Harry rolled his head, feeling the soft pillow below him. He furrowed his eyebrows, even as his eyes remained closed, as he tried to remember...something. His mind was fuzzy, the sleep slowly leaving him. He started to open his eyes, but then squeezed them shut, frowning as the fuzziness began to morph into a dull throbbing. He raised a hand to rub his temple only for the throbbing to jump to white hot knives slicing through his skull. He choked on a gasp and both hands flew to his head. He curled his fingers, nails digging into his scalp, and let out a whimper. He ground his teeth, holding back a scream.

"Drink," a voice said, muffled by the excruciating pain making a bass throb in his ears. He flinched away from the cold glass that touched his lip and whimpered again at the jolt of pain the movement caused in his already imploding skull. "Drink, child," the voice repeated more insistently.

When the feel of glass returned, it did so with gentle fingers pulling his clenched jaw down. Bitter liquid poured into his mouth and he swallowed automatically as it flowed to the back of his throat.

"Just relax," the voice murmured. "The pain will ease in a few moments."

Harry let out a shuddering breath as he tried to take deep breaths, desperate for the relief he was promised. It seemed to take forever. He was about ready to believe he'd been lied to when the pain changed, lessened. Eventually, he was free of the agony and his hands dropped from his head as he sunk exhaustedly into his pillows. He jumped when something cold was settled on his face and tucked over his ears.

"Easy," the voice said gently and Harry finally cracked his eyes open, finding it was his glasses that had been placed on him. He found Snape next to him, sitting on the edge of the bed. He frowned at the man's proximity and what he thought was worry in the normally stoic face. "How are you feeling?"

Harry focused on his body, feeling a strange sensation in his right hand. He lifted it, frowning at the bandages wrapped around his palm. As he stared blankly at his hand, the haze in his mind began to shift, allowing fractured, slow-moving memories to break through. His frown deepened as he remembered and he fought not to shudder as he became aware of what he could feel in the back of his mind. He winced at the familiar slithering around his spine and the whisper in his ear.

Long, pale fingers wrapped around his hand, pulling it down and breaking his stare. His eyes rose to Snape's, the slithering and whispering disappearing as their gazes met, as he recognized the concern he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before or, at least, not since Sirius.

"You're here," he said dumbly, watching their slow-motion interaction by the lake play in his mind.

Snape held his eyes oddly before looking down at Harry's hand that he still held, lifting the bandages to examine whatever wound lay beneath. "I said I would be."

"You called me Harry."

"The occasion called for it."

"You pushed me."

Snape dropped his hand and gave him a deadpanned look before snorting lightly. "Not for the first or last time, I'm sure."

Harry gave a half-smile of amusement.

"Now, how are you feeling?" Snape asked.

Harry's smile disappeared. "I can feel it, in my head. I feel him. He's been there all this time."

Snape sighed and nodded, and Harry became aware of the man's magic. It felt mostly the same except there was a dull throb he'd never felt before as well as the soft flutter of sympathy. Meeting the man's eyes, he watched the briefest flash of Snape carding fingers through his hair as he slept. He was stunned at the care he so rarely experienced and hadn't been sure Snape was capable of, particularly towards him. When the memory flash disappeared, Harry focused on the throb, cringing when doing so made the slithering and whispering return.

"I can hear it, the locket," Harry muttered. "You feel it. I can feel your Mark."

Snape sighed again. "There does appear to be a connection between the Mark and horcruxes. Given your various connections to the Dark Lord, you appear to have a further connection to the Dark Mark. The extent of that connection, however...I do not know."

Harry's face crumpled slightly and he rolled his head to stare at the ceiling. "You shouldn't have stopped me. All this time, it's all been my fault. I have to die."

"No," Snape argued sharply. "You do not have to die and you will not die."

Harry rolled his head again to glare at the professor. "No? Then, tell me, what do we do about the piece of Voldemort living inside me? You know, the thing that's kept the bastard alive all this time? The thing Dumbledore obviously knew about and agrees my death is the solution? What other options are there? How else do I fix what I've done?"

Snape's gaze turned piercing. "And what have you done?"

Harry sat up quickly, still glaring. "Everything! I kept him alive! I brought him back! Every single person that has been hurt, that has gone missing, that has died is because of me! You are trapped serving him because of me! Malfoy has been forced into a Mark under threat of death at sixteen because of me! Our world is crumbling because of me!" he yelled. "What haven't I done?"

"Turn into the Dark Lord and actually do all those things," Snape said pointedly.

"He is inside of me! How do I know what's me and what's him? What if that part of him in me is all I am?"

"You are you, Potter."

"Who am I? I have no idea who I am and this is why! I am a horcrux, his horcrux! I caused all of this!"

"Then explain this," Snape said sharply, pulling the necklace from his pocket and tossing it on the bed between Harry's legs. "The Dark Lord had a horcrux prior to that Halloween, meaning he would have survived and returned even without you. You are not to blame and you do not deserve to die."

"You're wrong!" Harry shouted, shoving the locket away to try and stop the whispering and slickness sliding along his spine. He felt tears begin to burn his eyes. "He's inside me. I can't be the reason he lives, the reason he wins. Even Dumbledore knows I have to die."

He felt the anger that flashed in the dark eyes ripple through the man's magic.

"You are not going to die," Snape repeated firmly.

Harry shook his head, tears nearly too much to hold back. "There's no other way. I can't live like this. I can't live knowing what I am."

"You can because we will find a way to destroy it without destroying you," Snape told him. "We will learn from the others."

Harry frowned. "Others?"

"I am convinced there are more than you and this locket. We will find them and we will learn from them," Snape replied.

Harry's frown turned into a curious, confused stare. "You keep saying ‘we'."

"I recall telling you to fight with me," Snape said, making Harry more confused at the man's apparent conviction. "I have no intention of going back on my word. Do you?"

"I don't..." Harry shook his head again and dropped his eyes, feeling his head spinning. "I don't know. I...I..."

"Harry."

He looked up at hearing his name from this man for only the second time ever.

"Fight with me," Snape said earnestly.

"For what?" Harry whispered, feeling on that ledge once more.

"For you. For me. Fight and I will help you get the life you deserve. Just do not give up," Snape told him.

A single tear fell down Harry's cheek as he gazed at the professor. "I don't know how much longer I can fight."

He was teetering, so terrified to fall, but so willing to go at the same time.

"We will do it together," Snape said. "Let me help you."

"Why?"

"Because you are everything you think you're not and I will not let this world erase that. I will not let you lose yourself before you can find who you are."

Harry stared at him, feeling more tears fall.

"Fight with me, child," Snape said with a hint of pleading Harry had never heard from the man before.

One step back, creating a tiny distance from the ledge. 

"If you stay with me," Harry murmured and Snape reached out to rest a hand on Harry's.

"To whatever end."

Harry huffed as he stared at the hedges. "I hate mazes," he grumbled. "Why did it have to be a maze?"

"The unknown of when and who you will face," Snape replied easily.

"You just want to be able to hex me without anyone knowing it was you," Harry sniped only to yelp at the sharp sting hitting the side of his neck. He glared at the man's raised eyebrow.

"I have no qualms about people knowing of my perfectly justified hexing," Snape said.

Harry snorted, rubbing his sore neck. "Justified, right," he scoffed. "This one better not try to eat me or have a Portkey in the middle." He shouted in protest again when a hand came up and swatted him upside the head.

"Idiot," Snape sniped.

"Bastard," Harry retorted.

"Behave, children," Kingsley said condescendingly while Fleur, the twins, and Charlie snickered around them.

"You have avoided using your magic long enough," Snape continued. "Training will resume and you will begin using your magic in your duels."

"Your goal today is to either identify all of us and defeat all of us or make it out of the maze without encountering any of us," Kingsley told him.

"Oh, is that all?" Harry said with a half-hearted sneer, rolling his eyes.

Kingsley just gave a lopsided grin. "You can only use your new magic."

"And how is this fair? It's six on one, you're an Auror, you're...you," he gestured somewhat aggressively at Snape who arched a brow again, "and you're all older than me. Honestly, it's the tournament all over again."

"Do stop whining," Snape said, earning a scowl. "Aside from the fact that your excess magic from the Dark Lord is ten times more powerful than any of our magic, you also have magic that gives you abilities we do not possess."

Harry huffed again. "Fine. Try to keep the torture to a minimum, yeah?"

"Avoid me or defeat me and it won't have to be a concern," Snape said casually.

"Right, just that easy," Harry griped.

Snape just smirked at him and quickly Apparated him to the center of the maze, Disapparating away just as quickly to leave Harry alone. As he waited for the sparks that would signal the others' readiness, his mind drifted to the previous evening.

After their conversation and Snape's promise, the man had remained by his side, summoning dinner for him from downstairs and keeping close watch for any complications from his attempt at magical mental suicide. The locket had been placed in a box and banished to Snape's room for a later date of examination. They had explored Harry's connection a bit more, determining what he could feel from Snape's Mark and finding Harry could feel the Mark's magic, the way it wrapped around Snape's and recognized the same magic in Harry. He could feel that part of himself reaching for Snape's Mark and the locket. They became certain there was far more to Harry's connection to the things created by Voldemort and agreed to explore it at another time.

The main thing Harry remembered and that drew his attention was Snape. The professor had been there like he said he would be and had made that promise, that promise that felt like it meant everything, that promise that had made him take that step back. He was sure the professor didn't even realize what he'd done to Harry with that promise, had no idea the way it echoed in Harry's mind, had no idea the way Harry looked for it in the man's magic. Snape had been there and had stayed there, the last thing Harry saw and felt when he fell asleep. Snape had been there, Snape and that promise, and, somehow, it hadn't seemed quite so dark anymore.

The green sparks flying into the air from six different directions interrupted his musing, telling him his training session had officially begun. He didn't move for a few moments, contemplating his strategy and reaching out to see if any of his opponents were nearby. He was certain he had no hope of escaping the maze without running into any of them, no matter how much Empathy Magic he used, but he was also certain he had no hope of defeating all of them either.

He blew out a short, harsh breath.

He was screwed.

Taking a deep breath, Harry approached the center's entrance and peeked around the hedges, reaching out with his magic again. It took a few seconds, but soon he felt the swirling magic of one of the twins. 

Their magic fascinated him. It was nearly identical in the way it felt, both a loose, swirling sensation, but he'd begun to notice the smallest difference which allowed him to differentiate between Fred and George. In Fred's magic, he could feel a light static that didn't exist in George's magic. He didn't know what it meant; he was still learning through his training and book on Magical Theory. The other thing that was different about their magic was the way he could feel it always reaching for each other and connecting. This concept was one he did know about. There was a rare instance in which a magic core was split between two people for various reasons and the two cores searched for each other. It was more often seen in siblings, but sometimes occurred in unrelated people. It was the basis for the soulmate legends, known as Magic Mates or Shared Cores.

He could tell George was nearby, likely just a few hedges away, so he went to the right towards the magic. Avoidance wasn't happening, so duelling it was. As he weaved through the hedges, he could feel George moving and also began to vaguely feel the fluttery magic he knew belonged to Fleur. He kept only a fraction of his attention on her; she wasn't too close.

At a fork, Harry could feel George down the right path which curved, blocking the view. He headed down the path and threw up a shield in seconds to block the hex George fired off. He pushed his magic at the hedges and vines reached out, grabbing for George who sliced his wand, cutting and burning the hedges.

"Thought you didn't want the maze to eat you?" George said with a grin as he cast a spell Harry read as a Blasting Curse. He dodged, letting it explode the hedge behind him.

"Yeah, me. Didn't say anything about you," Harry quipped, gathering the leafy debris and sending it to whip around George, the sticks and leaves scratching the redhead and blocking his vision.

George barked a laugh and cast a charm to blow the debris away, following it up with a Stunning Spell. Harry deflected, making the spell zip over George's shoulder. Despite knowing they were allowing any and all magic, he was still surprised when he read the Bone Breaking Curse George sent at him. He managed to block the curse and wrapped his magic around George's hand, squeezing in an attempt to make the twin drop his wand. He saw George wincing, but the older boy still managed to cast a few spells in succession, the Cutting Curse catching Harry in the side of the neck while the Stunning Spell and Tripping Jinx missed. Harry tightened his magic while sending more at the ground under George's feet. It began to quickly liquify and George was steadily pulled down. George's attention was divided between his sinking body and crushing hand, and, as he sunk to his chest, he unwillingly released his wand. Harry quickly pushed it just out of George's reach and stopped the pulling quicksand he'd created.

Harry laughed triumphantly and took off, leaving behind his spluttering friend.

He came upon Fleur and Fred together. Spell Reading in their duel became far more difficult, their spells coming faster and multiple at the same time. He found himself challenged trying to read multiple spells at the same time while also trying to respond. By the time he managed to stun Fred and restrain Fleur, he could feel exhaustion already beginning to set in.

Leaving them behind, he continued through the maze, searching for the magic of the remaining three. He could feel Snape-it seemed like he could always feel Snape-and could tell the man was quite a distance from him. He could also feel the Dark Mark's magic mixed with Snape's and could feel the way a part of him reached for it. He did his best to ignore the Mark, trying to focus solely on the feel of Snape's magic and on finding the others. It was hard. It was as though now he'd acknowledged the horcrux, it had come alive and any attention given to it or Snape's Mark made whatever connection existed strengthen, desperate for attention and control.

He pushed past the Mark and shoved the horcrux into its corner in his mind, and searched for other magic as he navigated aimlessly through the maze. He was winding through a spiral path when he became aware of Charlie, his magic like a strong wind or the feeling of air whipping around him when flying. It was warm, strong, and encompassing.

He was about to continue and find Charlie when he felt something behind him. There was more magic, a deep thrumming magic, and a spell was coming towards him. Reading the spell, he ducked swiftly, feeling it brush his hair as the Blood Boiling Curse flew over him. He spun around to face Kingsley, deflecting a strong spell he could tell was offensive and incapacitating, but he didn't know what it was specifically. He responded with a rope of thick black mist that he sent to wrap around Kingsley, slithering up the man's body and wrapping around his neck. Kingsley began shaking, but quickly dispersed the mist, cancelling its freezing, suffocating effects.

Harry was distracted from Kingsley's curse, despite it wrapping around him and feeling like his core was being squeezed, when the back of his shoulder exploded in pain. He felt his skin sizzle and threw his own fireball at Charlie who blocked it, making it explode across his invisible barrier. He was yanked to the ground by some invisible force and groaned at the impact. Whatever Kingsley had been doing ended only to be followed up by a jolt of electricity coursing through his body. As he twitched, ropes began wrapping around him.

Harry sent a hard blast at both Kingsley and Charlie, pushing both back and interrupting their spells. He threw up walls of a shimmering grey mist that encircled the both of them. The barriers pulsed with every spell that hit them, Kingsley and Charlie fighting to break his magical walls. He scrambled to his feet just in time to throw himself against one of the hedges to avoid the spells that shattered his barriers. Kingsley's blue spell that Harry could read as something painful and Charlie's Burning Spell collided, exploding into sparks that singed his face and hands, and melted the foliage around him.

When the Cruciatus hit him, Harry writhed into the hedge wall. It was only held for a few short seconds and Harry immediately became aware of Snape's magic before the man even stepped into view. He fought to respond to the three spells sent at him, reading a Cutting Curse, a Puncturing Hex, and a Muscle Tightening Hex.

"Hate that bloody spell," Harry grumbled as he blocked Snape's hex, dodged Kingsley's, and took the hit from Charlie's on his collarbone. He used his magic to try and tear Charlie's wand from his hand while attempting to temporarily blind Kingsley by clouding his vision. It left him open to Snape's curse which wrapped around him, leaving behind thin slices everywhere the invisible ropes touched.

Harry frowned when he began to feel a strange pulling unrelated to any of the magic he was casting or under. It didn't take long to realize the pull he was feeling was his horcrux and Snape's Mark reaching for each other. He tried to pull away, tried to prevent the magics meeting, but the pull to connect was stronger. 

At the same time Snape made to cast what Harry could tell was something Dark, Harry found himself suddenly somewhere else. He was somehow looking at himself, his eyes distant and glowing red. He felt the Dark Magic building and instinctively turned to Kingsley, seeing the curse hit the Auror in the chest. The man flew backwards and hit the ground, and Harry was back in his own body. 

He stumbled, falling against the hedge at his back and cancelling the magic he still had wrapped around Charlie's wand. 

Harry watched with wide eyes as Snape hurried over to Kingsley, pulling the Auror's shirt open and pressing his wand tip to the man's chest, undoing whatever damage had been done.

"Hey, you okay?"

He blinked dumbly at Charlie, mind racing as he tried to understand what had just happened.

"Professor," he said, gaining Snape's and Kingsley's attention, the Auror clearly fine. "I...I think I was in your mind. I think...I think I connected through your Mark and...I think I controlled you."

He and Snape stared at each other, each stunned by the new, unclear development.