Harry James Snape.

Prologue

*I do not make any money off of this story whatsoever and own nothing. All rights go to J.K. Rowling for creating an amazing series and a big thanks for letting us creating fanfiction with her characters!*

Warnings: Dumbledore will be a manipulative evil old codger in this story, this story will contain scenes of horrible child abuse, and there will likely be use of corporal punishment of minors in this story. I would like to put it out that there that this is not my thoughts on real life and that this is a fictitious story that does not express any purpose in putting out my ideas. However, if any or all of those things anger you to the point where you hate books that use them then please click off now. This will be the only warning I am putting into this story and don't want to get flamed for using the above in this story. If you do flame me, expect your comment to be deleted.

One last thing before we start this: Big thanks to my beta:  DoggehSan. She's been a big help with her ideas and editing.

-=-=-=-=-=-

The Dursley's never forgot Harry's Birthdays; unfortunately for him. He never received a present from them on these days though. No, they chose to instead make him regret being born on those days. On any other day he was given some chores to do and ignored but not on his birthdays. On his birthdays his uncle seemed to think he needed to be the center of attention and one such example of this was his eighth and last birthday he spent at the Dursley's.

On that day he was rudely awakened by his uncle slamming open his cupboard door and dragging him into the family room with his hair gripped painfully tight in his uncle's hand. His uncle would then grab his belt and give Harry what he liked to call his 'Birthday Beating' and proceeded to thrash Harry's back with the belt for an upwards of 40 lashes.

Every so often during that beating his uncle would stop and ask, "Why do you deserve this punishment, Boy?"

"Because I'm a freak, Uncle Vernon." Harry replied every time.

"And what do freaks deserve?" His uncle would then proceed to ask

"To be punished, sir." Was his answer.

"And what don't freaks deserve?" Would be his uncle's next question

"Love." Was Harry's prompt reply.

After he was done with the first of the beatings and the question he would hang Harry by his arms from the railing of the stairs and leave him there while he applied another 40 lashes to the boy's stomach.

After he was done he left the boy there to think about why he 'deserved' to be punished and left with his wife and beach ball of a son to go out and eat breakfast. When they all returned about an hour and a half later they expected to find Harry still tied up there, like every other year. This time however, was different.

For Harry, this time meant that he had a chance to escape from his abusive uncle. His uncle had been careless when tying Harry to the railing, and after about 5 minutes the knot had slipped. The moment Harry was down, he knew he had to leave. If he didn't, his uncle would come home and be furious that Harry had untied himself and would likely repeat the punishment only this time he would hit him twice as much.

He quickly bolted for the door and ran as far as he could from the house. He continued running until he felt as if his legs were on fire, and then kept running. That is until he ran directly into a pale sallow skinned man with a long hooked nose, cold black eyes, and greasy shoulder length hair.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Severus Snape was having a fairly normal day, for him at least. He was taking a short walk around Surrey when he was tackled by what looked to be a five year old boy with a mop of messy, jet black hair. He saw that the boy was about to fall and by reflexes he reaches out to steady the boy when he sees the boy flinch back as if he's about to be hit.

"P-p-please d-don't hi-hit me S-sir! I'm s-sorry!" He cried out as he squinted his eyes tight and went into a defensive position like he's expecting a beating.

Severus, after years of dealing with abused Slytherins, and remembering his childhood, knows immediately that this child has been abused. He quickly says in his calmest voice, "I'm not going to hit you, but do watch where you're going."

"Now, why don't you explain why you thought I was going to hit you?" Severus asked the boy after a few moments just to confirm his suspicions.

The boy shrank back a few feet and whispered, "My uncle said not to tell anyone."

"It's obvious that he's abusing you. I can help you. Just tell me where you live and your name and we can go have a little chat with your uncle." Severus responded in the same soothing, calm voice.

"Number four, Privet Drive. And my name is Harry." The boy said as he turned his head to look at me. Then, for the first time, I saw his eyes: A bright emerald green just like Lily's. 

A/N: There goes the prologue and I must say; it's good to be back! To any new people reading, hi! and to any of my old readers, welcome back! I'm hoping to be back for good and actually get to writing again as I really enjoy it and promise that my 2 months of inactivity are over! I am officially saying that I will finish both this story and hopefully my Can I Save Them story. 

Anyways, if you enjoy let me know. If there's enough support I'll get to work sooner on the first actual part. Until then, peace!

-Skyroar1221