Lost and Found

Chapter 2


The former Slytherins left Harry alone while Draco went to make something for breakfast and Severus to work on another potion. He looked around him and frowned. The bedding that he had slept on was covered in dried blood as was his still naked body. It was clear just from the amount of blood that remained that they were right, he would have died without their intervention. He would have to be more careful or he wouldn’t live to fulfill his destiny.

Looking back, even he had to admit that reckless didn’t begin to describe his stupid behavior. Upon receiving information on the whereabouts of Helga Hufflepuff\'s cup, which was believed to be the last remaining Horcrux besides Nagini and Voldemort, he had headed out alone to find and destroy it. The cup had been hidden in a cairn surrounded by ornate statues of snakes with ruby red eyes and sharp tongues. Cautiously approaching, he had spoken to the snakes in Parseltongue to see if they would respond. When they didn’t move and he detected no other threat he unburied the cup and held it up to cast the spell that would destroy the Horcrux. The minute that the words had left his mouth, The snakes awoke hissing and sending out their sharp metal tongues to pierce his body. He had been remarkably lucky that he had turned his head when his left thigh was riven causing a glancing blow across his forehead rather that the strike that would have ended his life.



He glanced around the room taking in the remains of his tattered clothing but not seeing his wand anywhere. He asked Hedwig if she could retrieve it for him and she flew through the door, returning a moment later with his wand clutched in her claws. He had no clothes but he reasoned that they had seen his body last night so modesty at this point was useless. He couldn’t spend all day in a bloody bed and he wanted a shower. Stretching painfully he put his bare feet on the cold floor and attempted to stand. His legs didn’t want to hold his weight and he almost fell before he managed to grab the bed post and right himself. He made his way unsteadily through the door and into the small living area. Bracing himself against the wall he paused to catch his breath. He could smell bacon coming from around the corner and painfully made his way towards the welcoming aroma.


Both men looked up from their endeavors as Harry entered to brightly lit kitchen. Harry went to push his glasses put on his nose before remembering that they were gone. “Could one of you possible point me to the shower and lend me some clothes?”


Draco started to move, but Snape waved him back. “Finish breakfast, Draco. I will take care of our guest.” He placed a stasis spell on his cauldron and led Harry from the room. Severus was impressed in spite of himself. He had expected Potter to be bedridden for at least a day or two. Seeing the effort it took for the boy to follow him, he offered his arm. He received a surprised look for his effort, but Harry made no move to take the proffered appendage. Mentally shrugging he led Harry to the bathroom, where he turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature to what he thought would be comfortable, while Harry leaned against the wall and watched him. “Will you be alright by yourself long enough for me to get clothing?”


“I am sure that I can manage.”


Snape wasn’t sure that was true as he watched Harry’s unsteady attempt to enter the shower. Deciding that he should hurry, he went to Draco’s dresser and found a pair of pajamas and boxers before returning to the bathroom. Harry was standing under the flowing water not moving as the rivulets flowed down his body and ran red down the drain. He hadn’t even pulled the curtain shut. It was apparent that the effort of getting around the small cottage had totally exhausted his reserves. Sighing. Severus stripped off his own clothing and stepped into the shower behind the drooping man. “Let me help you.” He said softly as wrapped an arm around Harry’s thin waist and reached for the soap. Harry startled but remained still while his former professor washed the blood from his back and chest. Handing Harry the soap he reached for shampoo. “I will hold you while you wash your nether regions.” He was going for sarcastic or even snide, but he didn’t think he pulled it off given that he was holding a very naked and wet Harry Potter. He used one hand to lather the soap into the boy’s hair while holding him firmly with other. Harry obediently washed himself, leaning heavily on the arm that was keeping him steady.


Once Potter was rinsed off, Severus turned of the water. He lifted him from the shower enclosure and dried him with a towel and dressed him in Draco’s sleeping attire before drying and dressing himself. Unceremoniously he picked the boy up and carried him back to the bedroom. Seeing the mess that was Draco’s bed, he lay Harry on his own bed before replacing the bloody bedding. When he turned back he could see that the boy was already asleep. He looked down at the sleeping figure and could only feel sadness.


There was nothing that he could do to change the past, but he sorely wished that he could make the boy at least understand why things had to turn out this way. He briefly contemplated waking the boy up so that they could talk while Potter was too tired to interrupt him. He would have laughed at his own cowardice if it hadn’t been so profoundly pathetic. He looked so innocent while he slept. He moved the dark hair covering the famous scar from Harry’s forehead and just stared at the damage that he had helped to cause to the otherwise perfect face. He left Harry to rest and went back to the kitchen. Draco had moved the cauldron to the nook where it lived when they needed the table, and was delicately eating the breakfast that he had prepared.


“Where is Potter?” He asked between bites.


“In bed where he belongs.”


Draco gave him an odd look. “Did something happen?”

If Snape didn’t know better he would have thought that Draco looked concerned. “The arrogant brat didn’t have enough strength to wash himself, yet he felt the need to get out of bed and traipse around.”


“I am sure that you were only too happy to help him out.”


Severus, who was filling his plate with bacon and eggs, looked up surprised at the biting tone. Sneering at the younger Slytherin he retorted. “Are you jealous, Draco? Do you wish it had been your hands running over all of that wet soapy skin? Do you wish you were the one that carried the beautiful hero back to bed?”


Draco flushed. “Shut up!”

“Get this straight, Draco. We will both take care him and, if he will let us, train him. You will not get involved with him in any other way. Do you understand me?”

Draco glared at the older man. “Do you plan to get involved with him?”

Without answering the question, Snape went back to filling his plate. “He may be hungry when he wakes. Do we have something soothing that we can heat for him? A filling soup perhaps.”


With a frustrated howl, Draco dropped his fork onto his plate with a loud clang. “I am not your house elf. If you want soup, make it yourself.” with a final huff Draco left the table with his plate and headed to the sink.


Snape smirked at the blondes back knowing that Harry would wake up to a hearty soup. Draco had adapted to cooking the Muggle way during their time in exile. He liked food way too much to rely on Snape’s proficient but plain cooking. Snape would go once a week to the nearby village and procure supplies for them. He snickered to himself as he thought about what a fine wife Draco would someday make.


Harry woke to Hedwig nibbling on his ear. He smiled at her gently and asked her if she needed to go out. At her encouraging hoot, he got slowly out of bed and opened the window to let her out to hunt. He still felt weak but overall much better than he had last time he woke. He smiled softly at the Slytherin green and silver pajamas that he was wearing. He knew he should feel embarrassed at how he had ended up in them, but he didn’t. Like so many things in his life, he had no choice but to accept the help that was offered. He thought about Apparating to Grimmauld place, but decided he wanted some answers before he left.

He couldn’t have explained why, but he felt worse about wandering around the cottage in sleep wear than he had naked. He flushed a little when he entered the front room and found Malfoy and Snape in front of the fire reading. They looked very comfortable and Harry felt like he was intruding on a family moment as he cleared his throat.

Draco jumped up and walked over to the Gryffindor. “Are you feeling better?” He asked as he ushered him over to the couch in front of the fire. He couldn’t help but notice how enticing he looked with his sleep tousled hair and the flush on his tanned skin.

“Yes I am. I will be leaving shortly. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to answer a couple of questions before I go.”

“Of course we will, but you should eat. I made you some soup. You can eat while we talk.” Draco strode from the room leaving Harry alone with Severus.

“Professor, thank you for your help earlier. I obviously overestimated myself yet again.”

“A thoroughly Gryffindor trait that will get you killed.” Snape said without any real rancor.

“True enough.” Harry admitted.

Harry almost smiled when Draco came back with a tray of food. He took a tentative bite of the prepared meal and was impressed. It was closer to a stew than a soup and he couldn’t remember when he had tasted anything so wonderful. Looking at the crackers and the glass of red wine that were included he stared bemusedly at Draco. “When did you become so domesticated? This is incredible.”

Draco was torn between feeling proud of his new ability and irritated at the jibe. He settled reluctantly on proud. “I am not helpless in the kitchen, Potter.”

“Clearly you are not. Thank you.”

Draco was pleased that Harry ate every drop of the soup and he suspected that he would have licked the bowl if he had been alone. It was a strangely sensual experience to watch Potter eat something that he had created. He watched as the last spoonful entered that incredible mouth and swallowed compulsively. Glancing at Sev, he noticed the older man was not unmoved by the scene. A fierce stab of emotion hit him and he had to restrain himself from cursing the man. The atmosphere became thick with unspoken words when Snape looked back at Draco with a warning.

Feeling the tension, Harry glanced at the two men. He could see that they were trying to stare each other down. He didn’t know what was going on between the two of them, but he took that as his signal to get on with it. “Thank you both for helping me.” He turned and addressed Severus. “Professor Snape, why did you kill him? Why did you betray the light?” Harry still felt pain when he thought about that night. He swallowed thickly and continued. “Why did you betray me and then yet again save my life?”

Severus had known that this was coming, but he still wasn’t as prepared as he would have liked. It hurt to see the pain in Harry’s eyes when he thought of Dumbledore and he knew that it would be difficult for him to accept what Severus would tell him. He cleared his throat against a sudden lump and began his tale. “I do not expect you to forgive me or even to believe me at this point, but I hope that you will listen to my point of view.” At Harry’s nod he continued. “I did not betray you, or at least I didn’t mean to betray you.

He couldn’t believe how difficult it was to form words as he watched Harry’s incredulous face. “I made an unbreakable vow to Narcissa Malfoy that I would help Draco to complete his task for the dark lord. I knew that he was to kill the headmaster, and I had no objection to helping him.” He was interrupted by an indignant noise. “Please hear me out. I know that you loved him, but you didn’t really know him, Harry. He was a good man, but he thought you were too powerful to be fully trained. He was afraid that you would become the next Voldemort. He didn’t check on you at your relatives home like he should have, so when he discovered the years of emotional abuse that you had gone through, he became frightened and paranoid.”

Draco just stared at the Potions Master. Harry had been abused? Why didn’t anyone stop it? How could he be forced back to those people every year, if at least Snape and Dumbledore knew that he was treated poorly? He could feel his face getting red as he struggled not to say something that he would regret. He looked over at the green eyed man noting that he looked surprised but not angry. How much did he not know about his school rival? He wondered if anything that he had been led to believe about the young hero’s life was true.

Snape sounded almost pleading as he tried to make Harry understand. “When someone particularly powerful comes to Hogwarts, they are typically given some special training to help them both develop their magic and control it. Draco had some of that training, but Dumbledore would not allow you to partake. You, who had a huge responsibility to uphold and showed signs of being one the most powerful wizards of all time, were not allowed to attend the summer training. He insisted on sending you back to those abusive Muggles every summer so that you would be unavailable for the training that Moody and other members of the order thought that you should have.”

He was developing a headache and this wasn’t getting any easier as he could tell that Harry was having trouble accepting his words. He sighed audibly knowing that he had to get this out now. He might never have another opportunity. “I didn’t like you when you first showed up. You looked too much like your father and were a vivid reminder of my previous crimes. Over time I came to respect your indomitable will, intense loyalty, and ridiculously stupid bravery. I knew that you could never be a Dark Lord. I tried to reason with the man, but he wouldn’t listen to anyone. It became painfully obvious to me that while you are very powerful, you would not be able to kill Voldemort without true training. When Narcissa asked for my help I readily agreed. I thought I could save Draco and his family while at the same time leaving the Order to finally fully train you.”

Severus stood and walked over to where Harry sat looking pale. Kneeling on the rug in front of the boy he gently took hold on his chin and forced him to look into his eyes. “I am sorry that I took him from you, Harry. I am even more sorry that you saw it happen, but I can’t be sorry that he is gone. I don’t think that he would have let you live through this war.”

Harry had never been so confused. He couldn’t believe that Dumbledore would have purposefully left him unprepared, but part of what the man was saying made sense. He had returned to the Dursleys after sixth year, but Moody and Shackebolt had come to retrieve him after only a week. They had taken him to Grimmauld Place where he did receive special training. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired. He looked from Snape, who hadn’t moved from his kneeling position, to Draco, who looked shocked and angry. He stood up and moved slowly around Snape before turning back to the two men. “Would it be alright if I take a nap?” He asked just as his knees buckled and Snape reached out to cushion his fall.

Severus wrapped his arms around Harry, picked him up, and carried him into the bedroom where he gently settled him once again in bed. Looking down at the pale face he cursed Dumbledore and himself for causing him such pain.