Secrets- A Severus Snape Story

Chapter 1- Welcome Home Crookshanks

To say Harry was eager to return to Hogwarts was an understatement. All summer he had only the option of shutting himself away in his dreary room in hope to avoid his aunt, uncle and cousin Dudley. The reason being, that magic was strictly prohibited at the Dursley residence, which meant Harry spent his summer in near-isolation. And when he finally committed the crime that allowed him to leave the home, the remainder of his vacation had been lonelier than he had hoped. 

Harry's only chance to communicate with the wizarding word had failed miserably. He and his best friend Ron Weasley had schemed out a plan that would involve Ron calling the Dursley landline. However, the plan had many flaws, one being that Harry had forgotten that Ron had never seen let alone used a telephone before, and as Uncle Vernon answered the phone the red-head continuously shouted down the receiver, causing Uncle Vernon's face to turn a darker shade of red.  

After this Harry's aunt and uncle made it very clear that he was to have no contact with anyone bearing magical abilities whatsoever when he was to be staying in their home. Harry's punishment had lasted five ever-lasting weeks over the summer, causing his thirteenth birthday to be rather pathetic, as he once again did not receive a single gift from the Dursleys and spent the day doing chores. 

It was the last day of the fifth week of Harry's summer holiday when 'Aunt' Marge had come to stay. Her visiting had given the Dursleys more of an opportunity to lecture Harry on his appearance and forever instruct him to never mention his abnormality of magic. 

Throughout dinner, the woman had thrown several offensive comments at Harry, but her biggest mistake was insulting the young boy's parentage, he had lost all control and acted against wizarding law -Any young witch or wizard that tries to perform spells at home before the age of 17 will run afoul of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery-. Harry watched as 'Aunt' marge began to inflate like a monstrous balloon, he grimaced as as the buttons from her shirt and her tweed jacket burst and pinged off of the walls. But even if Harry hadn't meant to cause the ordeal the look of rage bestowed onto Uncle Vernon's purpled face was enough to make the teenage boy understand that he had to flee before either this aunt or uncle got a hold of him, no amount of explaining would be able to get him out of trouble.  

Harry had rushed to leave the Dursley's home and had only just walked a couple of streets away when he had finally realised just how disastrous his situation really was. He had no Muggle money, there was no way his scrappy form would be able to haul his thick trunk all the way to London and for all Harry knew he could be expelled. 

But when he thought nothing would be able to to change his doomed luck, a large, purple double decker bus appeared out of nowhere and had come to a violent halt right in front of the thirteen year old. He was being rescued. 'The knight Bus' was scrawled across the windscreen as Harry approached the large folded doors. Stan Shunpike - the director - welcomed Harry immediately, he wore a purple uniform that matched the exterior of the bus and he granted Harry the wish of transporting him to London for the small fair of eleven sickles. 

Harry arrived at the leaky Cauldron later that night and was greeted by the Minister of Magic himself and surprised Harry by already setting up a room for the boy in the dingy inn where he was expected to remain for the remainder of the Summer break. Fudge insisted that Harry was not to be expelled from school and was quick to dismiss the 'accident' at the Dursley's when Harry questioned the Minister.

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Three weeks passed by slowly and plenty of Hogwarts students were arriving in Diagon Alley now, with the start of term so near. Harry got dressed, went for a last walk around the wizarding street and was just wondering where he'd stop for lunch, when someone yelled his name and he turned.