"Good. Now go. I'll knock on your door when supper is ready." Snape suddenly remembered the backpack in his hands. He unzipped it and pulled out the invisibility cloak, holding it up for Harry to see. "Oh and Potter, I'll be holding onto this." (Chapter 6)

Harry turned around to see his invisibility cloak balled up in his professor's hand. His smile immediately evaporated and he felt a surge of anger flare up inside of him. He raced toward Snape to grab his cloak.

"You can't take that, it was my dad's!" He went for the cloak, but Snape pulled it out of his reach. "Give it here!" he squealed.

"Oh no, Mr. Potter. Absolutely not," Snape turned away slightly while he folded it and put it inside his robes. "There is absolutely no reason someone your age should have a valuable and dangerous object like this. It will only get you into trouble."

The adrenaline rush pushed Harry over the edge and his emotions surged completely out of control. He launched himself at Snape, ripping and pulling at his robes, desperately trying to grab the cloak from his inside pocket.

"Give it to me you stupid git! It's mine! It's the only thing I have from my dad," he screamed as his hands and fists flailed against his professor's chest. He was grasping at the man like a rabid animal.

Snape was caught completely off guard. No student had ever dared to attack him this way-neither verbally nor physically. It took him a moment before he reacted, but then he reached down and grabbed Harry's arms tightly with both hands. He pried the boy off of him and gave him a strong shake.

"Stop it, Potter!" It was the loudest his voice had been all day. "Get control of yourself. NOW!"

The booming voice and the strong hands gripping his upper arms shocked Harry into silence and he let go of Snape's robes. His heart was racing and his eyes were wide with anger and fear. He looked like a mini madman.

Snape kept a tight grip on both of Harry's arms while he bent down to eye-level. His voice was low but dangerous and his eyes flashed with rage. "Don't you ever speak to me like that again! How dare you come at me in that manner!"

Harry's body went rigid. The adrenaline rush had gone from an energy surge of fight or flight immediately to freeze. His brain was completely shut down—he felt like he was having an out of body experience.

Snape kept a tight hold of the boy and turned him sharply to the side. With his right hand he delivered a resounding smack to the boy's backside before bringing him back in front. He pulled him close and put a finger right in his face. "That kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable."

He paused for a moment to get his bearings. The sound of the smack had echoed against the stone walls, and for a moment everything went quiet.

But before Harry could even react, Snape was dragging him to the nearest corner of the parlor. "Put your nose in the corner, Potter, and don't even think about opening your impertinent mouth." He leaned down to his ear and hissed barely above a whisper "This is your only warning-if you dare move or utter a single word before I give you permission, I promise you, you will sorelyregret it."

The smack had jolted Harry immediately back to reality. He suddenly found himself staring at the corner with a stinging rear end, Snape's words lingering in his ear. He was mortified. His face and ears went completely red with embarrassment. What the hell was I thinking, I can't believe I just attacked Snape! And I can't believe he smacked me and put me in the corner like a little kid. 

Harry was so overwhelmed with emotions that he couldn't help it, he started to cry. Quietly at first, but once the emotional floodgates opened he felt like everything he'd had bottled up inside started to pour out. He was sad, scared, angry, and lonely all at once and he couldn't control himself, he began to sob.

Snape stood behind him, still in shock. He might think Harry is an arrogant, disrespectful brat at times—but this was way out of character, even for him. Something clearly wasn't right with the boy. He tried to push away those feelings and convince himself that he'd acted justly. The boy was completely out of control-honestly-screaming and hitting a professor? There's no way he should get away with that. No, the boy clearly needed to be put in his place. He had been warned to behave himself at least half a dozen times today. He was lucky he got away with a single smack. 

Unsure of what to do with himself, Snape walked back to his armchair and picked up his tea. He tried to ignore the brat, but he was finding it extremely difficult. His own anger had faded away almost immediately and it had been replaced by nagging concern for the boy.

Snape had never been one to feel bad about doling out a well-deserved punishment—in fact, he quite relished in giving a misbehaving student their rightful comeuppance. While he lamented the fact that he was generally limited to taking house points and giving detentions, he took pride in trying to make his detentions as miserable as possible. It was his goal to sufficiently deter any student from repeating their offense— he wanted them to fear him, it made his job easier. He was of the belief that if you make a strong impression the first time, hopefully you only have to do it once. Or at least, not very often.

But this felt different. He didn't feel any satisfaction from this at all. He generally took care to be completely in control when dealing with his students, but he had been thrown off his game by Harry's unexpected outburst. He didn't regret smacking the boy—it was more than well-deserved in Snape's opinion— but he was having a hard time ignoring that there was something unusual going on with Harry. This wasn't just a boy being cheeky or rude, this was something else entirely. And it made him very uncomfortable.

Despite his best efforts, Snape caved in less than 4 minutes of Harry being in the corner. He couldn't stand to hear him cry anymore. His point had been made and he hoped it was sufficient enough for the boy to have his anger under control. Now he wanted to find out what was really going on with him.

"Come here, Mr. Potter," Snape said calmly.

Harry walked slowly out of the corner until he was standing in front of his professor. His face was red and tears were still running down his cheeks. His breath hitched loudly several times when he inhaled. He was a right mess.

Snape pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to the boy. "Take a deep breath. There's no reason to work yourself into hysterics."

Not knowing what else to do, he tapped the boy on the arm and nodded at the couch. "Sit."

Harry obeyed silently, his breath still hitching every few seconds. He took his glasses off and wiped his face with the handkerchief.

Snape rapped the small table with his wand and a glass of water appeared. "Here. Drink some water. You need to calm down."

As much as Snape had tried to avoid any conversation that revolved around feelings, there was no way around it now. He took a deep breath and prepared himself before he began to speak.

"Explain yourself, Mr. Potter. Surely even you know better than to behave like that."

It wasn't the most empathetic way to start a conversation, but Snape's tone was gentle and his face was forgiving. Harry knew him well enough to recognize that he was making an effort to talk.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I just...I got really angry and before I even realized what was happening you were pulling me off of you." Harry dropped his head in shame and a tear rolled down his face.

"Eyes up, please." He waited for Harry to look up at him before he continued. "Why are you crying so hard? Surely a little smack and a few minutes in the corner haven't traumatized you to that extent."

Harry's face burned bright red at the reminder. "No, sir. I don't know. I guess there's just a lot on my mind." He could feel the emotions welling up inside of him but he was trying not to start crying again.

"It's OK to cry. You certainly have a lot of reasons to be upset. I did not punish you because of your feelings. I punished you because of the atrocious way you acted on them."

"I'm sorry, I really am."

Snape nodded in acceptance and encouraged him with a sympathetic look. "Tell me what made you so angry."

"You took my dad's cloak. It's the only thing I have from him. I don't have hardly anything from my parents and it means a lot to me." A fresh batch of tears fell from his eyes.

"I wasn't taking it from you, Potter. I was merely holding onto it for safekeeping. If you had asked me, rather than assault me, I would have explained that to you and we could have discussed it rationally." Snape scolded him gently.

"But what if I need it?" Harry asked, looking up at Snape with a pathetic look in his eyes.

"Why would a 12-year old possibly need an invisibility cloak at school? The only thing I imagine you would need it for is breaking rules and causing mischief."

"But what if someone comes after me, or I need to escape?" Harry's voice got higher and Snape could hear the anxiety behind it.

"As long as you stay where you're supposed to be and follow the rules, you will be safe inside this castle, Potter. It is only when you go out looking for trouble that you seem to find it." He arched his eyebrow and looked down at the boy with a disapproving glare.

"That's not true," Harry mumbled. "I don't go looking for trouble."

"Oh really?" Snape drawled, a smirk crossing his lips. "Do I need to remind you about all of your little adventures last year? Where shall we start? Hmmm, constantly gallivanting around the castle and out on the grounds after hours, maybe? Or perhaps, going after the Philosopher's Stone? I also believe I heard a certain rumor about a dragon?" He paused for effect and shook his head. "Honestly, Potter, I would say you have quite the reputation for breaking the rules that are meant to keep you safe."

Harry felt the heat rising in his ears again. Snape wasn't wrong about any of that, but it sounded so much worse when he put it like that.

"That's not what I meant, sir." He paused, debating whether he should continue. "I think...I think someone's trying to kill me," he said quietly.

He hadn't wanted to tell anyone without talking to Ron and Hermione first. After everything that had happened with Quirrel last year, he wasn't sure who he could trust. Snape hadn't exactly been at the top of his list of people to confide in, but he had been the one to rescue him and bring him safely to Hogwarts. And now he was taking him in. He still didn't fully trust the man, but he didn't want to hold it in any longer, the truth was eating away at him.

"Why do you think someone is trying to kill you, Mr. Potter?" Snape was careful with his tone, he was sufficiently concerned enough that he wanted the boy to be honest with him.

"Something happened last summer. Before I ran away." Harry glanced up at his professor through the top of his glasses.

Snape returned the look, keeping his face neutral. "Go on. I'm listening."

"I got a visit from a house elf called Dobby. He came to my relative's house one night and he warned me that I shouldn't come back to Hogwarts. He told me that there were people who wanted to hurt me and it wasn't safe."

Snape's blood immediately ran cold. He knew Dobby belonged to the Malfoy family and this was a very disturbing development.

"Is that why you ran away? You were afraid to come back to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, sir." Harry paused for a moment before deciding to continue. "At first I told Dobby I was still going to go back, but then he broke a bunch of stuff and embarrassed my relatives during a dinner party. They were so furious with me they locked me up and took my owl."

Snape nodded. "I see." Shit, now this all makes sense. The boy was terrified.

"When I was sitting there, locked in my room, I started worrying that if I went back, maybe it wouldn't just be me that got killed. What if other people got hurt because of me? I felt really bad that I'd dragged Ron and Hermione into everything last year, they could've been killed. I just didn't want anyone else to get hurt," he barely choked out the last sentence before tears were flowing again.

Harry hunched over his knees and buried his face in his hands as fresh tears poured down his face.

Snape felt truly terrible. When Harry hadn't shown up at the start of term, he had immediately assumed the boy was just acting out to get attention, or wanted to arrive late and make an entrance.

But when Harry didn't show up within a few days, he knew there was likely more to it. He and Dumbledore had gone to Little Whinging to find out more from his relatives. Once he'd met those vile cretins for himself, he realized there was clearly something wrong. They didn't seem concerned at all, in fact, they seemed rather glad to be rid of him. Dumbledore and McGonagall had assured him that Harry was well-taken care of there, but having grown up in an abusive home himself, he knew that no one outside could ever truly know what horrors went on inside someone else's home.

Still, he had never even considered the fact that someone had found a way to breach the blood wards and threaten Harry. Much less tell him not to return to Hogwarts. Knowing it was Dobby and the Malfoys made this a serious situation indeed. He didn't want to alarm Harry, but he would need to discuss this with Dumbledore as soon as possible.

Snape got up and sat next to Harry on the couch. He put his hand on the boy's back and patted him awkwardly a few times. "It's going to be OK, Mr. Potter. You are safe now. I can promise you that as long as you are here at Hogwarts, we will not let anyone harm you."

This was difficult for Snape. He wasn't one who ever gave comfort or sympathy, but at this moment it felt like the only thing he should do. But he was way outside of his comfort zone.

"I told you earlier that with this apprenticeship, I am taking full responsibility for you. You will be in my care, which means I will do everything to keep you safe. That said, it is going to be VERYimportant that you listen to me and follow the rules." He tapped Harry's back gently with his fingers to make sure he was paying attention. "I mean that. If you ever disobey me and put yourself at risk, I will put you over my knee and give you a proper spanking."

Snape couldn't help adding that little reminder at the end. He didn't want to appear too soft.

Unsure of what else to say, and seeing that the boy was spent, Snape brought both of his hands down on his lap and gave his own knees a peppy double tap before standing up. "Alright. Up you get, Potter. Go wash your face and freshen up and we'll have dinner. I think we've both had enough excitement for one day."

Harry stood up and Snape gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. He wasn't sure what else to say or do, he was still completely gobsmacked by what the boy had told him. He also realized there was more that the boy wasn't telling him, but it might take some time before Harry would feel comfortable to share it. He wasn't going to push it.

While Harry was in the washroom, Snape sent a message to Dumbledore telling him he wanted to speak tonight. He had planned on putting Harry to bed as early as possible and having an early night himself, but after everything he'd just learned he imagined it would be another late night.

Snape sighed to himself and rubbed his temples. Damn it, I'd give anything to have a firewhisky and an early night. No rest for the wicked.

Harry came back into the parlor a few minutes later and followed Snape to the kitchen table. A huge spread appeared (courtesy of the house elves) and the two sat down to enjoy their meal in relative silence.

As they were finishing, Snape spoke up. "You desperately need a haircut, Potter. You look like one of those ragamuffins out of a Charles Dicken's novel. I'm cutting it tomorrow, and I don't want to hear any objections." Snape said in a mock scolding tone.

He was trying to lighten the mood, but Harry was too exhausted to play along, so he just smiled weakly and replied "OK, sir."