Dinner wasn't any better. Snape glanced at the boy from where he sat across from Potter again and frowned. The color still hadn't returned to the boy yet. However, he understood what was causing the boy so much distress. He learned nearly every secret his professor had. The boy obviously was still digesting the information. He then sighed as he inclined his head towards Arthur Weasley who passed a bowl of potatoes to him.

"Um…Professor?" whispered Potter.

"What is it, Potter?" Snape then watched the boy motion with his eyes towards the other members who had joined them for dinner. "I'll explain later." He frowned again as he noticed that the boy was barely eating. If they were going to have their first Occlumency lesson later, it would mean trouble if the boy hadn't ate anything. "Eat, Potter. You need your strength."

Snape then noticed how hypocritical he was being. His plate was rather empty also. He sighed and added some more food to it. He calmly ate not glancing towards the boy until he felt a sharp kick under the table. His eyes narrowed into slits. If that foolish boy thought Snape was going to be at his beck and call now, he had another thing coming. However, he noticed the glassiness in the boy's green eyes. Something was wrong.

"Come with me, Potter," Snape quietly said. He then stood up and excused himself from the table. He walked around the table towards the door to take the boy back upstairs away from prying eyes. The boy wasn't moving, though. Snape groaned loudly. Of course, the boy wouldn't make this easy. He gently walked back to the table and pulled Potter to his feet. Potter didn't seem to be snapping out of whatever state he was in currently. Snape immediately felt everyone's eyes on him and Potter. "I'll take care of it." The boy then started to go limp in his arms. "Wonderful," he drawled before picking the boy up and carrying him out of the room. "You're a serious pain in my ass, Potter." He heard the chaos ensue behind him, but he rushed up the stairs with the limp boy in his arms.

As soon as they reached his rooms, Snape set Potter down on top of his bed. He quickly whirled around and grabbed a vial of clear solution from on top of his nightstand. He opened the boy's mouth and poured the liquid into his mouth. His hand then pushed the boy's mouth closed, and he carefully massaged the boy's throat. He closed his eyes when the boy swallowed it. The glassy look in the green eyes started to vanish. Snape conjured a bucket and sighed when the boy retched into it.

"Feel better?" Potter didn't respond, though. Instead, the boy retched more violently. Terrible shakes then shook the boy's small frame. Snape grimaced before he gently rubbed circles on the boy's back to calm him down. "It is not you, Potter," Snape softly spoke. "You are not killing them."

"How…how do you—"

"I have much more experience in this than you, Harry." Snape then made the boy look at him. "Also, as your friend Mr. Weasley constantly points out, I am a heartless git."

"But…but you have to…you have to feel something, Snape."

"I block all my experiences so I don't, Potter. It is how I've stayed sane for so long. The day that I feel anything will be the day I die, either from murder or by suicide. There is one emotion I allow myself to show, but I believe you know that one quite well." Snape caught the boy's soft scoff.

"I've seen you amused before, Snape."

"Fine, you've seen two emotions. I'll see if you can get an Order of Merlin first-class, Potter," Snape quipped. He softly scoffed at the boy's words. He wasn't truly the bastard everyone made him out to be. He just had a role to play. The sadness then reentered the boy's green eyes.

"How can you…how can you just stand there and watch them die?"

"As I said, I block all my experiences when I am near the Dark Lord. However, I must admit my barriers do on occasion fail me. It is those days where I am at my worst, regrettably."

"What do you do on those days?"

"That, Mr. Potter, is private, and it will not help you in this case."

"Oh," Potter replied quietly. He should have known.

"I can't believe I'm telling this to you of all people," Snape growled, a few seconds later. It was those damn green eyes, though. In a quiet voice, he said, "I take comfort with a certain lady friend of mine. That is why it won't help you. Now, go to sleep." He desperately wanted to escape the boy's eyes before he admitted who his lady friend was. "Go to sleep."