Potionary Confinement

Lily's Warning

PART II

CHAPTER SEVEN

They both slept in for the rest of the afternoon, but Snape was gladly up when Dumbledore came in to visit.

"How are you feeling, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

"Absolutely exquisite," Snape said sarcastically.

Dumbledore chuckled. "I hope you enjoyed my package."

Snape smirked. "I quite did actually. A new quill. Some Honeydukes sweets. Gosh, Albus, you're making me blush. I'm not on my deathbed, am I?"

Dumbledore chuckled again. "Of course not, my boy. Just a thank you gift for all the help you gave Harry in the time you two had in the cupboard. Poppy explained how sick he was, but with your help, he'll make a full recovery."

Snape rolled his eyes. "It was just a normal cold, Headmaster. I did what any other professor would do."

Dumbledore sat on the end of his bed and said, "Poppy said that he was already malnourished before he even stepped foot into that room. The sickness and the lack of food lowered his immune system greatly."

Snape looked into his piercing blue eyes. "You know why, don't you?"

Dumbledore was silent for a while before he said, "Yes."

Snape growled. "He told me... after a panic attack in there... that those relatives of his locked him in a cupboard under the stairs. That was his bedroom until he was eleven. They starved him, and I suspect they beat him as well."

Dumbledore sighed. "I had no idea, Severus. I know they didn't necessarily like the boy, but I didn't expect they'd mistreat him like this..."

Snape closed his eyes and said, "Now someone's strutting about the castle that wants to kill the boy. I believe said person locked us in there to do exactly that."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know. I'm keeping a lookout, and I need you to do so also."

"I've been doing that since my first day at this school, Albus. I'm a natural," Snape said with an irritated glare. "but you still don't believe my suspicions."

The older man pat his hand. "I never said I didn't believe you, but I need some good, strong evidence before I accuse any one of my colleagues. Especially a top-notch Auror."

Snape snorted and they both looked at Harry when they heard a sharp noise.

Harry twitched in his sleep, mumbling.

Snape sat up so quick, he saw stars.

"Severus — !"

Snape rushed to Harry's side, and grabbed one of the boy's small hands.

"Potter. Potter?" Snape said, shaking him a little. "Harry, it's all right. You're safe."

Albus Dumbledore looked dumbfounded. Severus Snape was comforting Harry Potter...

Harry still cried in his sleep, whimpering, and clinging to Snape's robes.