Severus allowed himself to sleep after watching Potter for a few hours. It seemed the potion had thankfully brought the fever down, even if it had done so at a price. By the time morning rolled around (checked with a quick Tempus) he was fatigued, weary and, well, grumpy. He woke Potter, who seemed coherent enough, and drew out the food from their bag that was placed under ever-lasting heat charms. He was dismayed to find their supply was running out, that posed the massive problem of finding more food in caverns with almost no other life. He decided to look closely from now on hoping to spot anything edible.

After they had eaten he cast a quick cleansing spell on himself and watched Potter follow suit, a cleansing spell was not nearly as good as a shower and he found himself wishing for the lavish bathrooms back at Prince Manor. From Potter's expression, he wasn't the only one.

It was after about 10 minutes of walking when the Gryffindor finally cracked.

"Sir, what exactly happened last night?"

"Are you referring to the illness you contracted after not notifying me that you had not successfully made it across the river?" His pointed look plus scathing tone had an immediate effect on Potter who looked like he was already regretting asking.

"Yeah…?"

"Well, you contracted a very high fever and I once again found the answer to a life-threatening Potter related issue."

"Yeah, and how exactly did you do that? I remember you saying something about a potion that would make me, talk a lot."

Ah, so the boy was worried about what he'd said, and rightly so.

"Yes, the Chattering Potion. Works extremely well in keeping the body's core temperature stable, reducing inflammation and minimising pain. It also has the added side affect of removing inhibitions and encouraging its user to speak, as such it is widely known to produce incoherent babbling from it's patients."

Without meaning to, he'd well and truly slipped into his lecturing mode and for a few seconds they may as well have been back at Hogwarts in a classroom.

Potter had taken all this in completely, unlike usual, and was looking rather concerned.

"And I drank this? What did I say?"

"Really Potter, do you ever listen? you were exactly as I had described, rambling on endlessly to my utter enjoyment." Sarcasm practically dripped from his last words.

The boy relaxed a little but wasn't completely done with the topic.

"But did I say anything…you know… revealing?" He'd gone a little pink from embarrassment and Severus considered wether he should speak the truth. Perhaps it was too much time hoarding information as a spy but he wasn't ready to reveal what he'd learned quite yet. Instead, he rolled his eyes and shot a medium level glare at his unfortunate companion,

"Fear not, your secrets are safe. You rattled on about an owl called Hedwig and spider called Wally. It seems you have some strange fascination with animals."

The boy visibly relaxed and stopped walking so rigidly. Severus continued on as if nothing had been said, not a trace of a lie on him.

They stopped for lunch earlier then they had other days, mostly due to their rather eventful night. Severus made sure to use less food this time, they were certainly going to need to ration it. He waited for the inevitable complaints he'd receive but Potter stayed silent, in fact he'd didn't even seem to notice.

After lunch they sat for a few more minutes, Potter idly playing with his Lumos by increasing and decreasing the size it illuminated. Abruptly he threw the ball of light at the wall with a swish of his wand where it went out leaving a small scorch mark.

Severus raised an eyebrow at him but the unruly mop of black hair just shrugged, unintimidated.

"What? I was curious at what it would do."

"Such a worthy pursuit of knowledge, how could I do anything but condone it?" It may have been sarcastic but there was partial truth in it, a small amount of curiosity was needed to learn anything.

"Allow me" He threw his own Lumos much harder at the wall where it left a much larger burn mark and plunged them into darkness. A wand tip lit up revealing a bemused Potter who stared at him as if he'd just grown an extra head.

He himself had rather enjoyed the impromptu move, it seemed to have relived a bit of tension.

"Sir?"

"Well, is your idle curiosity satisfied?"

Potter's grin spoke of mischief but for once he wasn't about to take as many points as possible from Gryffindor.

"Not completely." Potter then preceded to blow up a very large Lumos and hurled it at the unsuspecting wall where it left an even larger darkened patch of wall.

"Think I'm good now sir."

He was not about to let himself be outdone by another Potter, no matter how petty it was. He raised his wand, this time uttering Picta Lumos and the usual light that appeared was now blue. He smirked at Potters look of astonishment and threw it at the wall where it left a bright, cobalt blue smudge.

"Professor, how did you do that? Can you show me?"

Ugh, he hadn't counted on having to now teach it to Potter.

"Fine, simply utter 'Picta Lumos' and imagine the colour you wish the light to be."

He watched as the boy stared at his wand in concentration and a bright orange light flared out of it. It wasn't a particularly hard spell but it had annoyed him that the 5th year had gotten it so fast.

That infernal grin returned and the ball of light met stone once again.

Potter tried more colours and Severus even threw in a few of his own. The cavern was lit up with bright pinks, magentas, lilacs and greens then thrown into darkness over and over again. Only when the wall was fully decorated with large smudges of colour did they stop.

"I think you were right sir, that was a worthy pursuit of knowledge."

"I am a teacher, after all."

He bent to pick up the bag and his sleeve pulled up. In the way his arm was angled, it showed a very clear tattoo of a snake and skull. Potter was staring at it too, ruling out Severus's hope that he'd missed it. Once again he felt the intense hatred of being branded by the Dark Lord in the first place and having the boy so clearly seeing it. He held his breath waiting for Potter to make a scathing comment.

Instead Potter shrugged, "It least it's not on your forehead."

He was so surprised he actually let out a very short laugh, the sound shocked him; it had been a long time since he'd so openly laughed. It was true in a way, his branding wasn't nearly as visible as Potter's but that mattered very little.

Not knowing what to say he started walking and was quickly followed by Potter. A small part of him was almost sad that they now had to go back to their monotonous walking after their brief respite.

It did give him time to think though, especially about the young wizard behind him. He wondered if anyone had actually spoken to Potter about the events of the Triwizard tournament, Albus would've, for sure, but Albus's talks were not normally half as reassuring as they should be. So that meant, after seeing a fellow student murdered, watching the darkest lord of their time resurrected and finding out a staff member was actually a Death Eater in disguise, he had been sent to deal with it alone, in the comfort of his 'relatives'. It was a wonder that Dumbledore's golden-boy hadn't had a breakdown yet.

That left another matter; he'd made a vow to protect Lily's child, and had done so. But he figured he could do it by putting a great deal of distance between himself and Potter, partly because he disliked the boy, partly because he hated the image of James, and partly because it was too painful to see that small semblance of Lily. But now, did the term protect also extend to Potter's mental health? he hoped not. Surely that was what Granger, the mutt, and the horde of Weasly's were for.

All the same….

"Potter, what happened at the end of the Triwizard tournament?"

The boy looked as if he'd been stung;

"I'm sure you know professor." he all but growled out.

He knew the important details. He knew that the dark lord was extremely displeased with the fact that Potter had gotten away. He knew that the resulting meeting was painful for all of Voldemort's followers specifically himself since he hadn't responded to the first call.

"I know the story vaguely, I'd like to here it from your perspective."

"Well ask someone else."

He was going to have to press for information, "Potter."

"How about a deal? I'll tell you the whole story, nasty bits and all, if you do something for me."

Now this was intriguing.

"And that would be?"

"Stop calling me Potter."

What? "No, I am your professor, I do not call students by their first names."

"At school you can call me Potter all you want but, c'mon, here we're in some dank tunnel. Who's gonna know?"

He considered it, it wasn't that difficult of a request and he really did want to hear the boy's account of events, surely it was worth sacrificing a little bit of pride. The boy was also now walking level with him so his face was in view.

"Alright….. Harry" he cringed at the strange informality but Potter's expression visibly brightened.

"Now, explain what happened in that graveyard."

That quickly wiped the grin off. "Where do you want me to begin?"

"How about, how you got there?"

He wondered if the caves they trekked through had always been this quiet or if they too were now paying attention to the small voice of an adolescent boy.

Guilt and pain were completely threaded through the boy's speech. "Well we were in that terrible maze and Cedric was stuck, vines were pinning him down. I went back to help him, and we found the cup together. He insisted I take it, but I wouldn't. He deserved it more than I did, and we'd found it at the same time so I said we should take it together… I shouldn't of… That was so stupid.."

Potter of course had acted the picture of Gryffindor then, and Diggory had in turn showed the intense loyalty of a Hufflepuff. They would've probably stayed life-long friends had the cup simply brought them back to where it was supposed to.

"Pott.. Harry, unless your Sybill Trelawney's next protégé, you did not know what was going to happen. Please continue." He hardly recognise the partially reassuring words coming from his own mouth, since when did he say please?

"The cup. It was a portkey, it took us to the graveyard. I knew something was wrong instantly, I'd seen the place before, in my nightmares, I knew it was somehow connected to Vold-… You-Know-Who."

"You dream of the Dark Lord?" this was not good.

A solemn nod made him inwardly curse. He was going to have to teach Potter Occlumency, a connection between the boy and the Dark Lord was a very very bad thing.

"Continue."

Potter looked like he was grinding stones together when he got the next words out.

"I told Cedric we should leave but before we could do anything, this voice spoke, 'kill the spare'. Worm tail he…..murdered…..Cedric."

Severus let the teenager wait however long he wanted to before speaking again. He dammed that stupid Tournament to hell, it was all a set up from the start and an innocent boy had lost his life simply because he'd been in the way. Too many had been killed because they'd been an inconvenience to Voldemort, far too many.

"After that Wormtail bound me against this large tombstone. I was fully trapped with no way of escaping. I watched as Wormtail created a potion using a bone from Tom Riddle's father, his own hand and my blood."

Severus had always wondered how Wormtail had lost his arm, he figured it had happened after the mongrel got himself into a scrap that had been too hard to get out of and faked his death again.

"How did he get your blood?"

"He cut my arm." Potter's hand ghosted over the spot where Severus presumed, the knife had sliced through.

"After that Voldemort was brought back to horrible mortal self, snake features and red eyes. He called all of his followers, I guess you would've felt that."

He had, it had been horrible realising the Dark Lord had well and truly returned, the black snake coiled in a skull had flared to life on his very forearm, promising pain and destruction. He was tempted to go to that call, to see if his worst nightmare was indeed true, but Albus had stayed his hand. The old wizard had been worried about the great deal of things that happened and asked Severus to stay by his side, Severus could still be considered a spy later and give Dumbledore's insistence as a valid excuse to that horrid creature.

"A few Death Eaters showed up, about 20. He spoke to them, making a big theatrics about his return. Then he turned his attention to me." The boy visibly gulped and Severus was finding himself ever the more curious about how Harry had actually managed to escape.

"He explained that my mother's protection had gone, that he could touch me now. He did, and, and it felt like my entire body was on fire. He wanted to kill me in front of everyone there, prove that it had been nothing but a fluke. He released me from the headstone and told me we were to duel.

"When he asked me to bow, I wouldn't do it. He used some spell to force me. Then we began the duel. I was hit instantly with a crucio."

Snape tried to hide his semi gasp, he had felt plenty of pain in his time but he'd never been crucio'd at the tender age of 14 . He wouldn't wish it on anyone, the absolute pain that filled your core was enough to make any sane person go mad, case and point, the Longbottoms.

"And then?"

"Well I don't really know how to explain it, I shot out a spell at the same time he did and our wands connected."

"This connection between us turned gold, and all these people appeared. People Voldemort had killed. I saw Cedric and… my.. mum and dad."

This time Severus couldn't suppress his pause, the boy had duelled the Dark lord and seen his dead parents? Lily?

"I asked Professor Dumbledore later what happened. Apparently the two cores of our wands were taken from the same Phoenix and Priori Incantatem occurred. The spirits attacked Voldemort and gave me time to get away, I grabbed Cedric, accio'ed the cup and ended up back at Hogwarts."

Severus could certainly remember the image of a distraught Potter clutching the corpse of Diggory. It was one he would never forget. But that still wasn't the end of the story.

"What happened with Crouch Jr?"

Harry took a deep breath and continued. "He took me away from the crowd, at the time I thought he didn't want me to see…everything. Now I think he wanted the full story, most importantly how I escaped."

Damn Albus for not noticing Potter disappearing, damn himself too.

"He gave it away when he mentioned the graveyard, I hadn't said anything about that yet. He was running out of Polyjuice potion to. He cornered me and was about to kill me when you guys burst in."

He really hadn't realised how close a call that had been. Albus had been mad though, tearing through the hallways at lightning pace and disarming Crouch without a wand. It was these small glimpses that truly revealed Albus's true power.

"I take it, after that you were escorted to the hospital wing?"

That was after all, the next time he had seen Potter. During Fudge's idiotic rant.

"Uh, later. I explained what happened to Dumbledore and Sirius first."

That seemed a little harsh, they had made the boy explain straight after it happened? could they not have waited one night?

"And then a given a heavy Cruciatus and dreamless sleep potion I suppose?"

A puzzled look from Potter was thrown his way "Cruciatus Potion?"

"The Cruiatus curse has a toll on the body. Stimulating so many pain receptors at once generally leads to tremors and eventually loss of feeling and spasms. The potion counteracts that"

He spoke from experience after all.

"Huh, I don't think I ever got that potion."

How had that been overlooked? how seriously had the boy's wellbeing been considered in the whirlwind of events that transpired after the tournament?

It was the end of the story and apparently the end of their conversation. They both lapsed into their own thoughts for the time being.

It was obvious the physical work was having a toll on both of them. With little food and no sleep they were exhausted. Potter stumbled on rocks every now and then, it was after the 4th time that he firmly face planted into the ground.

Severus stood and patiently waited, he was beginning to lose hope that they'd ever find this damn stone. It was at this point he was about to call it time for dinner that something interesting and unexpected happened.

Harry was close to falling every step, he wasn't about to say anything though. He had perhaps a bit too much pride for that. His one awkward face plant had been embarrassing enough. Currently even the thought of even his terrible mattress at the Durslye's looked inviting, therefore he thought he was hallucinating when he heard something akin to…Laughter?

But Snape had stopped to, were there other people? He and Snape made eye contact and quickly hurried to the source of the sound. They were much more careful now when they turned to go left or right, before it had been random, now it mattered.

When there was faint reflections of light flickering on the wall Harry felt the strong urge to start sprinting. Only Snape's cautious looks stopped him.

They neared a narrow corridor of stone that ended in bright blinding light. Only when they reached the end of the corridor and walked into a size nearing the great hall, did Harry's eyes fully adjust and take in his surroundings.

There were about 4 tents pitched and lanterns placed around the whole area haphazardly. A large fire sat in the middle, lighting the space up, and 3 men currently sat around it joking back and forth.

Harry and Snape had already put away their wands, when they had become unnecessary, and therefore where now obscured in darkness. Snape placed an arm in front of Harry preventing him from going any further.

Harry whispered in quiet tones easily covered by the crackling fire and roars of laughter from the men.

"Shouldn't we go say hi? look they even have tents, maybe they know where to go"

Snape matched Harry's volume "We have no idea who they are, friend or foe, magical or muggle, and you want to just walk straight in?"

He was about to refute Snape's point but something else caught his eye, a long skinny shape had just moved from the shadows and into the circling light of the campfire. It moved silently and effortlessly, slithering across the ground and stalking it's prey perfectly. None of the men had noticed that it was within arms reach when it poised itself to strike, long pointed fangs seconds away from sinking into flesh. Harry's decision was made for him right then.

He ran out of cover and straight towards the men,

"STOP!" Harry guessed that he'd spoken parseltongue by the way that only the snake looked anywhere near comprehending.

"Don't attack him!" Ignoring the looks of utter astonishment across everyone's faces he aimed the words at the great big dark green Python. To Harry's utter relief it backed down and instead, slithered towards him.

"A sssnake ssspeaker? It hasss been a great amountsss of time since I have seensss one of you."

"Uh well nice to meet you, I'm Harry." He could've slapped himself for sounding so stupid.

"It issss nice to meet you alsossss. I will beesss finding my diner elsewhere I guesssssss."

"Yeah thanks for that…" It slithered away towards the corridor he'd just come from.

It was now that the immediate danger had passed that Harry noticed how many people were staring at him. Snape had followed Harry in his sprint, though keeping a reasonable distance from the Python, and stood close with a his wand held discreetly in hand by his side.

The men looked frozen and shocked, very different from the animated laughing figures they'd been seconds ago. Like pressing play on a movie, they began to move again; regaining a little composure.

Snape too returned to his stoic mask, though, still kept his wand out.

Harry thought he might as well break the tension. "Hi, uh nice to see other people down here."

The man with stringy brown hair and a crooked chin recovered first. He edged out from the group and spoke with a confident yet friendly tone.

"I quite agree young man. Especially when they've just saved your life from a great big snake. Nice to meet you both, I'm Thompson."

He held out a rough hand marked with calluses and Harry politely shook it.

"I'm Harry and this is Professor Snape." As soon as the words escaped his mouth he knew they were foolish. Normally he would always be much more careful about keeping their identities a secret but in the chaos of the past minute he'd become a little distracted.

Snape too sent a scathing look his way and looked like he wanted to obliviate the men. Instead he surreptitiously tucked away his wand and walked a few steps in front of Harry.

"Yes nice to meet your acquaintance. Tell me, what exactly are you doing down here?"

The two men stood against each other eyeing the other up and down. Harry knew from experience that taking on Snape was a scary endeavour so the man must of had some bravery. Apparently Thompson found whatever he was looking for because he smiled encouragingly and replied.

"Same thing I'm guessing you're doing. looking for the Vincere Stone."

Harry wondered if Snape was going to confirm of deny the accusation. Instead he evaded it in typical Slytherin fashion.

"So you are not muggles then?"

Thompson cracked a crooked tooth grin, "Ah not completely. Most of us are squibs, myself included, but we do have two magical folk along with us."

As they spoke three others walked outside of the tent, two women and one man. Harry wondered which people were the wizards or witches in the group.

"Tell you what. You people look dead tired, how about we cook you some dinner and we talk a little more? Tim here makes a great stew and its the least I can do since your boy there saved my life."

If it had been another circumstance Harry was sure Snape would refuse, as it was, Thompson was right on the mark. They needed food and rest, the group in front of them seemed to be offering the perfect solution.

"Thank you for your hospitality, we accept your offer."

Harry nodded in agreement glad that Snape hadn't let paranoia win over common sense.

The men on the bench still looked at them with awe and some other expression, triumph maybe? but hastily moved over to make room . Harry signed in contentment with the warmth of the fire soothing his cold aching muscles and let himself relax. Finding other people down here was great luck, now they would surely work together and have the task done in not time..