The Boy The Snake and The Stone

Chapter 15: Change of Heart?

The last thing Harry remember was the giant club swinging his and Hermione's way, before he flung himself at her. He had no idea if he made in time to push her out of the way, but he does remember the pain in his leg, then a crashing sound of the stalls giving away and covering them before passing out. He awoke with a start, ready to start the fight once again, but found himself in the white, sterile room of the infirmary. If that wasn't the strange part of being teleported, it was that his DADA Professor was standing over him, his hands out stretched looking like he was ready to strangle the young boy. The boy was already under enough stress from both the accident with the troll and now being in a new place that his mind snapped back to a time before he was rescued; his uncle standing over him, just like the professor, his purple face enraged and his hands tightening grip around the thin neck of his.

Harry's first reaction to this was to recoil in on his self, and then to plea for his life. "I-I'm sorry Uncle I-I didn't mean to! Please d-don't hurt me!" The young boy called out his hands above his head, his whole body shivering in fear. The possessed man just stopped, The Dark Lord was very confused to see what laid before him; he had lived this before. Why would the Boy-Who-Lived be cowering in fear? Could he possibly know who he was? No, that wasn't possible! The boy had said "Uncle", one of the people he now lived with. The dark lord just shook his head clear, no it wasn't possible. He encouraged his human vessel to continue with the action he had started, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. Quirrell scowled, he had just taken his eyes off the boy for a second. How is it possible for the boy to move that quick without him noticing? It was when he took a step closer that he heard footsteps echoing on the stone floor, leaving him with enough time to slip back onto his own cot. In rushed Madame Pomfrey, in her night clothes still, hustling over to the boy's bed, and right behind her was Severus Snape, his trusted Potion maker.

They rushed over to the small wizard's bed to see the covers in a mess on top of the bed, but with no child upon it.

"Oh, where the child could had gone," Poppy mumbled. looking around her spick and span infirmary to see if she could spot the misplaced child. It was a small whimper that Severus heard that alerted him to the child. He ducked his head underneath the bed to see the small child curled up in a small ball, tears glistening down his face as he tried to fight back the whimpers that desperately wanted to escape his throat.

"Come here child, there is nothing to be scared of." Severus said softly to coax the small child from his hiding place underneath the bed, "There is no one here to hurt you, you do not have to be afraid."

Poppy, seeing that she was not needed, took her leave to head back to her private rooms. The Dark lord was in shock, he had never once heard his potion master talk so gently, even to a child. He also knew that Severus harbored a deep hatred for the Potter family, so why was he talking to the child in such as way?

"Sev?" The boy mumbled into the large black cloak, the older wizard hummed in acknowledgement, still holding the boy tight. The boy let his trembling body go limp into the professor's arms, knowing that he was safe, that Severus would protect him from the bad people.

"Harry?" The boy let himself be peeled away from the cloak, to be face to face with the potion master. "Can you tell me your dream?" The boy shook his head, not wanting to talk about his old home life anymore, that was in the past, something he didn't want to remember.

"Harry you know that you have to talk to someone about what happened to you when you lived those muggles. We are very concerned about you, we don't want to see you hurt anymore. We want to help you feel better." The older wizard said spying at his young charger, limp in his arms, concern was written in his eyes.

"I-I D-Don't want to," Harry sniffled, "I-I just want to forget everything, please don't make me." Harry buried his head back into the blackness of the cloak.