Petunia Dursley scowled as she looked down at the three year old boy that struggled to follow her. She hadn't been back in the old neighborhood since her mother's funeral. All her life she had longed to be away from this place, and to move on to bigger and better things. While her parents weren't wealthy, they had been able to provide a rather small but comfortable home, proper if somewhat cheap clothing, and good food to eat. There had barely been enough for extras, but every year there was at least one present under the tree for her and Lily each. Lily's Hogwarts tuition and supplies had all been paid for by a charity set up for muggleborns, had it not been so, the family would've gone broke trying to pay for it all.
When Petunia had moved on, it had been to an abusive husband and a spoiled screaming toddler with an unasked for child thrown into the mix. At least she had gotten the large house with fine furniture and the shiny new car she had longed for. Lily who was best loved by all had gotten the loving husband and an early grave, leaving behind the small child that was trailing behind Petunia like a lost puppy.
Petunia, who resented what the unasked for child had done to the shaky harmony in her formerly peaceful household, didn't hate her nephew. Far from it in fact. What she was doing right now, she was doing out of love. Love for Lily, and love for the small bruised and tired boy that was following her. Vernon had crossed the line last night, and if she didn't do this there was a chance that the child wouldn't see his fourth birthday.
When her husband had gone out to the pub after punishing little Harry for some imagined slight, Petunia swiftly grabbed her purse, hustled Dudley over to Mrs. Figg's, and set out on a journey to the town she had once called home using a cab and the train since Vernon had taken the car. Now, so late that it was early in the morning, Petunia walked the streets she had played on as a child.
Instead of turning down the lane that the house that had been her home was on, she turned down a lane lined with houses that were in poorer shape than the ones that lined the street she had previously been walking down. Eventually, she reached the street she had been looking for. Turning down Spinner's End, she began to search for the house her sister had often gone to looking for that horrid boy who had introduced her to the world that killed her.
Finding the correct house, she noted happily that it showed signs of habitation. Namely the smoke curling up from the chimney and the flickering firelight she could see in one of the windows. If the place had been abandoned like most of the rest of the houses on the street, she didn't know what she would've done.
The wizards had abandoned Harry on her doorstep without so much as a by your leave, and turnabout was fair play. The Snape boy was the only wizard she knew that she had an address for, and besides he had loved Lily...
After carefully pinning the note to Harry's over-sized shirt, she used a bit of cord to tie Harry's hand to a bit of nearby railing so he wouldn't wander off before the house's inhabitant found him. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she turned and walked away without looking back; her mind on what Vernon would do to her when he discovered that she had left, and left his precious tyke with a baby sitter.
--&--
Severus Snape awoke with a start at dawn. He carefully straightened the pages of the book he had been reading before he had fallen asleep and placed it back on the shelf. In his peripheral vision he spotted a bit of movement outside his window. He swiftly drew his wand and apparated out to his front lawn hoping to catch his would-be attacker by surprise. Instead, he was the one to be surprised. Tied to the railing of his small front porch was a small black haired boy who was sound asleep.
He quietly crept up to the boy hoping not to wake him. When he got near, he carefully unpinned the note that had been stuck to the boy's shirt with a wickedly sharp hatpin and proceeded to read it. Once done he viciously crumpled it up and hurled it into the sickly bush that grew next to his front door. He then untied the messy haired boy, picked him up astonished at how light he was, and carried him into the house. There was nothing he could do about the situation at the moment, since Dumbledore would be gone until next week, but for now he would see to getting the child some breakfast and a sorely needed bath.