He spent the rest of the night in the Room of Requirement. It appeared to him as a cosy little bedroom, complete with a fluffy armchair and fireplace. He was currently in the armchair with his legs pulled up, crying his eyes out. Tissues kept appearing on the small side table next to him-he was sure he'd have gone through two normal boxes if it hadn't kept replenishing itself.
Finally, he felt calm enough to tell Tom everything. Tom didn't react the way he had expected. Instead of flying teacups, the man simply opened his arms and offered Harry a hug. It was so unexpected, Harry didn't even think of denying it, he simply let himself be held and cried until he couldn't anymore.
When he'd finally calmed down, Tom spoke.
"Harry, you need to tell someone there."
"No, I can't. Dumbledore knew, he had to have known. He won't do anything."
"You're right about that, he likely did know and he likely wouldn't do anything about it even if you did tell him bluntly. However, there are others that can help you. Madame Pomfrey-"
"Knows her place and wouldn't interfere. She's made it perfectly clear she won't interfere in the matters of students, she's only there to heal them and make sure they don't leave the hospital wing until she says they can." Tom was quiet after that, clearly thinking about what to say next.
"What about Severus?"
"What about him?" Harry blew his nose and wiped at his eyes. Frankly, he was surprised that he wasn't completely out of tears yet.
"Why not tell him? McGonagall has made it clear she will stand behind any decision the headmaster makes, the headmaster himself has made his intentions on staying out of it clear, you aren't particularly close to any of the other teachers and didn't you say that Severus has protected you since you returned to the wizarding world?"
"Yeah but he hates me."
"I would not go so far as to say he hates you. I think he hates that your return to the wizarding world has stirred up old conflicts that he was such a central part of for so long. I think he sees you and wishes for the peace that he had prior to your return to this world. Of course, I could be wrong, but if he's the only professor to ever truly protect you then he might be the right choice for this."
"And what am I to tell him, huh? That the slimy potions professor that's taken his old position has molested me? He's going to think I'm lying!" Harry was getting more and more upset the more he thought about it, but Tom's next response stopped him short of hyperventilating.
"I think that it's worth a try. He might be a bit more understanding than you know." It was the gentle tone in Tom's voice that convinced him. He stood, blew his nose, wiped the tears off his face and headed towards Professor Snape's office.
Before he knew what was happening, he was knocking on the door. Almost instantly, the door flew open to reveal a very irate looking Snape.
"What? What could you possibly want at this hour-"
"May I come in, Professor?" Harry was ashamed to hear his voice crack when he used Snape's title, but it got him to stop in his tirade and step to the side. He sat down in the chair offered to him and couldn't help but to keep himself huddled up with his back hunched, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, he could practically feel the heat coming off his skin from irritation caused by the crying he'd done.
"Professor, I need your help."
"I no longer teach potions and cannot offer you any assistance with the subj-"
"Not with the subject. With the Professor." That seemed to cut Snape short of whatever else he was going to say. After a moment of silence, he continued. "I…he's…Did Dumbledore tell you he took me to recruit him over the summer?" Suddenly, Snape seemed a bit on edge, although he couldn't figure out why.
"Yes, I was aware of that."
"When…He's got all these photos. And I was looking at one of mum-"
"The one where she's stirring a cauldron?" Harry nodded. "Your mother…she loved potions. And charms." Harry tried to smile at that, and filed it away to think about later. He wanted to cherish whatever information he could about his mother since he knew so little of her.
"Anyway, I was distracted with it and S-Slughorn, he came up behind me and was talking about people and he was way too close," Harry noticed his speech was picking up speed as was his heartbeat but he didn't dare stop or he would never get it out. "He leaned over and I felt him and I sicked up after that and now he's got me sitting in the back of class by myself and earlier today he-he grabbed me and I-I didn't know what else to do or where to go and I was hoping you'd be able to help-"
"Harry," Snape's voice was coming from his side rather than behind the desk where he thought it should be coming from. A teacup was placed in his hands. "Drink this, it'll help calm you down so you can talk." Harry took it and drank it all in one gulp before shuddering at the flavour. "Does McGonagall know about this? Or Dumbledore?"
"No sir, I've only told you. Dumbledore…I think he knew what happened in his house but…And McGonagall is always backing him up no matter what…I just thought that you'd be more help than they would be."
Snape's gentle tone and the calming drought were doing the trick and keeping him from panicking. It was rather nice, getting it out in the open and knowing that he wasn't alone in the knowledge of what was happening.
"Has he done anything else so far?"
Harry shook his head. "No, I just…I'm afraid of him. Of what he'll do next time."
"Your next potions class is next Tuesday, yes? I will attempt to get you out of the situation he's put you in. No one, and I mean no one deserves to be treated this way. Especially between a teacher and a student. For now, go to your dorm and rest for the evening." Snape handed him a small vial of purple liquid. "And take this before you fall asleep. It's fast acting and will keep the dreams at bay for the night. Lay down before you drink this." With that, Snape guided him to the door and watched him walk away until he turned down the next corridor.
He was on the sixth floor when he was yanked into an alcove. Fear spiked through him, only to double when he realised who it was that had pulled him into this tiny little space.
"P-Professor! What are you-" A large hand covered his mouth whilst the other one pulled him closer to the pudgy man.
"Quiet, you! I've wanted you for far too long and I've resisted so far but you teasing me earlier today was too much. You'll be mine before long, just you wait and see." The hand that had pulled him so close was digging around in one of Slughorn's pockets until he finally found what he was looking for. A vial of something the colour of mud with the consistency of honey. "Drink this now." Harry struggled, he really did, but Slughorn was so much larger than he was and had forced the vial past his lips. It tasted horrible, like chunky vomit mixed with rotten tomatoes. He tried to spit it out, but it was stuck to the inside of his mouth like glue. He couldn't help but be thankful that he hadn't swallowed any, but he could feel his emotions starting to twist of their own accord.
"That's it, and as soon as you look at me, you'll have no choice but to beg me for what you've been wanting since you first laid eyes on me." Harry wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he was extremely sure he didn't want to find out so he slammed his eyes shut and tried to scream.
Unfortunately, the potion prevented him from opening his mouth.
He was terrified, but the remnants of the calming drought must have still been working because he was able to think through the panic he could feel rising and kept making as much noise with just his throat as he possibly could. He kicked at the floor, thrashed his arms and eventually, after what felt like hours but was probably less than a minute, he felt himself break free and threw himself out of the alcove. Disoriented, he got up and heard a noise he'd never thought he'd be glad to hear in his life.
Severus Snape's heels clicking in the hallway-it was a distinct clicking marked by his boots and his stride. He renewed his attempts at screaming and took off in the direction of the clicking. He practically sobbed when he heard the stride break, the soft slide of shoes stopping quite suddenly on the marble floor.
"Harry?" He collapsed onto the floor, too exhausted to keep moving and tried telling him what had happened, all the while keeping his eyes firmly shut and trying desperately to wrench his jaws apart.
"Harry, why won't you open your eyes?" Harry violently shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "Is this related to what you came to me earlier about?" He nodded, a fresh wave of tears flooding his face. "Can you talk?" Another shake of his head.
Suddenly Harry felt himself being picked up and carried to, what he presumed, was the hospital wing. He simply curled up into Snape's chest and tried desperately to not cry so he could still breathe.
Snape had snapped at Madame Pomfrey the moment they walked into the hospital wing. She wanted to take him as her charge but Snape was having none of it and demanded that she leave it to him. Something in his tone or maybe his facial expressions told her to back off, and she did.
He was placed on a bed in an upright position.
"Listen to me, I have to find out what's locking your jaws together. Was it a spell?" He shook his head. "A potion then?" He nodded. "And the potion is still in your mouth? Smart boy. Right, I'm going to have to touch your mouth just to see if I can get a sample so I can reverse the effects of whatever it is he gave you. Is that understood?" He hesitated. After the last time someone touched his mouth, the idea repulsed him. "Harry, I'll be gentle. I just need to find out what he gave you and I can't do that without looking in your mouth." Harry slowly nodded and tried to not panic when he felt fingers on his lips.
The touch was clinical, something he was grateful for, and Snape's fingers were ice cold and dry-the exact opposite of Slughorn's. He gradually relaxed bit by bit and finally he felt his lips come free of each other. Apparently Snape didn't even need a sample of it, because he identified the potion based on sight alone.
"I cannot stress this enough, do not open your eyes. I'm going to ward your curtains so only I can get in until I take them down and then I'm going to brew you a remedy for what he has given you. Do not swallow that and do not open your eyes." Harry felt magic washing over the area he was in and leaned forward to reach for the bedding to wipe his eyes. Hoping against all hopes that Madame Pomfrey would forgive him, he blew his nose into the sheet so he could breathe easier.
Madame Pomfrey had already gone to bed by the time Snape came back. The curtains moved and he felt someone sit down on the edge of his bed.
"I need to drop this potion into your mouth drop by drop to dissolve the potion you were given, alright? It is imperative that you do not swallow any of it. Every three drops you will simply lean your head forward and drool into this bowl. Alright?" A wooden bowl was placed into his hands and he nodded before looking up and letting Snape open his lips to drop the first few drops.
It was exceedingly hard to not swallow, but Harry was too terrified to allow his reflexes to get the better of him. Several times he'd wanted to open his eyes as well, if for nothing else then to stop the images of what he'd gone through from replaying in front of his eyelids. He leaned forward and let more of the potion drip out of his mouth.
It went faster when he was able to move his mouth enough to spit. And when the last of the potion left his mouth, Snape handed him a cup and instructed him to thoroughly swish, do not swallow and to spit. They repeated this until Snape was satisfied that all of the potion had been dissolved and out of his system.
"You can open your eyes Harry." He did, and found himself looking right into the eyes of his previously most hated professor.
And what he felt his body do after that alarmed him.
He sprouted an erection faster than ever before and he suddenly felt his body go warm. Mentally, he knew it was probably a part of the potion that Slughorn had given him, but he knew that what his body wanted and what he wanted were two different things.
"Blast that man! Harry, can you hear me?"
"Hm? Yeah, I can hear you. S-sorry, I'm not sure what's happening…I want you to do things that I most definitely don't want…I'm very confused." Snape sighed.
"So your body is responding to me but your mind is not? Good. At least I know you won't be fawning all over me. Do you know what Slughorn gave you?"
"He said some sort of…that I'd beg the first person I saw…" He couldn't continue, but Snape seemed to get the point. "So I closed my eyes and tried to not swallow any."
"Clearly some has made its way into your system since you're still affected by it. But nothing that won't clear up within a few hours. I shall be reporting this incident to the authorities; at the bare minimum he used an illegal potion against a student. I'll keep your name out of it." Snape got up and started to walk away; that is, until Harry yelped in pain. His voice, which was already raspy to begin with, was starting to disappear completely.
"I suppose I should stay, then, if my physical presence is going to alleviate any pain you would otherwise suffer. Merlin knows you've been through enough." Snape leaned down and pulled a blanket over him before conjuring a plump leather chair for himself. "Now, go to sleep Harry. You should be right as rain tomorrow morning."