A/N -

After this, I cannot believe that I said chapter two was a bitch. I think that I had more trouble writing this than anything else in my entire writing career, which says a lot. I absolutely cannot find the right music for this story. When I write, I need certain music which varies from story to story, chapter to chapter, and character to character; I couldn't, and for the most still can't, find the music for this.

On a completely unrelated note, I beat all the Kanto gyms and caught all the legendary birds in SoulSilver in under twelve hours. Go me! XD I am a complete dork, and I totally love it. I am also successfully breeding an army of Eevee. Upon telling my friends (the ones that also play Pokémon) they all go o.O; It makes me laugh.

ANYWAY! Review, review, review. I need to know what my fans (I can finally say that! ^.^ I've never had fans before.) think of this. Questions are also good; I am intentionally keeping some things vague at this point, but I also need to know what needs clarifying. Whether or not I actually do clarify depends on the topic in question. Still, I want to hear (well, read) all your questions. And comments. Flames are acceptable, they (sometimes) still give me the info I need to improve.

I think I've rambled on enough; on with the story!


"If you're really offering… Come on then." Harry turned on his heel and continued on his way, not giving Snape a chance to answer. He couldn't keep a smirk from his face as he heard the footsteps resume.


Upon reaching the Black library, Harry waited for Snape to enter, then promptly closed the door, hoping to make it clear that he wanted no disruptions. When he turned back to Snape, he found himself on the receiving end of one of his patented death glares. In a completely out of character move, Harry simply raised an eyebrow at him then went to take a seat on the couch that sat in front of a gothic fireplace. He spoke again when he noticed Snape hadn't moved.

"I was rather under the impression that you were going to help me in some way. If so, that would involve me explaining recently passed events to you, which will probably take a while." Harry pointed out. After a moment of being glared at some more, he spoke again. "That was a roundabout way to invite you to take a seat." Silence. Harry could swear that Snape was trying to bore holes in his head. "Suit yourself."


Meanwhile, there was veritable chaos in the kitchen below. Remus, however, was simply sitting there, thinking. He wondered if his cub would actually take his advice and talk to Severus. He sighed, though it was lost in the sound of the chatter the other occupants of the room were taking part in. More than he hoped that Harry would talk to Severus was the hope that Severus would allow Harry to speak with him. Remus knew that somewhere inside his heart, Severus actually gave a damn about the younger raven, even as he vehemently denied it.

Deep in his thoughts, Remus missed the calculating look Sirius was giving him.


When Severus looked back at Potter, he was startled to see the sombre expression he wore. He sat hunched forward, elbows resting on his knees.

"It started with a dream." Potter began slowly, as if testing each word on his tongue before speaking it. "I don't think I can describe it. I'm not even sure I should try. It strikes me as… wrong." A rather sardonic, dry look crossed his face briefly. "Though I suppose I should tell you something. Elsewise* this would be pointless, no?" His words slowed again. "I was… visited… by a woman. She introduced herself as Fate." Severus fought to keep his surprise and scepticism from his face, even as he bit back a wry retort and half a dozen questions. He daren't bring Potter out of the nearly trance-like state he appeared to have entered.

"We spoke for… a while, I suppose. Though I couldn't feel time passing. She bid me goodbye, and when I woke up, my scar was gone to be replaced by another mark across my upper back." Severus's gaze snapped back from where it had been on the fireplace to meet Potter's own.

"What?" When he replied, Potter's voice was oddly gentle, and a small, strange smile danced upon his lips.

"Exactly what I said, sir." Severus blinked. Twice. Was the brat actually showing genuine respect for authority? Mentally shaking himself, he brought himself back to the topic at hand. He crossed the short distance between where he had been standing and the couch where the child sat, before reaching forward and brushing Potter's hair away from his forehead. At this action, the boy showed absolutely no surprise nor protest. He simply sat there calmly, that infuriatingly enigmatic smile that was so out of place on his usually so expressive — and now quite scarless* — face.

"What about this mark you mentioned? Can I see it?" Severus snapped the question out.

"Quite honestly sir, I don't know." The child was still maddeningly calm. No, calm wasn't the word. Neutral. As if nothing can shake him.

"What do you mean?"

"'Only those whose paths are most intertwined with yours shall see it.' That is what she told me." Suddenly, some of Potter's innate fire seemed to come back to him. "And I would really rather not bare myself to you in any way." After a moment he added, "Any more than I have already." There was a long moment of silence.

"Very well."


Harry mentally amended that last statement as he began to relay his visianic* dreams to the dour man, who had finally taken up Harry's offer to have a seat. Not any more than I already have. Any more than is necessary. It became clear to him that he was going to be baring a lot of himself to the man before him, as much as he might have liked to avoid it. After a fair amount of time, Snape told Harry that he would do some research and contact him when the man had constructed a theory of sorts. Though a bit upset with the obvious dismissal, Harry did take his leave of the room with a promise to himself that he would soon return to do some research of his own, and another from Snape that he wouldn't tell anyone else about their conversation. With the latter, an unusual tingle of magic flitted through the both of them leaving the younger a bit puzzled and the older vaguely alarmed if curious.


Meanwhile, not so far away, a gathering was being held; a meeting of many darkly clothed figures with hoods covering their seemingly skull-like faces. Aforementioned figures were congregated in a semi-circle around another figure, this one without a hood and the apparent leader of the group. A large snake was slithering around the perimeter of the area, before coming to rest at the unhooded* one's feet. At his command, another figure slouched forward. This figure, too, was different than the others, but still clearly deferent to the leader. He was crooked, as if he spent much time hunched over in his life. His hands, if they could be called that, were quite hairy and more claw-like than anything else. He also lacked the skeletal visage the others sported — masks, upon closer inspection —, instead wearing his own face. It was rather disfigured, vaguely canine, and also covered with hair. His eyes were a harsh tawn*, and his ears slightly pointed. When he spoke, his voice was an abrasive growl. However, the leader raised a hand to silence him before he finished even a word. The leader began to outline a plan to his followers, an attack to take place months after this meeting.

Behind one of those masks, grey eyes flashed.


AcadianProud: I actually hadn't intended for the curse scar disappearing to be surprising or not. When Fate kissed Harry on the forehead, she effectively destroyed all connection to Voldie-dearest, hence the cycling of extreme temperatures. His magic was both burning it out and freezing it, the warmth was his magic attempting to make up for the extreme changes it was going through – healing it, kind of. Usually this would be the part where I ask if that explains it, but I am pretty sure it does. Edit: Originally, I was going to have Sev hypothesizing about all that, either inwardly or aloud to Harry, but I couldn't make it work. …Well, I could have, but not in a way that satisfied my writer sensibilities.

Asterisked words are not technically real words, just a quick FYI. I couldn't find words that worked for me, so I used these instead.

-Elsewise – otherwise

-Scarless – self-explanatory

-Visianic – vision-like

-Unhooded – also self-explanatory

-Tawn – my own noun version of tawny, since the dictionary version is tawniness, and that didn't work for me.

While we're on the subject, I also occasionally use words out of context with their dictionary definition. There are no examples in this chapter, but I'll mark those as well if they come up.