Harry yawned and stretched out his body as the soft morning light bathed his room in bright sunlight. Although he hated being back with his relatives, he did enjoy the peaceful mornings the Dursleys woke up. However he groaned again when he realised that Snape would be in his room in only a couple of hours, and Harry knew for a fact the man would not even be a minute later than 9. He slowly got up and started getting ready, making sure to wear one of Dudley's bigger hoodies to hide he had lost weight, as knowing Snape he would probably make a snide remark about him attention seeking. Harry prayed that Snape wouldn't mention Sirius, as he couldn't bear to even think about him without the risk of his emotions coming to the surface, which would only be one more thing Snape would use against him. He went downstairs to start cooking breakfast, during which his aunt and uncle had a 5 minute conversation about how scruffy and tatty he was looking, and how he shouldn't be allowed out in case the neighbours saw him. Harry was used to them talking about him as if he wasn't there and simply rolled his eyes as he washed the grease off the plates. As 9 drew closer he started feeling more tense and on edge, and quickly escaped from his aunt before he had to explain why he hadn't started his chores. As he sat nervously reading 'Quidditch through the ages' he held his breath as his watch beeped 9. Not 10 seconds later he heard a sharp knock at the door. He decided to let Aunt Petunia open the door, partly because he wanted to see her reaction to another wizard in her house, and because he wanted to spend as little time with Snape as possible. As he heard his aunt's footsteps rushing to the door Harry crept out on to the landing to listen to their conversation. He watched as she plastered a fake smile on her face and pulled the door open

'Hello, ca- YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!' Harry hadn't expected his aunt to be happy, but he felt his mouth open in surprise, as she had spoken to Snape as if they had met before. Harry leant in slightly closer so as to see Snape's reaction.

'I see age has not improved your manners then Tuney. Trust me it gives me no pleasure to be here' Snape's slow, threatening voice echoed around the hallway, as Petunia's mouth tightened and she drew herself up to full height.

'You still haven't answered my question Snape, what are you doing here'

'So I see your nephew hasn't bothered to inform you that I will be tutoring him twice a week. If you have an issue with that I suggest you contact Dumbledore, as I can assure you being here wasn't a voluntary decision and I don't need to listen to your incessant complaining'

By this point Harry had no idea what was going on. He had never heard anyone refer to his Aunt as Tuney, and he couldn't see why Snape would have had any interaction with a muggle, or in fact with anyone outside Hogwarts. He knew better than to bother ask Snape or his aunt about it, so pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He realised that he was going to have to go downstairs at some point, so pushed his hair back and tried to relax as he started walking down the stairs.

'Potter, I see you've finally decided to stop being a layabout and join us. Pray tell, was there a reason you decided to not inform your family you were having these sessions?'

Harry shrugged. 'There wouldn't have been any point, and anyway it doesn't concern them'

Snape's mouth tightened slightly and he narrowed his eyes. 'Your arrogance seems to only be getting worse Potter. I want to get this lesson over with as soon as possible so stop standing there looking gormless and hurry up'

As Harry turned to go back up the stairs his aunt gave him a look that suggested his uncle would be hearing about this when he got home. However Harry couldn't find any reason to care, even though he knew he would be punished he always felt numb, so being locked in his room would make no difference either way. As Harry started to walk nonchalantly up the stairs Snape took a moment to look around at the beige hallway. There were photos of the son and husband of Petunia but no pictures of her nephew. He had also noticed the way Petunia had looked at Potter when he had come downstairs. Snape rolled his eyes, he didn't give a damn about Potter's home life and the boy was clearly fine otherwise Dumbledore would have had him removed. Before Snape had apparated to Little Whinging Dumbledore had told him that Potter hadn't been writing to his friends, and that he was not to mention Black, no matter how irritating the brat got. He had even wanted Severus to ask how Potter was, but he had outright refused as he couldn't stand the boy and certainly didn't care about his feelings or the dog being dead.

'

Snape wrinkled his nose as the boy pushed the door to his bedroom open.

'What?' Harry snapped at him.

Snape eyed him coolly for a moment before replying. 'Watch your tone Potter, we may not be at Hogwarts but I can and will give you detentions if you do not learn how to show me a basic level of respect, surely someone even as incompetent as you can understand that'

Snape was surprised when the boy didn't fight back, but instead shrugged his shoulders and turned around to grab his desk chair. Snape looked at the bare walls and peeling paint, the broken furniture and the pile of old clothes on the floor.

'Do you enjoy living in such squalor Potter? Or is it just beyond your abilities to tidy a room'

Harry looked at him coldly for a moment. 'Can we please start? Neither of us want to be doing this'

Snape couldn't be bothered to start an argument with the boy, and instead transfigured the wastepaper bin into a chair. 'Let's hope you've been practising Potter, I don't think either of us can bear to be witness to your appalling attempts a few months ago again. Especially as you've had the last 4 months to practise, try to keep me out of your mind more than 5 seconds. Legilimens.'

Harry tried to concentrate on the numbness he felt, but he could feel Snape's mind pushing against his own and before he knew it memories were rushing by, some mundane tasks such as making breakfast or mowing the lawn, others from Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione, working with the DA and then worst of all, a memory of Sirius flashed by. He felt a wave of emotion and forced his mind to push Snape out. He sat back on the chair, breathing heavily and trying to force the wave of guilt and vulnerability back down. He didn't know if he would be able to handle this for two hours a week, he was already feeling the need for a cigarette and Snape had only been here for 10 minutes.

'That was disgraceful Potter. The dark lord will be able to control your mind in seconds if he wished to, when will you learn to control your emotions and not allow your weaknesses to be so easily visible.'

Harry bit back 'I'm trying to control them, but it's hardly easy for me to push you out when the memories keep changing'

Snape eyed him with disgust. 'You know Potter, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if you weren't even trying to get better at occlumency. Most likely attention seeking, just like your good for nothing father'

'I don't give a fuck about your opinion Snape, maybe if you had actually taught me how to control my mind I wouldn't still be having these lessons' Harry almost yelled at him. Snape took a moment to gather himself, as although the brat was insolent and disrespectful he had never sworn at him. He took one large step forward, grabbed him by the shirt and snarled at him;

'You've just earned yourself your first week back at Hogwarts in detention Potter. And don't you ever talk to me like that again, I'm giving up my time to teach you so the least you can be is grateful.'

Harry knew he had been rude, but the arsehole deserved it, after all he was partly to blame for Sirius's death. By being rude to Snape Harry was sure he would complain to Dumbledore. This made Harry smile slightly at the thought of upsetting the headmaster and showing that he wasn't going to be his puppet anymore and take shit from supposedly responsible adults.

'Let's try again then Potter' Snape ,muttered through gritted teeth. The boy was seriously getting on his nerves, his uncaring attitude doing nothing but pissing him off even more than he thought possible. Back and forth they went for the rest of the hour, with very little improvement on Hurry's part and Snape only becoming more and more annoyed with him, until eventually the hour was up.

'I will be back on the same time on Thursday Potter. If I do not see any improvement we will be having a discussion about your laziness. You would think after that...incident a few weeks ago you would be more aware than ever the need to improve.' Snape said deliberately. Without another word he slammed the boys' bedroom door shut, made his way out of the house and apparated back to the Hogwarts grounds before Harry could throw back a comment.

Harry watched out his window as Snape had apparated away, and collapsed back on to his bed as he saw the man disappear. He breathed in and out slowly, trying to dispel some of the anger and resentment he felt, and absent mindedly grabbed his cigarettes and lighter out his bedside drawer. He thanked Merlin his aunt had gone out during the lesson, as he had desperately needed to cigarette to calm his beating heart and blood pumping through his body. Snape knew just what to say to hurt him, and he couldn't stand that he would have to be dealing with him one to one twice a week. Harry knew there was fuck all he could do, this was just another of Dumbledore's plans that he would be forced into. The more Harry thought about how unfair the situation was the angrier he was becoming. He could feel the desperate urge to have some sort of control over something in his life, so he walked over to his trunk and picked up the bottle of vodka he had gotten. He quickly gulped down 3 large mouthfuls, and shivered at the aftertaste. But he felt that sense of control and relief again, as he knew Dumbledore would probably curse him if he knew Harry was taking risks like this, which was why he loved it even more. Within a minute he could feel his head go light headed and he felt a sense of calmness overcome him. He had never drunk alcohol before and didn't know if he was drunk or not, but either way he loved the feeling it gave him. He wandered downstairs, and happily got on with his chores as mundane thoughts crossed his mind. It was such a change from the usual emptiness and Harry felt pure relief. However after a few hours he realised the feeling of contentedness had passed as he had his Aunt come back in. As he carried on mowing the back garden he heard his uncle's car pull up and the front door open. Almost immediately he could hear his aunt screeching at his uncle.

'Vernon! You will not believe what happened today, one of the boys freak teachers turned up this morning and will apparently be teaching him here twice a week! Vernon the boy didn't even tell us!'

Harry held his breath as he heard his uncle thundering through the house.

'Get over here right this second!' his uncle hissed at him from the back door. Harry sighed and turned off the lawnmower, and as slowly as possible made his way inside.

'How dare you allow your freaks into our house! And not even tell us they were coming here! You better learn to show some respect boy before I beat it into you!'

Harry eyed his uncle coolly and contemplated how ironic that sentence was. Angered by Harry's refusal to apologise he turned a curious shade of red.

'Get up to your room right now! And don't even think about having any meals today or tomorrow'

As Harry walked back upstairs he considered the punishment to be quite light. He assumed it was because now they knew a wizard would be in their house twice a week they couldn't exactly lock him in and starve him, although it wasn't as if Snape would care, in fact he would probably be thrilled. Harry lay back down on his bed and watched the sun sink lower in the sky, accepting the next two days of solitude and hunger, something he had grown used to over the years. At least this time he would have his vices, he mused to himself. Maybe being locked in his room wasn't so bad after all.

A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating, my laptop charger broke and I've had lots of work hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, please review!