*Peeks up from under the rock I've been hiding* Sorry it's taken so long to update, er, I should have probably mentioned that during the school season I will be updating very sporadically, I'm still alive and intend on finishing this fanfic, I promise (shoutout to Air-Is-My-Pollution making me realize that people think that I might have abandoned this fic, thank you for liking my fan fic)... so please don't hate me?

Chapter 9.

Later that evening...

Harry entered Snape's dining room hesitantly. Snape was sitting at the table stiffly in his usual dark billowing robes. The table was barren except for the glass of water in the place opposing Snape. Harry thought it was a bit odd that Snape wore wizarding robes all the time when he lived in a muggle town, though granted Snape's house was at least a mile out of the town, but who was Harry to judge?

'Sit down Potter." Harry pulled out a chair across from Snape and sat, feeling very awkward, and as though he was in trouble for something. A silence spread over for an uncomfortably long period of time to where Harry was shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

"Er, so, what are we supposed to do here?" Harry finally broke the silence with his rather stammered out question. Snape smirked thinly.

"Potter, you are supposed to talk." Harry shifted again. Was that it? Snape expected him to just sit there and pour his soul out to him? That was, well that was stupid.

"Er, no offense professor, but, er, how do I know you aren't going to bring up what I tell you and use it against me?" Snape narrowed his eyes.

"Yes Potter. You have my word. Now talk about your time with the Dursleys." Harry shifted again in his chair feeling extremely restless. Was he supposed to just believe Snape? Harry pondered on it for a moment, so far Snape hadn't been so horrible, maybe he could trust him?

"Er- I'm not sure where to start." Snape stared at Harry as though he was stupid.

"Potter, don't be an idiot. Start at the beginning." Harry nodded uncomfortably.

"Er, well they never really liked me-or- well I can't remember a time that they did- like me that is." Harry paused, nervous.

"My first bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs." There, he had said it. Snape's expression didn't change at all. Harry cautiously continued, "I lived there until my eleventh birthday, but it wasn't so bad actually. I was actually disappointed when Uncle Vernon took me to Dudley's second bedroom- he, er, used it as a room where he put all of the toys he didn't want, but didn't want to throw out- because my Hogwarts letters had started to arrive." Snape looked startled at that.

"Letters, Potter?" Harry paused at that. Snape didn't know about that? He kind of figured that the letters were somehow magically generated, but he hadn't been certain until then. Harry was pretty sure that Hagrid would have started a riot if he had known.

"Yeah, er- my Uncle kind of prevented me from getting any of them. Anyway, the cupboard was kind of the first place I remember being. Sometimes I would end up being locked in there by Aunt Petunia- Er- I went without meals a lot before I went to school. I think if it weren't for what the neighbor's would say, I think she wouldn't have fed me at all." Snape stiffened when Harry started talking about his aunt. Harry figured that he should skip past any and all frying pan incidents this time round.

"Er, so anyways, when I started school, I was a bit of an odd duck, the Dursley's had spread rumours about me already to all of the faculty, so I figured the teachers would favour Dudley, but then I realized that Dudley wouldn't really let me have any friends." Harry stopped again. Snape wouldn't know anything about Dudley.

"Er, I dunno if you know this, but Dudley is a bit of a bully. Er, he takes after his parents, and they used to encourage him to bully me around a bit." Snape had nodded stiffly to show Harry he had heard. Harry waited for another minute, for the first time, noticing the glass in front of him and taking a nervous sip of the water.

"Er, So Dudley made sure I wouldn't have any friends in school. I actually liked school, until I realized I wasn't supposed to do better than Dudley. I think it was when I got my first spelling test back in primary school, first grade I think. I can't even remember what I got on it, all I remember was that Dudley got a worse grade than me. He threw a tantrum in front of Aunt Petunia when we got home. I-er- got locked out of the house for the rest of the night. She gave me a really long list of gardening chores that I had to get done before the night was over." Harry stopped again, feeling exhausted. Snape stared at Harry.

"How old were you?" Harry looked up at Snape. He hadn't even realized he had been staring at the glass of water in front of him.

"I was six." Harry wasn't sure, but he felt like he was swaying in his chair. "Look Professor, could we take a break?"

….

Severus stared at the boy in front of him. He was nothing like either of his parents. He was his father's image, he had his mother's eyes, but the boy held no similarity to either. James Potter had been a cruel, spoiled little boy who held grudges easily. Lily Evans was a bright ray of sunshine who held all the innocence in the world. That girl had been kind to everything and had also been overemotional, and was also pampered lovingly by her parents. The boy in front of him was world weary, had been neglected. Severus had no clue who the boy was. This Potter could be lying to him about every single thing that he had said and Severus wouldn't know.

"Potter, you've explained enough for today. Go to bed." The boy pushed back from the table, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor, contrasting against the silence, and staggered to the edge of the dining room.

"Professor? Will I be able to visit the Weasley's tomorrow?" Severus nodded once succinctly. The boy had made a great effort today, and that at the very least deserved to be rewarded. The boy smiled and shakily turned around and left. Severus smirked, Potter should learn at least some vigilance, Severus thought, mildly amused. He had once again placed a very diluted amount of veritaserum, just enough to ensure that the boy would be mildly influenced by the potion, and yet still contain all of his faculties.

I know I put a lot of stuttering in this chapter, but I figured that this was necessary for the readers to be able to tell how nervous and unsure Harry was telling Snape about his life.