Last time:

Harry grimaced when he left McGonagall's office, and thought to himself Forget the day, this week is going to be hell. How very little he knew, at that time, just how bad detention would be that night. Had he known, he might not have made such an accurate statement about the week being hell.

The rest of the day passed rather passively for Harry. He managed to avoid Snape (who looked as if he wished to talk to him), and Trewalney predicted a rather sedate death for him that day. Binns, naturally, was as boring as ever. It took everything Harry had not to fall asleep in that class. But he got to the end of the day with what remained of his dignity (and temper). As the clock struck seven, Harry was in front of Umbridge's office. He entered when told, and stood before her desk for a good few minutes before she addressed him.

When she finally did deign to notice him, it was to tell him he would be writing. Indeed, writing the lines 'I must not tell lies.' This did not seem too bad of a punishment to Harry, who was use to his Uncle's, so he agreed. He was given a black quill and a sheet of parchment. Though he realized he hadn't been given any ink, he didn't make an issue of it. After all, the woman was aggravating enough without him asking her for some ink. So he began to write; and found out just why he had not been given any ink almost immediately. His writing was cutting into his left hand, which provided him with blood 'ink'.

Though this horrified him, he had been too well trained by Vernon to make anything of it. It didn't hurt that much, and he refused to appear weak in front of an enemy. For about three hours he continued as such, making no noise except the scratch of quill on paper. Finally she dismissed him after looking at his hand. She said that he had to come back the next night, and as many nights that week until the message sank in. Harry walked back up to the Gryffindor tower, hugging the shadows to avoid anyone spotting him. It was after curfew, and he had no wish to be caught by another Professor and assigned more detention. Nor did he want someone to spot his hand, which was flaming red just then.

He managed to reach the Tower with no event, and provided the Fat Lady with the password. He then walked up to bed, too exhausted to do the homework the fifth years had been assigned that day. Though he was likely to regret not doing it early, he just didn't have it in him that night. Instead he crawled into his four-poster after getting into his pajamas. It didn't take him long to fall asleep, nor did it take him long to have a vision.

~He hissed with displeasure as he gazed upon his Death Eaters. All of them were trembling, though not all were on their feet. Some of them were twitching from the after-effects of the Crutacius. He had found out from a reliable source that several precious items of his had been captured by the Order, and destroyed. This failure was unforgivable, and also stank of treason. He said to the quivering troops "If I ever find out who was behind the leakage of information and items, that person, or persons, will wish they had never been born." He then cast another bout of Crucio, bringing many of the ones still standing to their knees. He reveled in the screams of pain that echoed off the walls of his throne room.~

Harry sat up panting, heart racing with a mix of emotions. Draco asked him mentally what was up, and he transferred the dream to him. While he normally kept such things to himself, so as not to traumatize anyone else, he needed someone else to know what had happened that night. Draco had grown strangely silent after seeing the vision, then he said ~I will check on Professor Snape in the morning. That is the best I can do.~ Harry nodded, both physically and mentally, and they both tried to settle down for more sleep. They did manage it, though it was difficult.

***

Severus groaned as he pulled himself up to the castle. That night's meeting had not gone well. Tom was furious with them all for the failure, and he suspected too much. Sev's and Sel's positions had nearly been compromised that day. Thankfully they only had one more item that they could destroy. Unfortunately, that one was closely guarded by the Dark Lord himself. Neither of them knew how they were going to destroy it, only that they had to. Shaking his head, Severus downed an anti-crutacius potion, and crawled into bed exhausted.

***

Several days later

Harry sighed, and picked at his food idly. The first week had been severely hectic. He had barely managed to keep up with his homework with the detention, and then to be assigned another weeks worth during Care of Magical Creatures. McGonagall had been furious, and had taken points. The only up note was that no meetings had been called, and Snape had remained safe. Though he was worried for the man, he had been avoiding him just to avoid taking the well-deserved tongue-lashing he knew was coming. Draco had called him a coward for that. So had Hermione.

He looked at the back of his left hand discreetly. No one had yet realized what Umbridge's detentions were truly about, as he had been able to keep them from Draco. He thought defiantly to himself that he was allowed to be a coward every now and again. Especially as he was putting up with more then most students had to. Even Snape's detentions had been so bad, and they had been pretty disgusting. But this was almost as bad as what Vernon had put him through, though Harry was used to it. That, and Draco's mental support, were the only things that kept Harry from going totally mad. He often wondered how his life could get much worse.

He found out that night, the last of his first week's worth of detention. On the table was a new black quill, this one lined with a venomous green that made him think of the Basilisk. He had a strong sense of foreboding from it, though he didn't know why. He found out as soon as he used it. Pain flared from not just the words that were etching deeper into his hand, but every single scar he had gotten in his life. Including his curse scar. This was enough to cause him to suck in breath as silently as possible. When Umbridge looked up, an evil smile playing on her lips, however, he continued writing. He soon became numbed to the pain, though he didn't realize it was doing damage to his nervous system.

Several hours later he left the classroom slowly, his hand bleeding and his nerves jangling with each step. He stopped several corridors from Umbridge's office, and pulled out a handkerchief to wrap around his bloody hand. For the first time in his life he felt loathing for one person nearly overwhelm him. He had loathed Snape, before he had saved him. He still loathed Vernon and Voldemort, but never to this extent. Never to the point where he had to fight it back less he lose his mind to it. Draco, sensing the turbulence over their link, helped beat back the self-destructive feelings. When the hate was under control, Draco asked why Harry had nearly lost his mind to it. Harry refused to answer, and Draco didn't press.

Harry was just about to return to Gryffindor tower, when a light started floating towards him. Harry realized he had stayed still far too long, and had been caught after curfew in the hallways. And when he saw who it was, his heart sank. The man who he had been avoiding had found him breaking curfew. And Snape didn't appear too happy when he realized who he had found. Beckoning to Harry, Snape walked down to his dungeon office. Harry followed with a heavy heart, knowing that this interview wasn't going to be pleasant. He hoped that he wouldn't be assigned more detention on top of Umbridge's, but he knew that hope was fleeting, and often wasn't answered reliably. This just wasn't his week.