So this chapter got finished before I expected it to. Enjoy and please review!
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"Mr. Potter," he said, knocking on Hermione's door. "Come with me. I need to speak with you." Harry stood up. Snape looked at Hermione. "Please wait here until Mr. Potter or I return."
Hermione nodded. Snape raised an eyebrow. "Yes, sir," she verbalized.
Harry followed Snape into the living room. "Sit down, Mr. Potter," Snape ordered. He took a seat in an easy chair, squashing his dislike of the boy. You need him to trust you, he reminded himself, forcing his tone neutral. "You claim that a house elf made a pudding drop on your uncle's friend's wife and that's why he put the bars up and the locks, on your door."
"Yes," Harry replied. "They found out from the letter I got from the Ministry of Magic that I couldn't do magic outside of school and were going to stop me from coming back to Hogwarts. They think we're all freaks."
"Has it always been like this?"
"No."
Ignoring the boy's irritating lack of formality, he pressed him for more details. "What do you mean?"
"They left me alone except for chores at the beginning of the summer."
"What about the no meals for weeks?"
"That's their way of punishing me."
"Do they ever beat you?"
"No."
He's hiding something, Snape thought. "How long have they been refusing you food as punishment?" Harry shrugged. "I require a verbal answer, Mr. Potter."
Harry looked at the floor. "As long as I can remember."
"Did they always lock you up?"
"Yes. But it used to be..." Harry trailed off.
"Go on, Mr. Potter," Snape said after a moment of silence.
"You won't believe me. That's what they always told me. No one would believe me if I told." He had drawn his knees up and buried his face in them, rocking back and forth.
Alarm bells sounded in Snape's head. "I know we don't like each other..."
"You hate me," Harry interrupted.
Snape scowled, pushing the reprimand down. "Whatever our relationship is," he amended, "I need you to tell me what you were about to say."
"You won't believe me."
"Try me."
Harry glanced up and took a deep breath. "I slept in the cupboard under the stairs until my first Hogwarts letter came. They only moved me upstairs because my cupboard was on the letter and they thought wizards might be watching the house." He immediately hid his face in his knees again.
Snape forced his rage down as he remembered the mattress he had seen on the floor in the cupboard. "You slept in the cupboard?"
"Yes," Harry mumbled into his knees. "I told you that you wouldn't believe me."
"'Oh, I believe you, Mr. Potter," Snape said coolly, causing Harry to jerk his head up in disbelief. "Go back to your friend. I need to speak with some people. Rest assured; I will do everything in my power to make sure that you do not return there."
oOo
Snape flooed back to Professor McGonagall's quarters. "Aunt Min!" he called, his voice a mix of anger and desperation. "Aunt Min!"
"What is it, Severus?" Professor McGonagall asked, rushing into the room.
"They kept him in a cupboard," he ground out. "A cupboard!"
"What do you mean?"
"Potter. Those relatives of his kept Lily's child in a cupboard until he got his Hogwarts letter." He sank down on to her sofa and dropped his head into his hands. "He can't go back there, Aunt Min. We can't send him back there."
"So we won't," she replied, sitting down next to him and rubbing his back soothingly. A determined look came over her face. "I don't care what Albus says. We won't be sending him back."
oOo
Later that afternoon, Snape found himself in Professor Dumbledore's office. "He can't go back there, Albus," Snape said. "They're abusing him."
"Oh, I quite agree, but we don't have a choice," Professor Dumbledore replied. "He needs the protection of the blood wards."
"He needs to consider Privet Drive home for the blood wards to function. I overheard him mention to Hermione that he was happy to be in his true home and how Privet Drive was never really home for him." Professor Dumbledore looked sharply at him. Snape sighed. "When is the last time you checked the wards there?"
Albus turned to one of the whizzing instruments on his desk, paled, and sent out a Patronus charm. "It appears you are correct, Severus. The wards have fallen."
"Then Harry needs a new guardian. May I suggest the Weasley family? He's best friends with their youngest son."
"Severus, I'm surprised with you," Professor Dumbledore said, his tone disappointed. "Anyone who takes in Harry Potter will be putting himself and his family at risk when Voldemort returns. You would put that many children at risk?"
Snape shifted uncomfortably. "Who would you suggest?"
Professor Dumbledore leaned back, steepling his fingers thouhgtfully. "Well, Harry's case can arguably fall under the 1504 Act for the Protection of Orphaned Muggleborns."
"Potter is not muggleborn and has living relatives."
"I'm sure you're aware that the law has been applied to both muggleborn and muggle-raised students with unsuitable relatives." Snape nodded. "So therefore, he is in a similar situation to Miss Granger."
It finally dawned on Snape what Professor Dumbledore was suggesting. "No, Albus. No, no, no. Not again." Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I hated the bloody boy's father and the boy is just like him. I am not suitable."
"Ah, but my dear boy," Professor Dumbledore said, standing up and placing a hand on Snape's shoulder, "under the law, there's no one else."
"I'm sure the minister will make an exception for Harry Potter."
"I'm sure you'll agree that we don't want the Ministry involved in Harry's guardianship. We don't want him ending up with Lucius Malfoy."
"No, we don't, but what about Minerva? She's his head of house."
"We've discussed this before. Not only is she too old under the law, but she has already raised her child." Snape colored slightly under Professor Dumbledore's gaze. "You know as well as I that he cannot end up in St. Mungo's."
Snape sighed. "So there is no one but me."
"No one but you," Professor Dumbledore confirmed.
oOo
Snape knocked on Hermione's door when he got back to his quarters. "Mr. Potter, I need to speak with you again."
"Do you know where I'm going to stay?" he asked. "I do. May I speak in front of Hermione?"
"Yes."
"You will be moving in here with Hermione and me."
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