in a row, and was handed a beaker this time, sludge grey and awful looking but when he took a sip he laughed in relief and sucked it down.
“Good, why humans make potions taste bad is a mystery to all of us!”
“That one however will be repairing your bones for the next few hours and this one,” he handed Harry another one that looked even worse but tasted even better, “will keep you full and alert until your next meal.”
“In your school bag,” unzipping a side pocket, “you have food, all under freshness spells, as well as the fact anything in a bottomless bag is outside of time and will not spoil, so it is double protected.”
“Again, do it later but do go through the contents, and remember, Tink and any of the Hogwarts house elves will replace anything you eat or put your favorites in place, we simply went with a balanced diet plus fun food for now.”
“You are a growing human, hence needing food whenever you are hungry.”
“Tink, it is time to return Heir Potter to his bed, oh, one final thing little one, I placed a book on Wixen customs into the front pocket, that plus your warding and wand catching are your homework assignments until we meet again.”
“Work hard, study hard, and see the traps and enemies around you so that when strong you may smite them properly, thus is a true warrior born!”
A simple snap of fingers and Harry and Tink were in his bed again, and but for the new bag Harry would have thought it was a dream.
But Tink frowned and Harry whispered “OH!” and concentrating much harder than it required, set his very first privacy ward, making his bed an impregnable fortress.
“Good, now, Young Master Hadrian will be doings his homeworks and I is beings going back to works.”
“Tink?”
“Yes Young Master Hadrian? What is youz beings needing?”
“What did you call me, just now?”
“Youz name, I be’s calling youz your name.”
“Hadrian?”
A soft nod and Harry suddenly wondered how old Tink was, cause her eyes were so sad when she said, “Youz name was taken from youz, I be’s giving it backs to youz, Hadrian Potter and all deys other names toos but youz is still too little to be carrying all those namings around, Hadrian Potter is good enoughs for now."
“Yeah,” a tiny crooked grin as Hadrian agreed, “that really is good enough.”
Tink disappeared with a snap and Harry, No! sitting up straight because people called Harry slouched, Hadrian’s sat tall as they dumped out a mountain of food to sort though, one of the worries always in his mind going still at last at the bounty. If he got locked in a box for a month he wouldn’t even begin to go hungry until the end, so much food and drink too, and so much of it he’d never seen before so he put it all back, keeping out a green lumpy fruit kind of thing to try after he went through the school supplies.
Quill pens, muggle ink pens, paints and pencils both coloured and plain, art pads and notebooks and new parchment rolls and so much of it sparkled with glitter and pretty colors and he couldn't help it, he laughed in delight, because it was everything he’d always wanted when back to school shopping started, it was the pretty stuff!
Packing it carefully away Hadrian settled back with the book and the fruit and began to read, swiftly falling into study mode after page one had him scrambling a notebook with a glitter green cover and pen out to use, because he’d been doing it all wrong as a Wixen, and even if he was planning to run away, he didn't want to keep being rude to people!
*
Hermione yelled at him for oversleeping, Ron yelled at him not being able to get Harry’s curtains opened, Harry got in trouble for all the noise plus missing breakfast and the lecture on how important proper eating was would have had him throwing up usually but the potions sat cool and easy in his tummy and made him brave enough to say, “But I wasn’t making any noise Professor, it was Ron and Hermione yelling, not me.”
The flummoxed expression on the professor’s face morphed into anger as he got another lecture on trying to shift the blame and being loyal to friends and he was a Gryffindor not a Slytherin and and and…..
Hadrian fixed his eyes on the floor and remembered why he was a Gryffindor at all and for the first time got actively angry about it, even if he hid it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh now, you are an interesting one, where to put you?”
He'd watched the sorting with interest and dread so as soon as the battered thing spoke to him Harry gasped, "Not Gryffindor, anywhere but Gryffindor.”
Harry didn't mind begging, because he’d listened on the train, and in the waiting room, and he wasn't brave, or courageous, or sly, or cunning, but Slytherin sounded better than the lions did, and the ravens and badgers sounded even better than the snakes but -
“Not Gryffindor? Why ever not?”
“I don’t want to.” Harry replied, praying that just for once what he wanted might matter.
“Your parents were in Gryffindor, as were their parents, how dare you not want to be there, where's your loyalty and sense of family?”
“I didn't know them though, and I’m just me, not brave, not good or smart or anything, just Harry.”
“Please, don’t make me - ”
“GRYFFINDOR!!!” the hat had yelled and Harry wanted to cry, everyone was yelling about how they got Harry Potter but not one of them looked at him, not the him that was sadly trudging over to be grabbed and pummeled by Ron and his brothers and the rest.
They only saw the Harry they wanted to see, not the real boy at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the lecture kept going about how to act like a proper Gryffindor Harry dared to raise his hand and she huffed and snapped, “Yes, Mr Potter?”
“I’m sorry Professor McGonagall, I have detention with Professor Snape soon and I really don't want to be late.”
She let him go then and as soon as he was out of her sight, he ran like a scalded cat for the dungeons.
A short pause to catch some of his breath and he was in the door standing in front of Professor Snape's desk and was told, "You're Late!”
Daring a glance at the clock Hadrian knew he wasn't.
He was right on time, because Professor Snape had the coolest clock in all of existence, cause it told you even the tiniest bits of time cause potions sometimes needed that kind of knowing, so going by it Hadrian was perfectly on time, but he didn't dare say so, Professor Snape seemed to be in an even worse mood than usual so when he did look up and ask, tone so smooth and dangerous it was scary, “Did you bring an audience for any particular reason, Mr Potter?”
“No sir, they just came. I tried to get them to go away but they wouldn't do it.”
That same tone of voice as the teacher asked the figures hovering in the doorway, "Do you two wish to join Mr Potter on his detention?” had his two not really friends at all fidgeting but still not going away which is when Professor Snape surged to his feet, slammed both hands down on the desk and barked, "Well?”
The two in the doorway screamed and fled and Hadrian -
Flinched.
Not a big flinch, but enough he was sure the professor saw, and to distract from the worry about that Hadrian did what he usually did, look at something really hard and wonder about it, because that kept him calm.
Professor Snape's hair this time, because everyone called him a greasy git but his hair wasn't greasy, it was beautiful, like light on a raven's wing, void black unless the light hit it just right and a question broke his focus. “Something the matter with my hair, Potter?”
Cocking his head to see if there was something wrong with it, he said, “It's pretty, like puddle rainbows.”
At which moment he realized exactly what he’d said, and who he’d said it to, and froze, entire body locked up as his vision tried to grey out, and usually by now he’d be throwing up but instead his stomach still felt all cool and nice from the potions so instead of shoving the bad down into his tummy he pulled the feeling of cool and wrapped it around his terror and breathed and could hear again and see and was obeying when the professor said, “Follow me.”
*
Follow me turned out to lead to a room with what looked like hundreds of dirty cauldrons, although at second glance most of them were actually clean and stacked neatly on shelves.
“Do you know how to clean a cauldron properly Mr Potter?”
“Only what you showed us in class sir.”
“Observe then, this is a more involved process than that one!”
It was too, although not much different, it just needed a special cleaner and they were heavier than first year cauldrons and he needed to be really thorough when rinsing it.
He did wish he had gloves though, like the professor had, cause there were lots and lots of cauldrons and his hands were burning really badly by the third one.
*
Potter had flinched.
Trying to focus upon his work the child flinching kept nagging at him.
All firsties flinched at him, it was expected, they were alone for the first time, a long way from home, and he was not nice.
All firsties were afraid of him, it was a given.
Many third and fourth years too were afraid of him, but by the final two years they’d matured enough to get over it.
Potter flinched.
Normal, but then he’d said the nicest thing anyone had ever said about his hair and then gone grey and still, like a thralled rabbit, barely breathing, utterly still.
That was NOT normal.
Staring at the same page yet not seeing it any longer, Snape tried to think of any child who ever reacted to him like that and one came to mind, a few years ago, but there was no way James Potter’s brat of a child was abused at home.
It wasn't possible.
But the girl that had reacted the way James Potter's son did just now was abused, terribly, she was still receiving mind healing for it.
James Potter's son was not being abused.
Or was he.
Frowning even more because, shaking his head firmly, no, just no.
But Mr Potter was serving detention for a bad first brewing of a potion he’d never done before, yet no fewer than three potions had failed to a dangerous degree and his had only been too thick and glutinous.
James Potter's son was the only one….
Snape didn't abuse his students.
Frighten them, yes, potions brewing was dangerous, they needed to learn to focus, fear of him made that happen.
Easing back in his chair Snape frowned, when anyone asked Dumbledore told them Harry Potter was safe and happy and with family but, how much family was left by now?
Fucking James was an only child, no living relatives. Bastard Serius was dead, and all his immediate family dead along with him.
Lilly, darling Lily dead as well as most of her family, Remus, shit stain that he was, was an only child too, and dead to boot.
All of them dead.
Only Lilly had any living family but no one would put a magical baby with magic hating muggles, no one.
And when asked Dumbledore would only say he was safe and happy and well.
Suddenly forcing it all away he got back to work, focused and intent and time slid past as it does, because the pages grabbed his attention as they sometimes did, usually when least expected, and he was getting proper work done at last.
A tiny sound had him jerking in shock, how was the dratted child so silent as to sneak up on him!
“What!” He barked, and this time the child didn't flinch, just kept his head up but slightly turned to the side, hands behind his back, robe stained and tattered with grey patches where the caustic cleaning solution had bleached and burned through the fabric, entire body shaking slightly.
A quick glance at the clock and how had three hours passed that fast? Missing lunch was not part of the punishment, just an hour scrubbing cauldrons to -
To -
Help the child focus in class?
Just that, just remind him to focus, not to hurt a child who looked just like his bastard of a father.
“Show me.” He said as he got to his feet, the job needed to be inspected anyway lest he get contaminated potions in the advanced classes.
A ghost would make more noise than the child who trailed after him, and Severus drew to a shocked halt because - the entire room was clean.
All the shelves clean, all the caldrons scrubbed and dried, gleaming.
Even the floor was clean, the sink as well, clean and dried.
Turning to look at the child again something was wrong, badly wrong, the child was grey, not like earlier but sickly grey and their skin was gleaming with fine sheen of sweat, eyes unfocused and yet they still stood like a proper pureblood child, hands behind their back, head up while tiny tremors shook them.
Hands behind their back.
Dread now as he looked desperately for the gloves, used gloves but well up to the job, the ones always beside the sink, an entire basket of them.
But they were gone.
The child swayed slightly and then jerked upright, jaw clenched so tight Snape feared for broken teeth and without a word he simply picked the child up and ran.
*
“What happened oh my goodness, let me see good fetch me that perfect you just brewed it too so it’s most effective hold him for me, thats it never mind using too much just push them in, I don't care if it wastes any his hands oh Severus his poor hands what happened?”
Almost passing out himself from the sight, the child's hands so raw it was like they’d been skinned. “He was cleaning cauldrons, the older classes ones, used Scour without gloves.”
“Without, what? How could he!”
Holding the shuddering form tight to his chest, ruthlessly gripping both elbows to force the arms together so that the savagely injured hands would fit into the jar of burn cream, Severus said, “I didn't check, didn't make sure the gloves were there, just assumed, told him to clean, oh gods, his hands he was scrubbing for three hours, the entire room, I got busy, forgot him.”
“I forgot him, Poppy.”
“S’okay, mmmmm okay, had worse once cleaning the floor, s’okay, get better on mmmown.”
“Harry - ” Madam Pomfrey would have gone on but the child mumbled, "Not Harry, ssssnot m’name no’more.”
Clearly thinking the child delusional with pain she asked in that hateful cloying tone adults used on sick children, "Then what is your name dear.”
Only now beginning to relax as the pain began to ebb, the child held tight in Severus' arms said, “My name's Hadrian Potter, please don’t call me Harry anymore.”
When the mediwitch would have argued Severus said, nice and clear, “Alright Hadrian, I will let everyone know your name, and I am sorry if we used the wrong one earlier, thank you for letting us know.”
“Now Severus - ” but he broke her off, snapping, “NO, his name is important, we will all use his name properly or I’ll be having words with anyone who doesn't respect that wish on his part, you know how important names are!”
She was frowning as she went to pull the jar off the child's hands and he caught it, not letting her jerk it free and instead he eased it off the still badly injured hands, the cream was simply step one of first aid.
“Madam, remember we are treating a child." he said in a tone filled with venom and she left with a flounce to get the rest of the materials needed to heal the damage.
Shifting the child into a more comfortable position now he rubbed their arms where his grip clearly had hurt, and this time he ignored the robes hiding the body underneath and felt the bones beneath.
The child was made of bones!
And he’d made him miss a meal, and burn the skin off both his hands by treating him the way he'd wanted to treat his father all those years ago.
“Hadrian Potter?”
“Yes sir.” and the child flinched into him as Madam Pomfrey returned, snapping his name out like an insult, flinched and hid as if Severus might protect him, and it was a knife to the guts made of self loathing and guilt, that this child that was supposed to be safe and well would try to hide from an angry adult by using Severus as a shield.
“I am sorry Mr Potter," he said to distract both child and angry healer, "this was not my intention when serving you with detention but it is clearly my fault that you are so badly injured.”
“All I intended for you to do was to wash four or five cauldrons, they are large and heavy and a difficult task to do even that many properly, yet you worked so hard and got them all done, and the room as well.”
“No Madam Pomfrey, give it to me, I’ll do it.”
Taking the emerald paste and brush he said, "This will sting, oh, no, never mind, Patches!”
A crack and his House Elf was there, "Youz is being calling me?"
“Yes, thank you for coming so fast, bring me potions number 9-7-Dave, number 12-11-Sara, and number 92-6-Markus please. Quick as you can.”
In less than a minute he lined the three up on the table nearest him and said, softly but with firm command, “You will drink them as I hand them to you, this one will relax your muscles,” the child shuddered as it hit and went boneless, “this one,” he helped the child drink, “will remove all pain from you, and the final one will let you sleep for a few hours as the skin is regrown on your hands.”
Holding the child until they began to softly snore he carefully lifted him and went to the farthest bed in the ward, jerking his head for Pomfrey to bring the skin repair solution.
“I swear Severus, codling the child like that, aren't you the one who said - ”
“Stop, just.... stop. I was wrong, and if ever a time was right for some coddling now is it.”
Unbuttoning the robes he heard her gasp at the sight, ribs, elbows, knees, hips jutting like a starved dog as Severus said, “I was wrong.”
“Hateful and hurtful and sickeningly wrong and I am ashamed to the depths of my soul that I too added to the burdens this child is carrying.”
Beginning to paint the green slime on tiny hands he said, “Does this look well and safe and happy to you?”
“No, oh gods, no.”
“Have you seen him before?”
A sudden shocking suspicion as she answered honestly, "No Severus, I’d have said something about it, this is unbearable!” but her eyes were clouded suddenly, and he looked up and caught them with his own and looked.
And saw.
Because where the first year physical exams were in her memory there was a blank.
A Hadrian Potter shaped blank.
And only Dumbledore was powerful enough, and in the right place, to obliviate a memory that neatly.
Looking down as he began to bandage the hands he’d made a child burn to the point of seeing bare muscles through the damage, he swore no more.
This child would suffer no more.
Which is when he had to scare the Weasley and Granger children away from simply rushing loudly into the room, and then he called out, “One at a time, one of you visits, one of you waits in the hall.”
Because how far did this go, how deep was it?
His answer was clear when he caught the mind and memory of Granger, as she was ruthlessly programmed to be the bossy mother knows best figure, and then later he caught Weasley and the memory of being twisted from a happy go lucky scamp into a greedy, jealous possessive damned near feral dog.
Between the two of them no one would ever get close to Hadrian, no friendships made, not healthy ones at least, and if two students and a mediwitch were mind raped and spelled and compulsioned and twisted like this…. why wasn't he?
Oh, the knife twisted deeper because of course. He needed no help to hate the boy, Hadrian was the son Severus never had by the woman he’d loved and the bastard she’d chosen that he’d hated all these years.
Dumbledore didn't have to twist Severus, he’d done that to himself already!
Sighing as he slowly got up, the child was safe enough for now, whatever Dumbledore was doing needed a living child, even if not a happy, healthy, safe one.
Tomorrow he’d start a few investigations on the sly, see if he could actually fix a tiny bit of his monumental fucking up, and help the boy!
*
Late that night, as Severus slept the deep sleep of a spell designed especially for him, his memories were shifted, poked about with, examined deeply and judged, all while a white haired head shook with sorrow at how badly wrongheaded his young friend was being, and then all of Severus’s memories of the day were swept away, leaving him once again the perfect tool to shape the world to come.
It really was such a shame about Harry, Dumbledore sighed, but the greater good was much more important than a single child and he was sure Severus would one day thank him for this, especially when the dark lord returned, as he was sure too in the not too distant future!