Revelations
[June 1933]
Severus woke up.
He squinted at the bright light that pierced through his eyelids. He didn't remember the dungeons in Hogwarts to be this bright. If this was some prank by Dumbledore…
Where am I? Severus groggily wondered as he attempted to wake his mind. Ah, right. I’m trapped fifty-seven years in the past with no way back. Wonderful.
Severus groaned as he tiredly sat forward on the park bench. He was… Severus tried to recall what had happened the day before. He felt something shift to his right. His gaze snapped down to his side, instantly on guard, but paused a moment later when he realized what — or who — it was.
Tom Riddle was huddled next to him, knees to his chest as he lay down, covered by the blanket that Severus had summoned and draped over him not more than what he assumed to be a few hours ago.
Speaking of which, Severus wondered absentmindedly, what time is it exactly?
He did a quick, wandless tempus charm. 0800, the glittering words read before fading away. Around two hours from when I came here… I must have been quite tired.
He glanced back down to where Riddle lay.
Severus furrowed his eyebrows at how Riddle was pressed against him. Being someone that avoided most physical contact, it was definitely not something that he was used to. The child leaning against his legs was alright, but this was a tad too close. And the contact was admittedly making Severus uncomfortable.
He slowly pulled his arms out from underneath the boy, and hesitantly moved them over to hold onto Riddle’s shoulders. He gently gripped them, careful not to wake the child. He wasn’t about to rouse the kid from his slumber and create unnecessary problems.
He has heard of the catastrophe known as waking up young children in the morning, and was quite content not to experience it at any point in his life, thank you very much.
Severus carefully tried to shift Riddle slightly away from him, but before he could even use much force, Riddle snuggled even closer to him. Yes, snuggled! Someone, though asleep, was snuggling up to him!
Severus froze. He was admittedly unsure on what to do in this situation. He had never even been in this situation before. For one, he would have instantly hexed any sane, or insane, person who even had the thought of sidling up to him.
But now that Riddle had actually gone and done it, Severus was at a loss. He wasn’t about to hex a sleeping young child, no! By Slytherin, even he had standards.
Severus made another pitiful attempt at shifting Riddle away from him, but Riddle just wriggled even closer. Severus was baffled as to why Riddle was doing so. Even if he was asleep.
He pursed his lips as he stared down at Riddle’s sleeping form. Well, I suppose I might as well leave it be, Severus decided. He figured that if the child was comfortable then he might as well oblige.
He sat there awkwardly for a few moments.
This is very comfortable, Severus deluded himself, tensing his jaw. Hm, yes. One might even say extremely comfortable. Extremely. Comfortable.
He sat stiffly, watching muggles stroll about in the park for a good few minutes. They all paid Severus and Riddle no mind, going about their day as per usual, which Severus was most grateful for. He would rather be caught dead than be caught being snuggled by a child.
Hopefully none of them saw the tempus charm earlier, he thought all of a sudden, realizing his carelessness. That could be problematic.
Severus glanced back down, and settled for observing the small boy sleeping next to him.
Riddle looked calm, almost…peaceful. A stark contrast to the tense posture that Severus had seen him adapt the day before. Or earlier that day, if he was being technical.
Must be having a pleasant dream, Severus thought as he scrutinized the child.
It was odd that he had bumped into Riddle two days in a row now. Hedefinitely wasn't looking for the kid. Nope.
Admittedly, Severus was still rather concerned as to why the kid was crying the first time he had met him. He couldn't even be sure if the kid hadn't been crying that very morning either.
Severus noticed the blanket slipping off Riddle, and moved to adjust it without a single thought. But just as he gripped the material, he paused.
Strange, he thought, rubbing the cloth between his fingers. It is oddly rough here. Surely I didn't summon a rough material for a blanket; that would be ridiculous.
He fingered other areas of the blanket, and frowned when they were indeed as soft as he originally thought they were.
Severus was confused. He paused in brief contemplation, before fully turning to study the blanket.
He gingerly lifted the blanket off Riddle, making sure not to wake him up with sudden movements, and held it up against the Sun. He couldn't see any differences in color, but that was partially his own fault. He just had to make the color black.
He sighed. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but seeing as though there wasn't much choice, he had to. At that very moment, Severus wished that he had learnt a charm for extracting substances, or even invented one. He promised himself that he would at a later date.
He slowly brought the cloth up to his nose, mentally prepared himself, and sniffed.
Now, Severus wouldn't have been shocked so much as disgusted if what he smelled was urine, or some other repulsive bodily fluid. But as soon as he caught a whiff of the familiar metallic smell, he was taken aback.
He sniffed at the cloth again just to make sure that he wasn’t mistaken. And sure enough, it was the same.
His eyes snapped down back to Riddle, who was still peacefully in slumber. Severus surely didn't want to wake him now, for he knew exactly what was on that blanket.
Blood. A lot of blood.
__________
Severus stared at Riddle, unsure of what to think.
His first thought was, where could this blood have come from? He hadn’t been injured in the past few hours, at least not that he was aware of. Surely it wasn't his, was it?
Severus swiftly brought up his arms and studied them. Besides the faint blood smears from the cloth on his fingertips, he wasn't bleeding at all. The blood couldn't be his.
This means that… Severus tensed at the implication. He immediately turned to examine the child.
Riddle was still pressed against him, huddled even closer now without the blanket. It should have made him uncomfortable, but that was the last thing on his mind at the moment.
Severus observed no obvious wounds from where he sat, and no visible staining on Riddle’s clothing either.
The blood didn't appear to come from Riddle, and for a brief moment he was relieved. But then a thought. What if it was from Riddle, and he just couldn't see it? That seemed like a much more plausible explanation than ‘the blood just appeared out of nowhere’.
He quickly brought his hands over to Riddle’s shirt, ready to bring it up. Just as he was about to lift it, he remembered that they were not alone. In fact, they were in a public space. Not the most suitable location to do a physical examination. He would attract far too much attention.
Severus took a deep breath, and exhaled.
He was rushing into things, which was the last thing he should be doing at the moment. If he made a foolish decision because of his irrationality, he wouldn't be able to live past it, regardless of the situation.
Alright Severus, he told himself, there is absolutely no reason to be this frazzled. Deal with this with a calm mind, and nothing should go wrong. If I still make a mistake, then I seriously need to reevaluate my qualifications as a wizard.
Instead, he reevaluated his current situation.
With blood, there are open wounds. Thus his first course of action would be to seal up those open wounds before Riddle bleeds out.
Yet Severus didn't have any methods of doing that quickly besides magic. He could place pressure on the wounds to slow bleeding, but that would require him to see the size and location of the wound, which he needs to lift Riddle’s clothing to do. And that was exactly what he was trying to avoid.
He eyed Riddle in contemplation. He was in a muggle neighborhood, and he should not be performing any magic with this many muggles roaming about. Were it night time, he wouldn't have much of a problem, but currently he would need to move to a more secluded location to stop the bleeding
But based on the amount of blood on the blanket, he didn't have much time.
He glanced around, ensuring that no one was paying any particular attention, before slipping his wand out of his coat pocket and discreetly flicking his wrist, performing a simple spell to speed up clotting, to aid in sealing up any open wounds.
As much as he wanted to, Severus couldn’t do much more than that. Other healing spells were much more visible, with all the shimmering and glowing that they had. The muggles were sure to notice that instantly.
Plus, without knowing what exactly was wrong with Riddle, and where, he couldn’t risk performing those more effective healing spells. For example, should he heal a wound while it had something stuck inside, it would become a problem. Hopefully speeding up natural clotting would buy him enough time to figure out what to do.
Severus stood up. The next course of action would be to bring Riddle to a more private location, were he to properly examine him.
He bent down and slipped his arms beneath Riddle’s scrawny body. Severus lifted the sleeping child as gently as he could.
Merlin, this child is light.
He felt something damp on Riddle’s clothing and hastened to secure the kid’s strange position. He has dealt with injured students one too many times, but never without magic. Carrying a child wasn't a big problem for him, but still, rather odd.
Severus started down the park path, with Riddle bouncing awkwardly in his arms. Never in his life did he imagine himself carrying a child like this. Not until this very moment.
This time travel business is really quite tedious, Severus mused as he quickly made for an alleyway.
He couldn't apparate Riddle to the inn, not without knowing the extent of Riddle's injuries. A child his age doing side along apparation already had complications, and adding physical injuries to the mix certainly would not help that.
He exited the park and ducked into the nearest alleyway he could find. His gaze darted around, looking out for anyone that could possibly be present.
His hands were feeling more damp by the second, and Severus could not hold off any longer. He awkwardly shifted Riddle to one arm, and drew his wand.
If anyone were to see him now, he decided could just obliviate them and that would be that. If anything, he wondered why he didn't initially think of the solution in the first place.
Severus waved his wand and conjured a simple, wooden table, grimacing at the damaged table legs. He never was the best at conjuring items, even Minerva had told him so. Then again, there weren't many wizards or witches he knew that were as adept at conjuring as she was.
He gingerly lay Riddle onto the smooth surface of the table.
How is this child still asleep? Severus wondered briefly. With all the jostling around one would have expected him to wake up sooner.
Regardless, it served Severus’ purpose quite well. A sleeping child is much easier to deal with than one who was wide awake after all.
He let Riddle rest on the table surface, and waved his wand, instantly vanishing the child’s shirt.
Severus inhaled sharply at the sight.
Bruises, cuts, scrapes, Riddle’s body was covered in them. Swollen red patches on Riddle's skin, scabs from what Severus assumed were cuts but had sped up healing from his spell. There were distinct red, but faded, markings across Riddle’s arms, partially covered by poorly done bandaging, that Severus instantly recognized as belt marks.
All in all, it was horrific. Revolting. Utterly vile. Who could do this to a child? Not even a person called ‘the Dark Lord’ stooped to this level. On the contrary, he even advocated against it!
His first thought was; had he done this to Riddle? But after a moment, he realized how idiotic that thought was. He had barely interacted with the kid in the first place. Plus, he was asleep, and unless he was a sleepwalker, he couldn't have done a thing.
Severus stood there for a while, frozen in shock and disbelief, just staring at the scrawny body lying on the table. Then he snapped to his senses and immediately began to cast some diagnostic spells. He could theorize all he wanted later, but now he had to focus on healing Riddle.
He had to know what other kinds of injuries Riddle had. All those wounds would not come without some internal damage. That, he knew from personal experience. He stood there, tapping his foot impatiently, almost nervously, as he waited for the spell to do its thing.
After a good one minute (that felt too long to Severus), a piece of parchment appeared in his hand, and Severus hurried to read it.
His eyes widened at the contents.
External:
Cuts/Scratches (minor; 30, major; 3)
Semi-healed cuts (26)
Abrasions/scrapes (Left knee, Right knee, Left elbow, Right elbow)
Irritated skin (Chest, Torso, Left arm, Right arm, Neck)
Internal:
Broken Rib bones (3, Left)
Torn Ligaments (2; Left ankle, Right knee)
Fractured right forearm bone (Ulna)
Fractured left upper arm bone (humerus)
Lacerations (left tibia/shin)
Contusions/Bruises (Right ear, Left ear, Right arm, Left arm, Torso, Neck, Temporal Lobes)
Severus was already appalled at the initial wounds, but reading the parchment, he was down right in disbelief.
How had he not even felt a thing when carrying the child? He could reason that he was far too occupied trying to find a location to help Riddle, but that was hardly an excuse when the injuries were this bad.
Severus pocketed the parchment and his wand roughly and turned his full attention onto Riddle, immediately beginning to attend to him.
He swiftly, but gently, did a quick physical examination for any objects that could be in any of the cuts, and at a glance he found nothing.
Should he have more time, he would have preferred to do a more thorough assessment, but alas, he didn't. Not with that amount of injuries.
He once again drew his wand, and waved intricate patterns over Riddle’s body, muttering spells in rapid succession. He furrowed his eyebrows in deep concentration. He could not afford to make a mistake at this moment.
As he did this, a second part of Severus’ mind was racing with questions.
Who could have done this much damage to a child? It must have been a person. No being, especially a muggle, should be able to get these many injuries naturally. It certainly isn't from an accident either. If it were, he would be in one of those big muggle buildings. Hospitals, they were called?
And how did Riddle even make it to the park this injured? And have the ability to sleep soundly at that! He appeared to be perfectly fine the previous night. In fact, Severus paused the thought with a frown, he even seemed to be fine with the pain. Or at least not feel it.
Severus ended casting the spells with a small flourish. He leant against a wall in relief. That multitude of spells had done quite a number in his magical core, but that was to be expected.
He watched as Riddle’s body glowed for a while longer, before subsiding. He had dealt with what he could at the moment, but Riddle still needed proper medical care.
Healing spells only worked so well. If he wanted to properly heal Riddle, he would need to use potions and monitor the child for a period of time. He didn't have the potions for it presently, and he wasn't sure if he was currently qualified to do so, especially since Riddle still stayed with his parents.
Speaking of which, how haven't they noticed these many wounds on their kid?
Just then, he noticed Riddle stirring.
Severus paused and studied the boy as he slowly sat up, evidently confused. Riddle groggily looked around, mouth slightly agape, when his eyes finally met Severus’, before immediately averting themselves. The boy’s eyes had so obviously lit up, and Severus smirked.
“Good morning, Mr Riddle,” Severus nodded his head in greeting. Riddle just smiled timidly at him. More precisely, at the ground.
“Now,” he continued, pushing himself off the wall, “At the moment, I've brought you to another location for safety reasons, thus you need not worry about any danger.”
He listened to himself speak, and grimaced, realizing just how suspicious that sounded.
Well, I can't take back those words now.
Severus surveyed the child’s reaction. He didn't seem to be all that worried, which is rather concerning in of itself. Any child would have begun attempting to escape, but this kid seemed to trust him completely.
Oh well, Severus shrugged. Less work on my part.
He observed as Riddle reflectively clutched his torso, and noticed that he looked surprised, as though he expected to feel something. Which confirmed that he was indeed feeling pain, as Severus had deduced.
“Yes, I have taken the liberty to heal your wounds, as you might have noticed. Although you will still need to seek proper medical attention, preferably by one of your mu… doctors.”
Riddle had tensed at the mention, and immediately began stuttering; nearly incoherently.
“W-wounds, sir? I- I don't know what w-wounds you mean sir, th-there aren't any w-wounds, s-sir,” Riddle nervously mumbled, fiddling with his fingers.
Severus fought the urge to roll his eyes.
“I am quite sure of what I saw, Mr Riddle. There is not much point in hiding it,” Severus deadpanned, as the child in front of him bowed his head in embarrassment.
“But what I am curious about here, Mr Riddle, is how you could have possibly injured yourself so,” Severus continued, with much more intrigue in his voice. “Would you be so kind as to share that with me?”
Of course, the kid was under no obligation to disclose this information to him, but he decided to try nonetheless. And sure enough, after a lot of hesitation, Riddle answered him — just with not as much clarity as he had hoped.
“I — uh, you see, sir, I, well, I, erm…fell.” Riddle finished off lamely.
Severus didn't expect much of an answer, but he was hoping for Riddle to tell him the truth, or at least lie convincingly. Not that he would be fooled by it if he did. He was far too good a liar himself to be tricked,
Severus’ slight disappointment must have been obvious (as Severus would not believe), because Riddle instantly began to try and convince him of his credibility.
“I really did fall, sir. See, sir, I was going home, sir, and there was this road, and then, sir, I was running, you see sir, and, uh, the road, sir, was uneven, sir. So I wasn't lookin’ where I was goin’, sir, so I, uh...fell.” Riddle finished, and to Severus just as lamely.
But what was interesting, but not so much as concerning, was the fact that Riddle was trying so hard to cover up for whatever or whoever did this to him.
From his limited experience, children his age usually spilt secrets like spilling water from a cup. They didn't care that they got injured, more so on whether they got caught stealing from the cookie jar, or something of the sort.
Usually, children who were adamant on hiding something as serious as injuries, be it emotional or physical, were the ones that were ab…
Severus trailed off.
He stared blankly at Riddle. His mind whirred as he connected the pieces.
Going out in the early morning to cry, the naturally protective body posture, the hesitancy in talking about his home life, being terrified of his father, the fear of speaking aloud, of making a mistake, how small and light he was, the injuries. It all made sense now.
Oh Morgana, Severus realized. He's being abused.
__________
It was a shocking revelation, one that Severus was bothered that he hadn't had sooner. It was as clear as day! How could he have not seen it?
Severus had to confirm his hypothesis. But Riddle clearly wasn't going to tell him the information he needed to know. That much was apparent enough to realize on the spot.
Yet if he couldn't verbally ask Riddle the questions, then without any contact there was only one way to confirm his suspicions. It wasn't his first choice, not by a long shot, but it was the only one he had at the moment.
“Riddle.”
The boy looked up, surprised to be addressed.
He wasn't looking directly at Severus' eyes, but somewhere around his chest area. He knelt down on one knee to meet Riddle's gaze. Except that Riddle just bowed his head lower, seeming to avoid Severus' gaze.
Severus sighed.
Is Riddle doing this on purpose, or is it from…the other thing? He frowned at the prospect. In anycase, he thought, this cannot do.
“Riddle,” he said a second time. Still, the child refused to look into his eyes.
“Tom, look at me.” Severus tried again, “You don't have to worry, I won't hurt you.” His tone was much softer than he thought he would ever portray.
Great, Severus groaned internally, I'm turning soft. I suppose really do need to reevaluate my qualifications as a wizard.
Regardless, it had done the trick. Riddle had jerked his head up at the use of his first name, and, after a small pause, timidly looked up into Severus’ eyes.
Ice blue eyes met dark obsidian ones.
Severus placed a hand onto Riddle's shoulder, so as to keep him in place should he feel like moving. He looked deep into the child's eyes.
Legilimens
Images after images flashed by Severus as he dove deep into Riddle's mind.
There were some of a small, dark area, faint images of a woman, and a few other things that were useless to his purpose at the moment.
But then there were whirls of memories of a man. A man that looked just like Riddle, but much older. Of the man holding a belt, of laughter and shouting, or blood within his vision whenever the man appeared. The man who could be none other than…Severus stopped short.
Tom Riddle's father.
Severus wanted to dive deeper, to find out more about just how badly Riddle was being treated. He could feel his own animosity surfacing as he passed. He himself had such an experience, and had hoped that no one would get one just as bad as his.
However, he was surprised to have hit what felt like an invisible wall. He was just about to explore it, when he was brought back into the real world by a loud “ack!” coming from Riddle.
He immediately exited Riddle's mind, and hurried to check on the kid's condition, previous endeavor momentarily forgotten.
Riddle was clutching his head, seeming to be in pain. Which was strange, considering how gentle he was being while using legilimens. Riddle shouldn't have been able to feel anything at all. Unless…
Severus narrowed his eyes.
“Careful, Mr Riddle, pulling at your hair is just going to make you bald, especially with the force that you're using. Come,” Severus placed a hand on top of Riddle's dirty head, and slowly carded it through his hair.
Riddle had tensed, but eventually relaxed into the touch. He seemed to be enjoying it, and Severus was a tad uncomfortable. But he continued regardless.
Because unbeknownst to the boy, he was slowly pouring magic into his fingers as he did it.
‘Do you feel anything?” Severus asked as casually as he could.
“Uh, yes, sir. There's a tingling feeling there, sir, but Sir has made the pain go away! Thank you very much sir! I deserve nothing of the sort, sir, thank you!” Riddle replied enthusiastically.
It was much too fervent and upbeat for Severus, but he didn't particularly mind. Plus, this had told him another thing. One that was especially surprising.
Tom Riddle could feel magic.
Now, this could be that Riddle was one of those muggles with heightened sensitivity to magic, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Still, Severus had his suspicions.
But that wasn't what mattered.
What did matter, was the fact that someone had the audacity to harm a child to such an extent in the first place. It was not, at all, okay to Severus.
In fact, he was tempted to take matters into his own hands.
“Mr Riddle,” Severus began as he straightened, standing up and brushing off his trousers and trench coat.
The boy looked up at him, disappointment apparent in his face. Although that face would not linger on disappointment for much longer.
“I imagine it is time for me to escort you home,” Severus spoke his next words carefully, so as to not startle the child too much.
As he gazed at Riddle's scrawny form, his eyes hardened.
“I believe it is high time that I meet your parents.”
To be continued