Harry Potter and the Misunderstanding

CHAPTER 11

Severus went to bed with anger coursing through his veins, pumping through his body and making his left eye twitch.

No wait, that was tiredness. The stress of the day was catching up with him.

He still could not believe the nerve of the boy lying just meters away from him in his own house.

Severus had told Albus about the boy's lies after dinner, but it had been a brief conversation and the old man had again warned him not to see things at face value.

In Severus' opinion, if the headmaster believed that Potter was innocent, if he believed that the boy ought to be treated to a wave of the hand and an excuse made for every innocuous mistake, then he could spoil the child himself in roughly two months time when he started school.

Severus however had no plans to do so.
No, the boy would be treated to a decent dose of reality, and if that learning curve took a few trips to the bathroom sink and the carbolic soap, then so be it. With this final thought on the matter, Severus tried to settle into the welcoming arms of sleep.

***

The walls of Severus' house were thin, and at first he was not sure if it was his imagination.

There was a... moaning? It was low and faint but, yes, it was definitely there. Severus sat up in bed. His other eye had started to twitch.

It had only been soap, for Merlin's sake, how could the boy still be snivelling? Severus lay back down and turned onto his side, pulling the sheet over his shoulders and breathing heavily through his nose.

The boy had been lucky to receive only a single finger wiped around the inside of his mouth; Severus' own father had made him suck half a slab before he was ordered to swallow it.

Under his father's threat of burning his schoolwork and snapping his wand in half. Yes, the boy was fortunate indeed.
Severus shut his eyes.

They opened with a snap when an ear splitting scream broke the silence of the night.

Potter.

Severus bundled himself out of bed and staggered to his door, wrenched it open, and then thundered his way down the hallway towards the boy's room.

With a flick of his wand - which, of course, he always had on his person - he opened the door and stormed over to the thrashing mass which was... on the floor.

Potter was tangled in sweat-soaked sheets, his frantic struggles recalling the pitiful thrashing of a kitten trapped in a sack, bound for the river.

Severus shook his head at the sight and pulled the sheet off the boy's head with one strong pull. 'Potter!' He shouted. 'Wake up!'

The boy's eyes were still tightly shut, though the thrashing had subsided to an uncontrollable shaking.

'You are dreaming, boy,' Severus growled. 'Wake up!' He repeated, and shook the small body by its bony shoulders.

In the low light of Severus' wand tip, startled green eyes made contact with his black ones. The terror he saw in them gave way to panic as the boy realised he was nose to nose with his guardian.

Potter took fractured gasps, his chest heaving and his eyes leaking. Severus looked away for a moment.

'Calm yourself, Potter.' He repeated, and waited as the sound of tortured breathing subsided. Another few gasps, a sniff, and then stillness.

'I'm sorry.' Potter croaked and wiped a hand across his face.

Severus straightened to his full height.

'Get back into bed.'

Potter obeyed at once. He climbed onto the narrow mattress and painstakingly untangled the sweat-soaked sheets with trembling hands, smoothing each crease as though expecting to be reprimanded for leaving them in disarray.

When the boy had finished, he folded himself beneath the blanket and risked a brief glance up before dropping his gaze to his knees.

Severus frowned at the boy.
'What was the dream about?' He asked in a bored voice.

It was what you asked children when they woke you violently in the night, was it not?
That was the acceptable response.
Not to shake the child and spell its loud mouth shut, as Severus would naturally be inclined to do.

'Nothing.' The boy replied weakly.

'Nothing does not scream loud enough to shatter the windows, Potter.' Severus said testily.

'No, Sir.' The boy agreed.

'Don't disturb this household again.' Severus warned him with narrowed eyes before putting the light of his wand out and leaving the room.

It was a one off, Severus thought when he was back in his own room. Probably the result of the light punishment the boy had received, an overreaction to the discipline for lying.

Nothing more.

The sullen child had a pair of lungs on him, Severus had to admit. He frowned at his ceiling in the dark.

The boy had better not be screaming the house down every night.
Maybe a silencing charm over the door?
Ah, but no.
The headmaster might have something to say about his awareness for the boy's safety if Severus was to do that.

He had made an oath to protect, after all.