An hour later, Madame Pomfrey and Dr Green were still working on a very bruised and battered Harry in order to undo the damage the Horcrux had caused this time.

It wasn't as bad as the Potion Master had feared when he had seen Harry's body being wrenched into the wall and heard the noise of flesh and bones colliding with stone. He had well and truly thought that this time, the Horcrux had reached its ultimate goal and killed the child. Severus had bent down to Harry and frantically searched for a pulse and after a few horrifying moments during which he had felt as dismayed as he had last felt when he had seen Lily's unmoving body, he had found it, weak, but steady.

He had cast a bubble-head charm and filled the bubble with pure oxygen when he had noticed that Harry seemed to have difficulties to breath and then he had wasted no time and flooed Madame Pomfrey.

The medi-witch had cast a few charms on the boy and demanded that her colleague fetched Dr Green immediately. She had ignored Severus' questions whether there was anything she couldn't handle and just glared at him in a way that made it clear that she would be more than displeased if the Potion Master didn't do as he was told.

Therefore, Severus had flooed to the Hog's Head (the first public place he could think of where nobody was likely to ask unwanted questions) and apparated to Surrey. Anit-Apparation wards might be useful when it came to protecting the inhabitants of the castle, but in times like these they could be really annoying.

The Potion Master, now accompanied by a rather worried Dr Green, had been back in Hogsmeade in less than five minutes, but unfortunately, they couldn't floo into Severus quarters. Since the man was reluctant to use any other floo to enter the castle - lest the headmaster might become suspicious - they had to walk all the way from the gates to the dungeons. When the two men finally had reached the Professor's quarters (which, admittedly, hadn't taken as long as Severus had feared it would, especially since the Doctor turned out to be a rather proficient long-distance runner) they had been prepared for the worst.

Madame Pomfrey, though, had greeted them with an expression that suggested that she had everything under control, and after Severus impatient snarl, she had given an account of Harry's injuries.

"He has been very lucky, Severus. If the Horcrux had managed to smash his head against the wall with such a force, I'm not sure he would have survived. Fortunately, though, the boy's head didn't touch the wall at all. His body, however, is in a rather bad shape. His left arm and hand are broken several times, as is his hip, the left thigh and several rips, also on the left, have even been crushed. Splinters of his rips have punctured his spleen and lung, that's why his breathing is rather laboured, but it's nothing life-threatening and nothing I can't heal, even though it will take several weeks for the boy to be completely healthy again. I have been able to stop the bleeding and dosed Harry with a sleeping draught so he won't wake up.

As for you, Dr Green," she nodded at her colleague, "I want to make sure not to dose Harry with any other healing-potion that might interact with his medication, and since you are much more familiar both with Harry and with typical muggle-injuries I though it wise to have you here."

Dr Green had listened carefully when the medi-witch had listed Harry's injuries and although he was tempted to point out that, as a psychiatrist, he didn't normally deal with patients who had broken bones, he refrained from doing so. When his assessment of wizards was right, than he did know a great deal more about injuries that were a result of physical violence than they did. And if Harry's condition proved to be too serious to be dealt with in a medieval environment, he wouldn't hesitate to demand the boy's transfer to a hospital. He was rather confident that at least Mr Snape would listen to him.

Soon, the two doctors (respective healer) worked on the child and the muggle-doctor had been amazed about what you could do with a wand. After a few minutes, his concerns about the dungeons of a thousand-year-old castle not being a suitable place to treat a seriously injured child had vanished completely, although he had to admit that he had been somewhat horrified when Madame Pomfrey had pointed her wand at Harry's side and started to mumble incantations.

When he had seen Harry's spleen mending itself on the - well, he didn't know the exact term but as it was similar to a three-dimensional, high-quality X-ray photograph he supposed 'hologram' was the most suitable expression - that floated over Harry's body, he had refrained from suggestion that it might be better to bring Harry to a real hospital where both the spleen and lung could be repaired in an operation.

In fact, most of the doctor's work consisted of bandaging Harry's injured arm and leg and, once the medi-witch had started to feed the child more potions, answering questions about each and every substance that might cause undesired effects when combined with one of the psychopharmaca Harry took.

Through all of this, a hawk-eyed Potion Master was looming behind the two of them, ready to strike if one of the healers should make a mistake or miss applying healing-balm to one of the numerous cuts and scraps Harry had sustained.

#

At last, Dr Green and Poppy stepped back from the sleeping form of Harry.

"I think this is all we can do for now," Poppy said, "he will sleep for at least another ten hours, though I recommend giving him another few drops of the potion in five or six hours so that his body has enough time to recover."

"What exactly happened?" Dr Green demanded as soon as Poppy had stopped speaking. "I had the impression that Harry was doing a little bit better since he has come into your care, but apparently, I was wrong."

"He - the Horcrux smashed him into the wall. I tried to grab him, but that creature has enormous physical strength." Severus answered wearily.

"I assume you didn't consider it necessary to charm all of the walls and not just the ones in Harry's room?" Dr Green replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Severus just shook his head. He would never have thought that Harry would possess such a strength when the Horcrux was in control of the body, he had never thought it possible that he would be too weak to hold Harry back.

Apparently, the doctor sensed the Potion Master's feeling of guilt because he didn't press any farther. Instead he asked: "So what has happened? Do you know what caused this incident?"

"Yes," Severus answered with a voice devoid of all emotions.

"You do?" Dr Green replied, clearly surprised. His question had been meant rhetorical as normally it was impossible to figure out what had caused a particular act of violence. He and his staff in Surrey had spent ages trying to find any kind of pattern, any indication what could possibly trigger these incidents, but they had found no clue whatsoever.

Severus grinned weakly. "I do indeed know what has caused this particular incident. I have spoken with Harry about how it would be possible to destroy the Horcrux without killing Harry himself-".

"What do you mean, killing the boy?" Poppy, who had risen from the sofa where the three of them had settled down, demanded.

"Well..." Severus considered the question. The medi-witch and the doctor had so far been loyal and trustworthy and Dr Green already knew most of the plan anyway, so he might as well be open about everything, he decided. "I think it might be better to start from the beginning."

During the next thirty minutes, Severus filled the medi-witch in on everything he had learnt about Horcruxes, means to destroy them and the problem a Horcrux residing in a living being - a living being you wanted to survive - posed. Thankfully, Poppy refrained from interrupting him with exclamations of horror or any other unnecessary emotional nonsense, although a few times she barely managed to keep her mouth shut.

Dr Green, who already knew most of what Severus explained, started to pay closer attention when the Potion Master arrived at the visit of Nicolas Flamel and the discussion the two wizards had had the previous evening. The agreement about testing the combination of the Elixir of Life and the deadly curse on the ancient wizard before subjecting Harry to it was met with his approval.

Madame Pomfrey, however, couldn't hold her tongue any longer. "So the two of you have decided to cast Unforgiveables as if there was nothing wrong with it? Have you lost your mind!? There have to be other ways to remove the Horcrux from Harry, it's much too dangerous just to cast a killing curse at the poor boy! He is just a child and nobody can tell whether he will react in the same way to the Elixir as Flamel does, the man has taken the draught for centuries!"

"There are no other ways to destroy Horcruxes, Poppy! Do you honestly believe that I would expose Harry to something like this if there was an easier way to safe him?" Severus snarled.

"Well, no, but-" however, the medi-witch's reply was cut short.

"We are not even sure that this little deception will work! It is very well possible that the Elixir will render the Horcrux immortal, too. But there simply is no other way. Or do you think having a dementor sucking Harry's soul out will be more pleasant? Or have him killed by the venom of a basilisk?"

Poppy, who by now looked a little grey, silently shook her head.

"Yes," Severus said, once again sounding tired, "and we don't have much time left, I fear." He added.

"Why? And what is a dementor?" Dr Green asked.

"I will provide you with a book," Severus hurried to say, not having the patience to discuss magical creatures just now. "As for the need to act fast, the Horcrux is now aware of the fact that we are currently planning how to destroy it. Actually, this was why it tried to kill Harry this time. As I said earlier, this evening, I had a discussion with Harry about everything I have just told you. Naturally, the boy became distressed. I think he might have come to the conclusion that I would kill him. Unfortunately, before I had the opportunity to explain my intentions, the Horcrux overpowered him and seized control of the body. It... it screamed something about killing Harry before I would have a chance to destroy it. It knew my name..." Severus trailed of, still shaken by the Horcrux - the Dark Lord's - words.

Poppy looked at him with a mixture of shock and sympathy, while Dr Green - naturally - looked confused.

"I don't quite understand..." the doctor broke the silence hesitantly.

"No, of course not," Severus sighed, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable reaction his confession would provoke. "For a short period of time, I have been a loyal death-eater - a follower of the Dark Lord, the very wizard that is responsible for this whole mess." When Dr Green opened his mouth, Severus raised his hands to interrupt the man. "I can assure you that I have switched sides long before his downfall and have worked as a spy for the light ever since. Joining him has been the biggest mistake of my life, but I can't change the past. For now, however, I ask you to refrain from asking any questions you surely have, I assure you I will try to answer all of them later."

Apparently, this was enough for the doctor because he nodded and Severus couldn't detect any signs that the man was particularly agitated or had any intentions of taking Harry and running away.

The Potion Master couldn't know that Dr Green had never been as horrified as Severus had assumed he would be. In contrast to most witches and wizards, muggles had long since discovered that there wasn't just black and white but many shades of grey and that almost no human being was completely without faults.

"Thank you," Severus nodded to the other man. "Well, since the Horcrux now knows that it is in danger of being eradicated before it can carry out the deed that has apparently been its sole purpose for the last ten years, I'm almost certain that it will attack as viciously and unyieldingly as possible as soon as it gets another opportunity. And I don't know how much long we can keep it from achieving its goal."

"Are you sure that the Horcrux only learnt about the attempts to destroy it by your talk to Harry, Severus?" the medi-witch asked, "the other day when I was about to give Harry his medication it also tried to hurt the boy. Perhaps today was just a coincident."

Sever shook his head, but before he could say something, Dr Green spoke up. "I don't think so, Ma'am. Harry claimed that he was forbidden to take his medicine even when neither of us knew anything about your world and the fact that he wasn't psychotic."

"And additionally," Severus supplied, "it would hardly have uttered those threats if it wasn't aware of the current events. It recognized me, Poppy!"

Madame Pomfrey couldn't deny that the men's claims where true. "But what do we do now, then?" she asked, more than worried.

"I will floo Flamel as soon as possible," Severus answered tiredly, "and hopefully he will be amenable to try out whether our plan works in the next few days. Oh, and we need a blood-sample from Harry, apparently, the Elixir of Life has to be tweaked according to the individual who takes it."

"Of course, I'll do it right away." The medi-witch agreed and stepped up to the sofa where a snoring Harry rested.

While the woman was busy, Dr Green spoke up again. "How will you stop the Horcrux from trying such a stunt again when Harry wakes up? From what you have told us earlier, I doubt that anyone will be able to prevent it from doing whatever it takes to achieve its goal."

"I honestly don't know," Severus answered, "I would say we should keep him asleep as much as possible, but I still need to get his consent to go through with the plan. I won't do it without Harry having agreed to it. If something goes wrong-" he broke of. If Harry would die or sustain serious brain-damage or something equally disastrous, he would never forgive himself. And while he knew that it wouldn't make much of a difference if Harry had agreed to Severus casting the curse, the Potion Master was rather sure that it wouldn't be quite so bad if he and Harry parted while the boy still trusted him and could hold on the knowledge that Severus was on his side.

Dr Green's coughing interrupted his train of thoughts and the Potion Master hurried to continue. "And of course, there is also the problem that it's hardly healthy to dose a child - anybody, really - with such a strong sleeping potions for days and probably even weeks, and I'm not sure whether anything less potent will suffice."

"Yes, he always needed incredible high doses of psychopharmaca, too, to get at least some effect," Dr Green agreed.

"I think we have to try to reduce the dosage he takes, though, and perhaps increase the amount of muggle-drugs that aren't related to magical substances in any way. I don't want to give him the Elixir when he still has other substances in his system that could interact with the draught. It will be risky enough as it is. I don't think it would we wise to have too many restraining spells on his body either, as there is no telling how the magic both of the Elixir and the curse and of any wards might affect each other."

Severus buried his face in his hands. This would be difficult. No, more than difficult. Getting all of this done - talking to Harry about what was going to happen, administering the Elixir and then finally casting the curse without giving the Horcrux any opportunity to interfere... the more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed that the plan would succeed.

Everything seemed unreal. Was he really sitting here, in the Flamel's sitting room, about to cast an Unforgivable, about to cast Avada Kedavra? Severus had to press his hands to his knees to prevent them from shaking too badly.

Across from him, an old women sat, smiling at him in sympathy.

Earlier, Perenelle Flamel had tried to make conversation with the young man from England while her husband was still in the lab, readying the Elixir of Life for a child, for Harry Potter, so that only a few ingredients had to be added over the course of the next two weeks.

A Potion Master should have no difficulties with such a task - well, no Potion Master would have any difficulties brewing the Elixir of Life completely, but Perenelle was well aware of her husband's reluctance to allow anyone to handle the stone, and she agreed with him whole-heartedly. Even she didn't know all the details of what had happened so many centuries ago, but she was well aware that a few of her husband's former colleagues had used the the Stone while experimenting with magic so hideous that even today all books that mentioned something about their research and the results were banned or at least restricted.

Perenelle had soon noticed, though, that the Potion Master was in no mood to chat and had left him in peace.

Severus was grateful that the woman had stopped her attempts to engage him into a conversation. Too much had happened over the last 24 hours, and the scene of Harry waking up for the first time after the latest outburst of the Horcrux still was fresh in his mind.

#

At first, everything had seemed all right, the boy had been groggy but calm and appeared to have no difficulties recognizing the Potion Master who had slept on the sofa next to Harry - the medi-witch had suggested moving Harry into his bedroom but Severus wouldn't have survived another night amongst those pillows and cuddly toys and he would not leave the child alone in his room, even with the potion still in his system.

When Severus had started questioning him about the last thing he remembered, though, everything had started to go downhill.

"I - I don't know, Sir..." Harry was clearly bothered by the fact that he didn't know what had happened before he had apparently fallen asleep on the sofa, and he had started to chew on his lips.

"No violence, Harry." Severus had admonished him, and after receiving a bewildered look, he had elaborated: "Your lips, child. I won't have you nibbling on your lips until they start to bleed, you have no reason to be ashamed or upset about not knowing what has happened."

Harry had lowered his eyes, half-embarrassed that he had forgotten one of the few rules the Professor had set up for him and half-delighted that the man considered him important enough to pay attention to such little things.

The Dursley's hadn't done anything when he once again had bruises or scraps - nor had the staff on Dr Green's ward, actually. Sure, at first they had been rather strict, but at some point they seemed to have given up. On the one hand, Harry had been grateful that they left him alone and wouldn't tie him up every single time the Horcurx - well, at those times he had thought it was a demon - did something minor, but on the other hand it had frightened Harry, because if they stopped caring about little things, it must mean that surely they would soon stop caring about the really big things, too, and then, Harry had been sure of this, the demon would be able to kill him really quickly.

Harry's shoulders sagged when a sudden realization hit him. He had only been with the Professor for a few weeks - even though it seemed to be much longer - and part of the time he had been in hospital. Surely in a few weeks, the man would get tired of him, too. The thought almost made Harry weep. Somehow, he had really started to like Professor Snape, more than he ever had liked Aunt Petunia or Dr Green or, well, anyone! Well, he supposed he must have really liked his parents when they had still been alive, but he didn't remember those. So the Professor really was the most important person in Harry's life, and the thought that the man would stop liking him was too much.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I'm really sorry!" He cried.

"You haven't done anything to be sorry about, Harry!" Severus had frowned. He was quite sure that the boy hadn't been up to any mischief, he was constantly watched, after all. But then, he was a Potter..."or have you done anything I should know about?" he asked.

"I really try to be good, but the demon- eh, Horcrux, it's really hard to keep control over it all the time, I know that it bothers you and that nobody would want to deal with something like this for long but-"

"Foolish child!" Severus interrupted the child's nonsensical bubbling. "It's not possible for an eleven year-old child to keep control over a part of the most powerful wizard there is! And I have already told you that while I don't like that creature, I still like you and I will do everything in my power to help you!"

"You won't - you know, get rid of me?" Harry asked, still unsure.

"Of course not, Potter! I'm your guardian now and it will stay this way until you are seventeen - or until you choose someone else to be your guardian. I will never 'get rid of you', though, you foolish child!" Was Harry still this insecure? Severus had thought that by now he would have become accustomed to the thought of having the Potion Master as a new guardian - a permanent guardian.

However, Harry's hopeful look and the unsure smile that formed on his face told Severus exactly how uncertain he still was.

"Now, then," he continued, not sure how to react to the look of adoration on Harry's face, "while I promise you not to ever abandon you, we will get rid of the Horcrux. That's what we were speaking about last night, before the thing decided to put in another appearance. It smashed your body against the wall and unfortunately, I haven't been able to stop it in time. Madame Pomfrey and Dr Green have patched you up and we decided to give you a rather strong sleeping draught so that your body could rest. This is why you have slept until now, and it's probably due to this potion that you can't recall anything that happened yesterday - sometimes, it can have this side-effect."

"Oh, all right then." Harry answered. While he didn't like to forget things, he knew about side-effects - the medicine he had gotten for all those years had plenty of side-effects - and in his opinion, side-effects were much better than people considering him weird or crazy because of his rotten memory.

"Very well. Now, it is quite challenging to destroy the Horcrux without causing any damage to your body, but fortunately I have discovered a way that will both assure the Horcrux' complete destruction and your continued good health. There are certain curses that - what?" Severus interrupted himself when Harry started to tug on his sleeves while muttering to himself.

"You can't destroy it!" Harry said, clearly terrified.

"Why not?" Severus asked, completely taken aback.

"You can't. It doesn't want to. No - PLEASE NO!"

"HARRY?! What's the matter?" The child had started to tremble and was squirming in his seat, almost as if he was fighting against an invisible opponent. Unsure what was happening but not prepared to take any chances, the Potion Master put his arm around Harry's shoulders, ready to grab him if he showed the slightest signs of bolting.

"No, please no, you can't..." Harry was whispering now. Never before had he experienced something like this. He was used to the voice of the Horcrux insulting him and its yelling and shouting and the demands to kill himself, the luring voice that everything would be fine if he just surrendered control to the beast, yes, but this?

There was a creature - Harry could see a creature! It was ugly and slimy and surely couldn't be human - though it spoke to him in a threatening voice that clearly was human. Its body was darkish-brown and while it came nearer and nearer to where Harry stood, transfixed, it seemed to lose chunks of its own body, and already several pieces of what seemed to be rotten flesh covered the ground.

All the while, it whispered in a high, cold voice: "You will not.. you will not defeat me... a traitor and a child... you are mine, you ever have and ever will be mine. And the moment I die will be the moment you die..."

"No-oo... please, go 'way..." Harry mumbled, unable to speak more coherently. Where was Professor Snape? He had been right here, next to Harry, only seconds ago! But the living-room of the man seemed to have disappeared and Harry had no clue where he was. The creature had almost reached him by now and a disgusting stench that made him gag invaded Harry's nose.

And then the - the thing reached out to him. "PRO-OFESS-FESSSOR!" Harry tried to scream, but now he couldn't breath and the beast was much too close and why was the Professor not helping him, why had the Professor left him just now?!

The claws of the creature reached out and closed around his throat, pressing hard. Harry tried to scream again, scream for the Professor, but all that came out was a gurgling noise.

Dimly, he thought that he felt a disgusting-tasting liquid in his mouth, and then, to his immense relief, the face of Professor Snape appeared in his line of sight.

Severus was frantic. What was happening with the child?! He had never seen Harry like this, frozen and in apparent shock, staring into nothingness and murmuring mostly incomprehensible words. Whatever was happening inside his mind, though, it clearly terrified him. No, more than terrified - the look on his face was similar to that of some of the wizards and witches the Dark Lord had decided to kill personally.

An unbidden thought occurred to Severus: What if exactly this was happening just now? What if - what if the Horcrux had somehow become even more corporate than the time Severus had used Occlumency on the boy? He knew that the thing had become stronger - or at least more aware of his surroundings, so what if... he didn't dare to finish the thought.

But just now, the whimpering noise Harry made increased - what could he do? He needed to do something! Who knew what the Horcrux could do to the boy - he needed to help Harry, and he needed to help him now!

In his desperation, Severus started to shake the child, but this didn't seem to make any difference, and even when he slapped him in the face Harry remained unresponsive.

The Potion Master had never felt so helpless in his his life.

Then, amongst the mumbling, Severus could understand a single word.

When he heard Harry calling for him in a weak and anguished voice, Severus made a decision. He didn't know whether it would work and if he would regret it later, but just now, it was the only way he could think of that would stop Harry from dying - or loosing his sanity, his mind, his soul, whatever was happening with him.

A quick flick of his wand, a muttered "Accio!" and a small flask filled with a pale-violet, almost clear liquid flew directly into his hand. Another wave of his wand had it open and Severus poured its contents into the child's mouth.

The Draught of Living Death worked instantly. For a brief moment, Harry's gaze focused and a flash of recognition crossed his face. Then, however, his eyes closed shut and his breathing became weaker and weaker.

#

"Mr Snape?" Nicolas Flamel, who had just emerged from his laboratory, addressed the young man sitting on his sofa who seemed to be deep in thoughts.

"Wha- oh, I'm sorry, I must have been distracted," Severus apologized when he caught sight of the two Flamels looking at him expectantly.

"The Elixir for Mr Potter is almost ready. You only need to add a few ingredients - you will find detailed instructions in my laboratory and you are free to use it to finish the concoction if you aren't comfortable with taking the Elixir to Hogwarts in your personal lab. I understand that the Mr Potter's condition has worsened since we last spoke, but you mustn't forget that the Elixir needs to ripen at least a week to reach its full effect. If you administer it sooner, the consequences will be disastrous." Flamel said in a serious voice.

"Of course," Severus answered a bit shakily. He didn't even take offence on the Alchemist lecturing him, a potion master, about the importance of allowing a potion enough time to develop its full potential. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that in a few minutes, he would kill the centuries-old man.

Of course, he hoped that Flamel wouldn't die - if he did, his plans regarding Harry would be in shatters and he honestly had no idea whether he could keep Harry alive long enough to come up with a different solution - if there was a different way to ensure Harry's survival, that was.

"All right. Now, if you would excuse me and my wife for a few minutes, we will be back shortly."

Severus just nodded and watched the couple leaving the room side by side. He felt a lump in his throat. Both Flamels had assured him that he needn't feel guilty, that they had decided to end their life in the near future anyway, but still, the mental image of Nicolas Flamel saying goodbye to his wife, perhaps forever, brought home the impact the next couple of minutes would have not only on his life but also on that of several other people like nothing else could.

After about five minutes, the two of them returned - oddly calm and collected, but the Potion Master supposed that their advanced age allowed them to see things from a different perspective than most people did - and motioned Severus to follow them downstairs into the cellar.

As Flamel had explained earlier, the cellar was warded even more heavily than their house and nobody would be able to tell that an Unforgivable had been used down there. He had even offered Severus to use the cellar to 'cure' Harry if they shouldn't be able to find a suitable location in Britain.

Nicolas Flamel led his wife and the young man into a room that didn't look so much different from the dungeons at Hogwarts.

"If you would just stand over there, Mr Snape?" Flamel said and pointed at the corner next to the door. Then, the man turned around and went to the middle of the room, where he cast a silent spell on the floor before moving into position, facing the Potion Master.

"Cushioning charm," he explained when the saw Severus' curious face, "I'm not a young man any more and if I survive this little experiment, I don't want to spend weeks recuperating."

Severus gave a jerky nod before he flicked his wrist. His wand glided into his hand. Tensely, he stood in his corner and observed Flamel smiling lovingly at his wife (who was standing next to the door) one last time.

"I'm ready when you are." Nicolas Flamel nodded encouragingly at the young man. He could tell that the Potion Master was more than nervous, and he understood completely. A lot depended on the next few seconds.

Severus raised his wand. At first, his hand trembled slightly, but when he pointed his wand at the other man's upper body, at his heart, it was perfectly still.

"Avada Kedavra!"