Second Chances

If No One Loves Me, Let Me Die

Harry Potter, cramped into his cupboard after another terrible beating from his uncle, smiled at the potion vile in front of him. This vile would set him free from this life. This simple potion would end it all. The pain would go away. No one could ever hurt him again after he had taken this sky blue potion. He hadn't bothered with any notes. No one would miss him if he ended it. It would be painless and fast.
He remembered the betrayals and the pain. He let his memories play in his mind for a bit before he would swallow the potion and his body would be found in about a week, when the Dursleys returned from their trip to California. Ron and Hermione had been paid to be his friends. Dumbledore stole from him, lied to him, payed the Dursleys to beat him, and would kill him after he killed Voldemort or when he started to become a threat to the man. Hedwig and all of his Hogwarts things had been burned. He had been forced to watch, not allowed to make a sound or he'd be beaten again. He couldn't stop the tears that were falling from his eyes. No one would come to rescue him. No one would ever love him. He was a freak, unwanted by all.
The school year had all but just started when Sirius Black died and Harry wanted to stay and learn, but Dumbledore had sent Harry Potter back to his 'loving' relatives to let them 'comfort' the distraught teen. Harry had yelled, screamed, begged, and pleaded not to return to the hellhole he was doomed to return to no matter how much he would beg.
Only the Slytherins seemed worried for him, actually listened to his pleads, and comforted the boy in private. Maybe he should have allowed the hat to place him there as Slytherins truly looked out for each other and those who needed it. He never knew that all the students of the proud house of Slytherin wrote to their parents about what they had learned. Their parents were more than willing to help in anyway they could. Draco learned that Harry was going to Gringotts, having admitted some of what Dumbledore and his so called friends had done and his lack of knowledge on how money and legal things worked. Draco had informed his father of what time Harry was heading to the bank, his father willing to help the teen.
Before he had returned to his 'loving' relatives, he had gone to Gringotts and put his accounts into order. He had help from Lucius Malfoy, who had been more than happy to assist him when he had seen the bank statements. Lord Malfoy had swept to his rescue, apparently having just come from a meeting with the Malfoy bank account manager. Harry was suspicious but wouldn't refuse the help. Lucius even managed to unseal and read the last wills of the Potters with Harry.
Turns out he was never supposed to go to the Dursleys. He was supposed to go to a Severus Prince, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Thomas and Martha Slytherin, Bellatrix and the Lestrange twins. The not so shocking thing was that Sirius Black was never mentioned as godfather. Harry knew Dumbledore was behind that lie and knew none of the people on the list could take him from the Dursleys until Dumbledore was removed as his magical guardian. Lucius assured the teen the process would take a week or two. He also talked Harry into getting all the obliviates removed and Harry remembered how Dumbledore would visit and hurt him also.He knew he would never be able to trust anyone ever again, except perhaps the Slytherins.
Vernon  didn't even wait an hour after the order member that had delivered him to his doom had left, informing Vernon and Petunia of Black's death, to beat him for his freakishness. It had been one of the worst beatings he had ever endured. He had been thrown into his cupboard, the vent closed and the door locked. It was pitch black but at least the Dursleys would be gone for a week or more paid by the money stolen from him.
He laughed darkly, lifting the vile to his mouth and downing the potion before lying down. He fell asleep as the pull was gentle, like being rocked to sleep. His body was surrounded by a sky blue glow, his body shrinking and his mind matching the age of his body. If he was awake to feel the magic and the change, he'd say it was warm and protective and painless. The potion had also sent a small pulse of magic to someone who would care and protect the child. It didn't travel far, only a few yards down the street.
Severus, Lucius, and Narcissa felt the pulse and ran to Number 4 Privet Drive, unlocked the door, and had to stop before even being able to enter the home to search for Harry. They had come to collect Severus' new son and return the boy to Hogwarts. Severus was the one who heard the sobs coming from the cupboard under the stairs, muffled though it was but it was still heard from where they stood on the porch. The smell of urine, sweat, blood, and shit was discernible from the front door. They had to banish the smell before they could even enter as it was strong enough to make even their hardened stomachs revolt.
Severus was sickened by the way Harry had been treated, already figuring out that Harry had lived in this cupboard for most of his life. When he opened the door, the small child in Harry's clothes whimpered and pleaded for him to not hurt Freak. That Freak would be good and clean up the mess and would do anything not to be hurt. Severus picked the boy up, ignoring the smell of the cupboard. He held the child in a gentle yet firm hold as the child sobbed. Lucius crouched and got into the cupboard, grabbing three things: a piece of paper that stated Harry's room in red crayon, a child's drawing of Severus in his teacher's robes protecting the boy he was currently holding, and a potion vile that had been next to the boy. There was no potion left and Severus doubted that he would be able to reverse what Harry had done. Severus found himself reluctant to reverse this strange potion for Harry's sake. Lucius showed the drawing to Severus, who was shocked. The child had known he would come eventually. A small lily was on the corner and Severus almost laughed at the irony of the situation.
"We need to take him to Thomas. He can remove the soul piece from Harry and completely heal the scar." Narcissa whispered, having done a thorough scan of past and present injuries. She had discretely healed some of the minor injuries as the men had been occupied with retrieving the child's belongings, checking the house, and comforting the child.
Severus nodded weakly, having finally calmed the child enough that the Emerald eyes were staring at him with distrust, fear, and a small spark of hope. The three adults burned the house down before apparating to the closest floo, flooing to the Slytherin Common Room, and being met with the whole house, current students and Alumni, assembled to greet them with hopes that it wasn't as bad as they had assumed.
Harry just stared at the students and adults from Severus' arms. All of Slytherin, and their parents, saw the abuse not covered by the too large shirt. Cuts, bruises, broken bones, and the thinness was unnerving but nothing the house hadn't seen before. This would be the worst case though as the child was still covered in the filth and dust from the cupboard.
Thomas Slytherin stepped forward and reached for the child, who violently flinched away from the approaching arms. Severus anticipated this and kept his hold on the child.
"You need to remove the soul fragment from him before we can begin healing him." Severus sounded slightly worried. Tom nodded and with the help of his wife, Martha, and a little help from Bellatrix, somehow managed to gently grab the boy's face, touched the scar, and painlessly (for the boy not for Tom) withdrew the fragment and joined this last part of his soul to the rest. As this was happening, Lucius and Narcissa were passing out copies of the results of Harry's in-depth scan. She only had time to do from the waist up, something the others noticed. The mothers were sending cleaning spells at the child until he was as clean as possible.
"Will he be alright?" A seventh year asked. Amelia Pond, whose husband Rory Williams graduated from Hufflepuff a year ago and was a healer and a nurse. She had given birth to a child during the summer. All of Slytherin had celebrated the birth of the child and had protected the two students from the ridicule of most of the school.
"He will be. He is a Slytherin and all of us will protect him." Severus stated after setting the boy down.
"How old is Potter?" Fourth year, Donna Noble who had tea with Severus once a week and told him everything on her mind, asked.
"He looks to be about three. Hello, Harry. My name is Draco Malfoy. Harry, how old are you?" Draco had knelt to look the boy in the eyes. The boy's eyes automatically shot to the floor and tried to be as small as possible. Harry knew the punishment for looking people in the eyes.
"Who Harry? 'M Freak." The small voice of a scared child with tears running down cheeks, accompanied by the apologies for speaking while he was not supposed to and the plea to not hit or hurt him broke every heart. The fact he didn't know his own name and believed it was Freak was concerning and caused many of the adults great anger.