S.S

Severus sat nursing a drink in his private quarters thinking over the night's events. He was by nature a brooding man and after last night it seemed that he had more reason to brood than ever. He could not simply dismiss Potter's words, he owed Lily better than that, he owed her child better than that. It was just a pity that the child was that insufferable Potter. Trust Potter to intrude into his life, it was so typical of the boy to constantly attract trouble and danger.

He himself grew up in a household of neglect and abuse and he could not overlook a child who could possibly be in that position, not if it was in his power to prevent it, even if that child was Potter. He could hear his voice again in his mind. 'I haven't been in the cupboard for three years!' What did that even mean? And 'that bars on the window fiasco'… As a spy Severus' gut feelings had become quite significant and not something to be easily overlooked and those were not phrases that one should calmly associate with childhood.

What kind of household even had bars on its windows? He had to concede that it was possible that the boy's childhood was not what he had imagined it to be, but that did not mean he would excuse Potter's behaviour, nor defend the child's arrogant, rule-breaking attitude. He would do this for Lily and no other reason.

His mind was made up; he would have to get to the bottom of this situation and he would do so quickly. Satisfied that he made a decision and planned a course of action, Severus downed his remaining fire whiskey and retired to bed where memories of Lily haunted his dreams.

Severus Snape waited patiently for the Hogwarts Express to pull into King's Cross. He stood a little away from the crowd of parents, scanning their faces, hoping to spot the Dursleys. He could remember Petunia's bony horse-like face from his youth, it was highly unlikely that she would have changed much even after all these years and so he was certain that he'd recognise her. He, in turn, did not want to be recognised by them, not now, and so he pulled back further into the shadows.

Even as the train pulled into the station he still had not found the Dursleys, so instead settled for waiting for Potter to indicate who they were himself. As the 'Golden trio', as he scathingly referred to them, disembarked from the train they were quickly surrounded by the whole red haired Weasley clan. Luckily, with Harry's dark mop of hair it was quite easy to keep track of him. It seemed to him that he was having some trouble locating his family himself, and as the boy search the station his eyes suddenly locked with his own. The boy's expression changed to one of confusion and defiance before he continued his search. Severus arched an eyebrow smugly, obviously the miscreant did not appreciate seeing his potion master outside of Hogwarts. The feeling was entirely mutual.

Soon enough he was watching the skinny boy drag his heavy trunk towards the far end of the station. It was no wonder he could not find Petunia; skinny as she was, she was completely hidden by her large beefy husband and what he could only assume was their own son. The boy was simply massive; he was at least five times the size of Potter. There was simply no way that those two boys could have grown up in the same household! He put the question out of his mind, readying himself to analyse the interaction between Potter and his relatives, only to find that there would be no interaction. Upon seeing Potter's approach the large man grunted something unintelligible before the family abruptly turned and left. They had not seen Potter for a whole year, yet they did not offer a smile, or a hug, nor did they take the child's trunk after watching him quite obviously struggle. Severus was painfully aware that Potter spent every holiday at Hogwarts- a fact that had always grated on him, it had seemed he was never to be rid of him. He surmised that the child may well have made the correct assessment of his relatives' affection toward him.

H.P

"Took you long enough," Uncle Vernon muttered angrily when he finally reached the car. Harry gritted his teeth hard to stop himself from biting back a scathing remark as he tried and failed to lift his trunk into the boot. The Dursleys were obviously still annoyed from last summer when he had accidentally blown up his Aunt Marge, and instead of helping him get the trunk into the boot they had simply got in the car to wait. He could see Dudley grinning and eating an ice lolly through the rear window trying to irritate him. Harry was getting more and more frustrated when he couldn't lift the trunk, but on his fifth attempt the trunk lifted so easily he was afraid that he'd done accidental magic again and almost dropped it onto his own foot.

After putting Hedwig in the car and sliding in himself he had to listen to Vernon's mutterings about him 'attention seeking' all the way to Privet drive. This was going to be a long summer.

By the time they had reached the house Harry's patience had worn extremely thin. As Harry pulled his luggage through the door Dudley had barrelled through, knocking him out of the way and he landed heavily on the sharp corner of his trunk and he barely managed to stifle a few choice words. Arm smarting, Harry gritted his teeth once more as his Aunt hissed, "Quickly! Stop dawdling outside." Irritated at the injustice, although not finding it at all unexpected, Harry stepped inside. The minute the door shut his trunk was snatched out of his grasp and hauled into the cupboard under the stairs.

"No." He had had enough of this, it was bad enough that he was standing here in this awful house that he hated, they wouldn't take his trunk away, not this time. He lunged to grab the handle and pull it back out before the door was shut. "It's mine, I'm taking it to my room." He met his uncle's gaze defiantly, refusing to be worried even as he saw a malicious spark in the larger man's eye.

"You can have your blasted trunk boy, but it's going in the cupboard. You want it, you can go back in there and Dudley can have his room back." Vernon was smirking, knowing full well that he would refuse. Harry bit his lip, staring down at his trunk.

"No."

It wasn't worth it, he would just have to steal it back later when they were distracted like last year. He relinquished his grip on the handle with extreme reluctance and watched with sullen eyes as Uncle Vernon clicked the cupboard's lock into place.

Severus Snape had followed Harry Potter. His first impression of the Dursleys had not satisfied his curiosity nor eased his worries and so he continued to watch them as they departed from King's Cross. The Gryffindor Golden Boy continued to struggle with his trunk all the way up to what he assumed was the Dursleys car. Instead of lifting it into the boot for him, they merely continued to ignore him and Potter appeared entirely unfazed by this treatment even as his cousin sat grinning at him from the backseat of the car, clearly enjoying watching him struggle. There was no way the scrawny child would be able to lift it up all by himself and he could see the boy was becoming frustrated by his lack of success. Deciding he wasn't going to see much more in the car park of a train station, he found himself casting a feather-light charm, startling the child so much he almost dropped it in surprise before pushing it further into the boot.

As soon as the Dursleys were out of sight Severus apparated to Privet Drive and disillusioned himself before casting a silent alohomora on the front door. The house was exceptionally tidy, typical of a middle class suburban family who were doing well for themselves; the kind of home he would expect a woman like Petunia Dursley to live in. He noted that the living room had on its mantle many pictures, not one of them containing Potter. The only child you could tell grew up in the house was that blond boy from the train station. If he hadn't seen them earlier, and he didn't know better, he would not have believed it to be Potter's home.

'Bars on the window fiasco… ' The memory of Potter's words sent a jolt through him and he went in search of Potter's room. As he reached the first floor landing he noticed that there were four doors to choose from and one of these doors was far more conspicuous than the others. On this particular door two locks and a deadbolt were fitted. Severus' stomach turned, it was the door of a prisoner. Worse than the locks on the door were the implications of the cat flap; as far as he was aware Potter was in possession of an owl and there was no evidence that any sort of pet lived in this house.

"How deep is your sister's resentment, Lily?" he murmured quietly.

Severus ventured into the room that he knew with certainty was Potter's. It was a depressing sight; the bars on the window didn't allow too much light in, and the room was devoid of anything personal. One of the bars on the window was missing and there was a large scratch on the sill, which made it appear as if it had been pulled out from the outside. The room was lined with broken toys, which Severus found odd; they ignored the child, treated him like a prisoner and yet he had been spoilt rotten with toys that he had clearly not appreciated or taken care of? Another mystery. There was nothing on the walls except what appeared to be a home-made calendar where Potter had marked the return date to Hogwarts the previous year.

This certainly explained one of Potter's comments at least, but he was no closer to figuring out the cupboard comment.

Soon enough the crunch of the gravel outside indicated that the Dursleys had arrived and Severus was careful to remain out of the way, while at the same time keeping Potter in his view. He watched from the top of the stairs as the family ignored the boy struggling with his heavy trunk save to hiss out an admonishment as Potter was finally coming in the front door. The overweight oaf of a child then clearly shoved Potter back out of the way causing Harry to trip. He knew that in any other family behaviour like that would lead to a telling off or some sort of punishment, but the skinny woman merely gave the boy an indulgent smile before disappearing into the kitchen.

Severus could see the boy was hurt; his eyes were watering and his teeth were gritted tightly, but he remained silent and made no complaint. Severus was beginning to wonder if he'd have to watch Potter slowly drag his trunk all the way up the stairs to his bedroom and was beginning to lose patience with the situation when the boy's uncle finally grabbed it from him, but instead of taking it up to his room he simply opened a small cupboard under the stairs and threw it in, causing Potter to lunge for the handle.

He watched as he stood up to his uncle, acting for all the world like the Potter he knew; the obstinate, defiant Gryffindor that he was. Severus was soon distracted from his musings about Potter's behaviour when he heard the boy's uncle's words. "You want it, you can go back in there and Dudley can have his room back." It all clicked- the toys along the wall upstairs had not been Potter's at all, he had moved into the other boy's room… 'I haven't been in the cupboard for three years!' Severus' jaw dropped. Unless he'd made some grave error Potter had been living in a cupboard. Lily's son grew up in a cupboard! What was even worse was that at the foolish Muggle's words Potter had glanced back at the cupboard, as if judging whether or not it was worth it.

Severus' blood boiled. Lily would not have endured this, she would have been livid! Her own sister forcing her son to live in a cupboard under the stairs! Petunia Evans had been many things, but to be capable of this? His eyes sought out where she stood in the kitchen absentmindedly cleaning the worktops, her own son lolling against the doorframe watching as his Father locked away Potter's belongings. He knew now that he had seen enough that he could not allow this living situation to continue, Lily would never forgive him for permitting this kind of behaviour, but what to do? Go to Dumbledore and demand what exactly? He was drawn from his musings as shouts erupted at the bottom of the stairs.

"Get out of the way, boy!" The large man was attempting to get at the owl cage, causing the bird inside to screech indignantly as the child sought to shield the cage from his uncle.

"No! You're not locking it, she needs to get out!" Potter yelled back furiously.

"You're not sending letters to those freaks from that-that school," the boy's uncle snarled, reaching for the cage around Potter.

"Get- off- it," Harry said, pushing the cage further behind him and out of his uncle's reach. The massive man growled menacingly, then grabbing Potter furiously by the arm, he shoved him roughly aside, causing Potter to trip and land in a graceless heap on the floor. In an instant Severus was down the stairs, fully visible, his wand drawn and pointed at Vernon Dursleys's heart.

"Touch him again, muggle, and you won't live to regret it," he hissed venomously. He waved his wand towards the little cupboard, slamming it open and making the other child waddle from the room, no doubt realising there was a dangerous wizard in the house.

Petunia rushed into the hall at the sound of the cupboard slamming open and screeched when she saw Severus. "YOU!"

"Petunia," he sneered darkly in return.

H.P.

Harry stared from the floor in shock; he'd been at the Dursleys for less than twenty minutes and suddenly Snape was standing in the middle of the hallway! Invite the Malfoys over and you'd have everyone who hated him all in one room! He barely noticed Snape defending him, only regaining his senses at Aunt Petunia's shriek. He looked between his Aunt and his teacher frowning.

"Wait, what-" Before he could finish his question his uncle rounded on him once more, and from the floor he looked a lot bigger and he was hard pressed not to visibly flinch.

"How dare you bring one of your lot here!" he roared angrily, the vein in his neck pulsing rapidly.

"I didn't bring anyone-" Harry began furiously, before being abruptly cut off.

"The hell you didn't, you ungrateful freak-" he started, his face inches from Harry's own, until he was abruptly thrown from Harry and slammed into the wall opposite. Petunia shrieked, close to hysterical.

"Freak? FREAK, Dursley?" Snape looked dangerously angry as he glanced back at Petunia, Uncle Vernon pinned helplessly to the wall with a sticking charm. "You never got over it did you?" he snarled at Petunia. She looked too frightened to talk and she just stared open mouthed at Snape, her hand clutching her apron.

"Potter, wait in the living room," Severus barked at Harry.

"What?"

"It was a simple request. Now. Get. Out." he replied coolly, his wand still pointed steadily at Uncle Vernon.

"No, I want to know what's going-"

"OUT!" Snape yelled, causing Harry to back up a few steps. He sent a furious glare at Snape before relenting and stalking into the living room. Snape slammed the door shut and cast a thorough silencing charm on it.

S.S.

"I know how you raised the boy, Petunia, you were to raise her son as your own! Lily would turn in her grave if she knew what you've done."

"Been telling tales has he?" she answered, finally finding her voice. "We took him in, clothed him, fed him, we didn't ask for him. We didn't want a freak in our house."

"You always were jealous of Lily; she was so much more than you Petunia, so much better." Severus fingered his wand threateningly, trying to decide whether it would be worth it to curse them.

"ENOUGH," Vernon roared, spit flying everywhere. "GET OUT! Take the damned boy with you!"

"Believe me Dursley, I will," he said softly, stalking slowly towards the man. "But I'd say we have some things to straighten out… I'll be back." He lifted the silencing charm on the living room door. "Come, Potter."

H.P.

Severus Snape strode out the front door and Harry hurried after him, not entirely certain that Snape was the lesser of the two evils.

"Sir, what the hell?" Harry bit out once the door slammed shut behind them.