Disclaimer: as much as I hate to admit it, I do not and never will own J.K. Rowling's work, so screw off. :P

X(Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry)

Severus Snape was having an unusually nice day. School had let out for the summer two weeks before, so it was unusually peaceful in the halls. This gave him ample time to brew potions or read or any other activity that suited his interests. All of that mornings projects had come out perfectly, and Poppy's list of potions she would need next year had officially been finished. Even better, Voldemort was lying low for a while, and wouldn't likely be calling any surprise Death Eater meetings any time soon. Severus had actually managed to finish reading the rather large novel that Albus have given him before summer, All That Lives, a Muggle story from a child's point of view of a rather nasty haunting.

Severus sighed, placing the book down on his desk. "And to think." he murmured, a rare smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "All this before dinner."

He stood and made his way into the halls, taking his time to look at all of the paintings, and even carry on a few conversations.

"What puts you in such a good mood, Professor?" asked a chestnut centaur as he followed Severus from painting to painting down the hallway. As odd as it was, he had been fond of the painting since his first year in Hogwarts, more than twenty years ago. Now that he lived in the enormous castle, he made sure to keep a supply of landscape paintings throughout his rooms to allow the centaur to run through as he liked.

"Just having a good day." he commented. Not more than ten seconds later, he fell to the ground in a dead faint.

X( 4 Privet Drive, Surrey)

Harry sat up, blinking blearily around his cupboard. It took him a moment to figure out where he was, but once he did, he wished he was still asleep. He was pretty sure that whatever his nightmare was, it had to be better than his reality. He was, and had been, locked up inside the cramped little room for a week. The only time he left was to work outside or use the bathroom. Harry felt like he was having a ten year old relapse.

He sat up straight, promptly smacking his head on the ceiling. "Ow!" Okay, maybe not. He had been smaller when he was ten. Five years and as many inches did that to a person. As he rubbed his abused scalp, a noise like thunder rocked his 'room'. He quickly dropped to the floor, covering his eyes as the steps above his head shook and dust fell around him. He was sure that one of these days Dudley's fat arse was going to bust through them, likely dropping him right on top of his head. As hilarious as Dudley Dursely breaking the stairs would be, the thought of shattering each and every bone in his body wasn't quite so entertaining.

Mere moments after the cost was clear, a loud rapping on the door assaulted his eardrums. "Get up!" shrieked Petunia, as if the padlocks on wooden door would somehow make it sound-poof. But no, Harry wasn't that lucky. "You lazy little arse, I want you awake this minute!"

"I am awake, aunt Petunia." he said, maneuvering his body to face the door in case she opened it.

She threw it open and ensnared her hands in his shaggy hair, dragging him out into the hall. "Company will be coming over tonight." she hissed, shaking his head from side to side, making it rather hard for him to understand her. "I want you to stay completely silent or you wont be eating tomorrow! Do you understand, you little freak!"

"Sure aunt Petunia." he said dully. Harry hadn't eaten in three days, and had only drunken a few sips of water from the sink when he had been let out to use the bathroom. He had once read that a person could survive a week without food, but only a few days without water. He hadn't been paying much attention to the text, but he was certain that it had neglected to mention the gnawing pain that appeared after only a fraction of the time. "I wont make any noise and wont move around. You wont even know that I exist."

A cruel smirk worthy of Malfoy curved around his Muggle aunt's lips. "Good." she sneered, giving him one last shake before shoving his malnourished, week body to the ground. "Now go use the bathroom. I wont have you making the house any filthier than you already have."

Harry nodded, trudging into the lavatory. He did his business, before hurrying back to his cupboard, and listening miserably as she padlocked his door and went to the kitchen. Harry needed to get out of here, and soon. It was seeming more and more likely that someone would soon come for him. Vernon was forcing him to write letters to everybody, making everything seem okay. But Harry had figured out a way to get around that. All he had to do was wait until someone, preferably Sirius wrote. He would make up a false memory, something obvious to him, but not to Vernon. Sirius, being the suspicious, overprotective godfather that he was would likely demand that someone come check on him, and he'd be out. Hell, with the time he had been here, Harry would likely be able to hide a message inside one of the letters pretty soon. Something Hermione would get.

The-Boy-Who-Lived crawled under his thin blanket, shivering as the AC directly outside filtered his 'room' with cold air. 'Soon…' he thought, slipping his useless glasses off in the dark. 'I'll be back at Hogwarts and everything will be okay…….'

X

Tada! Chapter one is up, and totally and disgustingly short. Complain all you want, but if I have too make them a decent length I'll just get bored and you'll never see more. Also, If you wanna see Severus okay(or in pain, whatever's your preference), you'd better review!