A/N: I know, I know. It's the third installment of this and I still don't have a title! Enjoy anyway. Vote and comment! Um, you may find Harry acting a tad bit younger than his age, but he is eleven years old, and due to the abuse from his aunt and uncle, never really had the chance to mature mentally. Well. That's how I envisage him in this fic. XD
Draco woke up to Harry screaming. The black haired boy was clutching his pillow and sobbing into the green material, harsh screams being sort of muffled by the pillow. Draco scrambled out of his bed and shook him roughly. "Harry! Harry, you're ok!" He cried worriedly. The other students in the dorm stood in a group, watching on in horror. Draco shook his friend frantically. Snape burst into the room, wand aloft, still in his pyjamas. Draco looked at him, almost in tears. "Uncle Sev!" He cried. Severus didn't even reprimand him for calling him uncle Sev in front of the others. He just hurried over to the two boys. "Harry!" He said, voice still hoarse from sleep. He shook him until Harry's screams cut off suddenly and he jumped away from the large hand on his shoulder. Tears kept slipping down his cheeks as he cowered away from Severus. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again. Please don't hurt me." He sobbed.
Severus's heart broke seeing him act this way. The poor boy was curled up against the wall with his tear drenched pillow in his hands as if providing a barrier. He dropped his voice to a calming whisper, aware of the students watching behind them. "Harry, I'm not going to hurt you. It's Professor Snape." Harry still sobbed in the corner, convinced he was going to be punished for his nightmare. "P-Please, I d-didn't mean to s-scream." He begged. Seeing there was nothing else to do, Severus accioed a Calming Drought from his stores. He used it as an injection, knowing there was no way he would get him to drink it without feeling scared for his life. When his little body finally slumped, tremors no longer wracking his entire being, Severus scooped him up in his arms.
He turned to the students still huddled at the other end of the dorm. Seeing severe Professor Snape carrying a child was still intimidating somehow. "I will take care of him. Get to sleep." He ordered coldly. The students scrambled into their beds, not wanting to anger him. Only Draco hesitated in following the order. "Will he be ok?" He asked, concern in his silver grey eyes. Snape nodded curtly. "It was just a nightmare." He didn't step out of the room till all his students were back in bed. With a now calm Harry in his arms, he sped through the common room, through the door out of which he came when greeting the students and into his quarters.
As a teacher his quarters were nothing too special. A bedroom, living room and a kitchen. For him, it wasn't too small, it fit him rather well for his needs but at the moment it seemed too large. Why was his couch so far away from the door?! He'd have to move that. He laid Harry down on the black couch and hovered near the couch for a moment. He cast a tempus. Five a.m. He sighed. It seemed he was going to have time to draw up those revision tests he wanted to give to the second years and above. He settled in with a stack of parchment and a pot of ink in the armchair across from his couch. It was going to be a long day.
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Harry woke up discombobulated. He lay on a soft material that wasn't at all the same as his bed. He jolted up and scrambled backwards, not going too far as he hit the back of the couch. Across from his Professor Snape looked up from his piece of parchment. Harry stared at him wide eyed. He must have taken him here to punish him for screaming. But he couldn't help it, it was really scary! Severus stood up and he whimpered. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scream! I won't do it again! Please don't punish me. I know I wasn't a good boy, but I'll be better next time, I swear!"
Severus's chest tightened. The people who did this to him deserved Azkaban, muggles or not. He made sure to stay a few steps away from the couch, to try and come across as less threatening. "I'm not going to punish you Harry." He didn't say anything else in order to let that sink in. "Y-You're not going to punish me?" Snape shook his head. "No." He reassured him softly. Harry sank against the couch, still tense but the trembling in his hands lessened. His emerald eyes were still frozen wide open in fear and although Severus could see the exhaustion on his face, he refused to take his eyes off Severus. At least he's making eye contact, Severus thought bitterly.
He crouched down and maintained eye contact. "I'm not going to punish you Harry, because having nightmares is a normal thing. You're not a bad boy just because you have a nightmare." Harry stared at him in disbelief. "B-But my aunt and u-uncle always punish me when I scream." He said in shock. Severus stopped himself from scowling. The kid was frightened enough as it was. "It's normal to scream when we're really scared. No one at Hogwarts will punish you for having a nightmare." Harry stared at him in shock.
He was no longer trembling at all and he had relaxed a bit more. He sat slumped over slightly, instead of upright and tensed. "Would you like to tell me what the nightmare was about? It might make it less scary." Severus treaded lightly here. He didn't want to set the boy off again and erase the little progress he'd made with him. Harry shook his head furiously. Now that he knew Professor Snape wasn't going to punish him, he wasn't as scared as he usually was around adults. Besides, he seemed nice. He was being very kind to him, and he reminded him of Draco's parents, who weren't mean to him or punished him at all! Severus didn't push him to talk. He stood up slowly. Harry might have been more relaxed, but he was still staring at him wide eyed like a deer caught in headlights. "Come on. I think we both need a hot drink. Does hot chocolate sound good?" How it was possible, Snape didn't know, but Harry's eyes widened even further. "I can have hot chocolate?" He whispered. Severus nodded.
Harry beamed at him, catching Severus off guard. He had never seen Harry smile before and his heart warmed seeing his innocent happiness. Over hot chocolate of all things. Harry scooted off the couch, still maintaining a small distance between him and Severus. "My aunt and uncle never let me have hot chocolate. Dudley always drank it all, and I used to watch, but now I'm gonna drink hot chocolate!." Severus lead the way into the kitchen, with Harry babbling hesitantly. He turned on his coffee machine with a flick of his wand. Harry hovered by the door. "You can sit down at the table you know." Harry silently clambered up onto a chair at the table. Up close, Severus noticed how malnourished he really was. He was smaller than any eleven year old he'd seen! And he'd been teaching at Hogwarts for years now. He added more marshmallows to the mug of hot chocolate.
When he set Harry's mug of hot chocolate in front of him, the little boy curled his small hands around the blue mug quickly, as if scared Severus was going to take it away from him. Snape sat down across from him with his mug of coffee in hand. Casting a quick tempus, he saw it was seven o'clock. They had an hour till breakfast started in the Great Hall.
The unlikely pair sat in companionable silence. Severus watched as the poor boy struggled to finish all of his sugary drink. "If you can't finish it all, it's ok. Don't make yourself ill." He said gently. Harry slowly put his mug down. He refused to make eye contact with Severus and he sighed. He had thought they had made some progress, but this was to be expected. He had only been with the boy for a half hour or so. The other hours, he wasn't conscious for them, so they don't count.
"I was in the cupboard again." Harry whispered. Snape immediately sat up straight, concentrating on the nervous child in front of him. He knew all about the cupboard. He stayed silent but encouraged him to continue with a nod when he glanced up at him. "I had b-burned the food. But it wasn't my fault, I swear! The pan was really hot and I h-hurt my wrist. But my uncle h-hit me and yelled at me, saying I was u-useless. And he threw me in the cupboard. He didn't let me out. Not even when I got really really hungry. The s-school had called, asking why I'd missed three days of school." He spoke in a whisper, tears dripping down his cheeks. Severus stood up abruptly, his chair screeching on the hardwood floor.
Harry flinched at the sound. He knew he shouldn't have told him. Now he was going to punish him for being a bad boy! Severus noticed his fear but ignored it, pulling him into a gentle hug. Harry tensed. His eyes squeezed shut but when he didn't get hit or yelled at, he opened one eye cautiously. "It's ok. It was just a dream. And they can't hurt you anymore. You don't have to go back to them ever again." Harry pulled away from him, staring at him in disbelief, tears swimming in his green eyes. "I don't have to go back?" Snape shook his head. "They won't hurt me anymore? I'm a good boy?" Harry asked hopefully. Snape smiled at him slightly. Severus Snape smiled at a child. Severus Snape smiled, in general! "They won't hurt you anymore. And you are definitely a good boy Harry." The little boy buried his head in his robes and cried. Severus felt slightly guilty. He knew it wasn't just a dream. But if Harry thought it was just a dream, then there was no point in telling him it was real. That it had happened. He hugged the sobbing boy in his arm tightly. No one was going to hurt him anymore. He wouldn't let them.
A/N: I'm probably going to transfer these chapters over to a different book, and make a book of this. Sorry if this one was shorter than the others, I just wanted to put something out before I go to the airport and get on my flight etc etc. I am going to return to my oneshots, don't worry. I will begin posting completely unrelated, completely random oneshots again. I know not everyone wants to see a series, this is a one shot book after all. People didn't come for a series or an actual proper this is the plot story! So, for those of you people who don't want series, don't fear! The oneshots will start back up. I feel like all I do lately is form series, and I apologise. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!