Sorry to keep you all waiting, I've been busy with school, and it's been a
little too cold for me to get online and update. But here it is, so, enjoy.
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While Severus was lost in his own thoughts, Harry was sitting in a dark corridor in the dungeons, alone. He still couldn't understand why Snape was so eager to "help" him. It wasn't as though he needed it, nor did he want it. Least of all from the one person who'd done nothing but torment him for the last five years.
But that didn't explain why Snape had looked so...odd when they were outside. It was as though he was familiar with Harry's situation, but...Harry shook his head and looked at his watch. It was getting late, and he knew he had to get upstairs before he got into trouble. Standing up, he began heading down the hall to the stairs. It was so dark that he had to feel his way along by tracing his hand along the walls. Halfway down the corridor, he ran into something and jumped back, tense.
"Potter?" It was Snape, apparently unsure of whether or not it was him. Harry kept quiet, hoping he would just walk away.
"It's no use keeping your mouth closed," Snape said. "I can see the reflection of the torches off your glasses."
"S-sorry, s-sir," Harry began, stuttering. "I-I didn't mean to run into you. I-I couldn't see."
Snape gave him a calculating look. He suddenly knew why Harry was so familiar, but he had to make sure...
"What is the matter, Potter? Why are you stuttering?"
Harry looked at the floor before answering. "I-I don't know, s-sir."
Snape sighed. It wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, getting the boy to talk.
"See me after class tomorrow afternoon, Potter," he said as he walked off.
"O-okay." Harry fled up the stairs to the common room as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he was immediately bombarded by Hermione and Ron.
"Where have you been?" Hermione exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. "Why did you run out of the feast like that? What happened?"
"Why did Snape go after you with Dumbledore?" Ron added, worry all over his face. "What did he do to you?"
Harry sighed. "Nothing—"
"Don't give us 'nothing', Harry!" Hermione said. "You're going to tell us right now, what the hell was that whole thing about?"
"Geez, Hermione, it was nothing, okay?" Everyone in the common room was looking at them now.
"Don't lie to us Harry."
"Come on, Harry," Ron said desperately. "Please?"
He lost his temper. "Look, nothing happened! I'm okay! Just leave me alone and stop asking me all these questions!" He began to get hysterical. "There is nothing wrong with me!"
Hermione put her hand on his arm. "Harry, please—"
Harry jerked his arm away from her and backed away. "Don't touch me!" He shrieked. She stepped towards him. "Harry—"
"NO!" He turned and ran out of the common room, down to the Hall and threw himself into a seat. He put his head on his arms and cried until he fell asleep.
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His cousin's voice was getting louder and closer..."You'll be getting it this time, freak!"...Uncle Vernon in front of him, screaming..."Good for nothing, worthless piece of shit! You shouldn't have lived! You should have died! You don't deserve our care!"
Harry started to run to the stairs. He managed to get on the seventh step, before Dudley pulled him down from behind and onto the floor. Harry tried to get up, but Dudley sat on him.
"Can't get up, can you?" Dudley laughed, before punching Harry in the nose. He got off Harry, who immediately stood up. Before he could take a step, he was picked up and thrown against the banister. His Uncle's face loomed in front of him.
"Enjoy this while it lasts!"
He picked Harry up by his collar and banged Harry's head repeatedly against the railing until he passed out.
He woke up in a cold, dark, wet room. Water was dripping from the opposite corner of the ceiling. The only glimpse of light came from a dying torch by the heavy wooden door.
He could hear footsteps on the outside, but he couldn't move. The door opened, and a small group of people entered.
"Hello Mr. Potter," hissed Voldemort. "We've come to give you a present."
"A small dose of our appreciation, Potter." It was Lucius Malfoy's voice, and he who came towards Harry. They all raised their wands at once.
"Crucio!"
His last memory was the laughter.
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He sat away from everyone in his classes, working by himself. He was the first to arrive and leave, and he didn't even bother to eat. He stopped sleeping at night, as the nightmares just kept coming. He didn't even show up at Snape's after class. When Snape saw him in Potions the following day, he didn't say anything to Harry. He just shook his head.
Harry didn't care about it. He was getting sick of everyone asking him why he was acting so strangely. The incident in the common room had spread to the Slytherins, and of course, Malfoy wasted no time in torturing Harry about it.
Malfoy was walking behind Harry, who was holding some vials for his potion. He reached over Harry and grabbed a few of his own, knocking his arm into Harry as Harry turned to head back to his cauldron. Harry jumped and dropped the vials. They smashed to the floor into a million glass shards.
"Oops," Malfoy smirked. "I'm sorry, Potter, didn't mean to bump into you. I forgot that you don't like to be touched." The Slytherins laughed loudly. Harry turned around and grabbed more vials, silently cursing Malfoy.
"Evanesco," Snape said, with a flick of his wand. "And ten points from Gryffindor."
Harry glared at him as he walked back to his desk. The class settled down to its normal noise level. Snape walked over to Harry's desk and sat across from him.
"What do you want?" Harry asked, not caring if he got into trouble or not.
"Potter, look at me." Snape said quietly, so no one else could hear. Harry looked up at him, surprised that more points weren't taken from his House.
"Why didn't you come down after class yesterday?"
"Because I didn't want to."
"Why?"
"Since when do you care?" Harry hissed at him.
"Does it matter when I started caring?" Snape hissed back. "For your information, I am not exactly the cold-hearted bastard you all seem to think. There is a human being under this."
"Sure there is. You're real good at showing it, aren't you?" The bell rang, and the class began filing out of the room. Harry gathered his things together, marking his vial before sweeping past Snape and placing it on the professor's desk. Noticing that he was the only one left in the room, he quickened his movements to get out.
"Potter."
"Yes?" He looked at his professor, who was examining his potion.
"I have noticed that you have made a remarkable effort to improve, surpassing those of even Ms. Granger. You've advanced so much that I am going to ask you if you would like to speed up this course so that you can get out of it before the others do."
Harry thought about this for a moment. He had been putting extra work into his potions. He actually enjoyed making them; in fact he'd been trying out a few concoctions while he was home alone over the summer, being very cautious as to not blow anything significant up.
"Sure," he finally said.
"Alright," the man sighed. "You are allowed to come down here whenever you have the time outside of your classes to work on your potions. Just make sure you talk to me before you make any serious advancement."
"Okay. Thank you, sir," Harry said as he walked out, leaving Snape standing against his desk, deep in thought.
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Severus watched as Harry left, still thinking about what he had just offered. He knew what the boy was capable of doing, and he had a feeling he'd been practicing without permission, or at least without anyone's knowledge. Severus knew that his offer was another step closer to getting to what Harry was hiding from everyone. He would just have to sit back and wait, patiently.
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For a few days, Harry considered taking Snape up on his offer to come down after classes. He still wasn't sleeping, and when he did nod off, he forced himself to wake up before he could start dreaming. He was getting increasingly agitated at everyone for bothering him all the time. His last straw came during Transfiguration a week before Thanksgiving.
"Mr. Potter, come to my desk," came Professor McGonagall's voice from the front of the room. Harry sighed, got up, and walked up to her desk.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Could you explain why you've been so reluctant to participate in your classes, or even talk to your peers?" She looked at him sternly over her glasses.
"There really is no reason, Professor." Harry said, as convincingly as he could. "I've just been spending more time working on my schoolwork."
McGonagall studied him closely.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"You're positive?"
"Yes!" Harry said, exasperated. "Why is everyone so concerned about my health? How many times do I have to say I'm okay before anyone cleans their ears out to hear me?" He turned, ran to his desk and picked up his things before leaving the class in shocked silence.
He ran down the stairs and through the halls to the dark dungeons. He didn't care where he ended up, as long as no one could find him. He walked into the darkest room and set his things on a desk, leaning over it, trying to catch his breath.
He was exhausted, literally. All he wanted to do was sleep; he couldn't take it anymore, the staying up all night and all day, the nightmares, Voldemort's voice in his head, his uncle's face in his mind, the pain. But he wanted to sleep so badly.
He sat in the chair, put his head down, and was asleep in moments.
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He opened his eyes, and Avery was standing over him.
"Get up, Potter!" He yanked Harry out of his chair and into the center of a circle of Death Eaters.
"You have seven rounds with him." Voldemort said. "Do whatever you want."
The curses started out mildly, but after a while, Harry found himself on the floor, panting.
"Tired, Potter? I can help you. In fact, I have a surprise for you."
He came into the circle and addressed two of those standing.
"Remove your masks."
It was Uncle Vernon and Dudley, both smirking evilly.
Harry passed out.
"Time to leave this world, Potter."
Harry looked around, but he couldn't locate the owner of the voice.
"You don't want to live any longer, do you?"
"No."
"Then why don't you kill yourself? You know you want to. And besides, Snape's letting you have access to his dungeons. Just find one of his potions and drink it."
Harry thought about it in his mind. The voice was right, he did have access, so why not?
"Do it."
He woke up, slowly. His body felt achy, like he'd gotten ran over by a train. Looking around the room, he realized he was in the Potions dungeon.
'Oh, good. Maybe Snape has something lethal in his office.'
He got up and walked into the office, which was as empty and dark as the classroom. Searching through the cupboard, he found just what he was looking for.
Leximor Morirtis.
Mix with a pinch of Acadia leave before consumption.
Harry knew there were Acadia leaves in the student cupboard, so he brought the vial out into the classroom. He grabbed a jar of the leaves out of the cupboard and brought it over to the counter. He added a pinch of Acadia to the vial, and stirred it with a metal rod. He raised the vial to check the color before bringing it towards his mouth.
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Let me know how it is, please. Your reviews are a great help to me.
**************************************************************************** ***********************************************
While Severus was lost in his own thoughts, Harry was sitting in a dark corridor in the dungeons, alone. He still couldn't understand why Snape was so eager to "help" him. It wasn't as though he needed it, nor did he want it. Least of all from the one person who'd done nothing but torment him for the last five years.
But that didn't explain why Snape had looked so...odd when they were outside. It was as though he was familiar with Harry's situation, but...Harry shook his head and looked at his watch. It was getting late, and he knew he had to get upstairs before he got into trouble. Standing up, he began heading down the hall to the stairs. It was so dark that he had to feel his way along by tracing his hand along the walls. Halfway down the corridor, he ran into something and jumped back, tense.
"Potter?" It was Snape, apparently unsure of whether or not it was him. Harry kept quiet, hoping he would just walk away.
"It's no use keeping your mouth closed," Snape said. "I can see the reflection of the torches off your glasses."
"S-sorry, s-sir," Harry began, stuttering. "I-I didn't mean to run into you. I-I couldn't see."
Snape gave him a calculating look. He suddenly knew why Harry was so familiar, but he had to make sure...
"What is the matter, Potter? Why are you stuttering?"
Harry looked at the floor before answering. "I-I don't know, s-sir."
Snape sighed. It wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, getting the boy to talk.
"See me after class tomorrow afternoon, Potter," he said as he walked off.
"O-okay." Harry fled up the stairs to the common room as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he was immediately bombarded by Hermione and Ron.
"Where have you been?" Hermione exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. "Why did you run out of the feast like that? What happened?"
"Why did Snape go after you with Dumbledore?" Ron added, worry all over his face. "What did he do to you?"
Harry sighed. "Nothing—"
"Don't give us 'nothing', Harry!" Hermione said. "You're going to tell us right now, what the hell was that whole thing about?"
"Geez, Hermione, it was nothing, okay?" Everyone in the common room was looking at them now.
"Don't lie to us Harry."
"Come on, Harry," Ron said desperately. "Please?"
He lost his temper. "Look, nothing happened! I'm okay! Just leave me alone and stop asking me all these questions!" He began to get hysterical. "There is nothing wrong with me!"
Hermione put her hand on his arm. "Harry, please—"
Harry jerked his arm away from her and backed away. "Don't touch me!" He shrieked. She stepped towards him. "Harry—"
"NO!" He turned and ran out of the common room, down to the Hall and threw himself into a seat. He put his head on his arms and cried until he fell asleep.
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His cousin's voice was getting louder and closer..."You'll be getting it this time, freak!"...Uncle Vernon in front of him, screaming..."Good for nothing, worthless piece of shit! You shouldn't have lived! You should have died! You don't deserve our care!"
Harry started to run to the stairs. He managed to get on the seventh step, before Dudley pulled him down from behind and onto the floor. Harry tried to get up, but Dudley sat on him.
"Can't get up, can you?" Dudley laughed, before punching Harry in the nose. He got off Harry, who immediately stood up. Before he could take a step, he was picked up and thrown against the banister. His Uncle's face loomed in front of him.
"Enjoy this while it lasts!"
He picked Harry up by his collar and banged Harry's head repeatedly against the railing until he passed out.
He woke up in a cold, dark, wet room. Water was dripping from the opposite corner of the ceiling. The only glimpse of light came from a dying torch by the heavy wooden door.
He could hear footsteps on the outside, but he couldn't move. The door opened, and a small group of people entered.
"Hello Mr. Potter," hissed Voldemort. "We've come to give you a present."
"A small dose of our appreciation, Potter." It was Lucius Malfoy's voice, and he who came towards Harry. They all raised their wands at once.
"Crucio!"
His last memory was the laughter.
**************************************************************************** **********************************************
He sat away from everyone in his classes, working by himself. He was the first to arrive and leave, and he didn't even bother to eat. He stopped sleeping at night, as the nightmares just kept coming. He didn't even show up at Snape's after class. When Snape saw him in Potions the following day, he didn't say anything to Harry. He just shook his head.
Harry didn't care about it. He was getting sick of everyone asking him why he was acting so strangely. The incident in the common room had spread to the Slytherins, and of course, Malfoy wasted no time in torturing Harry about it.
Malfoy was walking behind Harry, who was holding some vials for his potion. He reached over Harry and grabbed a few of his own, knocking his arm into Harry as Harry turned to head back to his cauldron. Harry jumped and dropped the vials. They smashed to the floor into a million glass shards.
"Oops," Malfoy smirked. "I'm sorry, Potter, didn't mean to bump into you. I forgot that you don't like to be touched." The Slytherins laughed loudly. Harry turned around and grabbed more vials, silently cursing Malfoy.
"Evanesco," Snape said, with a flick of his wand. "And ten points from Gryffindor."
Harry glared at him as he walked back to his desk. The class settled down to its normal noise level. Snape walked over to Harry's desk and sat across from him.
"What do you want?" Harry asked, not caring if he got into trouble or not.
"Potter, look at me." Snape said quietly, so no one else could hear. Harry looked up at him, surprised that more points weren't taken from his House.
"Why didn't you come down after class yesterday?"
"Because I didn't want to."
"Why?"
"Since when do you care?" Harry hissed at him.
"Does it matter when I started caring?" Snape hissed back. "For your information, I am not exactly the cold-hearted bastard you all seem to think. There is a human being under this."
"Sure there is. You're real good at showing it, aren't you?" The bell rang, and the class began filing out of the room. Harry gathered his things together, marking his vial before sweeping past Snape and placing it on the professor's desk. Noticing that he was the only one left in the room, he quickened his movements to get out.
"Potter."
"Yes?" He looked at his professor, who was examining his potion.
"I have noticed that you have made a remarkable effort to improve, surpassing those of even Ms. Granger. You've advanced so much that I am going to ask you if you would like to speed up this course so that you can get out of it before the others do."
Harry thought about this for a moment. He had been putting extra work into his potions. He actually enjoyed making them; in fact he'd been trying out a few concoctions while he was home alone over the summer, being very cautious as to not blow anything significant up.
"Sure," he finally said.
"Alright," the man sighed. "You are allowed to come down here whenever you have the time outside of your classes to work on your potions. Just make sure you talk to me before you make any serious advancement."
"Okay. Thank you, sir," Harry said as he walked out, leaving Snape standing against his desk, deep in thought.
**************************************************************************** **********************************************
Severus watched as Harry left, still thinking about what he had just offered. He knew what the boy was capable of doing, and he had a feeling he'd been practicing without permission, or at least without anyone's knowledge. Severus knew that his offer was another step closer to getting to what Harry was hiding from everyone. He would just have to sit back and wait, patiently.
**************************************************************************** **********************************************
For a few days, Harry considered taking Snape up on his offer to come down after classes. He still wasn't sleeping, and when he did nod off, he forced himself to wake up before he could start dreaming. He was getting increasingly agitated at everyone for bothering him all the time. His last straw came during Transfiguration a week before Thanksgiving.
"Mr. Potter, come to my desk," came Professor McGonagall's voice from the front of the room. Harry sighed, got up, and walked up to her desk.
"Yes, Professor?"
"Could you explain why you've been so reluctant to participate in your classes, or even talk to your peers?" She looked at him sternly over her glasses.
"There really is no reason, Professor." Harry said, as convincingly as he could. "I've just been spending more time working on my schoolwork."
McGonagall studied him closely.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"You're positive?"
"Yes!" Harry said, exasperated. "Why is everyone so concerned about my health? How many times do I have to say I'm okay before anyone cleans their ears out to hear me?" He turned, ran to his desk and picked up his things before leaving the class in shocked silence.
He ran down the stairs and through the halls to the dark dungeons. He didn't care where he ended up, as long as no one could find him. He walked into the darkest room and set his things on a desk, leaning over it, trying to catch his breath.
He was exhausted, literally. All he wanted to do was sleep; he couldn't take it anymore, the staying up all night and all day, the nightmares, Voldemort's voice in his head, his uncle's face in his mind, the pain. But he wanted to sleep so badly.
He sat in the chair, put his head down, and was asleep in moments.
**************************************************************************** **********************************************
He opened his eyes, and Avery was standing over him.
"Get up, Potter!" He yanked Harry out of his chair and into the center of a circle of Death Eaters.
"You have seven rounds with him." Voldemort said. "Do whatever you want."
The curses started out mildly, but after a while, Harry found himself on the floor, panting.
"Tired, Potter? I can help you. In fact, I have a surprise for you."
He came into the circle and addressed two of those standing.
"Remove your masks."
It was Uncle Vernon and Dudley, both smirking evilly.
Harry passed out.
"Time to leave this world, Potter."
Harry looked around, but he couldn't locate the owner of the voice.
"You don't want to live any longer, do you?"
"No."
"Then why don't you kill yourself? You know you want to. And besides, Snape's letting you have access to his dungeons. Just find one of his potions and drink it."
Harry thought about it in his mind. The voice was right, he did have access, so why not?
"Do it."
He woke up, slowly. His body felt achy, like he'd gotten ran over by a train. Looking around the room, he realized he was in the Potions dungeon.
'Oh, good. Maybe Snape has something lethal in his office.'
He got up and walked into the office, which was as empty and dark as the classroom. Searching through the cupboard, he found just what he was looking for.
Leximor Morirtis.
Mix with a pinch of Acadia leave before consumption.
Harry knew there were Acadia leaves in the student cupboard, so he brought the vial out into the classroom. He grabbed a jar of the leaves out of the cupboard and brought it over to the counter. He added a pinch of Acadia to the vial, and stirred it with a metal rod. He raised the vial to check the color before bringing it towards his mouth.
**************************************************************************** **********************************************
Let me know how it is, please. Your reviews are a great help to me.