Harry ground his teeth and clawed at his forehead as he groaned, trying not to cry out in pain. The pain was continuous and excruciating, white hot knives carving at his skull. He was sure he was going to draw blood from digging his nails into his scalp. He felt a hand touch his arm, but he couldn't drop his hands or open his eyes.

"He's excited," Harry forced out through gritted teeth.

"Try to Occlude." Snape's voice sounded strained and muffled. "It will not stop the connection, but it may ease the pain."

Harry tried to do as he was told, tried to use the limited skill he had.

"I have to go. Keep trying and do not watch."

Harry forced his eyes open at the words and quickly grabbed Snape's sleeve before the man could leave the bed. "Don't. Don't go."

"I have to," Snape told him. "You know I have to."

Harry's eyes fluttered as another wave of agony washed through his head. "He...he has Trelawney. He's going to kill her. What if he kills you?"

"That will not happen," Snape dismissed. "He has no reason to suspect me."

"He could have seen you!" Harry argued. "I could have let him see you!"

"He did not see me," Snape insisted. "Even if he did, I know what I am doing and can give a plausible explanation."

Harry's grip on Snape and his own head tightened as Voldemort's insistence and excitement continued bleeding into him with increasing force, nearly ripping a whimper from him.

"You can't die," he whispered desperately.

"The only way I am dying tonight is if I do not answer this summons."

Harry blew out a shaky breath. "I...I can't...please, don't leave me. Everyone...everyone's left me."

He groaned again through the pain and the slick, swirling power he could now recognize as the horcrux. It was excited like Voldemort, excited at the like power being expended by Voldemort and rushing through Snape. It was strong and so far-reaching within him. He could feel the thin tether that lay between him and the horcrux. If he was alone, if no one stayed beside him, he would have nothing left except that horcrux and he would be nothing...he would belong to that horcrux, to Voldemort.

Fingers suddenly curled around his chin and lifted his head.

"Look at me," Snape commanded and Harry did so, his vision slightly blurred by both pain and tears. "I am going to go to this meeting. You will stay here and try to Occlude. You are not to watch anything that occurs. I will send Charlie up here to stay with you and, when I return, I will come check on you and then we will both get some sleep."

Harry tried to shake his head, but Snape held firm.

"I will return to you, child, trust me."

Harry stared at the man, the black eyes holding his intently while Snape's magic vibrated with all kinds of emotions; pain, concern, and...

No.

It wasn't possible. It had only been a month since that first summer interaction. Nothing could have changed, nothing could have become...

How could Snape...?

Could he possibly feel the same? He hadn't taken any time to think about it, to even recognize if it existed within him.

"Harry," Snape pressed.

Well, if that tightness in his chest, his heart, meant anything...

"Okay," Harry said quietly. "Okay."

Snape gazed at him for a few more moments before nodding and releasing Harry. "Do not watch. You do not need to see anything that is going to happen tonight. I will return as soon as possible."

And that was it. Snape was gone without another word and before Harry could say anything else. He listened to Snape's footsteps fade down the stairs before leaning on his knees and bowing his head, burying his fingers in his hair as he rode the waves of pain continuing to radiate through his skull.

"Harry?" he heard Charlie say moments later and heard the desk chair scrape the floor a little. "Do you need anything?"

Harry shook his head in his hands, breathing through the pain and trying to block it like Snape had begun teaching him.

"Severus said you're not seeing anything, so that's good," Charlie said, sounding concerned and lost about how to help. "Maybe just lie down. I'll get a cloth."

He heard the chair move again, but he paid it little attention. He was distracted by his own thoughts, by the reminder that he wasn't seeing...but, he needed to, he needed to see...and he could. He didn't understand, but he knew one thing: he could connect to Dark Marks, to the Death Eaters.

As he lifted his head, he was well aware of Snape's warnings about exploring his mindscape alone, particularly the deep dark place where the horcrux lived. He was perfectly well aware of the risks he was taking given he knew absolutely nothing about his apparent connection to the Dark Marks. However, he didn't care. Voldemort was too excited about something for him to not watch and, if Snape was wrong and he was going to die, Harry was going to see it happen so he knew what to do to Voldemort as revenge.

So, he closed his eyes, ignored Charlie's call of his name, and sunk into his mind, focusing on the horcrux's power which allowed him to land directly in that void-like space. He stared at the green orb, watching it pulse and throb with its own power and the power it knew was active that it so desperately wanted to join with. He felt the way the horcrux seeped out, hoping to encompass any part of Harry it could to absorb even more power.

Taking a deep breath, Harry focused on how he had connected to Snape, how it had felt to travel through the magic into the man, the way the Mark felt, and pressed his palm to the horcrux once again. The feeling of being pulled away returned with the slightest buzz at the edges, the buzz, he realized, he'd felt in the vision when he'd separated from Voldemort. Within seconds, the pulling stopped, and he was looking at a marble floor and the hem of dark robes as he gazed through the holes of a mask.

A sharp pain hit his head, but he ignored it.

As Snape rose from his greeting of Voldemort, Harry was able to see while Snape took his place to Voldemort's right. It was the same ballroom from when Malfoy had been Marked, and was filling with Death Eaters who bowed at Voldemort's feet and took their place in the forming circle. Snape's eyes flickered over every one, allowing Harry to do the same, spotting Malfoy standing between his mother and father to Voldemort's left. The blonde was sickly pale with eyes that were both wild and empty, dark circles under them, and tremours he tried but failed to hide wracked the thin body every couple minutes.

Harry through of that brief moment he'd been in Malfoy's mind, seeing the tear fall on the other boy's hand as he cried over his Mark. He frowned to himself, feeling some kind of way about his rival that was so clearly falling apart...not so different from himself. He frowned again, unsettled by the realization that he apparently had something in common with Draco Malfoy.

Snape's gaze moved away from the once-pristine blonde family, bringing Harry's eyes with him, and focused on the sobbing woman still levitating in the center of the Death Eater circle. Trelawney was invisibly bound and held on her back, head hanging so she looked at Voldemort upside down. Her huge, frizzy hair, usually a disaster on a normal day, was even worse now, full of mats and covered in grime and blood. It even looked like chunks were missing. Her face was just as dirty, making the tear tracks stand out starkly against the dirt and blood. Her robes were in tatters and she no longer had her comically thick glasses. It seemed like she had been in captivity for ages, but it wasn't possible. Snape and Dumbledore-and, by extension, the Order-would have known if Trelawney had been missing for any significant amount of time.

His eyes were brought to Voldemort by Snape as the madman rose from his throne.

"A joyous evening to gain vengeance and propel us forward," Voldemort announced, immediately enrapturing his audience of devoted followers. "Welcome our guest and thank her for her contributions to our cause and future."

He gestured to Trelawney who sobbed audibly again as the Death Eaters murmured and jeered quietly.

"This is the woman who foresaw my downfall, who spoke a prophecy that many believed tied me to a predetermined fate. I knew only a part of this supposed destiny and sought to cut this tie, a difficulty not knowing the full fate," Voldemort explained. "Thus, I pursued the prophecy through the boy only to be failed. And so, I chose to go to the source. I have pulled the full prophecy from her mind and I now know what it is about Harry Potter that is supposedly so special. I now know what to look for, what to extinguish."

Harry felt a jolt of fear at Voldemort knowing the whole prophecy. While it didn't say what power Harry had to destroy Voldemort, it said enough to convince Voldemort to discover that power and, as he said, extinguish it. Voldemort had something to focus on now, a purpose to their connection, though, he clearly didn't know about the horcrux in Harry. What would happen once he learned of the source of their connection?

"I must thank you for your contributions, my dear," Voldemort drawled as he stepped up to Trelawney. "Do not fret. Your death will have great value."

Harry's attention flicked briefly to the floor where Nagini appeared, slithering slowly around Voldemort's feet as though waiting for something. He frowned at her, but looked back at Voldemort and Trelawney with wide eyes as Voldemort raised his wand. Harry felt his own heart speed up as well as felt a waver in Snape's magic, fear and pain and regret rolling through the man. Harry's pounding heart clenched as Trelawney begged brokenly, reminding him so much of the previous year when Umbridge tried to get rid of her.

No, no, no, no...Harry chanted as Voldemort's wand pointed at Trelawney.

"Avada Kedavra!"

NO! Harry cried silently as the green light hit Trelawney and she fell silent, eyes empty. He jumped and flinched when a sharp pain sliced across him, feeling like he had been cut, and he realized Snape was automatically attacking what he perceived to be a mental intruder.

Harry shrunk away from Snape's defenses and turned his attention back to Voldemort, watching in puzzled horror as the monster waved his wand over and between himself and Trelawney's floating body. Nagini curled at Voldemort's feet. When a thread of soft blue and silver began to leave Trelawney's body and sink into the dense, smoky black ball that had left Voldemort, Harry desperately wished he could step forward, to see just what was happening. The green and red threads running through Voldemort's black ball pulsed and, with every pulse, a pain ripped through Harry's head and Trelawney's screams echoed in his ears.

He gritted his teeth to ride out the pain as he continued watching. Voldemort guided the pulsing orb down to Nagini and Harry stared, unable to look away as Nagini absorbed the orb. Her eyes flashed with a mixture of red and lime green as Voldemort's soul piece settled, creating a brand new horcrux. Harry shuddered at the familiar heavy, think slickness that slithered over him, the pieces of Voldemort's soul recognizing each other. Harry was suddenly terrified Voldemort would discover him there in Snape's mind, but he couldn't make himself leave as Trelawney's body fell to the floor in a heap, though he did have to close his eyes as Nagini slithered over to her and the snake's mouth opened wide, fangs bared.

"Severus," Voldemort said and Harry opened his eyes just as Snape moved to kneel before Voldemort again, head bowed. "You are all dismissed. Draco, await me outside. I have something special for you."

Forced to stare at the floor, Harry listened to the multiple footsteps on the marble that faded away as all the Death Eaters left, leaving Snape with Voldemort. It was uncomfortably silent, only the sounds of Snape breathing and Nagini hissing. Snape's magic fluttered with suppressed tension and fear, and, somehow, Harry knew this was how the man felt at every Death Eater meeting. He felt the loneliness-forced and self-imposed-that lined the magic and the far edges of the man's mind, the loneliness that had clearly defined his life and threatened to overwhelm him with every meeting, with every act he was required to do, every mask he was forced to wear.

"You have lied to me, Severus," Voldemort said, pulling Harry's attention away from Snape's magic. "You have been keeping things from me."

Alarm buzzed through Snape's magic and Harry listened, tense.

"My lord?" Snape queried in a tight voice forced to remain calm.

"You have been in the mind of Harry Potter and have kept it from me. I have recognized your magic in his mind," Voldemort clarified and Harry's heart sped up. "I am correct, am I not?"

"Yes, my lord," Snape admitted. "I was ordered by Dumbledore to teach the boy Occlumency."

"How long?"

"Four weeks."

"Of lies and secrets." Voldemort tutted condescendingly. "Crucio!"

Snape's magic immediately turned sharp, wanting to protect, but it was pushed down as Snape forced himself not to react. Harry fought not to scream as he endured the agony alongside Snape, something growing inside him he didn't recognize. He forced himself to push through the torture and focus on whatever was expanding in him, threatening to flood out of him. He reached for it and it overflowed, washing over and away from him, encompassing the place in which he resided and further. As it flowed through Snape, Harry realized the pain they were both in eased, dulling just enough to allow for clearer thought.

When a short, but pained roar escaped Voldemort, the torture ravaging him and Snape stopped, and Harry desperately wished Snape would look up, having no idea what had just happened. Snape's magic stopped fighting to protect against the curse and wrapped around Harry instead, turning electric with alarm and fury.

Potter! Snape's angry voice echoed around Harry.

"You will not lie to me again, Severus," Voldemort said, his tone low with subtle threat, and Snape had to turn away from Harry to survive his precarious situation.

"No, my lord," Snape replied. "You honour me with your generous forgiveness."

Harry cringed at the groveling, hating to see someone like Snape act in such a way.

"You are my most loyal, after all," Voldemort praised. "I also have a task for you that will utilize the fool's own task."

"Anything, my lord."

"Rise, Severus."

Finally, Harry was able to look at Voldemort as Snape stood and met Voldemort's red eyes. He prayed Voldemort didn't decide to Legilimize Snape. He would surely be discovered in the Potions Master's mind if that happened.

"You are to find something for me," Voldemort told him. "You see, when I possessed the boy, I saw something in his mind. I am convinced this is the power the prophecy speaks of and you are going to discover it for me."

Use this. Protect him.

Harry jumped at Snape's voice suddenly echoing around him again, but clearly not aimed at him. Snape was talking to himself.

"The boy has been resistant for he does not trust me," Snape explained and Harry frowned, confused about what the man was aiming for.

"Convince him otherwise," Voldemort retorted. "I must know this power he possesses. Let him believe you mean him no harm and, when you discover his power, bring him to me."

Like hell.

Harry's lips twitched at the man's thought, both amused and warmed by Snape's persistent protectiveness towards him.

"Yes, my lord," Snape agreed in stark contrast to his inner voice and bowing his head. "It will be done."

"Yes, it will," Voldemort murmured. "You know the consequences for failure."

"Yes, my lord."

"Dismissed. Do not fail me."

Snape turned on his heel and swept from the ballroom. Exiting, he paused very briefly to gaze at Draco Malfoy who was still pale and trembling. Harry felt a pull in his chest and a flutter in Snape's magic when the blonde raised red, teary eyes to meet Snape's dark ones. Harry remembered, then, that Voldemort was going to show Malfoy something, something Snape was being excluded from.

Needing to know what was being entrusted to Malfoy and not Snape, Harry quickly searched for the buzz of the Dark Marks, and reached out for the one coming from Malfoy that was reacting to both Snape's Mark and Harry's presence through the horcrux. As Snape began to walk again, Harry grabbed for Malfoy's Mark and drew in a sharp breath as he was yanked from Snape's mind, landing moments later in Malfoy's which was pulsing with absolute terror.

Please, help me. The words were the quietest of desperate whispers as he settled in Malfoy's agonized mind and Harry glanced at Snape's disappearing back. He winced when the stabbing pain in his head from earlier returned, but ignored it once again as Voldemort stepped out of the ballroom, joining Malfoy.

"Come along, Draco," Voldemort invited. "There is something I would like you to see."

Malfoy trailed silently behind Voldemort, led through his own manor. Harry managed to only catch glimpses of portraits, sconces, and other elitist décor hidden in the shadows of the dark corridors. They twisted and turned and weaved until they were in a far wing, pushing through a barred door on the far side of year another large, open room.

The stark change in the manor's appearance made Harry blink. They were descending a spiraling stone staircase, made narrow by the jagged, rocky walls, no quartz or marble or granite in sight. It was mostly dark, soft light from the occasional sconce lighting up only a couple steps at a time. At the bottom, they were in a long corridor, lined with bars that clearly made the fronts of cells.

Harry briefly wondered if the dungeon had always been a part of Malfoy Manor or if Voldemort had created it for himself when he took over the manor. Malfoy nervously glanced into each cell they passed, letting Harry see the lack of prisoners or, at least, the appearance of empty cells due to their darkness. Harry thought he heard quiet moans and groans and whimpers that belied the emptiness, each seeming to make Malfoy flinch.

He hissed at another carving sensation in his head just as Voldemort came to a stop in front of a cell, Malfoy following suit. Malfoy flinched violently when Voldemort laid a hand on his shoulder and pulled the blonde to stand in front of him, facing the cell bars. Harry once again wished he could take a step forward, straining to see through the darkness at the vague form he could just make out curled in a corner.

Voldemort's wand flicked in Malfoy's periphery and a torch lit up inside the cell, illuminating the unwilling occupant. Harry felt his heart clench at the sight and felt Malfoy's echoing emotions.

The prisoner was cowering and trembling, scrunched into a ball Harry didn't think possible for an adult man. His head was bowed, but tilted to rest against the stone wall. He had long blonde hair that was dirty, matted, and lank, hanging to conceal his face. His clothes were dirty and shredded, his thin, shaking hands and bare feet bloody.

"Let me tell you a story," Voldemort said, his voice uncomfortably light as though actually telling a fun children's story. "Seventeen years ago, I was in Albania searching for a remarkable artifact, a long-lost diadem. I found it at the same time I met a young woman."

Malfoy had stiffened as he listened while Harry tried to make connections as he gained information.

"Unfortunately, this young woman stole from me. She stole what belongs to me and brought it home to her family," Voldemort continued, tone growing harder. "You see, Draco. This woman was this man's wife and they had a daughter, a daughter I do believe you know."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows, gazing at the prisoner and wondering who he was. If Malfoy knew the man's daughter, surely he knew them, too, but who were they and what would be so important about a diadem that Voldemort would go to such lengths to get it back after seventeen years?

"Luna Lovegood," Voldemort said and Harry's eyes widened, his heart stuttering. "Pandora died seven years ago, so I cannot make her return my property. Her dear daughter, however..."

Harry's heart was pounding as Malfoy's mind raced incomprehensibly around him and his breathing sped up. Luna...Voldemort had her father and was after her...Luna was in extraordinary danger. Suddenly, he remembered the third Death Eater he had travelled through, remembering the strange house and he realized...

Luna and her father had been attacked. Her father was here, but Luna...

"I have a second task for you, Draco," Voldemort said. "You will befriend the girl, and find out what she knows about my diadem and her mother's theft. Perhaps the daughter will be more cooperative than the father. Or, if not, bring her to me and I will use her to make her father talk. What is your daughter's life worth to you, Xenophilius?"

Harry and Malfoy jumped when the crumpled man suddenly jumped to his feet and rushed to the bars, gripping them as he stared at Malfoy and Voldemort with wild silvery-blue eyes-the same as Luna's-red from crying.

"Not my Luna! Please, spare her!" the man sobbed.

"Tell me what I want to know," Voldemort said almost flippantly.

Luna's father shook his head aggressively, his lanky hair flying around him. "I can't! I know nothing of what you are asking!"

"A pity your daughter seems to mean so little to you," Voldemort drawled uncaringly.

"No, please!" Xenophilius looked directly at Malfoy, pleadingly. "Please, dear boy! Do not hurt my daughter!"

Voldemort's hand tightened on Malfoy's shoulder. "Do what you must, Draco. Do you understand your task?"

"Y...yes, my...my lord," Malfoy stuttered quietly, fear overwhelming him.

Harry was unable to observe or listen any longer as the pain in his head exploded and he was torn from Malfoy's mind. He was thrown back into his own and back into reality, his head searing, heart pounding, and eyes blurred.

"I don't know what's wrong!" he heard the panicked voice of Charlie. "He's been like this for more than thirty minutes!"

Harry blinked vigorously, trying to clear his vision.

"Harry, are you alright? What the hell-" he heard Bill begin.

"Bloody hell, your scar is bleeding!" Charlie exclaimed.

Continuing to clear his vision so Bill and Charlie finally came into view, Harry reached up to his forehead and instantly felt the warm stickiness trickling down his head. He jumped slightly when Charlie pushed his hand away and started swiping a damp cloth across his forehead.

"What the hell just happened?" Bill asked. "You were completely unresponsive, your eyes were red, and now you're bleeding."

"Has this ever happened when there's been a Death Eater meeting before?" Charlie added.

"N...no, that's not...I..."

Then, the bedroom door flew open, slamming into the wall, permitting an enraged Snape.

"Have you completely lost your mind?" Snape shouted furiously. "You are the most idiotic-"

"I needed to see what was happening! If you were going to die, I had to be there!" Harry yelled back, shoving Charlie away.

"I told you I was coming back!"

"Do you know how many promises I've been given?" Harry snapped loudly and angrily. "Do you know how many have been broken?"

They stared at each other, Snape still in his Death Eater robes and anger in his face, worry in his magic, and Harry heaving as his skull continued to be sliced to pieces. Bill and Charlie were standing to the side, looking between them with wide eyes at the shouting match.

"If you gentlemen could excuse us for a moment," Snape said to Bill and Charlie after several tense seconds, his voice calmer, but still tight.

They both nodded and Charlie handed the pinkened cloth to Harry who brought it to his forehead again as the redheads left, door closing behind them. Snape moved to round the foot of the bed and sat on the edge, reaching out to move the cloth so he could see what was happening with the famous scar.

"You do not understand the risks you took," Snape told him and Harry could hear the concern lying under the anger.

"Tell me about them later," Harry said dismissively, gaining a glare from the man. "Professor, the Lovegoods were attacked. Her father is a prisoner at Malfoy Manor, but Luna's not there. She needs help. Please, find her."

Snape's glare turned into a puzzled frown. "Potter, slow down. What are you talking about?"

"I saw him. Voldemort showed Malfoy. Professor, they're after her."