Hey Everyone!

Welcome to the first chapter of Tortured Imagination, sequel to Adflictation Lair. If you haven't read Adflictation Lair this will probably be a bit muffled but basically this is Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. He is not only suffering from being kidnapped and held captive last summer, but he is also dealing with his, what is in his mind, abnormality of being singled out and having the weight of the world on his shoulders.

We really hope you enjoy this chapter and, even more importantly, this story.

Tortured Imagination

By WitchesInTraining

Chapter 1: Freak

"Hello, Harry darling," a soft voice whispered into the raven-haired boy's ear. "Harry, it's time to wake up."

"Huh?" Harry's muffled voice uttered.

"Harry, dear, wake up."

Harry's eyes flickered open, he found himself in Percy's old room with Mrs. Weasley smiling brightly at him. "Harry, hurry up now- it's time to leave."

"Um, leave where?" Harry asked, looking outside his window into the dark morning.

Mrs. Weasley let out a small giggle. "Harry, stop being silly- it's time to go to the Hogwarts Express."

"But-but it's too early to go," Harry said in confusion.

"Just get dressed, sweetheart," Mrs. Weasley said in a slightly strained tone as she threw Harry a pair of pants and a shirt. "Meet me in the driveway in ten minutes- I already have you're luggage packed and ready."

Harry nodded his head silently as Mrs. Weasley shut the door quietly behind her. He quickly dressed in the clothes that Mrs. Weasley had selected, ran to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, and hurried out the door to see a single, black car with Mrs. Weasley waiting to the side of it.

"Hop in Harry, we don't have all day," Mrs. Weasley said sternly.

Harry crawled into the backseat of the car and got himself situated as Mrs. Weasley did the same.

"Where's Ron and Herm-"

"Shhh, don't ask questions Harry."

Harry looked taken-aback. Mrs. Weasley had never spoken like this to Harry. He turned to look out into the black-darkness as tears threatened to blind him.

They sat in silence for what Harry thought was hours as he watched the dark pass him by.

"Er- Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked with a weak vouch of confidence.

"What?" Mrs. Weasley nearly shouted in irritation.

"I think we passed King's Cross Station a few miles back," Harry said after a gulp.

To Harry's surprise Mrs. Weasley started to laugh quite wildly.

"Mrs. Weasley?" Harry is asked in a mixture of confusion and fright.

"Oh, you silly boy, we're not going to Hogwarts. We're taking you to a place where you belong. A place where we will never have to think of you again. Don't you get it? I'm sick of you- we all are. We want you gone- we never want to see you again."

Ron and Hermione suddenly appeared behind Mrs. Weasley, nodding their heads and shouting, "We hate you! We're sick of you!"

Harry's hand began to tremble, followed by his entire body. He felt his cheeks grow red as a tear burned down his face.

"Oh look mum! He's crying! He's actually crying!" Ron shouted, pointing at Harry's face.

Harry quickly turned himself toward the window. As he peered out it, the surroundings suddenly changed. He was now standing in a place of stone walls and torture devices placed all around him.

"No- no! You can't do this to me! Please, Mrs. Weasley, Ron Hermione! Don't leave me here!" Harry screamed. "No!"

"Too late, Harry. You're already here- you made them hate you. You're just a worthless piece of nothingness, Harry. And I'm here now- I'm going to take good care of you," a smooth voice said.

Harry closed his eyes- he knew that voice. "M-Mum?"

"Yes, baby. I'm here," Harry dare not open his eyes incase it was a dream.

"Mum? Please-please help me. I have to get out of here. Bellatrix, she- she'll be here soon."

"Shhh, dear, Bellatrix will not be coming. Let me see you're hand, baby-boy," Lily said, her voice traveling to Harry's ear.

Harry held his hand out to his mother, wanting so bad for her to take it into her own. Lily smiled wickedly as she took his hand in hers.

A sense of relief rolled over Harry as he felt her soft hand grasping his own. Her touch was motherly and filled with love at first but suddenly she squeezed his hand so hard that he could feel his bones crunching under her own. His eyes snapped open as he felt blood running down his arm.

"Stop, mum! Please, stop! Just stop!"

A shrieking laugh escaped his mother's lips as she slowly evaporated into Bellatrix Lestrange.

The laughter suddenly stopped and a deep silence filled the room. "It is coming," Bellatrix said in a sharply deep voice that was not her own. "You better be ready to die."

Harry sat straight up, he could feel sweat dripping down his face and he was trembling immensely from fright and pain. Everything around him was pitch-dark and he scrambled to stand up. He felt liquid running from his hand and winced in pain as he tried to move it. Suddenly he felt vomit rising in his throat. He felt faint as he vomited over his lap and the floor.

"Somebody help!" he screamed. "Ron! Please! Where are you? Help! Ron!"

Ron scrambled into the room, Hermione and Neville right behind him. He quickly illuminated the room with the ceiling lights, revealing a compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

He winced when he saw mangled bits of blood and bone poking out from Harry's skin and fright in Harry's emerald eyes.

He ran over to his friend's side, quickly tearing a piece of cloth from his hand-me-down shirt to wrap Harry's hand in as Hermione quickly ran out of the room.

Harry breathed heavily, looking at his best friend.

"What happened?" Ron asked in concern.

"I-I-"

"I just walked in and I heard him screaming. It was horrible and I couldn't find the lights and I didn't know what to do so I ran to get you and I don't know what happened," Neville said in a quick breath, fear on his face as he watched Harry in concern.

Hermione hurriedly returned with a wet washcloth and immediately sat on the other side of Harry, dabbing the sweat from his forehead and vomit from his mouth. "Are you okay?"

"It was just- it was just another nightmare," Harry said quietly.

Ron nodded his head. "And how did this happen to your hand?"

"I-I don't know. It-it felt real. My head- I can't- it hurts," Harry whispered.

Ron nodded his head in understanding. "Neville, can you run and get us a first aid kit? We'll have to wait until we get to Hogwarts for Madam Pomfrey to fully heal his hand but until then a few bandages should be okay."

Neville nodded his head and ran quickly from the room.

Ron checked out the compartment door to make sure Neville was gone and that nobody was listening before he turned around and asked, "so what happened?"

"It was different, you know, from the others. This wasn't any ordinary nightmare. I mean, I-I was there but she said something to me. It was something serious. It felt like a warning for some reason. But I just can't- I can't really remember. Something about death. It's just so muddled." Harry said quietly, cringing as Hermione pressed the wet cloth against his bleeding hand.

"I don't know what to say, Harry," she began, "Um, I think we should wait til we get back to Hogwarts to tell Dumbledore. We'll take you to the hospital wing once we get there. You're going to be just fine."

Hermione smiled sympathetically at her friend.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine- just freaked me out a little more then I would want it to, is all," Harry said beginning to stand up. "I'm going to go use the laboratory."

Ron and Hermione nodded their heads. "Just be careful of that hand, Harry," Ron added.

Harry walked out of the compartment and took a deep breathe. Harry pull yourself together, he thought. You can't be like his- not now.

Ron and Hermione's voices floated outside of the compartment to Harry.

"What do you make of it?" Ron asked Hermione.

"I-I just don't know. What could make Harry do that to himself?"

"His hand? I'm starting to think it wasn't him who did it. I mean, how?"

"I-I can't see him like this- in so much pain," Hermione said. Harry could hear a sob in her voice.

"Me either- I'm starting to think this was a bad idea. He's not ready to go school. I mean, what if this happens in the dormitory? It's bad enough that Neville knows something- what about Dean and Seamus? I mean, we understand and I think even Neville understands more then he's letting on, but the other guys- they'll think he's a-" Ron paused.

"A what?" Hermione asked.

Ron took a deep breath and whispered, "A freak."

I……………………………………..I

Harry groaned as he rolled over onto his side as he gripped the sides of his head. He felt like he had been trampled over by a bunch of raging hippogriffs over and over again.

Wait-why was he in the hospital wing?

Suddenly, visions of Hermione and Ron helping him to the hospital wing, Madame Pomprey mending his hand and giving him a potion invaded his mind.

"Ugh…" His head was hurting fit to burst. As far as he could remember his head never hurt like this…even after a vision. He almost felt like he was going to be sick again. There was no way he would be able to go back to sleep like this.

Another sharp wave of pain penetrated through his head and he pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead, hoping to quell the pain. "Madam Pomfrey," he called as loud as his voice would allow him.

"MADAM POM-ugh..." It was no use, if she didn't hear him now he'd have to find a way to get her attention. The pain was making it incredibly hard to talk.

"Harry?" he heard a voice call, "Is something the matter? Are you awake?"

"M-my head, it really hurts…"

"Merlin, I gave you quite a big dose of Dreamless Sleep potion, I can't believe you woke up. Hang on dear, let me get some supplies."

Harry barely nodded in understanding. His hands were beginning to shake from the pain. Please, please let the pain go away, Harry thought to himself.

"Here we are, dear," said Madame Pomfrey, concerned.

She helped him pour a Pain Reliever potion down his throat as she dunked a washcloth in cold water and went to place it on his forehead. "Harry, dear, you're going to have to take your hands off of your head. Has the potion helped at all?"

"N-no….not really…"

"That's a good boy," she responded as she placed the cool washcloth on his forehead and over his eyes. "That's about all I can do for you now dear. It's quite strange that you've woken up given the dosage of Dreamless Sleep I gave you- that must be quite the headache."

"Uh huh, I- it's never hurt this bad…I don't know what's wrong."

"You're probably stressed dear. There you are, please try and get some sleep. How's your hand?"

"Better."

"Good, how did it happen again? Ron said that you fell? That must have been awful…"

"Oh…yeah...it was…" It was really hard to pay attention to what the matron was saying while he kept having shooting pains go through his head. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"They left right after I gave you your potion dear. They said that they would be back tomorrow- said they had things they had to do."

"Oh." The fact that Ron and Hermione had left him alone hit him hard. They normally would stand around his bed the whole night to make sure he was okay.

Did they really want to be his friend or did they agree with everyone else-that he was just a bother and a freak?

Maybe he shouldn't have come back to Hogwarts. Maybe everything would be better if he was still with Bellatrix…

I………………………………………I

"Harry are you okay?"

"Gosh, Harry why didn't you ever tell us….we could have done something…"

"You were kidnapped by Bellatrix Lestrange? She's a Death Eater isn't she? I've heard she's the cousin of that traitor Sirius Black…"

"It says that you were abused….Harry? Harry? Can you hear us…."

"Sorry? What?"

Ron and Hermione had just came and gotten him from the hospital wing and brought him down into the Great Hall. He had a bottle of dreamless sleep potion in his pocket "Just in case," Madam Pomfrey had said with a warning of the addictive nature of such a substance. As he sat down, hundreds of people literally swarmed around him, asking him questions, making sure he was okay-it was driving him mad. The remnants of his headache from last night was still in the back of his mind and the noise of everyone was starting to make it come back.

Harry lifted his head up to stare at all the people that were surrounding him. "S-sorry, I just don't want to talk about it right now."

"Right," someone answered amongst the crowd, "We'll give you some space, Harry." And everyone left, save for Ron and Hermione.

"Oh, goodness Harry, we are so sorry. We didn't know that they were going to do that. Really-"

"It's okay, 'Mione, really." But deep down, it wasn't. He didn't want his whole school knowing what had happened to him in Adflictation Lair, he also didn't want them to know what his childhood had been like-it was all supposed to be a secret, he was never going to tell anyone.

"Honestly Ronald, you could have warned me…maybe you should of even told people to not hoard him like that, honestly!"

"How was I supposed to know? I'm not a seer. What do you expect? For me to walk down here, yell at them and tell them not to talk to Harry? Honestly- women, sometimes!"

"You infuriate me Ronald! You are so thick…."

Harry, deciding that it was best not to join in on their conversation, grabbed himself a bowl of porridge and began eating, hoping it would upset his stomach so he could go back to the hospital wing.

"Oh, Harry I almost forgot! Here's your schedule, McGonagall said that I should give it to you," said Hermione as she cheerfully handed him the piece of paper.

Harry's eyes quickly scanned the schedule, when suddenly something met his eye. "Wait, this has to be wrong. It says that Snape is the new DADA teacher. That can't be right…"

Hermione looked desperately at Ron who only gave her a shrug of the shoulder. "Yeah, about that, Harry. We kind of forgot to tell you, they mentioned it at the feast last night. Dumbledore finally decided to let Snape teach his favourite class," replied Ron sadly.

"NO! What the hell does Dumbledore think he's doing? Snape- he's-he's a murderer! He-he killed Lupin! What, this- this isn't- He can't possible."

"Shhh, Harry, please," Hermione hushed, "people will hear."

"Well let them bloody well hear!" Harry shouted. "That Snape killed-"

"Hello, Harry, I thought you might want to see…my collection," said a dreamy voice into his ear as a pile of magazines and newspapers were tossed right in front of Harry, making the table shake.

"C-Collection of what?"

"Of articles about you silly!" cried the voice that could only be distinguished as Luna's.

"W-what are they of?" Harry asked, trying to stay calm.

"About you, and the abuse you had to go through and the torture. I've got every, single one that you were in this summer. I've decided to come up with my very own Harry Potter collection. This is wonderful," sighed Luna, her eyes glassing over.

Harry swallowed thickly. There had to be at least fifty magazines with his picture on it. Everyone had to know about how weak he was and how he couldn't defend himself against a muggle.

"Oh…"

"Don't you think it's lovely, Harry?" she asked batting her eyes at him.

"Hmm…actually I have to get to class…" he replied as he quickly stood up. His knees were shaking with rage and embarrassment and he tried to grab his bag from underneath the table.

"Right, Luna, we have Defense. We'll talk to you later. Good luck with your collection," replied Hermione sweetly.

"Mental, that one is," whispered Ron.

"You're telling me," answered Hermione.

Harry hesitated before he walked into the room for Defense, knowing that Professor Snape would be in there. "I can't- I won't do this," he said sternly.

"Harry, you have to!" Hermione said urgently.

"Why? Why do I have to do this?" Harry asked in sarcasm.

"Because Harry, if you don't do this- if you don't face him- he wins! DO you really want that?" Ron said.

"Why is it that everyone seems so easy to forget that he killed Lupin? Why is it that nobody seems to be able to face reality? He killed him!" Harry screamed.

Hermione turned red as she said. "Harry listen to me. We believe you- we do, but there was a lot of stuff going on that night at the hospital- it could have been anyone-"

"But it wasn't! It was him!"

"Harry- please, please just go in. If you don't, people will wonder…"

"Let them wonder- it can't get any worse then it already is!"

"Harry, please, just go in, please," Hermione said a tear gleaming in her eye.

Harry saw how upset he was making Hermione and reluctantly allowed himself to be led into Snape's classroom.

He took a sit between Ron and Hermione as he looked around. Snape had really changed the place around, it looked different- eviler, in Harry's opinion.

Harry sat in deafening silence- a silence abnormal to Ron and Hermione.

Suddenly a door from the backroom banged open, making Harry jump up in his seat. Snape came striding in, his robes billowing behind him.

"I want you to do the work on the board as said! Do by the end of class! NO EXCUSES!"

Everyone hurriedly dug into their bags to grab their books, parchments and quills to start the work- everyone besides Harry.

Harry sat back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, his breath dangerously deep.

Snape surveyed his class, his eyes lingering on Harry. "Mr. Potter, is it my understanding that you are refusing to do the work that I have assigned to you?"

The entire class's attention turned towards the two. "You're understanding is correct." Harry said with utter hatred in his voice.

"And you are willing to except any consequences that may befall you for not doing this work?"

Harry snorted in rebellion. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

Silence fell throughout the room, as the two enemies stared in hatred at each other.

"50 points from Gryffindor," Snape said, his mouth twitching in delight. "Now get back to work!" The class around Harry resumed as he sat still.

Suddenly a book slammed in front of Harry, making him jump slightly. He looked up to see Draco Malfoy lowering himself to his own ear.

Harry could feel Draco's hot breath as he whispered. "Hey, Potter, I heard that Auntie Bella had her way with you."

Harry felt himself tense up, and pulled back immediately. "Get the hell away from me," he said with pure hatred ringing in his voice.

Draco winked as he walked back to his chair wearing a small smile.

Had her way with me…

No…he couldn't…he didn't…

Looking at either side of him, Harry noticed that Ron and Hermione didn't even notice the confrontation with Draco, all too intent on their work.

Harry's tears burned in his eyes. What did people actually know? What had those magazines and newspaper hold?

Why did everything always have to go wrong for him? His life was truly falling apart.

I…………………………………….I

"Hey Harry, can you pass my quill? I'm going to get started on that foot long essay on the cornilius spell that Snape assigned," Hermione said, as she sat with Ron and Harry at a table in the Gryffindor common room that night.

Harry simply stared at the fireplace.

"Ah, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Huh?" Harry said coming out of his trance. "Oh, yeah, a-a quill. Here you go."

Hermione shot Ron a concerned glance.

"Harry, are you feeling alright?" Ron asked as casual as possible.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said quickly.

"Are- are you sure? Cause you seem to be a little-"

"Look, Ron, I'm fine," Harry said sternly.

Hermione shuddered at Harry's harsh tone as Ron stood up.

"Okay, now I know something is bothering you," he said just as severely.

Harry paused, a hint of anger in his eyes. "I'm fine. This is the end of this conversation- as a matter of fact we're not even having this conversation now. I'm fine and I'm going to bed," Harry finished as he swept up all of his books and started walking up the stairs to his dormitory."

"Harry, wait!" Ron shouted as everyone in the common room, starting to notice their argument, turned towards them.

Harry quickly whipped around on the staircase. "Don't you get it Ron? I'm fine!"

"Well, you're not acting fine!" Ron yelled back.

"Yeah," Harry said with a snort, "I'm as fine as any freak could be," he finished calmly.

Ron stared at Harry as he turned around and walked the rest of the way up the stairwell.

When he reached his room he threw his books onto his nightstand and pulled out the bottle of dreamless sleep potion from his sock drawer. He remembered Madam Pomfrey's warning about drinking too much. Well, it's only two nights, he thought to himself.

He slightly smiled to himself as he uncorked the bottle. "Well, here's to," he thought for a second as a tear entered his eye, "Here's to hopefully never, ever having to feel again. To being numb forever…"

A/N: Okay- we know what you're thinking- total rip off of HBP with the whole Snape being the Defense teacher but honest to God we had already decided that before the book ever came out! We were like AH! We considered not putting it in our story but it was too important to the plot to exclude. Just so you know…

For anyone who has not yet heard, review responses have been banned from this site but don't worry! We've figured out an AWESOME solution. We have a Yahoo! Group (the link is in our bio) and every week we are going to be posting our review responses there. Since this is the first chapter, there are no responses yet but just wait til next week!

We hope you enjoyed!