Harry had just reached the common room after the start of term feast, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had sat down to play a game of exploding snap, just as Harry went to join them a small brown owl flew through the open window and collided with the table of which they were sitting at.

"Bloody bird!" Ron moaned as he took the letter attached to Errol's leg. Errol then got up, shook his head and flew back through the window towards the owlery. "Arrggg I left my trainers back at home" he said after reading the letter "mum wants me to send a school owl to pick them up coz Errol can't do it"

He stood up to leave, but then sat back down with a groan, he was way too tired to walk up to the owlery and back at this time of night.

"Do you want me to go?" Harry asked, he himself was feeling tired but felt like having a walk alone for a while anyway

"Cheers mate, sure you don't mind?" he asked but at that same time leaned further back into the sofa and propped his feet up on the table in front of him

"No it's fine" he turned to leave but Hermione pulled him back

"you really shouldn't give into his laziness Harry" she stated giving Ron a displeasing look, Harry who was used to his friend's laziness just grinned and left through the portrait hole.

By the time Harry was walking back from the owlery he was feeling quite exhausted himself, and achy for that matter.

Uncle Vernon's punishments over the last few months had most certainly gotten worse, and last nights had been especially harsh. Harry hadn't done anything to deserve it, But Vernon decided to give him a "going away present" this resulted in a few broken ribs and bruises all over his back and legs from his uncles leather belt

The effects of a summer's worth of abuse were returning to him now and he felt achy and generally weak. This mood was made worse by the arrival of his least favourite potions teacher.

"Well, well out for a stroll Potter? Its past curfew, do you believe yourself above the rules?" Snape sneered as he looked down on the small scrawny boy below him

Harry not feeling strong enough to get in an argument just replied "no sir"

"No? Then why Potter, are you out in the corridors at this hour?" He challenged

"I was delivering a letter, professor" Harry said, he looked over at the window in order to avoid Snape's eyes; snow was gradually falling outside, despite being the wrong season for snow.

"A letter you say? I can't imagine you having anyone to send a letter to Potter" he said, trying to provoke the boy, and his comment obviously had some effect because Harry's head snapped up.

"I was doing a favour for Ron actually" Harry tried to get angry at Snape, but all he felt was hopelessness. Snape had just said exactly what Harry had been thinking about over the summer. That he really didn't have anyone, except Ron and Hermione of course.

"Ahhh" Snape said he was trying to get the boy angry, so that he would have a reason to give him a detention but when Potter had looked up, there was hurt and sadness in the boy's eyes and this disconcerted him "The great Harry Potter, constantly doing good deeds for his fellow house mates, how very noble of you Potter"

"I…." Harry started but as his gaze wandered over to the door near the end of the corridor his voice faltered, emerging from the partially open door, was a thick black smoke, it was so thick that it looked more like a solid sludge seeping out along the floors and the walls.

"What are you…." Snape began to ask but as he spotted the stuff as well he stopped. The smoke was fast approaching them and he didn't really want to find out what would happen if it did, he turned to Potter and was about to tell him to run when the smoke engulfed them.

Harry stood shocked as the black smoke closed around his chest, he felt as though the black smoke had overtaken the air. He couldn't see Snape anywhere; in fact he couldn't even see his own hands. He tried to call out but no words came out, only a strangled sort of croak, suddenly he felt weightless, as though he had been lifted off the ground completely. His head began to spin and he couldn't breathe, he was sure he was going to suffocate. When all of a sudden he was falling, falling for what seemed like ever until at last he hit the ground. He felt his whole body crack and was sure he must have broken every bone in his body. A fierce wind was blowing through his ears and he began to lose consciousness, the last sound he heard was a similar thud next to him, then nothing.

Snape gingerly stood up with a grunt, he had managed to use a cushioning charm on himself before he had hit the ground, and was only suffering from an achy back and a slight cut on his forehead. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Potter.

He turned around slowly, his eyes searching the snowy and sharp faced mountain, which they had somehow come to land upon, they were way up in the mountain, looking down on a small valley. Hogwarts was nowhere to be seen, although you couldn't really see much through the thick blistering snow lashing down through the mountains. He was pondering ways, of which they could have come to be here, when a small bundle of black caught his eye. It was Potter. The boy was strewn across a large jagged rock, his leg was bent in a strange angle, his head was bloodied and there was a large gash in his chest which was barely moving. With a growing feeling of dread, Snape moved over to him. He crouched down and noticed the fine layer of snow already forming on Potter's chest and the slight tinge of blue on his lips.

He gently placed his hands under the boy's back and lifted him into his arms. As he was clambering over the foreboding rocks, he noticed how light Potter was. In fact if he moved his hand a little he could actually feel his ribs. This alarmed him a little more than he would have thought, as he realised that without proper winter clothes, and barely enough meat on him to keep a sheep alive, let alone a boy, there was even more risk of him dying of hypothermia. And quickly. After climbing uphill for about 5 minutes he noticed a small cave like hole, hidden from the snow by an overhanging cliff edge. Thinking that he wasn't going to find anything better, he climbed inside with the still unconscious boy hanging limply in his arms

….

Harry gained and lost consciousness several times, each time he tried to open his eyes, but found he hadn't the energy and gave up. He was only vaguely aware of what was going on, but at the same time he didn't really want to try to wake up. Because with awareness came the pain and he was feeling to weak and too tired to deal with it right then. He would sleep and then face it he thought as he once again succumbed to the darkness.

…..

Snape, after ducking into the cave like hole, realised that it was a lot longer than it would have appeared from the outside. The damp grey and ragged wall stretched for a good four metres length wise and was about 2 metres wide. Snape put him down near the left side wall and crouched beside him to examine him closer. His head was bleeding considerably from a large gash formed just above his hairline; his right leg was obviously broken as it lay still slanted in the opposite direction from his left, and the front of Potter's robes were thick and wet with blood.

Deciding to start at the top, he tore the hem of his robes of and started to dab at the blood oozing from the cut on his head, he was silently cursing Potter, whom made him rip his new robes for his sake, but decided that as much as he would like to, he couldn't really blame him for what happened and carried on tending to his head. He pulled a small parcel from his inside breast pocket and placed it on the cave floor. Once he had opened his portable potions kit he pulled out a stitching paste and carefully rubbed it into the wound.

After stopping the blood on Potter's head he then reached down towards his blood stained shirt on his chest, the blood made his shirt cling tightly onto Potter's skin, and deciding that the shirt was ruined anyway, the Professor picked up a near sharp rock and tore the white- now red shirt, careful not to touch the boy's skin. The shirt outlined every one of Potter's ribs, It was quite disturbing to see how much they stuck out, which made Snape think why it was that the pampered prince of the wizarding world was that scrawny, but as the shirt finally came clear of his skin all other thoughts were gone from his head as he gasped at what he saw.

There was a thick, deep gash running all the way from his right shoulder to the left of his stomach. It was literally pouring blood and was slowly trickling down onto the cave floor, forming a small but increasing puddle. Just as Snape was thinking that it was a lucky thing Potter was unconscious, he gave a soft moan of agony and opened his eyes.

…..

Harry could feel a searing pain coming from his chest and head, and his leg felt as though someone had dropped a fully grown hippogriff on it, he raise his eyes to meet another pair of dark black ones. Snape. It all started to come back to him now, the owlery, the black smoke… Snape looked back at him and for a moment there was complete silence until Snape finally said something.

"Nice of you to finally come around Potter" he said as though trying to sneer but failing.

Harry glared at him but only momentarily, he then tried to shift into a more comfortable position but a sharp and agonising pain went through his chest, he winced in pain and clenched his fist and eyes shut. Trying to block out the pain.

"Easy now Potter, don't move" Snape said in a commanding tone.

After a few calming breaths Harry opened his eyes again and said in nothing more than a whisper "what happened?"

"I have no idea, but you landed roughly and have quite a few injuries, so if you could just be quiet for a minute and let me tend to them Potter…."

Harry, finally building up the courage to look at his chest, slowly bent his head and saw the deep gash on his upper body, he gave a short groan and placed his head back on the hard ground "so nothing too serious then" he commented darkly.

Snape began wrapping another long bit of cloak around repeatedly over Potter's chest, as he wasn't very good with healing spells and didn't dare make it worse. Potter looked back at his chest for a second time during this process and his eyes widened slightly in alarm, as he noticed an old bruise on his chest just below his left rib. He slowly moved his hand up to cover it and then lay back down, clearly hoping Snape hadn't noticed. But he had. After he had finished wrapping up Potter's chest he looked down at his leg. It was still bent in that odd angle but Snape knew that none of his potions could cure that and so had to leave it as it was. Potter began shivering and Snape gave him a questioning look.

"It ...its c… cold" He spluttered, he attempted to wrap his arms around himself, but as his arm touched his chest he pulled back with a gasp of pain.

Snape who whilst sorting out Potter's wounds had forgotten that they were in the middle of a blizzard and that Potter was shirtless chastised himself and picked Potter's robes up, used a quick drying and warming spell and then placed it limply over him. "Better?" he asked

Potter just nodded then placed his head gently on the wall behind him and closed his eyes.

Soon after the boy had fallen asleep Snape sat back against the opposite wall and allowed himself to breathe calmly for the first time since they arrived in this place. He had to admit that Potter had strangely strong pain resilience; he knew that most of the other 3rd years back at the castle would have been screaming and yelling the cave in if they woke up with injuries like that. He had no idea why the spoiled brat reacted so calmly to the pain, it's not like he's ever had to deal with it, being the Boy- Who- Lived.

After half an hour or so Potter began to shake again, Snape had tried wrapping him up in his cloak more but it didn't help, so he decided to make a potion that would help prevent hyperthermia. He pulled out bottles of dittany, heating pastels and a silver liquid of Snape's own creation. He mixed these together in a spare vial and was about to give Potter some when the boy started moaning and shaking more violently saying "No!"

Realisation kicked in and Snape saw that Potter was having a nightmare. He put the bottle down next to him and went to shake Potter awake when the boy flinched in his sleep; his arm swung out and hit the potion onto the floor. Bright silver liquid fell into a perfectly round puddle on the floor.

"I'm going to kill you when you wake up Potter!" he growled as he went to clean it up. Potter's hand had dropped into the liquid. Tiny swirls were going up and down his fingers like rings, his whole hand had some kind of pattern on it made up from the liquid, it consisted of many swirls, waves, and circles. Snape stood amazed by this, he was about to banish the liquid when an image floated into view, glancing around in the puddle, stood a young Harry Potter.