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Hagrid had ended up falling ill, and so he couldn't hand-deliver Harry's acceptance letter.
Severus had been given the job to deliver the letter and take Harry to Diagon Alley. He had also been given the task to keep the young Boy-Who-Lived safe, no matter the cost. A part of Severus felt such a thing was laughable at best, especially considering the boy had supposedly been living with loving Muggle relatives in the safety of the non-magical world. Severus quickly realized that couldn't have been further from the truth as he showed up at the shack on a rock off the shore. He had tried desperately to keep his temper in check, but it was becoming increasingly difficult when the rain poured down in buckets, soaking him to his bones.
The door was locked, and though the spell to unlock it was easy enough to do, the door still wouldn't open properly. When he finally did get the door open, it fell off its hinges from years of neglect.
Severus stood in the doorway, glaring into the shack with downright murderous eyes, even as the Dursleys and Harry stared back. He stepped inside and brushed back his greasy hair, disgusted with just how wet he'd become between the time he Apparated nearby and stepping inside the rickety shelter.
“Get out this instant!” Vernon Dursley yelled as he pointed a long-barreled gun at Severus.
Severus immediately flicked his wand at the Muggle, disarming him without batting an eyelash.
Vernon, a coward through and through, squeaked in fear and flattened himself against the wall.
Petunia Dursley was no coward. She was a woman that was hardened against anything she deemed abnormal, and she was one who desired control and power over others. She immediately glared at Severus, who was both powerful and abnormal, and shrieked, “What are you doing here?!”
Severus sneered at the woman who was once Lily's older sister. “I have no desire to be here. I am simply delivering a letter that you refused to allow your nephew to read.”
“You can't!” Vernon snapped, suddenly gaining back his bravado. “We swore we'd stomp out his — his freakishness, and we meant it!”
Severus immediately bit back a scowl as he looked at the two shameless Muggles. “Freakishness?”
“He's an abnormal freak!” Vernon barked.
“Where is Mr. Potter?” Severus demanded to know.
The Muggles glanced toward the corner, where a small ball was huddled up in a pathetic moth-eaten blanket.
The small figure was staring at Severus with fear, but also hope. That malnourished boy had obviously not been taken care of. His glasses were cracked, his body was littered with bruises, and his green eyes reflected a fear that no child should have felt.
Severus immediately felt something like burning hot rage fill his veins. He glared at Lily’s sister, and he spat out, “You dare to defile what's left of her?”
“Oh, she's been dead for years!” Petunia yelled dismissively. “She and that freak husband of hers deserved getting themselves blown up—”
Severus scowled fiercely at the Muggle who was doing herself no favors. He pointed his wand at her and said coldly, “One more word out of you, and your son will pay the price.”
Petunia shut her mouth quickly, trying to hide the rotund boy behind her thin frame.
The man turned to the other boy, and he crossed the room to reach him. He pulled the letter from his pocket and held it out to Harry.
Harry kept his eyes on the Dursleys as he hesitantly accepted the letter. He frowned as they didn't react, and he finally looked down at the envelope in his hands. With shaking fingers, he opened the envelope and slid out the acceptance letter. His eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth moved silently as he read over the letter. Finally, he looked up at Severus and muttered, “What’s witchcraft and wizardry?”
“Magic,” Severus summarized.
“And — and you think I can do that stuff?” Harry asked hesitantly, glancing over at the Dursleys as he did so.
“You would never have gotten a letter if you didn't display some level of accidental magic,” Severus explained.
“But, how will I ever be good if I can only do accidental magic?” Harry asked fretfully.
“You will get better with the help of the school that sent you that acceptance letter. It will allow you a safe space to learn new types of magic and practice them,” Severus explained as he motioned to the parchment in Harry's hands.
Harry worried his lower lip for a second before looking up at Severus desperately. “May I go now?”
“The term doesn't start until the first of September,” Severus informed the Potter, causing the child’s face to fall. “However, I can take you to buy your school supplies and a wand like mine to protect yourself tomorrow.”
Harry immediately brightened up. “Really?”
“Really,” Severus confirmed before reaching a hand out toward the boy.
Harry flinched a bit, flushed, and then requested, “Please don't touch me.”
Severus forced down his wrathful feelings toward the Dursleys as he withdrew his hand a bit. He still held it out, his palm facing upward, and he said, “Come on. You can have the couch. I'll make sure those Muggles won't harm a single hair on your head.”
Harry glanced over at said non-magical folks nervously before nodding once.
“We'll stay in here away from those abnormal freaks,” Vernon said, spitting out the insult as if it were his best yet.
Severus ignored the family as they shuffled inside of the bedroom to the shack and closed and locked the door behind them.
Harry watched the three before he hesitantly took Severus’s hand and was easily pulled to his feet. When he laid down, his back was pressed firmly against the back of the couch, and he failed to take off his already broken glasses. He merely gazed around in a cautious manner until he slowly drifted to sleep.
As Severus paced the floor of the horrible little shack, he knew he couldn't let things stay that way forever. He needed to help the Boy-Who-Lived, and he’d started by showing Harry that magic, when respected, would be an amazing tool to both help and hinder. He wouldn't let Petunia continue to abuse what was left of Lily.