Severus entered Hogwarts with a child in his arms to the surprise of his fellow teachers. He headed to the infirmary ignoring the incredulous looks he was getting; he wanted to make sure that Harry wasn’t abused. But the things he had seen that morning not to mention Harry’s little rant at Gringotts had him on edge, and were telling him otherwise. Harry was oblivious to everything and he hoped he would stay that way. He knew that when time came to tell him about the check up he would probably fight him.

Harry was falling asleep on Snape’s shoulder until he breathed in the sterile smell of antiseptic that could only be from the infirmary. Why was Snape bringing him here? He stiffened automatically and then wiggled so he could get down but Snape held him tight. For a moment Harry contemplated hanging like dead weight but he decided against it, he was an underweight 11 year old, enough said. He didn’t need a checkup he thought, so why were they here?

“Wanna get down Uncle Severus,” Harry whined.

“Don’t whine you’re not a baby, and I’ll put you down in a minute Harry.”

Harry knew the moment he was put on the bed they would cast a sticking charm to him to keep him from running away; and he needed to make sure that he didn’t have any curse injuries on his person. His other injuries from the Dursleys he could care less if they found out, it would actually work in his favor and Dumbledore wouldn’t be able to do anything. But what if they saw old wounds from curses how was he going to explain those? He wiggled again, he just needed to get to the bathroom and he could do a quick check.

“Stop moving Harry, I just said I was going to put you down in a second.”

“I can’t wait Uncle Severus, please let me down now.” Harry replied squirming.

“Wait for what Harry? What are you talking about?”

“I have to get down Uncle Severus, let me go.” Harry answered red faced from struggling in his arms.

“Harry what’s wrong, why is your face so red? And Merlin child be STILL!”

Harry froze at the sound of Snape’s yell; he didn’t want to get yelled at again.

Severus eyes narrowed why was the child acting up now, he had behaved well all day. He knew once the initial check up began he would have a problem but what was going on with him now? Once he put Harry down he could see clearly see the problem, the child couldn’t even stand still for a second. He was curious to know why the boy didn’t just ask.

“Harry do you need the toilet?”

“Yes sir,” Harry replied looking down, and wriggling.

“Why didn’t you ask then?”

“I thought I could hold it and I didn’t know if I was allowed or not,” Harry replied jiggling and fidgeting with his hands.

“But you can’t, am I right?”

“No sir, not for long anyways,” he answered quietly now fiddling with his trousers.

“Well next time just ask child, I won’t deny you that right. Harry do you see that door directly across from us?”

“Yes sir, what’s in it?” Harry asked bouncing his leg.

“The toilet,” Severus replied with a smirk.

Harry smirked inwardly he knew that already, glad that he was able to get down. Because in all his pretending, he really did need to use the loo, he headed over to the door. When he turned the knob it was locked, and he bounced in front of the door for a moment and then walked back toward Severus. Too bad he wasn’t supposed to know any spells now otherwise he would have opened it himself.

“Uncle Severus the door is locked, do you have the key?” Harry asked with a strain of his voice, and bending at his waist.

Severus sighed, why children waited until the very last minute to go was beyond him.

“I have something better I have a wand. Come on Harry I’ll show you.”

Harry added the excited look to his frantic expression like an 11 year old was supposed to look. He watched as Severus preformed a simple Alohamora charm and the locked clicked open, he stood there squirming and grinning.

“Will I learn that spell here at Hogwarts Uncle Severus?” He asked excited as he danced around his godfather.

“Maybe, if not I’ll teach it to you, or you can read it in a book. Go use the toilet Harry before you have an accident, we’ll finish this when you come out.”

“I’m 11 and I don’t have accidents,” he replied annoyed.

“You will if you don’t make good use of the loo in a few minutes,” Severus replied knowingly with a glare.

Harry didn’t know what to think about Snape’s answer and he didn’t want to find out so he ran inside the door, full speed ahead, forgetting to close the door behind him.

Severus watched as the child ran through the door leaving it wide open in the process and shook his head; hopefully he would grow out of waiting until the last minute to use the toilet. He closed the door; he needed to figure out what he was going to do for the rest of the summer. Surely the child didn’t want to spend his remaining summer at his boarding school. He decided to take him to his cottage in the country where they can get closer and maybe he could find out what else is in that pouch of his.

Harry took care of business and did an inventory of his body, he only found one scar from a curse not including the one on his forehead, it was on his thigh, and he hid it with parsel glamour. He grimaced at the bruising over his body, if he could actually see the boot print on his torso he knew they would too. He almost felt sorry for the Dursleys but that thought quickly went away when his shoulder accidently hit the wall.

“Owww,” he screamed causing Severus to come through the door.

“What’s wrong Harry?”

“Just hit my shoulder is all,” he sniffled. The hit really did cause some tears to spring up in his eyes, it hurt like hell.

“What’s wrong with your shoulder?”

“I don’t know, it has a small bruise. I guess I knocked it into something.”

“Let me take a look at it Harry,” Severus replied walking over to him.

Harry stood still and felt his godfather’s fingers gently touch his shoulder, and he couldn’t stop the hiss of pain that came forth. He heard the muttered swear and then he was picked up again, and carried to a bed. While they waited for Madame Pomprey Harry was going over what he needed to do in his head. Snape was already on his side; next he needed Dumbledore, Sirius, and Moony. Not to mention that he needed to befriend Draco, who in Harry’s time had come to the light side and lost his life in the process of defending his wife, Hermione and their unborn child. Harry was surprised that he even liked Hermione because she was a muggleborn, but he had found out that Draco and his mother never cared about blood it was only his father who did. He hoped to befriend Draco early so; he wouldn’t be such a prat to him like before. He had so much to do but first he had to deal with the ‘Dragon lady’ known as Madame Pomprey.

“Hello Severus, and who do you have there?”

“Poppy this is Harry; he’ll be starting Hogwarts this year. I need you to scan him for any injuries.”

Harry saw the wary look Severus was giving him out of the corner of his eye and he squirmed he had a part to play; it was clearly expected of him.

“No Uncle Severus, I’m not hurt I don’t need a check-up.”

“Is that so, then would you care to explain to me what happened to your shoulder?” I don’t tolerate such bald-faced lies Harry, lie to me again and there will be consequences.”

Harry opened his mouth to reply but he stopped and tried to think of how Snape had punished his snakes before. He was now his ward, Snape wouldn’t treat Harry like the Dursleys did would he? He shivered involuntarily, he might’ve been stronger then Snape before but right now, he would be at his mercy. He looked at Snape with fear filled eyes, and Severus cursed again.

“That’s not what I meant Harry, my punishments usually consist of…” but he trailed off as he took in Poppy’s expression. She had done a scan while Harry had been distracted and now she was reading the result.

“What did you find Poppy?”

“Nothing I bet,” Harry replied.

“Harry, you and I both know that your relatives didn’t treat you right, and I need to know if she found something important.”

“You think they abused me huh? They didn’t abuse me; I just got what a freak like me deserv...” Harry broke off in horror; he had NOT meant to say that. Suddenly he was very interested in his shoes, as both Poppy and Severus became very interested in his answer.

“What did you just say Harry?” Severus asked in a dangerous, quiet voice.

Harry of course stayed silent, how did that slip out? That was the whole point of him sorting his mind so nothing would jump out like that. He was scared to talk lest he give anything away again, he was only thankful it wasn’t something super important.

“Severus come take a look at the parchment, those at the top are his current injuries. The ones on the bottom are the ones he had in the last 11 years. See how emaciated he is, they starved him too, he’s going to be on nutrient potions for a while.”

Severus scanned the parchment how was the poor child still walking and breathing without pain? He had a few broken ribs and his left wrist was broken, but then again that did explain why it was hanging limply at the wand shop. He also had various bruising all over his body, the worst parts affected were his back and torso area. Severus didn’t even bother asking Harry to take off his shirt, he spelled it away and the boy never lifted his head. They could see plain as day the outline of a boot print on his pale skin, Severus felt he should say something.

“Harry I will never beat you I promise you that. My punishments are usually groundings, scrubbing cauldrons, writing lines, scrubbing floors, a few swats and occasionally spanking. But with my spankings you don’t have to worry for, I will never hit you with a belt. They will always be with my hand, a hair brush, or a wooden spoon. I will never starve you either; you are allowed to eat all that you need, including snacks. I will never withhold food from you as a punishment, believe me when I say you will never go hungry again. And you are not a freak Harry; I don’t want to hear you ever call yourself that. Do you understand me?”

“Yes Uncle Severus,” he softly replied

Severus watched as Poppy spelled him to sleep and then got to work on his injuries, thankful that it automatically made a report. He needed to speak with Albus immediately, even if he hadn’t got guardianship of Harry he wouldn’t be going back to the Dursleys. He headed to Albus’s office convinced that the child would sleep for another few hours.

Severus growled out the password to Albus's office and the gargoyle nearly leaped out the way. He was mad; no he was beyond mad he was furious. How dare Albus leave Harry with Petunia? How could she treat him this way? There was going to be hell to pay, he would make sure of it. Ignoring the door, Severus walked right into the man's office forgoing the knock. He smirked as Albus looked at him in surprise before as he walked up to his desk.

"Can I help you Severus?"

"How could you?" He asked in a tortured voice.

"How could I what Severus? What did I do?" Albus asked a bit startled and worried after hearing how Severus sounded.

"You left him there with those disgusting muggles," Severus answered. He could even hear the venom in his own voice.

"Severus; are you talking about Harry? What happened?" Albus asked getting a sinking feeling his stomach.

"What do you think? Why in the hell did you leave him with them? What the bloody hell were you thinking Albus?" Severus said vehemently before taking a seat in front of Albus's desk.

He could care less about how panicked the man's face seemed to get as he bombarded him with questions. What did the man hope to gain by making Harry live with muggles? Why couldn't the old man understand that just because if someone is your family, doesn't mean that they will care for you? This was a sensitive subject for him, considering his own abused childhood and he was sure Albus had learned a thing or two from when Severus was a child; but he guess he would be wrong.

"Severus what is going on?" Albus asked quietly, as he watched the younger man across from him.

"Potter was abused by the people you left him with," Severus said in a calm voice, more then what he actually felt at that moment.

He couldn't get off of the fact that someone had injured his godson, someone had made his godson hurt. He smiled cruelly to himself; the Durselys would be getting theirs he would make sure of it.

"Surely you must be mistaken Severus," Albus said heart stopping for a moment, though the look on the Slytherin's face told him that he had made no mistake.

"I can assure you that I am not Albus. I've just come from the infirmary, Poppy will show you his charts," Severus replied narrowing his eyes.

"I didn't know Severus; I thought that Petunia would treat him like her own." Albus said more to himself then to Snape.

"Well you thought wrong, why the hell didn't you check on him? What is wrong with you Albus? How could you do this? I knew what Petunia was like as a kid; I TOLD you even before you put him there." Severus retorted angrily.

The fact that Harry had a childhood like him, allowed Severus to see that he wasn't just the carbon copy of his enemy; James Potter. He could see that Harry was neither Lily nor James, but just a product of them both who had been hurt by his so called family. A scared little boy who needed someone and he was more than happy that he could be there for the child.

"He will not be going back there Albus, I won't allow it," Severus said quietly, not wanting to give away the fact that he now was the guardian of Harry Potter, but he would if he needed too.

"Of course he isn't Severus," Albus said absently, before stroking his beard.

"I don't care what you're thinking, but you will not be deciding where Harry will live." Severus said forgetting the idea of keeping the guardianship from him. He knew that Albus Dumbledore had ways to find out things, and Severus preferred not to be surprised.

"Then who will Severus?" Albus asked quietly, feeling confused for once.

"We have already found him an adequate home, so no need to feel stressed about trying to find him one." Severus replied.

"Who has guardianship Severus?" Albus asked softly.

"I do," he replied calmly.

"Are you sure that is the best idea?" Albus asked eyes widening in shock.

"It is the best we have at the moment. I can protect Harry; I surely won't abuse him if that's what you're worried about." Severus replied curtly.

"What about your spying duties Severus?" Albus pressed.

"No one knows of the guardianship except you, Poppy and the Goblins. And I know for sure that the last two won't say anything." He said as he calmly sat back in his chair.

"And you would think that I would try to contest it?" Albus asked appalled for a moment.

"You never know, although we both know you believe him to be the child of the prophecy. I won't let my godchild be used by anyone, even you Albus." Severus said matter-factly.

"Are you sure you are doing this for the right reasons?" Albus asked cautiously, ignoring the jab at him as he turned his blue eyes to Severus.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked, his own eyes narrowing in anger.

"Are you sure that you're not agreeing to keep him, to get back at James Potter?" Albus asked bluntly.

"How dare you?! In case you have forgotten this is Lily's child, and I would never hurt something that belonged to her." Severus asked, as he glared at the man across from him.

"I'm sorry Severus, but I needed to know. I didn't want Harry to be blame for the sins of his father," Albus replied apologetically as he rubbed his beard.

"I would never hurt my godson," Severus repeated as he shook his head before walking towards the door.

"I know you wouldn't my boy, but some grudges are hard to let go." Albus replied thoughtfully before standing up.

Severus didn't say anything to that, already knowing how much truth was in that small sentence. He knew had he not seen the bruises or the scan on Harry's body he would have treated him like dirt regardless of him being Lily's child. He could see that the boy wasn't an exact carbon copy of James Potter, he had had her green eyes and his black hair was accented by red highlights.

Not to mention the behaviorisms were similar to that of his mother and not of his father.

He was able to see the child within, and he felt a feeling of protectiveness over him. He wanted to protect him of everything, but he knew that was impossible. If Harry really was the child of prophecy, then it was out of his hands. What Severus could do was make sure that he was trained properly so he had a chance of winning. And the most important, he promised to give Harry a piece of the childhood he himself had never had. He sighed softly as he opened the door, but stopped when Albus spoke to him.

"May I meet him Severus?" Albus asked quietly.

"Of course, just let me make sure everything is ok with him now." Severus replied as he made his way out the office to straighten out his thought as he headed back to the infirmary.