Walk the Shadows

back in his hands.

'Care package?'

'Mm-hm. 'Cause Ron told her, I guess, they don't . . . didn't feed me real well over the summers. You know. So she'd send me meat pies and cakes and stuff, and if I was careful, it'd get me through. I didn't get anything this year, though, with the bars again and all.' He looked up then, saw both men staring back. 'What?'

'I was under the impression, Mr. Potter,' Snape said, his face complete blank and his words quite clipped, 'that the abominable tendency of those Muggles to maltreat you ended when you started at Hogwarts.'

'I'm putting 'Mr. Potter' back on the list,' Harry murmured.

'This is no joking matter,' Snape snarled.

Harry set his jaw. 'Maybe, but I don't like it when you call me that. You're always angry when you call me that. Besides, I never said they treated me better.'

Snape glowered at him. 'You said, about the cupboard . . .'

'Yeah, so I got Dudley's second bedroom. Nothing else changed.' He gave Snape a sneer of his own. 'You think they wanted to reward my freakiness? Especially after Moody tore my uncle a new one, at the train station, in front of everyone? No way. I knew I was in for it. I mean, the first time the bars went on the window was summer after first year, and that was just for dropping a pudding. Sometimes they shoved a tin of soup to me through a fucking cat flap in the door. You know, when they remembered. Ron and the twins broke me out. This year . . . the bars were up before I even got there. They must've been glad to be able to leave me behind though; didn't even need to get tinned soup.'

Harry turned his glare on Remus. 'Oh, and you can say thanks, by the way, to the Order for making a scene with him and promising to check if they didn't hear from me every three days. I can't tell you how happy that made him. But I still think it was a sight longer than three days before the bloody Death Eaters found me.'

'Harry, I--'

'Save it, okay?' Harry pushed up from the chair. 'I don't need to hear any more excuses.' He looked at Snape. 'I'm going back to your quarters, if that's all right.' When Snape nodded wordlessly, Harry fled.

TBC . . .

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A/N: Thank you to all who read and/or review! You're my sunshine on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, you're like the month of May . . . Hugs to all! Next chapter should be out by the weekend.

*Chapter 28*: Chapter 28

Walk the Shadows -- Chapter 28

By jharad17

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Honest. She's rich, I'm not.

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Aug.15, 8:30 pm

Um, well. That could have gone better.

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Well. That could have gone better, Severus thought.

Lupin stared at the door Harry had escaped through, his face almost a caricature of anguish, and Severus suppressed the urge to go and catch Harry and make him come back and apologize. First of all, there would be time for that later if warranted, and second, he had to admit he was glad Harry felt comfortable enough to lash out like that against someone besides himself.

Not that the boy didn't have cause, either.

Oh, he'd talked to Dumbledore, of course, and heard the excuses for why no one had gone to check on Harry after he'd gone back to the Muggles. The Dementors and the Death Eaters had been attacking with more frequency and temerity, even assaulting Muggles towns in broad daylight. The Ministry and the Order had had their hands full. But if what Harry said was true – and he had no reason to think the boy was lying – then Moody and Lupin at least had promised to keep a tight watch on him, and to make sure he contacted them every three days.

Severus wasn't sure how long the Muggles had been gone before he and the other Death Eaters had realized the wards were down and then gone to collect Harry. But he'd abducted Harry a good three weeks after the end of term. A damn sight longer than three days, indeed.

As he watched Lupin trying to collect himself, Severus tried to do so as well. Harry, he realized, had every right to be furious, and Severus was more than willing to vent some of that fury on the boy's behalf.

'Who was there?' Severus asked him. His voice was extra-deadly soft, and he was gratified to see Lupin flinch before looking over at him, frowning in confusion. 'At King's Cross,' Severus clarified. 'Who made a scene with the Dursleys?'

'Ah, well Moody, I think, made the deepest impression. But I was there, and Tonks, as well as Molly and Arthur.' Lupin sighed. 'We didn't think it would go worse for him, Severus. We were honestly trying to help. He'd just lost S-Sirius, and I knew it would be hard for him enough this summer without--'

Lupin cut himself off and Snape bared his teeth in a snarl. 'You already knew what they were doing to him?'