Thank you to TheeStoryTeller for being the Beta for chapter four.

Chapter four-A Prison Within a Home

Snape did his best to sleep that night, but he couldn't get his brain to settle down. He couldn't stop thinking about Harry and what he was going to do. He couldn't help but think about Lily and how disappointed she would be. He promised her that he would look after Harry, make sure that he was well cared for and safe. And he failed. He failed the woman that he loved and he didn't know how to make it up to her. He couldn't stop blaming himself. He should have seen it sooner…he should have seen the signs.

It was hitting midnight when Snape finally gave up on sleep and decided to do some of his own research on eating disorders, but what he found only made him more worried. There were many reasons why someone would develop an eating disorder, whether it was the social pressure to be thin along with the need to be perfect, problems with coping and dealing with stress, bullying and having few to no friends, or being a victim to abuse or trauma.

His research also pointed out that people who play sports, especially those that put a lot of emphasis on weight and size, were also at risk for developing an eating disorder. Though the sport activities he saw were mainly muggle activities, he assumed that Quidditch fit the bill. He knew that Quidditch players, mainly Seekers, were expected to be thin and small—the smaller the Seeker, the faster you could be. But that couldn't be the reason Harry was in such a terrible situation.

If Snape had to guess, he believed that Harry was having a bit of control issues. Ever since that fateful Halloween night, Harry's life had been decided for him. That he would be the one to defeat the Dark Lord. And along with that, Snape had to assume that the trauma Harry had been experiencing had something to do with it as well. When Harry was a first-year student, he watched a man burn and crumble to his death at his touch. During his second year, he had to face a Basilisk while trying to defeat the sixteen-year-old ghost of Lord Voldemort. During his third year, he endured what was similar to the Dementor's Kiss, having to listen to his mother and father's screams with it. And if that wasn't enough, Harry witnessed Cedric Diggory's untimely death and the rise of the Dark Lord in his fourth year and the death of his Godfather Sirius Black in his fifth year.

Snape let out a long breath as he realized it was early in the morning. He let out a small moan as he got up and made his way to the kitchen. He checked the time. He had until this evening to get Harry to eat and he still didn't know how it would go. For the past week he watched Harry at meals, noticing that the only thing the boy would eat was dried toast and water. So he decide to go with that as he placed some bread into the oven on low heat. Snape also turned on the stove, beginning to make some scrambled eggs. He knew that Harry needed to eat something else than just toast. He also cooked some bacon, knowing that Harry wouldn't even glance at it, but he thought it would be best to give the boy some options.

Snape spent the next twenty minutes fighting with himself on if he should, or shouldn't, slip a nutrient potion in the scramble eggs. He decided to go with the potion, since he doubted that Harry would eat enough. He mixed the potion in the eggs, hoping that the eggs would mask the flavor of the potion.

…

It was early in the morning when Harry woke up, covered in sweat due to one of his many nightmares, this one being of Sirius. He brought his sleeve up as he clean the tears off his face as he looked out the window seeing that the sun was just coming out for the day.

He slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed as he sat up and made his way over to his trunk annoying the mess he made last night. He bent down and started to dig to the bottom of his trunk pulling out the shared of glass that was Sirius before he made his way back to bed, pulling the blankets over his head as he stared into the piece of glass.

'It was all my fault, why didn't I listen.' Harry thought to himself ' He's dead because of me, because I couldn't listen, because I had to go and save him only for it to turn out to be a sick trick that Voldemort planed. He's dead because I didn't listen' Harry thought to himself as he held the shared of glass close to himself.

Harry spent the next hours thinking of Sirius and what life could have been if he was still alive his mind slowly going over to Cedric and how it was his fault that he died, as he slowly made his way over to his parents thinking that life would have been better if he was never born. That was the reason that everyone was dead, everyone was dead because he's the boy who lived, the boy who lived to watch everyone die.

…

Harry quickly shoved the shard of glass under his pillow once he heard someone knock on his door. He pulled the blankets down off his head and brought his sleeve up to wipe his eyes one last time before the door opened. He then saw Snape holding a tray of food.

"Good morning Potter. I hope you slept well… you have quite the mess to clean up." Snape said as he looked at the mess that Harry made last night.

"I'm not hungry." Harry mumbled as he turned over, his back facing Snape. "Go away." He added.

"You may not be hungry but you are still going to eat. It's the same that you always have in the morning. Toast with water. I also put some eggs on the plate as well." Snape said as he set the tray down at the end of the bed. He returned to fallen over nightstand to its right place, setting the breakfast tray there.

"And bacon." Harry said, smelling it off the plate. "But like I said, I'm not hungry."

"Alright." Snape said as he took the blankets off of Harry, throwing them down to the floor. He didn't sleep at all last night so his patience was almost non-existent.

"Hey!" Harry yelled as he sat up.

"Listen up Potter, I have until this evening to get you to eat. Do you want to guess what will happen if you don't?" Snape ask as he folded his arms.

"You're going to give me detention?" Harry mumbled as he rolled his eyes bit.

"Don't be smart." Snape snapped. "Poppy will make her way into this room and shove a tube down your nose and down your throat until it makes its way to your stomach so we can pump food into you. And the best thing about it is that you won't be able to vomit it back up." He said as he leaned over Harry.

"You can't do that. Dumbledore…"

"Professor Dumbledore already knows all about it. In fact he's, the one that gave me this ultimatum to get you to eat or he will allow Poppy to do it. And believe me, I will love nothing more than to hold you down as Poppy slides that tube down your throat. Now choose. Are you going to eat or should I make that call to Poppy?" Snape asked, hoping that Harry couldn't see though his bluff.

Harry took in a few deep breaths as he controlled his anger. The last thing he wanted was to have Madam Pomfrey place a feeding tube down his throat and since there was no way out of it he gave Snape a small nod. "…I take the food." He mumbled not even looking up at Snape.

"Good." Snape said as he took the tray off the nightstand and laid it across Harry's lap. "You don't need to eat all it, but I do want you to eat a fair amount." He said as he took a step back. He couldn't leave—his research had also started that those with eating disorders had a habit of hiding their food, to portray to others that they have eaten. And he didn't have time for mice running through his chambers because of Harry Potter.

Harry picked his fork up and pushed his food around a little. He watched Snape pick up the chair that was in the corner of the room and sit down. 'Shit' Harry thought to himself as he continued to push the food around.

After a few minutes Harry stabbed a few of his eggs and brought them up to his mouth, making sure he counted to thirty before he swallowed. He always had to make sure he did thirty chews before swallowed.

At first he thought that the eggs were a few days off their due date but he wasn't going to say anything as he continue to chew. Around the twentieth chew Harry mind snapped into action as he figured out that Snape put something in his eggs.

'Oh god, oh god, OH GOD' Harry said over and over again in his mind as he quickly spat them back out onto the plate. "You put something in it!" Harry yelled as he grabbed the napkin from the plate and clean out his mouth.

"No I didn't." Snape said, surprised that Harry could taste the potion.

"Don't lie to me!" Harry yelled as he continued to clean his mouth out.

Snape let out a sigh. If he was going to get Harry to trust him, he had to tell Harry the truth. But he felt that he had already broken that non-existent trust by pulling this stunt. How could he be

so stupid?

"It was just a nutrient potion to help…"

"You asshole!" Harry screamed.

"Watch your language - forty points from Gryffindor!" Snape spat back.

"Are you kidding me?! I don't give a shit about house points and I'm not eating this poison." He then took his arm and swiped all the food that was on the tray onto the floor.

"Trust me Potter if I were to poison you, I would have done it a lot sooner and a lot more slowly and painfully." Snape said as he stood up and waved his wand making the food clean itself up, placing itself back on the tray. "Just so I could enjoy it longer." He added as he picked up the tray and placed it back on the table. "Should I call Poppy and let her know you made your decision?"

"Bite me" Harry shot back. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to be left alone. "You can't keep me here like some sort of prisoner."

"You are free to walk around my chambers. You don't have to stay in your room." Snape said.

"I want to leave."

"Well Potter, in that way I guess you are a prisoner. If you like, I can make this room a cell. Have your bed and clothes taken away, along with your personal items. I can also get some dementors to surround your room. Would that make you more comfortable?" Snape said as he left the room.

Just as last night, Harry let out a scream as the door closed. He threw himself onto the bed, muffling his scream with a pillow. He continued his tantrum, kicking his legs into the bed, not caring about what he damaged. He was frustrated. With Snape, With Madam Pomfrey, With Dumbledore, With himself. He just wanted to be left alone. He just wanted to get out.

…

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione made their way though the halls and up to Dumbledore's office. They had spent the whole morning looking for Harry - checking the Quidditch field, the library, and the hospital wing but they couldn't find him anywhere. They were starting to get very worried.

"Come in." Dumbledore said, knowing exactly who was visiting him. He knew it wouldn't be long until Harry's friends began looking for him. He smiled softly as Ron Weasley and Hermione walked into his office. "Lemon drop?" He asked, holding out the bowl for them.

"No, thank you headmaster. We are here for…"

"Harry, yes I know. I was expecting you two sooner or later, but don't worry he is being taken care of." Dumbledore said as he set the dish down, taking a lemon drop for himself.

"What do you mean being taken care of? Is he sick? Who is taking care of him? We were just at the hospital wing and he wasn't there." Hermione said as she looked over at Ron with a worried look on her face.

"One questions at a time please. You are right. Harry isn't in the hospital wing. He is with Professor Snape, and before you ask it is not my place to tell you why…it is Harry's." Dumbledore explained before Hermione or Ron could ask why.

"What is going on?!" Ron ask a bit loudly for anyone's liking.

"Like I said that is for Harry to tell you, not me. I will tell Harry that you stopped by and you would like to see him, but that is all I can do for now." Dumbledore said calmly. "Now you two better be off or you will be late for class."

Hermione gave a small nod, sensing that something was deeply wrong. "Just tell Harry whatever is going on that we are here for him and would like to see him." She said, returning the small smile. She then grabbed Ron's arm and left.

"What's going on?" Ron ask still not understanding completely.

"I don't know, but I trust Dumbledore." Hermione said as she looked back at Dumbledore one last time before she headed to class.