A/N: So, here's another story for your enjoyment. I really have way too many ideas rolling around in my head. I hope you enjoy this one, too!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. Including the literary brilliance known as Severus Snape. *sigh* I have a hard life! ;)

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as the Dursleys sped away from Number 4 Privet Drive. Good, he thought to himself. Now I will be able to explore that trunk of Mum and Dad's things that I found in the attic last week. I'm really glad now that they made me clean it. It was so filthy; I thought it would take me forever to clean it.

Hurrying through what he had left of the cleaning and putting everything away, he made his way up to the attic. The Dursleys would be gone for a couple of weeks, so he carefully brought down the trunk of his parents' things. Setting it down on the floor in the living room (where there was plenty of light), he eagerly opened the lid and began exploring the contents, delighted to find that it was a magical trunk.

Inside the trunk, he discovered some photo albums, journals, his parents' school books, and another book which appeared to be entitled The Marauders' Pranks. His curiosity getting the better of him, he opened it and began reading, stunned and horrified at what he read.

We started pranking Severus Snape today. We've given him the nickname of Snivellous—it was Sirius' idea. Really, who does Snivellous think he is, hanging out with Lily Evans? She's too good for the likes of him, dark Slytherin that he is. Today we merely tripped him when Evans wasn't around—she would've had a fit had we done it in front of her."

As Harry continued reading, he became even more horrified to discover that most of the pranks had been on his Potions professor. No wonder Professor Snape doesn't like my dad. And if I look so much like him, this must be why he doesn't like me, either. Everyone is always telling me that I'm like Dad, but surely they don't mean this, do they? I don't prank people—that's Malfoy's job. And everyone's always saying how Dad was a great man. But this—this makes him horrible. I wonder how Mum ever fell in love with him.

Deciding to put aside the book of pranks and see if the journals gave any clues, he began looking through them. Most of them were from his parents' Hogwarts days, although there was one or two from their time after Hogwarts. Picking one up, he began reading his mother's thoughts.

James Potter and his group of friends were being mean to Sev again today. I know, I know, that's nothing new. But today they tried to humiliate him by levitating him and then turning him upside-down so that everything fell out of his robes and pockets. I went over to stop them (which they did stop) and then Sev called me a…a…a Mudblood! After I got James Potter and his friends to stop being mean to him! I'm still in a fury over it!

Harry skimmed over some of the rest, surprised that Snape would be so mean to his mother. Then he came across one that spoke of how Snape had apologized to his mother, even camping outside the Gryffindor common room painting until she came out to see him. He was pleased to note that his mother had, eventually, forgiven him. Skimming ahead, he read how his father began changing and matured, so that he no longer bullied people. Must be how Mum fell in love with him, he decided.

Turning to the journal Lily wrote in after she married James, he made a startling discovery.

Today is a week until we go into hiding. I have asked Sev, with James' agreement, to be Harry's godfather and to look after Harry after the war if anything should happen to us. He has agreed—reluctantly, might I add. Albus has been informed of this, as well as that under no circumstances is Harry to go live with my sister and her family. Petunia hates magic, as does Vernon. They would probably try to beat his magic out of him.

Harry sat stunned for several moments. Professor Dumbledore knew his parents had not wanted him with the Dursleys and still put him with them? He might not want to go live with Snape, but couldn't Dumbledore have found somewhere else for him to live?

He was definitely going to have to have a talk with Snape when he got back to Hogwarts. Continuing through the journals, he came across one that had a letter taped to the inside.

Dear Lily,

I was very surprised to receive your letter. To be honest, and I am sure you understand why, I had never expected Potter to agree to name me as Harry's godfather. I am not sure I am the right person for the job. You know what I am like and some of the things I have done. Once this war is over, you must promise me that you will change his godfather to someone else. Harry deserves to have someone better than me as his godfather.

Please keep this journal safe for me. It has many things in it from my childhood, as well as some potions and spells I invented, and I do not wish for it to fall into the wrong hands. I know that you will put it in a safe place.

I send my greetings to Potter. Please say hello to Harry for me and give him my love.

Your friend,
Sev

For several minutes, Harry stared at the letter, uncomprehending. What had happened in between Snape writing this letter and the time Harry had gone to Hogwarts? Why did Snape hate Harry so much? And, perhaps more importantly, why hadn't he taken Harry in after Voldemort had killed James and Lily? He decided that these were very important questions that he would investigate once he got back to Hogwarts.

As the journal was Snape's and not one of his parents', he placed it aside without reading more than the letter. Shifting through some of the other things, he came across his parents' will, which also had a letter attached it.

To whoever might find this after our death,

We have left a copy of our will both at the Ministry and at Gringotts. However, in the event that something should happen to those copies, we have left another with our things that I have left with my sister. We named Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, and our friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, as executors of our will. However, things may happen to change this. Please see to it that things are done in accordance with our wishes. Thank you.

Sincerely,

James and Lily Potter

The Last Will and Testament of James and Lily Potter

We, James Harold Potter and Lily Rose Evans Potter, of sound mind and body, do hereby declare our wishes to be fulfilled upon our death. To our son, Harold James Potter, we leave all our possessions, save the following:

To Sirius Black, we leave the gold medallion we had placed on our wall, which he had always admired.

To Remus Lupin, we leave the painting of the woman and the wolf that he always liked.

To Peter Pettigrew, we leave the blue sphere he had always loved to look at.

To Severus Snape, we leave our greatest treasure and all that goes with him: our son, Harold James Potter, to care for as his own and to hold in trust all our possessions for him. He is Harry's godfather. We also leave him the painting of our family, of which he had always wished to have a copy.

We wish to be buried under the tree just outside the front window at Potter Manor.

It was signed by them and notarized and legal. Very, very legal. Harry was stunned. Yes, he had known that his parents had left him everything. But to receive confirmation that Severus was supposed to have been the one to raise him, and that it had been in his parents' will, it stunned him. If Professor Snape is my godfather and was supposed to receive guardianship of me, then why the bloody hell am I living with the Dursleys? he asked himself.

One thing was for certain, he was going to have to have a long chat with his Potions professor once he got back to Hogwarts.

A/N: Hopefully you know the drill by now—please review! :D I can't fix something if I don't know there's anything wrong, and nice reviews feed my muse. Oh, and I'm not overly crazy about the title for this one, either, so if anyone thinks of one better, please let me know!