He has a strange connection to the boy and is unsure why, but is determined with some finality to find out. He has felt it for some time now, one month to be exact, and it irritates him to always feel the whelp's presence somewhere in the back of his mind. He wonders, as he conceals himself in the entryway of the teenager's private residence, if the insufferable Gryffindor is aware of him at all times as well. He'd better not be, he thinks irritably, or there will be no doubt that I will be obliviating him the second this truth is revealed. As curious a feeling as it is to know the truth and deny it, he does it anyway in the hopes that this is just a twisted nightmare his mind has conjured.

It's nearing five am now. Severus has only just arrived under a concealment charm, stealthily charming the front door of the Dursley home silent as he enters uninvited. He has chosen a spot between the wall and the ugly pink vase containing three umbrellas next to the door. No one will step on him or bump into him here.

Why he is here he does not exactly know just yet. He has felt a tug in that one particular place in the back of his mind where the Potter phenomenon resides for days now, and hopes that coming here will finally solve this riddle that has plagued him so. Why are we connected? What has happened to link us in this manner? He has gone over these questions a hundred times already, retracing his steps, taking stock of any vile or dangerous potions or ingredients he has brewed or acquired in the last month that might cause this. Still, he has found no clues.

Severus is suddenly drawn out from his thoughts by a sudden alertness in the place his mind has seemed to reserve just for Potter. How special he sneers. The child is awake. What has woken him this early, Severus intends to find out. The rest of the house is sleeping, but in the past few days... the days since school has ended and the castle has emptied, Severus has been woken each morning at a quarter to five because Potter has woken. If for no other reason than this, Severus intends to end this madness. After nine months of rising early to prepare for his day and going to bed late because he has had to deal with students in detention (namely Potter), he deserves three months of sleeping in. He deserves a whole hell of a lot more, he muses, snorting internally. But no, there would be none who would pay him his dues, and certainly not the brat whose door he has just heard creak open upstairs.

It is a moment before a sleepy Potter appears at the top of the stairs, fully dressed, including the ratty pair of sneakers gracing the child's feet. He descends the stairs slowly, giving no indication he recognizes that his Potion's Master is concealed somewhere near the bottom of the staircase, and Severus is relieved. Surely if the boy knows of the connection, he'd know who is hiding, watching him intently. Severus feels the connection all the stronger the closer he is to the boy. He has hoped through the last month that when the boy went home the connection would break, but this is not the case.

He expects Potter to plop down in front of the picture box the Muggle's watch as they become fat and lazy, or even to sneak out of the house on his way to whatever deviance awaits him today, but is surprised when the sixteen year old goes to the kitchen instead and prepares to make breakfast. Surely not, Severus thinks, as various pots and pans are pulled from cupboards, and plates are set at the table, but it is so. Nine eggs are cracked into a bowl and readied for a scramble before going into the pan, and two more into a pot of boiling water. Faster than he chops ingredients in the dungeons for class, the boy somehow precisely chops up three red potatoes and puts them in another pan with some bacon to fry. Another vegetable appears from the refrigerator and from the smell Severus knows it is an onion. It goes into the pan with the potatoes as well.

Just as the boy is done cooking the meal and serving it onto the three plates on the table, a sleepy man comes down the stairs doing up his tie with a sour looking woman right behind him. So intently has Severus been watching the sixteen year old in the kitchen that he has missed the sounds of the family waking upstairs and preparing for the day. As the beefy man sits down before a plate of food and the woman pours him some coffee, which Potter has also prepared, an elephant of a boy comes trundling down the stairs, and he sounds every bit the part.

Curious, Severus thinks as he narrows his eyes at the family. They sit and eat at the table chatting amiably amongst themselves about their coming day, ignoring Potter entirely. There is not even a nod in gratitude of the breakfast he has spent nearly forty minutes preparing. Also astonishing is the fact that the boy never sits down at the table to eat himself. Neither does he eat in the kitchen where he now prepares a large lunch in a small ice chest, of which the two boiled eggs are a part of. A large meaty sandwich, two fizzy drinks, a bottle of water, a bag of crisps, four cookies, and an apple all join the two boiled eggs before Potter is done. At first Severus believes the boy is packing himself a picnic lunch fit for the bottomless pit that is a teenage boy's stomach, but finds himself mistaken when he sets it by the front door by his uncle's black briefcase.

"There'd better be enough meat on the sandwich this time," his uncle says in a threatening voice as Potter passes by on his way back to the kitchen.

"Yes uncle." He keeps his eyes averted and starts doing the many dishes from the meal he has still yet to take part in.

Legs cramping from standing still in the same spot for over an hour now, Severus is just considering walking around with a silencing charm cast on his boots when events are set in motion that he would not otherwise have believed if he is not seeing it for himself.

The bulky figure that is Harry's uncle rises and moves to the front door where his briefcase sits next to his lunch. Harry has just finished dishes and is now sweeping the dining room floor where his oversized cousin has dropped several bits of eggs and potatoes around his chair like a toddler might do. The massive man standing but a few feet from Severus lets out a grunt, and in the next room Severus can both see and sense Potter tense, standing straight and looking alert. He feels alert too, and it sets Severus on edge.

Vernon Dursley lumbers back into the dining room, where Harry is holding the broom in his hand, looking as if he is an animal trying to sense the danger in the situation. Odd, Severus thinks as he stays unmoving, watching, waiting.

"There are four cookies in my lunch boy."

"Yes uncle," he replies.

"Last night I specifically told you three. Three cookies. How hard is it to get that through that tiny brain of yours?"

Harry swallows and Severus can feel the nervousness through their link. "Not hard at all uncle," Harry replies carefully. "I thought that you might like an extra just in case sir."

Severus cannot see Vernon's face, but knows from his stance that his eyes are undoubtedly narrowed at the stock still teenager.

"Just in case what boy?"

Harry bites his bottom lip briefly in thought. "In case you want an extra?"

"In case I want an extra because I'm fat and will just eat until my buttons pop off? Is that what you think boy?" His voice is raised and Harry wipes one sweaty palm on the side of his pants as he thinks quickly.

"No sir. In case one falls on the floor or something. Then you'll still have three." He looks hopeful that this will take care of the situation.

"Because I'm clumsy boy? I need extras because I'm clumsy?"

Harry can tell that what he has said has backfired on him now and takes a small step backwards as his uncle takes a large step forward in an attempt to close the gap between them. In the split second before chaos ensues, Severus is not even sure he has seen the brief flicker of eyes in his direction. The boy has looked right at him he thinks, and again he wonders if the child can indeed sense him and his proximity to the situation. When Severus does not reveal himself, the boy sticks out his bottom lip for the briefest moment as he looks at Severus and Severus see's it tremble. His uncle takes one more step and Harry falls backwards to the hard tile floor, arms up to shield himself, but it is unnecessary, for a tall, dark figure has appeared from nowhere and is tightly gripping Vernon Dursley's raised wrist.

"I believe you have work to get to," Severus says in a dangerous voice into Vernon's ear. It is so soft that neither Petunia nor Dudley are aware from the living room that Severus is even there.

Vernon growls faintly. "You'd better take him now then, because I won't abide a freak in my home. After all, look at the other riff-raff he's brought in uninvited." If Vernon is surprised, he hides it well, unlike Potter whose jaw is hanging open slightly from his position on the floor.

Brushing roughly past Severus, Vernon makes his way back into the entryway and calls for Petunia and Dudley. He tells them they are to leave the house with him immediately, and then they are gone.

Harry rises from the dining room floor and there is silence between them for a few moments.

"I thought you weren't going to help me sir," he says quietly, eyes on the floor.

Severus gives him a critical look. He knows. He knows Severus has been there the entire time, and has chosen not to give away his location, even when he is in danger. Something more than Severus can say about most people. Few will allow themselves harm in the face of keeping another's secret safe, even if it is one that doesn't need keeping. Harry is apparently one of those people.

"You knew I was in the corner?"

"Yes sir."

"Hm."

There is silence again, but before long Severus is directing Harry to gather his things, and tells him not to expect to return. Harry is ready in minutes, and they leave Four Privet Drive. Harry does not give it a second look as they apparate away.

* * *

Harry is appreciative that he has spent a long, relaxing summer at the Burrow. He is still not entirely sure how he has been blessed with this over the fate of a typical summer at Privet Drive, but knows that Professor Snape is intricately involved in the matter. Nearly to the extent that Harry feared he would be spending the summer with his professor, but not quite to the extent that Harry has seen Professor Snape again after being deposited with the Weasleys.

The Professor has not mentioned the link verbally or in writing, and Harry wonders at it. Professor Snape is always in the back of his mind. Harry can sense when he is near, and can estimate how far away he is. Sometimes he dreams as the Potions Master dreams, and can feel his agitation at moments when the man is direly irritated. His irritation usually follows Harry waking up early or waking in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Harry wonders just how much Snape can feel from him, and if his own thoughts are truly his own anymore. He fears something sinister is going on. He fears that he is slowly becoming one with the Professor. Just another one of Voldemort's evil plans he muses, that I might become a zombie controlled by Professor Snape. Following this thought he feels a burst of something that feels vaguely as though Snape is amused, and feels irritated at the thought he might have been amused by Harry himself.

The link has grown stronger the closer to Hogwarts Harry has traveled on the train, and he is sure Snape has felt it too. When he is finally in the Entrance Hall with his friends, he can gather a general location in the castle where Snape is, and knows the man is irritated with something. At the smell of something acrid coming from the Great Hall, Harry's suspicions are confirmed that Snape is there dealing with burning dung bombs lit on fire by two returning second years. Snape narrows his eyes at Harry as he passes by with the two small boys in tow, pulling them by the ears.

Ron nudges Harry in the ribs when he has stalled the line of students coming in through the front doors, and Harry turns from where he has been staring at Snape's back.

"C'mon then. I want to sit in front of the pudding."

With a last look over his shoulder, Harry allows himself to be herded along with the others towards the feast. This is the first start of term feast he will have been to in years, where he is not starving, and he reminds himself again that he has Professor Snape to thank for that.

* * *

Harry sits irritated at the back of the Potions room. He has been banned indefinitely from answering questions in Potions class. Professor Snape has not said why, but Harry knows. Since the start of school last week he's been answering every question the Professor has answered, and his friends aren't the only ones growing suspicious. It's not Harry's fault that he can practically see the answers to the man's questions radiating off of him the second he asks. It's not Harry's fault that there's some sort of eerie spell work binding them together.

He crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. At least the link has one benefit, he thinks, aside from a summer with the Weasleys that is. He has not been assigned one detention yet this year by Professor Snape. Last year he'd been given three in his first week alone, and all of them had been unfair. It seemed that every time the man seemed irritated enough to give him one however, he stopped short, and didn't even take points. Strange, Harry thinks. Is it because he can tell through the link that he's wrong? Or is it that he doesn't want to spend any more time close to me than he has to? Sensing the man's eyes on him, he looks up with question in his own. Snape looks away, and Harry uncrosses his arms, going back to his notes.

Bet it's the latter, Harry thinks as he fails to concentrate on his class work. Nobody ever wants to spend time with me. Must be bad enough I'm in his head all the time as it is. He can sense the Potion Master's eyes on him again, but he ignores his this time as he pretends to write.

* * *

He has been careful over the last few weeks not to injure the boy's fragile self-image. After what he has seen of the teen's family, some of the late night awakenings and glimpses Severus has caught of the boy's nightmares make sense. He wonders how long this has gone on unnoticed, and wonders what state the child would have been in at the start of the term if they did not share the link... if he had not gone to investigate the abnormalities in the child's life. This link was not a blessing for him, and he often still counted it a curse, but for Harry he wagered it was a blessing, albeit a very irritating one.

Throughout the summer Severus has caught glimpses of thoughts about zombies and evil plots, questions about the things the boy has seen from Severus' mind through the link, and brief happy moments that seem a treasure to the boy. He can only imagine what the boy has seen or caught from his own mind, and what he continues to see. Severus has gone to the Headmaster several times, but all the old man can do is promise to look into it, and get back to him if he finds something. How, convenient, he thinks, before catching a glimpse of amusement from Potter. He gives an irritated look down to the Gryffindor table where the boy pretends not to notice as he closely inspects his meal. Brat, he thinks, and sees the boy flinch. Damn. There went weeks of trying to be careful over the teen's feelings. Damn the link and damn the whole day already, he thought, growing more irritated. Minerva caught his attention with a question, but after he looked away from Potter, he could feel the boy's gaze from Gryffindor table.

* * *

Panic! Sheer panic!

So startled is Harry that he leaps up from the breakfast table startling several people around him. He has never known the Potion's Master to panic, and given that Voldemort is still on the loose and Harry's head is set to be number one on the platter, he can feel his chest tighten uncomfortably. The only thing he can think to cause such a strong emotion in the always brooding, always controlled Professor is a Voldemort sighting in the castle.

Wand at the ready Harry fears the worst when he hears several crashes from the Entrance hall followed by shouts and screams from frightened students. The others in the Great Hall have heard it too, and some have gone to look, but most have moved in the other direction towards Slytherin table, trying to get as far back from the danger as possible. Harry is not one of these students however. The panic from Snape has only grown, and Harry knows he must help, and so runs straight out into the Entrance Hall without thinking to look first.

An enormous red wing with spikes on the end sweeps down and nearly catches Harry as he ducks and dives for cover behind a suit of armor with several first year students. How the hell did a dragon get into the school he wonders, and can feel Snape's confusion answer back across the link.

Students scurry back up the stairs and others into the Great Hall, and some run out through the massive hole that used to be the oak front doors, screaming as they go. Harry sticks his head out from around the suit of armor in search of Snape, and finds him behind a pillar that is half crumbled. Harry watches as he and Professor McGonagall try to tame the beast, try to shoot chains at it from their wands, try to put it to sleep, but none of their answers have answered the question of how to stop it.

A glimpse at the students next to him on the floor show two first year Ravenclaw's, and Ernie McMillan, the Head Boy. Behind another suit of armor ten feet behind him are Draco Malfoy and... Hermione, both cowering like the students Harry crouches next to. Harry only has a moment to register the fact that Draco is covering Hermione with his body, shielding her from the falling debris the Dragon is causing by blasting the ceiling with flame, and then he is forced to cover his head himself as a blast of hot flame shoots towards him. The suit of armor burns hot next to him and Harry throws a shield up over himself and the three Ravenclaw's. He has no idea what to do, and knows now that he has been foolish to run head first into this mess.

* * *

It has been a long time since Severus has felt fear of this sort. He is used to worrying over his role in this war as a spy, but that type of fear is not the same. The fear he feels now is the adrenaline pumping, fight or flight, all out panic that can only be caused by coming into the Entrance Hall on his way to breakfast to see a massive red dragon trying to roast several Slytherins alive. The Slytherins have long since bolted back down to the Dungeons, but Severus is not so lucky. As staff it is his duty to rid the school of danger and keep students safe.

Trying the incarceration spell again, Severus watches in horror as Minerva gets caught by the Dragon's tail and is sent flying up the stairs. She is moving, and thus alive, but is no longer able to battle, and there are no other teachers to be found.

Across the Entrance Hall Severus can see Potter holding a shield up around himself and several others as he hunkers down against the wall, watchful eyes surveying the scene. How odd, Severus thinks as he ducks himself to avoid a blast of flame, but the boy seems more alert than fearful. Perhaps his own fear is clouding the link, or perhaps it is because the boy has faced off against a dragon before.

He tries several more spells before an idea catches his fancy. It's a dangerous plot, and he cannot do it alone. He might be able to count on Draco's help if he can only get a message to him, but Draco is hunkered down protecting another student just now. Severus' eyes fall on Harry again, and he is surprised to see that the boy is already looking at him. He will be taking most of the risk if I ask him to do this. I do not know if he trusts me to risk his own welfare at my bidding.

The boy's eyes remain steadfast, and Severus wonders if he has just imagined the nod he has seen from the boy. Eyes narrowed he concentrates harder as he crouches behind the pillar. Potter nods once more and Severus does the same.

Standing tall and shouting at the great red beast, Severus gets its attention and fires the incarceration spell one more time. Chains spring from his wand and fly up to the dragon's neck, only this time Harry has run from the other side of the Entrance Hall and leapt up to catch one of the chains. He swings from it somewhat disgracefully, before struggling to climb up it to the back of the dragon's neck. Other students who are hiding on the second floor and from inside the Great Hall look on in awe as Harry aims his wand at the dangling chains and then fuses them to the floor. Severus shoots several more chains off at the beast, and Harry uses his advantage to continue fusing them to the floor.

When the beast is sufficiently immobilized, the boy dares to inch up its neck and cast his own chaining spell around the snout and fuses the chain together so that no more damage can be done by flame. Thrashing, the beast begins to exhaust itself as Harry and Snape work in unison by magic to shorten and tighten the chains until the beast is almost flat to the floor. The two men have not exchanged any words, only their trust, and the task has been finished just as several staff come running down the stairs from the upper levels.

Harry climbs off the mammoth dragon and Severus can feel the teen's exhaustion as well as see him shake. Harry gives a weary look at Snape, and then goes out the ruin of the front doors to the grounds where it is quiet. Perhaps he has gone to tell the other students to come back, Severus wonders, but he knows from the link that the boy seeks some solitude after the harrowing experience.

* * *

The staff have spent another hour subduing the dragon and repairing the structural damage done to the front of the castle. Classes have been officially canceled for the day and the Headmaster has instructed Severus to help injured students rather than take on the laborious task of repair. He has instructed as many of his 6th and 7th year NEWT students to help as he can find, and they are working in unison to bandage wounds and comfort terrified students.

Potter is no where in sight, but Severus can still feel him somewhere through the link, although it is weakened, and Severus wonders if perhaps his own nerves are still too frayed for any part of his mind to work correctly.

Feeling as though he could use some fresh air himself, he ventures out onto the grounds, where he soon finds Harry sitting on a low stone wall along the main walkway to the front of the castle.

"You appear to be whole and unharmed," Severus says in a low voice as he sits next to the boy a few feet away.

"Nearly," Harry says, lifting his arm to show a long gash that he has been holding to stop the bleeding.

Severus waives his wand and the gash closes completely.

"Is everyone else ok?" Harry ventures.

With a nod, Severus tells him that Professor McGonagall has a concussion and several students have been burned, but for the most part, all is well.

"The staff suspect that some stray magic brought the dragon to the castle. There are wards to prevent this sort of thing, but it has been known to happen before with other magical creatures, according to the Headmaster," Severus informs him.

Harry nods, wrapping his mind around it, and then says, "Now we're even."

"Excuse me?"

"For taking me to the Weasleys this summer," Harry clarifies, not looking up at the man. "Thank you, and now we're even."

Severus wants to say otherwise, but knows that it's true. Without Harry's help, he would have eventually been scorched to death or smashed by the dragon, and many others would have been too.

"Agreed," Severus says.

Harry nods, and stands to go back into the castle. "There's still some students hiding down at Hagrid's I think, and some in the Pitch. Thought you'd like to know," and then he moves off to find his friends.

* * *

Somehow the link is gone. Severus can no longer feel Harry at the back of his mind. He can no longer feel bursts of strong emotion or sense his whereabouts within the castle. That place in his mind feels empty, and he is confused at what he feels at the loss. He no longer carries Harry with him, and he feels alone.

* * *

Harry sits in class casting his mind about for the connection he has grown accustomed to for the last few months. It is nowhere to be found, and he feels a deep sense of foreboding. Snape is gone, and he feels afraid.

* * *

In the confines of his office high in a tower, Albus Dumbledore steeples his fingers together and wonders if the reciprocity spell has worked it's magic. He wonders if he has done more harm than good, and wonders if he has brought the two enemies closer, or torn them farther apart. They are both essential in their efforts towards the war, and neither one has previously understood just how much they will have to rely on each other if one or both are to survive. Perhaps they will seek each other out on their own, he thinks to himself, and it is his only comfort in using the long forbidden and rarely used spell. He hopes he is right, and hopes that is enough considering the damage the spell has done by bringing the dragon to the castle. Only time will tell.