It didn't take long for Severus to make his way to Dumbledore's office: he had worked at Hogwarts long enough for his feet to take him there automatically, and he casually muttered the password to the stone gargoyle 'licorice wand', before it stepped aside and admitted him to the office.
Severus stepped into the office to find Dumbledore sitting at his desk, turned to look outside the window at the sunset.
"Albus," Severus said quietly.
"Severus, take a seat," Dumbledore nodded absently. "Before we pay a visit to Petunia, I believe there are a few things we should discuss. In particular, I believed I should explain my reasoning for leaving Mr. Potter with his aunt and uncle."
"Very well," Severus nodded. "I do trust that you had a good reason for leaving him with that atrocious harridan, Tuny. Did she really marry someone called Dursley?"
"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded, turning around to regard him. "Severus, I assume you yet have no idea how, exactly, Mr. Potter achieved the great feat that was vanquishing Lord Voldemort, yes?"
Severus was taken aback by the abrupt change in subject. "Well, yes, but how exactly is that relevant, Albus?"
"It is entirely relevant," Albus said gravely. "Because the simple truth is, Mr Potter is not at all responsible for vanquishing Voldemort. The truth, Severus, is that Lily chose to sacrifice herself for her son, and when she did, she created a powerful enchantment that protected him from Voldemort's touch. When she died, Voldemort could not touch him, neither with his hand, or with his magic. So when Voldemort cast the Killing Curse at Harry, Lily's enchantment protected him, causing the curse to rebound, and destroy Lord Voldemort's body."
Dumbledore sighed, and took off his glasses, cleaning them with a handkerchief he drew from his pocket. "When I first learned that Mr. Potter was alive, but his parents were dead, and the details surrounding their deaths, I of course recognized the enchantment that Lily had created. Voldemort was vanquished, yes, but there was everything to indicate that there was a fair chance that he was still alive. For this reason, I sought to preserve Lily's enchantment, by placing him with Lily's only remaining blood: her sister.
"You see, Severus, the enchantment that Lily laid was not permanent, and there was a risk that it could dissolve entirely, but by placing Harry with his mother's only remaining blood, I insured that the enchantment would endure for as long as possible. What I failed to foresee, however, was the possibility that Petunia could mistreat Harry."
"Petunia and Lily hated each other," Severus bit out at once, his mind reeling at the new revelations that Dumbledore had dropped into his lap. "Petunia called her a freak… is it any wonder that she'd treat her son the same?"
"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Yet, she still took him in, still fed and watered him, if only barely. You may not have noticed, Severus, but Harry does seem rather small for his age. Thankfully, he doesn't seemed to have been mentally impacted by Petunia's mistreatment, so there is some small hope that whatever mistreatment he suffered at Petunia and her husband's hands, he came out of it still a relatively healthy and normal boy."
"Relatively," Severus sneered. "To be frank, Albus, we still don't know if what Potter said is true, and we won't know until we pay Petunia a visit, so perhaps we should get going?"
"You're correct, of course," Dumbledore nodded. "But I have reason to suspect that what Mr. Potter said was, in fact, true. For one, when I sent Hagrid this summer to insure that Mr. Potter received his letter, Hagrid reported that there was some trouble getting the letter into the Dursley's house. Hagrid ended up having to retrieve Mr. Potter himself, and take him to do his school shopping. Hagrid later reported that the Dursley's had retreated to an island in the middle of the Bristol Channel while a storm was raging, just to avoid getting any more letters. Does that sound like a something a rational and well-mannered family would do? I would remind you that they are indeed muggles, so they didn't have magic to help them move around."
Severus frowned. To be perfectly honest, that sounded quite insane to him. He tried to imagine it, Petunia and her faceless husband, on an island somewhere in the middle of the sea, trying to escape Hogwarts letters. Quite honestly, that sounded patently ridiculous.
"If what Potter said was true, what are we to do, Dumbledore?" Severus asked carefully. "Surely he shouldn't remain in their… 'care', for the summer holidays?"
"I'm afraid it's more complicated than that," Dumbledore replied gravely. "You may recall what I told you before the start of term feast… about the possibility that Voldemort could be attempting to return."
"I do," Severus said carefully.
"If I'm right, there is a possibility that Harry could encounter Voldemort at some point before the enchantment breaks and he is ready to face him," Dumbledore replied. "If that does happen, the only thing that Harry will have to protect him is his mother's enchantment."
"Which, I assume, will 'dissolve', if we attempt to remove Potter from his Aunt's house," Severus said thoughtfully.
"Correct," Dumbledore replied. "Which is why, I believe, it would be best if we attempted to find an alternate solution to this problem that does not necessitate removing Harry from his aunt's house."
"So you want to threaten them with reprisal, should they attempt to mistreat Potter again?" Severus asked skeptically.
"Nothing so barbaric," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Instead, I simply intend to make my disappointment known to Petunia, and inform them that I'll be keeping a closer eye on them in the future. Petunia knows enough not to cross me, I think. We have corresponded, after all."
"Right, the letter she wrote you asking if she could come to Hogwarts," Severus replied wryly.
"Oh, you know about that letter?" Dumbledore asked with a bemused expression. "I do hope you didn't say anything untoward towards her when you discovered it."
Severus shifted in his seat. Somehow, dispite the fact that they were on a first name basis, Dumbledore always had a way to make him feel guilty for things he had done in his childhood.
"Well, I don't see any reason to delay our visit to Petunia any further," Dumbledore said, standing up. "When we arrive, I will speak to Petunia directly. I leave it to you to discover the truth of Mr. Potter's accommodations while I am speaking to her. If I recall correctly, Mr. Potter was living in the broom cupboard, but mentioned that he was moved to his cousin's second bedroom after the first letter arrived. Severus, please check both locations. I wish to know exactly what kind of accommodations we are dealing with."
"Very well, Albus," Severus nodded.
"Hmm, good," Dumbledore nodded. "We'll floo to the Leaky Cauldron first, I think, then I'll take you via side along to Petunia Dursley's residence."
Severus nodded again, and with that, he followed Dumbledore through the fire place to the Leaky Cauldron, where they quickly made their way to the back entrance, where Dumbledore side along apparated them to where ever it was that Petunia Dursley lived.
When they appeared, Severus blinked, unused to side along apperation after having the ability to apperate by himself for so long.
They appeared to be standing on some muggle street, which Severus quickly identified as Privet Drive with the aid of the street sign. Since where ever they were seemed to be at a lower latitude than Scotland, there was still some sunlight in the sky.
"The Dursley's live at number four, I believe," Dumbledore said from besides him. "Follow me, Severus."
With that, the two of them quickly made their way to number four, where Dumbledore rang the bell. A rather large, fat man with thin dark hair and a thick, bushy mustache answered the door.
The man blinked upon seeing the two of them in their rather obvious wizarding robes. "You lot? Who the blood hell are you?"
"Good Evening," Dumbledore said coolly. "I am Albus Dumbledore. Is this the residence of a Mrs. Petunia Dursley and her husband, Mr. Vernon Dursley?"
The man's face, which had been a rather ugly shade of puce a moment ago, turned into a rather interesting shade of milk white. "D-D-Dumbledore?"
"Am I to take it, then, that you are Mr. Vernon Dursley?" Dumbledore asked coolly.
To his credit, the man attempted to slam the door in their face, but a quick wand wave by Dumbledore rendered the door quite immovable.
"Mr. Dursley," Dumbledore said coolly as he took a step forward. "Is that any way to treat a guest in your home?"
"We don't need your lot here," The man sneered in a quivering voice. "I must ask you to leave at once, sir!"
"I'm afraid we've reached an impasse, then, Mr. Dursley," Dumbledore said in the same cool voice. "For you see, I've heard a rather disturbing rumor regarding Mr. Potter's accommodations here in your house, so I'm afraid I must insist that you call upon your wife, and that we have a civil conversation about Mr. Potter's future residence here. May I assume that you've warmly invited Professor Snape and I in, as it would be unwise to allow us to linger on the doorstep during the daylight hours?"
The man, Vernon, backed away, before calling over his shoulder. "Petunia!"
With room finally made for them, Dumbledore stepped inside, with Severus bringing up the rear, and Dumbledore closed the door behind them.
A moment later, Petunia finally appeared, stepping out of the kitchen wearing cleaning gear. In Severus's humble opinion, adulthood had done her little favor: if anything, she had become even more horse faced since being a child, and her blond hair seemed out of place on her head.
"You!" Petunia sneered upon spotting Severus.
Severus sneered in kind. "Hello, Tuny."
"Petunia," Dumbledore said in a grave tone. "I am Albus Dumbledore. We have corresponded, of course, but I believe that this is the first time we're meeting face to face."
"This must be Dudley, of course," Dumbledore nodded at a round faced, blond boy who was poking his head out of the kitchen. Severus rather thought that the boy's face looked like a pudgy beach ball with a blond wig on top.
"Dumbledore?" Petunia said with surprise, before her face hardened. "Why are you here? What do you want?"
"I'm afraid we must have a rather serious discussion, Petunia, regarding Mr. Potter's treatment here in your home," Dumbledore replied.
Without another word, he pulled out his wand and gave it a sharp flick, causing the three Dursleys to fly up and towards a sofa in their living room, with Dumbledore taking a seat directly opposite of them.
"Severus, if you please," Dumbledore said quietly.
Severus nodded, before moving to check the broom cupboard.
It was as they had feared: there was a bed in the cupboard, and an assortment of broken toys. Severus also noted, on the far wall, written in crayon: Harry's Room.
"Well, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.
"It's true, Albus," Severus said with a restrained tone of rage.
"I see," Dumbledore replied in a cool voice. "Check his new room, please. Let me know if there is anything… missing."
Severus nodded, before slamming the broom cupboard door shut, and heading up the stairs. He quickly found Potter's new room, as it was the first door on the right.
It was obviously Potter's room, as it too was filled with an assortment of broken toys that seemed to have belonged to Dudley, but were now in this room. Additionally, Severus noticed a bookshelf that looked like it had never been touched. Thankfully, it seemed that Potter had a proper bed and a closet to store his clothing in. Still, Severus did not think it was the proper residence for a developing wizard.
After giving the room a careful inspection, he made his way back down the stairs.
"Potter's new room is… acceptable, Albus," Severus admitted grudgingly. "He has a bed and a closet for his things."
"What about a desk for school work?" Albus asked carefully.
"There was none," Severus replied simply.
"I see," Albus nodded, before fixing Petunia with a disappointed glare. "Petunia, I can not begin to express my disappointment in you. I left Harry here in the hopes that you would honor Lily's sacrifice, and raise him as one of your own children. I see now, that such hope was foolish of me. The best that can be said of your treatment, is that he as at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting next to you."
Petunia glared at him furiously. "You left him on my doorstep with nothing but a letter to explain what had happened! Yes, we took that… that freak in, but only because you said it was the only way to stay safe from… from his followers! Otherwise, we never would have bothered!"
Dumbledore didn't say anything in response, but Severus noticed that room seemed to gain an almost preternatural chill to it. From where he was standing, Severus couldn't see Dumbledore's expression, but the Dursley's did, and they shivered and quailed in fear at the sight of it.
"I see," Dumbledore said eventually, quietly, in a tone of voice that expressed just how deeply disappointed he was. "Unfortunately, I have reason to believe that Voldemort is not dead, but may well be attempting to return. In light of this, I'm afraid I must insist that Mr. Potter remain here until he is of age. However, due to your… mistreatment of him, I afraid I must also insist that I handle Mr. Potter's accommodations during the remainder of his stay here in your home, Petunia. I will insure that Mr. Potter is properly fed and watered, and that he has his things in his room during the summer holidays, and I may well drop in every now and then to make sure that he is being treated properly. I assume you have no problem with this, Petunia?"
Petunia, who seemed quite terrified by now, simply shook her head numbly.
"If Mr. Potter intends to seek legal restitution when he is of age for his mistreatment at your hands, that is his prerogative," Dumbledore continued. "In the mean time, I will do my best to impress upon him the importance of his stay here, while he is still legally a minor."
With that, Dumbledore stood up. "I shall drop in again in June, Petunia, to make the arrangements. Please expect me no later than June 18th."
With that, Dumbledore swept towards the door, and Severus quickly made haste to follow him, and it wasn't long before they found themselves back in Dumbledore's office.
Severus quickly sat down in front of the desk. "Well, that was both worse and better than I expected."
"Yes," Dumbledore replied quietly from behind his desk. "Petunia… I fear I've never more seriously misjudged a person more than I have her. Perhaps I should have listen to Minerva when she warned me how bad they were…"
"Minerva?" Severus asked with surprise.
"Yes, she spent some time observing the Dursleys before I arrived the night I placed Mr. Potter there," Dumbledore explained. "She said that they seemed like the worse sort of muggles… I had thought she was speaking from a place of prejudice… but it seemed that I was wrong."
"I see," Severus frowned. "So, you're going to handle everything for Potter?"
"Yes, Severus, you can leave it with me," Dumbledore sighed. "I'll make sure that the remainder of his stay there is… if not pleasant, then at least bearable. Petunia won't dare cross me, I assure you."
"Very well," Severus nodded. "Then, if you please, I would like to turn in for the night. Busy day tomorrow, after all."
"Very well, good night, Severus," Dumbledore waved him away, and with that, Severus made his down to his chambers, where he quickly got out a bottle of Fire-whiskey, and downed it all in one gulp.