Severus stared at the boy who was working on painting the shed in the backyard. He wasn't sure what made him watch but he had been for an hour. He had heard a woman yell about the boy being lazy and called him a freak. He moved closer, and suddenly he felt magic caress his skin. 'Wards?' Severus thought, 'why would there be wards here? This wasn't a magical family.' He moved closer to the child, he could see huge baggy clothes and as the boy moved in the motions of painting, he could see bruises and blood.

The boy was bleeding and didn't even seem to care. He moved closer and noticed how skinny the child was. "Boy, stop slacking. You still to weed the flower beds, trim the bushes and don't forget to make Dudley his lunch. I will be back in a few hours."

Severus wondered what the man meant if this was slacking he felt bad for the child. He watched the boy as he painted the fence. He turned as he heard a trio of boys enter the backyard. He moved a bit away so they wouldn't bump into him.

The biggest of the trio grabbed the paintbrush, tossing it to the ground, as another dumped the paint on the ground. "Oops." The trio laughed.

"Freak." The fat blond boy said as he pushed the skinny boy, who landed in the paint on the ground. the small, skinny boy struggled to get back up, as each time one of the trio would push him back into the paint. Finally, they let him up.

"Dudley, let's play a game with the Freak." A rat-faced boy said as he pushed the skinny boy towards the one named Dudley.

"Hunting time?" The smaller of the trio of boys commented.

They pushed the boy around a bit longer until the one named Dudley slammed their prey into the fence. "Run, I will count to ten before we hunt you."

Severus saw the bullied boy take off and the trio followed shortly afterward. Severus stayed by the shed and waited for the small skinny boy to return and he did. He was bruised, limping, dirty and clearly needed someone to aid him. He wanted to question the boy to find out what was going on, but the wards bothered him. Why were there wards on this property? The other boy wasn't a wizard. The boy must be a muggle-born was all he could think of, but if he was, again the question was why the wards?

He watched the boy work hard outside all day, only to be called in to cook dinner. He followed the boy inside and watched as he was treated worse than a house elf. The boy was yelled at for being dirty, smacked when he didn't serve the meal a quickly enough. They denied the boy food and the huge male walrus tossed the boy into a cupboard.

Severus decided as soon as the muggles were asleep he was removing the boy. He would find him a better home. As soon he was sure the muggles were asleep, he quietly opened the locked cupboard and peered in. The boy was curled up, in a ball, moaning in his sleep. He touched the boy, who flinched at the casual touch, he pulled back, he pulled out his wand and summoned the boy's things, and truly wasn't surprised to find only a few pairs of over-sized clothes came to him. He cast a sleep spell on the child, gently picking up the boy, who looked like he was around six or seven, and exited the house. At the wards end, he apparated to Prince Manor.

Severus spent most of the night healing the boy. He documented the abuse, just in case, he thought. He didn't want someone to believe he just kidnapped the boy. He went to bed and silently cursed, he had to complete the errand Dumbledore wanted. He had meant to drop a package off at a Mrs. Figg, who lived a few streets over.

The next morning, Severus went to check the boy, who was still sleeping soundly. Now that the boy was cleaned up, Severus began to make a list of things that would need to be done. He thought of different families he knew that would be willing to take in a child. As he was pondering his choices, he noticed the deepest emerald green eyes were now watching him. "Glad to see you're awake. We have a lot to do."

The boy almost bolted out of the bed, looked around the room, his face quickly masked his confusion, fear, and curiosity. Severus waited until the boy's main focus was returned to him. "You won't be going back to your family. No one should be subject to that kind of treatment. I will work on finding you a new family, but first, let's get you showered and feed."

The boy obeyed and followed Severus down to the kitchen. The house, technically a Manor, was clearly impressing the small boy. "This is Prince Manor, it's construction inspired Markenfield Hall, a 14th-century manor, it even has its own moat and gatehouse. I can show you later if you wish."

He got a small nod of agreement but didn't push too hard, he didn't want to scare the boy. Soon breakfast was over. Severus noticed the child didn't speak, at all. No matter what Severus asked the boy either stared at him or nodded his agreement. "What is your name?"

He just received a careful stare with a shrug. Severus asked again and got no response this time as the boy lowered his head. He thought back to all the times he had received an answer. The boy was usually looking at him. He started speaking quietly and slowly increased his questions until finally, the boy looked up.

"Boy, Freak." He was answered.

Severus revamped his plans, he would need to Gringotts first, have them do an Inheritance Test.

Severus and Ironclaw exchanged a look. The results changed everything that Severus had planned on doing. "Can we fix this?"

"Yes, let me pull the files." Ironclaw left the office.

Severus handed the parchment to Harry. He saved Harry Potter, he was still trying to process why his Vow to protect the boy hadn't let him know the boy was in danger, but seeing this list it did explain a lot. He was going to have Ironclaw investigate the wards around the home. "Your name is Harry Potter. However, I do believe Ironclaw is going to have some important information for us."

Harry James Potter

Father: James Charlus Potter
Mother: Lily Charlotte Potter nee Evans

Harry pointed to the list of titles, properties and the scary part that said bonds, spells, curses, and hexes. "I can explain if you wish." Harry nodded his head. "How about a verbal answer?"

Harry shook his head no as he quickly moved away from Severus, fear etched on his face. Harry moved into a corner, his arms up for blocking any blows that might be forthcoming.

Severus crouched in front of Harry his hand on Harry's knee. "That is fine, Harry, come and sit down with me again. I promise I won't hurt you." He guided Harry back to his seat, after several minutes of comforting the boy by just keeping his hand on his knee and speaking nonsense.

Once they were back in their chairs again Severus pointed to the Title aspect of the parchment. "You are the heir to the titles of Potter, Black, McKinney, Thompson, and Vickers." Harry looked up at him as if to say really. "You will become the Lord when you come of age."

Severus pointed to the next part, bonds, spells, curses, and hexes. He wasn't going to mention who did this damage as he wanted to get more information before confronting Dumbledore. "You have a bind on your magic, 50% of it is being blocked, which is why your magic didn't keep you from getting hurt nor did it heal you as it should have." He paused as he wasn't sure why the next part was done. "You have some compulsions on you." He reread the list and was a bit sick.

Bonds, Spells, Curses, and Hexes:

Bind on core: 50% (16 months)
Compulsion to obey (27 months)
Compulsion to be submissive (27 months)
Glamours (1 day, 15 months, 24 months)
Vows of Protection (15 months) Severus Snape

Harry pointed at Severus' name. "Yes, that is me. I made the Vow because your mother was my best friend. I loved her dearly." Severus gave him a small smile. If anyone ever saw him like this, he would memory charm them and toss them out the door, the thought. He wasn't kind, gentle, or even loving, yet somehow this small boy wasn't experiencing that aspect of him.

Ironclaw returned with a stack of folders and some boxes. As he sat down, he looked at Harry. "I have some interesting news. According to his parent's Wills, you were to get custody, but Mr. Dumbledore had them sealed and used the ritual room to place the binds and at the time, there was a glamour listed, but as you can see they are now gone, which makes me wonder why there were so many glamours."

"So we need a purge, and then retake the test?" Severus asked.

"Yes, I have made the rooms ready, and a healer available for you to use. While it's being done I am going to review the accounts." Ironclaw told him.

Severus rose and held out his hand for Harry to take.

Three hours later:

Severus was trying not to lose control of his emotions. Lily had lied, she was pregnant when he had to fake his death. She married James because of it, he had never got to see her before she died. He would have hoped she would have told him the truth. He looked down at the parchment again.

Hadrian Severus Prince Snape Potter

Father: Severus Sebastian Prince Snape
Mother: Lily Charlotte Potter nee Evans
Blood Adopted Father: Sirius Orion Black (31 October 1980)
Blood Adopted Father: James Charlus Potter (31 July 1980)

Titles:

Slytherin (Conquest)
Gryffindor (Blood Adoption)
Potter (Blood Adoption)
Black (Blood Adoption)
Prince (Blood)
McKinney (Blood)
Rosewood (Willed)
Kilkenny (Willed)
Thompson (Willed)
Vickers (Willed)

"How can I make sure no one can take him away from me?" Severus asked.

"No one has noticed Mr. Potter's disappearance, and based on what you have stated, no one will until his letter is meant to be delivered. There are a few things we can do, first, create a mother for your son, I have a list of women who have recently become ill or can't have children. They have requested a child to adopt to pass on their bloodlines, a blood adoption, combined with the formal ritual will grant you custody of him. Now regarding Hogwarts, if a letter arrives don't open it, as it won't be written by the magical quill. Make sure he is seen around Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and I am aware of your lack of trust in a certain person of the darker leanings, but you do have some powerful allies in that area, use them. Last, we can maintain the wards at the residence, to keep them from falling."

"Let's me see the list of women." Severus began to review the list of women, most of them were his age or slightly older. "They won't interfere with Harry?"

"We can arrange for you to speak to whomever you wish." Ironclaw answered.

Severus leaned towards his wife of six years. "So what house?"

"Slytherin, of course." Matilda responded. If she had known going to Gringotts to speak to Severus Snape would have blessed her with a child and a husband, she would have done it sooner.

The boy when she first met him had stolen her heart, and shortly after that Severus did. He was so different with his family versus the rest of the world. They watched Hadrian standing next to Draco. Draco, who was his best friend, was ignoring the loud and outspoken red-haired boy. "Weasley?"

"Has to be." Severus responded. "He keeps looking at Albus."

Matilda touched his sleeve, and Severus leaned closer, "I heard him speaking to Minerva, he wanted the Weasley boy to befriend Harry Potter."

Severus gave her his standard arched brow. They had a plan, it was a simple plan, as long as Hadrian was safe at Hogwarts from the Dark Lord and Dumbledore, they would remain here. If any of them were in danger, including the Malfoy family, they were using their port-keys and settling in America.

Matilda as if reading his mind stated "he will be safe. He is our Christmas Blessing." It was the day before Christmas that she met Severus and Harry and to her, they were a blessing. They even changed Harry's birthday to 25 December 1979.

They watched their son sit on the stool and before the hat was even close to his head, yelled "Slytherin."