Chapter 3
Harry woke with a strangled scream, his skin damp with cold sweat. Taking in gasping breaths, he tried to calm his breathing back down to something akin to normal. Glancing around the room, he half expected to see Cedric standing at the end of his bed, as he had in his dream, pointing an accusing, decaying finger at him. Feeling his heart still beating double-time in his chest, he started taking deep, calming breaths in the hopes that he would calm. Normally, especially in the dead of night, it took almost an hour before any semblance of calm returned to him. And then sleep would never return.
"Potter?"
Harry was embarrassed to note that he let out a startled yell at the sound and about fell off his bed when he saw someone standing in the door way.
"P-professor," he stuttered out. He wasn't ready to deal with anyone, he hadn't composed himself by a long shot, and here was Snape standing in his room, wanting an explanation.
"Is there a reason you decided to scream loud enough to wake the dead? It's not even three in the morning, Potter. I would actually like to get some rest this evening," the man said scathingly, obviously tired and irritable. A normal attitude for the man.
The scathing tone brought out Harry's inner ire and it was just what he needed to pull the wool over Snape's eyes. Nothing was wrong here, nope, nothing at all.
"I'm sorry to have disturbed your precious sleep," he said derisively. "Why not just do yourself a favor and put a silencing spell around my room. That way you won't have to deal with me."
Severus gazed at the boy intrusively. "Why, so I won't have to hear your screams every night? Is this your way of saying you are having nightmares?" With arms crossed against his chest, Snape waited for an answer.
"That's not the reason, actually. I'm just attempting to make it so I don't disturb you and you don't disturb me by coming into my room at all hours of the night," he flippantly remarked. "So go on back to your room and leave me alone!"
Highly unconvinced, Snape locked his gaze on the boy's and Harry suddenly felt another presence in his own mind. He tried to pull away, but the man was already inside his head, seeing what it was he had just dreamed. "Stop it!" he yelled, breathing hard when Snape finally broke contact. "What the hell! You had no right to do that!" A moment's pause, "What was that?"
"It's called Legilimency," Snape intoned flatly.
"And what the heck is it? Did you just read my mind?" he asked, clearly getting more and more upset. "You had no right to do that! It's my head!"
Severus looked down on the boy still sitting up in bed and gave him a look that clearly showed he didn't care. "It's the ability to extract memories and emotions from another's mind, since you asked."
"Well don't do it anymore!" Harry yelled, making a point to not look the man in the eyes. It made him feel extremely vulnerable, knowing the man could invade his head any time he wanted to. It also made him extremely mad. How dare he!
"I'll do it if I feel it necessary," he said without regard to Harry's feelings. "As you obviously showed just now, you are in need of some type of assistance, since you are having nightmares, yet you refuse to ask for it."
"Like I'd ask for help from you!" Harry stood from the bed and grabbed his night robe, throwing it on over his shoulders. "You can bet I'll be letting Professor Dumbledore know about this when he comes!" he threatened, hoping it would make Snape reconsider doing it in the future. He knew the Headmaster would let him go home once he found out what happened.
"Don't expect too much, Potter," Snape replied emotionlessly.
Harry resisted the urge to give the man a very unpleasant hand gesture.
amamamamamamamamamamam
The next morning was once again unreasonably bright and sunny, at least, to Harry it was. To say he wasn't looking forward to what he would have to do that day would have been an understatement. He'd been thinking most of the night about what the 'chores' would be and had therefore not gotten hardly any rest at all. And, considering Snape had said he'd need his rest, Harry figured today was going to just suck.
Once he had showered and gotten ready for the day, he stepped out into the living room hoping for some sort of breakfast. Based on the lack of noise in the house he concluded that no one else was inside. Pulling back the curtain on the kitchen window, he glanced outside and immediately caught sight of the lighthouse. Kirkpatrick was standing outside, looking up at the sky, and apparently just enjoying a peaceful moment or something equally mundane.
Harry looked, but he couldn't see Snape anywhere. Thinking the man was still in bed; he walked back down the hallway and stood outside of the man's bedroom door, contemplating whether or not to knock. The door was slightly ajar, as it so happened, and he could see the edge of the man's bed from where he stood. It was obvious he wasn't still sleeping and Harry would have been honestly surprised if he had been. It was early in his estimation, but not by what Snape would consider early, or so he assumed.
Walking back into the kitchen, Harry glanced out the window once more. Kirkpatrick was just walking back into the lighthouse, where the man was staying, he'd discovered, but there was still no sign of Snape. Figuring he would grab something to eat, he noticed there was cereal waiting on the counter. Opening the ice box, he got out some milk and poured himself a bowl. He ate it quickly, going into 'chore' mindset as it were, because at the Dursley's there wasn't any time to sit down and eat when chores were to be done. If they let him eat at all, that was.
As he walked outside he saw Kirkpatrick coming back out of the lighthouse.
"About time you got up," he yelled across the walkway at him.
Harry didn't feel the need to grace the man with a reply, as it would just be nasty and would most likely get him into more trouble.
"I see you're more quiet today," the man observed and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for noticing," he couldn't help but say, but kept his tone light. "What am I supposed to do?"
He looked around curiously, still trying to locate Snape, but glanced back around when he felt the man finally reach him.
"Where's Snape?"
"He went into the village to get some supplies," he said by way of answer. "He left me in charge of getting you started on your chores," he added and Harry resisted the urge to groan.
If anything, Kirkpatrick would probably give him even more complicated work than Snape would. This was just based on the fact that he disliked this man more than he disliked Snape, which was slightly strange. There was just something about him that set his blood to boiling.
"Fine, where do I start?" he asked, heading back towards the house figuring he'd be starting there.
"The lighthouse," he said, stopping Harry in mid-stride.
Harry sighed and headed back towards Kirkpatrick and passing him, went on down the walk-way that led to the lighthouse.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "You'll want to get some supplies out of the shed first," he mentioned casually, and Harry was reminded of the man's words from the previous day about keeping him in the shed.
He nodded uncertainly, walking towards the building behind the house.
"What will I need?" he asked, opening the door to the building when he reached it. Right away he gratefully noticed there wasn't a lock on the door, meaning he couldn't be locked in, at least not without magic, he thought worriedly.
It would stand to reason that the man wouldn't lock him in the shed considering he was putting him to work, but it didn't mean he wouldn't try to do it later. Maybe as a punishment if he ticked the man off. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to control his mouth lately. And Kirkpatrick seemed like the sort of fellow who was irritated easily.
"What exactly do I need?" he asked again as the door swung open before him. The shed was filled with things he would expect to see in a Muggle shed, things he'd seen in his own Uncle's shed, actually. "Are you…?" he trailed off, trying very hard not to say something rude here. But, he had the distinct impression that the man had no magical ability.
"Yes, Potter, I'm a squib," he answered dryly. "Now grab that shovel there and those bags there on the side wall," he instructed.
Harry resentfully grabbed said items and was finally allowed to make his way to the lighthouse. He wondered what it was he was supposed to do. And as his mind wondered, he found himself asking a question.
"Why would Snape want to have anything to do with a squib?" he asked.
For once, he wasn't trying to be rude or mean, it was just an honest inquiry. Snape wasn't exactly the type of person that would want to be friends with a non-magical person. And it was obvious they were friends, or at least it struck Harry that way.
Unfortunately, his innocently asked question was taken the wrong way by the man behind him. And a moment later he understood his error as the man grabbed him by his hair and shook him. Dropping the shovel and bags, Harry reached up and grabbed onto the man's wrists to get some leverage.
"What is wrong with you!" he yelled, pinching into the man's skin, causing him to let go.
"How dare you say such a thing!" Kirkpatrick yelled, and actually went so far as to smack Harry across the face. "You know nothing about him!"
Harry stumbled backwards, putting as much distance between the two of them as possible. "Look, I didn't mean any offense!" he said, holding his hand to his stinging cheek. It hadn't really been a hard hit, but it stung nonetheless.
"I'm sure!" he countered sarcastically. "From now on, you will keep your mouth shut and mind your manners! I've had it with you! Do you understand! I've had it!"
Harry nodded and continued to put distance between them. "I'm sorry," he said, but not very sincerely.
"You will be if you don't straighten up!"
Harry took the threat as it was given, intending fully to stay out of the man's way. He seemed a little unbalanced to the boy and almost as if he was trying to protect Snape or something. Obviously the man didn't realize his Professor didn't need protection of any shape or sort, and if he thought Snape would actually do something about it, he would probably tell his teacher what had transpired. But, he knew Snape only all too well, and was fairly certain the man wouldn't care. Would in fact probably think he deserved it. There was always the fall back of telling Dumbledore, he reasoned, that was if the man ever came to check on them like he'd promised. It had only been a day, but he'd been hoping for a swifter visit.
Kirkpatrick directed him back to the lighthouse and literally shoved him in the door. He saw immediately what the man intended for him to do. At some point, either the ground must have shifted, or perhaps vandals had come out and discovered the lighthouse, but whatever the reason, there were mounds and mounds of dirt covering what had used to be stone floors. He sighed in irritation. This would likely take all day.
"Stop your moaning and get to work," the man said without sympathy at the great task ahead of the boy. "And when you're finished shoveling all the dirt out, bag up the leaves and take them to the back of the house to burn. I'll come get you for a break later and don't you dare step foot outside of this room until I say so."
Harry stared in dismay as the man walked out the door, leaving him to his task.
In hindsight, he realized he should have asked for a pair of work gloves. The use of the shovel had caused blisters to form on his hands and it hurt. He'd been working for over four hours and he still didn't have all the dirt shoveled out of the place. He was tired, hungry, thirsty and sore.
"Potter," the boy put the shovel down on the floor and turned towards the voice, hoping for a break.
It was Snape and not Kirkpatrick who stood at the doorway. "It's time for lunch. Go clean up and come into the kitchen when you're finished," he ordered before walking back towards the house without waiting for Harry.
More than happy to oblige, Harry quickly ran after the man and into the kitchen once in the house. In the bathroom, he washed his hands and face, gingerly due to his sore hands and considering his extreme thirst, he even cupped his hands and took a few sips of the cool water.
He could hear Kirkpatrick out in the kitchen and sighed in annoyance. He had hoped the man had gone off somewhere and he wouldn't have to deal with him during their meal. Imagining what the man had told Snape about his attitude earlier, which hadn't really been an attitude at all, was beginning to make him worry. What if they set him to even harder tasks? He was already exhausted from what he'd done that morning.
Out in the living room, Harry noticed that things were much cleaner than they'd been this morning. He assumed Snape had taken charge of the house while he had been out in the lighthouse. He had no clue what Kirkpatrick had been doing with his time. Merlin knew he hadn't seen him for the past few hours. The man had probably been sitting on his arse somewhere all morning doing absolutely nothing. Just the same, it made him feel less irritated that Snape had apparently been doing some work, too. It still felt like he was getting all the hard jobs, but he wasn't going to complain about it. Yet.
As soon as Harry sat at the table, he and Kirkpatrick locked gazes and a stare down began. Harry was angry that the man had never come to give him a break. He'd been dying of thirst, or so it seemed, at one point and a nice tall glass of water would have been much appreciated.
The table was set for the three of them with a light meal of minestrone soup and salad. Harry wasn't all that interested in the vegetarian soup and instead started in on the salad. Quite frankly, something a little more hearty at that moment would have been just fine with him. He doubted a salad would fill him up and he wasn't interested in the soup at all. It looked downright disgusting. Knowing Kirkpatrick had fixed the meal made him believe he'd done it on purpose so he wouldn't get anything good to eat. Jerk.
He drank his glass of water, practically guzzling the entire contents he was so thirsty, before filling it up again and doing the same.
Looking up, he realized Snape was staring at him with some irritation.
"Potter, what are you doing?" he asked flatly.
"I'm drinking a glass of water, what does it look like I'm doing?" he returned sarcastically. He didn't even know why the man was bothering to ask. Shouldn't it have been obvious? He noticed Kirkpatrick was giving him the glare of death and sighed.
"I realize that," returned Severus just as sarcastically. "Why are you trying to drown yourself in it?"
Harry stared. Oh. "Well," he glanced at Kirkpatrick, thinking this would be his chance to let Snape know how the man was acting earlier. "Your friend over there said not to leave the lighthouse until he came to get me for a break," he started, noticing the man he was currently talking about was now decidedly angrier. "He never came to get me, and based…"
A sharp kick to his shin made him startle and stifle a yelp.
"I think the boy is quite capable of getting a drink for himself, with or without my permission," he said hastily, clearly trying to cover for himself.
Harry glared at him. "You seemed pretty adamant when you shoved me in the lighthouse this morning," he said with a smirk growing on his face. "Right after you smacked me around right before that." Unfortunately for Harry, his attitude and facial expressions weren't exactly making him believable in Snape's eyes.
When Harry saw the commiserating look passing between the two men he realized his mistake. Snape didn't believe him. Damn.
"I think it is time you went and finished your duty out in the lighthouse," said Kirkpatrick with a look in his eyes that said to Harry he would be getting a visitor sooner rather than later.
Snape agreed, showing Harry personally out the door and into the lighthouse. "I'm fairly confident a few more hours of hard labor should take the bite out of your attitude," he told Harry angrily. Roughly placing the shovel back in Harry's hands he spoke slowly and with intent. "You will finish shoveling out this lighthouse and then you will pick up the leaves as has been requested of you. Periodically," he added almost absently, "you may stop for a drink. After you are finished you will clean up and go straight to bed. Am I understood?"
Harry nodded dejectedly. After Snape had left the vicinity, Harry looked out the window and watched as the sun became hotter in the sky. He was going to have to escape. There wasn't anything else for it. He wasn't going to let Kirkpatrick push him around and he sure as hell wasn't going to let Snape boss him around. If it had just been himself and his teacher, he probably could have handled things. But, with Kirkpatrick around, he wasn't willing to take the chance. Again, he got the feeling there was something off about the man because anyone meaner than Snape had to have issues.
Unable to actually gather any supplies without getting caught, Harry made a run for the woods without any food or water to speak of. He knew there was a village around here somewhere. Hopefully, if he was going in the right direction he'd run into it or at least be able to ask someone for directions. Once he found it, he was pretty sure he could find someone who wouldn't mind him tagging along to apparate. Realizing what he was doing was just a little on the reckless side; he hoped he didn't run into anyone who would instead of taking him to the Dursley's, would take him straight to Voldemort instead.
It was a sad day when he was willing to risk getting caught by some of Voldemort's lackeys instead of staying to deal with an arse like Kirkpatrick.
The woods seemed different this time through, somehow thicker, he supposed, than when he'd traveled through them with Snape. Even hours later, it seemed like he was just going in circles instead of a straight line. He was almost positive he'd seen that same tree about a million times in the past two hours. It had an odd shape to it, almost like it didn't belong there, and he knew he couldn't be passing a tree that just happened to look like it as many times as he had. It just wasn't possible.
Irritated beyond imagination, Harry trudged up to it after passing it once again and plopped down on the ground in front of the tree. Leaning back against it, he used the rough bark to scratch his back in a spot that he hadn't been able to reach himself. It had been bugging him for the past few trips by, the itch, not the tree. That hadn't started to annoy him until just now.
It didn't occur to him until that moment that Snape had probably put some kind of ward up around his property that would hinder any escape he would try to attempt. Angry at his own stupidity and the fact that he was quite literally stuck there, he slammed his fists down on the ground in frustration, crushing some poor defenseless leaves in the process.
"Dammit!" he exclaimed loudly.
By the time Harry had given up to his defeat, it was closing in on five o'clock in the evening. Wherever in the world they were, the light was already beginning to fade, even though it was summer. A little disenchanted about the entire thing, Harry knew he should just head back to the house and apologize and hope for the best. But on the other hand, he was still angry and didn't want to have to deal with either man until absolutely necessary.
Of course, the longer he waited the worse it would be, or so he assumed. Honestly though, he just didn't care how angry they were at him. He was ten times angrier at them.
The downside to sitting out in the woods with nothing to do was the thoughts that suddenly seemed to pop into his head. And wouldn't you know it, the first image that hit him was Cedric and his accusing face. He shook his head violently, trying hard not to panic. It was his fault the older boy had died. If only he'd taken the cup himself. Was it so damn hard to be greedy?
But if only's only got you so far…which was nowhere in his case. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself it wasn't his fault…it was. And nothing anyone said could change that fact.
Before he knew it, the exhaustion from the day's activities and all the walking he had done while stuck in the woods conspired against him to put him to sleep.
'Why'd you let me die, Harry?'
Cedric stood before him in the middle of the woods. The sky had grown darker and the diminishing light made the menacing teenager look all the more frightening. His rotting flesh was hanging from his limbs and Harry gagged at the stench that was enveloping the entire area. The trees themselves seemed to be absorbing Cedric's ire and their clawing branches reached out towards him, trying to grab him.
'I didn't, Cedric! I didn't let you die! Please believe me; I didn't know he was there! Please!' Harry begged for forgiveness, but it seemed that Cedric was unwilling to give it.
As the branches from the trees all around him began to twist around his arms and legs, one wrapping around his throat and constricting until he lost his breath. He couldn't breathe! He felt another, thicker branch wrap around his arm, pulling him upright.
'Potter!'
Unable to see where the voice was coming from, Harry tried to glance around, tried gasping out a breath for help, but he simply couldn't.
'Potter!'
The branch around his arm suddenly clenched so painfully Harry yelped out loud and…
"Potter, wake up!"
Harry came to awareness with a startled scream, unable to hold it in as he normally would have. His breaths came in short, gasping pants and he seriously thought he might have to vomit.
"Breathe, Potter. Slow down and take deep breaths," instructed the man behind him and Harry suddenly realized his teacher was holding his arm in a death grip. The pain he'd felt in his dream hadn't been from the branches, it had literally been from Snape grabbing him to shake him awake.
Taking the deep breaths as instructed, his heart finally stopped hammering in his chest and he pulled his arm out of Snape's grasp as he came back to himself. He felt extremely unbalanced in front of this man, having just woken up from a nightmare he would rather not have mentioned. And knowing Snape, he'd probably try that mind-reading thing again.
Refusing to make eye contact, Harry started walking back to the house.
"Where are you going, Potter?"
Harry stopped walking. "Back to the house?" it was a question, because he wasn't sure if his professor was going to let him come back. Maybe this had been the last straw and he was sending Harry home.
"And why did you leave it in the first place?" he asked calmly. Well, it sounded calm for Snape, but Harry thought there was a bit of impatience building up in the man's voice.
Already knowing the man wouldn't believe him regarding Kirkpatrick's treatment from earlier that morning, Harry spun on him with the other obvious reason. "Because you two think you can order me about like I'm some kind of house elf!" he started in on the man. "I'm not here to do all the work! I thought I'd at least get to spend some time doing things I want to do. But no, I'm out in the lighthouse all day doing hard labor practically and not allowed any breaks!"
"I do believe I told you to take breaks periodically, Potter," Snape found it necessary to interrupt.
Harry glowered at him. "That's not what I meant. I meant from earlier, when Kirkpatrick was doing guard duty," he said angrily.
"Enough with the dramatics regarding Edwin, Mr. Potter, as I've about had it with your selfishness and your lies!" Snape towered over Harry and if he was feeling uncomfortable before, it was nothing to the feeling rippling through his body now.
"I'm not lying!"
"I can't hardly believe that, Potter, considering the way you've been acting lately. It's not as if you've been reliable and trustworthy these past few days. Even at Hogwarts you were being sarcastic and rude, especially to those you call friends. If not even they can believe you, then how do you expect me to?" Snape was apparently trying to give him some version of a guilt inducing reprimand, but Harry didn't think it was working.
He didn't feel guilt, like he suspected Snape thought he should. And he still felt anger more than any other emotion. It wasn't like him, he knew this, but any attempt to stop it just wasn't forthcoming. He didn't want it to stop. Because when it stopped…he was afraid of the emotions that would engulf him.
"Potter, you must find another way to deal with your emotions," Snape suddenly interrupted his train of thought. It was seemingly as though the man had known what he was thinking and when he realized Snape was looking right in his eyes, he knew that was precisely what had happened. Frighteningly enough, he hadn't even felt the intrusion.
"I asked you to stop doing that," Harry said venomously. "Why can't you do one single thing I ask?"
Snape grabbed Harry's shoulders and held him firm when the boy tried to get away. "When you start behaving like a well mannered teenager instead of a spoiled rotten brat, then I will perhaps do as you've requested. Until then, keep in mind that your thoughts are no longer your own."
Without another word, Snape started back towards the house as Harry stared after him in an odd paradox of anger and fear. Finally sighing in resignation, Harry started walking after him, knowing he'd need the man's sense of direction to get out of this continuous loop he'd been walking in. When he realized he'd apparently been no farther than a mile from the house the entire time he'd been gone, irritation and a slight embarrassment settled into him. He wondered if Snape and Kirkpatrick had known where he was the entire time.
And speaking of Kirkpatrick, Harry smirked internally at the man's first name. Edwin…he thought it sounded more like the name someone would give a pet, not a living person. It was a random thought, as if he couldn't find anything better to insult the man with. At any rate, Harry didn't like the man and that apparently went hand in hand with hating the man's name, as well, along with anything else Kirkpatrick did.
Back at the house, there was still a glimmer of light left in the sky, oddly, and Harry found himself being put back to work in the lighthouse until he had at least finished the first floor of the place.
Mumbling to himself about how unfair it all was, because he didn't want Snape to hear him complaining and attempt another trip inside his head, he tried to keep everything to himself.
Harry hadn't shoveled more than five scoops of dirt before he sensed Kirkpatrick standing in the doorway.
"What do you want?" he asked without looking at him.
"Where were you all this time?" the man asked.
Harry glanced up at him in a bit of surprise. Perhaps they hadn't known where he was. He highly doubted that though. He rethought his idea that just Kirkpatrick hadn't known. It was simply unbelievable that Snape hadn't known. Harry got the distinct impression that Snape would know everything about his own home. And the goings on at his own home…especially when concerning his current pain in the arse charge. Harry figured the wards around the house, which also kept him from escaping, would also let Snape know where he was every second of every day. Damn.
"Out," he muttered.
"Out where?" Kirkpatrick had come completely into the lighthouse and was standing over the boy as he continued to shovel.
"In the woods, where else would I be?" asked Harry.
"Oh, I don't know, perhaps trying to make it to the village?"
Harry sighed. "Yeah, well, I didn't exactly make it there, now did I?"
"Obviously not," the man stated, "and you're not to attempt this foolishness again."
Harry scoffed. "Look, I'm here because the Headmaster of my school is making me. I'll only do what Snape tells me to do, and that's only if I bloody well feel like it. As for you, you're not the boss of me and I don't care what you do, I won't do a damn thing you tell me to!"
Seeing the livid expression now developing on the man's face, Harry took a precautionary step backwards.
"Don't you ever speak to me in that tone again!" he practically hissed through clenched teeth. "And while you are under Severus' roof, you will do as both he and I tell you or face the consequences!"
Harry wasn't daunted by the man's outburst. "I won't," he stated emphatically. "I won't listen to you."
"After everything Severus has done for you..."
Harry snorted out loud. "What has he ever done for me but cause me grief?" he yelled. "You know nothing about how he treats me. He's an evil little bastard is what…"
Revisiting the temperament from that afternoon, Harry found himself on the floor after Kirkpatrick had slapped him across the face so hard he lost his footing.
"How dare you speak of him that way!" the man yelled, advancing on the downed boy. "He's a better man than you'll ever be, you can bet your boots!"
Harry, still smarting from the blow he'd taken, finally started to recognize the looks and mannerisms the man was showing towards Snape. It had been staring him in the face the entire time, but he hadn't seen it. The weird way Kirkpatrick was always talking about Severus like he was special. Like he was the only one who really knew him. Harry probably hadn't wanted to see it. Gross.
"You fancy him."
It was a statement and apparently the wrong one. Kirkpatrick was suddenly on him, landing three swift blows to the boy's abdomen, causing sick pain to engulf his stomach. Harry rolled over on his side and tried hard to control the pain, moaning and gasping with the effort. As tears trickled down his face he felt the man suddenly hovering over him and he tensed in the anticipation of more pain.
"You don't know what you're talking about," he said harshly, grabbing Harry by his shirt and hauling him to his feet.
Not steady by a long shot, Harry started to tumble back to the floor, but Kirkpatrick roughly grabbed his arms and held him upright by sheer force alone.
"Don't you dare repeat to him what you just said to me," he hissed, shaking Harry with each word. "This is going to be between just you and me, understand?"
Harry thought the man knew Snape wouldn't keep him around if he knew the truth, and based on the fact he thought Snape wasn't interested in having a relationship, with a male or a female regardless, he thought Kirkpatrick was barking up the wrong tree.
"O-okay," he whispered, unable to get more breath than that since it had been knocked out of him.
He'd never imagined it would hurt this badly, to be hit like this. Every now and again his Uncle had slapped him around a bit, but never full out punched him like this. His stomach felt swollen and tender and he really wanted to go lay down, but the man was still forcibly holding him upright by his shirt.
Finally, he dropped Harry, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap of agonized pain.
"And one more thing, Harry," the man got down on his knees and looked him in the eyes. "You'll do precisely what I say unless you want some more of this," he muttered darkly.
Trying to scoot away from the menacing form above him, Harry wasn't prepared for the fourth punch of the night, striking him directly in the same spot as before.
Harry cried out, arching his back, while letting out a pained whimper. He took in gasping breaths of air after that, simply unable to regain the air that his lungs so desperately wanted. And he cried. He hadn't thought it was possible, even after Cedric died he hadn't cried, but now he was. And it almost hurt in a different way that Kirkpatrick had been the one to cause the tears he hadn't been able to cry for his friend.
"Do we understand each other now, Harry?" he asked as he stood up and straightened his clothing.
He looked out the window, apparently making sure Snape hadn't seen or heard anything, before glancing back down at the boy below him. He caught Harry's eyes.
"Do we?"
Harry nodded in the affirmative, unable to even talk yet, and nearly came out of his skin when the man knelt down beside him again.
"And not a word of this to Severus, either, Harry. You know he won't believe you any way, don't you?" he asked, an air of condescension nearly vibrating around him. "And you're going to behave when you're in my presence, isn't that right?"
Again, Harry nodded brokenly, trying hard not to cry out in pain as the man used Harry's stomach as leverage when he got back up from the floor.
"Good boy."
amamamamamamamamamam
Ah, the first cliff hanger of the story! Sweet! Well, I'd call it a cliff hanger, anyways.
I think my cat is going into heat….just so everyone knows. And oddly enough, she's supposed to get fixed on Tuesday.
Anyways, enough of the random talk.
I updated early because Lilynette and I made a deal…mwah!!!!! She promised to review every chapter if I would update early…well, I kind of bribed her with it…so all is well in the universe. I'm evil and sneaky. HAHA. So, Lilynette…REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you and good night.