Author's Note~ Thank you everyone for being patient with the updates and sticking with me! I love all the reviews you guys write, thank you. This chapter may be sensitive to some, it is not graphic but the implications may make some uncomfortable. If you think you might be bothered then please wait for the next chapter.

Harry stumbled out of the fireplace; he would have landed on his face if a firm hand had not grasped his shoulder to stop him from falling.

"This way Potter," Snape walked ahead of him and Harry followed. Severus walked briskly and it was all Harry could do to keep up, he almost ran into the man when he stopped short. "This will be your room for the time being. You will find that your trunk and other belongings have already been dropped off. Take a look around and I will be in the sitting room when you are finished."

Harry took a step into the room. His bed was larger than his four poster with a maroon comforter, there was a lion tapestry hanging behind it. He looked around and found his trunk against the wall on the other side of the room. He moved over to it quickly and tore it open. He haphazardly rummaged through his things. His knife was gone.

Harry turned around and sat down on the floor with his back leaning up against the trunk. He realized that it must still be under his pillow in the dormitories. Sure it would be easy enough to slip up there and grab it between classes, but he didn't think that he could make it that long without using it. Just not having access to it was making Harry anxious already.

He stood slowly and headed to the sitting room. Harry stopped to look at a glass piece of art that was on the wall. It was in the shape of a tear drop, he reached out to touch it and crash it shattered into a million pieces. Harry bent down wide eyed and picked up a large shard his heart racing. Snape was going to kill him. He had been in the potion masters chambers for less than an hour and he had already broken something.

He took a deep shuttering breath preparing himself for his punishment and shuffled the rest of the way to the sitting room.

"Potter what was that ruckus you were making?" He noticed that the boy walking towards him was very pale and nervous. As he came closer he noticed a large piece of glass in his hand. "Potter are you hurt?" he asked quickly.

The boy came right up to him and handed him the piece of glass. "I am sorry sir." Harry got down on his knees in front of Severus.

"What are you doing Potter?" Severus asked confused. Harry did not look up when he answered,

"I need to make payment for breaking you sculpture sir." Suddenly something clicked in Severus' head and he jumped backward hastily.

"Potter get off your knees this instant!" Harry looked up confused and slowly rose to his feet. Severus led him to a couch that sat in front of a fire place and pointed to it, "Sit" he said. Harry sat down nervously picking at his nails.

"Mr. Potter what was that?" asked Severus trying to remain calm. He sat on an armchair across from the boy.

"W-Well s-sir, I b-roke your sculpture.." he started.

"And?" asked Severus impatiently.

"A-And I need to make it up to you," said Harry looking at his knees.

"And how were you planning on doing that?" asked Severus, he dreaded the answer but knew it was necessary to ask.

Harry's face turned crimson and he said nothing. "Mr. Potter, what did your uncle make you do if you broke something at his house?" He still remained silent but started to rock a little. "Potter you can tell me or you can show me but either way we will not be leaving this room until this matter is addressed."

Harry could not tell his potions professor what he had done while he was at home, but showing him would be just as humiliating. He bit his nails and said nothing. "Potter we do not have all day, what will it be?"

"I-I guess…I guess you can look," Harry mumbled quietly. Severus took a deep breath and pinched his nose. This was not the choice he had been hoping the boy would make; he really needed to get Harry talking. But he guessed that would have to wait until he witnessed the memory.

He summoned a calming draught and handed it to Harry, "Drink," he said shortly. He watched as the boy lifted the potion to his lips shakily. "Potter I want you to try your best to stay with me, without hurting yourself understand?"

Harry nodded but did not tell his professor that he had idea how to control it without hurting himself, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to stay put for the conversation that was sure to follow anyway. But he heard the quiet whisper of Snape's voice and closed his eyes.

"Legillimense," Severus whispered and he entered Harry's mind.

Severus looked over to Harry who was curled in a fetal position on the floor next to his mattress; he grimaced when he saw the ropes hanging from the wall. 'So this must be after the first time' he thought.

Severus turned as Harry's door swung open and noted that the boy didn't even flinch as his cousin entered the room. Dudley walked over to Harry nervously and whispered, "Hey dad wants you downstairs now you better get up."

To his amazement Severus watched as Harry pulled himself off the floor, he was sure the boy would not be able to move. To further is shock Dudley put a beefy arm around Harry and helped him limp out of his room. Not letting go until they reached the top of the stairs where his father could catch him.

"Freak, I want the house cleaned by the time I get back understood?"

"Yes sir" Harry whispered

"Excuse me?!" Vernon turned to look at the boy with his beady eyes.

"I-I mean yes master," whispered Harry.

Vernon turned and led Dudley out of the house, before closing the front door Dudley turned back and shot Harry a concerned glance that only Severus was witness to. Harry had already turned his back to the door and slowly started cleaning the living room. Before long he was dusting an end table when his elbow bumped a large crystal vase and knocked it to the ground. It shattered immediately and Harry stepped back in horror.

Severus watched as the boy slowly picked up the shards and threw them in the trash; the fear in his eyes was unmistakable. When Harry had finished cleaning up the broken vase he slowly returned to cleaning but his body was visibly shaking as he did.

It was not long before the Dursley men returned home. Harry gingerly picked up a piece of the vase that he had left out of the trash and brought it to his uncle bowing his head.

"T-The v-vase fell," Severus watched as an unexpected smile came across Vernon's face.

"Well then freak, it looks like you will need to pay us back for it doesn't it? Get on your knees boy," Vernon snarled and with a pudgy hand on Harry's head he shoved his nephew to the ground. "Dudley come here."

Dudley walked over looking nervous, "yeah dad?" he asked.

"Well son you paid for the vase. You gave it to your mother on her birthday, it is only fitting that it is you who are paid back."

"Uh its ok dad it's not a big deal."

"Dudley shut up and let the freak pay you back; you won't regret it I promise." When Dudley hesitated he added, "Unless you want to be a freak like him and start paying me back for the things I buy you you will do what you are told."

Dudley sighed and stood in front of Harry, after a moment of fiddling with his belt he dropped his jeans. He looked away from Harry and from his father his face red.

Severus felt the bile in his stomach threatening to surface as he watched the scene before him. He had definitely seen enough and he hastily left the memory.

Harry sat on the couch rocking harder than ever scratching the inside of his arm and leaving red angry scrapes up his forearm. The calming draught had kept him calm, or at least calmer than Severus had excepted him to be. He quickly grabbed the boy's arms and pulled them apart.

"Potter what your uncle did to you, what he forced you to do, it was disgusting and wrong."

"M-My fault," croaked Harry as the floodgates opened and tears streamed down his face. "It was all my fault, I broke the damn vase. I deserved it, I had to pay, it was all my fault."

"Harry," said Severus sternly trying to get the hysterical boy to listen, "It was not it anyway your fault. Accidents happen and things break, that in no means should ever lead to the sort of," he paused, "payment that your uncle enforced. I would never, ever, expect you to pay me back for breaking something in these chambers. Understand?"

Harry hiccupped a little and nodded. Severus pulled him into a hug, although he was disgusted by what he had seen in the memory he was relieved that the boy had been able to stay in his own head afterword. Yes eventually he was going to have to be able to do it without the calming draught but this was a good enough place to start.

When he let the boy go Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out the scar removal cream. Going back to his snarky self he said "Potter take off your shirt. Seeing as you were unable to handle it yourself, for the next couple of days before you go to sleep and in the morning I am going to put this on your chest until the scars are gone."

Harry eyed him but pulled off his shirt anyway. He looked away as Snape slowly rubbed the balm on the letters carved into his chest. "You still believe it don't you?" asked Severus as he gently tended to the scars, "that you are a freak."

"I don't know sir," said Harry still looking away from Snape and the scars. "I guess so."

"Earlier I asked you to think about why your friends were so upset when they found out that you had tried to kill yourself. Have you come up with a reason yet?" Harry said nothing just shaking his head slowly. "Well I encourage you to keep thinking about it then," said Severus. He decided that it was time the boy had some visitors, he made a mental note to send a note to his godson requesting his presence the next day.

After Severus had finished and Harry had replaced his shirt the two sat on the couch in silence. It was not until he heard a tiny snore that Severus realized that the boy had fallen asleep. Severus carried him into his new bedroom and gently put him on the bed. After removing his glasses and pulling up the comforter Severus retreated to his own room, not before putting a spell on the boy so he would know if Harry became distressed.

It was some hours later when Harry woke up, he rolled over to find a block on his bedside table that read 3:30am. He felt his anxiety was building and he knew that he needed to find a way to release it before it was too late. He snuck out of his room and down the hall. Harry was disappointed when he found that Snape had cleaned up the glass that Harry had left scattered on the floor.

He knew it was probably useless but he bent over and scoured the ground for left over shards. He was starting to panic a little when he got an idea, it was a long shot but maybe Snape had forgotten the piece that Harry had brought to him. Harry quickly walked into the sitting room and found exactly what he was looking for.

The glass was cool in his hand as Harry sank to the ground with it in his hands. He did not like the feel of it as much as he did his knife, but he rolled up the sleeve of his left arm nonetheless. He squinted in the darkness at the mess he had made of his arm earlier that evening. It would be much easier for Harry to get the affect he with one deep cut, instead of a bunch of scratches from his fingernails.

Slowly he brought the glass to his skin, pausing for a moment before he sunk it beneath the skin. He hissed a little as he pulled the shard across his arm making a small cut. Harry felt the anxiety start to leave him. Each breath was getting easier, as he brought the glass over the small cut again and again. He finally stopped when his head was clear and his arm throbbing.

Harry slowly stood up and walked to the kitchen to throw the glass in the trash, by the time the cut healed and he needed another one he would have his own knife back. He tiptoed back to his room and grabbed an old T-shirt that he pressed against his arm until he fell asleep.