Author's note: The story is set at the beginning of the 6th Year.

English is not my native language, so please be lenient. If you feel like something doesn't sound English, it's probably because it isn't;D (grammar reviews are not entirely unwelcomed, though willingness to beta-read would be preferred)

Warning: The story will contain scenes of corporal punishment, so if such things offend you, I suggest you stop reading here.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

#-&-HP-&-#

Harry was on the way to the dungeons feeling angry and extremely frustrated. Dumbledore wanted him to continue those bloody Occlumency lessons with Snape! He explained him loud and clear, that they were achieving nothing, that Snape only used the time to torture and belittle him, that there was no point anymore because Sirius… A single tear fell on Harry's cheek and he wiped it away with his fist angrily as his mind lingered on the memory of his Godfather. What's the point now? Sirius is gone because Snape couldn't be bothered enough to actually teach me to resist Voldemort. Because I was stupid enough to fall for the trap. Because Sirius cared enough to go and rescue me. Because Bellatrix was… His anger flared anew at the thought of the wicked Death Eater, that took away the only parental figure Harry has had in his life. He reached dungeons in a worked up state and wondered how is he going to endure the hated Potions Professor, or rather DADA Professor now.

"Don't just stand there! Get in Potter, before I take points for stalling," came Snape's voice from inside the office and Harry clenched his fist as he opened the door. Snape was sitting at his desk, a pile of summer assignments to grade in front of him. The red ink from his quill covering about as much space on the paper he was grading, as the student's answers themselves. Harry knew those sarcastic remarks in red ink from his own tests all too well and felt sympathy for the unlucky student to be on the receiving end of Snape's notorious "comment-lashing".

The man raised his head to look at Harry. "Take a seat, Potter, and be quiet. I need to finish my work. Headmaster might think that I have nothing better to do than to waste my time with you, but I assure you, Potter, it is not so! I'm not one of your fans anxious to get a glimpse and spend some time with our hero!"

Harry almost smiled at that. Ever since he arrived to Hogwarts a couple of days ago, everyone was tip-toeing around him. He was permanently on edge, lashing out at Ron and Hermione regularly, just to be treated to pitiful understanding looks from them. Instead of feeling guilty about losing his temper, he felt even more angry and just tried to avoid his friends altogether. The professors treated him no differently, summoning him after class to extend the time for his work to be delivered, offering "to talk" and giving him sad smiles. And even Dumbledore completely ignored his disrespect, when Harry said, that him resuming Occlumency lessons with Snape was "not fucking happening". And here he was - scolded by the man himself before their lesson even started, simply for mere existence. It felt almost refreshing that at least one person remained completely unaffected by Harry's loss and treated him the same as always. Horribly, but the same. Harry sat down on the nearby chair and waited for Snape to finish grading.

"Potter, don't just sit there! Start clearing your mind, get into mindset! Perhaps this year you can show more effort in occluding YOUR mind rather than snooping around mine!" Snape barked without looking at him.

"Perhaps this year you can actually TEACH me how, instead of just yelling at me all the time! Not like I want to be here either!" Harry replied hotly, his temper rising.

Snape stood up sharply smashing the paper he was grading on the desk with a loud thump. "Potter, your insolence won't be tolerated! One would think that after what happened in the Department of Mysteries, you would understand the importance of shielding your mind!" Snape saw Harry's face change from defiant to defeated and felt the slight tinge of sympathy for the boy. Everyone kept telling him to be "gentle" around Harry because the boy just lost his Godfather. Snape didn't feel the need to pamper the brat, because Dark Lord won't take a break and wait for Potter to pull himself together, either. But he didn't like the uncharacteristic broken look that appeared on Potter's face.

Before Snape could say anything else, the alarm broke off in his office. A small light on the wall was blinking and an unpleasant low-pitched hum accompanied it. Harry didn't know what the sound was, but seeing the alarmed look on Snape's face, he knew something was wrong.

"What's that?" he asked jumping up from his seat.

"Security breach," Snape replied as he stood up, the grading forgotten. He glanced at the light taking a mental note that the breach was on the Quidditch pitch.

"Death Eaters?"

"Probably," Snape answered deep in thought, then he looked at Harry, his face growing very serious, "Stay here Potter, and I mean it! Don't you dare set foot out of this office!" and with that, he promptly left the office. It took Harry the whole 30 seconds to make up his mind and follow him. If Death Eaters are attacking Hogwarts, then he is not going to hide, he will fight! There will be no more deaths on his account!

#-&-HP-&-#

Snape rushed outside as he heard the sound of spells and the screams coming from the stadium. There was a scheduled Ravenclaw Quidditch practice and when he approached the field he saw a couple of students stunned on the ground, one of them yelling in agony under the Cruciatus Curse. The wicked laugh of Bellatrix Lestrange was ringing through the stadium as the remaining Ravenclaw players tried to flee in horror. Bellatrix was accompanied by two low ranked Death Eaters Severus has recognized from the last meeting.

Snape approached the trio. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked his expression carefully masked as a mild annoyance, as opposed to the utter horror he was actually feeling when he saw the students on the ground.

"Oh Sev, we were just having a bit of fun," Bellatrix intoned with a teasing smile, then she noticed that her pray used the disturbance to run away, and cast another Crucio on him. The 15-year-old Ravenclaw seeker fell to the ground with a heart-wrenching scream. Lestrange was smiling with satisfaction as she watched the boy's body convulse in agony. Snape looked at the scene with faked amusement. He could not contradict Bellatrix openly, so he focused his attention on the two Death Eaters that accompanied her.

"This is all very amusing, but you are jeopardizing my position here. You set off the alarm, the old fool will be here any minute accompanied by other teachers. I can't be seen with you here, why did you come?" he inquired, trying to appear unaffected by the screaming boy.

"We were just testing the wards," one of the Death Eaters replied. The Ravenclaw seeker lost his consciousness from the pain of Crucio and Bellatrix snorted in annoyance at having her fun ruined prematurely by the boy's weak body.

"Idiots!" Snape snapped making sure he was addressing the men and not Bellatrix, "You tested it and now Dumbledore will make sure to strengthen them. Dark Lord will be very displeased with you!" he scolded the two men using one of his best glares reserved for disobedient students. He knew that Bellatrix held a special position in Voldemort's ranks. In her utter insanity, she even enjoyed the punishments from her Master, much to Voldemort's delight, therefore there was no use threatening her with anything. "Get the hell out of here, and I will try to clean up the mess you have created," he ordered waving a hand at the men dismissively, his tone leaving no room for discussion. He outranked them greatly and he knew, he will be obeyed. The two men cast him a sheepish look and apparated right away.

Bellatrix smiled at Snape. "Oh Severus you are so uptight, you need to loosen up a bit," she told him and then gave another one of her wicked laughs that sent chills down Snape's spine. Then she looked behind him and her face twisted in an evil grin.

"Bellatrix!" Harry yelled as he entered the Quidditch pitch. Snape turned to see, who was stupid enough to call attention to himself and couldn't mask the rage he felt from being so blatantly disobeyed. Leave it to the Gryffindor idiot to rush headless into action without any regard for the consequences. And the timing couldn't be worse! Just as he almost managed to get rid of the Death Eaters without any casualties and without endangering his position as a spy, Potter joined the game to ruin it all. And how is he supposed to save Potter from Bellatrix without making his true allegiances known? They were two experienced Death Eaters against one 16-year-old Potter, by all means, they should capture him and bring him to the Dark Lord, anything else will be deemed unacceptable.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry roared pointing his wand at the witch, but not a single spark escaped from it. Harry looked at his wand in confusion. Why didn't it work? I did mean it! I want her dead! I will avenge Sirius!

Bellatrix laughed loudly. "Naughty, naughty Potter! Casting Unforgivables without even knowing how. Now that's embarrassing!" she mocked him. "But don't worry, the Dark Lord might teach you! And I know just the spell to make you compliant." She raised her wand at Harry and hissed, "Servitium Incusabantur!"

Snape felt his blood turn cold as he recognized the vicious incantation. There was no time to think, no time to plan, he did the only thing that he could at that point.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Severus watched Bellatrix's lifeless body fall to the ground, look of surprise at Snape's betrayal imprinted on her face. Snape wasted no time examining her body, he had no doubt that HIS killing curse was successful. He rushed towards Potter, who was knocked to the ground unconscious. He heard McGonagall and Flitwick yelling something at the distance as he shook the boy by his shoulders, "Potter! Potter! Can you hear me?!"

Harry opened his eyes with a groan to see a concerned face of the Potions Professor and replied, "Yes, Master."

Snape closed his eyes as the realization of what happened washed over him. "We have a problem, Potter!"

#-&-HP-&-#

"Out of all the stupid stunts you have pulled over the years, Potter, this one takes the cake!" Severus was pacing in Dumbledore's office his anger flaring as he berated the boy. Harry sunk in his chair and wisely kept his mouth shut, his head was hurting badly and he was unable to think of any smart comeback. He found it hard to meet Snape's gaze, so he kept his eyes on his lap.

"Severus, perhaps you could explain, what actually happened?" Dumbledore asked in a calm manner.

"What happened? Exactly, what I told you will happen if you keep letting the boy run around as he pleases without consequences!" Snape raged pointing a finger at Dumbledore, "He blatantly disobeyed my order to remain in my office and flung himself at the mercy of the Death Eaters compromising MY position in the process! The imbecile -" he leveled Harry with an angry glare, "- attempted to cast the killing curse at Lestrange and got hit by her enslavement spell!"

Harry watched Dumbledore's expression change to a very alarmed one. Harry furrowed his brows, scratching his head with a perplexed look. The enslavement spell? Is that what Servitium Incu-something stood for?

"She cast Servitium Incusabantur and I cast the killing curse, the spells hit their targets at the same time, therefore I think her spell reattached to me."

"Severus are you saying…" Dumbledore started to ask, but Snape interrupted him.

"I don't know Headmaster, let's see if my assumption is correct," he retorted turning to Harry, "Potter, jump on your left leg and sing a Christmas carol!" he ordered, his voice laced with dominance.

"Wha..?" but before Harry could finish his question he was already jumping, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…" he sang, a look of pure confusion on his face.

"Enough, Potter!" Severus barked and Harry stared at him dumbfounded. What just happened? Why did he do that? It was as if he WANTED to obey Snape's ridiculous order! What the fuuuuck!

"I think this will do for a demonstration. As you can see, Headmaster, we have a serious problem. I don't know if I can continue to be a spy now," Snape snarled, rubbing his temples in annoyance.

"How long do you think this will last, Severus? I think you can keep your position if you were to present Voldemort with Bellatrix's body," Dumbledore proposed, "We can have Harry officially kill her," he added resting his chin on his hand.

Severus stopped his pacing and gave the Headmaster a considering look. "That would work, he did cast the spell after all. But it's very dangerous. If anything goes wrong, I won't be…"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Harry yelled unable to keep silent any longer watching the two men discuss the situation he didn't quite understand. He had a sinking feeling he knew exactly, what Snape meant when he said that Bellatrix's enslavement spell reattached to him, but Harry refused to believe it.

The two men finally turned their attention to Harry. "You are my slave, Potter. You have been bound to me by Servitium Incusabantur, it's dark magic, often used by You-Know-Who to punish new Death Eaters. The spell essentially makes you submit." Snape explained looking slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

"Submit?" Harry asked unsure what it means.

"You will find it hard to disobey a direct order, you will be inclined to call me Master and will be eager to please. The bond will ensure your honesty and compliance." Snape elaborated. To think, that had the boy obeyed him, to begin with, they would not be in this mess now.

Ensure compliance? "How?" Harry asked, his voice hoarse with emotion. Snape's slave! Just what he needed in his miserable life! So what now?! He will be unable to keep anything from the evil git? Obey all his ridiculous commands? Run around Hogwarts catering to his every wish? What will the bond do, if he doesn't? Harry felt like he is going to sick up.

Snape ignored Potter's question and asked him instead, "How do you feel?"

"I feel like jumping of Astronomy Tower! Thank you for asking!" came Harry's sarcastic reply.

"Physically!" Snape's tone was sharp and Harry gulped suddenly feeling a great need to apologize.

"I feel like throwing up. And my head hurts, Sir," Harry answered much more politely this time.

"How badly does your head hurt?"

"I have had worse," Harry remarked honestly. He might be a slave and his life sucked, but he won't appear weak in front of Snape and Dumbledore.

"Good. Now listen carefully. You are not to seek medical help for your headache, the pain is from the bond and it will get worse if you try to "cheat it". Your headache will be progressing with time till you are punished by me. I don't have time to deal with you now, because I need to salvage the situation with the Dark Lord." Snape then looked at the Headmaster, "If I fail, Voldemort might try to use me to lure Potter in. I have a potent poison on me for such a case. My death will free Potter from the bond," he concluded matter-of-factly.

Harry was amazed by how nonchalantly Snape talked about poisoning himself and had to admire the man for his balls. He knew that being a double spy was dangerous, but it only occurred to him now just how ready Snape was to die at any given moment if his true allegiance is revealed. Harry then felt incredibly guilty for putting the man into further jeopardy.

"Severus, I'm sure it won't come to that. If I had any doubts about your ability to persuade Voldemort, I would not send you there now." Dumbledore put a comforting hand on the younger wizard's shoulder. Snape just nodded and turned to leave the office. He stopped by the door and looked at Harry.

"Potter, you are not to breathe a word to anyone till I'm back. In fact, you will go straight to my office and wait for me there. It's an order! Perhaps you will find it easier to obey me now, than you had an hour ago!" he barked, his tone leaving no room for argument, and stormed out of the room.

Harry's eyes lingered at the door a weird sense of loss overcoming him and then he glanced at Headmaster. Dumbledore was wearing the same sad expression he had when Harry was yelling that he will not resume his Occlumency lessons. Harry felt like he screwed up and let the man down once again. First, the Order lost the capable wizard in Sirius, and now they might lose the spy, whose position was essential if they were to stand a chance against Voldemort. And it was all Harry's fault.

"I'm really sorry, Headmaster," he apologized as he stood up and headed to the door. "How long do you think this will last?" he asked with hope in his voice, "Assuming Snape will come back, that is," he added feeling his stomach twist painfully at the prospect of Snape's death.

"I honestly don't know, Harry," Albus replied with a sigh. "You will have to ask Professor Snape about that when he returns. Which I am sure, he will. He is a very strong Occlumens, I dare say the very best out there. Anyway, if the spell is mostly used as a punishment, I don't think it's of permanent nature," Dumbledore offered reassuringly.

Harry gave him a weak smile and made his way to the dungeons.

TBC