Chapter Text
Harry hung from his uncle’s grip, tight to the point well past pain around his upper arm, both frozen in the paint scented air as they looked at the place a large fist had just slammed into - and through - the drywall.
Having ducked the blow missed Harry, and he knew that usually Uncle Vernon did loads of bluff strikes before actually hitting him, but now they both were screwed, because Petunia had just had the entire downstairs done up, and they weren't even allowed to have shoes on, never mind touch the walls!
“Fix it.”
Low and hoarse his Uncle’s voice trembled on desperate, and Harry said, “I’m not allowed - ”
Being shaken like a rattle and slammed into the wall as the words "FIX IT!” were screamed at him, Harry lifted his free hand, placed it over the damage and…. imagined it fixed.
No wand, his trunk already in the cupboard under the stairs, wand locked into it, the little door still open, the entire thing’d only happened because Uncle wouldn't believe the wand was in there!
The little door though, dark safe space so close, if he got in trouble for doing magic then someone would at least know what was happening, so as soon as Uncle let go Harry lunged across the hall and squeezed in past his trunk, knees to chest as he tucked himself out of sight, the man's broad back to him as the wall was inspected, into cover before Uncle even noticed and only then did Harry realize he’d miscalculated a bit when the door slammed shut.
He’d shrunken his trunk for the trip on the train, was so proud of having learned how to do the spell, been made to unshrink it so it could be locked away, clearly Uncle hadn’t seen him get in with it, locks on the door to the cupboard engaged with snaps and clunks, even the big new one that looked so weird, Harry remained silent, still, quiet.
Hurting so bad, phoenix tears might save lives but that was all they'd done for him, he was alive indeed but every part of him ached and burned and Uncle had made it all about a million times worse!
No room with how low the roof was to open the trunk and his one pain potion, damned little space even to get comfortable, he closed his eyes and let the tears come, hoping law enforcement would show up soon.
*
Law enforcement didn't show up.
There had been loads of noise after what felt like forever, and uncle’s angry voice bellowing for Harry but Harry knew better to show up for that tone!
It was even worse than Uncle’s getting-into-the-car-with-the-family voice but with a frantic pitch to it, and loads of stomping and then quiet, Harry stayed small and silent, figuring it was safest until it all calmed down, and wherever they were going he knew he wasn’t invited anyway and his arm really hurt, so he’d curled in the cramped space and fallen asleep at last.
Usually the noise of his family returning from a night out would wake the dead but it felt like a long long time since he’d gotten locked in, and everything was quiet, so it was worth the risk to try and get out, especially with how uncomfortable he was.
Epic fail.
And he tried shouting, but no one heard, and he tried kicking yet the dead silent house let him know it was hopeless, yet if he didn't get to a loo he’d burst!
In desperation he did the only other thing he could think of, “Dobby?”
Elf eyes glowed in the dark, Harry’d not known that, but he smiled in deep relief and said, “Ummm, I’m kinda locked in, can you let me out?”
“No Great Harry Potter Sir, I’z can’t beings letting youz out, becausings the master of house locked the doors and I iz not his elf, or your elf, or the house’s elf and even if I wasings the lock on the door iz really bad I am sooooo SORRY!”
Not letting the little thing start trying to hurt himself, Harry asked from the hug he’d pulled Dobby into, “Can you help me in a different way then?”
Huge eyes blinked and a careful question as the elf snuggled deeper into the hug, “How?”
“Well, food and a toilet and something to drink? I’m sure they’ll come home soon and let me out so it won’t be that bad, as long as, well,” wriggling in desperation, “Dobby, I really gotta pee!”
Gleam dark gleam dark gleam dark as Dobby blinked at him, and then said, “I’z being able to do that, waitings here.”
A snap and they were gone as Harry huffed, “Where’m I gonna go?”
*
The Great Harry Potter Sir had asked Dobby for helpings and Dobby had to say no, AND the Great Harry Potter Sir had forbidden Dobby to hurt himself so instead of beating himself bloody against the wall he slid into the Manor’s kitchen and pulled food to himself, tea and sandwiches and biscuits and a tart and water and then returned to the tiny dark musty smelling space.
Under the stairs, where the Great Harry Potter Sir was locked in.
Frowning at the cramped nastiness of the space under the stairs Dobby snapped his fingers, making an elf space, it wasn't much really, just the kind of space any elf could make alone, twice its height tall, twice the elf's height wide, and twice its height long, so at least the Great Harry Potter Sir could stand up, and lie down upon the floor, and the trunk could be dragged in a bit from the cupboard so it could open, and a further snap had a light and with a blush Dobby pointed to the hole in the floor, “It banishes, and there iz a roll of softest paperings that iz never running out and a spout for water to washings your hands.”
Laying out the food and drink he ignored the sound of grateful relief as the hole was used, and he winced as he got a towel from the rag bag, no one would notice it’s being gone, but washed hands shouldn’t be wiped dry on trouser bottoms, they should be towelings dry.
Hopefully no one would notice it all missing?
Watching the Great Harry Potter Sir eat made Dobby feel so much better though, and then he was called and had to go.
*
As prisons went, it was pretty okay.
And surely uncle would come back soon and let him out!
Until then Harry got his clothes out of the trunk and piled them up into a bed, and pulled his potions books out, he’d start with that homework first, cause it was certain to be the hardest!
*
Dobby kept bringing him food, a very odd mix that looked a lot like what got left on the plates after dinner but as he usually got that from his family, he was thrilled to have it even if it was a lot different to what he was used to, strange foods he'd never even seen before but even all mixed together it was all really nice, and the spout gave fresh water, the hole relief, and his books, even if it was all last year's books, it still kept his mind from breaking, as did the visits from his favorite elf.
No real way to tell time until he got the tempus spell right, and then he had to figure out how to stick it to the wall, and by then he’d gotten all his work done and was just, reading his books, not like Hermione did but nice and slow and often aloud, just to make the silence feel not so lonely.
Exploding snap was stupid in a tight space, his chess pieces hated him, and Hedwig couldn't reach him, so that pretty much left Quidditch Through the Ages that made him sad for some reason, and his text books.
So he read them, again and again and again.
And then, just when he was beginning to get comfortable, to really relax in the tiny space and dependable nothing-at-all happening ever again, Dobby showed up with ears clenched tight in his fists, tears dripping off his nose and chin, and Harry gave him an emergency hug, because whatever was wrong was bad.
It really was.
“The manor is being closed for the second half of the summer?”
“Indeed, all the foodings and things iz already locked away, I iz not knowings what to do!”
Desperate fear hit Harry, because uncle hadn't returned, the house was still empty and silent, and after quietly and frantically being certain he was going to starve to death before school even got the chance to start, Harry remembered the one job he did for his family that he actually enjoyed, “Does the manor have gardens?”
“Indeed it does Great Harry Potter Sir, so many gardens, Dobby iz told to being keepings the grass cut, see, I iz having scissors to be doings it with!”
Holding up a tiny set of silver snips Harry hated the Malfoy’s even more, but Dobby didn't seem to care it was an impossible task, so instead asked, “Does any food grow in it?”
“Oh yes Great Harry Potter Sir, lots and lots and oooooooh, I… cans beings…… bringing youz.... raw food?”
“Please, oh please Dobby, I don' wanna die in here!”
Raising his chin Dobby said, “Youz cans being totally relying on me Great Harry Potter Sir, I iz not failings youz!”
*
Something was wrong with the food!
It tasted good, tasted great even, green apples and soft fruit and tomatoes and cucumbers from the glass houses and lettuce and carrots and even tiny sweet melons and peaches and his tummy was full, but he was so hungry!
Worse than the worst hunger he’d ever felt, even eating mountains of crunchy tasty fresh produce Harry thought he’d die of hunger.
And crouching over the hole in the floor for what felt like hours as he squitted it all back out again made him feel even more like death was coming for him, cause it all hurt so bad!
*
Voice hoarse from crying, trying to distract himself from the horrible cramps in his guts, Harry asked, “Dobby?”
“Yes Great Harry Potter Sir?”
Wincing at the name but the elf just would not stop calling him that, Harry said, “What about my school list and supplies run?”
Huge eyes blinked in thought, he’d figured out Dobby needed a bit of time to work through questions so didn’t try and rush him, “Does Great Harry Potter Sir have his key?”
“No, Professor Dumbledore took it back from Hagrid, said I didn’t need it at my age.”
“Then if youzings doesn’t have it youz can be givings me a letter for Gringotts and I can bez takings out youz money, and I’z can even beings getting youz Hoggywarts things.”
“Oh thank goodness, here,” getting to his knees to yank paper and ink out of the trunk, Harry asked, “What should it say?”
It took them about an hour to get a nicely written request, and Harry told Dobby to take it all, all the money, to stuff it into the bag the elf made for it, and while he couldn't pace much with how terrible he felt, Harry did try a few times until the elf returned.
Successfully returned, money and list in hand.
“Dobby, you are a life saver, let's have a look!”
*
Shopping for the Great Harry Potter Sir was awesome, and each item was ticked off and shrunken as soon as he got it, and once the list was done Dobby went a little crazy, but with full permission, because his Great Harry Potter Sir wanted something fun to do at last, and needed so much more to read and do, it hurt Dobby’s heart how terrible it was to be locked in a box!
At least now, even with weeks remaining until he either got out or someone came looking for the Great Harry Potter Sir and rescued him, until that happened at least Dobby could get him real food again!
*
Food and books and small-spaces games and food and sweeties and more food and even more books and all this new years school books to read….
Feeling miles away better, Harry thought he might live through the summer after all!
*
All his stuff packed away, shaking in the dim light at the thought of someone from Hogwarts having to come rescue him but at least it'd all be neat and tidy, Harry finally heard a sound, keys unlocking the front door, loud feet stamping and thundering up to their rooms, and Harry yelled, screamed and banged and screeched until his ears rang and outside silence hit, and then the door opened.
Aunt screamed, slamming it shut again as Harry sobbed, trying to get the door open again, he’d tried every spell he found in his books on it already, practiced everything he could across the silent days, yet now, with the train due to take them all back the next day….
He finally felt a bit of hope, even as they still didn't let him out.
*
They let him out in the morning.
He’d tidied himself to the best of his abilities, gotten dressed in the clothes Dobby had gotten him that mostly fit, packed his trunk twice more just to keep himself busy, and finally crawled free when the door opened and his trunk was pulled out of his way.
He’d shoved it in the way like that just in case they got mad at him for moving it, and he was snatched up and shaken and screamed at but finally, after endlessly awful noise for the entre drive, he was kicked out at the station and he was free!
*
As soon as he got his hands on his trunk he'd shrunk it, his wand already in his hand from where he'd hidden it up his sleeve, he did the spell in the boot of the car rather than try and heave it out the way his family expected him to do and was off and running before Uncle even figured out what he‘d done!
The yelling behind him only spurred him on, he slammed through the barrier and onto the train, right at the back, the car and compartment no one wanted, he was panting as he slid onto the seat, gulping a huge sigh of relief as he finally sat down, feeling safe.
Trying to feel safe.
The rampaging students as they rushed around greeting friends had his skin trying to crawl off his body because it was so LOUD!
Ron though, Harry smiled as his friend came in with stamping feet, dragging his trunk, surely his brothers could have shown him the shrinking charm?
“Damn Harry, you look like shit!”
“Thanks Ron, you look great!”
His friend did, tanned and three inches taller and his hair practically standing on end with vigor, Harry felt even more ragged and pathetic, especially when Ron asked, "Did you even go outside at all this summer, damn, you look like a child of bloody Snape you’re so pale, and what is up with your hair?”
Curling into himself a bit Harry shrugged, with only a thin stream of cold water he'd not been able to do much at all to keep clean, but it was okay, Ron asked questions all the time but didn't really wait for answers, and Hermione came in then and said the same things about how he looked but then lept into the news of the day.
Sirius Black, escaped convict, a man Harry’d never even heard of, didn't give a damn about really, and he laughed in relief when a chess game offer finally was tossed his way and settled in to be trounced and hear all about their summers.
Perfection.
*
Harry’d never heard of a dementor, but he felt it coming.
Dark and cold, like being shut out in the middle of winter in a storm, ice fogging his breath as he heard something, a woman screaming.
Screaming and screaming and screaming and something in him rose up and screamed back, protective rage filled him, surging up as his body failed him, crumpling to the floor as he continued to scream at the threat, kill it, destroy it, rend kill tear shred destroy!
Something was holding him down now, he thrashed and bit and clawed and fought even as blackness took him.
*
The heat from the one drawing it close burned, far more than the hunger spurring it on. Drawing back from the blaze it fled, no meal was worth the pain of burning!
*
Little Harry, a dementor was on the train and tried to get to his cub, the cub Dumbledore had hidden from him, denied him access too, the cub that was foaming at the mouth, screaming a high shriek of rage so intense the very sound had driven the foul beast back enough for Lupin to get a clear shot at it, driving it back even farther, his inability to form a patronus a distinct pest right about now as shield charms had very little effectiveness, but he stood in his borrowed clothes and demanded it depart upon his authority as a Hogwarts teacher and it turned and left.
Fleeing not him but the child still raging with blind eyes as they crawled across the floor, dragging himself on arms alone, smelling of nothing Remus had ever smelt before.
*
Waking in the infirmary Harry wondered if anyone else had ever gotten there so fast, his last memory was….. Oh….
“Indeed, here, you will feel better if you eat this.”
But the smell turned his guts, sicking up everything he’d eaten all day long, Harry let the dark take him away again.
*
“So, an undiagnosed intolerance to chocolate?”
“Seems so, and Poppy, he is so small, so thin!”
“Indeed, I’ve asked Severus to brew some extra strength restorative potions, his friends said he told them he was sick all summer, he’s certainly pale enough, but I’m not reading any residue….” trailing off she shook her head, “We’ll keep an eye on him, for now, go catch the last of the feast, go on now, he’ll be safe enough in here.”
*
“HEY POTTER, is it true you took one look at a dementor and couldn't stop screaming?”
Malfoy laughed at him but right now the only thing on Harry’s mind was breakfast, he could smell something amazing and he flapped a hand at the blond prat’s direction and reached the table and -
Fish
“Oh kippers, oh my god they smell great!”
Grabbing three he slapped them on his plate, and as he poured tea with one hand he picked the first smoked hering up and began to eat it, focusing on the flavor, indescribable, crunchy and soft and smokey and salty.
“Ummmm mate?”
Halfway through his second Harry looked over, Ron staring at him in shock, “You’re supposed to just eat the meat’n leave the head’n bones?”
Realizing he’d eaten the second one whole too Harry shrugged and started on the head of the third, crunching through all of it, smiling with how good it felt, never mind tasted.
He wrapped the rest of them in a napkin, and stuffed them in a pocket after eating three more, finally feeling satisfied at last.
*
Potions was very strange this year and it was only just day one!
Something was wrong with his nose, smells were freaky!
And Professor Snape smelt even stranger, an ever shifting melange of fragrances that Harry just did not understand, because the man’s expression never changed.
Dour, angry, sneering, dismissive, yet he smelled amazing.
Keeping his head down his nose didn't stop, until “Mr POTTER, do you perhaps need a tissue for your nose?”
“No sir, sorry sir.”
His words were automatic, but part of him whimpered, tears prickling behind his eyes, and he felt his lip tremble until he sniffed as quietly as he could and the man still smelt good, not as good as earlier, but still good, and the tears feeling went away totally when he was given a handkerchief which he didn’t actually need because the tears hadn't gotten free but made him feel better for some reason and Harry got on with his potion, even if it seemed to be going really wrong now.
In desperation he did something ultra stupid, taking the kipper tail he’d been saving for later he lowered it in slowly, keeping one eye on Snape and one on the swiftly changing gunk in his cauldron…..
Smelling now of the sea and a happy turquoise rather than rotten eggs and puce, Harry smiled, euphoric at the smell, and in a daze he gathered three pearls, a cods tooth, and a three inch piece of giant kelp from his potions kit and gave them one by one to the cauldron, eyes hazy and slow, head almost in it as one by one it all got so much better, he snapped his head to the side and bit deeply and hard into the hand that gripped him, pulling him from his brew, only the sharp shock of the taste of blood kept him from attacking further, and then he was looking deeply into eyes like dark pools of….
Not rage, the professor didn't feel mad, or smell mad either and the man had a diagnostic hovering above Harry's head all in blues and greens and the professor said softly, “A month's detention Potter, and I will be taking your potion to examine, think now about what you did, let me see it.”
A happy sniff showed the room was now empty, and no matter how last year had gone clearly the man cared now, it rolled off him in waves of warm sweetness so instead of showing him what he’d done with the potion Harry crooned a call of need and shoved himself into their arms and bit their collar, sucking happily as he clung.
*
Potter was up to something, something very odd indeed.
All of them had seen his new eating habits this morning, yet the child had been sniffling in class, driving him insane with the noise, he’d snarled something, the child had wilted, and Severus had given him a tissue.
Potter had looked so sad and small and then seemed to shake it off, Severus felt bad but they needed to toughen up, grow a thick skin, being a pampered and spoilt prince was not going to win them the war!
At least the tissue got delivered, and his soft spot for the child remained undiscovered!
And then, that potion, a sea born euphoric brew, how had the child even made something like that, but when he’d tried to get to the bottom of it the mystery got deeper, because he’d suddenly had his hand almost bitten off and then his arms full of Potter, and they were sucking on his collar while gripping too tight to get them off!
Of course, when the spell ended - blame it on the potion, yes, that was it, the potion made the child do it - the brat had taken one look at the professor, begun to babble how sorry he was for behaving like that, and fled.
Leaving Severus feeling bereft, and sad, which he firmly shook off and got back to work, because he cared for the child but had to hide it, which was, of course, painful.
He was only human, after all.
*
The smell thing was going to drive Harry crazy, but first he was going to die of embarrassment!
Because not only had he hugged professor Snape but then he’d fallen off his broom during quidditch tryouts, and had done so badly he’d not even made the team, and everyone was frantic and upset but if he couldn't do it then he couldn't do it.
Easily blaming his fictional summer of sickness, he said he’d work hard to regain the strength and felt sad about it all but not too bad, it would give him more time to study, with all his weeks of reading he was looking forward to classes now.
Dobby’d even gotten him books on wizarding culture to read, so he didn't feel quite so stupid.
Trying to ignore how mad at him Ron was, Harry’d finally snapped at the endless whinging, "It's not my fault I got sick, Ron, give it a rest!”
Sitting down as far from him as possible, Ron was now ignoring him, which was okay as Harry gobbled up everything near him that smelled good, all of it fish, or shellfish based, desperately stuffing his face he ignored the chatter around him, eating until he was full, and then staggered up to bed, tired to his bones and already starting to feel hungry again.
But the smell thing, it hit harder as he got into the dorms, he’d been too tired the first night to notice, but now it was like someone else was in the room with him, and Harry delicately moved around the room, finding only Scabbers and Trevor, and of the two Treavor smelt earthy and nice, and Scabbers…..
Smelt terrible!
Uncertain of what to do about it Harry climbed into bed and was out like a light.
*
Detention was great, because Harry could track a smell back to the jar or bin or container it came from and then he knew what that smell was in the constant nose storm he was being assaulted by all the time now.
Professor Snape was late, so Harry was enjoying himself hugely and only jumped about ten MILES when a voice about stopped his heart, “Mr Potter, WHAT are you doing?”
“Oh, oh oh oh gosh, oh dang I didn't hear you come in I am so sorry Professor I was just finding smells, sorry, what do you want me to do today for detention?”
The man smelled…. complicated, and yet it was okay, was good even, he might not be nice but if Harry ignored the professor's words and just focused on the smell of the man then it was great, and it got even better when he was set a task.
“This, Mr Potter, is a jar of live flobberworms.”
“As you may or may not know, if you put a bunch of the things in close proximity to each other then they create the very mucus they are named for and that we require for so many potions.”
“I did that this morning, and as you can see the jar is now full of the ingredient, yet if we leave said worms within it, they will die.”
“Your job Mr Potter, is to take these two sticks, watch now, I place them on either side of a worm and gently begin to spin them, see, the worm, such a stupid thing to call a hard carpaced segmented legged thing like this, wixen are so stupid when it comes to names, but I digress, see how I now have the worm wrapped with the stick, see how it is biting onto and clinging to the soft wood, we lift it free of the slime and - ”
Walking two steps to the large tank….
“We lower it into the water, holding still until it lets go, ah, just like that.”
Watching the flat, millions of legs like a swimming centipede glide down to the rocks at the bottom of the tank, Harry smiled and took the sticks and tried to get one out.
Tried, because it was not as easy as the professor made it look!
But Harry kept at it and eventually managed to get one, and he got it to the tank and let it go and realized he was alone and bunny hopped back to the jar of slime and got the next one and the next and the one after that.
The briny sea smell of them was awesome, and he was alone, and the jar had so many in it….
Holding one up to his nose as he sniffed deeply and wondered, would anyone miss one?
*
Potter was wrong, it was the only way to describe it, only the first week back at school and the child was a boil on Severus’ ass with how wrong he was.
Hiding behind a notice-me-not he watched the child doing a job most fifth years struggled with, a task even he found particularly annoying and difficult yet Potter was flying it.
As if the worms wanted to be caught, wanted to be rescued from their own slime, they practically lept upon the sticks.
About to let his hide-behind drop, he did have marking to do and the puzzle clearly wasn't going to expose the answer just by watching, Severus froze as the child lifted a large worm, sniffed all along the body, looked all around with the expression of a child about to get into dangerous or forbidden behavior, flobberworms were prime prank material after all, often dropped into shoes and such so stealing one was kind of to be expected really.
Tensing to deliver a blistering scold Severus was utterly unprepared for the child to -
Eat the damned thing!
Crunch crunch crunch, down it went.
Trying not to vomit in shock Severus didn't know what to do, so in self defense he did nothing, simply watching the child catch another one and return it to the tank.
Six returned to the habitat before the child again looked around with guilty eyes, rubbed his tummy, shuffled his feet a bit….. and then gobble up the next worm he caught.
What the ever living fuck!!!
All in all the child ate ten of them, over a pound of hard shelled, venomous, pincer armed, sharp legged predatory so called worms, just, crunched them down like…..
Severus had no like, nothing in what Potter’d done compared to any kind of other food or activity, just, nothing at all!
Once the final worm was consumed rather than placed into the tank, Severus found enough voice to say, "Well done Mr Potter, a vexing job done neatly and well.”
“Oh sir,” clutching his chest again at the shock of a sudden voice in a silent room, “you don’t half make me jump!"
“Are you hungry?”
“Oh no sir, I’m all full up now.”
And no wonder, Severus did NOT say, you have eaten well tonight of my stock of flobberworms! Instead he did a banishing spell with the words, “Begone Potter, and don’t forget to brush your teeth!”
Watching them scramble out the door, was the child shorter than last year? Surely not, yet they did indeed look very young in the dim light.
Shaking that thought free he pulled five books to himself, settling down to try and figure out what the fuck was going on!