The next morning the two old wizards with a solemn looking baby Severus apparated to the alley were the previous year the Dementors had attacked Harry and his cousin. Then they just walked leisurely toward Privet Drive. They wore disillusionment charms, so no one noticed the oddly dressed trio as they made their way to number four. It was early in the morning, around seven thirty, so Vernon Dursley was still at home. That had been Albus plan all along, since he needed to speak with the man and his wife.

It was not a particularly good day for Harry so far. Actually, it had not been a particularly good two weeks since he arrived from Hogwarts. The Dursley had not heeded the Order’s warning of treating him better or else… and so far they had not done anything to stop the blatant abuse his ‘relatives’ foisted on him.

It was not as he did not deserve it. He had, after all, gotten his Godfather killed and his friends hurt because of his ‘saving people thing’ as Hermione put it. He had been so stupid and now he lost the only link to his family, the Dursleys -of course- did not count. His heart and soul were weighted down because of Sirius death, and yet during these two weeks he had some time to think.

Harry was still angry with Dumbledore as he had come to realize he was as responsible for his Godfather’s death as he was; and as much as he wanted to lay all the blame on Snape, it was clear he did not have as much as he originally thought. The man was mean and a git, but if he had really applied himself to learning occlumency and not invaded his privacy, the Professor would not have suspended the lessons.

That morning Vernon had awoken in a terrible mood, and he had already slapped Harry several times. The ruddy ‘freak’ had kept them all awake with his screams. Then he had overcooked the eggs and served him warm tea instead of hot. With a final slap and a hard shove that sent Harry crashing to the floors, Vernon sent the boy to see who was crazy enough to ring the bell so early. It did not occur to him that under the ‘normal’ people laws he was incurring in child abuse, and it was considered a crime. In his opinion, his wife’s nephew was ‘abnormal’, and therefore not considered people and not protected by any laws. So what if the neighbors saw the ‘freak’ with a black eye or a split lip? He had only gotten what he deserved.

It was a battered, scruffy and scrawny looking Harry Potter that opened the door and froze like a deer caught in the wand light. Albus Dumbledore looked the child over; and he noticed every detail of his appearance. The boy had lost significant weight; he sported a black eye, a split lip, a minor nose bleed –that he hurriedly wiped off with the overlarge sleeve of his worn T-Shirt. He also had a hand imprint on his left cheek –a large hand- that would surely bruise later, as it appeared quite recent. There were other details the old wizard noted, like the dark circle under the eye that was not swollen, and finally the condition of his clothes and shoes. They were rags, not fit to be worn.

Dumbledore’s usually affable expression darkened with fury once he took in how this precious child was treated. It was so unusual that Harry gave an involuntary step backward, flinching. The boy had only seen the Headmaster looking so angry once, when he fought Voldemort at the Department of Mysteries. Not even when Fudge had the Dementor Kiss Barty Crouch Jr. at the end of his fourth year had he looked so dangerous.

“What’s taking you so long freak, who is it?” Vernon shouted from the kitchen. “Or do I have to give you another beating to get you to obey?”

Dumbledore’s face, if possible, became more forbidding. Without a word he handed the baby to the still gaping Harry; who barely got a good hold on the infant, as he scooted out of the way from his enraged Headmaster, only then did he notice that Mad-Eye Moody was there too. The old wizard drew his wand and stepped inside without waiting for an invitation. When he had no answer Vernon thundered to the hallway ready to punish the boy, and then froze mid-step when he noticed the wizards inside his home. The scary looking freak was there, along with a very old one that appeared murderous and the ‘boy’ was carrying a baby.

“Headmaster Dumbledore,” Harry was finally able to utter nervously.

The boy unfortunately had his back to Vernon or he would have enjoyed seeing him pale and shiver at having Dumbledore himself there, looking fit to murder him at any minute. They had heard him yell at the boy and there was no mistaking the marks he left on his face, he had said it was him who did it. The man had gotten too confident when the ‘freaks’ had not shown up after the first punishments.

‘God! They heard me yell at the brat!’ Vernon thought desperately. ‘I shouldn’t have slapped the damn freak this morning.’

“What are you doing here Sir?” Harry asked recovering from his surprise and getting slightly suspicious.

They were only two weeks into the summer break, something must be wrong to have Dumbledore himself visiting. His scar had not done so much as twinge since three weeks ago, but Voldemort might be doing something to hide what he was doing. It did not occur to him that they might have come to fulfil the threats the Order made at Kings Cross. Harry was not happy with the old wizard yet, but he was trying to come to terms with the man’s actions. He was also beginning to be curious about the baby’s identity, was he one of Dumbledore’s grandchildren?

“Some things and situations regarding your home life have come to my attention,” he responded giving Dursley a death glare that would make Severus Snape’s pale in comparison. This time the boy was watching, and had the satisfaction of seeing his uncle quiver with fear; it served him right and Harry allowed himself the first smile in a long time.

Harry’s eyes opened wide at his words, this was the least thing he expected. Since no one from the Order had stopped his uncle or Dudley, he was sure the threats issued had been empty. They of course would not believe a muggle would not heed their warnings, and since Vernon was monitoring his correspondence he had no way of telling anyone that his uncle was being abusive. Harry also believed that the Headmaster was aware of what his life was at the Dursleys and that for the older wizard, being safe from Voldemort and the Death Eaters was more important than being mistreated by his relatives.

“There are also some other things you and I need to discuss. But they can wait until your… relatives and I have a little… chat.” Albus went on, his glare toward the muggle unwavering.

Without waiting to be invited he walked to the living room and took a seat while Mad-Eye cast some locking and silencing charms on the house. Now there was no way for the muggles to escape, as his charms covered all doors and windows. Harry did notice this and could not help the slight wicked smile that came to his face, as he too glared at his uncle. The Dursleys were finally going to get what they deserved.

“Wait a minute! This is my home, you have…” Vernon reacted trying to hide his fear of the two menacing freaks.

“You were warned Dursley. You only had to treat Mr. Potter well to keep us away,” Mad Eye drawled in a dangerous tone, his wand trained at the fat muggle’s chest. “You did not heed it. Now you must face the consequences of your actions. In there,” he ordered pointing to the living room with his wand.

“I will not be intimidated in my own home!” Dursley bellowed, trying to appear in control. “Get out! Get out NOW, I won’t have you freaks contaminating my home!”

“Call your wife and son here now,” Alastor ordered ignoring the furious muggle and casting a partial body-bind when Vernon tried to attack him. “That wasn’t a very smart move muggle. Now call your family, especially your son. That lump of grease does not seem bright enough to listen to warnings in plain English.”

Vernon was looking terrified and paler than Harry had ever seen him. He could not move anything but his head, and could not help but worry about the fate of his beautiful family, although at the moment he had no choice but to call them. He did wonder what Dudley had done to piss the… scary looking freak. The boy was a bit bruised, and probably sore, but it was nothing serious. Dudley and his friends had been allowing the ‘boy’ to play one of their games, they were doing the little, useless freak a favour. The game was a bit rough, but boys always ended bruised while playing, right?

He had also been careful not to hit him where it would be too visible at first. But he had gotten a bit carried away yesterday night and this morning. The boy had not cooked dinner well –the meat had been too though- and then he had dared to steal a slice of roast, when he knew he was not allowed more than bread. The ‘freak’ had also not completed a single list of chores since he arrived, and it was only Petunia’s goodness that had allowed him to have some food -three days ago- despite not completing his chores. Seeing as he really had no choice but to obey the ‘wizards’ Vernon called Petunia and Dudley to the living room.

“Do sit down,” Albus instructed the woman and her son taking charge of the situation.

He was not pleased with Harry’s appearance and deep inside he had believed Alastor was being too paranoid and that what he had heard about the Dursley family treatment of Harry had all been exaggerations. But Alastor was not, and neither had been those rumours he heard, in fact, the situation was much worse than the rumours credited. The old wizard felt the onslaught of guilt. It was because of his overly optimistic views that Harry was hurt. He had condemned this child he loved like his own grandson to a life of misery. It was now that he finally understood why the boy was so angry with him.

Keeping him safe from Voldemort did not imply letting other people abuse the poor boy. He would have found some other way to protect him; he would have even taken the child himself. But he had not wanted to see it, despite Minerva’s warning that night so many years ago. Harry had never mentioned outright that he was abused, but who was he kidding? Not many children in similar situations would speak up; he had been a Professor and Headmaster long enough to know that. Still, Harry had expressed firmly that he did not want to return to his aunt’s house. It should have been enough to give him a clue that something was seriously wrong. But he had deluded himself, just like he did in Severus case, and both of them had suffered for it.

“What are you doing here? You said you would leave us alone if we kept the boy,” Petunia hissed furiously as he sat beside her son. The howler the year before had been about that, but so was the letter he left with the freak outside their door. “We had a deal, you’d leave us alone if we kept the boy; and we KEPT the boy!”

“I did make that deal Mrs. Dursley. I left young Mr. Potter in your care for ten years, despite the reservations of a very good friend of mine. You were after all Lily’s sister and she had a kind and loving nature. I had hoped you’d have raised Mr. Potter as your own.” Harry scoffed at this, but Dumbledore went on. “It’s obvious you didn’t. So it’s you who did not respect your side of the deal,” he stated in an icy tone that would have frozen hell over. Harry had never heard it before.

“Of course we did!” Vernon protested. Moody had removed his body-bind once they were all in the living room. “We clothed and fed him like you wanted. We spent our money in…”

“You did not!” Albus interrupted him curtly. “Are you forgetting the stipend from Harry’s inheritance that you received each month to pay for his expenses?” At this the boy’s eyes widened, he had never heard that the Dursleys received any money for his sustenance. “You received eighty gallons a month that have increased through the years to one hundred and fifty. In pounds you were receiving 400 until now that you receive 750. That is more than enough to pay for a child’s basic needs like clothing, school material, toys, and even medical expenses. You got double for birthdays and Christmases. I can tell you spent nothing on Harry. Look at him, he’s wearing rags! Probably discards from your son, and he’s skinnier than ever!” He practically growled and both Petunia and Dudley shivered, but Vernon was not that smart to notice the righteous anger of the wizard.

“That money was only our due for keeping him!” Vernon argued enraged. “We never wanted the filthy freak here!”

“You will not call him or any wizard a freak again Dursley,” Alastor threatened pointing his wand at him. “It is you who’s the freak here, do you know that your authorities would have you in prison if they saw Mr. Potter’s condition? Child abuse is against both muggle and wizard laws.”

“That’s no child! It’s an abnormality, just like your entire KIND are!” the huge muggle roared.

“Oh? So you want to tell that to the muggle authorities? I’ll gladly call them and see what they do to you.” Alastor told him, very willing to do just that. It would serve the fat muggle good; he was not needed after all for the protection.

“Vernon stop,” Petunia asked her husband as she was more than aware of the trouble they would get into if the authorities found out the way they had treated her… nephew. Their reputation would be ruined and they could even loose her precious Duddykins. “Don’t call the police…”

“You were getting money to pay for my needs?” It took Harry a bit to process the fact that he had never been a charity case and why despite hating him so much they had never sent him to an orphanage as Vernon threatened time and time again. When it finally did he asked. At first incredulous, then he began to get angry, very angry.

“Yes my boy, it was stipulated in your parents Wills. They set a trust fund with the Goblins at Gringotts so you would receive what you needed while growing up in case they were not able to be there for you,” Dumbledore told him gravely. “I was named executor for their Wills.”

“And you made me believe I was a charity case?” He snarled as he glared hatefully at his so called ‘family’. “You could have bought me decent clothes, instead of your pig of a son’s ratty discards. You could have given me enough food. Hell, I could have paid with that money a decent hotel room instead of being locked in the bloody CUPBOARD for ten.fucking.years!” Harry was beginning to shake with the effort of containing himself. “No wonder you did not want me to go to Hogwarts, you were afraid that they would find out you were stealing MY MONEY. You… you…”

He was so angry that he found no words to describe the Dursleys. Also no matter what he did he began to loose control of his magic. Several of the things in the living room began to rattle furiously. Dumbledore stopped them with a wave of his wand and a whispered incantation. The Dursleys stared at Harry frightened, they still remembered what happened to Aunt Marge that was why neither his uncle nor his aunt dared to say anything; they did not want to end victims of that… magic. The baby was scared by the noise and he whimpered and trembled in fright the voices reminded him of other people, people that hurt him.

“Harry my boy, please calm down,” Albus told the child in a reassuring tone of voice, even when deep inside he was fighting not to turn the Dursleys into lab rats, and donate them as testers for the students potions; Neville Longbottom’s potions preferably.

Severus probably would not have restrained himself, and for the first time, Albus would not have restrained him if he had been his adult self. How dare they keep this precious boy locked in a cupboard? But he could not do anything so drastic; it was not good for the wards, and neither was the blatant hatred they felt for each other. He needed to scan the wards later, if Petunia had felt like that for Harry since he had been sent there, then the blood wards were not as strong as he needed them to be.

“Please my boy. It’ll do you no good to be this angry. You have every right to be, with them and me for placing you in their ‘care’,” he spat the last word. “But remember child, you tend to do uncontrolled magic when that happens.”

“Yes Sir, I don’t want to face the Wizengamot again,” Harry said once he had his anger under control, although he was still seething inside. He also unconsciously began rocking the little baby; oddly enough it calmed the both of them. Little Severus buried his head in the older boy’s shirt searching for comfort and safety. Harry tightened his hold on the little body in his arms; the gesture was comforting for both.

“You wouldn’t have Harry. Last summer it was Cornelius Fudge who demanded it.” Harry grimaced at that, he actually despised that man, probably as much if not more so than Umbridge. She had been his underling after all. “He wanted to discredit the both of us; but he can’t do that anymore.” His voice turned grave. “With the severity of recent events the legal age for using magic has dropped to sixteen; and because you and your friends were involved in the Department of Mysteries… attack, all of you have received a special permit to use magic during breaks.”

“I can do magic any time I want?” Harry asked exited for the first time in a long time.

“Yes…” Dumbledore began but was interrupted by Dursley, who had finally recovered from the fright of Harry’s uncontrolled magic.

“No, absolutely not! You will not use that… that… abomination in my home!” Vernon raged, turning an interesting shade of plum.

“Afraid Dursley?” Moody sneered. “Mr. Potter is now within his rights to curse you in self-defence; and there’s nothing you can do about it. It is wizard law after all.” Harry had never seen Mad-Eye gloat, but he was just doing that and he looked downright scary. “Besides, you lost any chance you had of being taken into consideration for any decisions when you did not heed our warning.” His wand was again pointed at the man’s chest.

“As I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted.” Albus glared at the plum coloured man. “Mr. Potter can use magic freely. Because of this, he will be receiving private tutoring by our best wizards and witches. We will be visiting regularly. He will also be receiving correspondence from…” Again he was interrupted.

“I won’t have those foul birds coming. What would the neighbours think?” Petunia exclaimed alarmed.

“No worse than they already do Mrs. Dursley,” Alastor informed her, and had the satisfaction of seeing her shocked. “In just two weeks time, you and your husband have been reported to the muggle authorities for child abuse by EVERY SINGLE NEIGHBOR you have!” Moody was furious, and his hard gaze made Petunia squeak in alarm, Vernon only looked outraged. “We stopped the reports from progressing, but not because of you. We simply can’t allow muggle authorities to take Mr. Potter away. You should also know that it was one of our people who has already bailed your son out of prison twice. Young Mr. Dursley has a trial pending for ten counts of assault to minors. He has been caught red handed in the act of beating younger kids.”

“Those are lies! I won’t tolerate those kinds of lies! You only want to slander our good name!” Vernon had turned a very ugly shade of plum.

“My Duddynkins is not like that! He’s a sweet boy, he would not beat others!” Petunia defended her offspring.

“Am I lying boy? When were you going to tell your parents about the trial? Auror Tonks is NOT going to impersonate your parents again. You know that so far ten youngsters have agreed to testify, and you know they are looking for the others.”

“I… er…” Dudley began. He really had not planned on telling his parents, they would not have believed it anyway. He had stupidly hoped the freak’s friends would keep helping him.

“You framed him! You… you despicable people! He’s just a boy! Come on Duddynkins tell mommy it’s not true.” Petunia looked fit to have a conniption or start crying. It was unthinkable that her precious son would be no more than a thug.

“Your nephew Mrs. Dursley is also a boy. Yet you did not have any qualms in abusing and stealing from him,” Dumbledore stated in that eerie icy voice.

“It is true Mum. The gang and I did beat those and a lot of other kids. Piers believes we almost killed one of two of them. No one has pressed charges for those, so they are probably alive and well,” Dudley accepted looking ashamed for the first time.

“But… why son?” Vernon was shocked; his precious son was a thug. “Why behave like that?”

“Because I could.” He shrugged, it had been fun. “You never minded when I did that to the freak, you said Harry hunting was a good game. But since there was no Harry then we had to hunt someone else. Besides, when I told you about the other kids you always seemed so proud of me, even when the teachers complained.”

“That can’t be true Dudley,” Vernon said not wanting to believe his precious and well educated son was a common criminal. That was not normal, and he worked so hard be normal despite having one of the freaks at home.

“You should learn to accept the truth Mr. Dursley,” Albus suggested.

“This is your entire fault boy!” He yelled Harry; he needed to place the blame on someone before admitting he had been too lenient with his own son; so much so that the boy had gotten out of control. “Dudley is in trouble because of your abnormality!” He would have hit the insolent whelp by now, but with the adult freaks there he did not dare no matter how angry he was.

“I didn’t ask for him to beat me! You taught him it was alright to beat people up, you always let him do as he pleases, so don’t blame me because you both are a lousy parents.” Harry snarled at them furious. With Dumbledore and Mad-Eye there he had no fear of retaliation from his uncle.

“You only got what you deserve, useless and lazy whelp!”

“I’m NOT the one who’s lazy here. He wouldn’t be as fat as he is if he helped with the chores!” He pointed at Dudley for a moment, and then his arm went back to holding the little baby that was whimpering again.

“Take him, take him and leave us alone. I don’t want you contaminating my home and family anymore. You can’t force me to keep him here!”

“Can’t we? Do you really believe that? We basically need your wife Dursley, and maybe your son, but certainly not you. We don’t even need your ‘family’ human. They’ll probably make some interesting lab rats,” Alastor threatened and was pleased to see the muggles cower in fear.

“Now, now, Alastor,” Dumbledore spoke in his pacifying tone. He did not want the muggles scared witless, although it would do them good to be reminded what wizards could do.

Although Dumbledore’s attention was mostly on the muggles, he spared a few glances in Harry’s direction. The boy had enjoyed Alastor’s comment too much, but he really could not blame him. Those muggles were despicable. Harry also spared curious looks to the baby, who, besides the occasional whimper when the voices were raised, was unusually quiet.

Harry did not know how to handle infants because he had never been near one so small. But he was finding out that he actually must be doing something good, because it seemed the child liked him, and oddly enough he did too. He looked content and when the voices scared him, he sought refuge in by burying his face in his overlarge T-Shirt. So far they seem to be getting along, which the teen supposed was good.

“I don’t think that would be necessary, I believe Mr. and Mrs. Dursley capable of being reasonable.” At that both, Mad Eye and Harry, snorted. “Isn’t that so?” Dumbledore asked the muggles in a tone that let them know that they better be.

“Er… yes, yes of course,” Vernon agreed nervously. He let his eyes linger on his ‘nephew’, who had started a sort of game with the other child. The baby wanted to grab his glasses; the boy let him and then put them on again. He wondered why they had brought the infant, but he would be damned if he was the one to ask.

“Good, just remember Mr. Dursley. We would have left you alone if you had been proper guardians. Had you provided Mr. Potter with a decent home life, there would not be the need of… supervising you.” It was Moody who spoke pinning each Dursley with a glare and extra spinning of his magical eye. They all recoiled, and he smiled maliciously, he really had nothing against muggles in general, but the trio before him was an exception.

“Now that this is settled, we can move to other things.” Albus turned to Harry who seemed to like the quiet baby very much; which was perfect for what he had planned. Who would have thought he was a babies person? Severus also seemed to be quite taken with Harry. He must remember to tease his Potions Master, when he returned to his normal age, about it. “Harry, there was an accident at school yesterday.” He addressed the teen seriously.

“Is everyone all right Sir? Was the school damaged?” The boy asked worried and looked over the Headmaster. He did not seem hurt.

“Yes, Hogwarts was damaged. It was more extensive than we originally thought. We really had a hard time assessing it yesterday. Unfortunately we lost two house-elves in a cave it, but I’m assured everything will be repaired by September, and the house-elves will have a small memorial for the two that died in a couple of days.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Sir, it wasn’t Dobby or Winky?” He dreaded to hear that his two house-elves friends might have died, and that was the other reason why he was there.

“No, no my boy, both are fine. Winky has no experience in building so the Head house-elf assigned her to me.”

“That’s good to hear, was it really an accident Sir? Voldemort had nothing to do with it?”

‘Maybe it was not an accident but an attack?’ Harry thought even more worried since his scar had been normal yesterday.

“No child, Voldemort had nothing to do with it. He has been lying low lately as he lost too many of his inner circle members,” he paused for a moment then decided to add. “I don’t really expect him to make any major moves for a few months at least. Going back to the castle, it was as I said an unfortunate accident. But at least now the dungeons are getting re-built and re-decorated, which was long overdue. It was not originally designed to become classrooms, dormitories and Professors habitations, now we can make sure they would be better suited for that. Professor McGonagall and Dubban -our head house-elf- were working re-designing them.”

“Was Professor Snape injured?” He asked suspecting that it might have been a potions accident. Imagine that? The ‘greasy git’ actually causing a worse explosion than any Neville had ever produced. “I… I might not like the man, but… I’ve been thinking… and… and I know he isn’t to blame for… for what happened.” His voice broke. He could not bring himself to mention Sirius name aloud yet.

“Unfortunately Professor Snape was injured child. We believe one of his experimental potions went terribly wrong. It’s been a while since he blew something up…”

“He would have us believe that he has never blown up a cauldron, Sir”

“I imagine he does,” he said eyes twinkling a bit. “But Professor Snape has been known to blow up a cauldron or two while experimenting and creating new potions. It is part of the risks of being a Potions Master. But so far there has not been an explosion like yesterday’s recorded in Hogwarts’ history. It took a while to dig him out…” He informed him gravely.

“Is he going to be all right? I… I never…” The look both older wizards were giving the baby odd looks and that stopped Harry in his tracks. It could not be, could it? He stood the infant up on his lap and turned him to face him critically. “He… he’s Professor Snape, isn’t he?” Harry finally asked noticing the familiar features of the adult wizard on the infant.

The little one sensed some of the boy’s tension and fuzzed a little, letting out small distressed whimpers. He did not like attention, in his short experience, most of the times it brought nothing good. Harry thought it was odd that the baby did not make too much noise; he then looked at Dumbledore for advice on what to do to calm the child, as he sat him on his lap again.

“Just hold him and rock him gently my boy,” the old wizard offered, and it helped. “And distract him with this,” he pulled out a small snitch-like rattle from a baby bag he had been carrying concealed in his robes. Harry flicked the toy before the whimpering baby’s face a couple of times and he quieted looking decidedly curious about the toy but a bit… reluctant to grab it. “Just make sure that he doesn’t hit himself with it, and I’m sure he’ll be happy for a while. To answer your question, the baby is indeed out esteemed Potions Master Severus Snape.”

“Why is he still like this Sir? Madame Pomfrey usually has all the antidotes for potions accidents.” Harry remembered that some students had de-aged themselves in class before, including Neville. They were always back to normal in no time.

“For those potions on the Potions syllabus she does. Professor Snape makes sure of it. As to why he’s still a baby… well… we don’t know how to turn him back. It was an experimental potion, although Madame Pomfrey assured me it was not the potion that de-aged him. It was his own bout of uncontrolled magic that turned him into a baby. He’s going to be like that for some time, my boy, until we find someone capable of finding a way to return him to his right age.”

“I see… So why did you bring the professor here?” Harry asked though he was beginning to guess what Dumbledore wanted, and he was not sure he liked the idea; although Snape as a baby was not so bad.

“Well, I wanted to ask you if you could take care of him for some time.” Albus asked eyes twinkling madly.

“You want ME to baby sit SNAPE?” Harry exploded. Ok, he did not blame the wizard anymore, but they had never gotten along. The little boy whimpered in fear at his tone of voice, and Harry distracted him with the rattle. He also made a mental note not to raise his voice if he did not want to deal with a crying Snape.

“Yes my boy. Voldemort wasn’t all that pleased with Professor Snape recently, and with this… accident he’s no longer useful to him. I fear for his safety. Because of the wards we have here, your relatives’ house is one of the safest places for him.” Albus confessed.

“Would Voldemort kill the professor even though he’s a baby?” This was more a statement than a real question. Harry knew the answer; Voldemort had no heart and no mercy.

“I believe he will, and we don’t know when we’ll be able to get him back or if we ever will. With the repairs to Hogwarts and the work for the Order, Severus he needs a safe place to hide and someone that can take care of him.”

“Professor, you think he’s safe HERE?” Harry asked looking straight at his relatives and pointing at his bruised face.

“From Voldemort and his Death Eaters yes, he is safe here. About the others… I believe we have reached an agreement and solved that problem. Do not worry my boy.”

“But Sir, I don’t KNOW anything about babies, this is the first time I even hold one and… and he hates me!” Harry argued, hoping against all hope that the Headmaster would see reason.

“It doesn’t look like he does now Mr. Potter,” Mad-Eye pointed out. Snape actually looked quite content on the boy’s lap, torn between getting the glasses or the rattle. Harry had to admit that it looked that way, and well, he was beginning to like mini Snape too, he seemed to be a nice and quiet baby. So different from the snarky and grumpy git that he became as an adult.

“I can show you the basics of how to care for an infant today Harry; and later I’ll have Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall come over and teach you a bit more. Don’t worry about that my boy.”

“But… but… I’m just fifteen! Why can’t Mrs. Weasley care for him? I mean, she’s raised seven children already.” He kept trying to convince the Headmaster that there were better places for a baby Snape than with him. But he knew that was probably not going to happen. Albus Dumbledore usually got his way, and without having to threaten or bully anyone.

“I’m sure Molly Weasley would do a superb job Harry. But The Burrow isn’t as protected as it is here. You already have Order members on permanent guard duty here. I can’t spare anyone else; we are already stretched thin keeping an eye on Voldemort’s followers and the Ministry. Professor McGonagall or Madame Pomfrey would not mind taking care of Severus, but Hogwarts is not safe for him either, and won’t be for a while. Most of the faculty knows about the accident, but they don’t know Severus is a seven month old infant. We’re going to pretend Professor Snape is in a coma. It’s the only way I can think of to keep him safe; Voldemort was only letting him live because he needed his potion making skills. With the wards here he won’t be able to find any of you. Do you understand my reasons Harry?”

“I do Sir,” he sighed. If he did not take the professor in, and Voldemort killed him it would be another death in his conscience. He could not take one more. “It’s just… well… He IS Professor Snape… and we never got along.”

“Right now Harry he’s only a seven month old baby. He has no access to his adult memories. He only remembers what little he learned and experienced since birth to being the age he is now.”

“All right Headmaster. I’ll take care of him.” Harry agreed resignedly.

“Thank you my boy. I know I’m placing a big responsibility on your shoulders, but there really wasn’t any option.” There was, but he believed that it would benefit both Harry and Severus more to keep them together. He could not allow the young teen to drown in his sorrow; having a baby to look after might help him focus on something else. Severus was going to claim a lot of his attention and free time that would otherwise might be used for brooding and self-pity.

“You pretend to leave us another child?” Petunia finally gathered the courage to speak, and she was furious.

“What do you think we are? An Orphanage? We won’t spend another pound…” Vernon exploded outraged.

“No one’s asking you to spend money on either child. You never did anyway, why pretend?” Albus sighed and made an effort to keep from hexing the Dursley adults. These people were the limit and he would be glad not to see them ever again.

“Remember, you lost your chance to decide and be taken into consideration, so now you have to comply with what WE decide.” Alastor snapped.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,” Dumbledore began pinning each with a steely glare. He looked quite dangerous. “Everything Severus might need will be provided. We will also provide for Harry’s heeds. You have proven unable to do that. I will also order the bank to stop making your monthly deposit, as it is no longer necessary seeing as we’re the ones who will be providing for the boys’ needs.”

“It’s our due! You can’t do that!” Vernon protested. An important part of his income came from the freak’s monthly allowance. It was what they spent on Dudley’s things; there would be no way for him to provide his son with what he wanted without it.

“I can and I will Mr. Dursley. You have already benefited enough from Harry’s money. From now on, you only have to allow them to stay and leave both children alone.” He paused for a moment as he thought, then came to a decision and added. “In fact, you won’t even see either of them. But, if Harry or Severus are harmed in ANY way, and that includes you and your friends young Mr. Dursley, I will personally make sure you regret it. I am a Master Transfigurator, unlike Hagrid who did not finish his schooling, and believe me, earning a pig’s tail will be the least of your problems” The half-giant had told him what happened when he picked Harry before his first year. He had been a bit reluctant to admit he had attempted to turn the boy into a pig, but in the end confessed everything. “With this I conclude our conversation. Now Harry, why don’t you show me your room? I believe we need to make some changes to make it suitable for you and Severus.”

“Ah… yes Sir,” Harry said standing and offering Snape to him. To his immense surprise he refused to go to with the Headmaster and clung to him.

“Keep him, my boy. I believe young Severus has taken a liking to you.” He said eyes twinkling madly.