Chapter Three

My deepest apologies for not updating sooner; I have been gone for over half of the summer. Needless to say, I do not own Harry Potter. Since I have said that, I see no reason to say it again in any other chapters. Thank you to everyone who sent me reviews, and enjoy the chapter!

Harry felt the professor's mind approach his own. In desperation, he cried out, "You have been STALKING ME?!?!" The small break in Snape's concentration was all that Harry needed.

"Expeliarmous!" he said, and Snape's wand flew out of his hand. Unexpectedly, the shadow of a smirk began to cross the teacher's face. He raised a hand and, without saying a word or waving a wand, sent a strange, purple light shooting from his hand. Harry stood upright for a second, and then knew no more.

Severus' lips twitched in one of his half smile. Even the Potter brat ought to know better than to try and disarm a Hogwarts teacher! At the same time, however, he felt a twinge of guilt at incapacitating Potter in such a manner. Shrugging such thoughts aside, he renewed his survey of his pupil's mind.

Snape was, at first, shocked at the memories he saw. The memories were not those of a pampered prince, but of a neglected child. The neglect turned to cruelty as the child grew older. Severus was appalled by the fact that Harry had to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, but was more repulsed by the fact that no one at Hogwarts had bothered to do anything about it. His first Hogwarts letters were addressed to the cupboard under the stairs for heavens sake! How could they know about his living arrangements, but do nothing about them? He mentally shook his head and moved on. He had other things to attend to.

Severus quickly found an unusually painful memory in the summer after his fourth year. "Your freakishness will no longer be tolerated in this house, boy. Any more of your freakish behavior, and you will be on the receiving end of my new whip." Severus was horrified when he saw the whip that Vernon was brandishing; it was not the length, or the sharpness of the barb at the end that horrified him, but the fact that he could sense some type of dark magical core in the center; These muggles were torturing him with magic! And Vernon knew it! He could no longer blame Potter for wanting retribution and protection from his aunt and uncle. Heaven knows he would have. He could not fathom, though, how Potter got a hold of the book, not to mention how his muggle uncle managed to get a hold of a cursed whip. "Only one way to find out I suppose," Snape thought to himself. He felt Potter starting to regain consciousness, and decided to ask him directly.

Harry's head felt like it was filled with mud. He was not in pain, exactly, but the sensation could hardly be described as comfortable. After Snape had shot that purple light at him, he had quickly passed out. "He assaulted me! That crooked potions master assaulted me! And what was that creepy spell that he used? And what on Earth was he doing outside my window in the dead of night?" These thoughts whirled through Harry's head as he cracked open his eyes. Oddly, the slugish feeling was gone and he was regaining his ability think properly again. He opened his eyes a crack, and saw Professor Snape waving his wand over Harry's book with an odd frown on his face. He tried to close his eyes quickly before Snape noticed that he was awake, but to no avail.

"Can you sit up, Potter?" he asked. "Yes," Harry said in a slightly rough voice as he sat up and opened his eyes.

"You have quite a bit of explaining to do," Snape said. "We will discus this book later. In the mean time, we must get out of here. Pack up all of your things. I will send your owl on ahead. " Snape unlocked Hedwig's cage and let her out the window.

"Sir?" Harry tentatively asked, "where are we going?" "Just shut up and get packing," Snape furiously whispered. "We will talk once we get there." Harry quickly packed all of his belongings in his trunk, keeping only his wand and invisibility cloak with him.

As soon as he closed the lid of his trunk, Snape waved his wand and it vanished, presumably to where they were going. He then grabbed Harry by the wrist, stepped back out the melted window, and apparated away.

When they reapeared, they were right outside of a small, dusty house. The nearby street sign read "Spinners End". Harry only managed to catch a glimpse of the street sign when Snape pulled him into the house.

"Idiot boy!" he hissed, "do you want any potential death eater watchmen to see you?" Severus then released Harry and pointed him toward a nearby couch. "Sit down and do dot touch anything. I will be back in a moment." And he billowed out of the room.

Harry was hyperventilating. "Why am I here? Where am I? And why was my potions teacher standing outside in the middle of the night?" These questions flew through his head as he sat waiting on the couch. He waited for only five minutes before Snape came back.

"Come," Severus said. He raised a wand opened a door behind one of the rooms many bookcases. They went inside, and arrived in what apeared to be Snape's office.
"This must be Snape's house then. Great, he has a creepy ofice here too; He probably kidnaps people from their houses to give them detention here, because his supply of victims is dry."

"Pay attention, Potter!" Snape yelled as Harry was forced back into reality. "Now first thing's first," he said, regaining his composure, "tell me where your uncle managed to get a hold of a cursed whip."

Harry was surprised. He thought for sure that Snape would want to know about the book, and not care about the whip. "He bought it from a hooded and cloaked man that came to his house at night. I saw under the hood, and I think that it was Macnair, the death eater. He told Uncle Vernon that it could keep me in line because it temporarily halts the flow of magic. Normaly he is afraid of any type of magic, but he jumped at the opportunity to use it to seal mine." Harry stopped talking, realizing how much he had just revealed to his enemy.

Snape was silent for a moment. He had heard of curses like this, curses that stunted other people's magic, but they were very rare these days. He also understood why The Boy Who Lived To Irritate Him had not contacted someone at the school; if Hedwig's cage had been locked, then he could not have contacted anyone even if he wanted to. But this was probably not the first time Potter had been abused. "Just like a Gryffindor; they are all brainless morons." WHY the fool wouldn't admit help was beyond Severus. A nagging voice at the back of his mind told him that he was much the same as a child, but he impatiently brushed it aside.

Snape sneered at Harry. "I am willing to accept that explanation for now," Snape said. "Now tell me about the book, and what exactly you thought you were going to do with it."

Well, that is my chapter. (finaly) I hope that you enjoyed it. Do not stop reading because you think that it is cliche; I have plans for this story that will take it far out of the usual stories Due to a bit of compaining, I have changed the reviewing rule to allow all reviews of more than three wors as opposed to five. Reviews are, of couse, appreciated. Greatest thanks for my beta reader, Astraldo Ungal. I will update as soon as I can. Untill then, happy reading.