"Is our food ready yet?" Aunt Petunia demanded as she walked into the kitchen. She nodded when she saw the table set and the food laid out. "Finally. Now get out of our sight so we can have a proper breakf-"she stopped, staring at him. "Who-who are you?"
"It's me, Aunt Petunia. Harry." Harry answered quietly.
Aunt Petunia kept staring. "Freak!" she yelled. "What did you do? We told you we didn't want any freakishness in our house!"
Uncle Vernon lumbered in, Dudley waddling behind him. Although Dudley's eyes had widened at Harry's new look, he still went immediately for the food.
"How dare you do that hocus pocus in our house!" Uncle Vernon shouted as he advanced on his nephew, grabbing him by the neck. He started to shake Harry when suddenly he flew across the kitchen and slammed into the wall, unable to move.
"Don't you dare touch my son, you worthless muggle!"
Still gasping for air, Harry looked up from where he had fallen on the kitchen floor to see Professor Snape standing in the room with his ebony wand out and pointed right at Uncle Vernon. Despite feeling confused about what he had learned from his mum's letter, right then all Harry felt was relief.
"Vernon!" Aunt Petunia grabbed Dudley from where he was still stuffing his face and pulled him over to her husband who was trying to move from the wall. "What did you do?" She glared at Harry. "How dare you invite your kind to our home!"
"I didn't!" Harry protested. "Not that I'm complaining that he is here." He added, rubbing his throat.
Keeping his wand trained on the Dursley's, Severus made his way to Harry. "Are you all right Harry?" He asked in concern, his eyes darkening as he saw the marks on his son's neck. Harry nodded as he stood up, shocked to hear his professor call him by his first name. His father, he reminded himself.
Severus, despite his immense anger toward the muggles, couldn't help the sense of pride he felt when he saw the changes in his son. He was a perfect blend of him and Lily. Thinking of Lily, he turned towards her horrid sister. "How could you treat your own sister's son like this? How could you let that oaf you call a husband hurt him like that?"
Scared as she was at having an angry wizard in the house, Petunia still narrowed her eyes as she answered him. "I never wanted him. The only things he is good for is cooking and cleaning and he is not even good at that!"
Severus's obsidian eyes flashed and he growled as he took a step in her direction. He then noticed the table set for three instead of four. The hand holding his wand twitched, itching to send several painful hexes their way. "He cooks and yet there are only three places set?"
"We don't eat with freaks." Dudley piped up without thinking. His piggy eyes widened at the look on the tall wizards face and he cowered behind his mother, hoping he wasn't going to get another tail.
"You get out of our house!" Vernon was struggling to free himself from the wall. "We are normal, hardworking people-"
Severus snorted. "That's a laugh muggle. You make a child cook your meals and you don't even allow him to eat with you!"
"You're that friend of Lily's!" Petunia suddenly said. She glared at Severus. "I remember you now. It's your fault she got into all that freaky stuff and went to that strange school!"
"I see that you are still jealous even after all these years. So jealous that you took it out on your nephew?" Severus shook his head in disgust, though he himself wasn't any better. He had been cruel and unfair to Harry simply because he had looked like James and had been reminded of the boy who had bullied him in school. He hadn't remembered that after Hogwarts James had actually apologized to him.
"We never wanted him!" Vernon complained, though he looked nervously at the wand still pointed at him. Sparks had begun to fly from it.
"Wait a second. Didn't you call the boy your son?" Petunia asked as she looked from Harry to Severus, seeing the similarities. A mean look crossed her face. "So Lily wasn't so perfect after all was she? What a cheating slu-"
"Silencio!" Severus hissed at her. "You have no idea what you are talking about. Do not ever say anything against Lily again. She would be so ashamed of you, as would your parents!"
Severus turned to Harry who was staring at him wide eyed. "Let's go get your things. We are leaving here for good."
Harry looked up at him hopefully. "Really, sir? I mean professor-um..."
"It's okay Harry. We certainly have a lot to talk about. Let's go get your things." Severus glared at the Dursley's. "If you know what's good for you, not one of you will take a step out of this room until we leave."
"I couldn't even if I wanted to!" Vernon kept trying to pull himself away from the wall, his face red with exertion.
"Pity." Severus smirked as he left the kitchen and followed his son up the stairs. The smirk faded when he saw all the locks on the door Harry was opening as well as the cat flap. "What is this?" He hissed.
Harry flinched slightly at the angry look on Snape's face which seemed to get even angrier when he saw the window with the bars on it.
"This is your room? It is a criminal's room!" Severus seethed. He noticed his son's scared look and quickly occluded his emotions. "I apologize; I did not mean to scare you. I am just angry at how they have been treating you."
"Are you angry that you are my dad?" Harry asked softly, dropping his gaze. Some Gryffindor he was, all he felt was unsure of himself.
"No! Harry, as soon as I got my memories back all I could think of was getting to you." Severus assured him. He wanted so desperately to hold his son and ask for forgiveness for how he had treated him but he knew that this was a lot for Harry to absorb as it was.
Harry turned away to pack with a relieved look on his face. He had been afraid of being rejected like the Dursley's had rejected him. Not sure what he was supposed to call Snape yet, he ventured "Sir? Can I let Hedwig out to fly? She's been locked up too."
Severus had to control the wave of fury he felt at the admission that Harry had indeed been locked up, but he would deal with that later. "Of course. Tell her to go to Hogwarts." He waved his wand and the lock on Hedwig's cage disappeared as well as the bars on the window.
Harry smiled happily as he opened the window and Hedwig gracefully spread her wings and flew out. "Thank you, sir."
Severus nodded. "Are you ready to go?"
"Um, no. My school stuff is locked away. They are in my old room." Harry said feeling embarrassed.
"Your old room? Where is that?"
"The cupboard under the stairs." Harry admitted, holding his bag that held some of Dudley's old clothes.
"And that was your room?" Severus asked in disbelief. How had no one at the school known about this?
Harry nodded his face red.
Severus took a deep breath and then gestured for Harry to follow him downstairs. An alohomora opened the cupboard and Harry's school trunk flew over to them. Severus shrunk it and put it in his pocket as well as the bag Harry was holding and Hedwig's cage.
"Brilliant!" Harry breathed as he watched his items shrink. "Oh wait. What about Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia?"
"Oh, those spells should fade within an hour or so." Severus said casually. His dark eyes narrowed. "Although I should really go in there and-"
"No! What if you get in trouble?" Harry interrupted nervously. He may not know how he felt about Snape being his dad but he knew he didn't want anything to happen to him. Not now, when he finally had a chance for a real family. "They aren't worth it anyway."
Severus looked surprised for a moment but then his eyes softened. "So much like your mother." He reached his arm out. "Grab my arm, we are going to apparate. It may be uncomfortable for you."
Harry tentatively reached for his father's arm. "What does apparate mean?"
Severus turned them on the spot and the next thing Harry knew they were standing in front of the gates of Hogwarts.
Chapter 3
शुरू से प्रारंभ करें:
