A/N: Me again! No, don't run away! You won't see Harry's memories this chapter.

The results are now as follows, though there's still a chance to vote:

Vote one:

1)   Severitus' Challenge- 4

2)   Harry/Snape slash- 3

3)   Just plain friendship- 4

Vote 2

1)         To be hunted down by Snape and killed. - 3

2)         To be hunted down by Snape and turned over to the proper authorities. -2

3)         To be hunted down by members of the wizarding community and killed. -4

4)         To be caught by the muggle authorities and charged with murder. - 2

5)         To get away clean free.

Also, there was still that choice where Vernon becomes a Death Eater. 'Me' chose that one.

Chapter 6 - Painful memories

That night, after I had seen some Harry's more... prominent memories, I sat in a chair in the lounge on the first floor, just giving in to my memories for the first time in years.

I knew this would be hard for me, but as I had seen much worse that day, I didn't care. Also, I knew it was time to begin the healing process, by recalling them and reliving them, something which I had been putting off for years.

Waiting this long, blocking out the memories of the past, were not good for anyone. It was the same as bottling your feelings up, until they all burst out in one, coming back ten-fold what they would have been if you had just let them out. This was definitely how it was for the memories I was experiencing.

The pain, the horror, everything from my childhood and teenage years living with my 'family' came back, much worse than it had been ever before. I wanted to stop at this point, but I would not. I just kept remembering them, knowing it could be a lot worse.

After about an hour, I heard a scream and jumped up, my eyes wide with fear. I... knew that scream. It couldn't be... it just couldn't.

My heart thumping heavily, my breathing loud, as I rushed from the room, my cloak swirling behind me.

I was constantly telling myself that it wasn't who I thought it was, there was no way it was possible, there was no way, he wouldn't have. But no matter how much I told myself this, I still needed to be sure.

I opened the library door, my pulse racing, and stepped inside.

It was dark, and it smelt of old books. I always used to love it there. It was harder for him to find me there, in amongst the shelves, where there were so many hiding places. I had spent many a summer in here.

'You stupid boy!'

My eyes widened. In front of me was a scene rolling out in front of my eyes, and I recognised it.

'You worthless snivelling brat!'

I heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh, of fists making contact with another's body, the sound of a child crying out in pain, the sound of my past, though there was no sight there, and I suddenly understood.

Muggles may have said that this house was haunted, wizards would have disagreed. Only one of those groups would have been correct. That group would be the muggles, though only to some extent.

The house was haunted, yes, but not by the ghosts muggles associate with hauntings. That place is haunted by things no man would ever want to know about, though I did.

To most the manor wasn't haunted, but to those that knew it well enough, it was. I knew it well enough, and I knew the thing that haunted it. It was haunted by ghosts, but of a different sort to the usual ones. These were ghosts of the past, though they had never lived. Normal ghosts had all lived at one point, but these ghosts, these ghosts were memories of the past and they constantly haunted me in that place.

There is another thing that haunts it for me. These come from inside of me, from my very heart, my very soul. They're part of me, part of my very essence, and they always tear away at my insides, trying to get out.

Everyone has them, everyone has their own inner demons, though they rarely affect them. Yes, these were my own inner demons that were forcing me to hear moments of my past, though the sounds were dieing now, and I could feel the pain that they brought fading away.

'You worthle...'

The voice died out completely, and I knew that I had faced them, I had fought them, and I had won. I would still remember everything that had happened to me, with some pain, but I would be much happier than if I felt none at all. Now I just hoped Harry, who was resting, recovering, in one of the many bedrooms, would be able to face them as I had just done, only much sooner, before his life is swept with darkness, before it's too late.

My life was forfeit back then, as one person could take it, one person could destroy, and that person was the person whom I had pledged my life to, the person whom I had betrayed the most. That person was the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort.

I was stuck in one place where I would be considered on the winning side either way, but I was also in a position where either way I would be on the losing side. If one person wasn't to defend me, if I wasn't able to defend I myself, then I would die. I no longer knew what I believed in at that point, but I did know that either way I most probably screwed.

A/N:   Do not ask where any other this came from. I honestly have no idea. And now I'm officially worried about my sanity.

Hippy Flower: Okay, I've made a note of your vote. Hey the rhymes!

Ckat44: I did!

SSJClaire: Okay, thanks.

Javana: Okay, variety is good.

BlueGryphon: Okay. I counted your vote. And Vernon's quite likely to be dead the way things are going.

Sarah: Okay. We'll see soon.