It was dark and Harry's fingers felt numb. He opened his eyes and knew right away that he was having vision from Voldemort. It wasn’t like the normal vision. It was like he was watching a muggle television and the timing was really off in an off way. This wasn’t the present....this was the future. Uncontrollably, Harry felt himself walk closer to the large stone door with torches on either side. There was a big, wooden knocker carved to look like a snake slithering around the words "Snape Manor." The door opened, and Harry looked around still not controlling his actions. There were potions everywhere. The big fireplace that was off to the room in the left was lit and cackling. A maroon, plush chair sat right in front of the massive fireplace. Harry looked in the chair and saw the owner of the house, Severus Snape.

"You betrayed our master! You betrayed him and you shall pay!" a dark voice whispered from behind him. Snape jumped out of his chair, and Harry could see where the voice came from.

Lucius Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle senior, and Avery Knott stood in a square formation with wands pointed. "Avada Kedavra!" Malfoy hissed, and a green beam shot out and hit Snape in the chest. Snape fell down dead.

"No!" Harry yelled, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't control his actions at all. He just watched Snape die at the hands of a Malfoy. Harry looked over the fireplace, and the clock stroke midnight. Soon, everything sped up, and Harry felt himself backing out of the house in rapid pace.

Harry jerked awake, and found himself where he had fallen asleep. He was still at the Dursley's, and it was still just a week after school had let out. Harry looked at the clock. It was 10:45 p.m.

10:45 that meant that he still had some time. The order members wouldn’t believe him if he told them about his vision. What if it was planted like Sirius’ was? No... it couldn’t be. Voldemort wouldn’t think Harry wanted to save Snape... This had to be real... It had to be! Harry looked at the clock again and realized in shock that 15 minutes had gone by. He didn’t have much time. Snape would be dead within the hour. Harry had to do something! Please let this not be fake! Harry jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs without even bothering to put on his shoes. But he paused at the bottom of the stairs. There would be someone from the Order watching his house. They would notice him leaving, and he didn't have time to explain what he was doing. There wasn't time. Harry rushed back up the stairs and grabbed his invisibility cloak, his shoes and his wand.

Harry quickly ran outside into the dark night, avoided all things that he could bump into, and took off down the street. Snape saw him as he did this. It was his turn to keep watch on Potter and Dumbledore thought that if the order members were to properly keep an eye on the-boy-who-lived they had to take the very rare potion that let people see beyond invisibility cloaks and charms. Snape became angered as he saw Potter run. The careless, unappreciative spoiled brat.... Snape had no choice but to run after him; granted he wasn't as fast, but he could Apparate every so often.

Harry stopped. What now? Where was he to go...? He had to go to the Snape manor, but he didn't have a way to get there.

Harry ran past the familiar houses and trees of his neighborhood. He ran past the empty swings and park benches until he reached the end of edge of the neighborhood. Harry wasn't sure exactly how to get to Snape's manor, but in the distance he saw an oddly shaped tree with a broken branch at the top that he recalled from his vision. He ran to the tree and then he saw a broken gate and then an overgrown garden. From the garden, he looked all around him. He didn't see anything that looked familiar, but it was dark. He couldn't really seem much of anything. But he had to get to the house. Harry distinctly remembered the cracked stone door and lit torches of Snape manor. He pictured them in his head as clearly as he could. He had to get there. Harry closed his eyes and imagined the torches and the bright light they emitted. He didn't have much time.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was still standing in the over-grown garden. He hadn't gone anywhere. 'What were you thinking, Potter? You can't Apparate!" Harry thought.

'You had better learn quickly if you want Snape to live through the night,' Harry retorted.

'Yeah, and what makes you think I want that?'

'Concentrate!'

Harry felt the warmth of the torch light on his face even before he opened his eyes.

Snape was shocked when he saw Potter disappear with a 'pop'. Where could he have gone? Harry Potter was gone! He had to tell Albus and the order immediately and the fastest way he could do that was through the fireplace in his manor. He apparated as quickly as he could without causing a splinch and was soon as the back entrance of his manor.

Harry grabbed the doorknob and tried to open the door, but his attempt was futile. "Alohamora," he whispered and the door opened. Easy enough... Harry walked in, and the scene was just as it was in his vision. Now, Snape should be in the chair near the fireplace but...there was no chair...and the fire wasn’t lit-

"Ah...Potter, we have been waiting for you," a voice said from his right. Harry whipped around with his wand in his hand to see the four deatheaters that had been in his vision.

He'd been set up again. Harry felt his grip on his wand tighten. His fingers cramped. It was so obvious, but was it? Why would Voldemort think that he would want to save Snape? Or was Voldemort testing Snape as well? It must have been Snape that was watching him that night. Maybe Snape was here?

"Well, are you just going to stand there or will you at least put up some kind of fight for us, little Potter?"

Harry just had to buy some time until Snape got here. But what if Snape wasn't coming? Harry had been wearing his invisibility cloak, and he had apparated; even if Snape had seen him, how would he know where he was?

Harry didn’t let down his stance. "Expelliarmus!" he said but Lucius blocked it. "Potter, do you really think you can beat us?"

"I have before!" Harry sneered. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Again Malfoy blocked it but made no move to hex him. They were silent for a moment before Harry took off running. He had to go somewhere where they couldn't go. He had to set up wards and fast! He ran into the basement and put a heavy locking and unbreakable charm on the door. Harry started saying the spell for wards that would make it so no one could get in or out of the basement.

Harry didn't know that Snape was furiously running through the back door of the basement. Harry finished the wards, and with a crack, he knew they were successful. He ran to find a back door and quickly put the same locking and unbreakable spell on it.

Snape was looking for his floo powder so he could go alert Albus about Potter, when he saw someone behind a bookshelf. He then realized who it was. "Potter? What are you doing in my house?" He exclaimed in disgust and confusion.

"I...I was," I was trying to save your arse, that's what I was doing, Harry thought. But he knew he couldn't say that now. Now that he had been caught in a trap by Voldemort again.

"Nevermind," Snape snarled. "I don't have time to stand here and listen to you try to make excuses for your stupidity."

"I thought you were in trouble...I had a vision and-" The sentence was interrupted by yells of rage from the deatheaters outside the wards.

"Potter what is going on?" Snape asked hurriedly.

"It's deatheaters," Harry said without thought. "They were waiting for me. Voldemort planted a vision of you getting killed, so I thought I had to save you. You weren't here though but they were. I put wards on the basement. They won't be able to get in."

"Stupid boy! You should have checked if the vision was true or not! I was keeping watch on you, and you started running. Insufferable..." Snape muttered under his breath.

"What do we do sir?" Harry asked ignoring Snape’s insults. True, he should have checked...but he didn't have time!

Suddenly, the door burst open shattering into splintering pieces. Harry ducked instinctively as Snape roughly threw him aside. Then, a flash of light came rushing towards them. Harry tried to roll away, but it was coming right at him and fast. But then it was gone. The light dissipated just before entering the rooms. The wards had held.

"Exactly what kind of wards did you put up, Potter?"

"Just a simple locking spell."

"...and an unbreakable charm er maybe I need to work on that one."

"I should say. What else?"

"Er a ward that doesn't allow anyone to enter or leave a room."

"I wasn't aware that that kind of magic was taught at Hogwarts?" Snape said.

"Well, I didn't exactly learn it at Hogwarts. Well, I mean I did, but I had to go the library. I went to the back of the library...in the restricted section. In the back of the restricted section there was this book about-"

"Tell me about it later, Potter. If there is such a thing," Snape said.

They both jumped when they heard a small explosion upstairs.

"Severus! There you are. Get Potter and bring him out here! Orders from master!" Lucius sneered after trying to get in but failing miserably. Snape most certainly could not help. He looked for the nearest thing that was about the size of the door, which happened to be the bookcase on the nearest wall.

"Movello," Snape muttered sending the bookshelf over the open doorway.

Harry didn't mention that anything touching the tip of the wards could be moved. He forgot all about that little bit of information.

"What was that for?" Harry asked.

"So we can ignore their taunts. I believe we are going to be in here a while, at least until they get tired and leave," Snape said coolly.

"Oh...okay," Harry said. He would not say anything else. He was still holding a grudge about Snape stopping his Occlumency lessens after the pensieve incident.

There was a loud crash outside. Harry jumped up to peer out the window, but Snape grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the ground.

"Don't make yourself and easy target, you stupid boy! Not that you don't all ready make it easy enough for them. Why did it have to be my night to watch you?"

"It wasn't your night. Usually Tonks watches me on Wednesdays. She leaves at 12 and then Moody comes. I don't know why you got stuck with it. Maybe you're just lucky?"

"I don't think luck had anything to do with it, Potter. I think the Dark Lord has been planning this for a while. I don't know why he thought you would fall for the same trick again though."

"It was a really different vision," Harry insisted. He couldn’t understand. It was not a dream!

"Had you practiced your Occlumency, this wouldn't be an issue."

Harry just closed his eyes and shook his head. He had been practicing Occlumency, but he never seemed to get any better at it. He never had fewer visions, and he could never push anyone out of his mind. Maybe Occlumency was just something that he couldn't learn, but Harry was pretty sure Snape wouldn't understand that. Snape was a Master. Things like that probably came easy to him.

There was another crash outside this one close than the first. Then, a ball of light smashed into the small window that Harry had tried to look out of earlier. The window cracked, but it didn't break.

"Get over here Potter," Snape yelled.

Snape had ducked underneath a large, oak desk and Harry ran towards it. As he ran, the floor began to tremble. Then, the walls began to shake. Harry could hear glass breaking upstairs, and he was thankful that there wasn't anything breakable in the basement. The basement was pretty much empty except for the bookshelves and the desk.

The shaking increased in intensity and Harry could no longer walk straight. He stumbled, and fell to the ground. He heard an explosion and a crash. And then, he felt blackness.

The wards were failing, and the deatheaters were starting to get through. Snape saw Harry lying motionless under the large bookshelf that he had used to block the door. A piece of the wall had crashed in on top of the bookshelf. Snape tried to put the weak wards that Dumbledore had taught him back up, but he had to get Harry out first. Snape quickly looked at Harry and saw his leg was in a very odd angle. Snape hoped they could save it.

"Moblicorpus!" Snape said and dragged Harry. Harry was stuck though and the bookshelf on top of him was so far down on his leg that Snape hoped it could be saved.

"Niferzo," Snape whispered with a neutral face, and Harry’s leg was bandaged. It would have to do until Madame Pomphrey looked at it. Snape could now lift Harry with the spell, and he dragged him farther and farther back in the wards. Snape felt magic pulsing in his fingers. He put Potter down and grabbed roughly onto Harry’s arm. Two is always better than one, Snape thought. Snape said the enchantment to replace the wards, and the whole basement lit up in a silvery light. Everyone but Snape and Harry flew back and hit their heads on the stone wall. The four deatheaters fell unconscious right as several Aurors started to appear, but none could get within the wards. Great.... just in time, Snape thought.

Severus Snape looked through the settling dust to ascertain his situation. The west wall of the room had completely collapsed in on itself bringing the ceiling down with it in that area. Severus could hear voices from outside, but he had difficulty making them out. He took a deep breath and decided to wait. The aurors knew that they were inside, so it would only be a matter of time before they were rescued. There was no use for him to waste his energy trying to get them out.

So now, nothing was left to do but wait. He did have to look after the wretched boy lying unconscious next to him. His leg looked terrible. Snape had to stop the bleeding, so he picked up his wand. He had learned some healing charms from Madame Pompfrey years before in case of an emergency. He tried the strongest one he knew but was shocked when nothing happened. His wand wasn’t working! He tried several different healing spells, but he all he heard was the sound of the spell bouncing off the wards, and nothing happened. That must have been it...did the wards limit his wand use?

“Lumos!” Snape said, and his wand lit. ‘Well at least there’s that,’ Snape thought. It was dark in the basement. Snape tried a couple other simple spells, and they worked. He tried to conjure a set of bandages so he could stop the blood from exiting the leg any further. When he tried to conjure more items it didn’t work. He groaned and examined his wand more closely. He noticed that the tip of it was chipped. That meant there was little more he could do.

Severus put his less than useful wand back into its pocket in his robes and walked over to the injured boy. Besides the obvious damage to his leg where it had been trapped under the bookshelf, one of Harry’s arms was also hanging at an unnatural angle. He had a dark bruise on his forehead that almost disguised his famous scar, and he had blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. He wished the aurors would hurry up. He didn’t have the training to diagnose all of Harry’s injuries. There were likely injuries that Severus couldn’t see and he didn’t want to do anything to aggravate those potential injuries. It would be dangerous to do much.

Snape kneeled close to the boy's leg and reached his hand in his cloak and pulled out his small bottle of firewhiskey that he carried with him at all times. He poured it over the leg to act as an antiseptic. He was glad Potter wasn't awake because the boy would surely be screaming in pain. Anybody would be. It was definitely true that he despised the arrogant Gryffindor, but he didn't wish pain on him. He let it soak in and dry up a bit, and then wrapped the injured leg as tightly as he could with the bandages he had managed to conjure. He watched the leg closely to make sure that he wasn't cutting off the boy's circulation completely, but he had to make the bleeding stop. He knew his measures would only work temporarily. What was taking the aurors so long?

Harry started to stir and tried to turn over, but Snape put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and held him down. Soon the movement stopped and Snape was glad for that. He didn’t want the boy waking up now. He didn’t have anything to give him for pain, and Harry would definitely be in pain when he woke up. If there was one thing that Snape didn’t want to deal with, it was Potter’s whining.

How could the stupid boy believe another vision, and why would he try to save his greasy git professor who has hated him since he came to Hogwarts? Of course Snape had saved Harry several times, but each time any thanks were left unspoken. They had ended last school year on terrible terms. Snape knew he shouldn’t be second guessing the boys motives. He obviously wanted credit for saving another person. What an arrogant, fame seeking Gryffindor!

The boy seemed stable enough for now. At least he wasn’t bleeding all over the floor. So, Snape left him there on the floor to try and discover what was keeping the aurors from getting them out.

Snape went to the crushed-in door that led to the rest of the house, and he tried to pry it open, but the door wouldn’t budge. He pulled out his wand and tried to implode the door. A small wisp of smoke and a red spark was the only result he got from the spell. He picked up the only thing within his reach, which happened to be an old Potions textbook, and he threw it at the door in his frustration.

Of course he didn’t expect the book to magically open the door, but he was surprised when he saw the wards that Potter had erected shimmer with the impact. There was something strange about the wards. They were affecting magic in ways that he had never seen before. Snape almost wished that Potter were awake so that he could ask him what he’d done to make the wards, but then again Potter probably had no clue.

There wasn't anything he could do thus far, so he went back beside Potter and sat down. He had to make sure he was okay at all times. He looked at the potions book and saw that it was a book for the first year students. Because it was the only book around, and he had nothing better to do, he opened the book and started reading.

‘Simple health Potion,’ Severus read. ‘This potion will give the drinker extended energy...’

Severus could hardly keep his mind on the dry reading. No wonder his students didn’t read the text, he thought. Of course none of his students knew how to make 212 different versions of this simple health potion. If they did, maybe then he would excuse them from the reading.

Severus put the book down and went back to the door and pressed his ear against it. Maybe he would be able to hear what the aurors were doing. They definitely should have been able to blast through the wall by now. That is unless they were being prevented from doing magic against the wards just as he was. He felt a chill go though his body as he entertained the thought of being trapped with Potter in this small room in his basement.

Snape kept his ear there for a minute and was just about to go back to reading when he heard distant voices.

"What a mess," someone said.

Severus heard footsteps crunching over gravel.

"I don’t think there’s any chance, Kirsty," a man replied.

Snape had to say something. "HEY, the door’s just stuck!" Severus said.

"I guess we should just make our report. I don't sense anything living inside anyway. What a tragic loss."

What? Nothing living inside? What was going on? "You dolt, there are two people in here!" Snape growled. He then started screaming forgetting all about the sleeping boy. It was no use. The footsteps faded, and they were still stuck in the room.

The aurors had left! They had left without even trying to get them out. Why had they left? Surely the room didn’t look that bad on the outside. There was just one wall that had fallen in and the door was smashed. Severus ran to the window and looked out. There was a pile of rubble covering most of the window, but through a small opening he could see lights fading into the distance. The aurors were really leaving. Severus picked up the book again, and this time he hurled it towards the window.

The book bounced off the shimmering wards and fell on the floor. These wards were bloody screwed up. What in Merlin’s name was going on? He could not be locked with Potter! How would they eat and drink? The boy needed health care immediately, and there was nothing he could do. Snape felt defeated.

He slid down the wall to a seated position on the floor. Nobody was looking for them. The aurors would go back and give their report that the house had been destroyed along with everything in it, and that would be that.

Then there would be the funerals and the world day of mourning – well, for Potter at least. Nobody would care that he was dead – in fact, they would probably blame him for Potter’s death. Snape picked up the book and threw it again. This time it didn’t even reach the wall and fell open right to the ‘Simple Health Potion’ page.

Severus growled and left the book were it fell. He got up to look after Potter again. He was going to do his best to keep Potter alive even if everyone outside was blaming him for the boy’s death.

Then Severus saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around towards the window. Fawkes was perched on a piece of wood just outside the window. Thank goodness Dumbledore didn’t just believe every report that crossed his desk.

Severus jumped up and started pounding on the window. The bird just twittered at him and then turned around and flew off his perch. Fawkes pressed his tail right against the window and then the tips of his feathers caught fire. Fawkes flipped his tail rapidly in succession until the fire was extinguished. Then he flew off.

‘What was that all about?’ Severus wondered. He was pretty sure Fawkes had seen him, but then his tail had caught on fire. Fire...

Severus glanced around the room and saw the empty fireplace next to Potter’s sleeping form. Fire! Of course. He would be able to communicate through the fire. Severus picked up the Potions text and threw it into the fireplace. ‘That should start a good fire,’ he thought.

“Incindio!” Snape said, and thankfully the fire started, but looking on top of the fireplace, he realized that he didn’t have any Floo powder. His only hope would be that Fawkes would be able to communicate his message to someone else so that that person could communicate with him.

Snape sat back and tried to get in a comfortable position. He would be here awhile, and he knew it. He looked over at the sleeping boy and cringed. His leg looked terrible but at least the bleeding had stopped for now.

An hour after they had seen to the Snape Manor rubble, the two aurors, Kirsty and Seltzer, had to report to Albus Dumbledore that one of Hogwart's professors was missing and there were no remains that could be found of him. It was a nasty job being the messenger but it had to be done. Dumbledore let the two visiting aurors in his office and showed them to a seat.

"Headmaster, we have some bad news. I know you have already heard about the attack at the Snape Manor. We have captured three deatheaters and they are now in Azkaban, but there is no one to be found in the house. It came to our attention that Severus Snape worked for you, and we wanted to inform you of this," Kirsty explained.

Dumbledore nodded. "I see," he said calmly. He knew that Snape was safe. He was watching over Potter at privet drive. He was actually just about to get off of his shift and Tonks would be on her shift. The aurors were dismissed and not but five minutes later Tonks unfolded herself out of the fireplace and was dusting herself off.

"Albus! They are gone!"

“What do you think caused Severus to take Mr. Potter from the house? Was there an attack?” Dumbledore asked.

“No, nothing. I even went so far as to talk to Mr. Potter’s relatives. They didn’t even know he was gone.”

“What else do you know of this situation?”

“Nothing. I came straight here after getting Bill to take over my shift incase they appear again. I thought you would want to know. I looked around carefully, and I didn’t see or sense anything magical in the area.”

“We know that deatheaters were waiting just outside the wards. Do you know what came of them?”

“They’re nowhere in sight—you don’t think they got them...”

“I don’t know. I just got word that there was an attack at Snape Manor. I dismissed it at first, but now I think it’s prudent that we take a closer look.”

“I’ll go,” Tonks said.

“No, I’ll send Fawkes. The aurors said that the place was completely destroyed. We should act like we believe that.”

“You don’t think it’s true?”

“I don’t know, but I would know if Harry were dead, and he is not. I can’t imagine Severus going anywhere without Mr. Potter while he was on watch. Something must have happened to them, now we just need to figure out what it was.”

Dumbledore looked over to where Fawkes had been and found him gone. Then he looked at the window and as he thought he would, he saw the bird pecking at the window. He let the bird in and it dropped something on the floor. It was the door knocker from Snape Manor.

Dumbledore picked up the knocker. It still had traces of magic on it. But the magic wasn’t what he expected. He could sense Snape’s magic and his wards, but there was something different; there were traces of Harry's magic too. If the two were dead or off the Snape grounds then the magic wouldn't be this strong. "They are still alive," Dumbledore stated and passed the item to the pink haired auror.

Tonks held onto it and immediately knew what Dumbledore was talking about. "They would have contacted us if they could Albus," she said.

Fawkes started fluttering his wings and making quite a racket causing both Tonks and Dumbledore to turn their attention towards the bird. Then Fawkes stuck his burnt tail towards them and sang a few high notes. Dumbledore instantly got the point and gave the bird a pat on the head. He pointed his wand towards the fire. “Incindio!”

Dumbledore stared into the fire while contemplating what to do next. He could go there but no...the aurors had even said it was a pile of rubble. He had to talk to Severus. He just hoped the man was near. "Snape Manor," he called into the fire. The flames swirled around, and then he saw knew he had connected. "Severus, Severus, are you there?"

Snape was brought out of his deep thought by the voice of Albus Dumbledore. He looked all around but then he realized it was coming through the fire. He stuck his head close to the flame and saw the headmaster. "Headmaster," he said trying to keep his facade.

"What has happened Severus?"

"We got trapped here. It is a long story but we can't get out. Potter's wards are different, and I can't do anything about it. Also, we need Madame Pomfrey. Get us out of here Albus," Snape growled uncontrollably.

“Are you injured?” Dumbledore asked.

“Not me, Potter.”

“So, Harry is there with you. Is he all right?”

“I just told you he wasn’t. He was injured in the attack.”

“Of course.” Dumbledore looked away from the fire. “Tonks, will you please contact Madam Pomfrey?”

“Can’t you just send over some floo powder so we can come there? I think Potter is going to need the use of the supplies in the Hospital wing if not St. Mungo’s.”

“May I come through?” Dumbledore asked. “I’ll bring some floo powder, and we can return together.”

“By all means, Headmaster.” Not like you usually ask, he thought. “But please hurry. Mr. Potter isn’t getting any better as we wait.”

Dumbledore waited as Severus got out of the way, and he grabbed the floo powder vase. He threw some in and said the necessary words. He felt himself being swerved around with the normal feeling of traveling but then he found himself jerk back and fall onto his office floor right outside of the fireplace.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked the people in the room. The floo powder had spilled out of the vase and all over the floor.

Severus watched as he saw Dumbledore bounce of the wards and the he saw his head in the fireplace once again. "It didn't work," Dumbledore told him.

“I saw you bounce off the wards. Whatever is keeping us in is obviously keeping you out.”

“I see,” Dumbledore said.

“Of course you do,” Snape said getting very irritated at this point. “And what are we going to do about it?” He sneaked a glance back at Potter who was still unconscious but not looking any better.

“Well, Madame Pomfrey is on her way. Perhaps, you can tell her Mr. Potter’s symptoms, and she can advise you to his care.”

Five minutes later Snape saw Madame Pomfrey's head in the fireplace.

"What is the problem Severus?" She asked worriedly.

"It's Potter. Something crushed his leg and his arm is at an odd angle. His leg looks pretty bad. I stopped the bleeding, but it is only temporary. My wand is chipped. I can do very little, and I am terrible at diagnosing," Snape explained.

"I will have to see the leg somehow, but it doesn't sound good. It might get an infection. We have to do something before that happens. If your wand is chipped, then you can't do anything for his arm except bandage it up. Check to see if it is dislocated. You will be able to tell."

Snape picked up the boy’s arm as gently as he could holding it with both hands. It looked like a clean break to him, but he couldn’t be sure.

“It just looks broken,” Snape said. Then Snape heard a groan, and the arm slipped slowly from his hands. Potter was rolling over. Snape watched in slow motion as Harry’s arm fell to the ground.

The sound of the arm smacking the ground was overpowered by Harry’s scream.

Pain was the only thing that Harry knew. His body throbbed, and he wasn’t sure which part hurt the most.

“Mr. Potter lay still. You’ll only aggravate your injuries.”

Harry moaned in agony. He didn't know where he was, or why he was in so much pain. He wanted to open his eyes and say something, but he couldn't.

"Mr. Potter, I am just going to see what your injuries are but you have to lie still. Pomfrey, it isn't dislocated," he called into the fireplace.

"I have to see his leg Severus," she reminded him.

Snape remembered that he still had the power to levitate, so he said the spell and brought Harry closer to the fire. He unwrapped the bandage but immediately knew that was a mistake as it started bleeding once again.

“Oh dear,” Madam Pomfrey said. “Yes, keep that bandage on for now. I wish I could see how his circulation is doing. Look at his toes.”

“They’re very dark,” Snape said.

“Oh dear,” she repeated. “This isn’t good, but I need to know for sure. Ask Harry if he can feel you touching his leg?”

Professor Snape turned to Harry and felt Harry's leg with three fingers. "Can you feel this?"

Harry was shocked to realize he could feel nothing..... He shook his head lightly because he couldn't manage to speak.

Snape hid his worry. "He cannot feel it," he said back into the fire

“Okay, put your hand behind his knee. Say ‘adriaa’. Do you feel the pulse?”

Snape did as he was told. “I feel a faint pulse on his upper leg but I lose it below the knee.”

“This isn’t good,” Madam Pomfrey said.

“WHAT isn’t good?” Harry demanded. Then he groaned as if even his own voice caused him pain.

“Point your wand at his calf and say ‘necro’,” Madam Pomfrey said.

“Necro,” Snape said pointing is wand at the boy’s leg. The entire calf turned black.

“Oh dear,” Madam Pomfrey said. “That tissue is dying. I’m not sure if it could even be healed if he were all ready at St. Mungo’s.”

Harry shot up into a sitting position but immediately regretted it. "Ouch," he moaned and lay back down. "What is going on?" He forced out of his mouth however painful it was.

"There is one more test we can do," Madame Pomfrey said with discomfort in her tone.

"What is that?" Snape asked,

"Point your wand at it and say 'fellio'," She told him.

Snape did that but nothing happened. "My wand is limited Pompfrey," Snape reminded her.

"Oh dear....this is a problem."

"Well what are we to do?"

"It will have to be removed," She said simply but with something above dread in her speech.

“What has to be removed?” Harry asked.

“I’m sorry dear, but the trauma caused to your leg was too great,” Madame Pomfrey said addressing Harry directly for the first time. “With the supplies available to you, there is nothing we can do.”

“What do you mean nothing? You’re not going to heal it? What about all your magic and stuff? Isn’t that good for anything?”

“Magic can not cure everything, Potter,” Snape said. Harry actually looked shocked. Magic could always fix everything or most things at least... That’s why it was magic. The only thing it couldn’t fix was Sirius. But Sirius was dead.

“It’s just a broken bone,” Harry insisted. “I’m not going to die.”

“Of course not, Potter.”

“Then what?”

“Your leg Potter. It is damaged far beyond what a simple bone mending potion could fix, and I don’t even have one of those,” Snape said.

”But if you had that stuff, potions and medical equipment. You could fix it. You just don’t want to wait, do you? You’d like to see me at a permanent disadvantage.”

"Potter, don't be daft. There is nothing we can do. We don't know how long we will be in here!" He hissed.

"YOU ARE NOT CHOPPING OFF MY LEG!" Harry bellowed but ended up having a coughing fit.

"There is nothing else we can do Mr. Potter. I am so sorry but your leg is useless."

Harry finished coughing and croaked, "Useless?"

What would Harry do without his leg? He wouldn't be able to walk unless...he would have to get a wooden leg! Next thing everyone would be calling him...Mad Leg Potter! How could he fight Voldemort with A WOODEN LEG? Harry started to hyperventilate uncontrollably which only added to the pain. He held back the tears that wanted to course down his face.

“Potter, you need to calm yourself. Yelling isn’t going to change anything,” Snape said.

“Well, you two are talking about me like I’m not even here! You can’t make this decision for me. I don’t want you doing anything to me,” Harry said.

“Poppy, I need a number 7 calming potion. I don’t carry that kind of potion with me. We need for Mr. Potter to calm down before we can do anything. I know I just made a stock of that for you. I just wish I had it here.”

"I don't think there is anyway for it to get to you. The wards seem to react in an odd manner. Albus, what do we do?" She asked.

Snape heard Dumbledore say, "Fawkes will be able to take it. We can send him through the fireplace. He will get there."

"Albus, are you sure?" Poppy asked.

"I am positive. Please go fetch the potion, and I will call for Fawkes." Dumbledore whistled and soon the cooing of the phoenix could be heard. Madame Pomfrey came back with the potion in hand. She gave it to Dumbledore who then gave it to Fawkes. "Go Fawkes. Go to Severus and Harry. They need it."

"How about a wand while you’re at it?" Severus asked.

"Severus, you know very well know that you can only use your wand. The wards will also block other magic."

"Besides the bird’s?" Snape questioned, and Albus nodded.

“I don’t need a calming potion,” Harry demanded.

“You do Potter. You’ve had a lot of stress in a short period of time. You should be feeling a lot of pain, but you don’t seem to be. I think you’re going into shock.”

Harry growled, but he didn’t answer.

A soft wisp of wind fluttered through the fire, and the brilliant red Phoenix appeared. Snape took the package from the bird’s leg and waited for the bird to leave, but he didn’t. He just perched on the mantle and waited.

Okay, the bird is staying, Severus realized. I hope she doesn’t expect any food. Snape unwrapped the package and found two potion bottles. He took the first, labeled potion no.7, and brought it over to Potter for the boy to drink, but when Potter saw it he immediately turned his head away.

"No!" Harry insisted.

"Potter, this is a calming draught. It would be best if you took it. You will feel better." Harry wouldn't give up, and he shook his head as best as he could.

Snape decided to get the injured boy to drink it in a moment as he turned back to the fireplace where he could see the medi-witch’s head. "Now, how am I supposed to do this anyway? My wand doesn't work properly."

Harry cut in. "You are not doing anything!" Harry realized he was being childish, but he no longer cared.

Madame Pomfrey ignored him as she relayed Dumbledore's message to Snape. "Fawkes might be able to help."

With that said, the phoenix flew over to Harry and started to trill loudly. Harry was amazed to see that he could understand what he was saying.

“I can help you wizard child.”

“I am NOT a child.”

“You are still a hatchling to me. I can help you. Just let the other man do what he needs to, and I can help you heal.”

“He doesn’t NEED to do ANYTHING.”

“He needs to wizard child. It’s the only way for you to heal.”

“No, you’re wrong! I just need to get to a hospital. Even Muggles would be able to help me.”

“Mr. Potter what is he telling you?” Professor Snape asked.

“Er...nothing...he’s just saying the he’s sorry that there’s nothing he can do. The best thing is just to wait I guess...”

“Really, Mr. Potter?” Snape looked carefully into Harry’s eyes and listened as Harry recounted the conversation with the bird to himself. Snape kept quiet; he didn’t want Harry to know what he knew, and he knew that with Fawkes help he would be able to perform the operation.

“Very well, Mr. Potter. I want you to take this potion, though. It will at least take the edge off your pain,” Snape said.

Harry was about to protest but then he heard Fawkes again.

"Take the potion young wizard. It is for the best."

Harry finally nodded and let Snape give him the potion. Harry drank it slowly, and when he was finished his eyes began to droop and feel heavy. Then in shock he realized-

"This is sleeping potion!" He sputtered madly.

Snape said nothing. He waited for the boy to fall asleep. When he did, the procedure would begin.

Harry felt comfortable. He was warm and tightly wrapped in a blanket, and he couldn’t really think of a good reason to open his eyes.

“Potter, I know you’re awake. Madame Pomfrey needs for me to ask you some questions, and you need to take a potion,” Professor Snape said.

‘Ah, nothing like that voice to bring him out of a nice dream,’ Harry thought sarcastically.

Harry still struggled with wanting to stay wrapped in his safe little cocoon. Wait, why was Snape in his room?

"Potter, you have to open your eyes." Snape repeated.

Harry moaned and rolled over but an immense wave of pain immediately shot up throughout his whole body. He opened his eyes and looked at Snape. His memories came back quickly....

Explosion....

Wards....

Trapped.....

Pain...

Leg....Leg! They were going to amputate his leg!

He didn’t feel the pain he expected in his leg. His head hurt though, and he didn’t want to move his arm again if he could avoid it. But his leg didn’t hurt.

Harry sat up slowly and forced himself to look down. All he saw was the blanket that was tightly wrapped around his body. Harry struggled to get out of the blanket. He had to know...but the more he struggled the tighter the blanket became. Snape must have put some kind of spell on it.

Snape watched Harry struggling with the blanket. He had purposely made it tight hoping that he would have a chance to talk to the boy before he started overreacting as he surely would.

“Potter, stop fighting with the blanket. In your state, it will surely win.”

Harry resisted, and he started breathing heavily. He was hyperventilating.

"Potter, you have to calm down," Snape said.

Calm down? He couldn't calm down. What had they done? What had Snape done! They tricked him.

Snape tried again. It would not do any good if Harry kept having a panic attack.

“Drink this,” Snape said.

Harry felt a vial against his lips. He shook his head. He wasn’t going to drink anything that Snape gave him, not after what happened the last time. Then Harry felt a hand behind his head holding it still while the potion was forced into his mouth. Harry struggled against the blanket some more, but now even his hands were tangled up, and pain shot through his arm every time he moved.

Harry inhaled the potion when he tried to take a breath. He began coughing, but eventually it went down. Snape released him back onto the floor.

"What did you give me?" Harry spat although his anger and frustration was slowly ebbing away.

"That was a calming potion Potter. We need to....talk," Snape said as if the word was going to give him the plague, "but first Madame Pomfrey needs to ask you some questions."

Madame Pomfrey was still there? Harry looked over in the fire and sure enough saw the nurse's worried gaze. "Potter, I know this is hard for you but I need to know exactly how you feel."

Harry was slowly starting to register his surroundings. Snape, Madame Pomfrey and Fawkes were all staring at him. Fawkes had his head cocked to one side, and Snape had a neutral expression.

“My arm hurts,” Harry replied.

Madam Pomfrey glanced quickly towards Professor Dumbledore and then turned her gaze back to Harry.

“Yes, you did break your arm, but how are you feeling otherwise?”

“I’m tied up in a blanket. I can’t very well tell how I’m doing!”

“Madame Pomfrey asked how you felt, not what you look like. Now tell her,” Snape demanded.

"I just told her! My arm hurts! Would you like me to describe to you how it feels? It feels like there are lots of pins sticking out of it, and it’s smashed into tiny little pieces and as if it was thrown in front of a moving car. Happy?"

"Well it probably has the same feelings as if it were thrown in front of a car. How about places other than your arm?"

Harry rolled his eyes but answered nonetheless. "My head hurts, and my ribs hurt. My foot kind of hurts, and my nose feels like it's broken."

“Severus, did you give him the pain potion?” Madam Pomfrey asked.

“Not yet, I thought you wanted to ascertain his condition.”

“Well, I don’t think there is anything else that I can do from here. He should take the potion. What about your leg, Harry? How does that feel?”

“How do you think it feels? There’s nothing there to feel! If it were there, then I might feel normal instead of like some kind of freak!”

“That’s enough, Mr. Potter,” Snape said.

Harry ignored him and continued. "What am I going to do now? I have no bloody leg. People are going to start calling be stump boy! I can't believe you did this! I can't believe you all did this! What am I supposed to do now?"

"Oh, stop whining Potter. You will be taught how to use a magic prosthetic leg. You won’t even notice the difference," Pomfrey said.

“Oh, you mean in the way that Wormtail doesn’t notice that fake arm of his. Ohhh, will I get magic powers with my leg? Can I use as a wand and kick spells at people. No, this is stupid. Just because you couldn’t wait to take me to a proper hospital. There’s nothing I can do now. Voldemort’s just going to have to die on his own, and that’s not bloody likely to happen.”

“Potter, there was nothing we could do. If we didn’t do what we did you could have died,” Snape said.

“Could have? COULD have? I also COULD have lived and had two legs.”

Snape just crossed his arms and put a neutral expression on his face. Harry grumbled. Snape was just going to wait for him to finish. Well, he had a lot more on his mind.

Snape knew that it was a normal reaction to such a trauma. Even though he despised the boy, he couldn't do anything. He couldn't yell at Potter no matter how much he wanted to.

"I thought I liked that bird. Fawkes was always friendly to me, and he said he could help but he couldn't. He had always been able to help. I can't believe I actually talked to him but-"

"You talked to the phoenix?" Snape asked in shock interrupting his rambling.

"Yeah....stupid bird," Harry muttered.

"Potter, that bird saved your life. He healed your leg to what it is now. Now, about you being able to speak to him...."

“Yeah, what about that? Not like it did any good for me.”

“Well, Mr. Potter, I think he did something great for you,” a voice called from the fireplace. Harry looked up and saw that Professor Dumbledore was standing next to Madame Pormfrey and that Fawkes had flown back through the fire and was now sitting on Dumbledore’s shoulder.

“He knew what needed to be done and was able to help Snape perform the operation. And, he understands why you’re upset. He’s willing to give you some time.”

“Time for what? To grow back another leg. I know he can do that sort of thing, but I can’t!”

"Potter, don't be stupid! Just take this like a man," Snape said finally.

"Ahh, Severus, you were doing so well with being understanding," Dumbledore said.

"I wonder if I could get a leg that will help me be a better Quidditch player," Harry wondered aloud.

"Albus, he's gone mental," Snape proclaimed.

"I could throw a fake leg at Malfoy when he is being a git!" Harry kept on going.

"He has not gone mental Severus. He is just trying to cope with this."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Snape questioned

"Talk to him Severus. Harry?" Dumbledore said trying to get Harry out of his reverie.

"What?" Harry asked sharply.

"You have the ability to talk to phoenixes."

“I know that. I was the one talking to the bird.”

“You didn’t find that a bit unusual?” Dumbledore asked.

“No, well not at the time. I remember before when Fawkes sang to me I felt like I could understand what he was saying. It wasn’t words or anything, but still. Why shouldn’t I be able to talk to Fawkes. I can talk to everything else. Snakes, walls, Professor Snape...”

“Harry, this is a very significant development. Godric Gryffindor could speak to his phoenix – this phoenix in fact. That ability has been passed down though his bloodline.”

"So....I am related to Gryffindor? I could have guessed that," Harry said in a daze.

"I can also speak to Fawkes."

"So, does that mean you're related to me?" Harry asked.

"I am a very, very distant cousin. We have very little of the same blood, but it is in there somewhere."

“I should have known,” Harry said. “So what? I’m related to a founder, Godric Gryffindor. I bet half the Wizarding World is. I bet even Professor Snape is.”

“I most certainly am not,” Professor Snape said.

“Well, Harry, you look quite tired. Perhaps you should take the pain potion from Professor Snape and get some rest now,” Professor Dumbledore said.

“Yes,” Madame Pomfrey agreed. “Rest, and we can talk again tomorrow. We’ll have Fawkes bring you some food and some more potions.”

“Perhaps you could send some ingredients so that I can make a fresh stock. These are almost expired,” Professor Snape said.

“All right, we’ll see what we can do. Make a list of things you require. But we can only send so much though the fire.”

“I am not tired, and I do not need a sleeping potion,” Harry insisted.

“Well if you’re not tired, then you obviously do need a sleeping potion,” Snape said.

“What are you talking about? I’ve only been awake for like 15 minutes. You just want me to be quiet, don’t you?”

“Yes Potter, I do quite want you to shut up, but I would give you the potion anyway. You need to rest. If you would remember, you didn’t want to get up. You need rest and some more time for your body to recuperate.”

Harry crossed his arms and tried to look as defiant as he could while lying on the ground wrapped up in a blanket. He waited as Snape finished up his conversation with Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore. But he knew he wouldn’t win.

Harry didn't want to sleep. He couldn't sleep. He would have dreams and visions and who knows what else. Harry waited for Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey to leave the fire.

"Drink this Potter," Snape said.

"I said I don't want to!" Harry tried one more time.

"Mr. Potter, you are drinking this sleeping potion if I have to force it down," Snape said forcefully.

“Fine, I’ll drink it,” Harry said. He accepted the vial and emptied the solution into his mouth. Then, he rolled over with his back to Snape. He spit the potion back into the vial and tucked it into the pocket of his pajama pants.

He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. And then he waited. He head Snape moving about the room doing something or other. He heard Snape preparing a bed for himself. Then, he heard Snape begin to read a book. He heard the pages turning flip...flip. What if Snape never went to sleep? Harry wondered.

Finally, an hour later it seemed, his professor fell asleep. His cloak was laid out on the floor, and near Harry's leg was a bottle of Firewhisky. There wasn't much left in it, but Harry used his foot to kick it over to himself. He unscrewed the lid and took a sip. That first sip made Harry cough a little bit, but he soon got used to the taste. Once he did he gulped the rest down and dropped the bottle with a loud clunk on the ground.

‘Oh no, I hope that doesn’t wake him up,’ Harry thought. Harry rolled himself over and started pulling himself away from the sleeping professor. He looked around the small basement room for the first time since he woken up. It was very small. Were they really stuck here?

Harry looked down at the blanket covering his body. ‘It’s not cold in here. Why do I have a blanket?’ He started to unwind the blanket with his good arm. He finally managed to get the ratty thing off him, and then he looked down at his legs. By the faint glow of the fire light, he only saw one set of toes. He tried wiggling his toes, and he felt the toes of both feet move, but when he looked down only one foot moved. Where was his other foot?

Harry felt his knee and then moved his hand down a bit further when it just fell to the ground. There was nothing there. Nothing. That was where his leg was supposed to be, and there was nothing there. Harry started hitting the ground harder in the place where his leg should have been. Nothing. There was nothing there. It was gone. No, Harry thought. This is not right. There should be something there. But what? His mind was starting to go fuzzy.

Snape woke up to hear heavy breathing and a fist banging on the floor. He sat up and looked at Potter. He was beating the floor with his hand, and his hand was getting truly battered from the sharp stone floor. Snape looked over and saw the empty Firewhiskey bottle near the boy's foot. "Potter, what are you doing?" Snape spat still not fully awake.

“I’m looking for my leg,” Harry answered. “Have you seen it?”

“Did you drink all of this?” Snape asked holding up his empty bottle.

“There was hardly anything in there. I think you drank most of it.” Harry went back to pounding the floor. Snape grabbed Harry’s wrist and held it firmly.

“Stop that. You’re just hurting yourself.”

“I’m not hurt,” Harry insisted. “I’m just missing something. You know where it is, don’t you?”

“Potter...”

"Is that me?" Harry asked and went along pounding the floor.

"Mr. Potter, I insist you stop right now." Snape demanded and pushed his hands to his chest.

"Fine, fine, just give me back my leg, and it won't be a problem."

"Potter, you are very drunk."

"I am not," Harry said. "I just had a little. It wasn't even that strong."

"Firewhiskey is terribly strong Potter," Snape replied.

"You know professor; I don't think he's coming back."

"Who? Your leg? Your leg is not coming back."

"No...my leg is coming back. I didn't mean to get him killed. It is all my fault again. I should have known this would happen. Maybe if I always took Firewhiskey I wouldn’t be such a murderer."

“You are not making any sense, Potter.”

“Seriously, if I were drinking this stuff it never would have happened. I wouldn’t have gone there, he wouldn’t have gone there. Good old Voldemort would have been there all by himself.”

“Potter, you need to sleep this off. What did you do with the sleeping potion that I gave you?”

“You gave me another potion thingy? I knew you were trying to poison me. Hermione said you were helping, but you weren’t were you?”

“I am merely trying to prevent you from talking anymore so that I can get some sleep. We will be discussing this in the morning. Now, where is the potion?”

"I drank the potion that was in that bottle over there," Harry said pointing to the empty Firewhiskey bottle. "It didn't taste very good but I got used to it."

"Where is the other potion?" Snape asked.

"Sirius died because of me you know....that boy too...what was this name? Oh yeah...Cedric. Cedric Jiggory, I mean Cedric Diggor died because of me. Are you a slytherin? I am too...no I'm not. Am I? I think I am a Gryffindor...or is it Slytherin? Do you know Snapey?"

“Do close your mouth, or I will use what little magic I have left to close it for you. I gave you a vial before I went to bed. I need that vial back right now. Where is it?”

“Vial? Oh, there’s a vial in my pants. I don’t like it there. It’s not very comfortable.”

“Give it to me.”

“I’m not sure where it is.”

“Find it, and give it to me now. If you do not, the consequences will not be pleasant.”

“Nothing is pleasant with you, you know. You don’t even let me have two legs. Here it is,” Harry threw the vial in the direction of his professor.

Then, Harry found a liquid being poured into his mouth and then he couldn’t breathe. He coughed, choked a bit and felt the liquid go down his throat. Then the room started to dim out along with any thoughts that he had left.

Harry opened his eyes and then closed them immediately. His head exploded with pain. What had he done to deserve this? Harry wondered. Was Voldemort sitting in the next room? Rationally, Harry knew that he wasn’t, the pain was different, but he couldn’t explain why he was feeling so bad.

“You’ll want to take this, Potter,” Harry heard Snape’s voice.

Harry moved towards the voice, but refused to open his eyes. He felt a glass vial being placed into his hand. A potion. Snape was giving him another potion. Harry threw the vial in the in the opposite direction from where he thought Snape was. He wasn’t going to take another unknown potion from the man. Not after what the last two had done to him.

"Potter, this is a hangover potion. You do want it, don't you?" Snape said monotonously. Yes! Harry wanted it so bad but he would not trust Snape with potions. His head felt like it was compressing inside itself. "No," Harry moaned.

"Potter, don't be stupid.” Snape paused for a moment waiting for Harry’s reaction, and when he got not, he continued, “Fine. Live through your damn hangover for all I care. You deserve it as a punishment for drinking my Firewhiskey anyway, because alcohol is purely illegal while underage." Snape said as he tuned away and then opened a book. He had no more time or energy to deal with a stubborn teenager. Slowly he began tapping his foot on the floor.

Harry winced at the sound of Snape’s foot pounding on the floor. The vibrations made his head spin. "Okay, I'll take it!" Harry said finally.

"No Potter. This is your punishment. I’m not going to reward you for being stubborn. Now, I think have something we need to talk about.”

Harry tried to sit up in his makeshift bed, which was really just a blanket on the floor.

Every movement was a struggle, and moving just made his body hurt more. Harry brought his hand up to his head; it was splitting. The pain didn’t stop. He needed Snape's potion. Harry moaned. "Fine," he said not wanting to give in to the horrid man who took his leg. He took his leg!

Snape held the potion bottle back from Potter and watched the boy struggle with his blankets some more. “If you would just hold still, it wouldn’t hurt so much. You’re just aggravating your hangover. Now tell me, Potter, did drinking all that Firewhiskey really do anything to solve your problems?”

Hold still? What did this git know about how he felt? He felt restless, and all he wanted to do was get up and walk around. Harry didn't want to talk to him anymore. He tried to just ignore him, but he could feel the lecture coming on. Yes, here came the damn lecture. Snape had no right to lecture him.

“It’s not like I haven’t tried to do what you’re doing,” Snape said. “And I can tell you that it will not help you. You have a headache and everything else that you had before, you still have. I’ll give you this potion on two conditions. First: you won’t drink any more of my Firewhisky, and second: you will stay here and tell me why you did.”

"Why I drank? Do you really have to ask that? First of all it was a very little amount and second, I lost my leg! I have one damn leg, and it’s all because you chopped it off!"

"You drank the entire bottle," Snape said. "And did you really think that drinking Firewhisky would get your leg back?"

"Of course not," Harry exclaimed incredibly annoyed at the growing volume of their voices. "I didn't want to think about it. You should know about alcohol. You had a bottle of it for Merlin's sake."

"Firewhiskey can be useful for many things, and I know how much I can drink without ending up in a situation like yours. So what exactly did you think it would accomplish?"

"Well I didn't know how much I could handle as I have never had it before," Harry said making up an excuse and ignoring his last question. Why did Snape even care? The only reason Harry was even answering partially was because he wanted the damn potion.

"Hmmph, likely story. You were trying to get yourself drunk were you not?"

"And?" Harry asked. He could see the potion in Snape’s hand. He didn't even care what he was saying anymore.

"And I want to know why. You have all ready said that you knew it wouldn't solve your problem. And you can keep trying to avoid the subject, but that's just how much longer you'll have to wait for the potion."

"Why are you even asking? Why do you even care? You don't know me. You don't care about me. Why the hell are you acting like it now?"

"Because I am in charge now, and I have to make sure that you aren't going to hurt yourself."

"Hurt myself?! HURT MYSELF? I am already extremely more hurt than I would be if I hurt myself! I HAVE NO LEG!" Headache, headache, headache..... "Ow," he cringed. "I.just.wanted.to.forget."

"Forgetting will only last until you remember again, and this is not something that you can ignore," Snape said, but he felt a small amount of sympathy for the boy knowing how he'd felt the first time that he'd gotten drunk off his father's Firewhiskey, so he handed over the potion. "But we're not done talking."

Harry snatched it out of his hand and drank it up. He felt immediate headache relief. He signed and rolled over. He wanted to cry and finally let out everything that he was feeling, but he wouldn't do that in front of Snape, so he just rolled over slowly and buried his head in the blanket and tried to block out all sounds around him. Harry thought that maybe if he pretended to be asleep then Snape would stop bothering him. He'd done what Snape had wanted him to do, and he'd gotten the potion. What else did he expect?

"Potter. You're not just going to get away with this. Even in the Wizarding world stealing and drinking underage are illegal. You did both of them."

"So what? Are you going to send me to Azkaban?"

"Yes, I suppose I would IF WE WEREN'T STUCK HERE."

"Yeah, well I'm sorry that I tried to rescue you, it won't happen again."

"Something terrible has happened to you and you just mope and pity yourself and don't actually do anything,” Snape retorted.

That was it. He had done it. "You don't even know what you're talking about. You don't even know me!" Harry yelled in disgust. "I don't do that. I lost a leg for Merlin’s sake and you still insult me! I have a right to be upset! It isn't like I'm crying or anything! Why don't you just leave me the hell alone?"

"There you go, wallowing in your own self pity."

"I TOLD YOU I'M NOT WALLOWING! LEAVE ME THE BLOODY HELL ALONE!" Harry yelled as loud as he could, disgusted with Snape's lack of empathy. Harry was fuming and was in a bit of pain, but he tried not to think about it. He had faced Crucio before so why not this? However though it all, his eyes did not leave contact with Snape's.

Snape started to turn away. He didn't want to fight with the boy, and his head was beginning to ache just listening to him, but he did have to take control of the situation. "You will listen to me, and you will stop complaining.”

Harry head Snape’s voice, but he didn’t listen. No, he didn't want to be there anymore. He wanted to be anywhere else then there. He couldn't stand it any longer. Anyone else, anywhere else! "I DON'T HAVE TO-" Harry felt himself swish around, and he felt his head spin. Suddenly he couldn't see Snape in front of him anymore. It felt like he was being pulled by a Portkey, but without the hook feeling in his stomach. What was going on?

Harry landed with a thump on something soft. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at someone hovering over him. He realized that he was on a bed, and he backed up on it slowly. Where was he? It was pretty dark, and there were lots of beds around. It kind of reminded him of...the knight bus...

"Good evening, welcome to the Knight House. I'm Ford Hostel. And you are?"

"What? I’m where?" Harry asked. How could he be anywhere except with Snape in a basement. They had been trapped there by his wards. There was no way out. Was this some kind of Voldemort plot? Was he dreaming? How could he have possibly gotten out of the wards, and where was Snape? Not that he was really that concerned about that last question at the moment.

"You're at the knight house of course. The place where a witch or wizard goes when he doesn't want to be somewhere else...and he doesn't want to be found. You did send yourself here, right?'"

"Um..." Harry though for a moment, ‘I guess I did send myself here.’ "Yeah, yeah I did." ‘I should really get back to Dumbledore,’ Harry thought, ‘but maybe...I could stay for just a little while...’

"Well that'll be 10 shickles for the night, 12 if you want hot chocolate with marshmallows and a toothbrush," Hostel said.

Harry then realized that he didn't have any money. He fished around in his pocket, but there was just some old lint and nothing else.

"That's all right, Mr. Potter. You can have one night for free. But after that I'm afraid you'll have to work. How long are you planning to stay?"

Harry started when he heard Hostel use his name, but then he brought his hand to his forehead. His hair was all plastered back against his head from lack of showers lately and his scar was loudly broadcasting his identity to anyone he would happen to meet.

Harry started to brush his hair down over his scar ask he spoke, “Um...I don't exactly know if I can work. See, I kind of got a problem but..." Harry suddenly realized it probably wasn't the safest thing. No one could find out about his leg...What if Voldemort found out? Harry was here and he had to take his chances. Harry pointed to his leg as if Ford hadn't seen it.

"What? You think you're too good for workin’. Not that I'd disagree, but I'd heard things about you. Like you'd be nice to the house elves and help out with your relatives and such. Just thought I could get some help."

"I would help if I could but I got a problem and no one else can find out...Can I trust you?" What a stupid question, Harry thought.

"I dunno," Hostel said. "I don't trust me sometimes. But I forget things real quick, so you can probably tell me, and I won't remember to tell anyone else."

"Can’t you see that I don’t have a leg?" Harry asked getting slightly annoyed and he was getting an odd feeling from this very strange fellow.

"Er, I wasn't lookin there, but now that you mention it one of your legs does seem shorter than the other. So what? Does that affect your workin’ hands?"

"No I guess not, but I can't exactly walk"

"Well I got some potatoes that need peeling for dinner tomorrow and some carrots. I can bring um to you I recken'. But that's for tomorrow.”

"Er okay, I’ll do what I can to help" Harry said. "Is it alright if I take a nap?" Harry asked feeling slightly uncomfortable. He didn't know how to act or what to do. He couldn't walk, so he couldn't do much. "Do you have any books?"

"Er, let me take a look," Hostel walked over to a bookshelf a few paces away. "We've got your ‘Standard book of Spells Grade 3’, ‘Potable Potions’, ‘The Ministry and Why it Works.’ Oh and Wizardsland comics..."

"Uh..." They all sounded terrible. "The last one sounds good. Thanks a lot. Let me know when you have work for me to do. Bye the way...how long have people been known to stay here?"

"Wizards stay and can only stay as long as they need to." Hostel tossed the book to Harry. "I'll let you know about the work." And he walked out of Harry's line of sight.

Harry read comics for a little while but got bored pretty quickly. He saw a few people in beds across the room, and they were sleeping. He decided there was nothing else to do that so...he slept. Unfortunately for him and the other people at the knight house...it was not a dreamless sleep. He woke up screaming.

”What’s the matter dear,” Harry a woman’s voice. “You’re screaming something awful.”

Harry rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t even remember his dream. He looked over to the bed a couple feet away. "Sorry," he said. He didn't know what else to say.

"Don't worry son. It's not the worst we've had around here. There was a banshee here last week. Is there something wrong? Oh never mind; of course there's something wrong or else you wouldn't be here. I’ll just mind my business, but if you want someone to talk to I'll be right over here."

"How long have you been here?" Harry asked ignoring all that. Could this lady be trusted...

"Oh this is my third year, but most don't have it so bad. I'm sure you'll be out of here before the week is done. Probably sooner."

"Year?! Why in Merlin’s name have you been here a year? Doesn't it get boring?"

"There are a lot of interesting people that come through here. I'm writing a book. Of course nobody will believe it, but somebody has to write it. So, what's your story? Nevermind, you don't have to say anything. I'll just mind my own business. But if you want to tell me, I'll be right over here ready to listen."

"My story is that I was stuck with someone I really hate and accidently apparated here during a fight." Harry was thankful he could leave it at that as his scar was covered by a patch of hair and his legless stub was covered by the blanked and some pillows he propped underneath

“Hmm, well that’s not very interesting. But you don’t have to tell me any more if you don’t want to. Nobody comes here by accident. I know at least that much. And nobody leaves here by accident. It has to be the right time. I’ve been waiting for three years.”

"What do you mean? I can't leave when I want to leave?"

"You can leave when you need to leave. Likely that will be when you want to if any of what you just told me is true."

"Oh well...why can't you leave? You said you have been wanting to."

"Yeah, but it's not safe for me out there I guess. I've been meddling in things I shouldn't and making people upset. I was just getting in trouble. You aren't a troublemaker are you?"

"Not exactly. Just tired of everyone I have to deal with. They don't care about me. All they care about-" Harry continued rambling and it turned into muttering and not understandable. He realized this and looked at the lady again. "So what now?"

“Oh nothing. Lunch is about to come ‘round I suppose. Tomato soup. I helped make it this morning. You do like tomato soup, right?”

"Oh tomato soup is great," Harry said politely even though he had a strong disliking for it. A woman in an apron came around with bowls of soup magically floating behind her. "Come get your lunch! Get it while it's hot!"

"Thank you." He sipped it. It was a little too hot so he sipped it slow.

back in Snape’s basement…

Snape turned as he heard a popping sound beside him. The shape that was Harry’s body under the blanket just…disappeared. Snape ran to the blanket and patted it flat with his hands. Potter was definitely gone. But then Snape noticed something else. The air felt freer; he couldn’t snese the magical barrier anymore. Snape walked cautiously towards the fireplace and put his hand through. Nothing stopped him. The barriers must have vanished with Potter. Snape gathered the few things that he had brought along with him and prepared to apparate out of the house towards Hogwarts. He knew that he would have to tell Dumbledore what happened, and he knew that he would have to find the boy. For a short moment, Snape wondered if he shouldn’t just stay in the basement for a few more moments as it would likely be the last peace that he saw for a long time.

Snape apparated near the entrance to Hogwarts and walked quickly to Dumbledore’s office. He waited outside the statue for Dumbledore to let him in. He knew that the old wizard would be expecting him, and he didn’t feel like playing Dumbledore’s candy guessing game.

The door opened almost immediately and Dumbledore ushered Snape into his office.

"Ah Severus, come in and sit down. Where is Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked. Snape could tell that the old man was relieved that he had been released from the unintentional wards.

"Mm, you mean you don't know?" Snape settled back on his chair.

"No Severus, I don't know anything. All I know is that you are here. Where is Mr. Potter?" the headmaster repeated neutrally.

Snape avoided the headmaster's gaze and replied just as evenly. "He's gone. He disappeared and when he did the wards vanished as well."

Dumbledore stood up immediately. "Where do you think he is, Severus?"

"I said he disappeared. Vanished. Is no longer there. He must have apparated somewhere; I suspect he could if he wanted to badly enough. But I don't know where he would have gone."

"First, I’ll have the Order members begin looking out for him. If he has a way to contact us, then he will.”

“You’re assuming he wants to contact us,” Severus said.

“You mean there is reason that he may not?” Dumbledore questioned.

Snape just glared at the older wizard. Did he think that he would suddenly start getting along with Potter just because they were locked up together? Snape kept his expression neutral; he didn’t want to give the old geezer any ideas.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, “If he is...reachable then we will be able to locate him unless he is in the hands of Voldemort...If he cannot be located then it is possible that he is at the Knight House. What happened right before he apparated away?"

"He was being arrogant and didn't want to listen to me or reason. He was angry, and then he disappeared."

"What exactly happened Severus?" Albus asked firmly.

"I told you. He said he didn't have to listen to me, and then he vanished. That's all."

"Then his anger must have caused him to apparate away. The wards must have vanished because he did, too. If he did end up at the Knight house, there is little we can do until he decides he wants to come back. We just have to wait."

"Do you really think he was desperate enough to make it to the Knight house?"

"Only four people I have known were desperate enough to make it there, Severus. One of them hasn’t been heard from still. I really don't know if Harry was that desperate or not," Dumbledore said sadly.

"Well I don't know where else he could have gone-" Both men looked up when the heard someone pounding at the door.

Dumbledore walked over to the door and knew that it was Nymphadora. "Come in Tonks," Dumbledore said as he opened it.

"This just came in. There was an attack in Surrey," Tonks slammed the lasted copy of the Daily Prophet down on Dumbledore's desk. "Four Muggles were killed, and there are reports that they were tortured. Did you know anything about this?"

"We hadn't heard anything about Muggle attacks," Dumbledore replied. "This is unfortunate. Voldemort is getting braver. He's not afraid of attacking during the day. We must find Harry."

Harry had spent the entire day at the Knight House. He met some of the people there, but they didn't seem to keen on talking about how they had gotten there. Harry brought it up a few times, but they always seemed to avoid answering. Of course, he didn’t want to answer that question either, so he soon stopped asking.

Doing the chores was difficult, but he had to do them in order to get food. People dragged him here and there and even supplied him with some pain medication. The medicine didn’t help much with the pain, but he was sure that he was better off than if he’d stayed with Snape. He didn't even know if he could go back if he wanted to. He would ponder that another time though.

Harry spent most of the evening just lying in his bed too bored to even read the lousy selection of books around him. He heard some whispering and saw some people getting up off their beds and moving to the center of the room. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore all the noise the others were making. He started thinking about all the things that had happened in the last week, and tried to tune out everything else.

But the whispering kept getting louder and more excited, and some of the words caught his attention, “"Four Muggles dead? I can't believe there was another attack," Harry heard.

Harry sat up in his bed and looked towards the group. Everyone else in the room was now gathered around one of the beds looking at one copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Looks like you-know-who is at it again. A bunch of death eaters, I guess," someone replied.

"I'm sure glad that we're safe here, but we can't do anything here either."

“Can I see?” Harry asked quietly. All conversation stopped as everyone looked over at him. Then, an older woman walked over and handed him the paper. Harry read the front page. There was no information except that four Muggles were attacked in Surrey. Names weren't released.

Harry became overwhelmed with a rush of guilt. What if it were the Dursleys? He had to find out. He felt like he could have prevented this from happening, and he felt like it was somehow his fault. He couldn't let it happen again. He was the only who could stop if from happening again. He had to get out of here.

Then next thing he knew, Harry found himself back in Snape's basement. The room was dark and deserted now. Snape must have found a way to get out - that must mean that he would be able to get out, too. Except he couldn't walk.

Harry looked around. He was in the exact same place from which he’d left. The fireplace was near him, and he could tell the wards were down. He grabbed some of the leftover floo powder and propped himself up. How was he going to do this? He leaned against the wall and using his good leg he stood himself up. Still hanging onto the wall with one hand, he threw the floo powder into the fire with the other. Where could he go?

"Gryffindor tower!" he yelled right after he hopped into the fire place and threw the powder.

Harry tumbled out of the fire place into his familiar common room. He was a little surprised that he was able to floo into Hogwarts so easily, but Snape must have set it up so that he could go back and forth between the two places easily. So, he was at Hogwarts, now what? He knew that he had to find Dumbledore.

But, he was tired. He couldn't believe how exhausted he had gotten from just that small amount of traveling. He scooted to the nearest couch and plopped himself up on it. He was getting used to the look of his leg not being there, but he hated having to get used to such a thing. Of course he knew there was nothing he could do about it, at least for now. He closed his eyes planning on trying to think of a way to reach Dumbledore, when he heard singing. He opened his eyes immediately and looked over to the far corner of the common room. There was a house elf intensely reorganizing a shelf of books in the corner. The little elf didn't even notice Harry.

"Hey," Harry called, but the elf seemed too absorbed in his work to notice him. “HEY!” Harry yelled again. Still nothing. Harry picked up one of the pillows from the couch and threw it will all his might towards the elf. His first attempt made it only three quarters of the way, but by the time he got to the last pillow, he’d pinned the elf right on the back.

The elf dropped what he was doing and ran over to where Harry was sitting on the couch. "Mr. Potter sir. What are you doing here? Are you all right? Master Dumbledore's been looking for you."

"Um well, here I am, but I can't go anywhere, could you tell him that I'm here?"

"Anything Master Potter." And the elf disappeared with a snap of his fingers.

Shortly after, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey came storming into the common room. "Mr. Potter, where in Merlin's name have you been?" Poppy screeched disapprovingly.

"Um...I somehow ended up at...the Knight House."

Dumbledore looked knowingly at Snape and then back at Harry. "And how did you get back here."

"I heard about the attack. I know that I can't just wait it out there where it's safe. I'm the only one that can do something about it. I wound up back at Snape Manor and took the floo here, but then I couldn't move."

"How is the leg now, Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey said.

"Well, it's still not there," Harry replied.

"That is obvious, Potter," Snape said in his usual drawl. "I believe she was asking you how it feels."

"It hurts like hell. They had some pain medication at the house, but it wasn't that great," Harry said avoiding Snape's eyes. He was still so mad at the man.

"Well then Potter, we had best get you to the hospital wing to properly care for that leg of yours. You haven't had a proper examination on it since it happened! You also must take a sleeping draught at once!" Madam Pomfrey insisted.

"Why?" Harry protested.

"Because you've been neglecting your health. You are finally in a position where you can get some proper care and you will," she explained.

"I'll go to the hospital wing, but I'm not taking a sleeping potion. I've been doing nothing but lying in bed since you chopped off my leg. It's not like I can do anything else."

"Well, with that attitude, you won't," Snape said.

"Now, I remember why I left," Harry muttered trying to push down the feeling of guilt for the deceased Muggles.

"We will discuss that later, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said with a familiar gleam in his eye." For now sit tight; we shall get you up to the hospital wing."

Before Harry could think about what was going on, Dumbledore had levitated him up, and he was floating out of the common room with Dumbledore in the lead. From the air, Harry looked back and he could see Madam Pomfrey followed by Professor Snape. Great, he thought, we’re making a processional to the Hospital Wing. At least it’s summer and nobody will see me, he added to himself.

Harry was placed on the bed nearest the office, which happened to be the farthest from the door. He didn't mind that; in fact, he was glad to be away from the door where people from the hallway might see him and get curious. Once he was on the bed, Madam Pomfrey began doing all the tests that he was sure she had been waiting to do since she's seen his injury. He just sat there waiting for her to tell him that he really didn't have to lose his leg. Of course it would be too late to do anything about that now.

Professor Snape came billowing into the hospital wing. He had left earlier to make potions and came back holding four. "Take this," he said. Harry looked at the potions in slight fear before downing all the terrible tasting liquids.

"Why can't I feel the bottom half of my body?" Harry exclaimed, but his voice came out as a slow tired blurb.

"There is still some work to be done on this leg. Mr. Potter," Pomfrey explained.

"What? No!" Harry yelled.

"Just relax dear. You won't feel a thing," Madam Pomfrey said. "We just have to clean it up a little and make it possible for you to get a magical prosthesis in the future."

"Harry, perhaps you can tell me about your stay in the Knight house while Madam Pomfrey is working on you," Dumbledore said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said. "Nothing happened there."

"Yes, but Mr. Potter, I am quite curious about it. I have known a few people to go there, but not many do. I have never been there and was wondering if you could tell me what it is like. It is far more uncommon than the Knight Bus."

"It is like the Knight bus. I was sick of...I don't know. I just apparated there, and they gave me food and a bed. Some people have been there for a very long time. Yeah I did meet someone who had been there for a long time. But I don't think I should really talk about it. People go there because they don't want people to find them or know about what they're doing," Harry said.

"Right, Right, Harry. So what did you do while you were there?"

"I helped cook a little and laid in bed a lot. There's not much that I could do. Everyone was pretty nice though. I might like to go back."

"It's not that easy to get there just because you want to. Many people have tried. You have to really need to be there. Why did you feel you needed to be there?"

"Er...I have a feeling that I could go back if I wanted to. I don't know why I went. I just did. I apparated there in a split second."

Dumbledore knew there was a reason why Harry had gone. His real reason must have been a much deeper one than what he was revealing.

The potion was making him feel quite woozy, Harry realized, and it must have been the reason that he couldn’t stop talking. He was pretty sure that normally he wouldn’t have gone on like that and likely would have had the same attitude he’d had with Snape and not said anything. He still couldn’t feel anything, but he knew that Madam Pomfrey was working on him.

"So you won't tell me anyone's name who was there?" Dumbledore tried again. Harry felt like he was being taken advantage of in this state.

"Who was where?" Harry asked absently; he felt his thoughts slowly being lifted from his mind.

"At the Knight House Harry," Dumbledore said trying one last time.

"I don't want to talk.." Harry felt himself drifting, and he didn't care. At least he wouldn't have to talk to Dumbledore.

"That's alright for now," Dumbledore said and stood up tall. "Go to sleep." With that Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey swept out of the room leaving Harry to sleep.