A new home

Chapter 15

At about 10 am, Severus' head appeared in Lucius' office floo.
"Please come through, Severus" - said the blond man.
Severus stepped in fully and seated himself at the chair in front of Lucius' desk
"Can we make this conversation private? I'd rather this be kept between us." -Severus said
Lucius raised an eyebrow but complied without saying anything. He waved his wand at the door to put up silencing and locking spells.
Severus looked at his friend silently for a few seconds and said
"I need to tell you the current situation in my home and need you to warn your son before dropping him off there"
"Alright, go on"
"Harry Potter is currently staying at my Manor"
Lucius looked surprised, but he kept quiet.
"The boy asked to stay at Hogwarts for the summer, and Albus got suspicious, so he asked me to house him for the summer to figure it out." Severus took a deep breath. "What I found out wasn't pretty. He has been abused by his relatives"
Upon hearing this, Lucius' eyes flashed angrily, his friend was also abused by his father, so he really hated child abusers.
"How bad?" - he asked, barely able to control his anger.
"Probably worse than me. He has never known love or comfort, as far as he remembered." - he added, knowing how Lily and James adored their baby- "His body was covered in old bruises and scars. Many of them hadn't even healed after spending 9 months at Hogwarts. Poppy probably has missed them somehow when she treated him."
Lucius' face was a picture of anger.
"Another child was harmed, and a wizarding one at that!" - he spat.
Severus looked at him seriously.
"I need you to give Draco a general idea of what's going on, about how Harry Potter is at my Manor, that he hasn't been treated well by his relatives and he is going to stay with me until a new guardian is chosen. Draco is not to use that information against Harry and they will be civil towards each other"
"Of course Severus, leave it to me, I'll make sure he understands"
"Alright then, at what time will you drop him off?"
"We'll have breakfast with him and bring him to you, at around 9"
"Ok, good day" - Severus said and stood up
"Thanks, Severus, have a nice day"
Severus flooed back to his home.
He found Harry in the boy's room. When had it become the boy's room? He was doodling whatever was on eleven-year-olds' minds. The man left him be and came back down to his sitting room and continued reading the parenting book. Although he had to learn basic child psychology and other typical things about children to be a professor at Hogwarts, a week ago he wouldn't believe that he would ever read a parenting book, let alone read it every day.
A while later, Toppy popped in to announce lunch was ready, so Severus walked upstairs to retrieve the boy. He knocked on the door and entered.
"Lunch is ready"
Harry looked up, he hadn't noticed the man the first time he came to check on him.
"Oh, you're back. Um... how did it go?"
"It went as well as expected, he said he would warn Draco"
Harry really didn't know how to react, was Mr. Malfoy Sr scary enough to actually make Draco obey. Would the brat obey his father?
"Come now, before the food grows cold"
Harry stood up and followed the man downstairs. For lunch, they had turkey sandwiches and salad along with milk for Harry, as usual. Since Severus read about making food fun, Severus had asked Toppy to do something fun, to Harry's food only, of course, he, Severus, wouldn't eat fun food! Harry's eyes twinkled as he saw his sandwiches in a star shape. He ate all of his sandwiches, only a bit of his salad was left. After lunch, Harry was about to continue his doodling when Severus spoke up
"Harry, go have a nap"
The said boy turned around
"But I'm not a baby. I don't need naps" - It came out too much like a whine for Harry's taste.
"Mark said you need them, don't argue with me" - Severus said crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. The boy's eyes were drooping and he still said he didn't need a nap.
"Come on, if Mark doesn't see you getting better, you might have to take naps until you're old" - he said as he placed a hand on Harry's back and led him upstairs.
Harry grimaced, he didn't want to take naps forever.

The man helped Harry to get in his pull-ups and in bed, then came downstairs and continued his reading. He was on the topic 'Disciplines'. That was a very hard topic when it came to dealing with abused children. Because of what they had experienced, they were likely not able to tell apart between disciplining and abusing. How do you discipline an abused child without them misinterpreting it?