It had taken days, but Severus and Dumbledore had managed to pick out memories to use for the Dursley’s hearing. They had both learned a lot about Harry’s childhood since there were a lot of memories from when he was a baby as well.

Both men were relieved to find that even though Harry was obviously neglected as a baby; neither Petunia nor Vernon had hit him. Dudley Dursley had spent a lot of his days poking and prodding him, and they had fed him. However, from the moment he lived at their place they had christened him as ‘Freak’ in the beginning, this had confused him. He had known that Harry was his name, not Freak, but after awhile he seemed to forget his rightful name.

It wasn’t until the Christmas after his second birthday that the real abuse started. That explained why he was so little. They stopped feeding him as much and began to hit him, the older he grew, the more brutal they were. Dumbledore decided that Harry must have stopped growing at the age of two.

Harry and Dudley played together by the Christmas tree. Harry didn’t seem to be as happy as most two-year-old boys were. He wasn’t smiling while the two toddlers played with some toy trucks; it was as if his heart wasn’t in it. Dudley suddenly decided he wanted to play by himself and he pulled one of the trucks from his cousin’s hand.

Harry didn’t argue, he just got up and walked over to a teddy bear that had a missing arm. He picked it up and hugged it tightly. He stared at his cousin with dull green eyes.

“Mine!” Dudley shouted when he saw Harry holding the old bear.

It was indeed Dudley’s, but once the arm had fallen off, Petunia had decided to give it to Harry for Christmas.

“Kismiss pwesent,” Harry said and hugged the teddy bear to him tighter.

“Fweak, it mine!” Dudley shouted.

He hurried over to his cousin and tried to pull the bear from his arms, but Harry held onto it tightly.

“MUMMY!” Dudley screamed.

Petunia and Vernon ran into the room, they had been in the kitchen before.

“Fweak has my bear!” Dudley sobbed. “Mine!”

“Freak, give it back to Dudley!” Vernon said.

“Mine,” Harry said sadly.

“Dudley, we gave that teddy bear to Freak, it’s all broken and smelly now,” Petunia said quickly.

Dudley tried to pull it from Harry again, who only held on to it tighter. Dudley suddenly let out a horrible scream of pain. He stared down at his hand, which somehow had been burnt. Vernon and Petunia both seemed to understand what had happened.

“Petunia, he just hurt Dudley with that freaky powers!” Vernon shouted.

“I know,” she said.

She walked over to Harry, and smacked him as hard as she could across the face. Harry started to cry, she pulled the teddy bear out of his hands and tossed it to Vernon. She then pulled down his pants and diaper, and then started to spank him as hard as she could. The spanking went on for a while. When it was done, she picked him up; he was sobbing very hard at that point and handed him to Vernon.

“You’ll have to finish it, my hand is starting to hurt,” she told him.

They had both agreed that if he ever did magic, he would be beaten until he never did it again.

Unfortunately, Harry didn’t stop doing magic. Petunia had been in the middle of trying to potty training the boys, but she stopped bothering with her nephew after the magic incident. He had caught on a lot quicker than Dudley had, but there were times when he still had accidents, but she gave up on him completely.

When her son didn’t need diapers anymore, she stopped buying them for Harry as well. She cleaned his clothes for him until he was four with the garden hose and some dish soap but then she turned the task onto him. There were many arguments about this in the Dursley household. They learned that it had been Vernon’s decision to stop the training.

“Vernon, it would be easier if I just potty trained him now,” she said. “I am sick of cleaning his pants for him.”

“Force him to do it every morning then. He only stays in the cupboard or the yard, so none of his mess will get on the furniture. Freak is nothing but scum, so he should live in his own filth. Just add that to his chores, we’re too easy on him as it is.”

By the age of three, Harry had a lot of duties around the house; he had to set the table for the Dursley’s, even though it was very difficult for him. He had his own chair with a booster seat on it so he could stand on it to help wash the dishes or cook breakfast. He also had a lot of yard work to do as well; he did most of the gardening and at a very young age. He had learned to do everything right because if he didn’t, he’d be beaten.

The Christmas memory was one that Dumbledore and Severus had decided to use, but there were more, they found as well. Harry had a large bald in the middle of head that was growing back slowly. They learned quickly in a memory where it had come from.

Harry stood on his usual chair to make the breakfast. Vernon had ordered sunny side up eggs. These eggs were always very hard for him to make. He’d learned over the years how to make them properly, but it was difficult. He had accidentally burnt the bacon the day before, so his uncle had made him touch the burner on the stove. With a hurting hand, it was a lot harder for him make breakfast that morning.

“Hurry up with my breakfast Freak!” Vernon shouted.

Harry quickly tried to flip it… and the egg broke. Most unfortunately, his uncle got up to see what was taking so long. As soon as he saw that the yolk was running, he grew angry. He grabbed his nephew by the arm and then grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled. The boy started to scream.

“What have I told you about screaming when the windows are open you stupid filthy ugly waste of skin!” Vernon shouted and pulled Harry’s hair even harder.

Moments later, he had ripped the chunk of hair from his nephews head. He pushed him to the floor afterward and threw the hair on the floor.

“You clean that mess up now Freak!”

Harry quickly collected the strands of hair from the floor and threw them in the bin. He now had a bald spot on his, there was also some blood. He was crying hard, this seemed to anger his uncle even more because he was smacked across the face.

“Stop crying this instant!”

The boy seemed to know that if he didn’t listen, it would be a lot worse. He started to choke on his sobs.

“Now, what’s a freak?” Vernon asked him.

“Abnormal, strange, not normal,” Harry answered almost robotic like.

“Good, good,” Vernon muttered. “Repeat after me. I am a freak. I deserve beatings. I am not normal. I am a very horrible child. I am disgusting. I don’t deserve food or toys. I should not be alive but since I am I need to do chores and be beaten. I should have died with my loser parents.”

“I am a freak. I deserve beatings. I am not normal. I am a very horrible child. I am disgusting. I don’t deserve food or toys. I should not be alive but since I am I need to do chores and be beaten. I should have died with my loser parents,” Harry repeated without a mistake in the same robotic voice as before.

“How did your parents die?”

“In a car accident. They were drunk but it was good that they died because they were a burden to society just as I am. Since I insist on living I will do chores, I will get beaten without a complaint and if I shall disobey, I will be locked up in my cupboard with no meals,” Harry answered, still as robotic.

Vernon Dursley had made sure to make him repeat all this everyday at least three or four times since the age of two. In the beginning, if he didn’t say it properly, he was beaten. It was the only time Harry could speak in complete sentences.

“Are you a good boy?” Vernon asked him.

“No, I am a horrible child… no wait, I am not a child. I am thing. I am a disgusting revolting thing, hence the name Freak.”

“And you cried when I hit you, so you will do your chores, then you will be locked up in your cupboard with no meals for three days.”

Incidentally, the first meal Harry had was given to him after he arrived at Hogwarts. The memory they saw had happened two days before Severus had found him being abused. There were other memories just as bad that they would and ones that were even worse. There was one memory where the boy had been spanked four times in one day; each one had lasted at least five minutes.

Harry seemed to be even more depressed as the days went by and Madam Pomfrey didn’t understand. They kept him in the hospital wing; no one was sure what to do with him, or where he should stay, so he stayed there. The other teachers were starting to come back to Hogwarts daily as September neared, so they visited him often.

“Hello Harry,” Professor McGonagall said. “How are you today?”

She had arrived earlier in the day; she didn’t know the full story about his arrival. She had no idea that he believed his name was Freak.

“Not my name,” Harry told her his eyes down at the floor.

“What do mean that’s not your name?” she asked.

“Name is Freak,” he answered. “Got to go to bathroom.”

Surprised, but still not understanding, she picked him up and carried him to the bathroom. While he was in there, she went to Madam Pomfrey’s office to ask some questions. She let him know that she wouldn’t be far.

“Minerva! You’re back. How is your daughter?” Pomfrey said.

“Very good, and I got to meet my new Great Granddaughter. That was the surprise she had for me. No one had told me that Alicia was pregnant. My grandson is also engaged. I do miss the family very much at times. I wish I could see them more,” she said. “Now, about Harry, he told me his name is Freak?”

“His aunt and uncle renamed him Freak. He doesn’t understand why we keep calling him Harry. The abuse there was very bad, if Severus hadn’t seen… they beat him daily, he had to repeat everyday that he was a horrible child who deserved beatings. I don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s going to be very hard to get through to him; I am worried about what this is going to do to them when he is older. He thinks that if he doesn’t do chores he shouldn’t eat, he won’t play with toys. Oh Minerva, it’s terrible! Most days he just sits on his bed and doesn’t talk, if he does it’s to ask if he can do chores or to tell us that he has to go to the bathroom, but that’s a good thing I suppose. He wasn’t potty trained when he first came, but he seems to have learned quickly and he hasn’t been here that long.”

“I told Albus not to leave him there. I told him that they wouldn’t understand a boy like Harry, but I never suspected it would go this far.”

They went back into the Hospital Wing expecting to see Harry on the bed, but he was no where to be seen. Quickly, they ran to the bathroom to see if he was there. The light was still on, but he wasn’t there. Had he left to look for her?

The teachers that were at Hogwarts began a large search for Harry. Luckily the doors were locked during the summertime, so everyone thought it was unlikely that he had gone outside, but they had a few people search the grounds anyway. Everyone else, including the ghosts searched the castle.

Severus was very worried about him. He never thought it would have been possible to care about the Potter spawn, but he did. After what he had seen, he wanted to do nothing but to protect Harry. All he could think about was whether or not the boy was hurt somewhere, or perhaps scared.

Just as he rounded a corner, he saw a small figure coming out of one of the classrooms.

“SEVERUS!” Harry shouted.

He ran over to him, Severus rushed over and picked him up. Harry wrapped his arms around his neck and began to cry.

“Harry, you had us all worried. Why did you leave the Hospital Wing?”

“Look for you,” Harry said as be cried. “Thought you gone.”

“You were looking for me?”

“Didn’t see you for long time! Day and night and no Severus!”

He hadn’t been to the Hospital Wing in days, but it had been because he was looking through the memories. He and Albus had spent their days in the Headmasters office since there had been a lot of memories to go over. They had also wanted to have a better understanding of the life Harry had lived so they could figure out how to help him.

“I’ve been busy. I didn’t know you wanted me there,” Severus said. “Were you wondering where I was the whole time?”

Harry nodded. This surprised him and he had to ask, “Why?”

“You save me,” Harry answered. “Uncle spank Freak but you help. Now I don’t get hurt no more. I eat when tummy is sore too. Don’t do chores. Should do chores. Freak is bad boy needs to do chores Severus.”

“You don’t have to chores anymore. And haven’t we told you that your name is Harry?”

“Uncle and aunt call me Freak,” Harry said.

“Well, it’s not true. You are not a freak and you aren’t any of that other stuff they made you say. You are a very good boy.”

“I am a horrible child… no wait, I am not a child. I am thing. I am a disgusting revolting thing, hence the name Freak.”

“No, you are a very good child and you are not disgusting, you are not a freak and your name is Harry.”

Severus carried him back to the Hospital Wing. The child was grateful that he had saved him. He hugged him tightly as they went. He saw Professors Sprout and McGonagall talking anxiously by the doors.

“You found him!” Professor Sprout said relieved. “Where was he?”

“Ironically, he was looking for me. Apparently he missed me so he came to find me. He likes the fact that I saved him from his uncle,” Severus answered.

They entered the Hospital Wing. Severus went to place him on the bed Harry had been using but he only gripped his arms around tighter around his neck.

“No, please never leave me again. Please,” Harry begged. “Need you, uncle might come back. Stay with me. Pwomise stay with Freak, please stay!”

“I’ll stay,” Severus answered in a soft voice he had only used on once person before… Lily Evans.

It became very clear as the days went by that Harry was very attached to Severus. He seemed to like the other teachers but was very fond of the Potions Master. On the day of the Dursley trial, he was with Professor McGonagall for the day, but he was anxious because he knew his hero wasn’t at the school any longer.

The Wizenmagot decided after seeing all the memories that the Dursley’s deserved life in Azkaban. They were muggles yes, but they knew about the wizarding world, they had beaten an innocent wizard boy. The jury also had a soft spot for Harry as he was The-Boy-Who-Lived. They all thought it was terrible that the saviour of the wizarding world had to live through four years of abuse.

Several members of the Wizenmagot had to wonder if Dumbledore should continue to make decisions for Harry since he was the one who put him in the abusive situation in the first. Many wizarding families would have been more than happy to take him and raise him as their own.

Dumbledore had decided to keep Harry at Hogwarts, but not many people wanted him to make Harry’s decision anymore. There was a poll in the Daily Prophet about whether or not the boy should be taken into the Ministry’s custody.

“One of you will have to adopt him,” Albus told the staff members, a week before school started. “Hogwarts is the safest place for him if Voldemort-” several of the teachers flinched- “should ever return. I don’t want to put a wizarding family in danger. Voldmort would not dare attack this school as long as I am Headmaster.”

“I think we all know who the obvious choice is,” Professor Flitwick squeaked. “Who has Harry taken to more than anyone here?”

All eyes fell on to Severus. This was rather a sore spot for Madam Pomfrey who spent all her time caring for the child, and although it was clear that he liked her, he wanted Severus. This seemed to hurt her feelings.

“I see your reasoning for this, but what about when I am teaching classes? I have room in my quarters for him, but I’m just not sure if it’s a good idea to care for a child his age. I work with all sorts of dangerous potions.”

He wouldn’t mind adopting Lily’s son, which was a big change. When Dumbledore had asked him to check on Harry, he would never have considered it. However, the child was very attached to him; he grew anxious if he didn’t see Severus at least once during the day. No one wanted him to get lost in the castle again, so he made sure to visit frequently. The only problem was he wouldn’t have time to care for such a small child. He would be teaching, or marking the student’s homework or doing patrol. He pointed out these factors to the staff.

“Well, we are all very busy and normally a child shouldn’t be raised in the castle, but these circumstances are different and perhaps we could find a wizarding family who could protect him, but he is very attached to you, Severus. He is finally starting to open up. If we send him away, he’ll go back into his shell,” Albus said. “Also, considering you are the only one besides me who has seen most of his memories, you have a better understanding of the boy.”

“And we’ll all help out,” Pomona said. “There are enough staff members here to care for him, and perhaps some of the older students won’t mind watching him as well.”

“You just have to become his guardian, that’s all,” Minerva said.

“Don’ wreck the progress he has made,” Hagrid added gruffly.

Harry was actually very afraid of Hagrid, so he didn’t get to see the child as often as he wanted. They all knew this upset him, he had been very good friends with both Lily and James, and he had met Harry when he’d been a baby.

“All right,” Severus sighed.

Under normal circumstances, there probably would not be a unanimous vote for Severus Snape to take care of The-Boy-Who-Lived, especially since the child was the son of his enemy…