Disclaimer: said in a bored monotone I do not own harry potter and am
not (unfortunately) making any money from this or anything else for that
matter – I'm a student.
Slavery chapter 4
Harry nodded, and dozed off as Snape moved into some of what Harry believed were his own compositions.
The dawn of the seventh day of Harry's punishment saw him being shaken gently awake by Snape. "Potter. Drink this. I'll get you some food in a few minutes." Harry sat and knocked back the potion, feeling immediately better.
I am visiting some relatives today and will return tomorrow, I need some help to carry my possessions, you are to accompany me.
"Voldemort's letting you take me out of the castle?"
"Yes. If I do not return with you within 36 hours I will be punished and he will override control of that collar of yours, and use it to kill you."
Harry swallowed.
"You may stay here if you prefer. But there are several people who will be most sorry to not see you."
"Relatives?"
Snape smirked "Yes, you will carry my things to the gates of the castle and we will go our separate ways, I will collect you following my visit. My aunt is very confused since a nasty encounter with a dementor. If the dark lord asks she won't remember if you were there or not."
Harry smiled happily. Free for a day. He doubted whether he would easily be able to return to this hell tomorrow though. Snape might have to drag him kicking and screaming.
"Thank you."
"Thank Dumbledore, he engineered the whole thing."
"Does he have a plan to get us slaves out yet?"
"Its impossible to tell with Dumbledore." Snape said wryly.
Harry stood and prepared toast for himself and Snape. Savouring every mouthful of his slice.
"I am sure there will be some sort of feast prepared by Weasley when you arrive." Snape said, watching Harry eat.
There was a knock on the door of the room.
Harry went to the door and opened it. Lucius shoved him out of the way and entered the rooms in that nauseatingly arrogant way he is so good at.
"Severus! I require your slave to assist with another feast tonight."
"Sorry, he's going to be with me at my aunt's manor. It requires a large amount of cleaning."
"oh." Lucius said
"Ask Montague, his slave is proficient at cooking, in fact she has cooked several meals for the Dark Lord."
"Right. See you Tomorrow." Lucius said and turned to leave. "Can he at least accompany me to my quarters now for half an hour to lay the table. He will be in the entrance hall for 10 o clock"
"That's fine. Make sure he's there." Snape said roughly, attaching the appropriate gem to the collar around Harry's neck.
Harry, followed Malfoy out of the room and along the corridors.
"In there." Malfoy barked, shoving Harry unnecessarily hard into his dining room, before retreating into his sitting room.
Mary was laying the massive table already; she was incredibly thin and pale. "Are you alright?" Harry asked as he started at the other end of the massive table.
"Whenever he hits me he heals me, so I'm okay. Surviving. I hope they get us out soon!" Mary said close to tears.
Harry nodded, sympathetically. "They will"
The two finished the table together.
There was a cough from the doorway.
"Interesting conversation you two were having." Lucius said as he stepped into the room. "You don't seem to have grasped the situation. This is your life now, your ONLY escape is death!"
Mary started shaking violently. Lucius approached the girl and shoved her against the wall. He raised his fist. Harry wasn't aware of moving, but the next second he was pulling Lucius's fist away from the eleven year old.
Lucius turned to Harry, and with the arm Harry wasn't holding, punched him hard in the face.
Then set his face into a calm mask. "I understand that common mudbloods like yourselves, like to stick together, but NOBODY stops me from disciplining my servants. Get out! You are expected in the entrance hall. You" he said to Mary "you're coming with me!"
Harry left the room, his glasses were broken and a small piece of the glass lens was embedded in his right eyebrow. Harry held the complete left lens up to his eye and used it to make his way to the entrance hall.
Snape was standing there, and sighed when Harry approached "What did you do this time?!"
"I tried to stop him hitting Mary." Harry said handing his glasses to Snape for repair.
"For crying out loud" Snape muttered under his breath, then said louder "I'm sure my Aunt will want to take care of your eye. Eccentric woman really."
Harry took Snape's bag and followed him from his prison, for one day of freedom, guilt plaguing him about what Mary was probably experiencing right now.
At the entrance hall the two took separate portkeys and disappeared simultaneously.
Harry found himself outside Grimmauld place. The unreality of the situation struck him, and it was with a trembling hand that he knocked on the door.
It was opened with such a force that Harry stepped back in alarm.
Molly took one look at Harry and threw her arms around him in tears. A calm voice said in the background, "Let him in Molly, it's freezing out there."
Dumbledore guided Harry and Molly into the hallway. Pomfrey immediately approached and flung a blanket around Harry's shoulders, his ragged robes had been inadequate for warmth as he had walked to the gates of Hogwarts with Snape.
"How are you Harry?" Dumbledore asked
"I'm alright, better than the other slaves."
Everyone in the room flinched at the word, and Poppy lead Harry upstairs into a spare room. And ordered him to take the rags off so she could examine him.
She muttered Harry's injuries aloud in anger "cracked ribs, weight loss, eye injury, hairline crack in nose, bruising, a brand on the shoulder, and a nasty chill. If you're one of the better treated students, I'd hate to think what the worst treated are like!"
Harry looked down in silence and allowed Pomfrey to heal his wounds. "I'll have to leave the brand." Harry nodded, he'd forgotten it was there.
When she was done, he sent her a thankful smile. "Put some of these clothes on and we'll meet you downstairs." Harry looked at the rags in the corner of the room, and then at some of the clothes on the bed. Again with a strange feeling he pulled on the jeans and t-shirt. On the way out of he room, he saw his reflection in the mirror he looked pale and exhausted. The collar was obvious with the white t-shirt on.
Harry slowly descended the stairs, and walked into the kitchen. There was a spare seat at the end of the table and Harry sank into it, face red at the stares he was getting. Eventually it got too much for Molly, Hermione and several others and they all hugged Harry at once. Harry hugged back a bit at first, but the close contact after over a week of virtually no physical contact that wasn't in violence, He stood up, knocking the people aside.
"Please!" Harry pleaded "Not so close."
The others froze, and Harry feared they would think him ungrateful. "I'm so glad I can have a day here, but I – I'm not sure how to react. Tomorrow I'll be back there and I – I just - this feels so weird."
"Understandable" Lupin said and gestured for Harry to sit beside him. Harry sat down and allowed Molly to serve him a mountainous lunch.
"What have you kids got up to this morning?" Arthur asked the teenagers.
"Slept in, played chess, did some homework" Ron listed
"What sorts of things are they making you do?" Albus asked Harry gently
"This morning, I helped Mary – Lucius's slave – make the table for a feast tonight, and I made Snape's breakfast, did some cleaning." Harry said, feeling strangely ashamed.
"How is Mary?"
"She's a lot worse off than me. He hits her all the time then heals her so he doesn't accidentally kill her. She needs to get out of there!" Harry said loudly, and muttered quietly "we all do. Voldemort killed Dennis, did you know?"
"Yes, I knew, Severus told me." He said somberly "Who was it that did that to your eye?"
"Lucius. I tried to stop him hurting Mary, he'll probably hurt her more now."
Harry munched his way through his lunch in silence, listening to the conversations around him, feeling his friends' guilty eyes on him.
Once Harry finished eating he turned to the headmaster – "When are we going to be freed?"
"I'm not sure as yet. I have a plan but I need to wait for a larger group before I can act. Maybe a week, maybe 3 or 4. I don't know yet."
Harry closed his eyes to gather himself, hand drifting to the band of metal around his neck. "Can I go outside – the garden or somewhere. I never get to go out."
Dumbledore nodded and stood to leave. "Have fun, I might see you before you leave tomorrow morning."
"Bye Sir."
Ron finished his own breakfast and gestured Harry to follow him to the back door.
Once outside, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in a group on the expansive lawn, around a magical fire. "How's Snape treating you?" Ron asked
"Okay. He makes sure I'm all right. He was nasty at first but we are stuck in that place together – so I think he's realised that we might as well get on as best we can or we'll end up killing each other."
Hermione nodded wisely and Ron's jaw dropped.
"Snape – caring about whether or not you are alright?!"
"Yes. When I wasn't allowed to eat, I got really ill. He helped me with some of the work I was set."
"Rather than doing it for you, he still made someone who was in desparate need of food do his housework?" Ron said
"He's really busy." Harry said – feeling strangely defensive of the man he had gotten to know.
"Has he ever hit you?" Hermione asked, obviously suspicious about all the praise for Snape from Harry.
Harry looked down, remembering that first night, the fear that he experienced "Once. At the beginning. He won't do it again so long as I do what he says."
Ron looked outraged, "The evil, twisted, deatheater–loving son of a bitch! I'll kill him. Next time he comes to the order to report I'll –"
"Ron! No. There's nothing you or anyone else can do. I have to go back there tomorrow and carry on doing whatever is asked of me. I will be injured again, if not by Snape then someone else. Can you people just stop going on about it! I'm a lot better off than some. Dennis is dead, and the only reason he died was so that Voldemort could show us what would happen to us if we disobey. Pointless death, and I doubt it will be the only one. Malfoy's slave looks on the brink of death as well, its only a matter of time before he-"
Harry stood up furiously, wiping angry tears out of his eyes kicked a stone that had been lying on the ground hard. It flew through the air and slammed into a tree.
Hermione approached Harry and wrapped an arm around his shoulder "It'll be okay. Dumbledore's doing everything he can."
"What if he's too late? I can't survive there for long, even with Snape protecting me. Both Snape and me are living in fear that I am discovered, this appearance change – it's not foolproof. If Voldemort detects a lie, he'll kill me, Snape and anyone I care about in that place." Harry sat back on the frosty ground and again fingered the collar around his neck. "I can't escape."
"Why do you wear that thing?" Ron asked
"I can't take it off. It limits where I can go in the castle. If I escape, Voldemort can override Snape's control of it and kill me instantly with it."
"He could kill you anytime?" Hermione asked, in horror.
"I guess so. As I understand it if he felt like it he could make me drop dead right this second." Harry tugged on it uselessly. "As I said – I can't escape."
"Harry! Come here now!" Harry spun around. Snape was standing at the threshold to the house.
"Lucius told the Dark Lord about your behaviour this morning, he is furious that I am apparently an incapable master. Get your clothes on and I will give you a portkey to Lucius' rooms."
"I – I – have to live with him now?" Harry said, terrified
"No, only until I return tomorrow. He has been ordered to exact the first stage of punishment on you. I will heal you as best I can when I return, but I will have to leave you with something that will scar so you NEVER forget your punishment."
Harry, froze for a few moments. Ron and Hermione were shouting something about Snape removing the collar.
"Potter! Get moving!" When Harry still didn't move Snape sighed, and waved his wand over Harry's outfit – transfiguring it into slave robes.
Harry stared at his friends – who were both crying as Snape forced something into his hand.
Harry landed with a thud in Lucius's rooms. Mary was sleeping, tied in the same way that Harry was accustomed to sleeping.
"I suppose Snape told you what is to become of you." Came a voice from behind him.
I promise I'll update as soon as I can!!!!! By the way, my other penname is Englishgirl.
Slavery chapter 4
Harry nodded, and dozed off as Snape moved into some of what Harry believed were his own compositions.
The dawn of the seventh day of Harry's punishment saw him being shaken gently awake by Snape. "Potter. Drink this. I'll get you some food in a few minutes." Harry sat and knocked back the potion, feeling immediately better.
I am visiting some relatives today and will return tomorrow, I need some help to carry my possessions, you are to accompany me.
"Voldemort's letting you take me out of the castle?"
"Yes. If I do not return with you within 36 hours I will be punished and he will override control of that collar of yours, and use it to kill you."
Harry swallowed.
"You may stay here if you prefer. But there are several people who will be most sorry to not see you."
"Relatives?"
Snape smirked "Yes, you will carry my things to the gates of the castle and we will go our separate ways, I will collect you following my visit. My aunt is very confused since a nasty encounter with a dementor. If the dark lord asks she won't remember if you were there or not."
Harry smiled happily. Free for a day. He doubted whether he would easily be able to return to this hell tomorrow though. Snape might have to drag him kicking and screaming.
"Thank you."
"Thank Dumbledore, he engineered the whole thing."
"Does he have a plan to get us slaves out yet?"
"Its impossible to tell with Dumbledore." Snape said wryly.
Harry stood and prepared toast for himself and Snape. Savouring every mouthful of his slice.
"I am sure there will be some sort of feast prepared by Weasley when you arrive." Snape said, watching Harry eat.
There was a knock on the door of the room.
Harry went to the door and opened it. Lucius shoved him out of the way and entered the rooms in that nauseatingly arrogant way he is so good at.
"Severus! I require your slave to assist with another feast tonight."
"Sorry, he's going to be with me at my aunt's manor. It requires a large amount of cleaning."
"oh." Lucius said
"Ask Montague, his slave is proficient at cooking, in fact she has cooked several meals for the Dark Lord."
"Right. See you Tomorrow." Lucius said and turned to leave. "Can he at least accompany me to my quarters now for half an hour to lay the table. He will be in the entrance hall for 10 o clock"
"That's fine. Make sure he's there." Snape said roughly, attaching the appropriate gem to the collar around Harry's neck.
Harry, followed Malfoy out of the room and along the corridors.
"In there." Malfoy barked, shoving Harry unnecessarily hard into his dining room, before retreating into his sitting room.
Mary was laying the massive table already; she was incredibly thin and pale. "Are you alright?" Harry asked as he started at the other end of the massive table.
"Whenever he hits me he heals me, so I'm okay. Surviving. I hope they get us out soon!" Mary said close to tears.
Harry nodded, sympathetically. "They will"
The two finished the table together.
There was a cough from the doorway.
"Interesting conversation you two were having." Lucius said as he stepped into the room. "You don't seem to have grasped the situation. This is your life now, your ONLY escape is death!"
Mary started shaking violently. Lucius approached the girl and shoved her against the wall. He raised his fist. Harry wasn't aware of moving, but the next second he was pulling Lucius's fist away from the eleven year old.
Lucius turned to Harry, and with the arm Harry wasn't holding, punched him hard in the face.
Then set his face into a calm mask. "I understand that common mudbloods like yourselves, like to stick together, but NOBODY stops me from disciplining my servants. Get out! You are expected in the entrance hall. You" he said to Mary "you're coming with me!"
Harry left the room, his glasses were broken and a small piece of the glass lens was embedded in his right eyebrow. Harry held the complete left lens up to his eye and used it to make his way to the entrance hall.
Snape was standing there, and sighed when Harry approached "What did you do this time?!"
"I tried to stop him hitting Mary." Harry said handing his glasses to Snape for repair.
"For crying out loud" Snape muttered under his breath, then said louder "I'm sure my Aunt will want to take care of your eye. Eccentric woman really."
Harry took Snape's bag and followed him from his prison, for one day of freedom, guilt plaguing him about what Mary was probably experiencing right now.
At the entrance hall the two took separate portkeys and disappeared simultaneously.
Harry found himself outside Grimmauld place. The unreality of the situation struck him, and it was with a trembling hand that he knocked on the door.
It was opened with such a force that Harry stepped back in alarm.
Molly took one look at Harry and threw her arms around him in tears. A calm voice said in the background, "Let him in Molly, it's freezing out there."
Dumbledore guided Harry and Molly into the hallway. Pomfrey immediately approached and flung a blanket around Harry's shoulders, his ragged robes had been inadequate for warmth as he had walked to the gates of Hogwarts with Snape.
"How are you Harry?" Dumbledore asked
"I'm alright, better than the other slaves."
Everyone in the room flinched at the word, and Poppy lead Harry upstairs into a spare room. And ordered him to take the rags off so she could examine him.
She muttered Harry's injuries aloud in anger "cracked ribs, weight loss, eye injury, hairline crack in nose, bruising, a brand on the shoulder, and a nasty chill. If you're one of the better treated students, I'd hate to think what the worst treated are like!"
Harry looked down in silence and allowed Pomfrey to heal his wounds. "I'll have to leave the brand." Harry nodded, he'd forgotten it was there.
When she was done, he sent her a thankful smile. "Put some of these clothes on and we'll meet you downstairs." Harry looked at the rags in the corner of the room, and then at some of the clothes on the bed. Again with a strange feeling he pulled on the jeans and t-shirt. On the way out of he room, he saw his reflection in the mirror he looked pale and exhausted. The collar was obvious with the white t-shirt on.
Harry slowly descended the stairs, and walked into the kitchen. There was a spare seat at the end of the table and Harry sank into it, face red at the stares he was getting. Eventually it got too much for Molly, Hermione and several others and they all hugged Harry at once. Harry hugged back a bit at first, but the close contact after over a week of virtually no physical contact that wasn't in violence, He stood up, knocking the people aside.
"Please!" Harry pleaded "Not so close."
The others froze, and Harry feared they would think him ungrateful. "I'm so glad I can have a day here, but I – I'm not sure how to react. Tomorrow I'll be back there and I – I just - this feels so weird."
"Understandable" Lupin said and gestured for Harry to sit beside him. Harry sat down and allowed Molly to serve him a mountainous lunch.
"What have you kids got up to this morning?" Arthur asked the teenagers.
"Slept in, played chess, did some homework" Ron listed
"What sorts of things are they making you do?" Albus asked Harry gently
"This morning, I helped Mary – Lucius's slave – make the table for a feast tonight, and I made Snape's breakfast, did some cleaning." Harry said, feeling strangely ashamed.
"How is Mary?"
"She's a lot worse off than me. He hits her all the time then heals her so he doesn't accidentally kill her. She needs to get out of there!" Harry said loudly, and muttered quietly "we all do. Voldemort killed Dennis, did you know?"
"Yes, I knew, Severus told me." He said somberly "Who was it that did that to your eye?"
"Lucius. I tried to stop him hurting Mary, he'll probably hurt her more now."
Harry munched his way through his lunch in silence, listening to the conversations around him, feeling his friends' guilty eyes on him.
Once Harry finished eating he turned to the headmaster – "When are we going to be freed?"
"I'm not sure as yet. I have a plan but I need to wait for a larger group before I can act. Maybe a week, maybe 3 or 4. I don't know yet."
Harry closed his eyes to gather himself, hand drifting to the band of metal around his neck. "Can I go outside – the garden or somewhere. I never get to go out."
Dumbledore nodded and stood to leave. "Have fun, I might see you before you leave tomorrow morning."
"Bye Sir."
Ron finished his own breakfast and gestured Harry to follow him to the back door.
Once outside, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in a group on the expansive lawn, around a magical fire. "How's Snape treating you?" Ron asked
"Okay. He makes sure I'm all right. He was nasty at first but we are stuck in that place together – so I think he's realised that we might as well get on as best we can or we'll end up killing each other."
Hermione nodded wisely and Ron's jaw dropped.
"Snape – caring about whether or not you are alright?!"
"Yes. When I wasn't allowed to eat, I got really ill. He helped me with some of the work I was set."
"Rather than doing it for you, he still made someone who was in desparate need of food do his housework?" Ron said
"He's really busy." Harry said – feeling strangely defensive of the man he had gotten to know.
"Has he ever hit you?" Hermione asked, obviously suspicious about all the praise for Snape from Harry.
Harry looked down, remembering that first night, the fear that he experienced "Once. At the beginning. He won't do it again so long as I do what he says."
Ron looked outraged, "The evil, twisted, deatheater–loving son of a bitch! I'll kill him. Next time he comes to the order to report I'll –"
"Ron! No. There's nothing you or anyone else can do. I have to go back there tomorrow and carry on doing whatever is asked of me. I will be injured again, if not by Snape then someone else. Can you people just stop going on about it! I'm a lot better off than some. Dennis is dead, and the only reason he died was so that Voldemort could show us what would happen to us if we disobey. Pointless death, and I doubt it will be the only one. Malfoy's slave looks on the brink of death as well, its only a matter of time before he-"
Harry stood up furiously, wiping angry tears out of his eyes kicked a stone that had been lying on the ground hard. It flew through the air and slammed into a tree.
Hermione approached Harry and wrapped an arm around his shoulder "It'll be okay. Dumbledore's doing everything he can."
"What if he's too late? I can't survive there for long, even with Snape protecting me. Both Snape and me are living in fear that I am discovered, this appearance change – it's not foolproof. If Voldemort detects a lie, he'll kill me, Snape and anyone I care about in that place." Harry sat back on the frosty ground and again fingered the collar around his neck. "I can't escape."
"Why do you wear that thing?" Ron asked
"I can't take it off. It limits where I can go in the castle. If I escape, Voldemort can override Snape's control of it and kill me instantly with it."
"He could kill you anytime?" Hermione asked, in horror.
"I guess so. As I understand it if he felt like it he could make me drop dead right this second." Harry tugged on it uselessly. "As I said – I can't escape."
"Harry! Come here now!" Harry spun around. Snape was standing at the threshold to the house.
"Lucius told the Dark Lord about your behaviour this morning, he is furious that I am apparently an incapable master. Get your clothes on and I will give you a portkey to Lucius' rooms."
"I – I – have to live with him now?" Harry said, terrified
"No, only until I return tomorrow. He has been ordered to exact the first stage of punishment on you. I will heal you as best I can when I return, but I will have to leave you with something that will scar so you NEVER forget your punishment."
Harry, froze for a few moments. Ron and Hermione were shouting something about Snape removing the collar.
"Potter! Get moving!" When Harry still didn't move Snape sighed, and waved his wand over Harry's outfit – transfiguring it into slave robes.
Harry stared at his friends – who were both crying as Snape forced something into his hand.
Harry landed with a thud in Lucius's rooms. Mary was sleeping, tied in the same way that Harry was accustomed to sleeping.
"I suppose Snape told you what is to become of you." Came a voice from behind him.
I promise I'll update as soon as I can!!!!! By the way, my other penname is Englishgirl.