The voice was starting to scare Harry. Images of dementors at the lake and Death Eaters in their black robes flashed through his mind. It made him nervous. Scared and shaking among the warm, white clouds.

Harry's first instinct was to run, but there was no where to run to. Everything seemed to be closing in on him and the clouds of steam were becoming denser by the minute. Harry dropped to knees and began to feel around for something, anything that he could use as a weapon. But there was nothing, he was alone save the figure approaching him.

“Harry . . .”

Harry stood his ground and looked at the dark figure coming nearer and nearer. “Come out where I can see you! I'm not afraid of you!” But the shaking in his knees and shoulders betrayed his fear and made his challenges ludicrous.

“Harry, it's me.” The figure emerged from the foggy clouds entirely. It still seemed intimidating as it was wrapped in a full black cloak with a low hood that hide the wearer's face completely.

But Harry knew who it was, he knew exactly who it was. The flow of the cloak, the silky voice and the loving tone in which it addressed him. “Father?” Harry took a step closer to the figure and slid the hood off of its head. “Father.” The voice had sounded different when the man had been farther away.

Severus Snape nodded and pulled his son into a tight hug. He breathed in the smell of the boy's hair and enjoyed the scent of it. “I have missed you Harry. It seems as if I've been in this state forever.” He stopped hugging Harry and pushed him away to look at him seriously.

“Father, I've been working on finding a cure for you. I swear I'll get one. Hermione's been helping too. We'll be able to do it!” Harry found himself growing frantic in his hurry to assure his father that he was trying as hard as he could. He feared that his father would find him inadequate, after all if their positions had been reversed Severus would probably have found a cure within a few days.

Severus shook his head and looked at the ground. “Did you ever think of anything else going on in the world?” He met his son's eyes. “Your skill in Potions has increased and I admit that returning to my more mobile state would be very pleasant, but there is a war going on!”

Harry hung his head. The faces of those he knew and the names he'd heard flashed through his head. Those who'd died due to his negligence. He had no excuses, no reason that he'd not been fulfilling his duty as the chosen one. “I- father- I.” He shook his head and leaned into his father, relaxing with another human for the first time in ages. “I am sorry. I didn't mean for any of it to happen.”

“How's Ginny?” Severus asked, hoping to steer the conversation to a happier topic. He didn't want his son's memories of him to all be negative and insulting. Harry had gotten enough of those from the Dursleys. And Severus knew that Harry and Ginny had been working on a relationship before he'd been cursed.

A groan escaped Harry. Most of the school had gotten over his breakup, now he had to explain it to his father. “Ron died. And the Burrow was torched. I broke up with Ginny. Things just weren't working out.” He shot a quick look at his father. “Sorry, I didn't think that you wanted me to be a Weasley, even if it was just by marriage. And not even in name.”

“I just want you to be happy.” Severus made two armchairs appear with a wave of his hand and took a seat in the green one. “Is there someone else? Miss Patil, for instance?”

Harry blushed. He'd considered himself lucky before he'd met his father, there was never anyone to ask about his relationships and make sure that he'd had a sex talk. Now things were definitely different. “Well, IsortofmovedinwithHermione.”

Severus looked oddly at his son. “I didn't catch a word of that. Would you mind repeating what you said?”

“I said, I moved in with Hermione.” Harry whispered, he turned a bright shade of red as soon as he was finished talking. “Yeah, I did. A while ago.”

Severus coughed, hiding a smile. It amused him to see his son embarrassed. His own parents had died or not cared for anything but drinking. There'd been no one to embarrass him. “Miss Granger is usually an intelligent young woman. If a bit long winded at times.”

Harry laughed. “Like the essays that you always assigned. She always went way over the required number of scrolls and inches. Ron usually fell short.” His laugh stopped and his face grew grim again at the thought of his dead friend.

“And what's this about moving in with her? Did the two of you marry?” Severus asked, taking great pleasure in making the boy in front of him squirm.

“No.” Harry looked red-faced at the ground. “We're not really going any of that. There isn't time. We both are barely home anyway. Hermione has classes to teach and I spend all my time looking for a cure.” He held out his hands to show his father. “My fingers are as stained as yours now.”

Severus took his son's hands in his own. The fingers were long and both had nails stained with the quantity of potions they'd made. Only difference was his hand had more age to it and the stains on his own skin where darker and less likely to ever become removable.

“Father.” Harry pulled his hands out of his father's. “What about you? How can I create a cure? How are you even living? Dumbledore said. . .”

Severus leaned back in his armchair. “Dumbledore says many things. And he is not right as often as everyone believes.”

Harry bit his bottom lip. It was a bad habit he'd picked up from Hermione. “You didn't answer any of my questions. I just want to help you. I want my father back. The Order needs you, I need you! Please, I need your help so much.”

“There is a cure Harry. Come closer. . .” Severus drew his son close and snapped his fingers, a wand appeared in mid-air next to his hand.

Harry stared open mouthed at the wand. “How'd you do that? And how did you ever make these armchairs appear? Where are we anyway? I think it might be the Department of Mysteries. I saw the veil room, and Sirius.”

“We are in a realm of the mind.” Severus told his son as he stood up and pointed the wand at Harry's head. “Anything can happen here, for this is both my mind and yours. Linked through a connection of love and family blood. The eternal bond. I thought it was myth before today. But it seems like everything I've read on the subject.”

Harry looked nervously at the wand his Father was pointing at him. “What do you plan on doing with that? Will it help me find the cure?”

Severus nodded. “I will enter your mind and place my knowledge of the cure within it. For there is evil here and they cannot learn it. There is another connection within your mind. One that you share with the Dark Lord.”

“Call him Voldemort.” Harry said as he gripped the sides of his armchair tightly and stared at the wand in front of his face.

“A moment.” Severus snapped his fingers again and the armchair Harry was sitting on shifted and changed shape. It became more like the Dentist chairs Harry remembered from growing up with the Dursleys. His head back and his father getting as close to his mind as possible. It put less stress on both of them and made the spell less painful.

“Transfero memoria!” Severus said in a low voice, as he tried to enter his son's mind as gently as possible. He'd experienced the spell himself and knew that the sensation of having someone invade your mind and remove or add memories was so painful and invading that it was known as Mind Rape.

Harry had obviously been practising clearing his mind and his Occlumency. Severus could see a pattern to his thoughts and the way in which his mind worked. It was so much easier than forcing his way through the memories, and much for pleasant for Harry too.

Finally he found a relatively quiet place and emptied the memories of his cure into Harry's memory. It didn't take him long and he pulled out rather quickly, breathing hard from the exertion. It took Severus a minute or two to catch his breath and after he'd finished he glanced at Harry.

Harry was fine, he was sitting up and working happily at his father. “It worked! I know the cure now! Thank you.” He hugged his father. “Are you all right father?”

Severus nodded. “I'll be fine.” He sat back into his armchair and looked out at the fog. “You're going to wake up soon. The fog is clearing, condensing. Live well Harry. I'll return before you know and you'll wish that I was gone when I want to know where you're going and what you're doing every night.”

Harry smiled. “I don't think I could ever go tired of having a father.”

“And I'll never tire of you.” Severus kissed the top of Harry's head gently. “Do something for me when you return?”

“Of course.” Harry looked seriously at the Potion Master, obviously expecting a very important and difficult task.

Severus smiled at the serious look on Harry's face. “Marry Hermione.”

Harry's jaw dropped. He'd considered it of course, their relationship was strong and when there was time between trying to find a cure, eating and sleeping, Harry often thought about Hermione and turning their living together into something more. But it had never seemed realistic.

“Father, I couldn't. It's Hermione! She was Ron's girlfriend and she's my friend!”

Severus sighed. “Harry, just ask her. I'm certain she'll agree. And one more thing?”

“Anything. Within reason.” Harry added hastily in case his father had something else crazy for him to do .

Severus smiled openly. “Wait for me to wake up to have the wedding.” He waved goodbye as the fog around them grew thinner and thinner.