Twisted Oak Place by Cas245

The dungeons were not a very nice place at all. They were a place of fear and desperation; the smell of evil lingered in the air, suffocating and relentless. Snape had just been studying his cold, stone cell a bit too much after all he had memorised where every piece of moss was on the walls and floor within the past 2 hours; his eyes kept roaming the dank walls surrounding them, attempting anything to get rid of the boredom. Harry who had given up struggling, was sleeping deeply.

The sound of a door being roughly opened and then slammed shut was heard by Snape, who winced in pain. He turned towards the door expecting another visitor but was surprised to instead find two trays - each with some soup and a piece of bread messily stacked on top of them.

Upon closer inspection - shifting Harry carefully in his arms as he moved in order not to wake him up - Snape noticed that the bread was stale and the soup was as close to cold it could be without actually being inedible.

"Harry," Snape whispered quietly in case someone was outside their cell, "You have to get up"

Harry groaned but simply turned in his sleep.

"Harry" Snape repeated a little louder this time shaking the sleeping child gently in order to rouse him.

This time, Harry eyes did open and once again he pulled away from Snape who wished he would stop because there was really nothing to be embarrassed about.

"There's food" Snape said inwardly, cursing himself for stating the obvious "You need to eat"

Harry took one look at the food before shaking his head and turning to face the only part of the cell that took Snape out of his line of sight.

Snape sighed and rolled his eyes; ignoring the food he moved back to the cell wall and rested the back of his head against it.

Silence took over the cell once again and all was painfully quiet before Harry's foot connected with the wall drawing Snape's attention quickly as his eyes snapped to Harry's. He was met with the emerald green eyes he had loved since he was 9 years old. Just from the look of Harry, Snape could tell he wanted something, because it was the exactly some look Lily used to show.

"What is it?" Snape asked

"Earlier, you said Dumbledore would do it and used the Dursley's as one of the bad things he has done"

"And?" Snape questioned

"Well, it's not like you think" the boy replied.

"What do I think it was like?" Snape asked.

"I don't know, I know I told you that they called me freak and that they didn't buy clothes for me but that's not too bad"

Snape stared at Harry in disbelief "That is bad enough. But I'm not stupid Harry, I know they did more than that"

Harry turned away "You know nothing"

Snape sighed "I actually know more than what you might think and I somewhat understand"

"How could you possibly understand, unless …." Harry trailed off looking quizzically at Snape

Snape raised an eyebrow in response and Harry turned away again.

"I know that the spell is now easily reversible" Harry spoke up again after a while "But do you think Dumbledore was lying about all of it? What if the spell is actually controlled by grief and the person needs a certain amount of it for it to work?"

Snape nodded, curious to what the boy was going to say "Go on" He prompted.

"If it is actually connected to grief - if I deal with my grief, will the spell go away on its own?"

A few seconds of silence ensued.

"I don't know Harry" Snape finally said "But it's worth a try"

"What's the first step then?" Harry asked, returning to his usual self.

"To quit moping and eat" Snape replied.

Harry eyed the food in distaste "Right" He said hesitantly, moving closer to Snape and dragging both the trays towards them; moving one to Snape before slowly picking up a piece of his own bread "Let's do this" Harry declared.

After finally managing to swallow down the few mouthfuls of soup and bread that they had been given, Harry and Snape sat about an arm's length apart on the cold floor facing each other.

"So we have two options" Snape said "I can cast Legilimens on you or you can simply talk."

Harry stared up at Snape warily through his fringe "If I talk we'll probably have to go over things multiple times, right?"

"Yes."

"But if you cast Legilimens on me, you will get an idea of what is actually happening and then you can decide what I need to talk about."

"That is correct."

"Can you do it without your wand" Harry asked curiously.

"I am skilled enough in the art of wandless magic to do so."

"What about my age, can't it effect my thought process?"

"Since you are mentally 16, I am sure you'll be fine" Snape remarked.

"But.."

"But even so I will be careful." the older man promised.

"I'm trusting you with this."

"I know."

"If you mess up I will get revenge" Harry warned.

Snape smirked "Of course - now are you ready?"

"Nearly. How do I take the memories out from under my rock?"

Snape raised his eyebrows, "Your... rock?" he repeated.

"Yes, my rock. I mean you didn't see all my memories during those Occlumency lessons."

Snape froze and looked at Harry shocked. "Just what do you think Occlumency is, Harry?"

"It's when you keep memories from ….oh"

"Oh indeed during all the time when I was getting increasingly frustrated at you, you were actually doing Occlumency the entire time"

"Sorry sir." Harry offered timidly

Snape waved his hand "Never mind Harry, just lift up the rock and take out the memories"

Harry nodded and closed his eyes while Snape waited patiently for another few minutes.

Harry opened his eyes again and Snape asked once again if he was ready, this time getting a nod.

Dark eyes met green and a hushed "Legilimens" was heard.