Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and most of the settings in this story. The honour belongs solely to JK Rowling. I suspect that I do not even own half of the plot, as this has been influenced by the numerous fanfics I've read.

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Chapter 5: Curiosity is not always a good thing

Over the next week Harry's lessons with Snape continued to be a torturous affair. Snape did everything he could to torment Harry, making Harry brew the potions at least five times, whether or not they were brewed correctly the first time. Not only that, but Snape also gave Harry plenty of theoretical homework. Harry always found it difficult to do his summer homework at the best of times with the Dursleys always on the lookout for anything strange or abnormal. But Snape's homework alongside the chores he had to complete for the Dursleys, Harry wasn't getting very much sleep at all and was becoming quite irritable.

To make it worse, the last piece of homework Snape had assigned, Harry just couldn't find the answers in any of his potions books or notes. Were he at Hogwarts, he could have looked it up in the library, but, as Snape very well knew, the library was currently inaccessible to him. Harry was quite certain that Snape knew the answers were not any of Harry's textbooks, and he enjoyed seeing Harry squirm everyday when he was forced to tell Snape that he still hadn't completed this homework task.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Harry asked suddenly during his next lesson. Snape had just given Harry yet another lecture on his incompetence.

Snape looked up from the ever-present notes he was working on at his desk to glare at him. Harry was getting quite used to Snape's glares by now, having to put up with them every other minute, so Harry held eye contact, waiting patiently for a reply.

"You are an arrogant little fool, Potter. You have no regard for the rules, and just like your father, you think you are above everybody else." Snape turned back to his own work, not wishing to continue this conversation, but Harry wasn't satisfied. He'd heard these words from Snape many times, but Harry was sure that there had to be something else that made Snape despise him so much.

"I'm not like my father," Harry said simply.

Snape looked up quickly from his work. He was about to say something when Harry said, "You were right. My father was arrogant. What I saw in the pensieve, what my father did to you, I could never do that to anybody, whatever my feelings for them are." Snape's normally harsh expression started to soften just a little until Harry thought, 'except maybe Malfoy, who would deserve it.'

Harry was certain that he had not said those words out loud, but Snape flushed, glaring at Harry as he slowly rose from his chair. "And tell me why, Mr Potter, do you think that Mr Malfoy would deserve such treatment?" He said this very quietly, and by the way his teeth were starting to bear, Harry knew Snape was getting angry (or angrier, as Snape was always angry).

"Well, sir, er - " Harry stammered. He was sure he had not spoken those words, but then it came to him. 'Legilimency'.

Snape was stalking Harry, slowly moving closer to him as he spoke. "What if I told you, Mr Potter, that young Mr Malfoy has had to endure weekly, sometimes daily beatings his entire life for not living up to his father's unreasonable expectations? Would you still think he deserved to be so horribly humiliated?"

Harry was stunned. Malfoy was being beaten by his father? He always thought Malfoy was a rich, spoilt, pampered little brat. This realisation shook Harry. He no longer knew what to think.

"Do you feel that you are so far above the rest of us that you have to right to declare who deserves what treatment? It is not up to you to decide who deserves what, Potter." Snape was very close to an almost catatonic Harry, close enough for Harry to smell, and feel, Snape's breath on his face.

"You think you are not like your father?" Snape paused, and then spoke very quietly, but forcefully. "You have just proven that you are exactly like your father."

With that, Snape turned away towards his desk and said, "I must go to Knockturn Alley for some supplies, Mr Potter. Finish your potion and get out. If I find anything has been touched when I get back, and rest assured I will know if there has, there will be hell to pay."

Snape gathered up the notes he had been working on and put them in his private laboratory before he left. Harry, feeling properly chastised, finished his potion quickly, wanting to get out of there. Once his potion was completed, he bottled a sample for Snape to look at later, and gathered his belongings. He was about to leave when he saw that the door to Snape's private laboratory was left open. Snape usually locks it. Harry knew he should leave it alone; he had made this mistake last year during Occlumency lessons. But as usual, he couldn't help himself. He was just too curious to know what Snape's been working on, it maybe something for the Order.

Slowly, Harry put down his bag and entered the lab. Harry felt sure that Snape wouldn't be back for some time. Just a quick look and he'll go. In the lab, there were even more of those slimy objects in jars, pretty much covering two of the four walls. The third wall contained a floor to ceiling high bookcase, as jammed with books as it could possible get. Along the fourth wall was Snape's desk and more of those jars, and in the middle of the large laboratory were two workbenches. The there were about half a dozen potions brewing on the benches. The potions seemed to be in different stages of progress. One, Harry was pretty sure was Wolfsbane, by the murky grey colour. Snape was probably still brewing the potion for Lupin. The others were differing colours of dirty yellow, scarlet, and blue. He had no idea what these could be. Harry thought, given Snape's personality, that they were probably some kind of poison. One, strangely enough was rainbow. Harry didn't know how one could create a rainbow coloured potion without all the colours mixing in together. Harry approached the bench to look closer at this potion, and saw there were some notes by its side. Harry could barely make out the intelligible scrawl. Snape was clearly in a hurry when he wrote this, but from what Harry could decipher it seemed to be some kind of Persistence potion. Harry had to brew Persistence potions in the past, but this was more complicated than anything he had ever seen. It made the Polyjuice Potion seem like a walk in the park.

"Sometimes it fascinates me, Mr Potter, just how easy it is to lure you."

Harry snapped his head around to see Snape standing in the doorway. He was really, very angry. He started to walk toward Harry.

"I would have thought that after so many traps you've managed to fallen into, you could take greater care in not delving into places which do not concern you." By the time Snape finished, he was nose to nose with Harry.

"Professor, I - "

"Silence! Do you honestly believe, that with your track record, I would just leave you alone here with my door wide open?" Harry could clearly see the cold hard depths of Snape's black eyes. Snape's lips were stretched tight, and his face was pure white with anger.

"You set me up!" Harry accused, trying to back away.

Snape grabbed Harry by the front of his baggy t-shirt and growled, emphasising each word, "You are easy prey, Potter. Get out!" and Snape practically threw Harry out the door of his lab. Harry quickly grabbed his bag and fled.

When Harry arrived back at the Dursleys 10 seconds later, he ran straight up the stairs and into his room, ignoring the call from Aunt Petunia telling him it was about time he got home, he has to clean the garage.

Harry's heart was pounding fast, both from the run, and the fear he felt when he got caught. 'the greasy bastard set me up!' he kept thinking, but another deep voice full of loathing also echoed in his mind, 'you are easy prey'.

Harry started to shake. If he couldn't spot a simple setup from Snape, how was he ever going to face the most manipulative and evil dark wizard of them all, Lord Voldemort.

Harry collapsed down on the bed, feeling horrible. When he lay down however, his back landed on something hard. He quickly got up again to see what it was. It was a potions textbook, but it didn't belong to Harry. He had never seen it before. He opened the book and a small piece if parchment fell out. The note was written in vaguely familiar handwriting and said:

"The information you are requiring for your tutor on invisibility drafts can be found in this book. Happy Birthday, Harry."

There was no signature.

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