"Oh, ow, ow," Harry protested.

"I haven't even begun yet," Snape told him, pulling on leather gloves.

"But it's going to hurt," Harry sniffed.

"Of course, it's going to hurt. You rolled in poison ivy. You don't ever, ever roll in an unknown plant!" Snape smacked Harry's bottom hard.

"Ow," Harry objected. "I'm hurting all over, and you're spanking me?"

"Quiet down," Snape replied. "I'll sponge all the dirt off you, and then you're getting a bath."

"Can't you just make a potion to make me better?" Harry asked, wincing from the burn on his stomach, back, feet, and face.

"Yes, there is a potion," Snape nodded. "Unfortunately, one of the key ingredients was the plant that you destroyed along with the poison ivy."

Harry gave a pitiful whine. As he stood in just his shorts in the kitchen, he watched Snape take a wet cloth out of the warm water, squeeze out the excess water, and approached Harry's face. Snape began to dab the damp cloth gently on his cheek bones.

"You're making it worse," Harry told him, trying to pull his face away.

"I can't rub hard, or it will grind the dirt into your skin," Snape explained, holding a gloved hand at the back of Harry's head. "Just be thankful it didn't get too far down your trousers or you would be in agony."

"I already am! Why would you have poison ivy in your garden? I didn't even think it grows here."

"It was transported from America. No, don't move, or I'll get it in your eyes. I planted the poison ivy with the antidote plant. Its magical properties make it stronger by opposition - planting it next to poison ivy ensures that it will be the strongest antidote possible. If I had any of the antidote, I could mix it into a potion. One vial and the itching, redness, and pain would disappear."

"Not fair," Harry complained.

"No, indeed it isn't," Snape agreed dourly. He took a seat and pulled Harry to stand in between his legs, preparing to bend him over the left knee.

"No!" Harry wailed, screwing his face up in dread.

"For goodness sakes," Snape snapped, "I just want to you to curve your back so the dirt will come off easier. You're more trouble than you're worth. What on earth possessed you to roll all over those plants? If you wanted to destroy my garden, why didn't you take the spade and hack at it rather than getting the plants all over your skin?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted woefully. From his position bending slightly over Snape's left knee, while the man dabbed slowly at his back, Harry felt even more vulnerable and helpless. His skin itched all over, even the places that hadn't been covered in dirt, and he tried to sneak in a quick itch to his stomach.

"Stop that," Snape ordered, knocking against his arm with his gloved hand. "No itching - you'll make it worse."

"Go faster!" Harry demanded.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Snape replied as he continued to dab. "If I rub faster, I'll get the poison ivy into your pores. Is that what you want?"

"It hurts," Harry blinked to clear his watering eyes.

"I know," Snape took a new damp cloth and moved lower on his back. "But it serves you right for ruining my garden."

"I only did it because you gave me that truth stuff. That was mean of you - there were things I didn't want you to know."

Harry raised a hand to swipe at his face, and Snape grabbed his wrist hard enough to make Harry wince.

"Not your eyes," Snape ordered sharply. "You'll get it in your eyes and then you'll be screaming."

"I hate you," Harry whimpered as he dropped his hand back down.

"I know you don't mean that," Snape said calmly. "You're just in pain now."

"A lot of it. Why didn't you warn me? Oh, please, go faster. My stomach's burning. It's burning!"

"All right," Snape grabbed Harry's wrists and moved them down to Snape's trouser-covered knee, "grab onto my knee and the fabric as hard as you need. You keep holding on until I finish. Once I'm done, I can perform a spell to take away some of the pain."

"Do it now," Harry ordered. "I want it now."

"I can't do it until I get all the dirt off," Snape protested. "It will make you very sleepy, and I want you awake so I can get it off you. Otherwise I'll have to hold you up and I might never get you clean."

Harry moaned and tightened his fingers around Snape's knee. He had been in pain before, but this itchy, burning pain was driving him mad.

"I'm going to give you a baking soda bath," Snape went on as he started on Harry's shoulder. "Doesn't that sound fun? A bath in baking soda?"

"Hysterical," Harry retorted.

"And you're getting rubbed with aloe lotion and put to bed until I make sure you're going to be all right. My word, Harry, it's all in your hair. You really are the stupidest little boy I have ever met."

"You're stupid," Harry retorted. He dug his fingers into the fabric as Snape began dabbing along his neck. The soft dabbing made Harry want to laugh and scream, so he settled for making a high noise of protest through his teeth.

"I wish I had turned the garden hose on you outside," Snape grumbled. "Turn around, time to get your front."

But the time Snape finished, Harry had stopped glaring at the man and had moved to sit on the man's knee, practically hugging Snape's waist while Snape finished with his feet. Harry bit his bottom lip to deal with pain, and his tightened his grip around Snape. Sniffing, Harry did not let go, even once Snape had tossed the dirty rag into the basin.

"All right," Snape said quietly, "do you want the spell now or after the bath?"

Harry hesitated - he hurt everywhere, but he didn't want to be asleep and have Snape carry him upstairs and bathe him like a baby. "After the bath," Harry muttered.

"Then let's go," Snape put his hands around Harry's bare waist to help him up, but Harry hissed at the touch. He stood on his own and began to limp towards the stairs. Snape followed, shaking his head at the sight of the poor boy. Harry's back was covered in angry red bumps, and even the skin on the back of his legs was looking like a bad sunburn.

Snape filled the bath with cool water, careful not to let it get too cold, and stirred in baking soda until the water turned white.

"Take your shorts off," Snape turned to step out of the room. "I'll come back when you're in the tub."

He had already seen the boy naked after the whole cellar dungeon ordeal, but he supposed that Harry would want a little privacy, considering the boy was almost twelve and really too old for anyone to give him a bath.

Harry shot him a grateful look, and Snape stepped into the hallway. He went to Harry's room and put the boy's glasses beside his bed before turning the bed down and setting out the lotion when he heard sounds of distress from the bathroom.

"Oh, no, so cold," Harry was saying in a high pitched, worried voice. "I'm freezing - he's trying to freeze me. Ugly bat, why is it so cold? Oh, that's better. Feels better, but I still have to sit down."

Snape's lips twitched suddenly at the thought of a beet-red Potter standing in the bath and trying to make himself sit down in the cool water. The water would have been a shock to anyone, but to a child with irritated red skin . . .

Just to raise the boy's torture, Snape called out, "I'm coming in there in four seconds. Four, three -"

"No, don't!" Harry called from the bathroom. "I'm going down, I promise. Ah - ahhh - almost there."

"Two, one," Snape said as he walked to the bathroom. The sight made him want to smile again, but fortunately he was able to school his features into a scowl.

Harry was gripping the side of the tub for dear life. His legs were in the water and he had lowered his bottom enough for modesty's sake, but his stomach and arms were still dry.

"I'm in the water," Harry offered as an excuse, but Snape shook his head.

"No, young man, all the way down. Lower."

Harry lowered himself several inches, his face a picture of agony at the coolness of the water.

"Lower," Snape gave him his stern father look, the one that promised trouble if Harry did not obey.

Harry went down a few more inches, whining slightly.

"Sit on the bottom of the tub and put your arms down," Snape ordered.

All sad-puppy eyes and pie-crust lips, Harry sat down in the tub and let his arms ease down into the murky bath.

"Now lean back against the tub until the water comes up to your chin," Snape instructed. He smirked as the boy whimpered as he leaned back with excruciating slowness until his shoulders were covered.

"Now go underwater," Snape told him.

"What?" Harry's gaze shot up in concern.

"Don't want to go underwater? Well, I suppose I can be persuaded to pour the water over your head. Close your eyes, Potter."

"It's Harry," Harry replied as he closed his eyes tight.

"Indeed it is," Snape admitted as he reached for a tin cup to pour the baking soda water over the boy's head.

He made Harry stay in there for almost an hour, but the boy's complaints soon died down as he became accustomed to the water and the baking soda began to help the itching.

Afterwards, Snape drained the tub and then stepped outside to let the boy rinse off with clean water. Snape left only cool water running, not wanting to risk hurting Harry's skin with hot water, and Snape waited impatiently while Harry splashed the water onto himself, griping that the new water was too cold.

"It's the same temperature as the bath was," Snape told him from the hallway.

"Yeah, but I was used to that," Harry answered back. "This is cold. And I can rub aloe lotion on myself."

Snape rolled his eyes, but retorted, "Fine, but I'm supervising and I'm doing your back. You've got to get something on it or your rash will get worse."

"Will not," Harry replied crossly. He gingerly stepped out of the bathroom in fresh shorts, limping. "My feet hurt," he admitted.

"Maybe next time you'll think before you jump barefoot into plants and rub them all over your skin," Snape commented.

"I want the spell now," Harry insisted. Ever after the dabbing and the baking soda and cool water, his skin was red and bumpy, and his face was all splotchy.

"Fine," Snape took out his wand and said a spell Harry had never heard before.

Harry saw the glowing light leave the wand, and he reached up to touch it. But then all the itching and hurting and pain disappeared, leaving only quiet bliss. Harry gave Snape a crooked smile and promptly fell forward.

Snape lunched forward just in time to catch him, but Harry was almost dead-weight in his arms.

"Come on, walk to the bedroom," Snape instructed. He kept his hands around the boy's ribcage, but Harry just grinned and his head lolled loosely as his legs bowed against the floor.

"Blasted nuisance," Snape muttered as he raised his hands up under Harry's arms and lifted him enough to carry him into the bedroom. Once they got there, Snape tried to sit him down on the bed, but Harry rolled over and started wiggling towards his pillow.

"So soft," Harry gurgled as he reached one weak hand out for his pillow. "Com'ere pillow, come to Harry."

"I've got to get lotion on you," Snape tried to wrestle him back into a sitting position, but Harry refused to sit up. "Stop moving, you stupid brat. There!" Snape slapped him hard on the rear, his hand popping against Harry's shorts.

Harry glanced over his shoulder where Snape had struck him and then up at Snape. "Ow," Harry said blankly as almost an afterthought because that was what he always said when Snape smacked him. "Ow, ow. Are you still spanking me? Or not . . ."

Yawning, Harry reached for his pillow again, but Snape growled and reached for the bottle of aloe.

"You're getting this whether you want it or not," Snape poured out a generous amount of lotion and set to rubbing it into Harry's back. Harry tried to pull away, but when it began clear that he wasn't going anywhere, he finally leaned against Snape and stared listlessly at the wall as the man applied lotion to his limbs.

At one point, Snape glanced down at him. He found Harry's head balanced against his shoulder, the boy's hands lying limply against Snape's side. Snape shifted, and Harry looked up at him. The green eyes were glassed over from the potion, but Harry smiled up at him, an exhausted and confused smile, but Snape's jaw tightened, his teeth clenched together.

"Almost finished?" Harry asked softly.

"Almost," Snape choked out the word.

Content, Harry leaned his head back down on Snape's shoulder. "Good, I'm tired."

Snape was rather rough with the last bit, slapping lotion against Harry's feet and grinding it in, but Harry, of course, was oblivious to the pain.

Once finished, Snape got him to lie down on the pillow. Snape covered him up, tucking the quilt under his chin.

Harry was almost asleep, but Snape could not resist. "Harry, what do you say?"

"What?" Harry opened his eyes in confusion. Why wouldn't Snape just leave him alone? "Oh, thank you."

"What else?" Snape asked, his voice hard.

Harry could not open his eyes so he said what he hoped Snape would want to hear. "I don't hate you."

"And?" the voice cut through Harry's beautiful peace, jarring him once more.

"I love you," Harry mumbled, tightening his hold on the pillow.

He heard someone stomp out of the room, and then Harry thought he heard something breaking, but he knew nothing but the darkness and his weariness.

------

Harry opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was the itchiness. He wanted to scratch so badly, starting with his face. He raised a hand to his nose, but Vampyr gave a sharp bark.

"It's itching," Harry protested as he reached for his glasses. As the room came in focus, he looked down at his bare chest to see a pink rash all over his skin.

Harry let his breath out. "Poison ivy. Ugh, I got it all over me. Where's Snape? He's going to be a prat all day about - what time is it anyway?"

Harry peeked out of the window and found the early morning sun shining though the trees. "It's morning? I must have slept for fourteen or fifteen hours. I'm hungry - are you hungry? And I'm itchy."

Harry slipped on a loose shirt and trousers and padded barefoot out into the hallway, Vampyr right behind him.

At the bottom of the steps, Harry stopped short, causing the dog to skid to a stop right behind him. "Snape?"

Snape sat in the living room in the clothes he had worn the day before, his face haggard and unshaven. His eyes were cold and hard, and at his feet, broken pieces of wood and glass lay scattered. Harry realized that the front door was open, and though the open door was closer than Snape was, Harry cautiously stepped to the living room, stopping at the edge of the broken glass.

"I'm itching," Harry explained. "Can you help me?"

"Nothing can help you, Potter," Snape said bluntly, his voice bitter but dull. "And me - I've died enough for all of us."

"What are you talking about?" Harry felt faintly annoyed. His back was itching and he longed to rub it against the doorpost.

"Leave," Snape ordered. "There, the door's open. Go, get out. Leave me."

Harry took two fast steps towards the front door, but then he stopped. Coming back to the living room, he said, "I don't know where I am. I don't know how to find my relatives. And I don't have shoes. And - and I covered in rashes and it hurts. Can't you help me?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Snape raised his voice. "I'm letting you go. Isn't that what you wanted? You hate it here, you hate me, you hate everything about me. There's the door - get out."

Harry felt a surge of contrariness rise inside him. It was just like Snape to offer to let him go when Harry needed his help. And even he found where he was and somehow made it back to Privet Drive, Harry didn't want to sit in Dudley's second bedroom, ignored and covered with itchy bumps.

"No," Harry declared, "I'm not leaving."

Snape leapt to his feet, and Harry jumped back a step in fear.

"I said get out," Snape ordered. "Out, go! Now! Leave."

"I won't," Harry decided, trying not to show how scared he felt.

Snape strode towards him, and Harry grabbed onto the doorpost with both hands.

"No, I'm not going," Harry cried. He felt strong hands on his upper arms, and he squalled, "Ow, that hurts."

"Then let go," Snape commanded.

Harry tried to hold on, but Snape soon yanked him away from the post and began dragging him to the open door. Vampyr was barking, but they both ignored the dog. Harry decided that now, if ever, was the time to throw a tantrum. He had never thrown a real tantrum, but he had seen Dudley throw enough of them to guess at how it was done, and now that Harry had nothing to lose -

"No!" he screamed. He began kicking bare feet out, twisting his body back and forth against Snape's hold, screeching at the top of his lungs. "No, I won't go. I'm staying. You monster, let me go. I'll hold my breath until I die! I won't go."

Harry felt himself topple backwards, and he realized Snape had tossed him out the door onto the broken flat walk outside. Harry was sure that it was supposed to hurt when he hit the stone walk, but he was too involved with his tantrum to register pain.

Snape slammed the door shut and locked it, but Harry was up on his feet and pounding at the door by the next second.

"No, I won't be thrown out," he screamed, slamming the sides of his hands and arms against the wood. "You let me back in, you bastard. I'll rip your throat out and your ears off and I'll pull all your dirty hair out, you snake."

Getting no reply, Harry jerked back to the stone walk and began grabbing at the round stones as the edge of the walk. He flung one stone at the house, but it just bounced off. The next stone cracked the front window, and the third broke right through. The sound of breaking glass was beautiful, and Harry began hurling stones at all the glass panes.

The glass kept breaking and breaking, but the door did not open.

Harry felt pressure building behind his eyes, and he knew if he let himself, he would fall to a heap in front of the door and break into sobs. So he tried the last thing he could think of. He didn't care if Snape hurt him or yelled at him as long as he opened the door and let him in.

"I hate you!" Harry screamed, his own voice hurting his ears. "And my mum hated you, too, you -" and Harry let loose with a word that was awful in both Muggle and Wizard settings.

The front door jerked open, and Snape demanded, "What did you say?"

"You heard me, you -" Harry repeated the word.

"Oh, you've done it now," Snape growled through clenched teeth. "You should have taken your freedom when you had the chance."

He scooped up Harry effortlessly and carried him back into the house. The front door slammed, and the deserted road in front of the small house fell silent again.