The day had started out rather cool but by noon the weather was downright muggy at 4 Privet Drive.  As usual Harry got up at 5:30 in the morning to get the morning gardening done before it got too hot.   Before Harry went out he let out his little sister  Lynley who was in the cupboard under the stairs and told her to start breakfast and that he would come back to finish.  He started with sweeping the front porch then the back porch, then the walkway to the back of the house.

 Harry then started by watering all the flower beds then the small herb garden, making sure he cleaned up the excess water, after that was all done he went through and picked all the weeds.    He then finished breakfast so it would be ready when his aunt and uncle got up, then he told Lynley to go to his room and read quietly.  Harry knew to do this without complaint otherwise his uncle would whip him mercilessly and lock him up in his room for days without food and would do the same to his sister. 

That's exactly what happened the week before,  and he was still recuperating from it.   Today was July 30th and tomorrow would be Harry's birthday, he would be 10 years old yet for Harry his birthday would not be celebrated like his cousin Dudley's with a big party and lots of presents, for Harry this day would not be acknowledged at all by his relatives, especially his uncle Vernon but if he was out his little sister and his aunt and cousin would at least say Happy Birthday, but they could not do it while uncle Vernon was there because he would throw a fit. 

Harry was very small for his age but it's no wonder seeing as he is deprived of food on a regular basis due to the whim of his uncle and his sister was even smaller than him she looked no older than 5.  Harry had just finished putting the breakfast on the table when his uncle began screaming for him to come outside, he wondered what he had done wrong this time, it seemed that his uncle found fault with everything he did and never let him go one day without some kind of punishment.

"Boy get out here this instant", yelled Uncle Vernon.

"Yes Sir", said Harry.

From his room, Dudley was watching his dad getting angrier and angrier at his cousin for no apparent reason that he could see.  Dudley was getting worried at what his dad might do to Harry, he had heard what his dad had just done to Lynley and was very scared to go and see into his cousin's room.  Throughout Dudley's life he had seen his fair share of what his dad did to poor Harry and Lynley, and he internally flinched at the memories.

For when Harry got punished so did Dudley and his mother, but not near as much as Harry had suffered.  At this same moment Petunia was watching her husband from the kitchen window, and internally wished she could do magic, if only to spare her nephew and niece of her husband's wrath.  Petunia could see that Harry had done a great job with the gardening, so she was puzzled to see her husband so angry.

"Yes uncle Vernon is there anything wrong?"  asked Harry as soon as he came into the backyard.

"You stupid idiotic imbecile, how many times have I told you to make sure you sweep the walkway every morning?"  rumbled Vernon

"Look at the stones they are filthy, leaves all over the place" glared his uncle. 

 When Harry looked down he could only see two or three leaves that must have flown in after he had finished, because there was nothing on them when he came back into the house.  Harry knew better to tell him as much, for his uncle completely detested when someone talked back to him.  Harry was continually beaten no matter what he said to his uncle.  Vernon felt that Harry was being cheeky with him.

"I'm so sorry uncle Vernon I must have missed them by mistake, it won't happen again sir" Harry said while keeping his head down, so he wouldn't look into his face.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself, you worthless piece of air, I'll teach you not to disobey again, "

Vernon quickly grabbed the back of Harry's shirt and marched him into the house then up the stairs to his room and closed the door behind them. Harry heard a very low gasp and prayed that his uncle did not hear it too.  Vernon threw Harry onto his bed very hard and Harry hit his head bad on the headboard.  While Harry was trying to get his bearings Vernon had already unbuckled his belt and had it in his hand quickly. Harry was hit so hard that he heard his shoulder blade crack and he bit his lip trying not to scream because it would be worse if he did.  Vernon was screaming at him with every hit, and Harry could feel himself drift into unconsciousness.

"You no good for nothing freak, you never listen, you're worthless, I should kill you and your runt of a sister and put us out of our misery," yelled Vernon, his face was all purple and red from the beating that he was inflicting.

Vernon then noticed the creature finally going limp, he was filled with glee; he stopped to catch his breath, because by then he was exhausted from the effort.  He then stormed out of the room; he wanted to be far away from this creature.  Vernon was still angry so he went into his son's room.  Once Vernon was in this much anger he couldn't stop until he had hurt everyone in the house.  He would always apologize to his son and his wife later on though but never to those freaks.  So he saw his son in the left hand corner of his room and grabbed him so quickly that Dudley didn't have time to yell out.

"No Dad please don't hurt me, what did I do?"  asked Dudley while he cried.

Vernon said nothing, he just had a dangerous sneer on his face, he shoved Dudley on his bed and beat him.  With a great big huff, Vernon let go of his son and stomped out of the room without a word.  He then stomped down the hallway very fast and caught Petunia as she was coming to defend her son.

"It's all your fault for making me keep those freak niece and nephew of yours in our house, because of them I have had nothing but bad luck ever since they came, I'm not going to take it anymore" as Vernon was saying this to his wife he grabbed her by the neck and pushed her to the floor hard.

He could hear her head crack and then he started to squeeze her neck, she was trying to gasp for breath, and trying to get him off of her but her head was hurting so bad and she was losing consciousness rapidly.  Vernon was in a total rage that he could not get out of even if he tried, he was so fed up, he let go of Petunia's neck once she went limp.  He thought he had killed her and in that instance he was filled with remorse and fear then only pure rage.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" Vernon bellowed.

He ran back into his son's room and found Dudley curled up into a ball beside his desk crying.  He grabbed him and started to shake him and then he tried to strangle him too.  Dudley was trying to breathe, and all of a sudden he could feel a tremendous ball of warmth radiating from his stomach and reaching out to his hands.  The next thing Dudley knew he had shoved his father outside of his room and right into the bathroom on the other side.  Vernon felt the raw power coming from his son which propelled him into the bathroom. 

Vernon hit his head against the wall so hard that his head just split opened.  Before Vernon died he realized that his only son was a freak too.  He had treated him with such reverence that the last expression on his face was a sneer of revulsion.  Dudley saw his father's last expression before he himself fell to the ground completely spent.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Severus Snape wondered why the Headmaster had called on him in the middle of the summer holidays, as usual though he travelled to Hogwarts at once to meet with him.  Professor Snape went to his quarters before going to meet with the Headmaster.  The Professor had left some books he wanted on the kitchen table; he shrunk them and put them in his pocket. 

Then he left the dungeons for Headmaster Dumbledore's office.  Professor Snape said the password at the gargoyle and it leapt to the side to reveal a rising circular staircase that deposited him in front of the door.  Before he could even knock, the Professor heard a voice saying to enter, so he did.  He often wondered how the Headmaster could know that there was someone at his door,  that would have to wait to be answered though.   When he entered and saw the expression on the Headmaster's face he quickly went to his mentor's side to see if he was alright.

"Albus are you alright?" questioned Professor Snape

"Yes, dear boy I am, but I have just received some rather startling information and you are the only one I trust to deal with this, I am so sorry to put this burden on you my boy"  Professor Dumbledore ran his hands over his face to compose himself.

"Whatever it is Albus I will of course do it as soon as possible, what has happened" asked Professor Snape with a deep frown upon his face, for he was very worried, the Headmaster rarely showed so much emotion.

"I have just been given a report by Mrs. Figg, the squib who keeps watch over the Potter boy; she said she heard Vernon Dursley shout at the top of his lungs and then saw him march Harry into the house. Then about 20 minutes later she heard him let out  a terrible agonizing scream then nothing else, that was this morning early"  Albus had to stop for a minute to compose himself again. 

He had of course heard other reports of what happens there but he had dismissed them as Mrs. Figg's imagination, but he could not turn a blind eye on this, he needed to be sure.

"This is not the first time you have heard of such reports, right Albus?"  it took everything for Professor Snape not to yell at his mentor but he was seeing red.  Obviously the Headmaster had done nothing to see that Harry was alright, and from the sound of this report the well being of one Harry Potter was very much up in the air and so he waited for a response from the Headmaster.

"I...I.....yes I have had other reports of how Vernon Dursley treats the boy, but I couldn't fathom that his uncle could be that cruel so I thought Mrs. Figg was exaggerating the circumstances surrounding the boy.  She did not like Vernon at all and she thought Harry deserved better.  I know that is no excuse I will try to make amends now, considering the gravity of the situation you alone must save him" Professor Dumbledore looked pleadingly to Professor Snape.

"Remember you have a Wizard's Oath to protect the boy at all cost, Lily trusted you to make you take the oath just in case.  Yes, I know that you would have taken the boy yourself, but I was stupid and naive to think he should be placed with blood relatives just because of the blood wards.  That alone would not keep him safe from the Death Eaters nor his relatives cruelty. Can you forgive me for being so foolish?" implored the Headmaster

"I don't know Albus, this is allot to take in at the moment, my first priority is to go to Privet Drive and see for myself what has happened and in what condition the boy is in. You should have told me first thing this morning instead of waiting so long.  I shall go right away and then I will let you know what I have found" with that Professor Snape twirled around and left the Headmaster's office before he heard a response.

Professor Snape ran to his quarters and into his private potions lab and got several potions he might need for the boy just in case. As quickly as he had come into Hogwarts he was out even faster, once outside of Hogwarts grounds he apparated to Privet Drive.

By the time he got to Privet Drive it was already dark which the Professor inwardly thanked.  The Professor walked to 4 Privet Drive rather quickly then knocked on the door, there was no response so he took his wand out and cast an "Alohomora" to open the door and went inside quickly. 

The house was totally dark and there were no sounds whatsoever.  The Professor walked into the living room and saw nothing, nothing in the kitchen either, so he decided to go up the stairs to the second floor.  With horror written on his face, the first thing that caught his eye was the limp body of one Petunia Dursley in the middle of the hallway with blood under her head in a pool.  He quickly went to her to see if she was still alive, she was but barely.  As he was leaning over Petunia he could see into the bathroom and what he saw took his breath away, there on the floor was Vernon Dursley with his head split open, obviously he was dead. 

The Professor stared for a few minutes then remembered what he was doing.  He walked a few steps to an open door; there he saw the limp body of a rather large little boy on the floor.  He was white as a ghost yet without a mark on him.  Unbeknownst to the Professor the backside of the boy was rather red and he had two hand prints on his neck.  The Professor knelt down to make sure he was breathing alright and he was.

 At that moment he heard a very soft groan coming from the room next door.  He quickly got up and went to the door; he had to cast another "Alohomora" because of the many locks on the door.  Once he was inside, it took everything he had not to vomit right then and there for what he saw turned his stomach completely. 

There on the bed was a very small little boy who was tied up. From what the Professor could see of his skin it was covered in marks.  The Professor knelt down next to the bed and ran a quick diagnostic with his wand to determine the amount of damage done to Harry. 

Harry groaned again and the Professor said "Hush child you are safe now, let me untie you first but don't move yet, you have many injuries", Harry could barely hear the man yet he knew that he was here to save him so he stayed still. 

Harry had a contusion on his head from where he hit the headboard, he also had a broken shoulder blade, but the worst was all the whip marks, not a single inch of his skin was spared.  The Professor cringed internally for he knew the marks had dried and it would hurt Harry horribly to move him.  Therefore he gave him a pain reducer then uttered a sleeping spell so he could at least he could clean the injuries and put salve on them without hurting him.   

                It took him the better part of half an hour to fully dress his wounds, he woke the boy up and gently said, "Harry I have dressed your wounds as much as I can right now, I want you to take a few potions to help you heal, then I need to check your Aunt and your cousin, I will be right back, you are safe do you understand?"

"Yes sir, but what about uncle Vernon he'll whip me again won't he?"  Harry said very hesitantly.

"Do not worry about him little one, he will never hurt you again" the Professor said that with such conviction that Harry believed him.

Harry was relieved to hear that and he knew this man was telling the truth for some reason.  He laid his head back on the pillow and fell asleep before being able to tell him about the person in the closet.  He let the potions work, although he thought to himself that medicine should not be called potions as far as he knew.

Professor Snape went to check on Petunia once Harry had settled; she was deathly pale and had a two inch gash on the back of the head.  The Professor took his wand and closed the gash and cleaned the blood away.  He then ran a diagnostic on her and found that she was in a stage two coma, he would have to bring them all back to Hogwarts so that Madame Pomfrey could tend to their medical needs.  She was much better than he was, so he stabilized her. 

He then went to check Dudley and found something utterly amazing; the boy had a magical core which ignited just today. Knowing this the Professor could only conclude that it was Dudley that accidently killed his father so that his father could not kill him or his mother.

Dudley's magical core was badly damaged and only Madame Pomfrey could cure him.  Professor Snape decided that a portkey would be the only way to transport all of them to Hogwarts with the least amount of after effects.  The Professor brought Petunia and Dudley to Harry's room to use the portkey, once he had all of them touching the portkey he spoke the incantation to transport them directly to the infirmary at Hogwarts.