Chapter Eleven:
Truths
The two of them sat quietly; Snape glowering harshly and Harry trying his hardest not to fidget. As the silence stretched on, Harry felt compelled to start up talking.
"Is it bad?" Harry asked softly, "My being in love with Draco?" Snape looked awfully mad, and Harry couldn't help but think that something was wrong with the way he was feeling. "Draco isn't all that bad," said Harry, more to himself than to Snape, "He just can't be."
Snape cringed as Harry looked up at him desperately.
"Draco Malfoy is not someone you should be involved with at the moment;" Snape said carefully, "Draco has some troubles… Similar to your self harm issues, only he tends to aim his violence outward and unto others."
Harry pondered over Snape's words for a moment, and then he thought of something strangely sexual.
"Is Draco a sadist, then?" Harry asked, his expression a cross between disgust and devious curiosity.
Snape snorted softly and spat, "I suppose you could say that; though it might be putting it lightly."
"Really?" Harry asked quickly; surprised.
"I won't know for sure until he's older, of course," Snape said bluntly, "Draco was raised in a very contorted family, and his views may be even more twisted than those of his parents." Snape's faced dropped as he spoke of Draco's family, and Harry could not help but inquire about it.
"Was Draco mistreated?" Harry said hesitantly, "And what about you? Were you mistreated, too?" Harry stopped speaking quickly, and he had to swallow several times against the lump in his throat before he could continue. "Is that why you cut yourself?"
Eyes downcast and face contorted, Snape sat for several long moments before he answered Harry.
"Harry," Snape said finally, "Draco… He won't admit to it, but I do think he has been maltreated, is being maltreated." Snape sighed shallowly before he continued, "I'm not entirely sure, but I believe it is his mother who beats him and, if I am correct, she uses Crucio in order to punish him."
Harry gasped and felt more tears roll down his cheeks.
"Why doesn't his father do anything?" Harry asked, "Does he allow it?"
Snape sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Draco's father is rarely home, and Draco is far too proud to admit that he is beaten by his mother."
Harry starred down at the floor, mulling over all that he had been told.
"And what about you?" Harry asked quietly, "Were you beaten, too?"
With a heaving sigh, Snape stood up. He walked over to Harry's chair and kneeled down in front of him, not making eye contact with Harry the whole time.
"When I was a boy," Snape whispered softly, still not looking at Harry, "My father beat me for being different. For being a wizard."
Snape paused for so long that Harry thought that he would not finish, but just when Harry was about to ask why, Snape continued.
"My father was a muggle, while my mother was a witch," Snape said, "But she let him beat me. She was so enamored with him that she could not have cared less."