Darker Shades of Grey

DARKER SHADES OF GREY
By: The Snake Charmer and Lady Tigeress

DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. J.K. ROWLING HAS THAT EXCLUSIVE RIGHT. DON\'T SUE US. ALL YOU\'LL GET IS POCKET LINT. AND MAYBE A HALF EATEN APPLE.

Warning: Severe Harry angst (though not right away) Rape. Harry/Snape in later chapters. If this offends you, then you are in the WRONG place. So go find something happier to make you feel better. And be sure you are of age to read this piece of fiction. There will also be self mutilation soon. Lots of it. You have been warned. Beware…

CHAPTER ONE: The Beginning is a Good Place to Start

June 29th
He was the boy-who-lived. The fist connected solidly with his stomach, a soft whoosh working its way out of his mouth, and stars danced across his vision. For a moment he couldn\'t breathe. Right now he was wishing that he was the boy-who-died. Harry slumped forward, only to find himself flying through the air as Vernon Dursley tossed him into his room. Groaning, Harry tried to stand, only to be kicked in the head.

\"Stupid boy! You just don\'t learn! Do ya Potter?! Answer me!!\" Another kick.

\"Answer me boy! Or do you think you\'re too good to talk to me?!\" Harry\'s inability to answer only served to enrage his uncle further.

\"Good for nothing freak!\" He heard as the punches began to rain down on him. Another minute found Harry gratefully surrendering to the coming blackness.

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Meanwhile back at the ran---er Hogwarts

Severus Snape grumbled to himself as he made his way to the Headmaster\'s office. \"Cockroach Cluster!\" He snarled at the gargoyle. It gave him a dirty look and then sprang out of the way of the irate potions master. Snape had a fairly good idea what the dratted man Dumbledore wanted. And he had every intention of refusing him. The last thing he needed was his summer to be spoiled by that obnoxious brat Potter. And the equally obnoxious Headmaster. As soon as he entered the room, his vision was assaulted with yellow.

\"Lemon drop?\"

Snape knew very well that the drops had a Calming Drought.

\"No, and before you ask, no.\"

Dumbledore\'s face dropped and he stayed his movements towards the tea pot.

\"I suppose that you know why I have called you here.\"

\"Then you\'ll know that my answer is a resounding no.\" \"Oh? You don\'t want the Defense Against the Dark Arts job?\"

Snape sputtered, unable to think of a competent response.

\"Don\'t worry. That\'s not why I really wanted you here. I want you to go and retrieve Potter. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger have been pelting me with letters voicing their concerns at Harry\'s prolonged silence. And it would set an old mans mind at ease if you would simply go and check on the boy.\"

Snape knew there was no room for argument. But that didn\'t make him any happier about having to retreat the brat. In fact, Potter was probably disturbing the wards on purpose, hoping to be showered in attention, and perhaps gain an early return to Hogwarts. Though why that brat would want to leave the Dursley\'s where he was no doubt being showered with gifts and affection was beyond him.

\"Fine, I\'ll go and get the Potter brat.\"

Dumbledore got as far as \"Le-\"before Snape snatched the offending yellow object out of the tin, simply to make the old man happy.

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Flashback to Harry\'s arrival at Number Four Privet Drive on June 14th

No sooner than Harry entered the house did he find himself shoved up against the wall. Hedwig squawked indignantly, which earned her nothing more than a quick flight across the room?in her cage.

\"You leave her alone!\" Harry shouted angrily.

The grip on his shoulders tightened, and Harry winced.

\"You listen to me freak! I don\'t want any freakish stuff this summer!\" Harry found a knee shoved rudely between his legs, and for the first time that summer, black and red spots battled for supremacy across his vision.

Harry kept his silence, but his green eyes glared defiantly at his uncle. That earned him nothing more than a sound clock across the face. To say that Harry was shocked was a bit of an understatement. Sure, he\'d been starved, threatened, and locked in a cupboard under the stairs, but this was the first time he had ever been hit.

\"We know about the death of that freakish godfather\'s of yours. And especially how it was all your fault. Just getting everybody killed aren\'t you freak? Started with your parents and now you\'re working your way down the line. Well, I won\'t be next.\" With that, Vernon tossed Harry aside like a rag doll, and muttered \"Shut that ruddy bird up before I do it! And get your damn luggage up into your room, though you\'re lucky you even get to keep that room!\"

Harry suddenly found himself alone in the hallway.

\"Come on Hedwig. I\'m fine.\"

Wincing, he stood, gathered his things, and made his way up the stairs to his room. Walking into his room, he found his aunt sitting on his bed. Shocked into complete silence, Harry could do nothing more than stare.

\"I think you deserved everything Vernon dished out to you. And don\'t think I\'ll help you. If I find out you\'ve even thought about putting your foot over the line, I\'ll make sure Vernon gives you a lesson you\'ll never forget. Now get your ass downstairs and cook my precious Duddie-kins some dinner.\"

Emerald eyes followed his aunts retreating back down the hallway. Sighing, he thought to himself what a long summer this was going to be. Not wanting to make it any worse, he quickly scrambled down the stairs, to cook the dinner that he knew everyone was waiting for.

Later that night found Harry sleeping restlessly in his bed. Images of Sirius\'s death and the third task were plaguing his mind. Red eyes glowed evilly in the night, and then the dreaded word, \"Crucio.\" He started awake, wondering who in the world was screaming, before realizing that it was himself. He immediately clamped a hand over his mouthbbinbbing silently.

Down the hall he heard a door slam open, followed by heavy footsteps. Harry prayed his uncle was going to bathroom. His uncle\'s next words terrified him more than Voldemort ever had.

\"I\'ll make you scream until your throat is raw.\"

Panicked, Harry made a desperate dive for the window. Vernon caught his foot, and yanked him back.

\"You\'re not getting away that easily boy!\"

With that, the blows rained down, one after another. Writhing in pain, Harry was too weak to do anything more than lay on the ground and accept the blows. The sock in the mouth surprised him.

\"I\'ll make you scream. And you\'ll enjoy it won\'t you? You dirty freak!\"

Harry heard the sound a zipper.

\'Oh shit! Oh shit! He wouldn\'t! Oh shit! Shit! This can\'t be happening!\'

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to think of anything but what he uncle was about to do. He felt his pants being roughly yanked off. Panicked, he tried to fight his uncle, no, no family member; no decent person would ever do this.

The next thing he knew, his uncle had him on the bed, his full weight pressing him down.

\"You good for nothing freak! I\'ll teach you. You\'ll never scream again after this. Waking my family up in the middle of the night like that!\"

Pain.

Harry\'s world exploded into pain. He fhis his uncle roughly pounding in and out. He felt the trickle of blood down his thigh, and heard the sound of ripping flesh. The sock muffled his anguished screams. Black spots danced across his vision again, and for the first and by no means last time, he surrendered to the coming darkness.
End Flashback

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Harry started awake, trembling from the memory, and wincing from the pain that the movement caused him. Grimacing, he sorrowfully glanced at Hedwig\'s cage. She had three days ago. Harry was praying that she had escaped to Dumbledore or Ron. The smell of meat assaulted his nose.

His door creaked open, and Petunia walked in carrying a tray of cut up chicken. Thrusting the tray at him she snarled, \"You have fifteen minutes to eat. And it had better be gone. Then you\'ll come down and cook for us.\"

Harry fell on the tray ravenously, the last time he had eaten being the day before Hedwig had disappeared. After a few minutes, he slowed down, to make the food last longer. It was then that he noticed a funny taste to the meat. A small thought tugged at the edge of his mind, but he dismissed it, and accredited the odd taste to his relatives\' hopeless cooking skills.
Fifteen minutes later Harry was down in the kitchen, warming up the oven for the egg plant casserole that he was about to make. He was glad that he\'d had that tray. Petunia had put Dudley on another diet in a desperate attempt to reduce the boy\'s exponentially increasing wait size, which by the way, she blamed on that \"horrible school food\". Strangely enough, she felt the need to make sure everyone else followed the diet as well, whether they needed it or not. Shrugging, he followed the instructions on the recipe, and then after putting the awful concoction in the stove and setting the timer, he went out to set the table.

He\'d just finished putting all the forks and knives on the table when Vernon walked in the front door.

\"Enjoy your meal today, Potter?\"

Harry did a double take and looked at his uncle anxiously, before quickly nodding, desperately hoping not to enrage his uncle.

\"Good. That means your bloody owl useful for one thing.\"

The words registered in Harry\'s mind, and his face paled.

\"Hedwig?\" he managed to croak out.

Vernon grinned evilly. \"That\'s right boy. That meal you had today was your damned owl.\"

Harry didn\'t remember making it up the stairs, only the agonizing minutes he spent over the toilet emptying any and all contents of his stomach. He rocked backwards onto his heels and keened out an anguished cry.

He felt a hand yank his head backwards.

\"Not appreciative of your aunt\'s cooking, eh boy?\"

\"You...Hedwig...\" was all that Harry could seem to manage.

Then the blows began.

Flash to Snape\'s apparition in front of Harry\'s neighborhood.

His jaw dropped. All the damned houses looked the same. He started to walk along, staring like a tourist. Suddenly, he doubled over choking on the fly that had found its way into his gaping mouth.

\"Damn bugs.\" Suddenly he heard his mother\'s voice in the back of his mind telling him, ose ose your mouth, Severus, honey. You\'re going to draw flies.\"
He spit the fly out, and continued walking along, eyes scanning the numbers on the houses. The number four ran through his head.

\"Four, four, four, four,\" he kept muttering to himself.

\"Aha.\" He had found what he was looking for. Of course, it was on the other side of the street. Stepping off the curb, he suddenly found himself in the oncoming path of a speeding car. Diving out of the way, the car whooshed by, and Snape jumped up looking more than a little ruffled. \"Damn muggles.\"

He crossed the street after deciding to look both ways this time, and approached Potter\'s house. Hesitating for a moment, he knocked on the door.

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Tigeress: Yes, we know that we’re evil. *whispers* It was Snake Charmer’s idea about Hedwig.
Snake Charmer: I’m a genius!
Tigeress: o_o;; Right.
Snake Charmer: I don’t seu cou coming up with anything creative.
Tigeress: -_-;; I think the fly was good enough. Besides, I did some great stuff with the next chapter. So :p
Snake Charmer: *rolls eyes*
Tigeress: Alright, we thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of our fic, and hope that you have enjoyed it. We also hope that you will take the time to review.
Snake Charmer: *in Mystic voice* REVIEW!!!!!
Tigeress:*grabs Snake Charmer and hauls her away*
Snake Charmer: EAT LEMON DROPS!!!!!!!!!!