Harry Potter One Shots

(2) The Cupboard

All rights belong to the author, enahma

Letters! There were letters!

He became curious, but he didn't want to rush and damage the writing, so he used even more water until the writing was readable.

Certificate – the first line read.

Harry almost lost his interest thinking that the Certificate surely was about the furniture, but then, he suddenly spotted the words "Sirius" and "Snape" some lines later. Frantically, he began to rub the door as forcefully as he dared without damaging the inscription.

The disgusting, sluggish material didn't disappear, but it was transparent, so the letters were clearly readable under it.

The room was quite dim, and Harry had to light his wand.

"Lumos," he whispered and leaned closer.

The text was written with big, childish capitals and the lines were jagged instead of being straight. It was obvious the text was written by a first or second year. It read:

Hereby we, James Potter and Sirius Black, testify that Severus Snape, after spending two days in this cupboard, was not only begging for his filthy life, but was crying and wetted himself like a baby, so that he officially earned the name "Snivellus", which he has to answer to from now on.

In the name of the board of examination: James Potter and Sirius Black,

With another type of letters was added:

He was really crying - Remus Lupin (witness)

And another line:

He begged and cried and was absolutely wet - Peter Pettigrew (witness)

The 21st of November, 1971

The wand trembled in Harry's hand and fell into the small pool of water which had gathered under the door. The room suddenly turned dark and the thoughts in his head began to dance, swirling and spinning so hard that Harry felt dizzy and had to sit back on his ankles.

The silence of the room was roaring in his ears.

Harry felt his heart turning to ice and thumping as if he had run the marathon, and his stomach churned painfully. The emptiness of the last months seemed to break somehow, and the illusion of neutrality and indifference shattered into tiny pieces.

These words, these cruel and ruthless words were written by his father and Sirius and their two friends. These words witnessed such an act he had never believed anybody able to do. Other than Dudley, of course.

Four kids, four scumbags against one... And they hadn't locked that single one in for several hours, but for two days until... until he had been so entirely humiliated and perhaps not only a bit desperate and frightened that... that...

Four against one – just because it had seemed such a good joke. Oh yes, Harry knew perfectly well these kinds of jokes; he had been in the bad side of them too many times to forget. He knew what it meant to sit in the dark without the hope of being released soon, and with urgent needs not knowing the time when somebody would let him out to go to the loo... He knew the burning shame of wetting himself, the taunting laughter and the cruel comments, the dread, and the humiliation.

But he, at least, had been in a cupboard which was big enough to move in, to stretch himself and he could listen to the telly through the door to let time pass – but here... here was just nothing, and those two days had had to be a weekend, a weekend in an empty room, not being able to count the passing hours when every second seemed half an hour... knowing full well that his saviours would be his tormentors...