Harry thought he was going to be alright for this round of apparating, but he was sorely mistaken. Not eating for two days was definitely not a good thing. This time he immediately fell to the ground, hands holding onto the grass like a lifeline. The world around him was spinning crazily and he was afraid to let go for fear he’d fall over, but not stop spinning.

It took all he had to keep from yelling when he felt someone grab and turn him into a sitting position. He grasped Snape’s robes, trying to stop himself from falling over, even though he wasn’t moving. The next thing he knew, there was another potion vial at his lips and he was forced to drink it. The dizziness was gone replaced with a feeling of extreme weakness. Lifting his hand alone seemed like a futile task.

“Two days my ass.” said Snape, scathingly. “Do you even eat at all?” he asked, feeling the bones through the boy’s clothes.

Okay, so maybe it had been longer than two days, he honestly couldn’t remember when he had last eaten. Hell, he hadn’t eaten decently since he was a one year old. Malnutrition was such a bitch. Harry just let his head loll against Snape’s chest; anything else was out of the question.

Snape sighed in frustration. “We’re going to get some food into you, and then we’re going to have a little talk.” he said, and Harry knew it wasn’t up for argument.

Harry was dimly aware that they seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by trees, but he could hear water running in the distance. But there were no signs of civilization anywhere. So, where were they going to get food? Harry’s mind didn’t seem to be functioning clearly at the moment. They were wizards, after all. Food wouldn’t be that hard to conjure up, but try explaining that to Harry.

Harry was shocked out of his ‘stupid moment’ by a piece of bread being shoved into his mouth. He nearly choked.

“Please tell me you know how to chew, Potter.” said Snape, exasperated at the situation in general.

Harry gave the man a withering glare, which was about the only thing he could do. He then started chewing the bread, and swallowed it. After a while, he was able to feed himself, and did so. He was more than uncomfortable with the fact that Snape had been feeding him. Of course, Snape wasn’t too thrilled with it either. The potions professor had been more than happy when Harry started taking the food for himself.

After only eating a fourth of what was offered, Harry had to stop. He had lowered his head when he felt Snape’s scrutinizing gaze on him, and as he did he thought he saw a glimpse of concern. However, the next he saw was the older man’s hard glare. Perhaps he had imagined it.

Snape was pretty damn sure that a bird couldn’t survive on the amount of food that child had just ingested. Perhaps now would be a good time to have that little chat. He had never been one to mince words.

“Did that bastard uncle of yours even feed you at all in the past fourteen years?” he asked, straight forward and to the point.

For the second time that day, Harry nearly choked. “Excuse me?” he asked. He knew Snape wanted to talk, but for some odd reason, he didn’t think it was going to be like this.

“Are you daft, or didn’t you hear the question?” he asked, dourly.

Harry suddenly wanted to be anywhere but where he was. He didn’t want to answer these questions; he didn’t want to be with such a temperamental man, who could possibly cause him bodily harm. Okay, so he didn’t really think he’d hurt him, but it was hard to think otherwise.

Snape watched as the boy seemed to fight an internal struggle. He was actually surprised the boy hadn’t run from him. He never was good at this kind of thing.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but it would help me to better understand if you told me about your uncle.” he said, sincerely.

Harry dropped his head into his hands. Did he want to do this? Did he want to tell Snape, a person he never would have felt trustworthy before, things he hadn’t even told his best friends? He thought he would. Even if it was just to get it off his chest. He wouldn’t tell him everything, but enough to make him understand. He could do that.

“You hit the nail on the head, professor.” Snape looked confused for a moment before Harry continued. “He is a bastard.”

Snape looked at the boy incredulously. ‘He spoke.’ To say he was surprised would have been an understatement. The emotion put into the words was what really threw him off, though. Hate was a strong term, but he knew without a doubt that that was exactly how the boy felt about his uncle. Pure, unadulterated hate. What must the man have done to make a child feel that particular feeling about him? Many ideas started to filter into his brain, none of which were pleasant.

Without thinking he asked. “What did he do to you?” He really wanted to know. Not for selfish reasons either. It wasn’t like he planned to use the information against him or anything. He just honest to goodness wanted to know, shocking as it was.

Harry looked at him in a scrutinizing manner. ‘The hell with it.’ he thought. “What do you want to know?”

Snape was surprised, again. “Well, for starters, answer my earlier question. Did they feed you?”

Harry laughed, but not a happy laugh, a frightening laugh. “Define ‘feed you.’ I wasn’t considered worthy of food. In fact, I wasn’t worthy of anything. The only reason they feed me at all was because they were afraid someone like you might show up. Fear of what they didn’t understand seemed to be a motivational factor in just about everything. I basically received Dudley’s leftovers, in food, clothes, you name it.” After speaking that small amount of information, Harry didn’t know if he wanted to go on. Snape had a look of utter disbelief on his face.

“Did he hit you?” asked Snape, throwing caution to the wind. If Harry would have had anything in his mouth, he would have choked, again.

Harry stuttered for a few moments before finally speaking. “No.” he said, rather unbelievably.

‘Well that was a lie, if I ever heard one.’ Snape thought to himself. “Perhaps the truth would be more believable, Potter.” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Why?” asked Harry. “Why do you even want to know?”

Snape sighed. This kid had absolutely no trust in anyone whatsoever. Not that he could blame him. “I don’t have a heart made of stone, contrary to popular belief. I may be a bastard half the time, but don’t think I don’t give a damn.” he said. He didn’t want to say he cared or anything like that; because he knew the boy wouldn’t believe him. Plus, he wouldn’t believe himself.

Harry seemed to think on it for a while before he finally answered his question, if one would call it an answer at all. More like an aversion. “Maybe we could talk about this later.” or rather a flat-out refusal to answer at all.

Snape knew the conversation was over and let it go. He’d bring it up later, when he was more comfortable with his presence.

“So, where are we?” he asked, as a lame way of changing the subject. But he did really want to know.

“Again with the questions.” he muttered. “Do you hear that running water?” Harry confirmed it and Snape continued. “It’s a river, and across that river is an island. We’re going there. We just have to find a boat.” he said the last almost as an afterthought.

“Oh. Well, why didn’t we just apparate there then?” asked Harry.

“Honestly Potter, do you ever use that brain of yours.” again with the scathing remarks. He saw Harry flinch and mentally berated himself. “Anti-apparation wards.” That was all he needed to say.

“Oh.” said Harry, feeling like a complete idiot. “Didn’t know that.” he added.

“Of course you didn’t.” he replied. “We’d better get going, it looks like it could storm.” he said, looking up at the sky. There were relatively large storm clouds rolling in. He didn’t want to get caught in any bad weather. At that precise moment, the thunder rolled, very loudly. Harry jumped.

“I hate storms.” he stated. Severus smirked. So did he, but he wasn’t about to tell the boy that.

Levitating their belongings, they started towards the sound of running water. Harry noticed that the temperature had dropped drastically. He was pulling his cloak closer around himself, trying to draw in the heat. Snape didn’t seem to care at all about how cold it was.

As they approached the water, one thing entered Harry’s mind. Raging River Rapids. He definitely wasn’t looking forward to crossing the turbulent waters in the rickety boat he saw resting on the shore. He clumsily put his things into the boat after Snape had ended the levitation spell. He stood aside as his professor did the same, and even after the older man had climbed into the boat.

“Are you coming?” he asked, impatiently. Harry stood unsurely by the side of the boat. He didn’t exactly want to die today, and those rapids looked pretty deadly.

“Aren’t you worried?” he asked. “I mean, that boat doesn’t look stable enough to carry a rock, let alone two people…and their luggage.” he clarified at Snape’s questioning look.

Snape’s piercing glare made Harry immediately jump into the boat, regardless of safety. He was beyond relieved when the professor muttered a spell under his breath and the boat began to float over the mutinous waters. He sighed in relief and visibly relaxed, leaning against the edge of the boat. Snape just smirked.

They glided effortlessly across the water and eventually Harry could make out a tiny little dot in the distance. “That would be the island, Potter.” remarked the older man, noticing Harry’s interest in the spec across from them.

“Oh.” he replied. “It’s rather small.” he said, jokingly.

Snape didn’t find it all that funny. “It grows on you.” Harry laughed anyways. He didn’t think his professor realized what he had just said.

“Shut up, Potter.” Then again, maybe he did.