Harry hissed at the pain in his shoulder and yanked away from Snape, spinning around to glare at the man. "Bloody hell, leave it alone!"

Snape grabbed his arm and tried to turn him around again to have access to the bared shoulder. "You are injured and it must be taken care of."

"Harry, you really should let him," Charlie interjected from his spot at the dining table. "I got you pretty good."

Harry pulled from Snape's grip again. "It's fine. I've been burned before. Deal with it later."

"We will not. We will deal with it now," Snape snapped, continuing to fight with Harry over which way he was facing.

"I'm pretty sure the whole connecting to your Dark Mark and controlling you thing is more important than a burn," Harry argued, struggling to make Snape release him.

"And I am ‘pretty sure' that, unless your horcrux and my Mark are about to disappear, it is a problem that will still be there in ten minutes," Snape argued back.

"So will the burn," Harry retorted.

"Except what happened between us is not something that can become infected and make you ill or kill you."

"You don't know that."

"Harry!" Snape snapped loudly and Harry stared at him, Kingsley and Charlie doing the same in shock at the man using Harry's first name. "We would have been done this by now. Stop being difficult."

Harry huffed and sat backwards in one of the kitchen chairs, leaning on the back. "You stop being difficult," he muttered petulantly, scowling at the snort he heard from Snape.

"Very mature," Snape said dryly.

Harry rolled his eyes and winced as his burned shoulder began to receive its much needed treatment. His arm was pulled from his shirt sleeve completely to give Snape full access to the wound which was cleansed with water before a paste was spread over it.

"I am sorry about that," Charlie said, nodding to Harry's shoulder.

"It's fine. Again, not the first time I've been burned," Harry dismissed before looking at the redhead. "Though, that dragon was supplied by you."

Charlie pinkened just slightly and smiled sheepishly. "Just doing what I was told. Though, tough luck getting the Horntail."

Harry scoffed. "Are you kidding? It's me. I was never going to get anything else." There was a sharp pain in his shoulder and he yelped unintentionally before shooting a scowl over his shoulder at Snape. "You're doing that on purpose."

Snape didn't say anything. He just raised an eyebrow and massaged more paste into the burn, clearly a bit more aggressively than necessary. Harry groaned.

"Gods, you're a bastard." He narrowed his eyes at Charlie and Kingsley when he noticed the two failing to hide grins of amusement. "Go to hell," he grumbled, pulling chuckles from Charlie and Kingsley, and he felt the humour dance in Snape's magic.

"Your magic is brilliant, by the way," Charlie said and Harry looked at him in surprise as Snape began applying a bandage to his shoulder. "Empathy Magic is amazing."

"And the power you have is remarkable," Kingsley added.

"Really?"

Charlie looked at him curiously. "What else would it be?"

Feeling Snape finish with his shoulder, he shrugged back into his sleeve. "Scary," he said shortly. "I've seen how people react to unexplainable magic or, at least, magic I'm not supposed to have, according to them."

"The world is full of morons," Snape said, leaning against the island dividing the kitchen and dining room with his arms crossed. "You have, unfortunately, encountered many of them and many of the extreme cases."

Harry glanced at him with a lopsided grin. "Thought I was one of them?"

Snape smirked at him. "Sometimes."

Harry rolled his eyes again. "Can we deal with what happened now?"

"What did happen?" Kingsley asked.

"I don't really know except I connected to the Dark Mark. I can feel the magic of the horcrux and the Mark always reaching for each other," Harry told them. "I tried not to let them connect, but they were too strong."

"Such a connection is not unexpected," Snape said. "You host the Dark Lord's soul and magic, and I host his blood and magic."

Harry looked at the professor questioningly.

"You witnessed Draco Malfoy's Marking ceremony," Snape replied. "The Dark Lord's blood is used to create the Mark."

"So...what?" Harry said. "I can connect to anyone with a Mark now?"

"And control them?" Kingsley added.

"Is that what you did?" Charlie asked Harry.

"I don't know for sure, but I think so," Harry answered. "The spell was aimed at me and I turned to aim at Kingsley instead."

"What do you remember?" Kingsley asked, looking at Snape.

"I was not aware of any possession or other presence in my mind or body, but I also know I did not consciously choose to aim somewhere else," Snape explained. "We will have to explore the connection in more depth and both ends of it before we can make any determinations."

"How do we do that?" Harry wondered.

"Occlumency, experimentation, and copious amounts of research," Snape said matter-of-factly.

Harry groaned and dropped his head onto his folded arms on the table. He heard the others laugh again and Snape's magic continued to dance with amusement. He lifted his head and rested his chin on his arms when he heard a chair scrape across the floor.

"Well, I'm off. I still have actual employment," Kingsley said with a sigh as he stood. "Be ready for Saturday, kid."

Harry just copied the sigh at the reminder of their duel in two days as the Auror grinned and left to return to the Ministry. He'd done pretty well in his duels so far, only losing to Bill and McGonagall, but he was not looking forward to the coming weekend. He was scheduled to duel both Kingsley and Snape, and he'd already resigned himself to spectacular defeats. He had also resigned himself to having no choice but to use his new magic now, forced to risk frightening everyone else in the house.

"Come on, Potter."

Harry blinked, pulled from his musings, and turned to Snape and Charlie, the latter of whom was in the process of making a cup of tea while writing a letter with the items he had apparently summoned sometime in the last few minutes.

"What?" he said dumbly.

"Come," Snape repeated. "Let us examine this new development."

"What? Now?"

"You were quite insistent on exploring the event now."

Harry blew out a hard breath. "Fine."

Standing, he let Snape guide him upstairs and into his room. He kicked off his shoes and sat on his bed, crossing his legs and leaning on his knees while watching Snape pull the desk chair over.

"So, what are we doing?" Harry asked as Snape settled.

"We are going to examine the horcrux," Snape told him.

"Is that a good idea considering what happened with the locket?" Harry wondered, hesitant. "Or what just happened? What if I possess you again?"

"I do not believe you possessed me. It is the result of a magical connection. I believe it may be similar to your ability to see through the Dark Lord," Snape explained. "We will know more once we learn about your horcrux and my Mark."

Harry nodded, still nervous.

"I will be with you," Snape added in a gentler tone.

"What if he recognizes you?" Harry asked. "He can see through me, too, and he might be able to tell you're in my mind."

"It is a possibility," Snape admitted. "Something we will deal with should it come up."

Harry shook his head. "I won't be the reason you die. I can't kill someone else."

"I am a spy. If I die, that is the reason, not you," Snape said firmly. "Additionally, I am not leaving you to deal with this on your own and, besides, we apparently have a connection. Perhaps it can be used."

Harry considered the professor for several moments before finally nodding again.

"We are just going to look and determine what it appears to be capable of," Snape told him. "Relax. Do not attempt to Occlude. We want full access and need to know where the horcrux resides."

Harry took a deep breath and met Snape's eyes as the man's wand came up to touch his temple. The spell was muttered and they were pulled into his mind, back at the lake's edge in the forest. It had mostly returned to normal after the locket ordeal, the little coloured orbs looking like fireflies that were his thoughts and memories floating around. A light breeze was rustling the trees, indicating simmering emotion, and the green mist was still everywhere, mixing with the coloured mists in each path to and from which the corresponding orbs travelled. 

The main difference was the lake. It wasn't rippling as usual, but, instead, acting as a Pensieve and playing snippets of a memory. He watched with a deep furrow as Sirius fell through the veil, as he screamed himself hoarse while Lupin held him back, and as he destroyed Dumbledore's office, screaming his desire to die.

Harry glanced at Snape, finding the man also watching the memory with a frown of his own. When he automatically tried to reach out and feel Snape's magic only to be unable to, he realized how normal his Empathy Magic had apparently become to him. He used it instinctively and naturally, as though he'd always had the ability.

"It's been on my mind more since the locket," Harry told the man. "It, um, it brought up these kinds of things, used those emotions to make me do what it wanted."

"What did it want you to do?" Snape asked.

"Be angry. Hate. Hurt people," Harry said shortly, watching the memory replay again and again. "It used Sirius to convince me it was what I deserved because I killed him so I'm capable of what it wanted and am just like them...like him."

"And the suicide attempt?"

"That was me," Harry admitted, staring at himself screaming. "I wanted to die."

A hand came to rest on the back of his shoulder and he looked up at Snape again. He didn't need to feel Snape's magic to see the question not being vocalized.

"I don't want to right this second, but, yeah, I still do," Harry replied. "How could I not? I killed the only family I had left, the only person that actually cared about me."

"Potter--"

"What? I lost ‘Harry' privileges already?" he tried to joke.

Snape gave him a look of exasperation. "Harry," he said as though inconvenienced and Harry chuckled despite the serious moment. "You did not kill Black. It was not your fault."

Harry's smile vanished and he gazed at the man, pained. "No? Even if we forget about the whole horcrux thing, which is pretty hard to do, you're saying he wasn't there because of me? Because I let Voldemort in? Because I couldn't be bothered to do the one thing that would have saved him? Or remember that stupid mirror? You think he wouldn't still be here if it weren't for me?"

Snape considered him for a moment. "You made mistakes and those mistakes led to a terrible, dangerous situation in which others were harmed. That does not mean you are at fault."

"He was there because of me," Harry argued, "because I was stupid and--"

"A child," Snape interrupted. "A child with something we didn't understand."

Harry shook his head, still set in his denial and guilt. "I didn't try at Occlumency. I knew it could protect everyone, but I couldn't do it. Every time I had that dream, that vision, I watched. I knew I shouldn't, but I needed to see even though everyone was telling me to stop. I had to see, I had to know what was being kept from me. I didn't want them to stop and Sirius died because of it."

"That still does not make it your fault," Snape told him. "You made mistakes, but no one died by your hand."

Harry gazed at the man, feeling the words trying to penetrate his veil of grief, and had a thought. "Have you ever considered applying that to yourself with the prophecy and my mother?"

Snape blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"You made mistakes that led to a situation where people died," Harry repeated the professor's words. "You didn't kill her."

"I am the reason the Dark Lord targeted her, targeted you," Snape argued stiffly, clearly uncomfortable.

"And I'm the reason Sirius was at the Ministry," Harry retorted. "You can't be at fault if I'm not. You can't have it both ways, Professor."

"Your mistake was in an effort to protect someone you love," Snape said. "Mine was to protect myself."

Harry cocked his head to the side. "Does that matter?"

Snape furrowed his brow. "Shouldn't it?"

Harry shrugged. "You're the one trying to convince me I didn't kill the only thing I had in this world. You tell me."

Snape just stared at him and Harry couldn't help quirk a partial smile, semi-amused that he'd thrown the professor.

"Have I made you speechless?" he quipped, hoping to lift the atmosphere slightly. "Surely this is a first."

"You have never been around when I've learned of your ridiculous adventures," Snape replied dryly and Harry laughed.

"Sorry ‘bout that," Harry said, laughing again when Snape rolled his eyes and shoved Harry's shoulder to make him turn away from the lake and start walking through his mindscape.

"You really aren't," Snape grumbled.

Harry grinned, holding back a snicker, and continued leading the way through his mind, trying to find where the green mist was coming from. He could feel the emotion of every coloured memory that brushed by, but he kept his focus on the mist. It was a duller feeling, one that was seeping into every part of him, tingeing everything. He knew it was muted because of what he'd tried to do, almost as though it were hiding now to lull Harry back into a state of unawareness about what existed in him. If it could do that, it could try and take him again.

"Professor?"

Snape hummed in response.

Harry hesitated, wondering if he wanted an answer to this particular question. "The horcrux, the connection we have..." he trailed off for a few seconds. "Would it have ever been possible to block him? Was Occlumency ever possible?"

Snape was quiet for a while. "I do not know enough about horcruxes to say for certain, but it is possible that such a connection cannot be blocked. Not by regular Mind Magic means."

Harry chewed his lip, nodding slowly. He still wasn't sure he wanted the answer. Neither of them said anything else as they wandered the tree line where the green mist was thickest. He peered through the dense branches and leaves and bushes.

"There's a path here," Harry said, pushing aside a large, leafy branch to reveal a very narrow pathway. Gazing down the path, there was a nearly solid wall of the swirling green mist. He sighed, the heaviness of the horcrux far stronger now. "This is it."

Snape didn't say anything, but gently pressed him forward. They followed the small path, becoming surrounded by the green mist. Walking through the wall was cold and it thrummed around him like a low bass again, though, there was a pulsing that made him look at the professor. Snape had his left arm raised just slightly and the mist was wrapping around it lightly.

Harry frowned, but they continued through the fog until they were on the other side and his eyes widened.

It was as though they had stepped into a pitch black cave. It was an abyss, a void with no end. What sat in the center was far more of a concerning sight, however. There was a large lime green orb with dozens of sharp strands reaching into the darkness, creating the appearance of an ominous spiderweb.

Harry stepped closer, staring at the pulsing orb. He slowly circled it, passing through the strands and shuddering at the feeling of slickness each exuded. He paused in his circling when he noticed a thin wispy thread of gold attached to the orb and disappearing into the surrounding void. He looked closer only to notice a second strand, this one silver, twirled around the gold and also attached to both the green orb and the black nothingness. He frowned, lifting a hand to touch the two strings and watching them twist around his fingers, but their connection to the orb never broke.

"Professor?" Harry didn't look away from the magic, but Snape soon stood next to him. "What are they? Why are they attached to the horcrux?"

"Your magic." Snape pointed to the gold thread. "Your soul." He pointed to the silver one.

Harry looked at him sharply. "My soul?"

Snape nodded. "The horcrux has intertwined with every part of you, it would seem."

A jolt of fear and disgust coursed through him, but he was distracted by the tightness he heard in the man's voice. When he saw the smallest twitch in Snape's eye, he glanced down at the man's arm. A green rope had extended from the orb and was wrapped around the professor's left forearm, pulsing every few seconds. He turned back to the horcrux with another deep frown.

"I believe we have seen enough," Snape said.

Harry shook his head. "I need to know how far this goes. We need to know if it's just you, if it's just the locket."

"Potter, we don't know enough," Snape said.

"Which is why we're here, to find out," Harry said and he moved his hand until it was millimeters from the horcrux. He glanced at Snape. "Don't leave."

"Harry, don't!"

Harry pressed his palm to the orb and was sucked into its existence. In the first few moments, he seemed to be nowhere, but voices echoed around him and anger, hate, and fear flooded him.

"You look like him ... that filthy Muggle ..."

"The Muggle abandoned them, the child?"

"As they deserved."

"Who are you?"

"Hello, Father."

A sharp pain tore through his skull as the voices morphed into new ones.

"You won't tell anyone, will you, Tom?"

"Of course not, dear Hepzibah. I won't tell a soul."

Another pain and the voices changed again.

"Well, aren't you a handsome one?"

"Filthy Muggle."

Harry gritted his teeth as the pain continued and he listened to the new voices.

"'Ave you ‘eard the story ‘bout this place?"

"I have actually."

More pain and more voices.

"Not Harry! Take me!"

"Move aside!"

"Not my son! Harry, I love you."

Multiple voices overlapped as they shrieked and Harry couldn't stop from crying out with them as they deafened him and pain scorched him. He thought that was the end, but then it felt like he was being pulled, yanked somewhere far away. He was suddenly staring at a white, bony hand as it stroked along shining black and green scales before his eyes moved and he was staring at a sobbing woman levitating above the floor in front of him. He had no chance to understand what he'd just seen as he was pulled away again and suddenly looking at himself, a wand to his temple and a hand on his knee as he sat on his bed. Again, he didn't get to comprehend, pulled away for a third time and he was seeing a strangely shaped house. That view was there for a split second before he was gazing at a thin, pale arm, the white skin broken by the gleaming black skull and snake brand. A small, pale hand covered it and a tear hit the back of the hand before he was suddenly sucked away violently. 

For a second, he was back in his mind, looking at the horcrux again, but then it pulsed and he was thrown from his own mind. He drew in a gasping breath from the aggression and had to catch himself with his hands on the bed to stop from falling backwards. Snape had also pulled away from him sharply, breathing hard.

Harry's eyes darted around as he remembered, trying to understand. 

"Harry? Are you alright? What happened?"

He forced his eyes to focus on Snape who was looking at him with clear worry and Harry could feel it in the man's magic. He took a few moments to clear his thoughts, searching for anything intelligible that the professor could understand.

"I...I heard voices," he started, remembering the first bit after he touched the horcrux. "Then, I...I think...I think I just saw through multiple Death Eaters. Including Draco Malfoy."

Snape's eyes widened even as the man's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Mind Hunting."

Harry just stared, lost and overwhelmed by what had happened and what he didn't understand. He started to ask what the professor was talking about only for his scar to erupt with agony at the same time Snape hissed and grabbed his left forearm.