A/N: So... it's been a while. Again. In the past 3 years I've buried 2 grandparents, 2 dogs, and a lot of my hopes and dreams. I've also learned that I wasn't just being lazy, or unmotivated, or simply wallowing in depression for most of my twenties, but instead I've been living with undiagnosed Multiple Sclerosis. Apparently, your entire body from the neck down isn't supposed to occasionally go numb... Who knew? Joking aside, since receiving a diagnoses and starting a medication plan, I've been feeling a lot better. The constant fatigue I had been living with for years is nearly completely gone, and I experience a lot less headaches, vertigo, and randomized shooting pains and/or numbness throughout various body parts. (I really should have caught on sooner that I was sick. These symptoms started appearing around age 20 and I waited until last year at age 28 to really get checked out by a doctor. Imposter syndrome is a bitch.) Unfortunately, due to my reluctance to search out a doctor to address my growing list of symptoms in the past few years, I now have permanent nerve damage in my hands. (Imagine a combination of constant pins and needles, and a tight sensation that mimics restraints or resistance bands on each finger and in both palms. I also have a mild tremor in my right forearm that comes and goes based on heat and physical exertion, so that's nice.) Needless to say, it's a bit uncomfortable. This makes typing a bit harder, but it's still loads easier now that I'm no longer experiencing a near constant low level of brain fog. Hopefully, finally addressing and treating my illness will lead me to updating more frequently than every couple of years. If anyone reading this is experiencing weird neurological symptoms like I was, please take this as a hint to go to the damn doctor. I waited until I nearly went blind in my left eye. (thankfully, the vision loss has since reversed itself.)

Anyway, here's chapter 8. Sorry it's been so long. Let me know what you think.
Also, I feel the need to clarify: I am not fat phobic. I've always been a plus size woman myself. I'm just really upset by the way the Dursleys starved Harry while eating to the point of gluttony in front of him. Any remarks about Vernon's size are thought of in direct juxtapose to Harry's undernourished body.

Chapter 8

Severus had been surprised when Albus had requested that he join him on the home visit they were about to make.

While he knew that he would certainly be exposed to the awful muggle family next summer once he was in charge of keeping an eye on them, he thought perhaps Albus was being too trusting in expecting that Severus would be able to look at them so soon after having seen the state of their nephew and not commit murder.

As such, it was all Severus could do to contain himself when the beefy man opened the door to them with a falsely polite smile, and the memory of how sharply Harry Potter's bones had stuck out when Severus examined him just over a month before flew to the forefront of his mind.

He was unsurprised to hear in Albus's voice the same sort of contempt he was feeling when Albus demanded Dursley let them in. Regardless, neither of them waited for Dursley to agree before they pushed their way inside.

"Vernon Dursley. My name is Albus Dumbledore. Although you and I have never met, I have known your wife for many years. In fact, so has Severus." Albus motioned to him at this, and Severus took a moment away from analysing the many family pictures, all absent of Harry, which adorned the room to glare at the muggle for a moment. "You should call her into the sitting room as this discussion will involve you both, and you likely will not want us to stay long enough to repeat it all to her."

At this point Dursley seemed to puff himself up with hot air. His face turned an alarming shade of purple and he pointed a shaking finger in the headmaster's face. "Now you see here you crackpot old man! I will not be bullied and pushed around in my own home! I know exactly who you are and where you're from and I'll not have your sort in my house! Leave now before I call the authorities!"

"What a truly hypocritical turn of phrase, Dursley. You won't be bullied and pushed around in your own home. Intriguing that you would see an issue in that when it is quite obvious that you have no problem with bullying and pushing around others who reside here." Severus drawled from beside Albus.

"I don't know what that brat has told you, but I assure you we've done better by him than most would! That boy has been a right terror since moment he got here! We took him in, purely out of the goodness of our hearts, mind you, and we've never received so much as a thank you for our charity! He's been here taking the food out of our Dudley's mouth for the past eleven years! A lesser man would have taken that wretched boy straight to the orphanage! I've put up with enough of this nonsense! I'll not have you coming into my home and questioning me as if I haven't been more than accommodating!" Dursley was shouting now.

Likely drawn by the noise, Petunia finally came down the stairs in her dressing gown. Her face drained of colour as she rushed to her husband's side. "Vernon dear, what is the matter?" she asked in a frazzled voice as she grasped the man's arm. She eyed Albus for a moment with nervous contempt before her gaze drifted to Severus. He could tell when she finally recognised him from their youth as she let out a tiny shriek and shouted, "You! What are you doing here?!"

"Hello, Tuney. It's been a while. I can see you certainly married up." Severus took a great amount of pleasure in the look of scandalised outrage the woman shot at him.

"Severus," Albus cut in before the conversation could devolve into childish name calling, "is the potions professor at Hogwarts. He is currently one of Harry's teachers. Due to your shared connection with Lily, he is also someone who is very familiar with you and your temperament. As such, I have asked him to accompany me during this visit. Now," Albus took it upon himself to take a seat in the nearest armchair, "if everyone would please have a seat, there are quite a few things I believe we shall need to discuss."

"I'll do no such thi-!" Vernon started to bluster, but stopped when his wife pulled him down to sit on the sofa. Severus positioned himself slightly behind the armchair the headmaster had chosen and hovered over them all in a way he knew made him seem much more imposing.

"It seems," Albus began gravely, after conjuring a cup of tea that he sipped heavily from while ignoring both the whistling noise that seemed to be coming from deep inside Vernon Dursley's throat and the way Petunia's face quickly drained of all colour at the sight of the magic. "that I must not have been clear enough in the letter I wrote to you 11 years ago, Petunia. By accepting Harry into your household rather than contacting me to decline as I advised you in the letter I left, you accepted full responsibility for Harry's health, happiness, and well-being. You were given clear instructions on how to contact me, and the full promise that you could do so at any time. When you never contacted me, I assumed the best. I assumed that you had graciously accepted your nephew into your family and that we would be receiving a healthy, happy boy once it was time for Harry to start school. It is clear now, that I was wrong to assume so.

"Rather than raising your nephew as a part of your family, you abused him. You need not try to defend yourself." Dumbledore asserted over Vernon Dursley's resumed blustering. Severus noticed Petunia wisely kept silent. "Abuse to a magical child leaves a more permanent mark than it does on a muggle. During your nephew's last stay here, Vernon Dursley, you kicked him multiple times in the side as he lay curled on the floor. This broke quite a few of his ribs and thus punctured Harry's spleen. Were it not for the timely rescue orchestrated by Harry's young friends, the boy would likely have died sometime in the early hours of the next morning due to internal bleeding."

Vernon burst to his feet in a fit of anger. "I'll not have it! You'll not come into my house and accuse me of such nonsense! That boy was fine enough to climb out a window and damage the side of my house on his way out! If you want an explanation for any injuries that boy had why don't you ask his freaky little delinquent friends with their ridiculous flying car!" He demanded, leaning into Dumbledore's face.

Dumbledore looked back at the raging muggle calmly and continued to sip his tea. Once it was clear that the old wizard wasn't going to meet his temper in kind, Vernon leaned back on his heals. It was at that point that he noticed Severus had his wand levelled at him from over the older wizards shoulder.

The gluttonous man jumped higher than he likely had in quite some time in his effort to back away. He fell back down beside his wife on the couch. Petunia gripped her husband's arm firmly. She had apparently been too frightened at the sight of the full-grown wizard raising a wand at her husband to speak or move until he re-joined her.

Once the muggle had sat back down, Severus lowered his wand back to his side while Albus vanished his teacup and continued. "There was no need to ask Harry's friends about his injuries. The diagnostic spells that were performed on him to determine why he was vomiting blood gave us a full list of every injury the boy had endured. They also told us who had inflicted them." Albus leaned forward in the armchair and dropped the nonchalant attitude he had previously been presenting. "As such, we know exactly how you all have hurt him. The one thing the spells couldn't tell us is why. Which, of course, is a trick question. There's no reason why anyone should ever hurt a child in the ways in which you all have."

"You keep saying all! What exactly are you implying? I'll admit maybe I was a bit heavy handed with the boy this time after he tried to attack my houseguest with his damn magic tricks, but Petunia has nothing to do with that!" Vernon protested without standing this time. Severus gripped his wand more firmly and sneered at the muggle's useless defences of himself and his wife.

"Ah, you misunderstand me, Mr. Dursley." Albus corrected the man. "When I say the spells showed us every injury Harry had endured, I meant every injury Harry had ever endured. Of the various injuries Harry has withstood over the years over sixty percent were caused by either your wife or your son. The majority of the other forty percent were inflicted by yourself. Many which Harry withstood before the age of 8 were caused by Petunia swatting him with her frying pan which was, more often than not, scalding hot. Once he presumedly learned to dodge, it seems she switched to giving Harry slightly tainted food in an effort to make him get sick and then forced him to do blistering yard or housework regardless.

"Your son, along with his friends, seems to have a habit of cornering and pummelling Harry as regularly as possible, which, until Harry left for Hogwarts, was on nearly a weekly basis. You, Vernon Dursley, seem to prefer dragging your nephew around by his hair, or his arm, or any other appendage you can get your hands on, as well as belting, beating, and kicking him whenever he does something that makes you angry enough. The spells also revealed that you and your wife have often withheld food from him. To put this frankly, you have all hurt Harry Potter so frequently over the past 11 years that were he a non-magical child, he most definitely would already be dead."

Albus paused for a moment to let the truth sink in. Severus swallowed hard at the anger he felt building after hearing it all spelled out. It wouldn't help to kill the muggles before Dumbledore could get to the point. Before either of the Dursley's could regain their footing enough to speak, Albus continued. "Understand, these are not things we suspect. This conversation is not an effort to get a confession of your misdeeds. These are things we know. Things that we can prove. We are not here to determine whether or not to charge you with child abuse. We are here to assign you your sentence. Make no mistake. There is no question. And there is no trial. You will be going to prison for this. The only choice you get to make now is when."

"That's not how things work you crackpot old fool! You can't just say I'm going to prison and then make me! I'll have you know I have a lawyer in my golf group! You'll be hearing from him by this afternoon! Now, I've had enough! You get the hell out of my house!" Vernon shouted, standing up once more to point his finger sternly in Dumbledore's face. Severus started to make his way around the chair to get a better angle at the man.

"What do you mean, the only choice we get is when?" Petunia asked bitterly from the couch.

Vernon seemed to notice then that his wife was still sitting down, and that Severus had a wand levelled at his throat once more. He sat down again, but this time his face maintained its angry pigment.

"What I meant Petunia, is that you shall get to choose whether you go to prison today, or whether you go to prison 5 years from now. And do not doubt me. You will be going. Both of you."

Vernon finally sat stunned at this. It was obvious from the way he gripped his wife's hand that he hadn't understood it would be both of them.

"Explain." Petunia demanded shortly.

"Very well," Albus replied, conjuring a few biscuits to nibble on while he spoke. Severus suspected that he was doing so much magic simply because it unnerved them. He couldn't actually be hungry during a conversation such as this. "As I'm sure you remember, Petunia, wizarding law is vastly different than that of the muggle world. Typically, this would not matter, as you are both muggles, but as the abuse victim was a magical child, you will be held to our laws. I'm afraid, Mr. Dursley, that this means your lawyer friend will be unable to help you. Muggles are only allowed to know of the magical community if they have a magical child in their household, which he likely does not, and the magical community has no need for lawyers of our own besides. This means that once the evidence of Harry's abuse was viewed by a member of the Wizengamot, a vote could be held to have you tried without being present. As I am a member of the Wizengamot, and I saw the write up from the diagnostic spell as well as examined Harry's injuries in person for myself, this is exactly what I have done.

"You have both been tried and found guilty in absentia. The only thing left to do now, is decide your sentencing. I have graciously chosen to allow you the option of a deal."

Vernon Dursley began to turn very red, and then purple at this news and no longer seemed to be breathing. His wife quickly loosened his necktie, and then opened the top two buttons of the man's shirt while urging him to breathe. She fanned him with the newspaper he had laying on a side table while he tried to catch his breath. Petunia's face, meanwhile, was whiter that milk and she seemed not far off from fainting herself.

Dumbledore continued as the muggles did their best to compose themselves. "Your two choices are thus: either you go to prison today, which, I feel I should inform you, will be the wizard prison Azkaban, and your son will spend the remainder of his youth in the St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys, of which I'm told you are familiar, or you agree to take Harry back under our terms for a small portion of the next five summers until that which time he is 17 and is therefor considered of age by the magical community. Please understand, what exactly I mean when I say under our terms.

"In an effort to ensure that you no longer attempt to mistreat Harry, I shall be placing Severus in the house next door. He will have a magical entryway into your house which he or Harry may use at any time for any reason, as well as magical wards in your home to alert him to any attempts you make at getting around the rules. Things shall never again be the way they were for you. You will never again get away with abusing Harry in any way. That includes verbal abuse as well. You will also no longer receive the monthly stipend James and Lily set aside that you were intended to be spending on Harry over the years. From now on, that money shall be sent to Professor Snape, as he will be in charge of caring for Harry during the weeks he will spend in your house. Harry will call this house home for at least one month out of every summer from now until the day he turns 17, and in return you shall be allowed to raise your son to near adulthood before you are required to pay for your crimes. If you agree, your son Dudley will also be expected to follow all of these rules and in return he will be allowed to choose whether to live with a friend, or his Aunt Marge until he comes of age by muggle standards.

"Furthermore, on the subject of Dudley's friends and your sister Marge, anyone you allow into this household will be considered an extension of yourself and shall also be held to the same expectations. If at any time you, your son, or a guest breaks these rules, the deal will be considered forfeit and you will be sent to Azkaban, and Dudley to his detention centre, immediately."

"This is an outrage! You can't expect us to believe you have the power to make us do all of this! It's illegal! Now I won't tell you again! Get out of my house!" Vernon shouted, once more finding his way to his feet.

Severus cut a quick side eye to Dumbledore and after he received a short nod of approval, sent a silent Immobulus at the muggle man. Vernon, of course, did nothing, but his wife promptly started tittering over him in alarm at his sudden inability to move.

"As I'm sure you both can see, we have the power to make you do a great many of things your dull mind has likely never imagined. With nothing more than a flick of my wrist and a spell I could make you forget your life and believe instead that you were a little girl at her first ballet recital. There is a spell for nearly anything." Severus confided quietly, stepping closer to the couple. Petunia tried in vain to pull her husband away, but she was no match for his great girth and the spell which disallowed him to help her move him. "We have spells to unlock." He said, pointing his wand at the cupboard under the stairs, which the Weasley twins had reported as suspicious to their parents.

He strode over and examined the small space which had clearly been used as a bedroom for their nephew at some point. "We have spells to break things." He said, turning back towards the sitting room as he flicked his wand at one of the many pictures of the Dursley boy displayed upon the walls. Petunia gave a shrill squeak when the glass broke loudly in it's frame. "We have spells that cook, and clean, and repair, and levitate things. Plenty of spells which can help us do nearly anything. Most importantly for this conversation, though. There are also spells to hurt. One such, can cause such pain that, when used long enough, it has driven people mad. There is spell which can bend even the strongest minds (much stronger minds than either of yours, I'm sure) to the caster's will. And there is even, as your sister and her husband found out one evening years ago, a spell to cause sudden, immediate death." Severus continued, once again taking his place behind Dumbledore's chair. He dropped the Immobulus and Vernon Dursley fell like a marionette with its strings cut. "So, yes. We have the power to make you do anything we like. Absolutely, we do. Now, I suggest you choose. And choose quickly. Or do you need me to demonstrate a few of the less than pleasant spells I mentioned?"

After Severus's lecture, the rest of the visit was brief and uneventful. Unsurprisingly, once the muggles regained the ability to speak, both of the Dursley's were quick to agree to Dumbledore's offer. Before they left the residence, Dumbledore was sure to have them sign a contract he had drawn up that would put their words on record at the ministry (Harry wasn't mentioned by name as the abused party in the paperwork, but it wouldn't have mattered as Dumbledore was handing it over directly to a member of the old crowd) in case either of them broke the agreement and needed to be sent to Azkaban early. Severus figured this was a likely scenario judging by how hot Vernon Dursley's temper tended to run. In any case, the bloodwards would continue to hold for now at least.