Snape is sent to deliver Harry's Hogwarts letter after the first one does not arrive. What he discovers when he arrives is beyond his wildest nightmares. But it's Harry's appearance that brings the most shock and changes his life forever.

Severus stood on the front porch of 4 Privet Drive with a scowl on his face. He couldn't believe Dumbledore had sent him to deliver Harry Potter's Hogwarts letter to him. Of all the things he would rather be doing; classes were beginning soon and Severus had to prepare himself to deal with unruly and confused eleven-year-olds. Severus did, however, find himself frowning at the envelope that was addressed to the Cupboard Under the Stairs. That had to be a mistake of some kind.

Severus scowled as he knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer the door. After what seemed like forever, a pink-faced, fat, blonde boy answered the door with a look of annoyance plastered over his face.

"What do you want?" the boy demanded; Severus fought the urge to yell at the disrespectful brat about his deplorable manors and asked to speak with Harry Potter.

"Why do you want to speak with that freak?" the boy asked, his tone just as rude as before.

"I'm here to give him a letter which he has failed to receive," Severus informed the boy, finding himself loose patience with the child with each passing minute.

"Well, he's upstairs with my father being taught a lesson for burning our meal today... I don't think you'll be able to speak with him tonight," the boy said, his expression filled with sick joy and whatever punishment Potter was receiving. Severus found a sick sense of dread and horror had filled his body. Something told him he would regret it dearly if he left the house now.

"Get out of my way, you fat, disrespectful brat," Severus said to the child with a sneer on his face. "I was sent to deliver this letter and I will not be leaving until I do. So you can either tell me where the Potter boy is or you can remain here with me until you do."

The fat boy seemed to think about his choices for a while before pointing angrily up the stairs.

"He's in my second bedroom. My mum and dad moved him in there this morning," the boy muttered, clearly upset about his cousin being given his... second bedroom? Why did that fat child need a second bedroom while the Potter boy hadn't received a bedroom at all? But Severus couldn't help but feel that this wasn't the only thing that brat received that Potter didn't.

Upstairs, Severus could hear loud thrashing sounds accompanied by a child's cries of pain. The sounds were loud and vicious.

"Shut up you pathetic whelp! How dare you burn Dudley's super! How dare you think you think you can continue to live here and not contribute properly! You are expected to cook decent meals and not burn them! Are you really that much of a freak?" the angry voice cried. A loud crash followed after the man's angry rant. Severus had heard more than enough.

Severus slammed the door open and burst into the room to find a fat man, who was a perfect resemblance of the fat brat downstairs, was bending over the side of the bed with a look of pure evil on his face. The man's face was full of more evil than Severus had ever seen in even Voldemort himself. When the man turned to speak to Severus, he merely took out his wand and stupified the ugly, purple-faced man. He went down on the floor with a crash, causing a startled whimper from the child behind the bed.

Severus quickly brought his expression neutral because he knew how angry his expression was and that would hardly be a face Potter would trust. As Severus stepped around the fat man, he heard steps approaching the door. Standing at the door was Petunia, she had aged ungracefully over the years and somehow her neck appeared even longer than it had when she was younger.

"What have you done, you freak?" she hissed angrily, crouching next to her husband and taking his pulse. When she realised her husband wasn't dead she looked closer at Severus before her face changed into a look of twisted joy and scandal. She actually looked like Christmas had arrived early.

"Come to rescue the Potter boy?" She said 'Potter' in a tone that made Severus more than a little curious. "You should be damn well grateful we took that bastard into our care at all! He got everything he.."

"Stupify!" Severus stupified Petunia when he got tired of seeing her smirking at him like she knew something he didn't and couldn't wait to shove it in his face. The woman collapsed on top of her husband with a small crash. Resisting the urge to kick the pathetic humans in front of him, he stepped over to the other side of the bed and took note of the child curled against the end table.

Severus couldn't make out the child's face but he could make out Potter's black hair, way-too-thin frame and bruises up and down the child's arms. The child's clothes were hanging off of him and it was obvious they had belonged to the human-pig downstairs.

"Potter?" Severus asked as gently as he could. When the child snapped his attention to Severus, he felt his head start spinning and confusion began clouding his mind. Severus couldn't remember the last time he felt so confused. Harry Potter's face looked nothing like James at all. He had Lily's eyes and nose but the rest of it was... The child was a spitting image of Severus when he was eleven. His hair wasn't as long but that was as far as the noticeable differences went.

But before Harry could say anything, his injuries caused him to pass out.