"What?" Potter's voice was quiet, and he refused to look at Severus, or the Headmaster. Instead, he was looking steadfastly at his fingers, as though they held the key to understanding.

Severus had expected the boy to protest the proposed adoption- vociferously. Apparently he'd underestimated him; something he'd been doing a lot of lately - underestimating the Gryffindors in his life.

First the Weasley boy, and now Potter. He was off his game, and Severus thought that might have something to do with what he'd overheard the other night. Learning about Potter's unhappy childhood had thrown him for a loop, and Severus wasn't sure when he'd regain his bearings.

He had half a mind to drop in on Petunia Dursley and visit Lily's wrath on the woman who should have provided a better home for her dead sister's son.

'Severus,' Lily hissed. She tugged on his arm, and he reluctantly pulled his wand back into his sleeve. 'You know we're not allowed magic outside of school.' The warning was whispered low enough so that Petunia, Tuney, Evans, who stood only a few feet away, couldn't overhear.

'Your sister doesn't know that,' Severus whispered equally low.

He kept an eye on the horse-faced girl who seemed intent upon giving them the evil eye. Severus didn't know why Lily persisted on trying to include her older sister on their outings. Petunia was a jealous, mean-spirited girl, and she hated Severus even more than she seemed to hate magic.

'Yes, but,' Lily sighed, and looked at her older sister with such love that it made Severus' heart ache.

Petunia didn't deserve her sister's love. Severus understood that with every fiber of his being. He wondered why Lily couldn't see it. Why she insisted on loving her sister when her sister didn't love her in return. In his limited world view, love shouldn't be wasted on those who didn't repay it.

'But, there's no harm in letting her think that we can perform magic outside of school,' Severus insisted, and he brought his wand back out and casually pointed it around them. 'It'll stop her from bullying us.'

'What are you two freaks talking about?' Petunia sneered at them, but she kept her distance and a wary eye on the wand that Severus held out at arm's length.

'She's not a bully, Severus,' Lily said in a heated whisper.

Petunia was watching them with narrowed eyes. She'd picked up a rock and was weighing it in her hand. Severus had no direct proof of it, but he knew that Petunia was responsible for the rock that had been heaved through his mother's kitchen window the other day. His father had blamed him for it, and had taken it out on his hide. It was an unjust punishment which Severus had borne with a stoic pride.

He hadn't shared any of this with Lily, and never would because he knew it would break her heart. Even so, he didn't trust Petunia, and he had a suspicion that it was the older girl who'd killed Lily's cat soon after she'd returned from school that summer. It had been a slow acting poison. Lily had found her beloved pet, Buttons, outside her bedroom door, meowing piteously and in obvious pain, and brought him to Severus. He'd done his best to try and save the ailing cat, but nothing had worked. They'd buried him in the park, beneath the willow tree.

'Still,' said Severus, 'it can't hurt for her to think that we can do magic outside of school.'

"I'll go back to the Dursley's," Potter said, interrupting Severus' memory.

As a young wizard, he'd envisioned exacting revenge on Petunia for the death of Buttons, the beatings he'd endured over that summer due to various broken windows, and for her animosity toward Lily - who'd done nothing, but love her sister - and him. But now, looking at Potter, sitting rigid in the infirmary, Severus realized that childhood hatred for the elder sister of his best friend had nothing on what he felt for right her now.

"No, Potter, you won't," Severus said. "You won't go back to the dubious care of your mother's sister. As it is, you should have said something about the abuse to the Headmaster, or your Head of House during your first year."

Potter's head snapped up, and the boy glared at him. His fingers knitted into the bed sheets, and his nostrils flared. His cheeks flushed with anger, and Severus surmised that there might even be a touch of humility in what the boy was feeling. He knew that, were their roles reversed, he'd be feeling anger and shame and like dropping through the center of the earth or maybe blowing the earth up.

"So, this is my fault?" he asked. His voice hadn't risen, if anything it had gotten quieter. The windows rattled in their panes, and Severus couldn't help it when his lips twisted upward in a smile and his eyebrow arched.

"What, pray tell, in all of this, do you determine to be your fault?" Severus asked.

Potter's mouth opened and closed and his cheeks puffed as he fought, visibly, to control emotions that Severus had known would be coming. It was an impressive show of power. He'd expected the boy to give way to his temper, and shout curses at him, or for the windows to implode in a shower of glass and stones. Neither of those scenarios happened.

Severus wasn't sure if he should be disappointed, or relieved, by the anticlimactic way in which Potter had reacted to the news that he was going to be adopted by him. Judging by the breath that Dumbledore let out, the Headmaster was happy when all that happened was a hurricane-like wind whizzing through the room, lifting their hair and robes.

"I should never have been so..." Potter looked down at his hands as though he could find the words he sought there, "...so, careless. I should have been more careful. Ron shouldn't have seen. No one is supposed to know what happens over the summer...it's my fault that..." Potter trailed off, and the windows ceased their rattling.

"It's your fault that we know?" Dumbledore asked quietly, as though he was afraid of how Potter would answer the question.

Potter shook his head, and twisted the bed sheets in his hands. He smiled, but it was devoid of all emotion - just an upward curl of lips, much like a cat about to go in for the kill. It was an unsettling look, and Severus instinctively took a step toward Potter, placing himself between the boy and Dumbledore -not that the elder wizard needed any protection from him. Dumbledore was a formidable wizard, but Severus highly doubted that he would defend himself from an attack, warranted or not, launched by Potter.

"No, Headmaster, it's my fault that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon have to punish me. I try not to do anything wrong, but...I keep doing freaky things, and they only do what they need to do to make it stop." Potter said it so matter-of-factly that there was no doubt in Severus' mind that the boy truly believed what he'd said. This was no ploy for attention, no, woe-is-me tale.

Severus felt dizzy as the implications of what Potter had said hit him, and he realized that he really had his work cut out for him when it came to raising Potter as an heir of the Prince name. He couldn't allow Potter to continue to operate under the misconception that magic, accidental or otherwise, made him a freak and that he needed to be controlled through beatings, starvation, and isolation.

Pomfrey's examination had revealed far more than Potter had been willing to admit to, and Severus had read the report she'd presented to him and Dumbledore with dispassion, not wanting to be moved emotionally by the boy's plight. Emotions were often volatile, and did little by way of helping anyone. He needed to be thinking with his mind, not his heart when it came to Potter.

'It wasn't her fault,' Lily said. She was holding a wet cloth to her bloody nose, and Severus shook his head.

'Why do you always excuse her behavior?' he asked.

Lily looked at him over the cloth she held to her nose. She shook her head. 'You're one to talk, Sev. You make excuses for him,' her eyes darted toward his father who was talking with Mr. Evans, 'to my parents. Saying that you tripped and fell down the stairs, or walked into a door.'

'It's not the same,' Severus hissed, keeping an eye on his father, who, for once was sober, and acting halfway normal on a rare neighborly visit.

'Yeah, well, Tuney didn't mean it,' Lily said, jerking her chin up. 'She apologized.'

'He always apologizes, too,' Severus said darkly.

"And, what is it that they need to do to make it stop?" the Headmaster asked Potter, pulling Severus from his memory.

Potter shrugged. "You already know," he said, glancing at them through the fringe of his hair, "Madam Pomfrey and Ron told you all about it."

Dumbledore nodded and pulled thoughtfully at his beard. "Yes, they told us that you were beaten and starved and locked up. Ronald told us that you were given an unseemly amount of chores to perform on a daily basis."

Severus wondered when the Headmaster had spoken with Mr. Weasley, and why Mr. Weasley hadn't seen fit to tell him about the amount of chores Potter had been assigned. He'd have thought that the Weasley boy would have been more forthcoming with him...perhaps Dumbledore was right when he'd said that children were sorted into houses too soon. Maybe they ought to wait a year or two before sorting students into their houses after all.

"The chores are to keep me out of trouble," Potter said.

"And do they work - these chores?" Dumbledore asked, leaning a hip against the edge of Potter's bed.

There was just a touch of the customary twinkle in his eyes, but Severus knew that the twinkle had nothing to do with humor. His mentor was onto something important. Severus had an inkling of where the Headmaster was going with his line of questioning, and it made him a little nervous. He didn't know if he wanted to be here for this, because, if he was right, then it meant that Potter would break down into tears again, and Severus wasn't very good at dealing with tears.

'I don't know why she hates me so much,' Lily said, and there were tears in her eyes.

Severus didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell her that Petunia was a jealous bitch, and that it had nothing to do with Lily, but he knew that if he did, it would just lead to an argument and that the tears which were now falling freely, would only continue to fall, unchecked.

Not knowing what else to do for his best friend, Severus wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and patted her awkwardly on the back. He was surprised when she turned her head, and buried her face in his chest, clinging to him as she cried.

"I think they need to give me more," Potter's words startled Severus out of his memory.

He wondered why memories of Lily kept coming to him unbidden. It was nonplusing.

"Why do you think that, Harry?"

Potter shrugged, and Severus, tired of the gesture, ground his teeth to keep from saying anything to the boy.

"Because, no matter how many chores I have, I always seem to have time to screw something up," Potter answered with a frown. "And then, Uncle Vernon takes the belt to me, or Aunt Petunia says I can't eat, and..."

Dumbledore placed a hand on Potter's knee, and the boy flinched, but the Headmaster didn't seem to notice, because he kept his hand firmly in place.

"And, you aren't going back there, Harry," Dumbledore said after a pause. "Professor Snape," the Headmaster looked at him briefly, "may not seem like the most ideal person to take you in..."

Severus snorted, and then coughed to keep from breaking out into hysterical laughter. Maybe Dumbledore was losing his mind and all of this was a dream, and he'd wake up to find Lily and he children once again.

Potter turned his fixed gaze in his direction, and Severus returned the boy's measuring look. No, he wasn't dreaming. This, bizarre as it was, was his new reality. An abused Potter and he as the boy's unlikely caretaker. Dumbledore's new agenda.

"But, he's willing and able to," Dumbledore said.

"Why?" Potter asked.

"Because..."

"Because, Potter," Severus cut off whatever Dumbledore had been going to say; he leaned in close to Potter, speaking before reason could take over, "unlike those Muggle relatives of yours, I know how to treat even a house elf with common decency. Furthermore, while it has been debated by many a student, past and present, that my heart is cold and black and shriveled, provided that you follow the rumors that ascertain that I actually have a heart, I believe that, even in its current, shriveled state, my heart is a sight better than that of your Aunt Petunia's and Uncle Vernon's."

Severus ran a hand through his hair, and turned away from Potter, whose mouth had dropped open and then had been clenched tightly shut when he'd become aware of it. Severus let out a shaky breath and fisted his hands. Memories of his father flooded his mind, and he closed his eyes, trying to dispel them.

'Pathetic, useless waste of space,' his father spat at him, and he grabbed a fistful of Severus' hair, dragging him to his feet. His father punched him in the gut, and then brought the buckle of his belt down on the back of his legs.

The memories swirled and changed, and Severus had no control over them.

'Just like your whore of a mother.' Tobias shook him, and slapped him across the face. 'Always hanging out at that Evans girl's house. She's a freak just like you.'

...

'You let me do what I need to, woman,' Tobias shouted at Eileen, backhanding her. Severus launched himself at his father, getting a fist in the face and a broken nose for his efforts.

...

'You,' smack, 'will,' punch, 'learn,' slap, 'to,' smack, 'obey,' punch, 'your,' slap, 'father,' smack, 'boy.'

...

"I don't want to live with you," Potter's words jarred Severus from the unpleasant memories, like a smack in the face. As welcome as the release from the memories was, Potter's words and tone of voice grated on his nerves.

"You don't have a choice in the matter," Severus said, turning to glare at the boy.

Potter recoiled, and Severus saw himself, years younger, reflected in the boy's actions. He wondered if Tobias Snape had felt the selfsame bit of twisted satisfaction that he'd felt when Potter cringed. He wondered if Tobias Snape had felt gratified and like he'd won something when he'd managed to cow his son with a cruelly spoken word or a fist to the gut. The thought made Severus sick, and, realizing what he'd done, he backed up a step.

"Professor Snape," Dumbledore said in a chastening tone, "perhaps we had better revisit this discussion on another night, after Harry has had some time to think things over."

And, after you've calmed down and gotten yourself under control,Severus heard the unspoken words loud and clear as though the Headmaster had spoken them directly to his mind.

Potter looked like he wanted to protest further, but he nodded and blinked, and, with a jaw breaking yawn, he sagged back against the pillow, and Dumbledore helped him settle, tucking the hospital bed blankets around him. Severus wondered if Dumbledore had whispered something to spell Potter to sleep. Whether the boy was overcome by emotions to the point of exhaustion, or Dumbledore had a hand in it, Severus found that he didn't really care, he was grateful either way. It meant that he didn't have to apologize to Potter, and that he didn't have to explain something to the boy that he couldn't even put words to, because he wasn't sure if he fully understood why he'd agreed to Dumbledore's plan.

"Thank you," Severus said, once they'd left Potter asleep in the Hospital Wing.

"Severus," Dumbledore's voice was tired, yet hard, "you've got to put aside the events of the past, and overcome your hatred of Potter. Harry doesn't deserve it, and if you can't do it for his sake alone, think of Lily."

Severus clamped down tight on his emotions, which threatened to spill out. All he'd been doing lately had been thinking of Lily. Did the Headmaster have a hand in that? He gave his mentor a sidelong glance, and saw that there were traces of tears in the older wizard's eyes. He unclenched his fists, not even realizing until then that they were still clenched.

"She's all I've been thinking of since I came across Potter and Weasley in that corridor," Severus confessed quietly.

Dumbledore gave him a searching look, and Severus released a relieved breath. He hadn't truly thought that the Headmaster was behind the onslaught of memories, but, he'd feared it - a legacy of mistrust that he'd gotten from his father.

"And?" Dumbledore prodded.

Severus sighed and rolled his eyes. He was tired; this had been another long day.

"And, she never wanted to believe that her sister was capable of the terrible things that she did." Severus smiled wryly.

"But you always knew?" Dumbledore asked.

Severus nodded, not liking the direction this line of questioning was going. "Lily always said that I misunderstood Petunia, that her sister loved her, but that she just didn't understand the magic, and that she blamed magic for taking Lily away from her. That, Petunia's cruel words and actions were..."

"Nothing more than petty jealousy?" Dumbledore surmised.

Severus nodded. "Lily loved Petunia, and would not hear a bad word spoken against her, but Petunia hated magic, and me, and I'd wager that she hates Potter perhaps even more."

"I never knew," Dumbledore said. "I thought that Petunia's love for her sister was stronger than that."

"Yes, well, sometimes hate and jealousy and fear are bigger than love," Severus said with more than a touch of bitterness.

"It's Lily's love that saved Harry, and," Dumbledore gave him a sad smile, and he placed a gnarled hand on Severus' shoulder, "you, Severus."

Severus scowled at his mentor, and shook his head. It was absurd, the thought that Lily's love had saved him in addition to Potter.

Dumbledore sighed, and squeezed Severus' shoulder. "I don't suppose you'll take an old wizard at his word...Lily loved you, and I know that you loved her, or you wouldn't have come to me when you did," Dumbledore frowned and then smiled. It was puzzling and Severus felt like the floor had been removed from beneath his feet.

"You're a good man, Severus, and I have faith that you can put the past behind you," Dumbledore said. "You'll do right by Harry, if not for Lily, for the boy himself, because you understand."

"Some say you've placed your trust in the wrong people," Severus said. His heart was unaccountably heavy. "What if I disappoint you?"

"You won't," Dumbledore said with such conviction that Severus almost believed that what the wizard had said was the unvarnished truth, and that human foibles such as jealousy and bitter memories wouldn't get in the way of Dumbledore's vision, whatever it was.

With another quick squeeze, Dumbledore released his shoulder, and bid Severus a good night's sleep. It wasn't until a good several hours later that Severus finally managed to fall asleep, and that was to dreams of his childhood - Lily's unfailing love for her sister, and her unfailing trust in him; his father's fists, and angry words; and his mother's love, upholding him through it all.