Five days had passed before there was any news of Professor Snape.  Dumbledore sent Niamh a note at breakfast telling her of how he had returned to the castle and his condition.

Professor Snape is alive and well, Miss O’Feir.  Madam Rosemerta of the Three Broomsticks found him on her way home two days ago.  He is currently in her care as the injuries he sustained were severe.  But, according to Rosemerta, his mind was not harmed by the amount of Cruciatus you described to me.

He shall be moved into the hospital wing as soon as his injuries heal enough for him to travel.  I will inform you when this happens so you may be there.  I am certain he would like to see you.

                                                            Dumbledore

Niamh smiled tightly, glad to know that he was alright.  As she tucked the letter into an inside pocket of her robes she wondered if he really was alright.  He had been tortured, for Slytherin’s sake!  He couldn’t be alright.

She’d just have to wait and see.

It was all she could do.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“I will kill him this time,” snarled the shadowy figure as it entered the hospital wing.  “Interruptions or not.”

They stalked over to the bed Harry lay in and drew their dagger, lifting it high.  Muscles drew taught as they readied themselves to deliver the blow that would kill the Boy-Who-Lived.

“Goodbye, Harry Potter,” they whispered, blue lightning flickering across their purple eyes.  “See you in the next life.”

The dagger fell…

“Perlustro!”

The dagger sank deep into Harry’s chest but nothing happened.  No blood, no gaping hole.  Nothing.

“You!” hissed the figure, shadows whipping around their form like flames.

Neville blinked and fixed the figure with a quivering wand.  He had barely remembered that spell – which he had heard Niamh use once – in time and now his mind had gone blank.

Then he had an idea.

“P-petrificus totalus!”

The figure just laughed.

“Do you really think that will work on me?”

“No,” snarled a new voice from the doorway, “but this surely will.”

The figure’s head snapped up and found Niamh standing there, her ebony wand pointed at him in her right hand.  In her left, Harry’s holly wand sent off harsh orange sparks.

“Girl…”

“Commoveo!” snapped Niamh, sending the figure flying back into the air.  They hit the wall with the crack of breaking bones and fell to the floor.

The dark-haired girl slowly advanced on them, both wands spitting orange sparks now.

“I knew something was wrong,” she hissed darkly.  “I just didn’t know what.”

“Very perceptive of you,” grumbled the figure.  “You figured me out.  The jig is up.  I surrender.”

“No, you don’t,” snarled Niamh.  “Evil doesn’t surrender.”

“Now who said I was evil?”

“This.  Resero Ingenium!”

A flood of golden light erupted from both wands and engulfed the figure, which began to scream.  Moment’s later, a huge black serpent burst forth from their body, its coils twisting sinuously in the air.  Niamh dispelled it with a flick of her wand then snapped, “Obvolvo!  Gelo!  Favill…”  Her voice dropped off.

She couldn’t say the last spell.

The figure’s eyes danced mirthfully and she snapped, “Shut up!  I ought to use the worst spell in all creation on you, you bastard!  How could you?!”  Her eyes brimmed with tears as she continued, “Tyls, how could you do this to us?”

Tyls just looked superior and Niamh snarled something violently under her breath.  She then turned to Neville and said, “Go get Professor Dumbledore.  Tell him to hurry!”

Neville just nodded and ran, leaving Niamh alone with Tyls.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Something’s wrong,” said Harry suddenly, looking around.  He touched a hand to his chest and continued, “I – I can feel something.  Like someone’s shoved something into my chest.”

“You’re gaining touch with the waking world again,” said Tany.  “Harry, your going back.”

“Going…back?”

Harry frowned.  That was it?  He was going back?  He was going to wake up?

“It seems like you only got here,” murmured Lily, hugging her son close.  “I’m going to miss you.”

“Me too, Mum,” whispered Harry, returning the embrace.  He managed a slight smile as he added, “I kind of don’t want to go.  But I do…”

“I know.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

Lily smiled a sad smile and touched his cheek.

“Time can only tell.”  Her hand suddenly passed through his cheek and she gasped.

Harry held up his hand and stared right through it.  He was fading away.

“Mum…” he whispered in a child’s frightened tone, turning wide emerald eyes on her.  He felt like he was losing her forever.

“I know, baby,” whispered Lily.  “Tell Severus I love him.”

“I will,” promised Harry.  He felt as though he was sliding towards his right side.  Like he was sitting on the side of a hill.

“I love you.”

“Love you, Mum.”

With a soft pop and a brush of air, Harry was gone.  Lily stared at the place where he had been not a moment before and began to weep.  Tany, a sad expression on her face, rose and went to take the other woman into her arms.

Both women would miss the young man.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“What is the meaning of this…” began Dumbledore as he entered the hospital wing, Neville at his heels.  The second he entered, he felt a wave of dark magic roll over him.  It left a foul taste in his mouth.

He knew exactly what sort of magic this was.

“Necromancy,” he growled, frowning at the young man entrapped in a wrapping of duct tape and a freeze spell.  “Miss O’Feir, did you…”

“Know about this?  No, sir.”  Niamh scowled as she added, “I never felt…right…around him.  But I never suspected that he was evil.”

“He’s not evil,” said Dumbledore.  “Just a puppet.  An empty shell.”

“Still evil,” muttered Niamh.

“Not quite, Miss O’Feir.  Not quite.  Mister Longbottom, would you please go find Professor McGonagall?  And ask her to bring Professor Flitwick with her.”

“Yes, sir,” muttered Neville, dashing out.

“Sir,” said Niamh softly, “why would someone do this?  Why would they send…that thing…to torture me and Harry?”

Dumbledore cast a frown in her direction.  “I do not know what you speak of, Miss O’Feir.”

“Sir…Harry told me last summer that Tyls was dead.”

“Why did you never mention this?”

Niamh just shrugged and said softly, “I…I didn’t want it to be true.  He is – was – our best friend, mine and Harry’s.  I wanted him back.”

“But it is not your friend, Niamh,” said Dumbledore gently.

“I know…”

Niamh turned away slightly then gasped.

“Oh Merlin!”

She dashed forward and jerked the dagger from Harry’s chest an instant before the spell Neville had cast upon it dissipated.  Breathing a sigh of relief, she collapsed on her friend’s chest, throwing the dagger onto the other bed.

For a second, she thought she’d felt Harry’s shift.

She looked at his face.

It had looked like his eyelids had flickered.

Niamh’s heart dropped like a stone and she looked away, back towards Dumbledore, who was watching her gravely.

A second later, a presence exploded in her head, which sent her spinning back around.  Emerald eyes were blinking slightly at her and a vague smile spread over Harry’s face.  The smile was strained as his face had not moved since the end of September.

“’Lo, Ni,” he murmured in a scratchy voice.

Niamh stared blankly at him for a moment then a sob wrenched itself from her chest and she threw herself bodily onto him, hugging him tight.  A second later, Jardin appeared through the wall, his eyes golden again and his feathers shining anew.

< Harry! >

Dumbledore smiled gently at the three of them then turned an icy gaze on the creature they had called Tyls.  It was glaring darkly at the happy trio, murder promised in his eyes.

Murder that would not take place now.

Harry had returned to the land of the waking.  And Dumbledore intended to make sure he stayed there.