Before leaving Privet Drive that morning, Severus arose and took care of a matter that had been preying on him since last night-how to protect Petunia from Vernon once he was gone. He knew the big man was absolutely livid at being treated like a servant in his own home and forced to obey not only his unwanted nephew but also Severus. Snape knew that mere threats would not be enough to keep Vernon in line once Severus was no longer in residence and he was free to vent his spleen upon the only other member of the household that had supported Harry that past week. Thus, Severus had devised a spell to protect Petunia from her husband's retribution.

It had taken him all night, but he had finally finished it and now it was ready to be cast. He waited until Petunia had risen and was down in the kitchen making breakfast before revealing it to her. "I've made it so you'll never need fear Vernon hitting you again, or making your life a misery either."

"How could you do that, Severus? That would take a miracle."

"Well, this spell is sort of a miracle. My own miracle. I just wish I'd been able to invent it in time to save my mother." Severus shook his head, there was no sense in wishing for what might have been. Now was too late for regrets. He drew his wand and pointed it directly at Petunia's heart. She drew in a breath nervously, she was still uneasy with magic, but her circumstances forced her to accept this spell of protection. "I need you to stay still and quiet, Tuney. This won't hurt, but it might tingle a bit as it spreads out. The spell is twofold. The first part of it is a Repel Violence Charm, which means essentially that if anyone tried to hurt you physically, their punches or sticks or whatever will glance away and miss you."

Petunia's blue eyes shone. "That sounds wonderful, Sev. But how long will it last?"

"Permanently, if you wish it. I can make it so, or for years, if you prefer."

"I want it for forever, Severus. I refuse to be Vernon's bloody punching bag again."

"Good, I can do that. The second part of the spell won't work directly on you, but it will work on anyone who is angry around you, especially if they intend you harm. It's a Harm-Me-Not spell, a personality altering charm that makes anyone thinking of harming you become your friend and horrified at ever hurting you in any way. That includes not giving you money for clothes and such. I've combined those two charms into one and I can cast it anytime you're ready, Tuney."

Petunia smiled slightly at his use of her old nickname, which Lily had given her as a baby because she couldn't pronounce P's. Dubbed Tuney, the nickname stuck, until now even Snape used it. "Right now would be a good time."

Severus intoned the incantation, it was some sentence in Latin, Petunia thought, and then she gasped as she felt a slow chill creeping over her, settling into her skin, etching the magic into her very blood and bone. For one moment she regretted ever allowing Severus to magic her this way. Until she remembered what awaited her once the Potions Master was gone.

But at last the spell was done and Petunia heaved a sigh of relief. Vernon could never hurt her again. Or he wouldn't want to hurt her because of the spell. "Thank you, Severus. Mere words cannot . . ." she halted suddenly, unable to say anything further because of the huge lump in her throat that threatened to choke her. Sudden tears stung her eyes and she turned around hastily and wiped them on a corner of her apron.

One lean hand rested for an instant on her shoulder. "You are welcome, Tuney. Though no thanks are necessary. No woman deserves to be treated thus by a man. Now, after breakfast, Harry and I will be leaving. I cannot tell you where, for it would not be safe for you to know," Snape said quickly, not telling her the entire truth, that Dumbledore hadn't let him know the exact location of the meeting, only enough so he could Apparate without getting lost. "But know that your nephew will be safe with me and you will have fulfilled the promise you made to Lily to keep him safe at last."

"Good. I . . .am glad, Severus, that he will have you to rely on. He needs a strong male figure in his life, one who will teach him both discipline and honor. His only example for half his life was a pitiful one, I fear. It's lucky Vernon didn't influence him more than he did." She winced thinking of her son, who copied Vernon's every move. Except lately, under Snape's discipline, he seemed to be rethinking his behavior. But Petunia wondered how long it would last. "The way he did Dudley," she admitted with a small sigh.

"That's something that can be changed, Petunia," said Severus. "Your son knows what it's like now to have boundaries, all you need to do is keep enforcing them. Be consistent, be firm, and always ALWAYS do what you say. Never threaten, only promise, and then keep that promise. In due time, Dudley should learn to respect you as well as love you."

"Where did you ever learn about raising children, Severus?"

"I've been a teacher for twelve years, Petunia. You don't do that and not learn a little about child psychology and behavior. Also, my father might have been a drunken bastard, but my mother wasn't and she knew how to discipline with affection and firmness. Much of what I told you is drawn from her methods and a few books I've read."

"Did she ever threaten to spank you with a spoon?" inquired the slender woman saucily.

"Once or twice, though she never needed to follow through with it," Snape admitted candidly. "I was smart enough not to test her, and she knew I got plenty of lickings from my father simply for looking at him wrong, so she kept the physical punishment limited to a smack or two. But her scoldings stung worse than a dozen switches, she was a master at using guilt and making you see the error of your ways."

"Sounds a bit like my mum. Only she wasn't hesitant about doling out a few whacks if we needed it. She kept a spoon like that tucked into her apron pocket for just such a reason." Petunia pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Maybe I ought to do that. It might serve as a good scare tactic."

Severus nodded. "Just remember, that if you ever say you're going to spank him, and he ignores you or whatever, you have to do what you say. So don't ever say something you don't mean or you can't do later on. My advice would be to limit yourself to a few swats only, if you feel that is the only way to get through to him. One or two will be enough to gain his attention and show that you mean business without being abusive. Otherwise the methods I used seem to work very well."

They had indeed. In as little as a week, Dudley had stopped whining and being so demanding and he now spoke to his mother without that annoying I-want-this tone in his voice. He was also a bit more tolerant of his cousin, since he had spent a week doing all the chores Harry used to. It would take time, Snape thought, but perhaps Dudley would be redeemed and actually grow up to be a decent individual.

Duty done, Snape made his way upstairs to wake up Harry, who, like most teenagers, hated mornings and would have slept till noon or beyond if Severus didn't wake him up. Dumbledore hadn't given him a specific time to arrive at wherever they were going, but Severus didn't want to keep the old wizard waiting any longer than necessary.

Harry was inclined to grumble and bury his head in the pillow at first, until Severus ruthlessly yanked off all the covers and vanished his pajamas, as well as leaving the bedroom window open when a cool breeze was blowing. The teenager shivered and yelped, in nothing but his underwear, goosebumps pimpling his skin, jerking his head up to glare at his evil father, who stood standing with his arms crossed, giving his offspring the hairy eyeball.

"Okay. I'm up. What's the big idea . . .sir?"

"The idea is for you to get dressed and make certain you are packed so we can leave this house of misery and meet the Headmaster. Now, I'm going to count to ten and if you aren't dressed by then, I'm going to conjure a pail of cold water and see if that won't convince you."

Harry scrambled out of bed, no way did he want to get a pail of freezing water thrown at him. Then too, he was more than ready to leave Privet Drive for good and all, even if he had to go and live with the Potions Master. He sensed that whatever else the man might be, he could be fair and honorable when he chose, and his snarky attitude could be ignored. So Harry bid a silent final farewell to Privet Drive an hour after breakfast, and together he and his newfound father Apparated away.

* * * * * *

They arrived at a secluded Highland glen, deserted except for the small stone and mud-daubed lean to off to one side of the thick pasturage. Once this had probably been a favorite spot for some shepherd to bring his sheep, and offered shelter from the weather for both man and beast. Now it served as a meeting place for two wizards and a young apprentice.

Severus, always wary, checked and double-checked the area for any dark wizard signatures or hint of anyone trying to observe this spot using a FarSeeing Charm. But the area was clean, the only magical signature that of Albus Dumbledore. He nudged Harry forward and whispered, his mouth barely moving, but his words clearly audible, "Remember what we discussed earlier, Harry. It is best if we keep the fact that we are father and son secret for now, for my enemies are still hunting me and they will not hesitate to harm you if they learned you are not only the Boy Who Lived, but my son as well. You would be doubly cursed in their eyes and should they ever capture you . . .they would be most unforgiving. So . . .for now keep the truth close and let me do most of the talking. Come."

He led Harry towards the lean to, where they could now make out a figure in purple robes seated on a low stool, clearly enjoying the bracing Highland air while waiting for them to arrive.

Dumbledore looked up at their arrival and smiled broadly. "Ah! Severus and Harry! So glad to see you again, my boys. How has your summer been going?"

Normally, Severus disliked lying to his mentor, but in this case, to ensure the health of his child and avoid some rather unpleasant questions, Severus was not going to tell the old wizard the truth. Not yet. Not until he was sure that his son would be safe from the Headmaster's infernal meddling.

"It would have been better had I not been forced to take refuge with those terrible Muggle relatives of Potter's," Snape began, his tone short and annoyed, though outwardly he was calm.

"Ah, yes, but it was fortunate that you could seek refuge there, Severus. The wards held, I take it?"

"As I am still here breathing and speaking, you know they did," the Potions Master said sourly. "By now you also know that I can no longer fulfill my contract, Headmaster, since I am now a wanted man."

That was Harry's cue to join in with, "Wanted by who, sir?"

"None of your business, Potter!" Snape growled.

But Dumbledore answered, "Professor Snape was performing a much needed role as an information gatherer, but now he can no longer do so, Harry. So I must find a different way to use his unique talents. But that is between me and your Potions Master, my boy. You look a bit thin, haven't been eating much lately?" He eyed the skinny fourteen-year-old in some concern.

"Umm . . .well, I just haven't had much of an appetite, I guess," Harry hedged, not wanting to tell Dumbledore the real reason why he was so scrawny looking.

But Severus had other ideas. What his son had endured at the hands of Vernon Dursley was unforgivable and he wished to let Dumbledore know of it, since the old wizard had insisted Harry be placed there. Let Albus see what his meddling had cost the boy.

"Hmm . . .well, we can always fatten you up at Hogwarts, Harry," Albus said lightly, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Not that it would do much good, Headmaster, since Potter's relatives, besides being the most unpleasant people I have ever met, don't feed him properly. Or at all sometimes."

Harry threw a horrified look at his father. He had never intended to reveal anything about the abuse Vernon had dished out to him, but now he was forced to, since Snape had as good as told Dumbledore that they starved him.

Dumbledore looked alarmed, his eyes had stopped dancing and now they fixed on Harry, concern in their depths. "Whatever do you mean, Severus? Harry's relatives would have no need to starve him, they are well off enough to afford food."

"I mean what I said, Headmaster." Severus's tone was frigid. "Well off or not, their nephew does not share in the family's meals. He waits upon them like a servant and gets their scraps, I know as I saw it while I was there."

The old wizard whirled on Harry,.his face a mask of tragic disbelief. "Is that true, Harry?"

"Sir . . .I can explain. . ."

"Answer the question, please. Is what Professor Snape said true?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. My uncle says I shouldn't be a burden on other people, so I set and clear the table and then sometimes I get Dudley's leftovers or a crust. Or my aunt will leave me some dinner if she remembers it."

"How long has this been going on?"

Harry shrugged. "Since I was small, I guess. When I was five, my uncle put me in the cupboard under the stairs and I remained there for a long time. Until recently, when they decided to give me Dudley's second bedroom."

Dumbledore looked shocked, but Severus wasn't finished yet. "How charitable of those Muggles, isn't it?" he interjected smoothly. "Not exactly how you though the savior of the wizarding world should be treated by his own flesh and blood, is it? And that's not all they did to him. Not only did they starve and put him in solitary confinement, but his uncle-"

"No! You have no right to tell him that!" Harry shouted, furious that his father was revealing all the abuse he had endured, it was too embarrassing for words.

"Quiet, Potter. Even you don't deserve what that filthy Muggle did to you. Now, either you tell him, or I will, but either way he will be informed of the truth. Choose."

Harry swallowed the bitter retort burning in his throat and said quietly, "Fine. I'll tell him." He turned to the expectant Headmaster and said, "My uncle . . .he hates wizards and me especially . . .and when he's in a temper . . .he hits me sometimes."

The old wizard paled. "Oh sweet Merlin! Severus, you saw this happening?"

The Potions Master nodded. "I was coming into the den for a cup of coffee when Potter spilled some accidentally on his uncle's good trousers. His uncle grew furious and began to take off his belt. I knew he meant to beat him, and I won't stand for that, so I revealed myself and forced his uncle to release Potter and that was the end of that. But it is my belief that the Dursleys have been beating Potter for many years now."

Harry felt his face burn with shame and embarrassment and he wished he could hex Snape's tongue out. Why did he have to tell? What good could it do now, when it was too late and the damage had already been done? What was next, Snape forcing him to show Dumbledore the scars on his backside? For there were scars, proof positive that Vernon delighted in giving his nephew a taste of the belt for the least infraction.

"Harry? Is Professor Snape's assumption correct? Has your uncle beaten you more than once?"

Harry remained stubbornly silent.

"Harry? Please answer me," the old man asked softly.

Still the Gryffindor refused to speak.

Until Snape frowned and snapped, "Answer the Headmaster, Potter."

Harry refused to look at either of them, trying to pretend he hadn't heard anything.

"Potter!" Severus growled warningly.

At last Harry looked up, flushed and angry. "Yes! He beat me all the time, for anything and everything. Happy now?"

The old wizard looked stricken. "Child, I am so very sorry. Had I known what kind of people they were, I would have put better wards around the house, ones that would have alerted me to this kind of thing and sent an Auror to investigate."

"Didn't you have someone watching the house?" asked the Potions Master, unmoved by the elder wizard's anguish. Albus should feel guilty and responsible for Harry's plight, and he should have taken more pains to look after him.

"Yes. Arabella Figg, but she never said anything like this had occurred. Perhaps she did not know. I am more sorry than I can say, Harry, but I had no choice but to place you with your last living blood relations. The blood wards are keyed to them and within the wards you are safe from the dark wizards, safe from those who would seek to harm you. I never thought they could mistreat their own flesh and blood. Do they hit your cousin as well?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Dudley's the prince, he never gets smacked."

"And the brat could use a good smack, in my opinion," Severus couldn't resist adding. Then he looked at the Headmaster and said, "Now that you are aware of Potter's situation, what will you do? You'll need to find a good place for him to stay at until the start of term in September."

Dumbledore looked both regretful and sad and he spoke softly. "Severus, he cannot go anywhere save back with the Dursleys. The ties that bind him to that house are very strong, there is no better place to protect him but there. Even Hogwarts is not safe."

"Albus, you cannot be serious!" Snape growled, shock registering on his face. "We've both told you he was abused and neglected, and yet you would send him back there? Blood wards or no blood wards, there must be a better solution. You'd be sending him back to hell, only this time you'd know better. How could you possibly sleep at night afterwards?"

Harry was astonished. He never would have thought Snape had it in him, to defend Harry this way. He was confused and awed all at once. He looked up at his father with a mixture of pride and thankfulness. At least Snape cared somewhat about him, enough so he wouldn't need to fear being sent back to Privet Drive.

"Severus, I have no choice. Harry must return to his relatives."

"Must, Albus? The only thing we all must do is die someday," sneered Severus, incensed at the other's blindness. "I cannot permit you to send Potter back to that place. He's in worse danger there than he ever was from Voldemort. Even I would not be that cruel, much as I dislike the boy. What if someone else, another relation, agreed to take in Harry? Would the blood wards still function? Or would you have to make new ones?"

"That is irrelevant, Severus. Those protections have kept him safe from Voldemort's followers for thirteen years. They have never breached them."

"Meanwhile, Potter is dying at his uncle's hands. Albus, you cannot let that boy go back there. Now or ever. Blood wards be hanged!"

Suddenly Dumbledore drew himself up to his full height, he wasn't quite as tall as the Potions Master, but he carried himself proudly. "Enough, Severus Snape! I do what I must do, for reasons you cannot fathom. I shall put a working on Harry so that his uncle cannot harm him and there's an end to it. But he has to remain there until school starts" The Headmaster's blue eyes flashed chained lightning at Snape.

Severus flinched, but did not back down. "What if . . .I were to take him under my protection? Surely that is better than him being with those Muggles who have abused him?"

But the other man shook his head. "Severus, even if you were his father, I would still insist he return there. I have my reasons. You will simply have to trust me."

Severus ground his teeth together to keep from blurting out that he really was Harry's father, that the Headmaster did not know everything the way he assumed, and Harry would return to the Dursleys over his dead body. He sensed his mentor was playing a deeper game here, one with stakes he did not know, but he did not want to know either. There were times that Albus tended to get lost in the big picture, and treat those around him like pawns on a chessboard, disguising it under well-meaning obtuseness.

Harry listened to the argument swirl about him, and could not believe that Dumbledore would consent, after what he had been forced to reveal, to send him back to Privet Drive. Even with the working on him, how long would it be before he was back to being Dudley's servant, treated like a second-class citizen once more? The working might protect him from physical harm, but not anything else. Harry felt betrayed and deeply hurt that the old wizard he had considered his friend and defender would throw him to the wolves in the name of some secret agenda.

I don't want to go back there, you meddling old fool! Why should I when I have a real father now? It was all he could do to keep from saying that to the Headmaster's face. Only Severus's quick head shake and subtle movement of one hand kept Harry in check. Wait. Play his game to the end, was what the Potions Master was saying.

Harry obeyed. He trusted Severus.

Snape turned back to the Headmaster. "Very well, sir. If you will cast the working on him now, I shall return him to the Muggles." The way he said that last made it plain how distasteful he found this whole business.

"No, Severus. I need you to return to headquarters and I shall meet you there after I bring Harry back. We need to discuss what happened to you that night. There may yet be a way you can salvage your position."

Snape shook his head firmly. "There isn't. Trust me on that. They won't take me back, it is finished, Albus." He spun on his heel and walked over to Harry, gripping his shoulder firmly. "A word with you, Potter." He walked a little way beyond the lean to with Harry and then whispered, "I will come for you, Harry. As soon as I can. I promise you that."

Harry nodded, and again felt tears prickle his eyes. "Thanks, sir."

Snape straightened, looking down at his son with a faint sneer on his face. "Hopefully, Potter, you will remember the spell I have taught you and not wasted my time like so many other dunderheads I've taught."

"Yes, Professor Snape, I'll study the healing spell you taught me until I've got it perfect." Harry said loudly, then walked back over to where Dumbledore waited.

The purple-robed wizard ran his wand over Harry and spoke a quick spell. Silver dust erupted from his wand and settled over Harry like a cloak. Harry felt a tingle all over, then the silver dust vanished. "There!" Dumbledore said in satisfaction. "You will no longer have to worry about you uncle hurting you, my boy. I know this is not the best situation, but you will only have to put up with them for another month and then you will come back to Hogwarts."

Harry picked up Hedwig's cage and held it to him tightly as Albus grasped his arm and Apparated back to Privet Drive.

The last glimpse Severus had of his son was Harry's face, pale and drawn, the green eyes filled with hurt and betrayal and resignation. It was then that the Potions Master resolved to do what he must to keep his son safe, even if it meant going against his mentor's grand scheme. I gave my word that I would always keep him safe, Albus. And I shall not break it, not even for you. If you will not let me keep my son openly, then I shall have to resort to kidnapping him, and hiding him in a place that not even you will ever find him. There is more than one way to skin a dragon, old man, and I'm not Head of Slytherin House for nothing. I am done playing by your rules, old meddler. Now you will play by mine.