Harry grunted as he lifted the last of the large cauldrons up onto a shelf, struggling with it for a moment with his tired arms, and then finally managing, feeling he'd just barely escaped the fate of being crushed. With a frown Harry muttered something to himself under his breath and then wiped the sweat from his brow. He supposed it would have suited Snape just fine if the cauldron had fallen and crushed him. It would have been a great end to Snape's detention he thought sarcastically. As Harry picked up the rags he'd used to clean the set of 25 cauldron's out, he knew he had two more nights of this to look forward to. Damn Snape and his assumptions, always thinking Harry the spoiled brat and always looking for some excuse to punish him. Wasn't it bad enough that Harry was still weak from lack of food over the summer? No, he supposed not, and Snape had to go and give him three detentions for stumbling in class and accidentally knocking a few ingredients off of Pansy Parkinson's work bench, as if he'd done it on purpose.

Harry scowled in the darkened dungeon classroom as he spied water on the floor that he'd apparently missed when he had mopped up after cleaning the last set of cauldrons. Muttering about the work of a slave never being done, Harry snatched up the mop from the floor and began mopping it up, thoughts of his warm bed up in Gryffindor tower the only thing keeping him from snapping just then and throwing the mop to the ground. Later Harry supposed it was his daydream that kept him from noticing that the puddle of water was only growing bigger, because it wasn't until the water had come up over the soles of his shoes that he looked down again and startled at the sight of the mini flood. Had Myrtle flooded a loo again? If she had, then Harry wondered what she was doing all the way down in the dungeons. She usually avoided this area of the castle because she didn't want to run into the Bloody Baron.

As Harry stood there wondering, the water came in and added another inch to the floor.

"What the-" Harry sloshed through the water, leaving his mop behind leaning against a desk as he made his way out of the classroom, having trouble opening the heavy door because water was pushing against it from the other side. He managed to get it open just enough for his thin frame to squeeze through, and then let it slam closed again. The hallway had at least five inches and was well above Harry's ankles, and it only seemed to be coming in faster.

Harry's next thought was that he should get up to the Entrance Hall because somebody's spell had gone awry, but he didn't want to leave anybody trapped down here in the dungeons if it got worse. True he hated Snape and most of the Slytherins, but Hermione had made a good point the other day about some of the Slytherins not being too bad. There was even a girl the year ahead of Harry in sixth year that he thought wasn't too bad because she never made fun of him, and her eyes were pretty.

Making his decision, Harry went to Snape's office to see if he knew about the problem, but found it empty.

"Professor?" Harry called down the hall, but he got no answer aside from the sound of rushing water which was rising at an alarming rate now.

Harry ran down the hall towards Slytherin common room and wondered if he could pound on the door and be heard by the people inside, but just as he got there the wall slid open and students came pouring out like a panicked wave, several tumbling into him and knocking him down into the water in the darkened corridor.

Thoroughly soaked now Harry tried to get up only to be pushed down several more times by frightened Slytherins. When the last student had run out Harry was finally able to use the wall to pull himself up. Well, the Slytherins were out, he thought, and Snape would just have to fend for himself, because Harry had no idea where to look for him and wasn't going to risk drowning if the man wasn't even in the dungeons.

Harry had to hike his knees up high to make good time through the icy water and fell twice before the stairs up out of the dungeons came into view. He was just about to climb up out of this watery mess when a strange cry in the darkness behind him caught his attention. It didn't sound like Snape, Harry thought, squinting into the darkness. Several of the torches on the walls had flickered out now in the damp air, and Harry pulled his wand out of his jeans pocket and lit it.

Damn, he thought. What if it was a first year stuck back there somewhere?

"Where are you?" He called, and in the distance he heard splashing and a noise that sounded a little hysterical. After another moment of indecision Harry finally began splashing his way back down the hall, avoiding several items that had floated out of the Slytherin common room including a table, some clothing, and too many school books to count.

By the time he'd struggled down to the end of the corridor and called out again, every light was out except for his wand, and Harry wasn't sure which way to go until he heard the cry for help again. Another left and two rights and Harry was in a part of the dungeons he wasn't familiar with, with water almost up to his armpits surrounding him.

"Hello?" he called out uncertainly. If he waited much longer to turn back then he'd have to swim back to the stairs.

"Here!"

Using his arms to help him navigate the obstacle laden water faster, Harry finally found his query in a dark room that looked like it might have been an extra study room. There Draco Malfoy sat on his knees on a floating table in the darkness.

"Potter, thank God."

"Draco? Come on, we have to get out of here!" Irritated that Draco hadn't already vacated the area, Harry turned to leave, but Draco screamed out to stop him.

"No Potter!"

Turning, Harry saw the blond Slytherins white face.

"What?" Harry's anxiety was creeping up on him as the cold water kept coming in. "Come on," he urged.

"I can't swim!"

"THEN WALK!" The water had risen another inch just in the sixty seconds he'd wasted there and he was beginning to feel panicked himself. If he had to guess, he thought it had been less than five minutes since he'd first spotted the puddle in the classroom.

"I- I can't." Draco's voice sounded defeated and Harry rolled his eyes before swimming over to the table and grabbing hold of it and trying to drag it and Draco through the door. His feet were no help anymore as his toes were just barely touching the floor.

"What's happening?" Draco asked timidly as he tried to keep balance on top of the table.

"I don't know," Harry said. His arms were already tired from scrubbing cauldrons all evening and he was still feeling weak besides. He'd had to miss dinner for detention.

Barely getting the table through the door, Harry told Draco to hold on and then he allowed his feet to float up under the table so he could use his other arm to swim better. After nearly falling from the table, Draco finally lay down on it on his stomach and held on to it with both hands.

Feeling almost too tired to continue on, Harry stopped swimming, and said, "Push yourself off the table a little bit and use your legs to kick. We'll get out of here faster."

"No, I'll fall off."

"No you won't, just do it or I'm leaving you here."

Draco grumbled, "You would," and then did as he was told, allowing his feet and knees to slide down into the water. With Harry holding on to the other end with his arm, the table was balanced and neither one of them fell off. Harry put his wand in his mouth and held it with his teeth, keeping his head tilted so he could shine light where he needed it. The water was almost too full to swim through now, and Harry was hit in the face several times with books and other objects.

Both boys were startled several moments later in the darkness as a bedraggled cat swam past them, trying to find its way out, and feeling sorry for it Harry grabbed it by the collar and struggled to lift it up onto the table.

"Shoo," Draco said to it, voice shaky. "This is my table."

Harry didn't have an opportunity to tell Draco to knock it off with the wand in his mouth, so he kept going instead.

Harry was keeping a keen eye out for the stairs, but was surprised when he found no stairs where he knew there ought to be some. The water had covered them now and Harry looked up to find themselves near the ceiling of the tall corridor.

"I don't think we can take the table up," Harry said, taking the wand out of his mouth and holding onto the table tightly, not wanting to let go of it himself.

"We have to!"

"I'll swim you up."

"Forget it!"

"Would you just shut up and listen to me! We're not getting out of here on the table! We have to swim up!"

There was silence aside from rushing water, and after a few moments Draco said, "Don't let me drown Potter." It was a plea for help that Harry couldn't ignore, even if Draco had cursed his shoelaces together last week.

Carefully moving around the table, Harry said, "Don't strangle me or we'll both drown. You have to lay on your back and we'll swim backwards. You kick and I'll keep us floating."

"Oh- oh- ok."

Cold sapping Harry's energy even more, Harry took Draco from the table and they rolled onto their backs, Harry using one arm to hold Draco and the other to swim.

"Kick," Harry said, his head going under water for a moment as he swallowed some. When his head bobbed back up he found Draco panicking, and they struggled for a few moments before the table knocked into Harry's head hard and he fought to push the infernal thing away from them.

Long moments passed and both boys went under several times before Harry regained control after slapping Draco hard on the side of the head, and Harry grabbed him before he could panic again and made for the opening that was supposed to be the stairs.

Harry had hoped to walk the rest of the way up out of the dungeons, but as they began up the stairs, a surge of water poured in from wherever it was coming from and filled up the rest of the corridor, pushing them forcefully up the stairwell and out into the dark Entrance Hall.

"What the hell!" Harry spat out with a mouthful of water as they were deposited unceremoniously onto the Entrance Hall floor, which was fast flooding itself and was already under a foot of water. Harry struggled to stand up drag Draco to his feet as another foot of water came in.

"Up here!"

Harry and Draco looked up to see Snape most of Slytherin house at the top of the stairs, though some of the students had begun running up the next set of stairs upon seeing the water flooding the floor level now too.

Harry and Draco made a run for it, and Draco just made the first step when Harry lost his balance in the fast moving water and was swept off his feet and towards the front doors, where one stood open, forced open by the water. Too weak to regain his balance, Harry grabbed onto stone statute holding Hufflepuff's points hourglass, and looked up to see Draco dragging himself to the top of the stairs, and Snape running down.

"Stand up and come here Potter, now!" Snape was calling to him, holding out his hand from the second step up, as the bottom step was covered in water already. Harry looked out into the dark beyond and hoped there wasn't a flood out there too, because he couldn't stand and couldn't hold on either. A moment later, his fingers slipped from the statue, and he was gone out into the night.

Harry wasn't sure what time it was, but he'd spent some time now clinging to a tree for dear life in the darkness. Somehow he'd managed to hang on to his wand, but just barely, and for this he was thankful because he had something to light up the night and keep him company. He'd weakly climbed higher and higher up the tree as the water had continued to rise, not certain if he was at the edge of the Forbidden Forest or not. In the distance he could see the castle lights in the tallest towers and could tell the lower floors had been flooded because the lights were out, but this was all. Even the stars were blotted out by clouds and it left Harry feeling lost and alone.

Once Harry thought he'd heard a cat in the distance trying to swim to safety, but it had begun to rain only moments after and the noise was gone.

When Harry was at the top of the tree, he had a hard decision to make. He knew he couldn't stay with the tree forever because eventually it would be completely covered, but he was also too weak to swim very far and couldn't see anything to use to float on. He didn't know of any transfiguration spells that would help him either.

At the last moment, Harry abandoned his tree and rolled onto his back, deciding he would try to float and just use his legs to conserve energy but the waters were swift and violent and he ended up under the water most of the time. After a long struggle, he felt very lucky to find another tree that was just a little taller and not as far underwater yet. If he had to guess, he would have said it was past midnight now, and he wondered if Snape would tell Dumbledore he'd been swept out of the castle so that they could send some kind of rescue for him. Surely they could transfigure a boat or something?

Harry clung, soaked, to the second tree for as long as we was able before it too was under water and he began his tiring swim towards the castle again, exhausted and scared and quite sure he was going to drown before he found something else to hold on to. He thought frequently of Hagrid in his hut and wished he could keep his mind from wandering to Hagrid and what might have happened to him if he had been caught unawares of this freak flood. He also wondered how many bodies were in the water with him, or if he'd come across the giant squid or some merpeople or other dangerous water creatures from the lake.

In the darkness, Harry bumped into something hard in the water and panicked, sinking for a moment before coming back up frantically. He didn't know if it was a body or a piece of wood or something else and his mind wasn't clear enough to cast a lumos again to see. Harry went under again and just when he thought he wouldn't make it back to the dark surface, something grabbed him and pulled him onto a hard surface.

Sputtering, Harry gasped for air and opened his eyes, jerking violently to see where he was and what kind of danger he was in. The thought that this was all Voldemort's doing had passed through his mind frequently as well.

"Calm yourself Potter," the relieved voice cut through the darkness and a light suddenly shined into Harry's eyes, causing him to squint to see the dark form that had rescued him from certain death.

"P- p- professor?"

Harry wiped the water from his eyes and his rescuer lowered his wand. "Yes Potter."

Without warning Harry fell backwards into the rowboat laughing, not caring that he'd just knocked his head on the wooden bench behind him, and Snape glared down at him with concern then.

"I do not find this amusing Potter."

"Oh my gosh, I can't breath," Harry said, holding his side.

Snape knelt beside him then and checked his pulse as Harry continued to wheeze, trying to get air in.

"You were under the water for too long. I believe your body is having trouble taking in air."

"What- what do I do?"

"Relax. There may be water in your lungs." Harry lay there trying not to panic as Snape waved his wand over Harry in the rocking boat and said several spells before Harry felt like a weight had lifted off of his chest and he was able to breath freely again.

"You can breath now?"

"Yes."

Harry tried to push himself up to a sitting position, but now that he was in a boat he felt too exhausted to do it.

"I didn't think anyone would come," Harry said weakly.

Snape glared over at him as he stuck his hand into the water on one side of the boat and began to paddle slowly towards the castle.

"Why would you assume such an idiotic thing? Half of Slytherin saw you go."

Harry turned red. He didn't think it was idiotic. His friends didn't know where he was, and no one else had ever cared enough to try to rescue him from any kind of disaster. Only Ron and his brothers had ever tried to save him from the Dursleys... why was a flood any different? Either way he was in danger of dying.

"What, what are you doing?" Harry pointed to Snape's arm in the water.

"Getting us back to the castle, what does it look like I'm doing?" he snapped.

"Why don't you have paddles?" Harry asked. Snape knew transfiguration, he figured he would have transformed something into paddles.

With another heavy glare, Snape said, "I dove out into the water after you and found myself outside the castle with no means to get back in. I eventually happened upon one of the school boats, without paddles. I have nothing to transform into paddles either."

Harry felt stunned. Snape had gone out into the water after him? "Why would you do that?"

"Do what Potter?" He was in a foul mood and felt thoroughly exasperated with the teenager in the five minutes since he'd found him.

"Nevermind," Harry mumbled.

"We would get back to the castle sooner if you helped," Snape said, feeling more and more grouchy as the night wore on.

Harry tried to sit up and fell back to the floor twice before he managed to get up and to the opposite side of the boat where he stuck his arm in the water and then promptly toppled in. It was a moment before Snape's hand shot down into the depths and hauled Harry back into the boat again, sputtering and startled. Unbidden tears sprang to Harry's eyes from the fright and he felt like a fool for being a fifteen year old and crying in front of his hated professor.

Snape seemed to be just as startled at Harry falling in without any attempt at stopping himself, and at the sudden tears the boy was furiously trying to wipe away.

"I will continue to paddle. You lie down."

Harry did as he was told and turned on his side so he could hide his face from this man that hated him, and had for some reason risked his life to save him. It didn't make any sense, and in his tired and weakened state, Harry fell into a fitful sleep in the rocking boat, the flood following him into his dreams.

* * *

Harry woke as the sun came up, and didn't feel as though he'd slept at all. Groggy and trying to sit up in the rocking boat, Harry was surprised to find Snape still there at the other end, paddling and looking tired. They were still a ways off from the castle, which was now surrounded by very deep water. Harry could see Gryffindor tower and several other towers sticking up, and just a tiny part of the lower castle.

"Potter," Snape acknowledged him dryly when Harry sat up and then fell again when a wave hit the boat.

"This is crazy," Harry said quietly and in awe. "What happened?"

"I do not know."

"It's all just... gone." At least he knew his friends were safe in Gryffindor tower, unless the water rose anymore. The Professors should be able to transfigure boats for everyone though if it came to it, he thought. Hopefully with paddles.

Harry moved to sit again so he could row, but Snape said sternly, "Don't."

"Sir?"

"I don't feel like pulling you out of the water again."

"Oh."

Harry's stomach grumbled loudly as they grew ever closer to the castle, and he let his eyes scan the water, hoping that if there was anyone still alive out there that they'd be able to help them, but he saw no one, not even the lost cat he'd heard the night before.

Eventually the boat bumped into the stone wall of the castle and Snape looked up the wall critically, wondering how they were going to reach the window that was twenty feet above them. If someone had seen them coming, they would have been there by now with some sort of ladder or rope.

"Think we can climb it?" Harry asked, looking up at the window as well as the light grew brighter over the horizon.

"I can," Snape said critically, staring at him and wondering why he was so weak. Snape had been treading water for half the night as well, but didn't find himself falling overboard. There was obviously something wrong with the boy.

"Maybe there's a window lower down somewhere," Harry suggested then, feeling too tired to care that he was there with Snape, or wonder why the man wasn't being foul to him this bright and cheery morning.

"Perhaps," Snape said, and began to paddle them off around the castle.

As they moved slowly around the castle, Harry using his arm to push them off the wall when they got too close to it, he wondered why there were no students or staff up on the roof searching for survivors in the waters outside, and grew worried that somehow no one inside had survived.

"Do you think everyone made it?" Harry asked, the sound of the boat hitting the castle every now and again the only thing really keeping him awake.

"I do not know. All of Slytherin was accounted for after you brought Draco out of the Dungeons. Most of Hufflepuff were already up on the second floor when I came down from the staff lounge."

"Good," Harry said. He really didn't want to find any bodies floating in the water. After an hour of agonizingly slow progress, they finally found a window that was just under the water.

"There haven't been any others," Harry observed when they stopped to look at the window. It was obvious that whatever room was beyond it was flooded as well.

"It is unsafe," Snape finally concluded after long moments in thought.

"But we'll be exposed out here," Harry said. He knew from experience how unpleasant sunburn could be, and drinking the tainted water all around them wouldn't be good either.

"We will find another way."

"And if we don't?"

"If I take you in there you'll drown. You can barely sit up." Harry could tell the man was beyond tired himself, tired enough not to put Harry down or insult him or berate him for arguing with him.

"We'll get sunburned, we'll be cold from the wind, and we'll have no food or clean water."

"You will survive Potter," Snape said bitterly and with a glare.

Harry's stomach grumbled again. He hated to pass up the opportunity to eat if there was one. He'd only been allowed one meal a day with the Dursleys, sometimes none at all, and he'd slowly been working his way back up to three meals a day in the month since they'd been back at school. Yesterday was going to be the first day he was going to have three, but then he'd had to skip dinner for detention. After long moments of consideration, Harry finally said quietly, "I need food." He hated to admit that he was going to pass out soon if he didn't get something in his stomach. He was already feeling weak, and was just adding dizzy to the list of things threatening to overtake him now. Snape seemed to realize that it was a lot for Harry to admit as well.

"The last time you ate was?"

Harry looked away out into the watery landscape. "Lunch yesterday."

"Is that why you are so weak?"

Head snapping back to Snape, Harry was suddenly angry and snapped, "Maybe I'm so weak because I had to skip dinner for your detention, then I had to swim Malfoy out on a table because he didn't know how to swim, then I spent all night clinging to a tree and trying to swim back to the castle."

"Agitated are we?"

Harry hated the little smile that had come over the man's lips now. Without warning he climbed out of the boat and used his wand to vanish the stained glass window just under the water.

"Potter! Get back in the boat!"

Harry didn't even bother glaring up at the man. Determined not to be seen as weak and helpless, and determined to get food and escape the nosy bat in the boat, Harry held his breath and went under and through the window.

Once inside Harry realized just what a mistake he'd made, because the room was filled with debris. It was obviously someone's office. There was a broken table and chairs, books, quills, ink bottles, and a number of other things. Fighting his way through the junk, Harry hoped he'd be able to get the door open on the other side of the room and somehow find a pocket of air.

Feeling that he was finally out of air and unable to hold his breath any longer, he struggled to get the door open and failed. He felt movement behind him then and Snape appeared, wrenching the door open with nothing short of pure willpower, and dragged Harry through to the other side where there was a higher ceiling and they were able to surface for air.

"You're an imbecile," Snape spat at him as he gasped for breath in the one foot space between the water and the ceiling.

Harry felt unable to say anything and allowed Snape to drag him to a desk that was still in tact where they were able to stand instead of treading water.

"Now I must take you back through the room and out to the boat you little fool."

Harry stared at him and after he finally caught his breath he said, "No, keep going. Maybe we can get more space in the next room."

"More space? Potter the whole floor is under water!"

"I think that was Professor Flitwick's office," Harry said of the room they'd just come through. "I think this is the Charm's room. On the other side should be the auditorium."

Glaring at him, Snape looked around and tried to gain his bearings. If Potter was right, the Charms auditorium would have more room because it had a higher ceiling and also a raised platform where Filius liked to stand and teach. There was the remote possibility that they could sit on a table high up and be dry.

"You stay Potter. If I find you've moved one inch, I'll-"

"Drown me?" Harry supplied, but his Professor only glared. The man took a deep breath and then disappeared under the water for what Harry felt were long minutes. He began to worry and wonder if the man had drowned, and just when he considered going under to look for him, Snape surfaced again.

"The Charms auditorium is on the other side. You will follow me through and hold on to the back of my robes."

Harry steeled himself for another perilous underwater swim, and they both went under.

They'd struggled to stack two tables on top of each other on the platform to have a dry space to sit when they'd first gotten into the room. It seemed like days ago to Harry, but it had only been yesterday morning. Harry had spent most of the day sleeping, wishing he had an apple, or a scrap of bread or anything at all to make his stomach feel full, but there was nothing, just like at the Dursleys. Thankfully Snape had left him alone for the day, taking the time to sleep as well. It had been cramped with both of them on top of one student table, but there was enough room for both to sleep head to foot, back to back without touching if they tried hard. That didn't stop Snape from complaining whenever Harry's foot touched his back or something, or from threatening to dump him off the table. It was Sunday now and Harry sat with his back to Snape and his head in his hands. He wished he had a place to stretch out at least, and had asked Snape to help him move more tables up onto the platform, but he'd nixed the idea, not wanting to get into the icy water that sapped all your energy again.

Harry looked over at Snape, who was frowning in thought, and Harry said, "You know if you do that enough your face will stick that way."

"Insolent child."

"Guess that's me," Harry said, feeling sullen. Uncle Vernon always said things like that to him too. He thought what he'd said to Snape was funny at least, but maybe the lack of food and the fatigue was making him lose his inhibitions. He was sure Ron would have given birth to a brick if he'd heard what Harry had just told Snape. Harry's thoughts drifted to his friends again then, and he wondered if they were all right... if they were warm and dry and if they had food. Harry had no idea just then that half of Slytherin house was living in Gryffindor along with a handful of Hufflepuffs, while the rest of the school was in the Library or Ravenclaw tower.

Harry dared not tell the Professor he was hungry again. He knew from his time with the Dursleys that this was a great way to get locked in a closet somewhere. Granted Snape had never done it to him, but they were surrounded by water and Harry didn't want to relive that one of Uncle Vernon's lessons again either.

"The corridor is pretty high," Harry said at about noon. "Maybe we can get out into it and get to higher ground."

"Or perhaps you can stop making juvenile suggestions," Snape snapped. Harry turned his back to the man again. His stomach ached now and he was sure Snape was hungry too. Maybe there was food somewhere up higher in the castle. Maybe help from the Ministry had already arrived and had taken everyone from the castle, Harry thought. They probably didn't even know he and Snape were down here, or alive at all.

"Will they come for us?"

"Potter, will you never be quiet?"

Angry, Harry slid off the table which was barely an inch out of the water, and swam to the other side of the room where he went under and tried hard to drag a table up off the floor and onto the platform. If all Snape could do was make him feel bad, then at least he could try to put some space between them. Harry was loath to admit it, but he didn't want to just make a break for the corridor and leave Snape behind in case he got in trouble again. With the flood and all that had happened, Harry was uncertain and didn't want to be by himself, even if that meant he had to be with Snape.

Snape watched with some amusement as Harry came up out of the water and went back down twice more trying to drag the table up. Good, let the brat tire himself out, he thought. Then he'd stop asking questions and give him some peace. Did the boy think he himself wasn't hungry? Did he think he wanted to spend another day there with him on top of a single table? Snape scoffed then as Harry went down for a fourth time, coming up only moments later and slapping the water in frustration with his hand.

Finally Harry gave up and swam not back to the table but to the door leading out into the corridor.

"Potter-" Snape warned, but Harry was ignoring him now. He'd seen him laughing and decided to risk being alone anyway. Besides, Snape had followed him before, twice now in fact. If Harry left then the logical conclusion was that Snape would follow.

"Potter I'm warning you!" Snape was standing on the table now as Harry fought to force the door open and then disappeared out of it, the door closing again with the weight of the water behind it.

Harry was surprised when the door slammed shut behind him, leaving him stranded in the dark corridor by himself. Worse yet, he reached down to his jeans pocket and realized he'd left his wand behind and couldn't see in the corridor in order to pick a direction to go.

"Potter! Potter!" He could hear Snape shouting on the other side of the door, and Harry swam to it to put some weight on it but realized there was no leverage for him. Snape would have to force it open from the other side if he wanted to open it, just like Harry had.

"I left my wand inside!" Harry shouted, feeling tired again from treading the cold water. There weren't even any torch holders on the walls for him to hold on to. He heard a curse from inside and then a splash. Good, he thought, the bastard had to get into the cold water himself. That would teach him to be rude to Harry and laugh at him.

"When I get this door open, you're going to regret the day you were born you little fool."

Great, Harry thought. He already did regret it. He doubted Snape would be able to do anything more to him than he'd already been through in the last few days. A flash of his uncle filling the bathtub with icy water shot through him like a bullet though, and suddenly Harry was fearful there in the water.

Hearing Snape on the other side of the door trying to get out, Harry decided to make a run for it. Even though he knew he was in the Charms corridor, he was disoriented and swam off in the wrong direction in total darkness. If he would have gone the other way he could have gotten into any number of other classrooms, but the direction he was going, the staircases only lead down.

When Harry's head hit the ceiling as it began to slope down, he panicked realizing his mistake and began splashing, head bobbing underwater. He didn't want to swim back past Snape and even if he did he didn't think he could do it. It was a long corridor. The only way was down however, and Harry was suddenly confused, uncertain about what to do. He went under again, and in the dark water became even more confused, not sure which way was up anymore. Something grabbed him around the middle and Harry was certain it was a creature trying to pull him down to the depths, but the next second and he was above water again with Snape cursing at him.

"What's wrong with you Potter? Do you enjoy drowning?" Snape was screaming at him, and if Harry had been paying attention to something other than his own panicked heart, he would have realized that his Professor sounded rather hysterical.

"Don't push me under again, please" Harry pleaded frantically, struggling weakly to get away from Snape.

"Push you- I never!" Snape seemed enraged, as if Harry was accusing him of trying to harm him. Hadn't he saved the little brat's neck numerous times already?

"Please, I don't want to go back under," Harry said now, his mouth dipping under water as Snape tried to hold him up, causing Harry to spit the water out again.

"Potter, stop spewing gibberish." Snape began to swim back down the hall with Harry in tow, but Potter kept babbling.

"I'll be good, I promise."

"Doubtful," Snape said.

Back at the Charms classroom door, Snape found himself unable to open the door again, even with magic, and cursed at Harry again for getting them into this situation yet again.

"Sorry," Harry said, and he kept mumbling it all the way down the corridor each time Snape tried to open a door and failed. Finally they found one of the many rooms throughout the castle that had an archway instead of a door, and Snape swam them inside, though there were no tables set up for them to sit on.

"Hold on to the blackboard," Snape instructed, bringing him to the blackboard on the wall where there was a little ledge at the very top for extra chalk and items that the professors usually confiscated from students during class.

Harry held on to the ledge and watched warily as Snape went under, and with the help of a charm Harry had never heard before, got two tables on top of each other and then a third since there was no platform in this room like the one in the Charms auditorium.

"Come here," Snape commanded, but Harry shook his head and buried his face in his arm against the wall.

"You are more trouble than you are worth," Snape complained as he swam back to Harry and then took him to the table. If what Potter had said was true about swimming Draco out, then Snape was beginning to understand just how much trouble that was, and why the Gryffindor had been so exhausted when he'd found him. His own arms and body felt like lead as he lay on the table on his back now with one leg still in the water, Harry on his other side lying there as well.

"Why must you run off without thinking of the consequences?" Severus asked, but a glance next to him revealed Harry asleep, but thankfully breathing.

Harry was coughing, and Severus watched him with concern. Three days in and out of icy water in the middle of November was enough to cause anyone an illness, and with no possibility of treatment in the near future, Severus knew they were facing the possibility of pneumonia. It would not have surprised him in the teen's weakened state. Since they'd made it into this room the day before, Harry had done nothing but sleep, mumble about the water and not wanting to go under again as he dreamt, and cough when he was awake.

"Tell me what you're feeling," Severus said when Harry woke up coughing violently, and gasping for breath in the end.

"It hurts," Harry said miserably.

"Your lungs?"

"Yes."

"Only when you cough?"

Harry nodded then and wrapped himself up in his own arms. He was freezing too. The icy water around them was making the entire castle chilled. His hands were so cold they hurt. It also didn't help that he didn't have robes on, just jeans and a t-shirt.

"Can we make fire?" Harry asked, wondering if there was a way like the fire Hermione often made in a jar when they had to go outside in the winter.

"I have nothing to put fire in," Snape said, sounding tired.

"Can we use Accio?" Harry wasn't sure why he hadn't thought of it before. He should have accio'd his broom while he was out on the grounds in the water or in the tree.

"It will not bring things to us from the water, and Accio does not allow objects to go through closed doors."

"Oh," Harry said, sounding defeated.

Harry was startled then when a moment later Snape reached out a hand across the table and felt his forehead. Harry startled and shied away from the touch.

"You have a fever," Snape observed dryly. The last thing he needed was for the Gryffindor brat to get sick when he had no way to take care of him.

Harry had another coughing fit then and when it was finally over he allowed himself to shiver with his arms still around himself. "Doesn't feel like it. I'm f-freezing."

"Your warm body is reacting to the cool air around it and making you think you are cold."

"So cold," Harry said in between more coughs.

Severus could think of three dozen potions he could brew to help a fever or cough right off the top of his head, but felt useless with no way to brew them. He was also useless when it came to Muggle medicine and healing, and did not know what to do for the child, so he sat in silence as Harry's coughs grew worse as the day wore on.

* * *

It was around dinner time when Severus withdrew his wand, anxious to do something to stop the boy's incessant coughing. He knew there were inhalers in the dungeon and in the Hospital Wing full of potion to help students with asthma or pneumonia breathe better, but he had no way to access them. The Hospital Wing was on the same floor they were on and was likely also flooded, and unless Madam Pomfrey had taken all of her supplies up to a higher floor with her, then there was no way Severus could summon one of the inhalers to him.

Harry lay on the table on his side alternating between coughing, gasping for breath, and shivering, with little beads of sweat on his forehead.

Making up his mind Severus said loudly, "Accio red inhaler," and aimed his wand at the open archway in the wall. He waited for long moments, and then lowered his wand. If it didn't come to him, then he would have to try to make his way through the castle alone to get help. In the brat's feverish state, he didn't think it the wisest decision to leave him there alone surrounded by water. Severus sat and waited.

* * *

In the library, Poppy Pomfrey turned from where she was tending to one of many sick students in her makeshift infirmary, and tried to locate the source of the noise she was hearing. It was like a faint knocking.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Ginny Weasley asked. She had been there the first night of the flood to be treated for a broken wrist, and hadn't left, deciding to stay and help with the other sick and injured students.

"There's a noise," Poppy said. "See if you can help me find it."

Ginny listened intently and then began opening boxes of healing potions and other supplies along with Madam Pomfrey, until suddenly a box was opened and a little red inhaler flew out and to the closed library door.

"What's that?" Ginny asked. "I wonder what it's doing."

"It's one of the inhalers. How odd. Albus, look at this."

The elderly Headmaster came over from where he'd been sitting and reading to several frightened first years from different houses, and watched as the inhaler repeatedly hit the closed door and then backed up to try again.

"It's one of the medicines for asthma and difficulty breathing. We sometimes use it for pneumonia."

"Interesting," was all he had to say about it, and Poppy frowned.

"Well what should we do about it?"

Albus looked around the library full of students and staff that had been made into a hospital and makeshift dormitory, and said, "Many of us are still unaccounted for. I can only assume that someone is stuck in a part of the castle they cannot get out of and is in need of medical assistance. I suggest we open the door and let it go."

"Should we follow it?" Poppy asked as Ginny moved to quickly open the door.

"There is no way that we can," Albus said then. "We will have to wait until the water abates."

They watched the inhaler zip away, and Ginny thought about Harry and wondered if he was still alive somewhere, or if perhaps he'd been swept all the way out to sea. They still had no idea where the water had come from, or how far it stretched across the land, and worse still, they didn't know when it would go away.

* * *

It was with some shock and surprise that a little red inhaler flew into the room and hit Severus in the side of the head half an hour later, and he looked down to the table where it had fallen and now lay still. So there was an air path between them and wherever Madam Pomfrey and the medical supplies were, he surmised. He dare not try to call a potion in a glass phial to him because he knew it might shatter, but at least this was something.

"Harry, sit up."

Harry clenched his eyes open and shut several times, trying to figure out what was being said to him. Someone had called him by name but there was no one there but Professor Snape, and he never used his name. Someone lifted Harry to a sitting position then and put something into his hands.

"It will help you breath. Have you ever used one before?" his Professor asked him.

"What is it?"

"An inhaler with potion. I believe you have pneumonia. It will help open your lungs up."

"What do I do with it?"

"Put the opening in your mouth and seal your lips around it. Squeeze the top and take a deep breath, holding it in for as long as you are able."

Harry tiredly did as he was told, but only succeeded in coughing violently and releasing the potion out into the air.

"Again," Snape instructed him. "Breath in as you push the button down."

It took Harry three more tries before he finally got the potion down into his lungs, and felt like he could breathe again without such an urge to cough.

"There is a minimal amount of healing potion in what you just took. I do not know if it will be enough to kick the illness you are fighting."

"Why am I taking it then?" Harry asked.

"It will work for a short time to keep your lungs open. I cannot call other potions to me because they are all stored in glass containers."

"Can you try calling some food?"

Severus nodded and performed the spell reciting various foods. The spell needed a specific item to call, so simply asking for sustenance was not enough. After an hour of calling for food, an apple finally flew into the room, and Severus woke Harry to give it to him.

"What about you?" Harry asked, but Severus gave him a stern look. "I will survive. You will not."

Harry hated eating it in front of him, but he did it anyway because he couldn't help himself. It was good to have something in his stomach, something to give him some energy. After the apple was gone however, Harry was unable to get back to sleep, and spent the next several hours coughing. The inhaler worked a little, but Severus informed him that the more one used it, the less effective it would become.

Around midnight there in the darkened room, Harry finally sat gasping for breath and fumbling with the inhaler there on the table trying to get it up to his mouth with shaky hands. He was surprised when Professor Snape took his hand and helped it to his mouth so that Harry could depress the button and release the medication.

"Can't-" Harry gasped out. "Not- working." He felt panicky and wanted to cry, but he was so intent on breathing at the moment that he could do little else. He gasped again before a hand came to his back near his shoulders and began rubbing small circles.

"What-" Harry asked between gasps, but Severus shh'd him.

"It will help the potion get into your lungs. Do not try to speak."

Harry brought his knees up to his chest and put his head down in them, trying to block everything else out and force himself to breath, but the soothing rubbing on his back wasn't letting him focus. It was several more long tense moments before Harry was finally able to draw in a deep breath. After four more deep breaths he began to shake violently and broke out in tears.

"You're ok," he heard Snape saying behind him, but Harry continued to sob. Why was this happening? Why were they surrounded by water? Why had no one come for them? Why couldn't he breath? Why was Snape being so nice to him? None of it made any sense. Snape was just like the Dursleys... he hated Harry and yet there he was trying to help Harry breath, and actually comforting him. Was this what it was like to be a Slytherin? Was he nice to everybody but Harry? Harry didn't know, but he just couldn't take it anymore. Everything had come to a breaking point, and he wasn't strong enough to fight it.

"You will be fine," Severus said, not having the heart to find something to berate the boy about as he sat there crying in the darkness, surrounded by the ever present water. "I will not let anything else happen to you." Severus thought that his words would have comforted the Gryffindor, but they succeeded only in making him cry harder.

Seeing that Harry was shivering hard, Severus felt his forehead again and knew that the fever was gone and that the teen really was cold, so he moved closer and, God help him, wrapped his arms around Harry Potter. Harry cried well into the early morning.

Harry was in a daze. He thought he'd heard Snape say that his fever had come back, but he couldn't be sure anymore. He was aware that he was up against something warm, but he dared not believe it was Snape. No, no one would want to keep Harry warm, he didn't deserve it.

Coughing hard and clenching his eyes shut at the pain, Harry weakly tried to fight off a hand that was pushing something that felt like plastic into his hands.

"Potter, you need it."

"No," he groaned. He didn't know who this was that was pretending to try to help him, pretending to like him, but it was a trap. They were trying to feed him something to make him sick, he was sure of it. The Dursley's never gave Harry medicine when he was sick, but once Dudley had brought something to him to take when he had a cold and it had only made him throw up, Dudley standing in the bathroom door behind him laughing all the while.

"You are being difficult."

Harry coughed hard again and it was several tense and painful moments before he was able to stop. "Poison," he said angrily, pushing the person's hand away again. "Get that away from me Dudley. I don't trust you after last time."

Beside him, Severus sighed and dropped his arm with the inhaler. The child was babbling again incoherently. Yesterday it had been about being pushed under the water and held down, and today it was about being fed poison. This illness, which Severus suspected more and more was pneumonia with a touch of something else, was obviously doing a number on his system.

"Harry... Harry look at me."

He waited for the confused green eyes to come up sluggishly to meet his. "The last time I gave you this medicine you were able to breathe again."

"Poison," he said in a huff and looked away.

"What makes you think it's poison?"

"Because you laughed at me," the Gryffindor said as if it were the most obvious and most logical thing in the world. "You knew it would make me sick and you laughed at me."

Severus had laughed at him the day before, but only at his stubborn attempts to pull another table up out of the water. Pampered Potter finally having to do something for himself for once.

"I would not try to harm you."

Harry laughed then. "Fool me once," he said, trailing off.

"And then what?" At this point the only option was to indulge the boy in his feverish conversation, though Severus wasn't enjoying it. He obviously wasn't going to get any straight answers out of the child. Perhaps if he carried on the conversation the boy was determined to have, then he would take his medicine, though Severus himself knew it would do little good as the inhaler was not meant to be used this much. It was his only option however.

"Once is enough," Harry said. "You're not nice Dudley. Moldy bread isn't the same as penicillin."

Severus raised his brows. "You ate moldy bread?"

"You told me it was to make my cold go away. I hate you but I'd never make you eat that." As Harry coughed violently yet again, Severus' mind worked furiously trying to piece together what the child was telling him. Someone had tricked him into eating rotting food? Someone named Dudley.

"Is Dudley your cousin Potter?"

"Of course he is Uncle Vernon, ‘s wrong with you? You're the one that sent him to be mean to me."

Severus felt sick inside suddenly. Obviously the boy was remembering something from his past. If this was true that his family had intentionally made him sick, what else had they done? He knew Petunia Dursley had often been cruel to himself as a child and had despised Lily for her talents, but that was when they were children. Had she been intentionally cruel to her nephew?

Harry eventually drifted off to sleep again as Severus remained deep in thought, trying to recall any other information he had about Harry. If he were to be truthful with himself, he knew very little. He had just assumed that the Gryffindor was pampered as much at home as he was there in the castle by the other staff. Certainly Albus would know if anything was amiss in the home he'd placed the boy in, he had enough protection charms up around the place. Yet there Harry was, insisting that he'd been poisoned. The boy's pleading voice from before came floating to the surface of his mind then, begging not to be pushed back under the water, insisting he'd behave himself. He turned and stared at Harry's back with critical eyes that felt like they'd finally been opened after being in darkness for too long.

The boy was too defensive about being weak, he was far too thin, and he'd cried heartily all night just at being held to keep warm.

Stomach churning, wondering what all Lily's son had been through, Severus kept watch over the boy as he slept. He could not force this new knowledge from his mind.

* * *

Harry was feeling better, marginally. His eyes felt heavy, his body ached, his lungs were still on fire, and he was still freezing, but some of the haze had finally cleared. He was weak, but at least he could think straight. Snape was being awfully quiet over there on his end of the table, Harry thought as he lay there. The man seemed deep in thought over something, and Harry hoped it was a plan to get them out. There wasn't a lot of room between the water and the ceiling of the corridor, but maybe they could float out on a table like Draco had done. Harry was still desperately hungry, but he didn't want to risk asking for food.

Now that he was awake and feeling over-rested despite his weakness, he was feeling properly ashamed of crying openly in his Professor's arms before, though he wasn't sure if that had been hours or days ago. One day blended into the next, and he only knew a new day had come and gone by the time on his Professor's watch. The room was dark because the windows were under water, and Harry longed for dry ground and the warm sun on his face. If they were to somehow survive this disaster, those were things he would not take for granted again.

Harry wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not, but he jumped when he thought he saw something in the water a few feet in front of him, startling his Professor.

"What is it?" Snape asked, suddenly alert and wondering if Harry was alright.

He peered into the darkness only lit by their wands, and squinted at the water. "Nothing I guess," he said, trying to relax his aching muscles. Sleeping on hard tables hadn't done his body much good. "I thought I saw something."

Severus stared into the water and lifted his wand for more light, even muttering a lumos maxima, but nothing was visible. "You were having trouble differentiating reality from dreams earlier. How are you feeling?" he asked, and Harry glanced at him sideways, wondering what he'd said.

"Hungry, weak," Harry said, forgoing stating that he felt like crap, though he was pretty sure the man knew. He didn't look so peachy himself.

"Do you know where you are?"

"On a table in the larger defense classroom," Harry said, looking at him, but out of the corner of his eye he saw something glimmer just under the surface again, and he aimed his wand at it quickly hoping to catch a glimpse, but seeing nothing.

Severus mimicked his movements, but was also unable to discern anything out of the ordinary.

"It has been a traumatizing experience," he said then. "Perhaps you need more rest."

"No," Harry said, "there's something there, I'm not imagining it." He could tell by the raised brow that the Potion's Master didn't believe him however, and he crossed his arms weakly in annoyance. "I'm not seeing things," Harry insisted again before turning his back on the man, not wanting to see himself coming under such scrutiny.

As they shivered there in the darkness in quiet, Harry keeping his eyes peeled on the water for any proof that he was right, he fought the urge to admit to himself, that he might have enjoyed being comforted for once, and pretending like somebody cared for him and his wellbeing. He would give anything to feel that way again, even if it was only pretend. He had no idea that behind him, worried eyes watched him, concerned about little else except his wellbeing.

Draco would never be able to forgive himself if he found out that he'd been the cause of Potter's death. Was the jerk an insufferable attention hog? Yes. Did he have everything Draco wanted? Yes. Did he have designs on the girl in Slytherin that Draco also liked? He was sure of it. But he didn't want Potter to die. He was supposed to defeat Voldemort after all, and he had done it multiple times before already. No, having the entire wizarding world mad at him over killing Harry Potter just wouldn't do. He'd barely slept in the last five days since Potter had disappeared into the darkness and Professor Snape had gone after him.

Sitting up from where he'd been laying on his back on Harry Potter's own bed in Gryffindor tower and punching the pile of red blankets, he felt useless in all of this not knowing how to swim. If someone had bothered to take the time to teach him to swim then Potter wouldn't have had to stay behind to help him. He hated being so helpless.

Looking around at the dormitory full of restless students, Draco got up and left, restless himself. If Potter was alive, then it was his job to repay the debt he'd incurred letting Potter save him, wasn't it? His father wouldn't be pleased, but how pleased would he be to find out that his son owed Harry Potter of all people, his life?

The Gryffindor common room was full of Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins as he came down the stairs. House boundaries no longer existed since two of the houses had been flooded out. There was very little of the castle left that was still accessible, and while the Ravenclaw's still had a tower to call home, with no classes to go to they were restless and had been welcomed into Gryffindor tower with open arms. Some of the Gryffindors weren't too keen on having Slytherins in their tower, but most of them seemed to realize the severity of the situation, and had said nothing of it. As his eyes roamed the tall circular room, he saw a depressed looking Hermione Granger studying with Blaise Zabini, Teddy Knott and several Ravenlaw girls, and several first years from all four houses playing a board game by the fire.

No one stopped him as he left through the portrait hole which now had no password. He wasn't even sure where to look for Crabbe and Goyle at this point. Crabbe had been staying in Ravenclaw tower, but every time he went there to look for him, he wasn't to be found, and he'd heard that Goyle had taken up residence near the restricted section in the library with some older Slytherins, who had strung sheets up between the bookcases for privacy, but he had no desire to go back there. The crowd Goyle had fallen in with lately were what they called death eaters in training. Some of them had even taken a pre-pledge to Voldemort and been given a fledgling brand. His father had wanted him to take the brand too, but his mother had convinced him that Draco would be of more use as a spy if he wasn't branded until after school. He was thankful, but it put him in an odd position, fitting in neither here nor there.

Going down a floor and a half from Gryffindor tower, Draco was stopped by water halfway up a staircase. He came down here twice a day trying to decide what to do. If he waded into the water, no one would be there to pull him out this time.

Iris was down there somewhere, still alive he hoped. She was a year ahead of him in Slytherin, the girl that Potter also liked. Draco sneered at the thought. As if a Slytherin would date a Gryffindor. He was forcefully reminded that Slytherins and Gryffindors were just above his head getting along at this very moment however. With a low growl he ran back up the stairs, the water making him feel uncomfortable, and headed for the top of the astronomy tower, his other haunt, where he could just stare out over the endless open water.

A cool breeze whipped through his hair and across his face as he finally made the top of the tower. The sun was just setting, and if the situation wasn't so dire, he would have said it was a beautiful sight. Professor Sinistra, one of Draco's favorite professors, was one of the ones that was missing, and he thought about her now there on the top of her tower. All in all, counting Sinistra, Iris, Potter and Professor Snape, there were 17 people missing. Hagrid and Filch were also amongst the list of missing, and so were Ronald Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Draco knew that if they had been in Gryffindor tower he would have been forced to sleep in the Library or Ravenclaw.

From his view on the Astronomy Tower, Draco could see the island that was the North Tower of the castle, though it was inaccessible because the lower floors were all flooded. He wondered if any of the missing students and staff were there and if they had food.

As the sun finally disappeared over the mountains, Draco had made up his mind. It wasn't right, none of this was. He would find a way to save somebody, and if he just happened to find Potter along the way, then so be it. He couldn't stand just sitting around any longer, and he was surprised that none of the staff were out looking for survivors, even if they did have their hands full.

While the rest of the castle's inhabitants settled down to sleep that night, Draco snuck into the Library with a backpack with a heavy cushioning charm, and began to load up on medical supplies and fruit. He kept a watchful eye for Dumbledore, McGonagall or Pomfrey, and hurried out of the Library like a shadow. He had a plan to get to North Tower.

* * *

Armed with a Transfiguration book, Draco stood at the top of the Astronomy tower, backpack secure over his shoulders, and wand at the ready. He'd already cast a long rope and tied it around one of the battlements, letting it dangle over the side and all the way down to the icy water below. He knew he could climb down, it was getting back up that would be an issue. Another spell had tied knots up the rope in intervals, as he waited for one of the school boats to come to him from his Accio. He hoped there was still one around somewhere, and shined his wand down as far as the light would go, trying to see if the boat had floated over to him yet. It was nearing midnight when he finally heard a distant sound that seemed like wood clunking against stone. He couldn't be sure because he couldn't see, but he was unwilling to wait around any longer for someone to report him missing.

Nervously Draco climbed over the ramparts and gripped the rope tightly. His father was going to kill him for this, he thought, that was, if he survived. Slowly, a foot at a time, he lowered himself down the side of the tall tower, feeling deeply relieved when his feet met the wood of the rocking boat instead of dark water.

"Great," he muttered when he realized there were no paddles. He flipped through the book by wand light looking for any useful transfiguration spell that could turn something into a paddle, but there was nothing, and in the end he settled for using his foot to stomp on one of the bench seats and breaking it off. This would have to do.

Knowing the general direction of the North tower, Draco paddled off into the night, knowing that he had finally gone crazy.

* * *

As the sunlight broke over the horizon again, Draco cursed under his breath. Perhaps he hadn't thought his plan out so well after all. He could conjure a rope easily enough, but there was no way to throw one thirty or more feet up to a window, and he had nothing to transfigure into a ladder. He'd circled the North tower several times now, and there were only three windows still above water, all of them very high up.

Not knowing what to do, Draco began to shout to anyone who might be inside who might hear.

"Anybody there? Wake up! Look out the window! You up there wake the bloody hell up!"

He didn't think it would work, but was surprised when a face appeared at one of the windows high up and then promptly disappeared again.

"HEY! I'm down here you know!" he shouted up angrily. That was just like other students to ignore a rescuer he thought, irritated, but in the next second a book flew through the closed window, shattering it, and a red head popped out through it.

"Weasley, is that you?" he shouted up.

"What are you doing down there?" Ron shouted down.

"Is Potter up there with you?" he asked, cupping his hands around his mouth to get more volume.

"Pott- you mean Harry? No!"

"Who else is up there with you?"

"Professor Sinistra, Allison Cromby and Hagrid! Why are you looking for Harry? Is he missing?"

"17 people are missing!" Draco shouted up, "Including you four!" Allison Cromby was a first year Slytherin, and he knew that her older brother who was a fourth year was having a fit not knowing where she was.

"If you can conjure a rope, you can come down and I'll row you back to the castle."

"Yeah right Malfoy. You'll leave us stranded on the side of the castle."

"It's your choice Weasley," he shouted up, hands on his hips now as he stood in the rocking boat. "But there's food in the Library and medicine!"

Ron's head disappeared briefly, and Draco considered just leaving. The jerk was just as inconsiderate as Potter. Moments later Professor Sinistra's head appeared however, and she looked happier to see him than the Gryffindor did.

"We're making a rope right now Draco. Are you alone?"

"Yes!"

"Is there room in the boat for all of us?"

He looked around. It would be a tight squeeze with the half giant, but he thought they could manage, though he hoped desperately that they wouldn't dump him into the water rocking the boat as they got in.

"I think so!" he said.

He waited patiently, using his seat bench paddle to keep the boat in place as they prepared the rope. It was a few minutes before he ducked as the rope came down and dropped right into the water. He grabbed onto it and tied it to one of the oar rings, conjuring another rope after that and tying it to an oar ring on the other side and then up to the dangling rope. This he hoped, would keep them from toppling over.

Ron came down first, looking none the worse for wear, and giving Draco a stiff nod, followed by Allison Cromby, and then Professor Sinistra.

"Hagrid will be down shortly," she said, lifting her wand up into the air. "We'll lighten him on the way down with a feather light charm."

Ron and Draco lifted their wands to help, and Hagrid lumbered out the window.

"Are yeh ready fer me?"

"Yes Professor Hagrid!" Sinistra called up. "Come down nice and slowly!"

Draco didn't think the man would make it, but after an agonizing wait, he did, and they untied the ropes. Sinistra transformed the piece of bench into a proper oar along with one of her earrings into a second one, and Draco and Ron rowed back towards the Astronomy tower.

"Go to the other side Draco, if you would please. There's a secret entrance right about at water level."

"Why would you need a secret entrance in midair?" Draco asked curiously. Sinistra was one of the few professors that didn't look down their noses at Slytherin, even though she had been a Ravenclaw herself, and he liked how patient she was in explaining things to him.

"There used to be a viewing deck attached, but after an unfortunate accident with a rogue dragon, it was destroyed. The door looks like a bare patch of wall... ah, here we are." She said a password and the wall swung open four feet above their boat. After another rope was conjured and Ron had climbed in, Draco's other passengers were able to get inside with help, Hagrid being the last one in. He didn't wait for them to ask him in however, and rowed off around the side of the tower before Sinistra had a chance to turn around. He heard her calling his name in the distance, but satisfaction and determination were driving him now, and he didn't answer back.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat with steepled fingers in his new small office just outside of the Library, in an old independent study classroom. The six student desks had been cleared away now, and all that was left was an old mahogany desk and chair, which he'd turned bright purple in an attempt to brighten up the dreary, windowless room.

It had been a trying few days, and some of the students were determined not to make things easy on the staff. With the entire student body crammed into a few spaces, there were bound to be fights, but with the added stress of their dire situation, and the dwindling food stores, tensions had grown high and he'd had to see several groups of students for fighting already. It wasn't just the students though, his staff had been finding themselves stepping on each other's toes as well. In such confined quarters, no one had much space, and they constantly found themselves overturning another teacher's disciplinary decisions without even realizing it.

His aging blue eyes scanned down the list of missing students and staff again. They had been on his mind frequently, especially with the mysterious return of Sinistra, Hagrid, Ronald Weasley and the Cromby girl. Draco Malfoy, it appeared, was one of the students who had determined himself to make things difficult. While Albus had had the pleasure of crossing off four names from his missing list, he'd had to add Draco's to the bottom. Apparently the child was bent on rescuing survivors, and Albus wondered if it had anything to do with his head of house, or perhaps another student that the boy cared about. He'd had to post guards around several ‘escape' routes now to deter other students from wandering off to look for their missing friends as well, especially the Weasley children and Hermione Granger, who were restless and incensed that they could not go and look for Harry.

Albus had a soft spot for Harry Potter, and he knew several other staff did as well. The child had been through so much already, and yet he remained loyal and kind. It pained him to know that the child might be dead now, or perhaps trapped somewhere far away, carried away by the flood and now facing starvation and the elements. His name was at the top of the list along with Severus', the first two to be reported missing.

There were not many times in his life where he could remember being so frustrated as he was now. His hands were tied and there wasn't much he could do. He himself would be out looking for his missing children and staff but he was needed there to keep order. While the owlery was cut off, he'd already sent Madam Hooch by broom to retrieve several owls so he could send pleas for help to the Ministry of Magic, but no replies had come back to him, and no rescue had arrived. He was forced to wonder just how far the flood had stretched and if the Ministry was already busy saving other stranded people, though his mind often strayed to more sinister conclusions, such as an attack by Voldemort, or some sort of Muggle conflict that had cut them off from the Ministry. One thing was for certain, if help didn't come soon then he would be forced to come up with a plan to evacuate the students himself, because they were running out of food. As it was they were already on rations, and if they continued to ration they could last possibly another week or week and a half. Clean water wasn't an issue because they could conjure that, but food was hard to come by.

There was a knock on his office door, and he bade whoever it was to enter, surprised to find Dean Thomas, Trent Wildwood a Hufflepuff, and Micah Temple a Ravenclaw there on the other side. All three were Muggleborn, and as far as he knew, they had no association with each other until the flood had hit.

"Sir," Dean said with a grin, holding up a thin rope with a fish on the end. "We found a way to get food."

He raised his brows. "You've been fishing gentlemen?"

"Yes sir," Trent said, bringing out a handmade pole from behind his back. "We made hooks and everything."

"I trust you haven't been sneaking past the guards to catch your prize?" Albus asked with a smile, pleased that his students had taken the initiative to solve a desperate problem on their own.

"No sir," Dean said. "We caught this one in the stairwell on the other side of the library. If we could be allowed to go out on the roof somewhere, we could get more. We can teach other people how."

Albus nodded. "100 points to each of your houses gentlemen," he said with a warm smile. "Go to Professor August and tell him that you have my permission to take students out onto the roof, and tell him you need help organizing others to make fishing poles and tackle."

The boys grinned, and thanking him, they hurried off. Thinking that he ought to award all acts of bravery or smart behavior, he also awarded Draco 100 house points, before standing to find Minerva. If they were going to survive this disaster, they had a lot of work to do yet.

"Was that something in the water?" Harry shined his light around the dark room at the low growling sound.

"Relax Potter, it was my stomach."

Harry slumped back down to the table. Oh, yeah. Had it been seven days since Snape had eaten now? Harry had had that apple, but it hadn't done much good when he wish shivering and sick and his body was using up far too much energy just trying to survive. They'd both tried to call for more food, but nothing had come, which meant there was either nothing left to eat, or all of the paths from the food to them were blocked. They'd also tried to call upon the house elves, but there had been no response, and Snape had told him that they were either dead or had tried to flee when the flood first came in.

"Maybe we should try to find a way to higher ground again," Harry said. He was positive there was something in the room with them, and he didn't feel comfortable sleeping for fear it would reach up out of the water over the side of the table and get him.

"You seem to be doing better, but I cannot risk taking you through the flooded castle. I am sure we can survive without food for some time."

"Seventeen days," Harry said, drawing Snape's attention to him.

The Gryffindor seemed so positive, Severus thought. He wondered if that's how long Harry had gone and decided to ask to see if the boy would be truthful with him or not.

"Is that how long you've gone without?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at the man and turned his shoulders so he could face away from him. "No." The truth was yes. It had been seventeen days this summer when he'd first arrived at the Dursleys that they'd denied him food, and after that only one meal a day. He hated it there.

"You're very thin for a boy who eats every day."

"I'm very thin for a boy who's had one apple in seven days," Harry corrected him.

They sat in silence for long moments, and Harry thought the Potion's Master would say something else, but he didn't. Silence was common for them now and it almost felt strange for Harry to talk to him at all without being yelled at or called names. Seven days of silence, Harry thought. Silence, water, and sickness, the only constants. And, he thought, as he saw something move in the water, monsters.

* * *

Draco knew they were looking for him, and he felt like some sort of escapee from prison. He had paddled out pretty far today after saving Sinistra at sun up, to see if he could explore how far the flooding went, but he saw Hooch flying on a broom scanning the water below and had turned back after that. So far sticking close to the castle had worked out pretty well for him as far as hiding went though. There were still overhangs of windows to hide under, and there was just enough of the bridge from the West Tower to the lower East tower above water to hide in the shadow of. He made it a point to stay away from the part of the castle where he'd seen students fishing from the rooftop. At least out here he didn't feel cooped up. Even hiding from Hooch was better than sitting on his hands and doing nothing.

In the back of his mind, he knew it would only be a matter of time before Hooch actually spotted him though. He had thought to cover the boat in tree branches to disguise it as floating debris, but there were none he could find. He had to have a backup plan. He'd been around most of the castle since yesterday and had already assessed multiple entry points where he thought he could get in to hide if spotted and then get back out into the boat once she was gone. He hated the thought of getting into the water, but if he was going to save anybody else, he knew it was inevitable. What Draco didn't count on was how fast Hooch would find him. The sun was just setting when he spotted her for a third time that day, and it looked as though her fight path was headed straight for him. He didn't fancy the tongue lashing he knew she'd give him and hurried to tie the boat to the overhang at the window he planned on climbing into. He thought he could actually hear her calling his name from a distance, but he didn't hesitate to use his wand to vanish the glass and climb inside. Thankfully here there was only a few inches of water on the floor and he wouldn't need to swim, but she might follow him in, so he ran through the waterlogged room and out into the corridor. He didn't know too much about the East part of the castle other than that a lot of the staff had quarters here and that there were study rooms the upper year Ravenclaw's sometimes used. He thought the apparation class was held here too but only seventh years got to go to that class and he'd never seen the room before.

Around two corners and up a short flight of stairs Draco ran head first into a girl and their heads smacked together.

"Ow!"

Draco took a step back, rubbing his head and looked up at the painful cry of Iris. "Iris!" he said with a big smile.

"Draco? What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you," he said, "is there anyone else here?"

"Patty McGee and Professor Jameson are in the room at the top of the stairs with Billy Corner."

"Billy who?"

"He's a first year Gryffindor." She eyed him skeptically. "Have you really come to save us?"

"Yes, I have a boat outside. It has oars." Hm. If he went back with them then he'd be caught for sure. He was positive Hooch was still outside waiting for him. But if he sent them out to the boat, Hooch could take them back to the other part of the castle.

"You can take the boat," Draco said then. "It won't fit us all. You take the boat and I'll get on the next one."

"Are you sure?" He nodded.

"Back down the stairs and take two lefts and there's a room where I've vanished the glass window. There's only a couple of inches of water on the floor. The boat is tied outside. Go get the others." He purposefully let her think he'd lead them back there while he was really giving her directions. When she took a few steps, then turned back to smile at him, he gave her a grin and waited until she was out of sight before he went back down the stairs himself and in the opposite direction. They were taking the boat, he thought, but maybe he could conjure it to himself later to continue the search. At the very least he would be safe here if he couldn't find another way to keep searching without the boat. When he was sure he'd gone down enough corridors so that he was sufficiently lost, he found a broom closet and hid inside, listening for any sounds of people looking for him. He leaned his head back against the wall, still feeling a little crazy, but also satisfied that four more people would be counted as found and alive including Iris. And he smiled, because she'd smiled at him. He'd never seen her smile at Potter before.

* * *

Harry was startled awake by icy cold water and an icy hand around his ankle pulling him deeper. He didn't have time to grab his wand as he slid off the table or to take a breath. He'd simply woken because of the freezing cold, and opened his eyes to find himself surrounded in darkness.

He struggled, but there was no escape, despite that he kept kicking whatever had taken hold of him. He wondered if this thing had killed Snape first, silently so as not to wake Harry. Maybe the thing was as hungry as Harry was, and was looking for its next meal.

Uncertain of which way was up or down, Harry struggled until he saw a flash of light above him and he thought he saw the silhouette of a face in the light. There was another flash of light that came down into the water this time, and just as Harry felt he was going to pass out from lack of air, the icy grip on his hand loosened for just a moment, and Harry was free from it, though his arms felt like lead and didn't want to move. There was a violent splash next to him and someone was pulling him to the surface.

Harry coughed and sputtered as he grasped for the table and Severus helped him get a hold of it.

"What happened?" he asked, demanding an answer.

"Something- pulled me- from the table," Harry said, choking out more of the water. He noted that the water didn't taste good, and was thankful that at least they could conjure clean water from the tip of their wands.

"Did you see it?"

He shook his head. "Too dark."

Severus kept his wand out and shined it around them in the water. They hadn't yet climbed back up onto the table, but if the creature had pulled Harry off of it while they were sleeping, then they weren't any safer there.

"It's time to go," Severus said with finality then. This room was no longer safe, though he was aware that because there was no door, they weren't safe in the hallway either. They were going to need to find higher ground and hope that the way there wasn't blocked and didn't involve an underwater swim.

Harry didn't seem inclined to argue after having been dragged under by an unknown creature, until Severus said, "Whatever happens to me, you must keep going. Try to get to higher ground."

Harry turned to stare at him. "What do you mean keep going? I'm not leaving you behind."

"Potter, you had no trouble leaving me behind from the boat or the other classroom." The stare Severus sent his way was a dangerous one, reminiscent of the man who'd given him detention seven days ago.

That was different, was what Harry had wanted to say. He didn't think he needed help surviving then, but now he was reluctant to separate from the only adult he had access to... the only one who'd ever even tried to take care of him.

"I'm not leaving," Harry said then with resolve.

Suddenly Snape's hand shot out from the water and gripped the front of Harry's shirt collar. "You will do as I say Potter. Now start moving. I stunned whatever it was, but I don't know how long the spell will last when I can't tell what kind of creature it is."

Harry glared at him. "Fine." With weak arms, wand in hand, Harry swam out into the corridor, doing more of a doggy paddle than anything else, just trying to keep his head above water. He could hear Snape behind him, splashing his arms with a stronger swim than Harry felt like he could muster, and kept going in the darkness. The corridor curved around, revealing several more doors and Harry saw what he thought was a hidden passageway behind a soaked tapestry, but he didn't stop to investigate it. He knew there were hidden passageways in most corridors of Hogwarts, some that lead to other hallways, and some that lead to secret rooms or even to staff quarters. The passageways were narrow and winding though, and Harry didn't like the thought of getting trapped in one of them filled with water and unknown creatures.

Wondering if they'd ever find stairs going up or a safe place to stop as his arms were feeling very heavy, Harry heard a strangled sound come from behind him and turned just in time to see Snape go under. Harry turned and tried to think of some curse he could use but his mind was foggy and panicked and he could think of nothing. Instead he used Lumos Maxima to light up the corridor and stuck his wand under the water, at the very least hoping to give Snape some light to see by. He took a breath and ducked his own head under and saw Snape struggling with a Kappa, who had its scaly monkey hands around his neck. He was going to swim forward to try to help, but Snape freed himself then and surfaced. Harry did the same and Snape yelled at him, "GO! I will be fine!" Harry was going to protest but Snape sent a nasty curse into the water then and Harry really did feel like he could no longer keep himself afloat if he didn't find somewhere to rest, so he kept going.

He heard Snape curse in the distance and send off a hex, but the sounds of the struggle and the splashing water grew faint as he swam around another corner and into a new corridor. Harry was lost in the darkness and disoriented with everything under water. After four years and a couple of weeks roaming the castle, Harry thought he would have known it better by now, but found that he was wrong. Water changed everything.

He kept looking behind him, hoping to see Snape swimming towards him instead of a monster, but saw nothing, and instead ended up smacking his head on wooden debris in the corridor. He found himself next to a table and climbed on board with the last of his strength. He had all intentions of staying awake to keep watch for Snape, hoping he'd been the winner in the fight against the Kappa, but his eyes closed anyway, ‘just for a moment' he told himself, and he passed out, dreaming of the water and the Kappa dragging him off of his floating table.

Severus Snape was not happy. He'd searched for Harry for almost an hour in the darkness after killing the Kappa despite his injured shoulder and the cuts on his neck, and had found no sign of him. He hoped the boy hadn't encountered another Kappa or drowned. He'd looked in every room off of this corridor and gone down two other corridors filled with water before deciding he'd have to rest for a little while before looking for Potter again. He'd told the boy to get to higher ground, but the nearest staircase leading up had been blocked by debris and the next nearest one was on the other side of the castle, unless the boy had gone up one of the hidden staircases... he hadn't thought of that. He'd have to search them after he'd had at least an hour to rest. Swimming took a lot of strength, but on an empty stomach it felt like a near impossible task. If only he had some gilly weed, he wouldn't have to worry so much about his head slipping under the water and the webbed fingers and feet would help him make time through the water.

If Kappas had made it into the school from the lake, Severus wondered what other creatures had come in too... he also wondered why he hadn't seen any merpeople yet, surely they'd take the opportunity to explore the castle? Or maybe they were already making themselves at home down in the Dungeons or Great Hall, he mused. Perhaps it was the hunger or exhaustion, but his mind suddenly started to wander, and he imagined himself having to kick a mer-person out of his office when this whole thing was over.

Thinking of merpeople as he held onto a torch bracket near the ceiling in the flooded corridor, Severus started to feel anxious. Mermaids were known to falsely seduce men and lead them to their doom, promising them all kinds of things just to get them into the water where they would drown. He was definitely uncomfortable still being in the water at that moment. He would have performed the Bubble head charm if he knew how, but it was one of those advanced charms he'd never mastered. Eyes scanning the dark corridor and ears perked, Severus pushed away from the wall and continued his search for Potter and any dry ground where he could rest. He had passed several hidden corridors and he hoped one of them had a staircase leading up. If he could let his lead laden arms rest for just a little while, then he could continue on, he thought.

It was at least twenty minutes before he made it slowly back to the first corridor behind a tapestry. He struggled to pull the tapestry aside so he could shine the light of his wand into the narrow space. The wand light immediately fell over a form floating face down and he let the tapestry drop, falling back and slipping under the water briefly. No, no that wasn't a student. It wasn't Potter. He squeezed his eyes closed. It looked like the fifth year. He had to look again and steeled himself for what, or who, he would find on the other side of the tapestry. Taking several deep breaths, he pulled the soggy tapestry back and shined his light in again. The form was still there. His mind was not playing tricks on him.

Easing himself around the tapestry and into the corridor, he swallowed and reached out for the lifeless form. It was wearing Potter's ragged blue t-shirt. He rolled the form over and felt like vomiting. It was Harry. But, how? Had another creature gotten him?

He turned away and struggled within himself for long moments. He had let Potter die. After seven some odd days, or had it been 8? 10? He didn't know anymore because his head was spinning and his heart was beating uncomfortably fast. He, Severus, had let the child drown.

Opening his eyes and navigating the water to turn back to him again, Severus waved up his wand light, though he felt unwilling to do so, and scruitinized the boy's body, looking for any sign of what had happened aside from the obvious. There were no marks on his neck, no scratches, nothing at all. His face wasn't even blue. Severus frowned. His flesh still looked relatively colorful in fact, as if this had happened only moments ago. Reaching to the boy's neck, he felt for a pulse but there was none. His eyes roamed the boy's face for any signs of life, and as they reached his forehead, he paused. Where was his scar?

Suddenly and without warning Severus lifted his wand, canceled the lumos and shouted, "Ridikulous!" He gave a humorless laugh as Harry's face shifted into a shapeless blob that Severus found anything but funny. The boy melted into a shadowy Boggart, and Severus sighed, reaching up to run a hand down the front of his face. He hoped never to repeat that experience again. The fact that the boggart had turned into Potter's lifeless body surprised Severus and he had to really stop for a moment and think about it. It had always been Lily's dead body the few times he'd encountered a Boggart since her death. That it had changed to her son's lifeless body told him something he wasn't sure he wanted to admit. He'd come to care for the boy. It was either that or he was stressed out, tired, weak from hunger and lack of a proper night's rest, cold, and scared if he'd let himself admit it. Surely it was the second option. Beyond performing his duty as staff, he'd never cared for the boy at all.

The boy was selfish, ungrateful, foolhardy, and more trouble than he was... well he was certainly selfish and foolhardy. He hadn't acted ungrateful when he'd saved him though. In fact, he'd seemed relieved. And the Gryffindor was a lot of trouble, but he was also alone if his ramblings meant what Severus thought they might. If his family had treated him horribly, and he had no parents to fall back on, he had probably raised himself. It would certainly explain why he did foolish, dangerous things on a regular basis. It had come to the point in staff meetings that if the Headmaster or another professor announced something like, "two students were awarded points for fighting the troll Quirrel let in," or, "a student has gone missing," or, "a student was found out of bed at three am," it was a given that it was Potter. Staff had stopped asking who it was or why Gryffindor was suddenly missing forty or fifty points or suddenly ahead a hundred points. It was always Potter.

Severus rubbed his eyes and let go of the wall sconce he'd been holding onto to keep himself afloat. He needed rest, but knew he needed to find the lost Gryffindor. One more corridor, he told himself, just one, and then he'd rest whether he found the boy or not. It was going to take the last of it out of him to stack furniture to make a solid dry place to sleep.

* * *

Harry shivered in the darkness. His stomach had long since stopped hurting from hunger, and now he could just feel his body shutting down. He'd slept on the floating table, but he wasn't sure for how long. It could have been for days or only minutes. He wished there was a window to see the sunlight by if for no other reason than so he could count the days. Perhaps Snape was right and it was a foolish thing to try to get into the flooded levels of the castle. Harry wasn't really any warmer here as the water sapped the heat from everything, and they hadn't found any more food. He was still sick and coughing too. The difference now was that he didn't have Snape.

The man was sullen and liked Harry to be quiet and leave him alone, but Harry still missed his company and the safety of being with him. When Snape was there it meant Harry didn't have to make decisions, and that when Harry did make a decision and it was the wrong one, that there was someone else there who would fix it or make it better. Harry also missed his warmth. The night Snape had held him when he was sick and crying was the only time since the flood that Harry had felt warm. It was also the only time Harry had felt cared for. No one had ever just taken care of him like that before.

Sure, Mrs. Weasley doted on him and made sure he got a sweater every Christmas, and he loved staying with the Weasleys, but it was different somehow in a way Harry didn't quite understand. He wished he could live with them, and took every opportunity to hang out with Ron and his siblings. He wanted to be part of their family so much that he inserted himself into it where he could. He knew when everyone's birthday was and did what he could to get a card and gift for each of them on birthdays and Christmas. He soaked up every story Ron told of what it was like growing up at the Burrow. He even knew who all the Weasley's were related to. But he wasn't a Weasley... couldn't be a Weasley, and wasn't allowed to live with them according to the Headmaster. It saddened him that when he got in trouble at school an owl was never sent off to a family of his own, because he didn't have anyone that cared for him. Snape didn't care for him either, but he certainly cared when Harry got into trouble. He made it a point in fact to ‘teach Harry a lesson' when he could. Harry hated detention with Snape, but at least the man took note that he was there, that he was alive, and that he was in trouble. No one else ever seemed to notice.

Harry shifted on his table to look at the ceiling in the darkness. The table rocked and then settled. Harry sighed and allowed his mind to just be blank for several moments. He didn't want to think about Snape right now, because being alone in the darkness like this was scary, and thinking of Snape meant he was thinking of the safety blanket he didn't have. The emptiness of his mind was frightening though, so Harry conjured up the memory of the man shouting at him for going out into the watery corridor on his own.

"Lumos," Harry said, lighting the tip of his wand. The corridor was the same as it had been an hour ago when he'd last lit the wand. Nothing had changed. "Nox." The darkness came in and swallowed him whole again. "Lumos." Nothing had changed. "Nox." Harry rolled the wand between his fingers and started over again. "Lumos. Nox. Lumos. Nox." Nothing ever changed, though he wished it would.

"Potter? Are you here?" Draco listened quietly for a reply, but when he heard none he stopped for a moment to cross this corridor off his list with the Muggle pencil he'd found floating the day before. He walked back up the staircase away from the water and went down the corridor, checking tapestries as he went. He found a hidden staircase that only led up, called out for Potter again, waited, wrote the corridor's location down and crossed it off the list. He'd been doing this since he'd run away from the group he'd sent out to Madam Hooch and his boat. When he was certain he'd thoroughly checked this part of the castle he would try to call his boat back to him. For now he had more corridors to look through. Eventually, he considered the possibility that he may have to go down a level to the flooded area of the castle, but hoped he would find Potter before then.

"Potter?" he called, "No? Ok then." He crossed another corridor off his list. The next one he found had stairs leading down, though again they were flooded part way. This stairwell wouldn't even get him down below the ceiling of the lower floor so he went back up, trying not to feel defeated.

Draco found a Professor's quarters, but he wasn't sure who they belonged to, and made a note on his paper so he could come back and sleep in a real bed later instead of in a classroom. He thought it might be nearing lunch time by the time he found the next staircase down. This one was behind a portrait with no password. It was also flooded partway down but got him below the level of the ceiling by a few feet.

"Potter? You down here?"

Draco sighed when no response came a moment later, and muttered something to himself as he wrote the corridor down and crossed it off the list. He had just turned to go back up the narrow stairwell when he heard a noise. He strained to listen but couldn't tell exactly what he was hearing. "Potter?" he called out, louder this time.

"Who's there?" came a distant voice back to him.

Draco couldn't help the excitement from bubbling up in him. He'd found someone else!

"Draco Malfoy! Who are you? Where are you?"

"Draco? It's Harry!"

"I'm in a hidden stairwell that was behind a portrait!" Draco called. "Can you find it on your end?"

"Just a minute!"

It was hard to hear him and Draco strained to hear if there were any sounds of movement or splashing.

"Is it this one?" Harry called. His voice was louder.

"I think so!" Draco said. "Here!"

It was long moments before Draco could hear the sound of Harry struggling through the water, and he cast a Lumos Maxima to cast light as far as he could down the corridor, which twisted and turned. Finally Harry came into view.

"Here," Draco said, holding out his hand as far as he could from the stairs without falling into the water. "Was Professor Snape with you?"

Harry reached for it and allowed the Slytherin to drag him the last foot to the stone steps.

"He was. We got separated. I don't know how long ago."

"What happened?" Draco cast an air drying charm at Harry followed by a warmth charm. Every student in the school knew these now. It was the first thing the staff taught them all when they'd gathered to call roll the first night of the flood.

Harry shivered despite being mostly dry now. Draco sent the spells at him again and then again at his hair.

"He came after me the night of the flood and found me. He had a boat. The next morning we broke back into the school but the only level we could reach was flooded. We've been in classrooms on top of tables stacked on each other since. But a Kappa or something got in to us... I don't know. We got separated in a corridor. He was fighting it and told me to keep going."

"You just left him there?"

Harry just stared at the blond boy, not sure of what to say. Now that he was dry and finally out of the water, it seemed a cowardly thing to do. He had wanted to stay, but the man had told him to go on without him. While Harry was feeling sorry for himself and his actions, Draco was taking in his appearance though. His face was dirty, his hair was a tangled mess, and his skin was starting to get the look of hanging off of him. There were dark circles under his eyes that gave them the look of being sunken into his face, but he was pale aside from that.

"You look like hell."

"I'm sick," Harry admitted, voice shaky. "And I haven't eaten since the day of the flood. No, wait, we found an apple, but that was it."

"Here." Draco opened the book bag he'd been carrying with him. It still had several pieces of fruit inside and other things he'd found since he'd come back into the castle. Dry books and bits of parchment, and an extra shirt.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, accepting the banana which was severely bruised from riding around in the bag.

"Yes. I had breakfast this morning."

Harry tried to peel the banana but it was only mashing in his attempt to do so because his fingers were shaking. Draco took it from him without a word, opened it, and handed it back to him.

"There's only a few people still missing," Draco told him as he began to eat. "And you and Professor Snape are two of them."

"Hermione?" Harry asked. "The Weasleys?"

"They're all fine," Draco said. "Ron was stranded for a few days but he was rescued the other day."

"So- if you're here..." Harry said, trying to work through his jumbled thoughts, "there's a path to everybody else?"

"I don't know if there is or not. I left a few days ago to look for you by boat."

"For me?"

"That's what I said isn't it Potter?" Draco snarked.

"I just- I wasn't sure why."

"You came after me in the Dungeons. Now I've returned the favor."

"Thank you," Harry said, still shivering. Draco sent the warming spell at him again, but it didn't seem to do any good.

Harry finished his banana, though he looked like he had trouble doing so.

"You want more?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, but I can't. My stomach isn't used to food."

"What are we going to do about Professor Snape?" Draco asked.

"I can't go back into the water right now," Harry said. "It's too deep to walk and it took the last of what I had to swim to you. There's a table I was on right outside the hidden corridor."

"I can't go either," Draco said.

"Maybe if I can just rest," Harry said, lying back on the stairs as though they were a comfortable enough place to fall asleep.

"Not here Potter," Draco said. "I found a Professor's quarters earlier."

"With a blanket?" Harry asked.

"Of course."

Draco stood up and didn't wait to be asked to help. He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him up and helped him up the stairs to the next floor. It was cold up here too, but not like it had been down in the flooded stairwell.

"This way."

"Wait, we have to find a way to leave a note for Professor Snape," Harry said. "If he goes to that stairwell he'll know we're up that one."

"I'll do it in a few minutes," Draco promised. He led Harry to the Professor's quarters he'd blasted the door open to earlier and led him inside. The bed was big and had several blankets on it.

"I'm not tucking you in," Draco said as Harry laid down weakly on it, but Harry waved him away.

"Just find Professor Snape," Harry said quietly, closing his eyes and curling in on himself.

Draco turned to leave but stopped and watched Harry for a moment. He really did look terrible. Draco wondered for a moment how much longer the boy would have lasted if he hadn't found him. Despite what he'd said, Draco walked back to the bed and threw one of the heavy blankets over Harry's shivering body.

Eyes still closed Harry said, "I thought you said you wouldn't."

Draco startled because he'd thought the Gryffindor had passed out the moment he'd closed his eyes.

"If the Boy-Who-Lived dies they'll think I did it," Draco said.

"Your father would be happy."

Draco wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Instead he turned and left Harry to go back to the flooded stairwell. He'd tried so long in so many different ways to please his father in any way he could and never succeeded. Now, when his father wanted him to join the Death Eaters... told him in fact that the only way to please him was to do so, Draco had carried the fear of that future with him as well as the disgrace and knowledge he was a disappointment for not doing so. But saving people from the tower, and saving stranded students from remote parts of the castle... breaking rules and running away from safety for something that wasn't all for himself... he didn't feel like a disappointment. He certainly would be to his father, but he felt pleased with himself. "Maybe I don't care what my father thinks anymore," he said out loud, quietly at first, and then again, "I don't care what my father thinks anymore." The second time he said it, it really began to cement in place. He didn't need to be hungry for that attention anymore if he didn't want it. He felt pleased with who he was and what he was doing for the first time in his life, and for now this felt good enough. And good enough was an exciting possibility.

"Potter, wake up. Hey, wake up. Come on," Draco finally muttered when Harry refused to stir. He'd slept for almost twenty-four hours and Draco was worried the other boy would never wake again if he let him continue to sleep.

"POTTER!" Draco shouted, and finally Harry stirred with a groan.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, staring bleary eyed at the ceiling.

"You've slept an entire day. I found a way to mark stairwells but the spell only lasts a little while. If you help me we can mark them all and keep them marked so Snape can find his way up."

Harry pulled the covers off of himself weakly and rolled to the side of the bed until he unceremoniously fell out onto the cold stone floor.

"Maybe you can't help," Draco said, frowning at the other boy who had his head down on the bed.

"No, just give me a minute," Harry insisted. It took three tries but he was finally able to push himself up off the floor and then to a sitting position on the bed again. "What's the spell?"

Draco showed him a simple spell which cast an orb of light. When he used his hands with his wand held a certain way between his thumb and palm he could push the orb away from himself, or pull it back.

"It stays lit for 12 hours, and you can cast three or four in different spots. If you take one stairwell down and I take the others we can light them all up. The orb is so bright Professor Snape is sure to see them and come up one of the flooded stairwells, even if we have to submerge the lights in the more flooded ones."

"Show me where you want me to go," Harry said.

Draco led him out, moving slowly so Harry could follow, and took him to the nearest stairwell down.

"This one's flooded to the ceiling of the lower floor. Go down as far as you can and cast the orbs under the water at the very bottom. Push them away from you so they pop out into the corridor. Then wait at the top of the stairwell and I'll come get you when I'm done with the others."

"Ok," Harry said.

Draco frowned. "You're cooperating easier than I thought you would."

"Why wouldn't I?" asked Harry. "We have to work together."

"Yeah," Draco said, still giving Harry a strange look, but then he left him at the entrance to the stairwell and moved off down the corridor.

Alone again, Harry was careful to take the steps slowly so he didn't tumble down and into the water again. The stairs twisted down in a gentle curve until he came to the flooded corridor below. Draco was right, there was no way down into the floor below by this route because the water was too high. The only air was in the stairwell. Harry cast one orb and floated it up above him, and then cast another and pushed it down into the water. The water twisted and morphed the light, but it was still bright and white, and would hopefully draw Snape's attention. He cast a third and pushed it into the water too and then pushed it as far as he could until he felt an invisible force resisting him from pushing it any further. Hopefully the light was in the corridor somewhere where Snape would see it.

Harry sighed and hoped the man wasn't dead and would come find him and Draco. He was glad Draco had found him and taken him to a warm dry place, but he'd feel a lot better if Snape was there with them.

He got up, legs feeling marginally stronger, and went up the stairs a ways, and at the top cast one final orb before coming out into the corridor above where Draco had promised to collect him. Harry let his eyes roam up and down. There was a window here where light came in, and he went to it and looked out. Everything was still flooded, and there wasn't a person to be seen. Hadn't Draco said the others were all ok? They were safe somewhere? Harry had been so tired when the blond boy had found him that he wasn't sure what had been halucinated and what was real.

Thirty minutes later Draco came back down the corridor and took Harry back to the room, and let him fall into the bed again. Harry noted Draco had found extra pillows and blankets and had made a bed for himself on a comfortable looking sofa.

"We'll have to go back in eleven hours and cast them all again, but if we do this twice a day that's not so bad if we can find him."

"Yeah," Harry said. He closed his eyes, but after a moment opened them again and said urgently, "Did you say everybody else was ok?"

"Yeah. There's only a few people still missing, and you were one of them."

"Hermione and the Weasleys?"

"They're fine. Gryffindor never flooded. Hufflepuff and Slytherin are all sleeping in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and the library. Some of the Gryffindors have moved out and into other spaces just to be with friends and some of the Ravenclaws have done the same. Some of the older Slytherins... some of the Dark Lord's followers have taken up an entire corner of the library at the back for themselves."

"And the Headmaster lets them?" Harry asked.

"Would you rather they were bunking in your dorm?"

"You might have a point," Harry said, and closed his eyes again. He wasn't going to go back to sleep, he was just planning to close his eyes and think for a moment, but he was still tired and the next thing he knew, Draco was waking him again.

They repeated the same magic they'd done earlier in all the stairwells, Harry taking care of one and Draco the other three, and since it was getting dark out and in the upper corridors they also cast several orbs in a breadcrumb trail down the hallway to their room, just in case Snape found his way up in the middle of the night.

"This is going to work," Draco told him as they settled in for the night.

"I hope so," Harry said, and he let sleep claim him once again.

Day 11 - Monday November 27th, 2:07 AM

The next time Harry woke it wasn't to Draco's prodding. He was being shaken violently. He startled so badly he threw his arms up to shield his face, afraid somehow Voldemort had come straight out of his dreams and was really there in the castle attacking him.

"Foolish, arrogant boy!"

Harry opened his eyes and was surprised when the shaking stopped and he found himself in the embrace of soaking wet arms. He still wasn't sure what was happening until he was released and took in the sight of Professor Snape, dripping from head to toe and looking pale, crazed and relieved at the same time.

"You found our breadcrumbs," Draco said from the couch, rubbing the sleep out of one eye.

"I saw a light under the water and followed it to a stairwell, and then here. You left them?"

"We left them in every stairwell that led down," Draco said. "We'd hoped you'd see them and find us."

"Thank you," he said to Draco, and then he turned to look Harry up and down again.

"How long have you been here?"

Harry, still groggy and shaken from his rude awakening, looked to Draco for help.

"I found him a couple days ago. I found a stairwell with an airpocket under the ceiling of the floor below and shouted until he heard me and found me."

"Very smart," Severus said, sending a drying spell at himself. Draco sent several at him as well until he was dry. Snape sat down on the edge of the bed and asked, "But why were you calling for Potter?"

"I- well-" Draco seemed like he didn't want to answer and Harry wasn't certain why.

"Out with it," Snape said, tired and uninterested in waiting for Draco to tell the truth.

"You and Harry were still missing. I slipped out in the night with a boat and went looking. I found a few people and got them to safety and then I came in here, still looking for the two of you."

Snape tried to send Draco an upset look, but he was too tired and too grateful to be dry. "That is a performance you will not repeat," he said instead. "However, I appreciate your efforts. There is a safe place to go then?"

Draco explained in detail where everyone was located and about how long he'd been in this part of the castle, as well as who he had found and who was still missing.

Snape nodded at the end and laid down on the large bed. Harry didn't move from his spot on the opposite edge.

"It is lucky Professor Vector's quarters are in this part of the castle. This is the only living area on the floor."

"She's got warm blankets," Harry yawned. He didn't know if Snape and Draco talked any longer after that. He was more interested in sleep.

* * *

Harry thought if they could just stay in Professor Vector's quarters and never leave, he'd be perfectly happy with that. Forget food, forget school and magic and holidays and everything else. He never wanted to venture out again.

There were enough warm blankets and soft pillows for all of them, a working bathroom, and books to read (Harry hoped Professor Vector didn't mind them using her space like this). There was a window in the bathroom that looked out over what Harry could only assume was the area the Quidditch Pitch used to occupy, and if they left the bathroom door open, it shed some light into the small kitchen next to the bedroom and small living room.

Harry listened quietly as Snape told Draco that these quarters were smaller than his, and that his had two bedrooms, and explained that all the quarters in the lower castle were larger. Harry didn't care how big the living space was. He thought it was perfect. Snape had repaired the door to the corridor and found several jars in the kitchen to conjure fire into, and eventually the small living space warmed up to a tolerable degree. Harry had also been able to shower, though the water wasn't warm, and get the grime and blood off of himself. He also washed his clothes in the shower and used his wand to dry them so he could have something clean to wear.

After two days in the quarters with Snape and Draco, where Harry spent his time reading and snoozing contentedly under a heavy blanket and Snape and Draco talked and read, Snape said, "We will have to leave soon and attempt to get back to the others."

Harry looked up, illusions of staying here peacefully, shattered. "But, we have the best place to stay," he said. "There's no water."

"There is also no food or medicine," Snape said. "You are still fighting off an illness." Harry hadn't minded the coughing so much now that he was warm and dry, and he was feeling a little better each day with all the rest he'd been getting.

"I don't want to go back into the water," Harry said firmly, looking into his Professor's dark eyes.

"We will not be returning to a flooded floor," he confirmed, and seemed as adamant about that as Harry was.

"We could try to call the boat back," Draco said. "Madam Hooch may have taken it and secured it somewhere though so I couldn't keep evading her."

"Tomorrow we will try that," Snape said. Plan in place, Harry went back to his book and Draco laid back on his couch and stared at his parchment, which still had several missing people listed, though Harry and Snape's names were now crossed off.

The next morning Draco showed Snape down to the window he'd initially entered through, and they tried for almost an hour to call the boat or a broom to them. When none came, Harry pretended to be disappointed, and settled down into his blanket as far as he could, wrapping it around himself like a shield that would never be broken.