Severus looked at the first year boy in front of him, looking none the worse for wear, despite being missing for several hours, and felt his anger boil over. He knew he was being unreasonable, knew that he was taking out his fear and frustration on an eleven-year-old child, but he couldn't seem to stop himself as he lurched forward, his hands clamping down on the boy's bony shoulders and squeezing, jerking the child toward him.

"Where. Have. You. Been?" he asked again, nearly guttural in rage.

And Harry Potter exploded.

"None of your fucking business, sir," he said in the angriest tones Severus had ever heard, shrugging out of the Potions professor's grip and backing up against the wall. His wand, Severus noticed to his eternal shame, held tightly in one hand. "But if you have to fucking know, instead of asking like a decent person and not a fucking git, I got lost in these fucking dungeons and only found my way back because of a painting guiding me. So if you've quite finished yelling at me and manhandling me like I'm a bloody slave, I'd like to go the fuck to sleep. Sir." The last word was thrown in Severus's face like the harshest of epithets, and the boy's eyes glinted like glass.

"Ten points from Slytherin for language," Severus said automatically, but his voice sounded weak and he'd sagged against the opposite wall without even realising it. "Potter, I-I'm sorry-"

"Save your bloody apology for someone who gives a fuck," Potter replied coldly and stormed into the common room. Severus remained outside, rubbing his temples and wondering how it had all just gone so fantastically wrong.

The anger spilling through their body, through the entire system, made Jay tremble as he slammed into his dormitory, throwing himself on the bed, tears spurting from the corners of his eyes.

Fucking bloody arsehole, how dare he, he raged, squeezing his hands into tight fists until the sting and the slight trickle of blood down his palms made him stop. Lucky he didn't bloody end up with Leigh out, taking a swing at him.

That was inexcusable, Tom agreed soberly. The boy everyone depended on for cold-headed logic looked more shaken than anyone had ever seen him. Granted, it is apparently very late, and we have been missing for longer than we thought. Some anger and concern is appropriate.

Yeah, but not grabbing us like fucking Vernon, Jay retorted, feeling the adrenaline rush still coursing through their body. Ain't that a corker? Head of House is turning out just like dear old Uncle. Don't that just bloody figure?

While the two of them argued like usual, Blue slipped out to front, curling her arms around her knees and huddling under the blankets. Tom had already cast locking and silencing spells around the bed, just in case Professor Snape came back, so she finally felt safe enough to properly cry, tears slipping down her face in a steady stream. It was too much. The infection. The realisation they'd been unconscious for days. The unpleasant discovery that Pomfrey and Snape had figured out their secret. The legilimency that had felt like it was ripping their mind in two. Getting lost in the dungeons that should have been their sanctuary. And the final straw, Snape grabbing them and shaking them like a terrier might shake its toy.

It was all too much, painfully too much, and as Blue lay there and cried, their mind fragmented again, splitting until finally, a boy about twelve years old slipped out, looking around the curtained bed with very mild interest.

Wait, who are you? Jay asked in shock, regarding the newcomer with wide eyes.

"Echo," the boy spoke aloud, sounding very placid. His eyes were guileless, green, and utterly blank. "I'm Echo."

What's your job? Tom asked, feeling even more shaken up than he'd already been. They'd split? Again? He hadn't even noticed!

"I don't feel anything," Echo replied. He straightened their body out in the bed and slid beneath the covers. "At all."

And with that, the boy fell asleep, leaving the rest of the system in a very uneasy turmoil.

Well, this is a cock-up, Tom thought, and sighed heavily.