Disclaimer: I don't own anything, at least for now!

WHAT IF…

Chapter 2 – Leaving the house

In the next couple of years, James continued to abuse Harry whenever Lily went somewhere. During the whole ordeal, the man would threaten Harry not to tell his mother about any of it -- or there would be consequences.

Sometimes, he even hit Harry in front of his brother, but that had started only a couple months ago. Unfortunately for him, he forgot to tell his son not to ever tell his mother about what was going on under the roof of their house.

On a wonderful day, like so many others, Lily Potter went to the St. Mungos to visit her best friend, Alice, who had just given birth to her second child. Since children less than seven years old were not allowed into the hospital, except if they were sick, she left her four year old sons at home with her husband.

She was a little worried about Harry, though. He was always so quiet. Lily had so much trouble when she tried to get him to spend some time with the rest of the family. In the last couple of months, he even stopped playing with his brother. Nowadays, he preferred to play alone in his bedroom, and his mother didn't understand why he always locked his door.

She was also worried that James would yell at Harry again. It seemed that whatever went wrong, James always found a way to blame Harry for it. Usually, she took her son and went out of the room, but she couldn't help but wonder what would happen to Harry if the same situation happened when she was not home to help him. She told herself to stop worrying. Harry would tell her if something happened when she wasn't around. With those thoughts on her mind, she packed a gift for the new mother and went on her way to the hospital.

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Just as she went, James went to find his son. Yesterday, he heard something being broken in the house. He didn't doubt that Harry was guilty for it. His perfect son would never do anything wrong so Harry, the one he hardly considered a son, must've done it.

When he found Harry, he dragged the small boy towards the dungeons to punish him. They encountered Justin on their way there, so James invited him as well. As soon as they arrived in the basement James started hitting Harry with his belt while Justin sat on a chair near his father. He always loved to see his brother being beaten as he felt that Harry got too much attention.

After the beating was over, James cast glamour over Harry so his wife wouldn't notice the cuts and bruises on the child. After that, James picked up the unconscious boy and carried him to his bedroom where he just threw him on the bed and left without a backwards glance.

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Two hours later, Lily came home. She had very much enjoyed her little talk with her best friend. In high spirits, she went to the living room and saw Justin there. He was watching the T.V. and didn't even notice her when she entered.

"Hello, Justin," she greeted in a cheerful tone.

"Hi," was the only response, as he wasn't paying any attention to her, but to the T.V. in front of him.

"How are you?"

"Tired," he said matter-of-factly.

"And why is that?" Lily asked curiously.

"Daddy and I had a busy afternoon," Justin told her, still not paying any attention to what she was saying; all he did was sit there, eyes glued to the screen of the muggle electronic. At this time, he could tell her all of his secrets and not even realize it.

"What have you and Daddy done?" Lily queried, thinking suddenly about how her sons had labeled her husband. That was one more mystery that she wanted to find out. Only Justin called James Daddy while Harry always called him father.

"We went to the basement earlier and Daddy beat Harry with his belt and allowed me to watch."

Lily took a deep breath. She told herself to calm down for now, before jumping to conclusions. For all she knew, he could have just said that wrong.

"And do you do that often?" She pursed her lips tightly together, hoping that the answer would explain that his previous sentence was a mistake, though she wouldn't put it past James to actually do it -- he hated Harry.

"Yup, almost every time you go somewhere," came the nonchalant answer.

She turned green at the declaration. She went out of the sitting room and quickly ran to Harry's room, tears in her eyes and her throat tight at the thought of what she might see.

When she entered she saw that Harry was perfectly fine -- or so she first thought. Lily tried to wake him up but couldn't. That was a little suspicious, so she went hesitantly back to the living room, sparing Harry one last look, so that she could continue her talk with her other son.

"Justin, why is it that Harry looks perfectly normal if Daddy beat him?"

"Daddy did something. He called it glamour or some other thing."

"And why is it that Harry never says anything about it," Lily questioned in confusion and fear for her child.

"Daddy says he would beat him even more than now if he says anything."

Now Lily was really angry and upset. She stayed in the house only because of Justin. She just saw that James had turned him into a bully like himself -- she had been wrong about the man she though she loved. He was still the arrogant, egotistical prat she met in her first year at Hogwarts. She went to pack hers and Harry's things, her mind spinning with questions, worries, anger, and things she'd like to do to the man that she would no longer consider her husband. When she was done packing, she grabbed Harry and left the house, having no intention of returning.

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She went to the Leaky Cauldron, seeing that it was the only available place she could think of to stay at. Tom readily gave her a room when she asked and Lily took her son up to it so that he would be more comfortable, even in his unconscious state.

A couple of hours passed Harry was still out cold. Lily, having nothing better to do but wait, went downstairs to get some food for herself and for Harry when he woke up. While she was waiting for Tom to bring her order she saw one of her pears from school. She hadn't seen him in years, and it felt odd, seeing the dark haired Slytherin from her time at Hogwarts. He saw her as well when he looked up and walked towards her, willing to greet a friendly face.

"Hello," he spoke timidly.

"Hello. You're Severus, right?" The man gave a curt nod and she continued with a small smile, "You might not remember me, or even know me, but I was in your same year at Hogwarts. I'm Lily."

"Potter's wife?"

"Not anymore. I'm Lily Evans again, not Potter," she replied with sadness in her voice.

"Why is that? I suppose that's why you're upset?"

"I'm going to ask for a divorce. I just found out that James abused my son, Harry, while I was away from the house. It's been going on for a long time now, and I just realized what was going on." Lily was once again close to tears.

"Where is Harry now?" The man, Severus, asked quietly.

"Upstairs, at the moment. I put a spell on him to tell me if he awakes or if he's in any danger."

The dark haired man nodded slightly, and then questioned, "Are you staying here while you wait to file for your divorce?"

A/N: Well, this is all for now. It's Christmas after all, and I have to go to celebrate it with my family. Please tell me what you think, even if it is just one word.

I'm going to have Harry and Lily go with Severus but I still haven't decided whether to have Lily fall in love with Severus or not. If she does please tell me if you want me to change Harry's name! Do you have any ideas for this story? How do you want Sirius and Remus to act? Are they good guys or are they with James?

Merry Christmas everyone! Please review!

THIS CHAPTER IS BETAED! THANK YOU VERY MUCH, xScenex

Annie