I do not own the rights to Harry Potter nor do I claim to. I'm doing this for fun.

Note: This is my first ever fanfic. I absolutely love Harry Potter, and just about two months ago came across this website and have been reading so many of these stories nonstop. Particularly the ones about Snape and Harry, for Snape is my favorite character and I love Snape/Harry matchups.

I like to write, but trully only for myself, so my stories are usually very strange. I also have never written a fanfic before, and I'm pretty shy so to write this and post publicly feels kinda strange.

About this story: Rated T, Contains hints of child abuse and neglect. Is AU, refers to some things that happened in the books. It takes place at the beginning of Harry's third year, not sure how old Harry will be when it ends. Some of it is planned out, some of it is not yet, so if I really get into it, I may revise chapters as I do in my own fiction in general. Some of this is based on Severitus, but not sure if I will adhere strictly to that.

Chapter one:

Harry ran excitedly to the top of the stairs. "Ron, hey he's here!" Harry shouted excitedly, a little louder than he meant to. A few Gryffindors looked curiously up at him.

Ron stood up, laughing slightly at the stares as he hurried over to Harry, following him to the dormitory window. Out on the grounds was Snape, looking over his shoulder a few times as he crossed the grounds.

Ever since Harry had caught Snape sneaking across the grounds and disappearing behind the womping willow a week ago, he had been very curious as to where he went. When not in class, he spent a lot of time isolated by the dormitory window, waiting to see if the potions professor would return.

"That's strange..." Ron said, his head slightly tilted. Harry, though, did not want to waste a moment with opinionated comments. "Come on," He said, darting over to his trunk and yanking out of it the invisibility cloak.

"Wha-you wanna follow him? Now?" I mean it's weird, but it's Snape! Snape's weird like that!"

"Well I'm going, you can come if you want," Harry said impatiently. Ron sighed.

"Hey I'll come with you mate," He resigned.

He did not want to elaborate at the risk of sounding too paranoid, but he had also seen a black dog sitting by the tree. A large, shaggy dog that resembled the one he had seen right before the Knight bus knocked him off his feet, the dog like the grim from the book cover, that Trelawny swore had formed in Harry's teacup. He had to get some answers.

The two of them ran as fast as they could out of the castle, having ducked under the cloak when no one was looking. They saw Snape way in the distance. Wasting no time, they bolted forward hurling themselves awkwardly as fast as they could go until they were about twenty feet behind. They tried not to breathe too loudly, which was difficult as their lungs were aching for vast amounts of oxygen. Harry focused on Snape now, his heart pounding. Sure enough, he was headed right for the womping willow. Harry looked around, curious as to if anyone had spotted the man, and stopped all of the sudden, forgetting about Ron and the invisibilty cloak. There, sitting over by another tree, was the large dog he was becoming all too familiar with.

Ron, his eyes still on Snape had kept walking for a second after Harry stopped, their feet suddenly visible declaring their presence to anyone looking. he hurried back over to Harry quickly, the two of them pulling the cloak back down.

"What was that all about?" Ron hissed at Harry, who was looking toward the side of him.

"Look," He whispered back, and Ron did. And as the two of them watched, the black dog had stood up and started walking toward them.

"So you see it, right?" Harry asked, willing it to be true so he could move on from the whole grim scare.

"Yeah, Harry, and I think it knows we're here!" Ron said, his voice shaky. Now that Ron had confirmed his acknowledgment of the dog and Harry's worry about his soon-to-be death had fled, he felt suddenly aware and on guard of the dog's curious reaction.

They stood there rooted, as the dog slowly came closer and closer. Its eyes were focused right at them, and it appeared to want something from them, yet it showed no sign of any emotion. There was no barking, growling, tail wagging, just a suspiciously monotone walk, almost as though in earnest curiosity. Snape stopped far ahead of them now having gained some additional distance in their break from following him, watching the dog as well.

The dog stopped right in front of Ron, and began to sniff him, his eyes fixed. Harry watched all this, his wand out at the ready. Ron did not notice anything though, for he was squirming around all of the sudden.

"No," He whispered, as Harry realized what was bothering him. He saw the lump of the rat scurrying furiously in his pocket as Ron tried to keep him under control. "What is-Ow!" Ron withdrew his hand, where blood began to drip from his finger. Promptly, the frightened rat leapt free and began to run across the grounds. The dog reacted quickly, bounding around the two boys growling furiously after the rat.

"Scabbers no!" Ron shouted and ran out of the cloak after the rat, completely giving their presence away.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted, pointing his wand at the dog. It was knocked backward slightly, but recovered quickly.

"Ron!" Harry shouted and threw off the cloak, hurrying toward his friend. Snape had also been hurrying forward. Ron scooped up the rat, which was still flailing violently in his arms. Unable to keep Scabbers under control, it had leapt off its owner and landed on Harry, who stood close to Ron. Before anyone could do anything, the dog had pounced on top of Harry knocking him to the ground, clawing at him at an attempt to reach the rat. Scabbers fled through Harry's collar and under his shirt, taking the angry dog with him, as he began to tear at his clothes.

"Expelliarmus!" Was shouted, seemingly by Snape, but he must of missed as nothing happened. The dog was jumping around furiously fast as he tore at Harry's shirt.

The spell was shouted again by both Snape and Ron, and Harry, the rat and the dog were hurled a short distance over. Harry landed on his stomach.

"Harry!" Ron shouted and ran over to his friend. Harry lay limp for a moment, but then suddenly realized the dangers of his unique predicament. He scurried off the ground quickly, trying to cover his back and his chest, which was not easy due to the fact that half the shirt had been torn off him completely, and the bit of it that still hung on was torn up in many places. He looked guiltily at the two of them. For Ron to find out would be one thing, who gave him a mere look of confusion. For Snape to find out, however, would be a disaster no doubt, and his eyes slightly wider than usual, his voice silenced for once without a cruel sarcastic comment told Harry that he indeed saw the secret Harry was so determined to keep silent.

Yeah so that's chapter 1 and this was a wicked challenge to write. I have always struggled with dialogue and developing characters through actions and words.