Sorry it's taking so long but here it is. :)

Severus paced about his sitting room and thought of what to do. He had to tell Albus about the situation and he hoped that the headmaster didn't already know and had sent Potter back to those monsters anyways. Honestly it hadn't done much damage to him, he was a spy after all and could handle practically any form of torture thrown at him, but there was no telling how the way Potter's 'relatives' had treated him would affect him. He sighed and decided to just get it over with, none of his questions would be answered if he just sat here. With that he grabbed a bit of Floo powder and tossed it into his fire. He adjusted his wards so that no one would be able to enter the house in any way except himself and flooed to the headmasters office.

"Severus, what an unexpected, though not unwelcome, surprise." The headmaster greeted.

Severus merely glared in return. "Albus may I speak with you about Potter?"

The headmaster sighed, "Oh Severus, at the end of every year you come to me to complain about Harry. I was almost starting to wonder why you hadn't come yet, go on then, let it out." He said with just a hint of exasperation but with an amused look in his eye.

Severus's glare intensified before he made his face carefully neutral, "Seeing as I do that every year why don't I switch things up a little? Lets talk about Potter's 'guardians'." He said the last bit with spite in his voice.

"You mean his aunt and uncle, whatever for?"

"I am under the impression that they have not been treating the boy correctly." Severus stated getting right to the point.

"I assure you Severus they do not spoil him as you always insist, I am sure they treat him as they would a normal child."

"Have you ever checked up on him?" Severus asked not bothering to correct the headmaster on what he had been implying.

"Well no-"

"Then how do you know he is being treated correctly." Severus demanded.

Dumbledore, for once, didn't seem to have an answer.

"What if I told you he was being mistreated?" Severus asked angrily.

Dumbledore seemed shocked by this suggestion and any hint of the earlier amusement was gone from his eyes, "What do you mean Severus?"

"Do you honestly not understand?" Severus yelled as he stood up from his chair, "Must I spell it out for you? Harry is being abused by his relatives!" The headmaster looked stunned for a moment.

"But how- I left Mrs. Figg to watch him and to let me know if anything strange happens and she has never mentioned a word of his relatives doing such things." He tried to reason, he couldn't believe this, Petunia harm her own nephew?

"Yes because a squib can see what's going on in that household at all times." He sneered sarcastically.

"Severus if your right then we must get him out of there now." Dumbledore said worriedly.

"That has already been done you fool." Severus bit back.

More shock met his words. "You removed him from the house? And Mrs. Figg has not even informed me?"

"Perhaps Mrs. Figg is not the best person to watch over Harry."

Dumbledore decided not to mention that Severus had just called him 'Harry' instead of the usual 'Potter' and instead realized that she was honestly not the best choice of lookouts, but she wasn't supposed to be looking for abuse she was looking for intruders and she hadn't even noticed that either. 'What have I done?' He thought to himself, 'A child is hurt and it is my fault.' He couldn't stand that thought and suddenly anger welled inside of him like no other emotion ever had before.

"We shall be visiting the Dursley's now, I think." Dumbledore said with barely suppressed rage. Severus smirked, 'Good, those muggles will finally get what they deserve.'

Dumbledore penned a note to someone and handed it to Fauks then headed out of the room without a word. Severus followed Albus down his spiral staircase and out the school gates before they apparated to number 4. They arrived in an ally and walked the rest of the way to the ugly house that looked just like all the others and far too plain for Severus's liking. Once they arrived Dumbledore rapped on the door and when Petunia opened it he walked in without invitation closely followed by Severus. They both walked straight to the sitting room and stopped when they saw two small whales sitting on the couch.

"What is the meaning of this? Get out of my house!" The largest whale bellowed as he recognized Severus. Petunia was in the room now and she hurried over to her husband. Dumbledore merely looked him in the eye, lifted his wand, and dove into his mind. He saw exactly what Severus had been talking about and stopped searching through his mind to instead search Petunia's only to find that she was guilty as well.

Dumbledore pulled out of her mind, "Vernon and Petunia Dursley, I hear by place you both under arrest for assault of a minor, physical, emotion, and mental abuse of a child left in your care, and child endangerment." Dumbledore proclaimed as the back and front doors bust open and aurors hurried inside.

The Dursley's put up resistance and had to be stunned, much to the potions masters amusement, but their son just stood there looking confused. One of the witches walked over and told him she was from wizarding child services and to follow her. He merely nodded still looking confused and followed her out of the door. The best part about the scene was all of the muggle auror cars that they had conjured to make it look official to all of their nosey neighbors. One of them even came over to ask what it was all about and to the Dursleys horror a man began listing off the charges and their neighbors looked shocked and appalled.

'Serves them right.' Severus thought to himself as he left with the headmaster for the alley. Once back at Hogwarts Dumbledore decided it was time to discuss what to do next.

"Someone must take him or he will end up being taken by the minister." Dumbledore informed Severus. He knew what the headmaster was getting at, but that didn't mean he would make it easy for him.

"Yes he will need to be placed in someone else's care, possibly Minerva or maybe the Weasley's?" Severus suggested.

"I meant you." Dumbledore said bluntly.

"Me?" Severus asked with false shock, "Absolutely not." Though he knew he would.

"Severus please you are the only one who can help him right now and the minister is more than likely already looking into taking him." Dumbledore knew his words were very true.

'Well we can't have that.' Severus thought, "Fine I will take guardianship of the boy." He relented.

"Thank-you Severus, I think it would be wise to go to Gringotts and settle the paper work as soon as possible." Severus nodded and used Dumbledore's Floo to go straight to the wizard bank. Once Severus was gone Dumbledore began working on what would be said at the trial to make sure those muggles were put away for a long time.

Severus arrived in a back room of the bank and was greeted by a goblin. "May I help you?" the goblin asked.

"Yes, my name is Severus Snape and I would like to acquire the guardianship of Harry James Potter, his relatives have just been arrested." Severus explained. The goblin looked slightly surprised, but nodded and led him over to a filing cabinet where he pulled out some files and paperwork.

"Just fill out these forms, and sign them then have Mr. Potter sign them as well before bringing them back." The goblin said plainly.

Severus nodded, "Thank-you I'll have these back shortly." He said politely before flooing back to his manor and heading straight for his office to fill out all of the paperwork.

Harry woke up groggy and felt pain pretty much everywhere, he didn't even have to look to know that he was back in his own body. He released a deep breath and looked around the room a bit. He was in a large bedroom with dark blue walls and an even larger bed with a slightly lighter shade of blue comforter, both of which were extremely soft. He noticed his trunk was here as well and there was a large wardrobe on one wall along with a dark wood desk and chair and a dresser between two large windows that would probably let in a lot of light if the thick curtains weren't covering them. He assumed Snape had put him in here and blushed slightly as he noticed he was wearing pajamas. He didn't have time to wonder where Snape got these comfortable pajamas because the door swung open and Snape walked in.

"It is good to see you are finally awake." He said as he conjured a chair and sat down in it next to the bed. He reached inside his cloak and pulled out a potion vile that he handed to Harry. Harry recognized it as a potion for pain and took it gladly. Snape just sat back and watched Harry gulp it down and even when he finished and looked expectantly at Snape he didn't say anything. Harry waited nervously for him to say something he was getting uncomfortable just being stared at.

Finally he spoke, "How long has it been going on?" Harry didn't need to ask what 'it' was.

"As long as I can remember." Harry replied. Severus inwardly winced at that, honestly what was the boy thinking just taking it like that.

Snape sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Do you wish to ever go back there?" He asked already knowing the answer.

"No." Was Harry's short reply.

"Alright then, sign these papers and you will live with me rather than your relatives."

Harry's eyes went wide, "You can do that?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes, especially now that your aunt and uncle have been arrested." Severus replied casually.

Harry was stunned, he could live with Snape and his relatives were going to jail. "So I don't have to go back?" Harry asked just to be sure and feeling like a shy little kid.

Severus had to strain his ears slightly to hear the nervous question, but when he did he felt a slight pang in his chest at the uncertainty in his voice, as if he would let a child go back there.

"No, you do not have to go back." Severus assured.

"Not ever?"

Severus felt another pang at hearing the hope in his voice as if he had never imagined anyone would ever get him away from there. "No, never again, have you no hearing?" Severus replied with no real bite to his voice.

Harry smiled slightly, "and you want me to live here?" He asked, still unsure if he could.

"If not then I wouldn't have asked." Severus stated plainly.

Harry beamed, "May I have a quill then?" And with that the paperwork was signed. Severus took Harry down to the kitchen and called a house elf to feed him while he took the paperwork back to Gringotts. He instructed Harry to just ask the elf to show him back to his room or the bathroom if he needed it while he was gone and when he got back he would give him a tour of the whole manor. Harry liked that idea and entertained the thought of what the rest of the house would look like as he ate a sandwich and waited for Snape to return.

Severus handed the same goblin his paperwork and he looked it over before checking the signatures authenticity and filing it away.

"Very well, you are now the legal guardian of Harry James Potter, if there is nothing else, you may go."

"Not at the moment, thank-you for your time." Severus knew the goblins liked it better to be treated with respect and you were often treated with an equal amount of respect if you did.

Severus flooed back to his manor and walked back to the kitchen where Harry was still slowly eating his sandwich as if afraid of eating too fast. Of course, his body was still getting used to eating proper amounts of food. Severus sighed and left the room to grab a few potions from his workroom. He set them down on the table in front of Harry.

"You are to drink each of these to help you recover, no arguments." Severus stated with finality.

Harry simply nodded, "Thank-you Professor, for letting me stay here and everything." he said quietly.

"You are welcome, however this help should have been given to you a long time ago." Severus replied, and he meant it. Harry wanted to smile at these words, but then a voice rang through his head reminding him that freaks don't deserve kindness and he wasn't sure how to feel anymore. Severus noticed that Harry seemed to be struggling to believe his words and decided to talk with him about it later, once he had time to think of a way to get him to believe him.

Once Harry finished eating Snape led him around from room to room and told him a few things about the house and the antiques in other rooms. Harry was a little surprised by the house, he had expected Slytherin colored rooms and dark artifacts that he couldn't touch and for Snape to barely even talk to him. Imagine his surprise when this was not the case.

The last thing Severus decided to show him was the library. As soon as Harry saw it his eyes went wide and he asked if he was allowed to read them. Severus almost scoffed at this, as if he, a teacher, wouldn't let one if his students read. He kept all of the more dangerous and dark books in a private office that he already instructed Harry to not go in so there was nothing to worry about.

"Of course you may read them you daft child." Harry must have heard wrong because Snape almost sounded amused, just a little. Harry grinned and began searching through the sections for anything that would catch his eye.

Severus watched as Harry walked down the isles with a look of absurd happiness on his face. Severus hadn't thought he liked to read, but as he watched Harry pick up a book, flip through some pages, and a look of interest and slight concentration formed on his face Severus had a feeling that he was again wrong about the boy. 'Do you really even know him at all?' His mind asked. He debated a moment and then relented that, no, he did not truly know this child in front of him.

Harry traced over the spines of the books lightly with his fingers and smiled. He liked reading and the smell that books had, and usually during the summer, if his injuries weren't too obvious, he would walk to the library a few blocks away and stay for as long as he could, just reading and trying to relax until he had to leave. Harry noticed a book that cought his eye, it looked like a fairy tale book, only for wizarding children. He grabbed this book off the shelf deciding that he had never heard muggle fairy tales, let alone wizarding ones, and he wanted to read it. Next he found another fiction book of a wizarding adventure slash mystory. Harry read a brief discription of it on the inside cover and decided it seemed pretty interesting and grabbed that one too.

Severus watched as Harry began to walk back over to him and he cought sight of the books he had picked. One was a novel that he himself had found interesting enough, but the other was a book of fairy tales that made Severus raise his eyebrow in question.

"You don't expect me to read you bedtime stories do you?" He asked teasingly.

"Only if you want to." Harry teased back and Severus was surprised. Were they actually joking with eachother now? He merely shrugged in response and Harry grinned, 'I wonder if that was a yes.' Harry thought to himself as he followed Severus to a group of comfy looking chairs and a coffee table. Snape grabbed a book that he had been reading off of the coffee table and sat in one of the armchairs near the roaring fireplace. Harry sat on the couch and picked up the mystory book first. An elf appeared and dropped off some snacks and drinks as Harry was about to begin reading and Severus didn't miss the flinch when the elf popped into the room. Deciding to address it later Severus returned to his book and didn't realize how long they had been reading for until an elf popped in to tell them that dinner was ready.

So sorry it took so long, I meant to post this days ago, but it's up now at least. I decided to extend this a bit and there will be at least one or two more chapters that you guys will hopefully enjoy. Next chapter will be slightly more exciting, but I also need your opinions on something. I'm thinking about adding some slash, not graphic, but either with Severus/Lucius, Sirius/Remus, Sirius/Severus, and such, and or Harry/Draco. If you do or do not want this, let me know and vote on which couples you want because I am currently undecided.