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"House elves are not supposed to speak ill of their masters," Snape explained. "That would be why he was hurting himself. The reason why we was speaking so highly of you is because you freed him from his former master several years ago."

"How did I do that?" Harry asked, slightly confused.

"Elves become free from their masters when they receive clothes. You tricked Mr. Malfoy into giving Dobby a sock."

Harry picked up his fork and resumed eating.

"Well, you could have at least given me some warning," Harry grumbled.

Snape only smirked in response.

xXxXxXx

After eating dinner, Harry was a little disappointed when Snape excused himself and went to the lab. The man had been in there after they had returned from the Dursleys, and he had gone back in there after lunch.

Unsure what to do, Harry went into the sitting room and wandered over to the bookshelf. He remembered Snape saying that he should tell the man whenever he wanted to read something from the shelves, but Harry didn't care at that moment. If his professor didn't want to spend any time with him, then he would just do whatever he wanted.

Trailing his fingers over the spines of the old books, Harry scanned the titles. Amongst some of the more innocent books, he found many books which dealt with curses and the Dark Arts. He didn't know exactly what Dark Arts were, but the name of the magic did not sound pleasant.

Curious, Harry randomly pulled one of the books from the shelf. Holding the book in two hands, he allowed the book to fall open. The book dropped from his hands and fell to the floor with a loud thunk when he saw a picture of a man with his chest cut open while another person ripped out the heart. The title on the page mentioned that certain potions could be enhanced using particular body parts.

Harry dragged his eyes up and glanced in the direction of the lab door. He hoped that Snape hadn't heard him drop the book. The professor might come out of the room in order to see what was going on.

Biting his lip, Harry gingerly picked up the book. He leaned against the wall for support as he flipped through a few more pages. Every page that he saw contained horrid pictures and text about ways to torture people and to wreak havoc.

His stomach churned as he snapped the book closed and replaced it on the shelf. Harry made sure that he put the book in the exact same place where he found it. He did not want Snape to realize what he had seen.

What kind of man was he living with? Who would have books like these? Had his professor actually used any of those spells or made any of those potions?

Harry didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't have any where else to go. The Dursleys wouldn't take him back in, and even if they would, he did not want to live with them any longer. He didn't have any friends in Surrey that he could go live with. Even if he did leave here, he had no idea where he was. Sure he was at Hogwarts, but where exactly was Hogwarts located? He had been unconscious when he had been brought here.

Not feeling up to reading, Harry left the sitting room. On the way to his bedroom, he paused when he stood in front of the lab. The light spilled under the door, and he could hear movement inside. Quietly continuing down the hallway, Harry eased open his door and entered the room.

He stopped when he caught sight of the mess. Clothes were strewn on the bed, and the rest of the items in his trunk were scattered all over the floor. He had forgotten about his frantic searching earlier for his wand.

Remembering that he had tucked the wand into his pocket, Harry pulled it out and looked at it. Snape had been ready to tell him something earlier, but after what he had seen in that book in the sitting room, Harry wasn't as concerned about it.

After thinking for a few moments, Harry decided what he was going to do. He would not mention the book to Snape. He would try to act as normal as he could around the man, but he would also try to avoid being around his professor as much as possible. During that time, he would need to formulate a plan. When he had figured out exactly where he could go and what he would do, then he might try to leave this place. Until then, he would act as if nothing was wrong. Well, he would try, anyway.

He wondered if Professor Dumbledore knew about Snape's books and pastimes. If the Headmaster was aware of it, then Harry knew that he wouldn't feel safe talking to anyone about this. Of course, he was isolated in the castle with only Professors Dumbledore and Snape for company. He didn't think that anyone else was living at Hogwarts since it was summer. If that was true, then he really was alone in this.

Harry couldn't believe how trusting he had been of these two men. He didn't know them, he didn't remember them. He had wanted so much to believe that he was special, that he was a wizard, so he had placed his trust in them and had automatically believed everything that they had told him. He had been hungry to find out what had been going on in these last few years which he could no longer remember.

Setting his wand down on the desk, Harry decided that a good way to make everything appear normal would be for him to straighten up his room. Snape would stop by his room at some point, and he wanted the man to see that all of his things were put away.

After putting his clothes back into the wardrobe, he finished cleaning up by placing the items on the floor back into his trunk. It took a while, but by the time that he was done, it was still a little bit too early to go to bed. Harry realized that the whole time that he had been cleaning, he kept glancing towards the door. Wanting to relax and take his mind off of Snape, Harry picked up his photo album. He had not finished looking through it earlier, so he hoped that this would make him feel a little bit better.

Toeing his shoes off, Harry stretched out on the bed while lying on his stomach. His socked feet waved in the air as made himself comfortable. He flipped through the pages until he found the last page that he had viewed earlier. As he got further into the pictures, his mind turned away from what he had found over an hour ago. He was so involved and interested in what he was looking at that he didn't even hear when the lab door opened and closed. The creaking of his own door, however, brought him out of his stupor.

Seeing his professor standing in the doorway, Harry quickly got off the bed and stood up. He didn't want to face the man lying down; it made him feel more vulnerable.

"Time for bed, Potter," Snape informed him.

"Yes, sir," Harry carefully said, trying not to antagonize the man.

Without another word, the professor turned around and left. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and allowed his shoulders to slump forward. He was glad that Snape had not stayed in the room long. It had all ready made him feel uncomfortable in just the few seconds that the man had been there. Harry didn't know how he would be able to make it through a few more days.

Since he didn't want Snape to think that he was disobeying, Harry hurriedly went over to the wardrobe and pulled out his pajamas. As soon as he had taken off his clothes and neatly placed them on top of his trunk, Harry put the pajamas on before slowly opening the bedroom door and placing his eye to the crack. When he saw that the coast was clear, he opened the door all of the way and walked over to the bathroom.

Not wanting to take a long time in the bathroom – in case that Snape hadn't had a turn yet – Harry quickly showered and brushed his teeth. The warm water had felt soothing on his body, but he had not allowed himself the luxury of lingering under the spray.

Returning to his room, Harry picked up his wand from the desk. He was aware that he didn't remember any spells, but he knew that he would still feel safer if he slept with the wand under his pillow. There wasn't a lock on his door, so he would have to take other precautions. Harry toyed with the idea of placing the desk chair under the doorknob, but he figured that if Snape tried to come into the room either during the night or in the morning, he might be angered when he couldn't automatically enter.

Harry pushed the covers back and climbed into the sheets. After placing the wand securely under his pillow, Harry set his glasses on the bedside stand. Turning onto his side, his body curled up a bit and he placed his hands near his face.

Even though the bed was very soft and even though he had had a long day, he could not go to sleep. His eyes remained wide open despite the fact that the room was bathed in shadows and he could not see very much. His mind kept thinking about the things that he had seen in that book.

Turning onto his back, he was then able to see the door. He didn't think that Snape would visit him during the night, but there was a lot about the man that he didn't know. Harry knew that he wouldn't be able to stay awake every night from now until the time that he decided to leave, but he was reluctant to allow his body to become defenseless in sleep.

His eyelids eventually started to droop. When that would happen, he would open his eyes wide and rub them with one hand. It would work for a brief moment, but it wouldn't be long until they began to droop again. After struggling for thirty minutes to remain awake, he finally lost the battle.

xXxXxXxX

He was in a dark, quiet room. Straining his eyes, he was unable to see anything. He could feel a hard wooden chair underneath him; however, when he tried to stand up, his body refused to move. His wrists were tied to the arms of the chair with rope pulled tightly while his ankles were similarly bound to the chair's legs.

When he realized the position that he was in, Harry began to rock his body furiously back and forth. His limbs were bound too tightly for him to release them, and he only succeeded in giving himself a vicious rope burn. Even though his wrists and ankles ached horribly, Harry didn't want to accept the fact that he was not going to get free any time soon.

Opening his mouth to scream for help, he only heard a muted sound emerge. He was startled by it and wondered what had happened to his voice. Sticking his tongue forward, he encountered a cloth wrapped around his head. Not only was he strapped down in a chair, but he was also gagged.

Footsteps suddenly echoed loudly throughout the room. Harry stilled his movements and tensely listened for more sound. The footsteps came closer and closer until he realized that the mystery person was standing directly in front of him. The nearness of the body made Harry begin to take quick, shallow breaths. The person did not say a word, and Harry wished that the man – or woman – would say something.

When the person grabbed his chin, Harry tried to jerk away from the touch. That only made the person's fingers dig into his skin even harder, and Harry winced at the sharp pain that it caused.

Without warning, Harry felt another hand yank something off of his head. When he discovered that he was now able to see, he realized that a blindfold had been secured around his eyes.

Blinking and trying to adjust his vision, Harry looked up at his captor. He was startled when he saw that Professor Snape, who still held Harry's chin firmly, was directly in front of him.

"You!" Harry tried to say. His voice was muffled, but he could tell, from Snape's facial expression, that the man was able to understand him. "Let me go! Please."

The man only gave a menacing chuckle and forcefully shook Harry's head once with his hand.

"You are mine now, Potter. I've been meaning to try out some of my spells on someone. You will do just fine."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry spotted another figure enter the room. He tried to turn his head, but Snape's fingers refused to let him. Harry shifted his eyes over as far as they would go and saw Professor Dumbledore standing in the doorway.

"Professor!" Harry choked out. "Please help me. He's going to kill me."

The Headmaster only shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, my dear boy. There's nothing that I can do."

Immediately, the man started to fade away. A sob caught in Harry's throat and a lone tear slipped down his cheek. He started to rock the chair again as he tried to break the rope holding him down.

"No! Please don't leave me."

The Headmaster suddenly disappeared. Harry felt hopeless in that moment. No one knew where he was, and no one could help save him.

His eyes reluctantly returned to the face of his captor.

"There is no escape, Potter," the man said, a cruel smirk spreading across his face.

After speaking, Snape released Harry's chin and reached into his robes. Harry fearfully watched as the man slowly took out his wand and pointed it at him.

"Let's begin."

xXxXxXxXx

Harry abruptly opened his eyes and started up in the bed, his chest heaving as he quickly drew in short breaths. Sweat soaked his body, and his pajamas clung to his skin. After taking a few moments to calm his racing heart and to slow his breathing, Harry grimaced when he realized how sticky and gross he felt. He knew that it was still the middle of the night, but he needed to change pajamas and get a drink of water before he would be able to fall back to sleep. Grabbing his glasses, Harry slipped them on his face and got out of bed.

While unbuttoning the pajama top, his hands trembled the slightest bit as his mind replayed the horrible nightmare that he had just had. He had been so worried about Snape before going to bed, but he hadn't thought that nightmares would result from it.

As Harry changed into some clean pajamas, he tried to reassure himself. The nightmare had only been because of the book that he had seen after dinner. He didn't know why the man would have a book – or maybe even many books – like that, but surely there had to be a better explanation. Surely the Headmaster would not hire a man who tortured people for fun. Snape was a teacher. How could he get away with doing those sorts of things that had been explicitly described in that book?

Even though he was trying to make himself feel better, he would have been deluding himself if he believed that it was really working. If anything, he was more nervous than he had been last night after seeing the book.

It was way too early to be getting up for the day, and Harry still felt exhausted. He didn't want to go back to sleep, but he knew that he might not have any choice. His body would probably betray him again like it had earlier when he had attempted to stay awake. Before he could even lie down again, however, Harry wanted to go into the bathroom in order to get a drink and to splash some water on his face.

Harry knew that he had probably been tossing and turning while he was asleep, but he was glad that his restlessness had not awakened the professor. Quietly, Harry eased the door open and began to walk down the hallway. His hand stopped just short of the doorknob when he realized that he could hear two voices in the sitting room.

His feet seemed to have a mind of their own when he began silently walking towards the voices. He stopped well before reaching the doorway, and he pressed himself up against the wall. Leaning towards the room, he quieted his breathing and concentrated on listening.

"I just wanted to inform you that my mark began burning again," Snape said. "It started about ten minutes ago, and it is just a dull sensation now."

"So, you believe that he is calling another meeting?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Snape bluntly replied. "He has been busy since Potter got away."

"Thank you, Severus. Now…"

Harry didn't hear the rest of the conversation as he quietly walked back down the hallway. He didn't bother entering the bathroom since he was afraid that the running water would alert Snape to the fact that he was awake.

The conversation that he had overheard was confusing to him. Harry had no idea what the two professors had been talking about, but he had heard Snape mention his name.

The whole experience of the night was a little overwhelming. Harry had felt tired earlier, but now he was feeling more awake. He didn't know if he would be able to get any more sleep.

After lying back down in the bed and pulling the covers up to his chin, Harry rigidly lay still. His mind would not stop turning over the events of the past few hours. Harry continued to stare at the door; however, his mind was much farther away. He didn't know how he was going to survive a few more days here.

xXxXxXx

A/N: Hope you liked the new chapter. Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing.