Severus stared down at the small sleeping boy. His life had changed a lot over the past few weeks. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been as happy. He looked around the room, which had changed considerably since Harry’s first night. Toys lay on the floor, a bookshelf which had been full of old school books now had young children books in it. The closet had very small and new robes hung inside. Childish drawings and paintings were on the walls.

Severus was kept busy trying to keep up with a very excited three-year-old boy. Harry had played quietly his first couple of days, but as each day passed, he grew louder. None of this annoyed him though, on the contrary, when Harry was screaming and laughing, this made Severus feel good. He was giving the boy freedom to enjoy childhood, something he really hadn’t had at the Dursley’s.

Oh he knew that Harry had been allowed to play there. Harry told him a lot about his life at his aunt and uncles. He’d even been into some of his memories to see what else had gone on there. As long as the child had played quietly, he was all right. He got spanked hard over the most trivial things though. A glass of juice spilled, dropping food on the floor, accidentally colouring off of the paper and onto the table. Yes, Harry had been allowed to play, but it had to be careful play and quiet.

One memory had shown Harry very sad after a spanking; he had accidentally screamed too loudly, so he’d been given a very long and hard one. Afterward, Harry had to clear the table for them, he was much too distracted, no doubt from the pain he was in and dropped a plate on the floor. Nothing had been broken, no food had been on the plate, and the boy had quickly picked it up. His uncle however had been angry that the plate had dropped at all, so the boy had been spanked again! It was a much longer and harder spanking then the first. Petunia had tried to stop that one while the boy had screamed in pain.

“Vernon, stop! He’s too little to be handled so roughly. He just turned three-years-old!”

This had earned a harsh glare which she had taken very seriously; she let the punishment go on. That had made Severus angry; he had to leave the room so Harry couldn’t see the anger. He had been barely three-years-old in the memory and he’d been forced to clear the table, and had already been punished severely just for screaming. What little child didn’t scream when they were excited?

The thought of how many times Harry had been beaten over a day, and starved for a long time made up his mind. The child could be as loud as he wanted to be, he could play when he wanted, and he could spill all the juice on the floor all day if he wanted. Harry rarely misbehaved though, and when he did scream from excitement, it was never too loud. Severus knew many children between the ages of two to five, and his child was the sweetest he’d ever met. So this made him angry to know that the Dursley’s had beaten their nephew often.

There were times when he had to scold Harry for misbehaving, when he did, he would lecture him and send him to his room. When Harry came out later, he’d climb into Severus’ lap and apologize. Then he would ask for a story, which Severus would be only too happy to retrieve a book to read to him, or tell him a story about Lily.

The teenagers weren’t too happy about Harry’s mistreatment either. At times, Severus would leave his house quickly to see how the Dursley’s were faring without their son, who had been taken away. From what he could see, they were very depressed, and worried about their upcoming hearing. They were miserable as well, the kids had been sure to spread what they had done to Harry around town. Not only that, but they egged and papered the house constantly, yelled as loudly as they could in front of the house and made obscene gestures at Vernon whenever he went outside.

“Child abuser!” “Heard you starved that little boy! Why? Couldn’t get enough food for yourself or that pudgy son of yours Dursley?” “I hope you’re in prison for life!” “You thought we were loud before, but now you’ll never hear the end of us!” “We didn’t wake your nephew; you beat him so he’d cry!” “Animals!” “I hope you die!”

Those were some of the things Severus heard when he quickly checked in. He could never stay for long, though Harry usually slept from eight at night until around seven in the morning, he was always nervous about leaving him alone either way. He’d go out long enough just to see what was going on, always disguised of course.

Now as he stared at the small boy who was taking an afternoon nap, he wanted the time to go by quickly so they could play again. He left the room quietly and headed down the steps. He couldn’t stand the peace and quiet that filled the house when Harry slept. He would spend his time reminiscing over Lily. Although he’d only had the boy for a few weeks, he couldn’t understand how he’d been able to spend all his time alone during the holidays. The first months of summer were always hard; he didn’t have to worry about preparing for the school year until the August.

He entered his sitting room where a colouring book and many toys lay. In the evenings he had Harry put the toys away, but it was pointless before naptime. The toys would just be scattered throughout the house after he woke up from an hour sleep. It was better just to leave them where they were. His eyes fell on a block tower that Severus had built before the nap. Since day one, Harry’s favourite game was for one of them to build a tower and then the other to kick the blocks down. Severus couldn’t understand why. They had been the only toys Harry had selected from the toys they’d bring home with them first. This had been a surprise since the blocks weren’t magical, the rest of the toys were.

The next day was Harry’s birthday. Severus had planned to invite Lucius and his small son over to celebrate it. He was nervous about the two boys meetings. Draco Malfoy was a very spoiled and arrogant. At the age of four, he was very bossy. He liked to tell the two little boys he usually played with, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe what to do. Harry was still very sensitive at the moment, in time Severus would teach him to be a bigger man (and most definitely not in the way Dursley had) but for the time being, Harry could whine and cry all he wanted.

Severus settled in a chair to look over the results of his Slytherin students who sat down for OWLs the previous year. He wasn’t surprised to see that some of the students hadn’t done too well in their subjects to continue into sixth year. He always looked forward to losing the inadequate students for his Potion’s class. Reading through the results passed the time; he jumped when he heard a crash and then Harry’s laughter. He looked up over the pile of parchment in his lap to see that the block tower now lay in pieces on the floor.

“I build now and then you can kick them Sev!” Harry said.

Severus jolted at the name. Only Lily had ever called him that, now her small son with her eyes had used the old nickname. As if sensing something, Harry’s smile faltered and still he couldn’t find the words to say something to the child. Slowly the boy lowered his head and stared at the floor, a moment later sobs were wracking his body and he fell to the floor.

“No, Harry, it’s okay!” Severus said.

He quickly put the student’s results up where Harry couldn’t get them and hurried to gather the small boy in his arms.

“You’re angry with me. You don’t want me no more,” Harry sobbed.

“No, why would you think that? You are staying with me.”

“You looked angry. You looked like Uncle Vernon when he is going to spank me…”

Had he? Severus hugged Harry tighter and explained that he was not angry with him. He couldn’t explain to the boy about the relationship he’d had with his mother. He had to tell him something though, the boy was crying harder and he understood. The first person to treat the child nicely in his memory had glared at him angrily and he didn’t understand it.

“I am sorry that I looked angry, but I am not. If I am angry with you, what do I do?”

“Make me go to my room,” Harry said as he pulled back.

“Right, I will never send you away when I am angry. I wasn’t though.”

“Then why did you look like it? I thought you weren’t happy because I knocked down your tower. I thought you were going to spank me and send me away,” Harry said.

“No, I told you that I will never spank you. Also, I built the tower for you to knock down. I’m sorry that you thought I was angry with you. Now why don’t we go out in the yard so you can fly your broom?”

Harry nodded happily, he wrapped his arms back around Severus.

“I love you Sev,” he said.

This time Severus smiled.

Harry’s fourth birthday was a beautiful and warm day. What made it even better was the fact that it was the Dursley’s hearing. Severus had a feeling that Dumbledore had arranged it that way. Years from now, it would be a good birthday present.

Severus was still in bed, it wasn’t even six in the morning when Harry ran in to jump on the bed.

“Happy birthday to Harry!” he shouted as he jumped.

“Yes, Harry birthday Harry,” Severus said.

He was not a morning person, but he was slowly learning to be one. He was irritated with Harry for waking him up so early, but he refused to scold him. It was the first birthday party the child would remember having, and he refused to wreck it for him. Instead, he told Harry to meet him downstairs so that he could get dressed.

When he did finally get downstairs, a surprise met him. Two bowls of cereal sat ready on the table along with two cups of orange juice; the Daily Prophet lay beside one of the bowls of cereal.

“I got your breakfast ready Sev,” Harry said.

“It’s your birthday, I should have done that,” Severus said in amazement.

“I know, but you are giving me a birthday party. I’ve never had one before. I poured the milk and orange juice all by myself without spilling once! I wanted to make your coffee but I don’t know how,” Harry answered.

“It’s too hot for you to touch anyway, but thank you Harry,” Severus said.

He wasn’t a fan of cereal; he probably hadn’t eaten it since before he had joined Hogwarts. In the mornings he usually ate bacon and eggs, he didn’t drink orange juice, only coffee or butterbeer. He had bought the cereal for Harry to eat. However, the boy had done this for him, there was no way he was going to reject it. So he sat down at the table and started to eat the cereal after Harry sat.

“I made it before I woke you up,” Harry said.

“What time did you wake up at?”

Harry shrugged. “Can’t tell time yet.”

After they ate breakfast, and Severus had read the Daily Prophet, they sat down to open the gifts for Harry. Severus had returned to the toy shop on his own to get more toys for him. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, Pomfrey and Madame Malkin had also all sent him gifts. The sitting-room was full of wrapping paper.

“How come all these people sent me gifts too?” Harry asked.

“They all used to know you when you were a baby,” Severus answered.

Madame Pomfrey and Madame Malkin hadn’t but the two witches had been upset because of the way Harry had been treated. Madame Pomfrey had come to visit courtesy of Dumbledore to see just how malnourished he was. She had quickly informed Severus that he didn’t weigh anywhere near what he should at his age. Not only that, but he wasn’t the proper height either, if she hadn’t known his age before hand, she’d guessed that he was only two-years-old.

“That’s around the age the abuse started at,” Dumbledore had told her. “Although, from what Vernon Dursley says he hadn’t started to really beat Harry until after he turned three. However, I believe he was never fed properly, so I’d say he stopped growing around the age of two-half.”

“So you’re telling me he would have stayed that height if we hadn’t found out what was happening?” Severus had asked angrily.

“No, he still would have grown,” Madame Pomfrey said. “At a much slower rate then an average child would have though. I’d say by the age of eleven, he’d be as tall as a seven or eight-year-old. Children usually grow inches between those ages. James Potter grew a lot between fifteen and sixteen; I’d say Harry will be the same. However if he never ate properly, he would be at a stunted growth forever. Although luckily, we’d likely see that something was wrong when he came to school in his first year, so we’d try to help out. There was a chance that the Dursley’s wouldn’t have allowed him to come, so he would probably stop growing too early.”

“So what about now? He isn’t as tall as he should be,” Severus questioned.

“I’m making up a list of foods he should be eating; try to feed him healthy snacks between meals. I wouldn’t advise junk food though; we don’t want him to get fat, just to gain weight. I’m worried that he is close to anemic so I am leaving a potion I want you to give him before he sleeps every night. As long as he gets plenty of food, exercise and lives a healthy life style, I don’t see why he shouldn’t grow.”

Severus had started to measure Harry weekly and could see that the boy was already gaining weight and had even grown an inch in height. He followed the foot chart that the matron had made up along with the list of foods she’d left. If Harry told him that he was hungry, Severus would make sure that to give him food right away.

“How come they never gave me gifts before?”

Severus was pulled out of his thoughts by the question, it was a good one. Why hadn’t anyone sent him gifts, they all had (excluding Severus, Madame Pomfrey and Madame Malkin) when Harry had turned a year old. Perhaps it had been because of the Muggles.

“They didn’t know when your birthday was,” Severus lied.

Harry nodded; it was good enough for him. He started to play with his new gifts, but he wore a small frown on his face.

“Severus, what if Draco don’t like me?” he asked.

“He will, he’s been looking for a new friend.”

“But I’ve never had a friend before. Dudley only liked me sometimes. Mostly he tried to get me in trouble so I’d be spanked.”

Severus had sent a letter to Lucius explaining what had gone on at the Dursley’s. He hoped he’d have a talk with son before they came over. Severus looked at his watch; it was after eight, which meant they would be coming at any time.

“Harry, let’s get this mess cleaned up.”

Harry nodded and began to gather the wrapping paper in one pile so Severus could banish it. Once the paper was gone, they began to put the toys in a toy box. As they were finishing up, the fireplace lit up. He felt arms wrap around his leg tightly as he watched Lucius step out holding a small boy who looked a lot like he did.

“Morning, Severus, Harry,” Lucius said as he put Draco down. “Draco?”

“Morning,” Draco said. “Please to see you again Mr. Snape. Hello Harry.”

So they had been teaching him to be polite. The last time Severus had seen Draco, he’d been very rude and demanding. Now he stood beside his father looking Harry over, but he remained expressionless.

“Hello Draco,” Harry said and he let go of Severus’ leg.

“Father said it’s your birthday today. How old are you?”

“I’m four,” Harry answered shyly.

“Me too. I turned four in June. I had a big party. Lots of presents and cake and friends. Did you get a lot of presents?”

Harry nodded. “Want to see?”

Draco nodded, before he took a step forward, Lucius took him by the arm. Out of his robe, he pulled out a small flat package. The boy nodded and pulled away. He walked over to Harry and handed him the package. Draco was at least a head taller than Harry was.

“This is our gift, happy birthday Harry,” he said.

Harry ripped the present open excitedly and pulled out a rare edition of a book called: The Wizard Menace it was a story about a wizarding boy aged nine who enjoyed getting into mischief. There were a number of books in the series, Harry had a few of them, but it was hard to find that particular copy. The boy, Jacob Wart steals a Hippogriff and releases it into a Muggle birthday party. The Ministry didn’t want the book out because they believed it would give people idea’s to do the same to Muggles. Most of The Wizard Menace books were about Jacob pranking his family or other wizards. That was the only copy about Muggles being pranked. It was ridiculous of course, how was a child supposed to get a hold of a Hippogriff in the first place?

“Thank you,” Harry said and handed it to Severus. “Can you read it to us later?”

“If you’d like, why don’t you two go play?”

“I’ll show you my toys then my room,” Harry told Draco.

The boys ran off, Severus set the book on top of the fireplace and beckoned Lucius into the kitchen.

“You still haven’t told me how Harry Potter ended up in your care,” Lucius said as they took a seat at the table. “I understand he was abused, but why would Dumbledore choose you?”

“He felt that I was the best person, to take care of him. He didn’t feel it was safe enough for the werewolf to take care of Harry of course. I suppose he wanted someone who knew Harry’s parents who didn’t have children themselves,” Severus answered.

“But you were enemies with James Potter. Also, considering your past… well it’s certainly a surprise, that’s all I am saying. I suppose you’ll be able to teach him our ways though. You can prevent him from being a Gryffindor.”

That’s for sure. Severus thought to himself. He really didn’t want Harry to end up in Gryffindor when he started at Hogwarts. He would be a Slytherin, but not as arrogant as most. He would not believe that Muggleborns were filth, nor would he know more about the Dark Art’s than necessary. The second night Harry had lived with him; Severus had purged the house of any Dark Arts books and artifacts.

“Yes, I certainly hope so,” Severus answered. “I’d take Hufflepuff before Gryffindor, but I can’t see it. He is very smart; I think he’ll be Ravenclaw or Slytherin.”

“Well with Draco’s influence and perhaps Crabbe and Goyle’s sons-”

“I don’t want Harry playing with their sons. If those two are anything like their fathers, I’d rather he stayed away from them. They aren’t what you’d call intelligent. Now that Harry is around, maybe he’ll be a better playmate for your son.”

Lucius shrugged. “I’d rather Draco have a variety of playmates. No Crabbe and Goyle aren’t smart… at all, but they are very useful and loyal. Besides, Draco can boss their sons around and they never argue with it.”

There was a loud crash from the sitting-room and laughter. Severus had a feeling Harry was playing the block game with Draco. Moments later, there was another loud crash and more laughter.

“See how high it can go first!” Harry shouted excitedly.

“We’ll build it together this time though. Do you have lots and lots of blocks?”

“Uh huh, Sev bought me lots.”

“I bet I have more!”

Severus laughed. Lucius changed the subject from the kids and asked him questions about Hogwarts and whether or not Severus had gotten the Defense Against the Dark Arts. This was a sore topic with him. Every year he applied for the job, but the Headmaster always turned him down for it. He knew he’d be a better teacher for it than most of the people that had been hired for it during the previous years. He was surprised the students usually made it past OWL for the class. He remembered when he’d known more than some of the teachers had when he’d been a student.

“I’ve always wondered why Dumbledore can’t keep a teacher there for more than a year,” Lucius said.

“People say the job is jinxed. Has been since a few years after Dumbledore started as Headmaster, that’s what I heard. They had a steady teacher who had a terrible accident one year and couldn’t return. After that no one has ever lasted.”

CRASH!

Loud screams and laughter came from the sitting-room.

“Keep it down Draco!” Lucius called.

“Ah, let them be,” Severus said.

“You’ve grown soft, Severus, I never thought you would. I suppose having a young child around can change a person, I suppose it has with me in a way,” Lucius said.

“In Harry’s case yes. He was beaten and starved,” Severus answered. “If you’d seen the way he looked when he was dropped off here…”

He began to explain exactly what he had seen in Harry’s memories; along with what the back of Harry’s legs had looked like. Lucius shook his head.

“And Dumbledore wants to protect Muggles. It’s obvious they did that because of his magical abilities. Didn’t you once say that Petunia Dursley was jealous of her sister?”

Severus nodded.

“See? That child was beaten and starved because of that. Why protect people who would destroy us in an instant if they could? Look at what they tried to do in the past! You say they almost killed him!”

Severus wasn’t sure what to say. To some extent, he did agree with Lucius, but if Muggles could produce people like Lily, he wasn’t sure what to think. His father had been a Muggle, and though he hadn’t been too pleased with magic, he wasn’t pleased with much. If Severus or his mother hadn’t been magical, he still would have been a bitter man. He had hated life in general and wanted to destroy any happiness that others had.

He had met other Muggles who weren’t bad. People like the Dursley’s should be destroyed, but there were some who were all right. Vernon probably would have found another reason to beat his nephew. He wasn’t his own child; therefore he would think that he shouldn’t have to care for another person’s child. Petunia, it was hard to say. She had cared about Lily before she’d found out she was magical; however she might have found something else to be jealous of her. If Lily hadn’t been magical, Harry wouldn’t exist. A voice in his head reminded him.

At lunch, Severus pulled out some food he had ordered from the night before. All he had to do was warm it up with a flick of his wand. Lucius, who wasn’t used to setting a table, helped him out. They boys ran in, both looked as if they had been having the time of their lives.

“Father, I want to play with him again,” Draco said as they ate.

“That can easily be arranged,” Lucius said.

“‘Cept next time Harry can come to our place. My house is very very big and I have lots and lots of toys. I have more toy brooms then you too. We wouldn’t have to take turns playing with it,” Draco told Harry.

“You two were playing with the toy broomstick? I thought it was outside,” Severus said.

“It is,” Harry said. “We played outside for a bit and then came in cause we were hungry, but you didn’t call for lunch yet.”

“I told you not to play outside by yourself,” Severus scolded Harry.

“But I didn’t play outside by myself. Draco was with me,” Harry said.

:Lucius snorted as he ate his food.

“Let me rephrase that. Don’t play outside without an adult.”

The child was too smart for his own good. Severus brought out a chocolate cake with four candles lit on it next. Harry looked as if he wasn’t sure what to do when the cake was placed in front of him.

“Blow the candles and make a wish already,” Draco complained.

Harry closed his eyes and blew the candles out. Severus was surprised that he didn’t know what to do. Lucius raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything; instead he just helped pass out the pieces of cake when it was cut. Harry took a bite of the cake and his eyes widened.

“It’s good!” he said full of surprise and began to eat faster.

“Haven’t you ever had cake before?” Draco asked. “‘Course it’s good!”

“No. I’ve never had a birthday party before. Whenever Dudley had a party I had to stay locked in my cupboard. If there was a dessert, I was always a bad boy before dinner so I never got any. Sometimes all I did was cough or sneeze and I was still called a bad boy and got spanked and no dessert or meals.”

Draco looked over at his father questioningly then back at Harry. “What’s spanked?”

“Draco, just eat your cake,” Lucius said.

“You never got a spanking when you’re bad?” Harry asked. “It’s when you get slapped really really hard on your bum lots of times and no pants either. It hurts a lot.”

“No, father or mother just makes me go to my room or takes a toy away. Sometimes I have to stay in my room all day and he puts a spell on all my toys so I can’t play!” Draco said, he glanced at his father and then back at Harry.

“Severus does that. At my aunt and uncles if I was a bad boy I got spanked. One day I wasn’t a bad boy but teenagers outside were being noisy so my uncle asked me if I wanted a treat and when I ran over, he smacked me across the face and made the teenagers be quiet. Then he threw me on the floor and I stopped breathing,” Harry said.

Draco’s eyes had gone wide by that point. “You’re lying…” he said and looked at his father again.

“He isn’t lying Draco. That’s why he lives with me now. The people who Harry used to live with hurt him a lot. That’s why we need to be very friendly with him and not make him feel bad.”

Draco nodded. “I’m sorry you were hurt Harry. I’ll be your friend. You’re a lot more funner than my big fat friends Crabbe and Goyle.”

“Draco!” Lucius said. “What have I told you?”

“Not to call them fat. I’m sorry sir,”

“Severus, after we have cake, can you read us my new story?” Harry asked.