Always, Snape

Hero

With every week closer to the holidays Harry's mood fell. Now there wasn't anyone left he could go to when he was forced to live with his relatives. With the prospect of living with them again he began to question why he kept his past with them a secret. Not that he had any intention to do so in the first place but things had happened and now it was to late. People relied on him, the famous and privileged quidditch star who would kill Voldemort one day. So he couldn't tell anybody about this, not when they were all looking away, only too see the shining hero.

Nevertheless his determination did waver. He literally begged Dumbledore not to send him back but the headmaster who hadn't the slightest suspicion denied his wish vehemently. He prodded that now due to the recent incidents the world wasn't a safe place anymore.

His friends also weren't an option since their protection of their places wasn't considered to be strong enough. Even Lupin whom Harry pleaded again and again thought it best for Harry if he'd return to the Dursleys because he himself needed to meet up with Sirius to work for the order. The order of phoenix was a wizarding secret organization whose leader was Dumbledore. Now since Voldemort was in the verge of coming back they had obviously a whole bunch of urgent problems which didn't permit any teenager around even if spoken teenager was the boy who lived. Harry became so desperate at times he even thought about asking Snape. Not because he liked the man at all but the professor was the only one who could possibly guess Harry's true relationship to his relatives. But his pride prevented him to participate in any of those actions. So he would took the hit for the team. At least this was what he told to himself repeatedly as he stood at Privet Drive after a long train ride. Immediately he had to suppress the urge to vomit just by looking at those perfect build streets. Memories of his fair old lady flashed up as he walked past her house. Since she had lived several streets away it was late evening when he finally arrived at his uncle's house. Against his hopes his relatives were even at home. With the deep conviction that his luck had forsaken him Harry rang the door bell. It took some moments but then his fat uncle opened the door. Instantly his face went from cheerful pink to ash white and then to a fire red. "What are you doing here? I thought you ran of with the pack of yours forever or did they throw you out?" He puffed. Harry just shrugged his shoulders although he knew his uncle was kind of true. "And now you expect me- after you have left us, after all we did for you- to take you in once more?" His uncles face became even more red. "Yes, uncle Vernon. This would be awfully nice of you." Harry said through clenched teeth. In this moment Harry's aunt came down the stairs and let out a surprised shriek. "Vernon, what in god's name is happening? Don't tell me he is back?" Harry sighed deeply. "Hi, aunt Petunia. Nice to see you again." But his aunt ignored him. "What does he want?" She asked his husband furiously. "Obviously they kicked him out and now he crawls back to us." Harry forced himself to keep his smile. "If I could just stay for a month. It would be totally fine." "A whole month?" His aunt huffed scandalized. "I can work." Harry offered quickly. That seemed to sooth his them both. "Of course, you will. But what will the neighbors think?" Harry let out another sigh. "I don't care what they think." He thought while he watched the brains of his relatives work. "Fine." Vernon grumbled finally. "You now where you can sleep." He stepped away to give the door free.

Harry went into house with the feeling he had made himself prisoner the very second. "Give me your stuff. I tolerate any of this freakishness in my house." Harry handed him his trunk glad that he had put his wand in the waistband of his jeans beforehand and that he had left Hedwig and any of his valuable stuff like the halfblood prince's book or the invisibility cloak at Hogwarts.

Soon Harry had the impression like he had never been away. He lived in the cupboard again, his relatives made him do all the chores and serve Dudley who certainly weight a ton now. The only proof of wizarding world's existence was his wand which he kept safely hidden at all times. Although the work was hard, the food rare and the cupboard little Harry was kind of optimistic he would survive the holidays more or less unharmed.
That means until the day when he received post for the first time. Actually, he had told all his friends not to write him over the summer out of fear how his relatives would react to owl post. The very day Harry happened to be in the kitchen to cook his relative's breakfast when suddenly a big owl flew straight through the window leaving it shattered and landed right in front of Harry who watched it panicking. This must be his test results. Crap, he hadn't thought about that. Because of the owl his aunt shrieked in terror and his obese cousin knocked down the whole table in the attempt to get away from it. It was a chaos Harry would under normal circumstances have belittled as funny but now after a quick glance to his uncle who had already risen to his full height made him regret his return instantly. "BOOY!" The obese man roared and grabbed Harry at his arm. "You will pay for this!" And the first hit struck Harry before he even realized what was going on. His uncle had punched him into his stomach causing Harry to fall onto his knees. "I will punch the freakishness out of you. Once and for all!" Another blow hit Harry's face. Desperately, he tried to shield himself. He took blow after blow. His head felt like it was going to burst any minute and he smelled blood. But his uncle still went on. In one moment of clear thoughts Harry almost succeeded to draw his wand but another row of punches prevented any other movement of his. With his last will Harry screamed for help, for someone who'd make his uncle stop before the dangerous dark which lurked at the corner of his vision would consume him for good. He never knew what happened to the poor owl...

A foreboding feeling caused Snape to wake up. Something was off. That he could tell for sure. But he needed some seconds to remember what this particularly feeling was. And then it hit him. The ring. Harry was in danger. Without a second thought he took his wand, changed his clothes and apparated to Privet Drive. He didn't know where the boy lived exactly but Dumbledore had told him how guilty he felt about sending Harry back there since the boy obviously didn't want to. In the end Dumbledore had insisted because he thought it the safest option with the increasing amount of deatheaters around. Therefore Snape was alarmed all the more. The ring was supposed to contact him only in life endangering situations. The professor stormed down the perfect build streets. Where did the dimwit, Potter, live his idly life? Snape looked around but he couldn't see anything strange. He should have told Albus about the ring and everything long ago and maybe should have asked about the exact address. But now it was to late. He didn't have time for this now. Without slowing down Snape scanned his surroundings for the ring's magic. Gotcha! His senses guided him to a nearby field.

Snape could see from far away a group of lower rank deatheaters gathered around a lifeless, bloodshed body. One of them just picked the body up which obviously belonged to Potter to show him to the rest as if he was a trophy. The thought of what those underlings might do to the helpless boy made Snape's blood boil. Instantly he drew his wand and threw a killing course at the deatheater who held Harry. The man fell lifeless to the ground while the boy landed onto his feet although he seemed quite shaky. Fast Snape pushed him behind in order to shield him from the hexes the remaining deatheaters were firing at them now. "Snape." The boy whispered almost inaudible and a little smile placed on his lips. "Stay behind, Potter." The professor barked while unarmored one of the remaining but Harry kept stubborn at his side, the wand held tight in his trembling hands. Miraculously he managed to cast a stupify which caused one deatheater to crash against a nearby rock. The man shot out a painful scream before he sacked down unconscious. The remaining deatheaters seemed to be more skilled fighters than the others. Moreover Snape noticed Harry could barely stand at all and was loosing blood from various injuries. "Potter. Go back. You are in no condition to fight." Severus shouted once more while he tried to figure out he could prevent those deatheaters from apparating but instead of retreating Harry threw himself in front of his professor to cover a hex the man hadn't seen coming. Harry was hit straight in the chest and tumbled to the ground consciousness. His years of experience only prevented Snape from loosing his cool. With two skilled hexes he had struck next attacker down. Then he grabbed the lifeless body in front of him and disapparated. "Please, don't give up, Harry" was all he could think about.