Chapter 2: Memory Lane

"Know what? Tell me."

"No." Harry whispered into the dark folds of Severus' robes, his head still resting on his former teachers lap.

"No, I have no wish to tell you. Your knowing now would make no difference."

He sighed softly.

"I came here to take something from you, or give you something, depending."

Severus opened his mouth but before he could give voice to any of the questions flying through his mind Harry continued.

"Don't speak" Harry said firmly. "I have things to say. I-I may not be quite rational."

He laughed with bitter mirth. The laughter ended abruptly, and he lifted those terrible eyes to meet Severus'.

" I have things to say. Don't speak. In that last battle, when I met minds with Voldemort we tore at each other, mind to mind. That was when I learned who I was. What I was to the Order. To Dumbledore. Do you know how many times I had been Obliviated?" Harrys voice softly questioned. These statements and the question made Severus feel slightly ill. He knew Harry was a tool, a weapon Albus used, just as he had used Severus himself. Harry however had been a child when the Headmaster began using him, and no one bothered to inform the boy of the machinations of the beloved old man. No one had told Harry he was a tool, a weapon. It had sickened Severus, the way the Headmaster let Harry face Voldemort or his minions every year. The man knew everything that happened in Hogworts, yet Harry was left to fight alone, Albus always on the sideline encouraging and providing just enough assistance for the child to continue to the next battle. The Potion Master knew his place and worth, when he had sold himself to the Order as a spy he was an adult well versed in manipulation and wars reality. Harry never had a clue. Stupid boy.

Obliviated Harry said, how far had the old bastard gone to forge his hero?

"No, I know of no instance of Obliviation concerning you." Severus was slowly reestablishing emotional equilibrium. Analyze, observe, then act, he told himself. Something is very wrong.

Harry was speaking again. "I didn't know of any either, until He tore through my memories, shattered barriers, and I remembered. It almost drove me mad. Or I am mad, perhaps. It was not the battle that left me so long in the Hospital Wing, destroying him drained me greatly, yes, but it was the work of another that left my mind broken. No, my mind was never whole, so it could hardly break. To find I had been altered to suite, bits and pieces of my mind erased, changed, added. Then all the lies unraveled, and I knew all that had been taken. Trust, love, hope. Those are lost to me.

I didn't confront them, no point really. They are as bad as Voldemort. I hate…never mind. You know better then me. You," Harry gave a slightly hysterical giggle. "you are the only one I trust at all. The only one left who matters.

I went with Remus, to his house. He said it was my home. I tried, playing house, playing family, but it was too empty. Too forced. It doesn't really matter anymore anyway. The war is over. I don't have to be The Boy Who Lived or Harry Potter or…anything. Perhaps that is why Dumbledore did not rape my mind again. I have no more use to him. His war is won.

I wanted to know, if Remus knew. I used Legilimency. I ripped Voldemorts mind apart. Tore his soul. He couldn't stop me. Remus was easy, he's not even an Occlumens. That's how I know he guessed. But as I explored his mind I found something else, it was hard to understand at first. He had been a wolf when it was happening so the memories were the wolfs.

Harry looked into the Potion Masters eyes, and past them into his mind. To the memory that matched the one Remus had already relived that night. Severus was no longer in his office, he was no longer Severus Snape the feared Potion Master. Harry seized his mind, and took him into the darkness of his own mind.

He was back in the Shrieking Shack. He was the young slytherin student he barley remembered now. Full of ambition and plans. He was there because Sirius Black had promised the answer to the mystery surrounding Remus Lupin. Severus never could overcome his curiosity.

Curiosity killed the cat.

Severus face pressed onto the moldering boards of the floor. It was rotting, cold and slick. His wrists were tied to his ankles; left to left, right to right. His robes had been torn from him leaving red abrasions on his skin where seams had resisted before being cut.

Serverus was fascinated by his own fear. The sour twist of it in his bowels causing him to lean forward as far as his bonds would allow. He did not try to stifle it but rather enfolded himself within it. He had never faced it before. This secret. This was a memory that he had forever shied from, being forced to relive those hateful hours was a release. Never had he spoken of this. Never had anyone spoken of it to him. Not that many knew. It was like having his veins opened. He felt like some poison in him was bleeding away.

saTears seeped from his eyes, squeezed tightly shut as he tried to block out the loathsome feel of Blacks hands on his restrained limbs. Black ran his fingers over the rough ropes and up his left arm to his shoulder then down his back to the swell of his ass." So, soft" Black murmured. He raised his hand and brought it down sharply, the crack of flesh against flesh and the red hand print left behind on the pale cheek elicited a moan from Black but even though surprised Severus made no noise save a sharp exhalation. Now fingers pushed against him, forcing there way into his body, stretching the tight ring of muscle. Touching him were no other ever had. "Your not a fucking virgin are you, Snivy? Bloody hell, Pete, I think our little snake has been saving himself for us." Gleeful taunts followed by pain. Pain as Black pretended at the courtesy of preparation. Not one or two fingers, no, Black would not give him that kindness but forced three into him moaning again at the tightness.

"Ohhh!, do you like that Snake?" He whispers in Severus ear as he brings them out only to push in again. "Merlin, your fucking tight. Come on slut scream for me. Scream!" He is quite a bit bigger then Severus, the slytherin was thin, too thin even, his bones showing clearly under his skin. Otherwise it was the body of a scholar, soft and pale. Black was an athlete, years of sports and an active life gave him muscle any young man his age would envy. The force of his thrusts rocked the smaller boys body and traces of blood were now slicking his fingers. Insults and vulgar taunts continued along with the occasional slap and pinch. Silent tears ran down Severus nose to the slimy boards as Black reached under him to roughly fondle his cock in a sick parody of a lovers caress.

Finally Black tired of that, he freed his already leaking cock from his pants and began forcing himself into his classmate, gripping the smaller boys shoulder to keep him in place. Without lubrication beyond Severus' blood and Blacks pre-cum, the slytherin could not suppress a whimper, it felt as though he was being impaled. Blacks prick was heavy inside him, a painful pulsing weight. Once fully seated, his balls resting against his victims, Black wasted no more time, stabbing himself into the smaller boy hard and fast. Gripping Severus brusingly at the hips, pulling him forcefully back into each thrust. Severus screamed.

Severus felt himself shift. He was no longer on that damp floor being abused and broken. Opening his eyes he found himself looking at the rape which he had only moments ago been reliving. Beside him stood Harry watching with dead eyes.

Black finished with a shouted curse. Pulling out, he lay down beside Severus breathing hard as Peter Pettigrew moved forward to have his turn. As Pettigrew began jerking his hips, thrusting into Severus and whispering to the bound boy how much he was enjoying it, Black pulled Severus' head back by his shoulder length black hair. Staring intently at his tear stained face as he was rocked back and forth by Peter. He seemed to like what ever he saw in the Slytherins expression. Black yanked his head further back claiming his mouth in a violent and hateful kiss leaving blood on bruised lips, moving then to bite hard at the pale throat. Reaching down he began to fondle himself, already beginning to harden again. On the other side of the room James Potter stood in the guise of a stag, keeping the werewolf Lupin had become with the rising of the moon at bay.

Severus watched as his younger self was ravaged. The boy he had been was pathetic in his jaded eyes. To have come at the invitation of a known enemy, to have been taken so easily, stupid pathetic boy. He viewed his previous self, pale and weak, with disgust. Then the image before him blurred and when again he could focus it was changed. Everything was the same, same people, same actions. Now, however, colors were fainter, scents and sounds sharper and the angle different. He was looking past James Potters animagus form to his younger self. He realized he was seeing Remus' memory of the same night. He could sense the rage and blood lust of the werewolf. He could smell the fear and pain and blood. He could feel the wolfs instincts twisting around his mind. He was unmanned by the revelation that the monster he had feared for so long had never been a danger. Now that he experienced Lupins memory of that night he new the true targets of the beasts rage. Lupin was not being restrained from attacking Severus by Potter. He could feel the wolfs rage, and that rage was focused on Black, Pettigrew, and Potter. He saw his younger self through the eyes of the creature he feared. He saw not the pathetic trembling fool from his own memory but a fragile, beautiful boy. In this memory he seemed to be the only clear image, everything else around him fading and meaningless. Lupins mind held an image of him filled with emotions, scents, and images both passionate and desperate. Lupin wanted to save him.

Black was now taking Potters place becoming the large black dog that looked so like a Grim. Potter walking lazily toward the limp and bloodied boy on the other side of the room. Lupins frustration burned though him and the wolf made a lunge at the black dog barring his way. Black struggled briefly with the smaller wolf before pinning him by his throat. Severus suddenly realized Harry was still beside him when the younger man spoke.

"I can't undo what was done. I wish I could. I wish…never mind. Wishing is for fools and children. I can't save you from my father, but I can give you this. Lupin wanted to save you. You were worth more to him then them. This memory, though that of a beast, is the truth of that night. You lost nothing to those bastards, they lost everything. They became nothing the minute they touched you."

With another twist of perception they were again in Severus office.

Harry talked softly into the soft fabric his head still rested on. "I came here because you are the last. I wanted to know if you knew, but you don't."

Severus finally remembered his voice, his words.

"The last?"

Harry leaned back, lifting his head from the lap of his former professor, settling back on the heels of his bare feet.

He looked up at Severus, the candlelight sending shadows dancing across his pale skin. Severus' breath caught in his throat at the image the boy made just then. Fragile, thin, so small for a 17 yr. old, skin semi-transparent, and his eyes…His eyes were despair. He was the image of war, beautiful and terrible. And bloody.

Severus watched the red rivulets run down Harry's arms in confusion for a moment before he realized what he was seeing. As Severus had been inventing poetic descriptions for him, Harry had been slitting his wrists with the dagger that so recently had kissed Snapes throat. Harry's arms were lade open from wrist to elbow, long deep slices exposing muscle and near his hand where the flesh was thin a sickening white glint of bone.

Severus found he had no words. He had always loved words, fitting them together in his mind. Selecting just the right combination either to help or hurt. But as he looked now at the boy before him he had none.

Harry was losing blood fast, beginning to sway. He slumped backwards, his knees still bent beneath him, arms falling at his sides. Terror burned through Severus as he watched Harry fall. He fought against the magic restraining him without effect.

" Harry!" His cry was filled with pain and desperation.

A crack echoed in the dark room and Severus raised his head to meet large green eyes. A house elf stood next to Harrys still form.

"Don't just stand there you bloody fool, release me!" Severus bellowed at the elf who seemed frozen at the sight before it.

With a snap of it's fingers Severus could move freely again. He lunged from his chair, kneeling unheeding in the pool of blood.

" Wand, I need my wand" He called franticly. No sooner did he turn to search his dest then the elf was pressing it in to his palm. He murmured spells desperate to stop the blood. Calling orders to the elf, bottles of potions and salves administered with shaking hands.

" We have to get him to Poppy" Snape said. Gathering the slight boy in his arms in perpetrating of rushing to the hospital wing.

" Master Snape, sir, Dobby is not thinking Master Harry would be safest at Hogworts, sir. Dobby is worried about some things he hears, sir. Master Snape will take Master Harry away, right now. Dobby will keep Master Dumbledore from knowing." Dobby the house elf said all this in one breath while pulling Severus by his robe toward the unlit fire place.

"What are you talking about, elf?" Severus was as close to tears as he had been in fifteen years at this latest turn in what was already the worst night he could remember.

"Master Snape will go now, go anywhere, take care of Master Harry. Dobby will find you later." Dobby said holding a bowl of floo powder out to Severus and starting the fire with a snap.

Snape look at the elf and then the too light burden he cradled in his arms. Everything Harry had said that night replaying quickly in his mind.

"Toss the powder in for me, elf" As soon as Dobby had complied he steped into the green flames calling out "Snape Manor"

He would do what he could to heal Harry, and then make him explain what the hell was going on. Then, if circumstances warranted, he would kill whoever was responsible for this bloody night. Perhaps he would get very drunk too.