Harry found himself spending the following few days after his sickness very isolated; he only left the safety of the Gryffindor common room to climb to the owlery to see if either of his friends had replied to his mail explaining the sudden, frightening turn of events. Snape had done a no show at every one of Harry's evening classes so far, and he soon tired of the 15 minutes' walk to the Potions classroom, only to be made to wait for an hour every time before an elf appeared and dismissed him. He frequently wondered where Snape had gone to, and if he had left him all alone in Hogwarts, a thought which bewildered him, uncomfortably close to the creature that had tried to put a stop to his life. The first day after being poisoned Harry had been completely pain free, and had definitely enjoyed it, but he had woken the next day with extreme pains all over his body. It was as if someone was holding a scolding piece of metal to his skin in numerous places, the heat ripping at his muscles like a starved animal, his body's final clean-up operation against any remaining poison in his bloodstream, or any that had embedded itself into his flesh. It was as if his body didn't trust Snape to do the job well enough, which was similar to the thoughts harry had been having.

He woke on the eve of his birthday to Hedwig banging on the glass dormitory window with her beak in an annoyed fashion, she looked like she had been waiting a while for him to rise.

'Hedwig, gosh, I'm so sorry!' Harry exclaimed in surprise as he let the beautiful bird into the room, bringing the sunrise with her, she circled the room twice and then eventually landed on his chest of draws, kicking his alarm clock off with a scaly foot. She glanced at it lying on the floor and squeaked loudly, she never had like it.

Harry muttered under his breath and unattached the thick wad of parchment that was tied to her leg, she had dropped a large parcel wrapped in brown paper into the middle of his bed, something he only noticed as he went to pat her affectionately on the head.

'Harry that is terrible! How are you feeling? Oh Merlin, we should have never let you stay there over the holidays, it was a death wish! Do you think Snape was in on it all? From his reaction that you described her certainly sounded very annoyed at something, maybe he knew something? Write to me as soon as you find out any more about that conversation!

Stay safe,

Hermione'

Harry smiled and with his thumb and index finger stroked the parchment, whilst turning it over in his fingers, a caring letter from Hermione never failed to brighten his holidays. He tucked the parchment into his robe pocket where he would likely pull it out and read it again later, and after pausing briefly to watch Hedwig claw at his bed post, undid the second letter.

'7pm. Without fail. Bring your wand and be focused.'

The note had been written in a messy scribe, as if done in great haste. Very unlike Snape, usually he was very particular, borderline perfectionist. Something had to be wrong. For what felt like the billionth time that week, Harry's stomach dropped.

'Without fail? It's you that hasn't been there!' He screamed and brought his fist down onto his bed in anger, surprising a half-asleep Hedwig who with a loud squawk and a furious flapping of wings flew into the air and landed in the corner of the room watching Harry closely.

'Sorry…' Harry grumbled, his body was filled with resentment, an emotion he didn't often feel. It must've been the side effects of the potion Snape had provided to dull any pain he had. Shoving the note into the bin beside his bed he watched as it quivered, before sparking. Within seconds the Professors note, was no more.

Harry had soon finished reading Ron's lengthy letter about his miserable time on holiday so far, the company of his relatives was not as exciting as he had originally thought, Harry scribbled replies to all except Snape's note and sent Hedwig back on her journey, a piece of last night's chicken in her mouth. He wondered out loud where Ferret was, the owl that Ron had supposedly been leant by his brothers school friend and how Snape had intercepted his loyal bird to attach his own personal note. The brown parcel remained unopened on his bedspread.

6:45pm came around faster than Harry wished, and soon it was time to leave for Snape's first actual evening class of the holiday, the only one to go ahead since school had finished for the term. Harry was at a loss as what to expect, would he be brewing potions for Snape, getting a head start on next year's work (boy Hermione would be envious if that was the case), or revising for his Christmas exams?

Lost in thought he didn't realize he had arrived at his destination a lot quicker than normal.

'Potter. How positively wonderful it is to see you today.' Snape's blank face betrayed the false enthusiasm he put into his words. Nodding in acknowledgment Harry took a seat in the first row.

'Not there Potter. You need to be standing for today's lesson.' The Potions master took out his wand and pointed it straight at Harry, aiming between his eyes, Harry followed the movement, and momentarily going crossed eyed before he refocused on Snape. He drew his own wand and clutched it tightly in his hand, ready to protect himself if it was needed.

'Tonight I'll be teaching you the basics of Legilimency. Have you heard of it Potter?'

'No Sir.' Harry replied, lying. He had heard of it, but he wasn't 100% sure what it was. He had overheard Hermione discussing it with Pavarti earlier in the year after one of their Potions lessons, because she had read in a passage in a very old paper article, that Severus Snape had been named greatest Legilimens of his time, at one point only being second to Voldemort himself. Another famous Legilimen was Albus Dumbledore, which Hermione had taken great satisfaction in knowing.

'Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's finding. It can be used for good, as well as for the most severe evil. The latter Potter, you will not be permitted to do. You are not to mention this class to your school friends, and you are never to practise on anyone in the school.' Snape sneered at him and took a step back, leaning into his duelling pose which Harry had seen earlier in the year when he had witnessed Snape's dominance over Professor Lockhart. 'Tonight, you will learn how to do it with eye contact, and a wand. One day you will be able to do it as I do. Nonverbally and wandlessly.'

Knowing that Snape excelled in something that could allow him to see everything Harry had experienced, thought and felt, made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

'Repeat after me Potter. Legilimens!' Snape shouted, never breaking eye contact with Harry.

'Legilimens!' Harry screamed back equally as loudly, pointing his ward towards Snape, suddenly the world around him disappeared into blackness. After frantically looking around, he found himself face to face with none other than a skinny round face, the scar that decorated the boys forehead burning dully. He was looking at himself. That's when he realized where he was; he was in Snape's mind. He was seeing what Snape saw, and that was a 12 year old boy aiming his wand dangerously, his eyes wide with fear. But before Harry could physically make a move to delve into the secrets that the mind he was in held, a wall came crashing down on him. Snape was forcing him out, and he wasn't doing it gently.

Harry stumbled back; his whole body trembling. For a short moment he had been in the mind of Severus Snape, and it certainly hadn't been pleasant, the place had been void of any feeling and wasn't what he expected. After Snape's explanation of the spell he had expected to penetrate the mind and find on the surfaces some of his Professors darkest secrets, ones that not even Dumbedore knew... but there had been nothing, zilch. Out of the corner of his eye, breaking his thought he saw Snape glaring at him, his face contorted with hatred.

'Don't you dare use that on me without my permission!' He bellowed, taking a predatory step towards Harry. He had heard about Snape losing his temper freely before from a group of scarred fifth years students, but until now had not been a witness to such an outburst. 'You will not be entering my mind today Potter. However I commend you on such a Slytherin like act.' He added that on the end knowing it would bug Harry. Any questioning of Harry's rightful house truly bothered him, although he had chosen, well forced the Hat to sort him into Gryffindor, he had originally been set for Slytherin, the house of his enemy.

'Sorry.' Harry said, not in a very apologetic way. 'You told me to.'

'I told you to repeat my words, not perform the spell. Don't speak back to me.'

Snape retreated back to his seat and sat there watching Harry.

'You are so like your father.' He said calmly, not in his usual distasteful way. 'Too much like him.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Harry asked accusingly, his eyes narrowing at the Professor who was following his every movement like a hawk with his cold, black eyes. 'Professor Snape?'

Snape hadn't spoken for what felt like forever.

'I'm going to get you an elf to practise on.'

Hugo stood before Harry, every inch of his slimy grey skin trembling with had dragged him into the room a matter of minutes earlier, and was stood with his arms crossed at the entrance to the potions class watching Harry, waiting impatiently for him to perform the Legilimens spell.

'Gain eye contact Potter, that's essential for a beginner.' Snape instructed firmly.

Harry did as he was told, he reached out a shaking hand and captured the elf's chin between his two index fingers, the contact sending cold shivers down his spine, it reminded him of the squid that he had once tried at a school banquet. He felt under incredible pressure to perform, a familiar feeling whilst under Snape's intense gaze.

'I'm sorry Hugo.' Harry muttered and pointed his want to the middle of the elf's forehead, pressing the tip into his flesh. 'Legilimens!' He roared and suddenly he was taken on a rollercoaster through enclosing darkness, where he eventually landed in a large room. Hogwarts Kitchen. Harry had been invited in openly to the quaking creature's mind, without even a slightest attempt at repelling him. He felt so guilty.

He was viewing the first memory that he could get to, it must've been the easiest memory to find. Thinking back to what Snape had said when introducing the spell, the elf must have been thinking about it the moment Harry performed the spell, otherwise he would've made an attempt at hiding it.

'Move!' A high pitched squeal rang in Harry's ears as he watched the body he was in being pushed forcefully out the way to let past an abnormally large elf with eyes the size and shape of tennis balls. Its hollow face was quaking with fear. Harry watched as the next few events unravelled in shear horror.

'Eli? Eli! Eli!' The elf that had pushed Hugo out the way was shaking the little elf violently, its mouth millimetres from Eli's face, the surrounding crowd was panicking, squeals, screams and curses were heard, and it was a surprise that neither Harry nor Snape had heard the commotion while it was taking place.

Suddenly Eli's eyes snapped open dramatically, they were glazed over and his pupils were pinpricks, a crazed look covering his face. Proof for Harry that at least one thing Snape had said had been true; the elf had indeed been under the imperius curse.

'Get. Out. Of. My. Way!' Eli spat in a rather amusing American accent, shoving his friends out the way, each step he took parting the crowd. 'remove your self from Eli's way!' He screamed again at the elf that had tried to wake him, who had followed behind him, and was now standing in front of him, trembling.

'Eli can not betray the house elfs. The house elfs won't let Eli kill Mister Harry Potter!'

Eli's eyes hardened and he put out one perfectly still, filthy hand. Every single elf, including Hugo, recoiled in unison. A blast of brilliant blue light exploded from his palm, smashing straight into his victim, who fell immediately to the floor. Silence. Harry could feel Hugo's body convulsing violently at the memory, he was feeling pain, grief, anger, hatred and confusion all in one second, and it was too much for the little elf. He keeled over, the memory ending. Harry was forced out immediately and once again stumbled back, this time falling into a wooden desk, knocking a pile of neatly arranged parchment onto the ground.

'Potter?'

'You were right sir.' Harry said bluntly, gasping for breath. Hugo slumped forward, his eyes closing, leaving him in a sleep like trance.

'No!' The Professor roared shoving his arm in front of Harry to stop him from proceeding. 'He's in a dangerous state.' Snape said cautiously, his eyes washing over the frail elf. 'Now tell me, what did he show you?'

Another chapter written :) I hope you like this; I finally know exactly where I'm going with the story, which is a relief. Enjoy!

~ Bry