The houses on the street he appeared on all looked the same. Severus passed a group of teenagers who were grouped near the house he wanted to visit.

“Hey, you,” a boy said to him.

Severus paused, waiting for one of them to ask about his wardrobe, his clothes weren’t exactly ones that Muggles were used to. He realized that he should have tried to dress more like one, but he hadn’t had time.

“You’re going to that house there?” the boy asked.

“Yes,” Severus answered.

“Tell them we’re really sorry for waking his nephew up.”

Severus nodded, and then made his way across the yard. He’d considered telling the teenagers the truth, but decided against it. He walked up to the door and knocked loudly. There was some muttering inside, and then Petunia Dursley opened the door. Her face went white as she stared back at him.

“You,” she whispered.

“Who is it?” A man shouted.

“Another one! The one that Harry is staying with,” she answered. “Come in, I guess.”

Severus followed her into the house. They were by the stairs; he noticed a cupboard and walked over to it to open the door. He peered inside to see that blankets covered the floor to make a bed with a small couch pillow resting on top. There were some broken toys on a shelf and some clothes under it. It was a very small space; he couldn’t believe that these people would actually force a child to grow up in it.

He backed up and turned to Petunia who was staring back at him, her face was still white.

“How many bedrooms do you have?” he asked her.

“Four,” she said.

“Yet, Harry had to sleep here?” Severus asked her with disgust.

“Don’t judge me, if it hadn’t been for-” she started to say.

“I’m judging you and your husband for child abuse! He smacked Harry across the face to shut up a gang of teenagers! They are out there by the way, they wanted me to apologize and yet what your husband did was a lot worse!” Severus yelled.

Albus Dumbledore walked into the hallway from the sitting-room.

“I thought I heard you’re voice. I didn’t expect you to come. What about Harry?” he said.

“I got Lucius to watch over him. He was asleep when I left,” Severus told him.

They went into the sitting-room. Severus recognized Vernon from Harry’s memories. He was very pale at the moment. If he could, he’d use the torture curse on the man. He’d been very brutal when he had spanked him, it was as if he had spanked him with all his strength… and Harry was three-years-old. He’d let it go on for at least fifteen minutes. He’d also watched him smack the child across the face, and then had thrown him hard against the floor.

“This is Severus Snape, the man who has decided to adopt your nephew,” Dumbledore told Vernon.

Vernon added. “How is he?”

“Better now that he isn’t starved, and will never be beaten again!” Severus roared. “That little boy is malnourished, I checked with a spell-” both Dursley’s flinched at the word spell. “and he is much to underweight for a child his age, too short as well. What the hell were you thinking Dursley? You could have killed him.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Vernon said, “and I still don’t get it, why didn’t he die? He looked dead.”

“He almost did die when he stopped breathing; his magic took over and kept him alive when he went still. He would have started to breathe quicker, if you had backed off Mr. Dursley. His magic was protecting him from you. The moment you left the bedroom, he woke up, and then he fell asleep because he was drained of energy as I’ve explained. Underage magic is extraordinary,” Dumbledore said.

“Why did you beat him all the time? Why did you smack him across the face? Why didn’t you just tell the teenagers that the boys were trying to nap? Why doesn’t he have a proper bedroom? Why are all of his toys broken?” Severus fired the questions at Vernon very fast.

Vernon didn’t answer for a moment. “I didn’t want that freakish nature in my house. I thought if I beat him at a young age, he’d learn self-defense so that he wouldn’t resort to the magic when he was older. I was teaching him to be a proper man.”

“Starving and beating him was teaching him to be a man? Harry could have grown up bitter and turned on other people. You weren’t teaching him anything but to hate himself,” Snape answered. “He acts like the life he had here was a normal one. I want to see some punishment, Dumbledore.”

“We were just talking about that before you arrived. Since Harry is a magical being, I feel that the punishment should be from the Ministry. I am going to go down to talk about having a hearing with them. I feel that Azkaban prison would have a better affect on him than a Muggle one would,” Dumbledore told him.

“For both of them you mean?” Severus asked as he glared at Petunia whose face paled even more.

“Petunia didn’t beat Harry,” Dumbledore said, “But she’ll go to a hearing as well because she let the abuse go on.”

“Good. I might go to that hearing. I came to say and hear what I’ve wanted. If I could, I would torture you both for putting that child through what you did. He is three-years-old! A teenager would crack under the kind of spankings you gave him!” Severus shouted.

He stormed from the house, on his way through, he pulled his wand out and destroyed the framed photographs none had Harry in the family portraits. If a visitor came, they wouldn’t even know the boy existed. He stopped at Harry’s cupboard and peered in to see if there were any proper toys he could give him, but he didn’t see any.

Outside, the teenagers were still laughing and talking. They stopped when he started to walk past them.

“Did you tell him sir?” the same boy from earlier asked.

“There was no need. You didn’t wake him. It turns out that those people were very abusive toward that little boy. He smacked his nephew across the face and then took him outside when he started to cry so he could blame you,” Severus told them.

No one said a word at first, he didn’t care anymore. He had seen Harry’s living quarters; he wanted the world to know what that monster had put him through. A girl looked back at the house and then at him.

“You know, I kind of wondered about that little boy. They have him doing chores that he shouldn’t be doing at his age. See that garden-” she pointed to a rose garden in front of the house “-well they had him trimming the roses and when he accidentally cut the rose off with the snips, the man grabbed him and told him he was getting a spanking… sir, those snips he was using were much too big for him to be using in the first place. He wears clothes that are way to big for him. I think he wears his older cousin’s clothes and that little boy is way too big for his age while the nephew looks really skinny.”

Severus nodded. “Thanks for telling me that. Harry has gone through a lot more than a four-year-old deserves. He lost his parents when he was a baby, then he came to live here where he has been starved and abused. He is being removed from the home. I went over to tell them that they have to go to a hearing.”

“That little boy is four? He looks no older than two…” the boy said.

“He’ll be four at the end of July. He’s not as big as he should be because he was starved. I have to get going, thanks for telling me and don’t feel bad about those people,” Severus said and walked away.

He could hear the teenagers muttering as he walked away and felt satisfied. He knew that it would be spread around the town by the next morning, he knew how much children their age liked to gossip. The Dursley’s wouldn’t be able to hold their heads in public again. When he was out of their sight, he turned on his heel and vanished.

“I wanna go by myself through, please!” Harry asked.

“Harry, I don’t want you to get lost through the floo network,” Severus told him.

“Please!” Harry said again.

“No,” Severus answered and lifted him up. “When you are a lot bigger, but not now.”

“When I’m four? I’ll be four soon, I know I will!” Harry answered excitedly.

“When you’re a lot older,” Severus said.

He reached into his pot of floo powder, grabbed a handful and threw it into the flames. They turned green and Severus stepped into the fireplace, and yelled: “Diagon Alley!” Harry screamed as they started to spin fast, his eyes were open wide, though Severus had told him to keep them closed. When they were out in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was bawling loudly.

“That’s why I wanted to be with you,” Severus answered.

“No like. No more dizzy green fire,” Harry said.

Severus noticed that when the boy was upset, he spoke as if he were a really young child but other times he could speak in more complete sentences. He carried him through the pub, ignoring everyone. He was glad that he had taken a good amount of Galleons out of his vault earlier that week; he didn’t think Harry would like the ride on the carts.

“We’re going to get you some new clothes first, and then we’ll stop to get you some new toys and books,” Severus said.

“I get new toys?” Harry asked.

“Yes.”

He carried him into Madame Malkin’s and set him on his feet. Madame Malkin hurried over, gushing about how adorable he was, and how she didn’t know that Severus had a son. He looked down at Harry who was looking around the room and felt some warmth in his stomach, the child was his son. He had been a father for not even a day and he liked the sound of it.

“I want to get him some everyday robes in dark colour’s, as well as some Hogwarts robes. I think a few pairs of black dress robes as well,” Severus told her. “I’ll need them to be delivered though.”

“All right, young man, if you could just step on this stool so I can measure you… the clothes he is wearing now are much too big for him Severus,” she said as she helped Harry onto a stool.

“I just actually got guardianship over him. The people who were taking care of before neglected him,” Severus answered.

“He told me I get a treat and then smack me across face because of teenagers,” Harry told her.

“Pardon?” she asked.

Severus explained quickly what he had meant. He wished Harry would speak properly if he was going to talk about the abuse. He could talk properly any other time, but for some reason when he spoke of something that upset him, he only connected words together but didn’t make much sense.

“Well it’s good he isn’t living there anymore, how old is he? Can I take his shirt off please? It will be easier to make sure his robes fit properly, I can’t measure him when he is wearing these clothes,” she said and Severus nodded.

They both gasped when they saw his rib bones sticking out, and how his stomach seemed to be sticking inward. His stomach was also covered in many bruises and his neck had purple marks, which had been hidden by the neckline of his shirt. Severus walked over and pulled his pants off as well so that he was left standing in a pair of underwear, the only thing that fit him properly. His legs were bruises as well and were too thin.

“My goodness look at the back of his legs,” Madame Malkin said, tears were shimmering in her eyes.

He looked, he wanted to go back to the Dursley’s, and it took all his self-control not to leave him with Malkin. The back of his legs were so swollen, it was a wonder why Harry could sit down at all. They were so dark blue and purple, but there was also broken skin as well. It went from the back of knees to under his underwear.

“Harry, why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?” Severus asked.

He had seen the spanking, but he hadn’t seen the result of it. He pulled out his wand and pointed at the back of legs, there was a loud pop, and the bruises were gone. Madame Malkin apparently knew healing spells as well because she started to work on his upper body as well.

“Is this Harry Potter?” she asked.

Severus nodded.

“But I thought Dumbledore left him with Muggle relatives.”

“He did, but they didn’t want him because he was magical. His uncle thought that if he beat him enough, Harry wouldn’t be magical anymore.”

“I don’t hurt anymore!” Harry shouted; he held his arms out in front of him. “Thank you! I don’t know what you did, but it worked!”

Madame Malkin finished measuring him more quickly with the removal of his huge clothes. She disappeared and came back with a pair of dark green robes which she pulled over his head. Severus knew why she had chosen the colour, they looked good on him. He looked down at them, then glanced at him and smiled.

“Thank you Severus,” he said.

“You’re very welcome Harry and thanks Madame. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone what you saw here,” Severus said. “You know my address, send the clothes along late this afternoon, we’ll be home then.”

She nodded; she still had tears in her eyes. He didn’t blame her. He hadn’t expected to see Harry looking the way he did. He picked him back up and carried him out the door. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought to give the boy a bath, at least then he would have seen all the damage. He’d figured he’d clean him up when he had new clothes so he wouldn’t have to change twice.

“I don’t hurt anymore,” Harry said happily.

“I wish you had told me you were in pain. It must have hurt a lot just to sit down. I think a grownup would have cried from that kind of pain,” Severus answered. “How often did he spank you?”

“When I’m bad. He spank me a lot all day. Sometime I get spank in morning, afternoon and night! Every day I get spank sometime and then sometime no spank no more until long time.”

Severus sighed; there he was again not speaking properly. He took him to a children’s store in Diagon Alley. There was an assortment of toys for children of all ages. He hadn’t stepped foot in the store since he had been a young child. He put Harry down and told him to pick all the toys he wanted and to put them in a large basket that he had unshrunk while he looked for some children books.

He picked up Tales of Beedle the Bard instantly; most children knew the stories by Beedle. He looked around for more when Harry ran over holding a dog that was barking.

“I like this toy,” he said.

“Put it in the basket and then get whatever else you want,” Severus said.

“I get more than one toy?” Harry asked.

“Yes, pick out whatever you want Harry. We’re going to have them delivered as well, here put this book in the basket as well.”

Harry stared at him with amazement, then ran over and threw his arms around his legs.

“You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met,” he told him, then ran to where they had left the basket.

Severus shook his head, it was sad because it was true. He selected an armful of books and turned to see that the basket was over flowing with toys. The strange thing was, they were all obviously magical, but Harry didn’t question it. He could have grown up in the magical world as far as the boy was concerned. Severus made room in the basket for the books, and then looked around for Harry.

“Look at me Severus!” Harry shouted.

He was riding a toy broomstick, around in circles near the owner. He was laughing as he leaned forward and it shot fast toward Severus who jumped out of the way just in time.

“He really knows how to fly. He told me he’s never seen a broomstick before,” the woman said. “Are you going to take that as well?”

“Might as well, and that’s it Harry. We’ll come back here when it’s your birthday.”

“He is adorable,” she said. “Are you getting these toys delivered?”

“Sometime this afternoon please,” Severus said. “I think we’ll take a toy or two to keep us busy- no not the broom, Harry. Pick out some small toys and we’ll take a book as well. I want you to take a bath and then a nap this afternoon.”

“Is this Harry Potter? I see the scar.”

“Yes it is,” Severus answered. He wished people wouldn’t ask about it. He could tell that Harry was listening.

“My uncle told me I get treat then smack me across the face cause of teenagers,” Harry said quickly. “He let me stay at his home now.”

“I’m adopting him because he lived in an abusive situation with his aunt and uncle. That’s why we are getting all this stuff today. Harry, pick out a couple toys. I already know which book we’re taking.”

The owner told him the price of all the toys, which was a lot, but Severus had enough and paid. He hadn’t realized that it would be so expensive, but he only wanted Harry to have the best. He picked up Harry who was holding a bag of blocks. He really wished the boy would stop telling people about his uncle slapping him across the face. It would be out soon enough about the abuse, but he didn’t want to keep explaining it to people. He’d thought about taking Harry out for lunch, but decided against it. He would just make him lunch at home.