Harry and Snape parted at the bottom of the staircase with a respective sneer and pout, sharing a mental laugh at the act. Then they sobered abruptly.

"Be careful," Snape told his student mentally. "I don't know when the raid will start."

"All you have to do is listen for the screams." It wasn't a joke, and neither of them took it as such. "I'm going to try to meet up with Ron and Hermione; see you around?"

"No doubt. I will be chaperoning you dunderheads, after all..."

"Dunderheads, are we?"

"Yes," replied Snape apologetically. "Now move along; your friends are probably worried."

Harry grinned and made his way back to Gryffindor Tower, while Snape cast a 'tempus' and then went out the main entrance in a hurry; his shift had already started.

"Out all night again I see," said the Fat Lady disapprovingly. "Have a lover or something?"

"No, actually, I had detention." Harry snapped. "Pride of Gryffindor."

The nosy portrait swung inward on it's hinges, reluctantly allowing Harry into the common room. Hermione and Ron were waiting for him.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," she started up.

Harry sighed. "Yes, I know. I promise I'll explain at Hogsmeade."

"You'll explain here," she countered. "And it better be good."

"C'mon, I finally have a permission slip!" Harry complained. "I want to actually go to Hogsmeade without having to hide under a cloak. We could talk over butterbeer."

"He has a point," Ron broke in. "It doesn't have to be in the Rooms."

"We could be overheard!" Hermione protested.

"That's what anti-eavesdropping charms are for, Miss Granger," Harry replied distractedly, as Snape was complaining mentally about rowdy third years in his head.

"What did you just call me?"

Harry didn't answer. After a moment Ron waved a hand in front of his face: "Earth to Harry," and Harry blinked and refocused.

"Did you just call me Miss Granger?"

"It is your name, is it not?" Hermione stared at him, and he face-palmed abruptly as he realized he'd unconsciously been parroting Snape's thoughts. "Sorry Hermione. I'm not completely myself right now."

"That's abundantly clear," Hermione told him with an odd look. "C'mon. We're going to Hogsmeade. And then you better tell me what's going on. I've been worried about you!"

The trip then left for Hogsmeade by way of the secret passage behind the statue of the humpbacked witch, as it was shorter then walking to Hogsmeade the regular way and the thestral carriages had already left. Once at Hogsmeade, they wandered around a little, (Hermione couldn't resist Scrivener and Shaft's, and Ron wanted to stop by Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, while both Harry and Ron were united in saying that since they'd arrived by the basement of Honeyduke's, they might as well look around. Then, at last, the three of them settled in a booth in the Three Broomsticks, and Harry ordered butterbeer.

"Why aren't we doing this at the Hog's Head or something?" Ron asked as Rosmerta took their order and moved on to the next table.

"We learned that lesson only too well last year," Harry replied, thinking of Umbridge. "We stand out too much in an empty bar. And they won't be able to overhear anything." He closed his eyes, reaching out to Snape's mind. "Professor?"

"Potter? What do you need? If you're just contacting me because your infantile mind needs more stimulus than your friends can give..."

Harry startled his friends by laughing aloud. "I actually wondered if you knew a good anti-eavesdropping spell."

"Muffliatus; the wand movement is a pass with a very slight curve. You should feel it ripple outward when you cast it; it causes any eavesdroppers to hear only an unidentified buzzing."

Harry grinned. "Got it, thanks Professor Sevvie."

Equal parts amusement and anger flowed through the link, accompanied by a deduction of points for being too familiar with a teacher. Harry giggled.

"Muffliatus," he said, waving his wand with the correct movement. A ripple of magic spread outward from their table, fizzling out soundlessly. " 'Kay, no worries about eavesdropping."

"What-" Hermione cut herself off, and took a deep drink of butterbeer, evidently trying to work out which of her millions of questions she should ask first. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, but Ron was already talking.

"Did you actually sleep with Snape?" He managed.

"Ron!" Hermione interrupted, but she looked like she wanted that answered too.

"Yes and no." Harry told them after thinking it through. "We didn't have sex or do anything improper, if that's what you're worried about, but I might have fallen asleep on top of him."

"Explain." Hermione's voice brooked no argument.

"He figured that his office might be bugged, and he had some really important things to say, so he let me into his quarters. I might have gone into shock. After screaming at him."

"Harry..." Hermione began.

"What on earth did he tell you?" asked Ron curiously.

"Um, so you know the prophecy in the DOM?"

"Yeah- Merlin! You mean it's actually real?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore told me the text last year. Basically Voldemort and I have to fight, and one of us will have to die."

Hermione's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, Harry!"

But it was Ron who actually picked up on the first part of what Harry had said. "Hold on. You said Dumbledore told you last year, right? So why were you in shock?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "You were avoiding the question!" she accused. "And you shouldn't scream at a teacher, either, I get that you were upset, but-"

"I wasn't finished," said Harry dully. "Look, I can understand if you want to break it off after I tell you," he started. "Just...please let me finish."

"Break what off?" That was Ron.

"Our friendship." Harry closed his eyes briefly, only opening them when Snape told him to get it over with, because pausing in the middle wouldn't change their reaction, only make it more painful.

"Why the _ would we do that?!" Ron burst out. Hermione thumped him for cussing, but she looked just as upset about the thought.

"Because until recently, I had a piece of Voldemort's soul in my head."

"You WHAT?"

Harry ducked his head, unable to meet their eyes. "I had a piece of Voldemort's soul in my head," he repeated. "It was in my scar, that's why I had visions all last year, and why he couldn't possess me. And Dumbledore knew!" he ranted. "He knew and he wasn't going to tell me, he was just going to let me die for the greater good, that's why he never actually have me any real training." Harry's shoulders were shaking, the butterbeer churning in his gut.

Hermione looked just as sick as he felt, and Ron was wide-eyed and trembling. "I...its not your fault." Hermione said at last. "I'm not going to break it off, you're nothing like that...thing. Just...it's a little disturbing to think about, you know?"

"Dumbledore was going to let you die?" Ron shouted, making several people at other tables jump; they could hear the volume if not the words.

Harry sighed heavily. "That was my reaction too."

"Surely there is some way it could be removed? What if he could hear us right now!" That was Hermione.

"It's gone already," Harry told them. "It was destroyed by the whole ritual thing. I think the goblins could also have removed it."

"Then why didn't Dumbledore take you to the goblins?"

Harry took a deep swig of his butterbeer. "I have no idea. Absolutely no idea."

It was a long time before anyone spoke again.

"Ok, any more surprises?"

"Well..." Harry began, "Maybe. Apparently Snape fancied my mom. Also, we might have a two way mind link."

The looks on his friends' faces were priceless.

Hermione, for the first and last time he had known her, was totally speechless. Ron, however, spoke for both of them. "And you're only now mentioning this?"

"So how would a mindlink work?" asked Hermione, now that the surprise had somewhat worn off. She looked like she was itching to take notes. "Can you have mental conversations, or do you just hear his general thoughts? Is there any way to block it or stop it? How long will it last? Is that why you called me 'Miss Granger'? Does the link work all the time or just when you want it to? How did it activate? How-"

"Whoa, Hermione, slow down!" Harry told her at last. "Can you repeat all that?"

Hermione blushed and clasped her hands reflexively around her mug of butterbeer. "How did it activate? I assume that the ritual helped, but it only said 'potential mindlink' and so I didn't think-"

"Wait," Ron broke in, butterbeer froth still clinging to his upper lip, "I'm still back on 'Snape fancied your mum'?"

Harry sighed. "Yeah. Apparently they were best friends. Then they had a giant fight, and Mum started going out with my dad." He paused, processing Snape's irritated thoughts: That is private! Now it's going to be all over the school! Can't you just keep some things to yourself Potter?! Kindly tell Weasley and Granger that they will be rendered into potions ingredients if they gossip. Harry sighed, gulping a little. "Sorry Professor," he muttered aloud.

His friends jumped. "He's listening in? Like, right now?"

"I assure you that that is not my intent," Snape commented through Harry. The mind link, to answer your question Miss Granger, is permanent and connects us at all times except when one of us is drugged or asleep, although it allows for functional distance."

Hermione, as if losing patience with being unable to take proper notes, pulled a muggle pencil from the pocket of her jacket and began to scrawl on a butterbeer-stained napkin. Ron pushed his chair back, staring at Harry.

"Um. Excuse me if I'm a little unnerved by this."

"Ron, we all are!" said Hermione, exasperated. "But there's nothing we can do to change it, so it's useless to fuss."

"But think about it! We'll never be able to have a quiet moment, or sneak down to the kitchens after curfew, or, anything! Plus Harry can cheat of Snape's brain anytime he feels like it! It's an unfair advantage!"

The argument might have gone on longer, but at that moment, there sounded the faint pop of apparation in the street outside, and then distant screams. The anticipated Hogsmeade attack had at last come.

Harry was at once alert. "The attack. We gotta get back to Hogwarts."

Hermione stuffed her note-covered napkin in the back with her new books and pulled on her cloak, while Ron gulped the last of his butterbeer and Harry grabbed the bag with the Honeyduke's purchases. None of them noticed the chunky beetle with knobs on her antennae who took flight from behind the table display.

The streets of Hogsmeade were total chaos, especially for those who couldn't just apparate out or barricade themselves in locked and warded cottages. Death Eaters were everywhere, and not only that, but dementors, seemingly all the dementors of Azkaban, were drifting through the streets, drinking away every drop of happiness that could be mustered. Almost without thinking, the Golden Trio fell into a pattern, Ron blasting Death Eaters, Harry blasting dementors, and Hermione sending off an otter patronus to Professor Sprout, the chaperone assigned to their group.

The dementors grew closer, the chill and heaviness in the air so thick it was like wading through syrup. Harry began to falter, and Ron grew more sloppy at blocking with their effects, so that a Dark cutting curse got through and sliced into Harry's wand arm. The sudden shock of pain broke his fragile concentration. And suddenly memories were pouring through his mind.

Sirius, tumbling backwards through the veil. His juvenile father sneering at 'Snivelus' as the Mauraders hexed him. Voldemort's voice screaming "Kill the spare!", and Cedric collapsing lifeless. The world was spinning. Lily screaming "No! Not Harry, please not Harry!" Sirius again. Ron sacrificing himself to Mcgonagall's enchanted chess board. Everything was going hazy. Quirrelmort. The basilisk in second year. Umbridge's detention. And that was when everything faded to black.