A/N: Sorry for the slight delay, I celebrated my 21st birthday this weekend and it was quite a busy few days! It feels strange to be labelled an "adult" now, I certainly do not act like it! Haha.

Thank you to all who reviewed! It's great motivation to know that you all enjoy my story so far :)

To Floyd In The Sky, I hope I do not disappoint! Thank you for the compliments on my writing, it really is awesome to get positive feedback :)

Also to SevLoverKat: Happy belated birthday! I hope you had a good time :D

2: The Crow and The Wolf

Albus Dumbledore gazed onto the unmoving, bloody and broken body in front of him in shock. He felt his eyes burn, the feeling alien, as they had not done so in a very long time.

"A werewolf bite?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Madame Pomfrey had appeared instantaneously at Severus' panicked call. She had never seen him show so much emotion before. She was currently patching the Boy-Who-Lived up, after having run her checks.

'Harry, my boy, will you ever be able to forgive me?' He thought, sure of the answer.

He had never felt at such a loss. He was sure that his ignorance of Harry, and his commands to his friends to keep contact to an absolute minimum was a mistake. In fact, in hindsight, it was one of his more idiotic decisions.

"A werewolf bite," he said again, softly.

Severus, stood painfully still next to Dumbledore, spoke, "The Dark Lord had not informed me of such a plan," he began, "Greyback brought Potter to my wards this morning, and from what he told me, he is using this occasion to... allow me to prove my loyalty," Severus growled the last bit out.

He had not known that the Dark Lord had been suspecting him. As such, Voldemort had not informed him of the plan to infect Potter, and here they were. Dumbledore was a wreck, and Potter was a werewolf.

Harry's mind sped up from slumber into a barely conscious state. He was first aware that he was in an extremely comfortable bed. It felt like his body was being swallowed by the warm mattress, not uncomfortably.

He could not really feel his body very much, however. He knew there was something important going on, something that had just happened and he knew it should have affected his body in some way, but he was just so comfortable. His mind was too hazy, and he gave up trying to remember before he had even begun.

A vague murmuring reached his ears, but he could not tell if it was in his head, or if there were people with him. Wherever he was.

He felt woozy, even though his eyes were closed. It felt like he was falling, and he tried to groan in protest. He found that he could not, however, as trying to open his mouth felt like he was lifting a two tonne brick. All that escaped him was a minute sigh.

"...Potter?" He thought he heard someone call his name, but the voice sounded far away and very faint. It had sounded familiar, though.

Harry did not try to move, as he realised if he could barely speak then there was no way that he could move. 'Who put bricks in my mouth anyway?' he thought slowly, slightly irritated.

He lay there with his eyes closed, not quite conscious and not quite passed out. The soft murmuring carried on, eventually lulling him to sleep once again.

Severus Snape stared at the dark-haired boy in the bed, who had fallen still again in slumber. There was a soft, sad sigh from next to him

"Severus, you must take care of him as best you can."

Severus' lips thinned, "Dammit, Albus. I have just told you the reasons I cannot-"

"Please, Severus, for me..." Dumbledore interrupted, "I have failed Harry once too many times, I fear. It was ignorant and short-sighted of me to put him with the Dursleys again. The Weasleys and Miss Granger told me time and time again that their treatment was not... up to standard, but I never realised it would ever become so bad that Harry would run away." Dumbledore's usual starry eyes were glum and cold.

Severus heaved a breath; he had never seen his mentor appear so old and frail. He did not want to have to look after the scarred brat.

'Although, it seems you have judged him wrongly... quite wrongly, infact,' his mind said. He shushed his brain, not willing to explore those thoughts yet.

"He will need someone... his friends around him if he is to cope with his... new condition," Severus said, quietly, "I cannot provide that." He knew it was the truth, but he also knew that he had already submitted to Dumbledore's request. The old man had never seemed so defeated before, and it was so bad that Severus just wanted Dumbledore to go back to his annoyingly happy, normal ways, if anyone could believe that.

Dumbledore turned to look at the tall man, "I am sure things will work out," he said mysteriously, with a smile in his voice. Severus met his eyes. Sure enough, they were twinkling again.

He turned away and shook his head, resigned. "I suppose he cannot be moved anyway. As you said, either physical or magical movement may damage him further. Poppy should need only a few more visits to assess the extent of the injury done."

Dumbledore nodded. "When he wakes, please inform me. I wish to... apologize to Harry." The twinkle disappeared again.

"Yes, Albus."

Harry knew he was dreaming. He felt floaty, and not all there. He opened his eyes. A barren, yellow landscape surrounded him. It felt like it should have been scorchingly hot, but Harry felt no heat. There were small winds blowing across the land, and dust rose with it, creating a hazy effect.

Suddenly, a loud, angry caw sounded behind Harry. He turned in time to see a black shape fly past his head, a wing flapping and hitting his nose. He batted at the air, and jolted backwards in shock.

'Just a crow,' he realised, looking up at the black shape.

Harry had barely relaxed when the crow was diving at him again. He did not move in time, and the crow's claws caught him in the shoulder. It stung him.

Harry panicked, and started running away from the attacking crow. Or trying to, anyway. As Harry had experienced before in his dreams, his legs would not move fast enough, and it felt as if he were trying to run through water.

Up ahead he could see a dry forest that had definitely not been there before. He pushed himself to run towards it, but his legs ran no faster. Irritation and fear was building up inside him, and he felt himself begin to sweat.

He suddenly realised that he was heading towards a swarm of black crows that were cawing and flapping their wings loudly around something on the ground. He wanted to stop, but his legs still would not listening. Instead they sped up.

As he got closer, he could see a small, white animal in the middle of the crows' torment. Harry narrowed his brows, not sure what it was, but sure he would save it from the bullying crows.

He braced himself, and jumped straight into the circle of crows. Light seemed to immediately disappear, and Harry saw that there seemed to be more crows now that he was in the eye of the black storm. Indeed, there was not a trace of the outer landscape through the flurry of crows, and he was surrounded by furious and loud caws that rattled his mind.

Suddenly, a small whine got his attention, and his eyes shot to the ground. A small white wolf, not yet an adult, was lying prone, injured from the vicious attacks. Its somewhat familiar green eyes were staring at him, wary.

Harry snapped to attention, and slowly picked up the wolf. As soon as he had touched the wolf, the crows that had been slowly circulating around Harry, began to swoop and dive towards him. His cradled the wolf to his chest, and started running again. He broke through the black circle, feeling the pecks and scratches of the crows on his body.

The landscape had changed again. He was in a thick, bushy forest that seemed more like a maze. Wide and dauntingly tall trees surrounded him everywhere, so wide that he could not see anything through them. They formed a vague path. Harry followed it slowly, now that the crows had disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared.

He walked for what seemed a very long time, not knowing where he was going. He felt lost. What was he supposed to do now?

He looked at the wolf in his arms, whose shocking green eyes were still staring at him with apprehension. He wondered why, when a fork in the path abruptly appeared. He stopped. The path to the left lead to what could have been paradise. He squinted out of habit, rather than the need to see, and saw a sandy golden beach that ended in the bluest of blue seas. There was a small, wooden building he could also see. A house that Harry could live in, where he would be left in peace by the world.

Down the right side, the maze continued, but the crows were there. A bigger, more vicious-looking crow with intelligent eyes was watching him, perched on a small branch on the right-sided path.

'Leave the wolf. Choose the other, easier path,' it said persuasively. The words seemed to appear in Harry's head, rather than be spoken aloud.

Harry cocked his head, "And what does your path entail?"

'Death, betrayal, love, family, happiness, sadness, pain,' the crow stared hard, 'it will be much easier for you to choose the other path. Give us the wolf. Save yourself.'

Harry had already known his decision, instantly realising the difference between the two paths. He looked at the wolf again, who had been silent the entire time. Its eyes looked at him, questioningly. He could see loneliness and anger in the wolf's eyes, and something deep and dark inside, that would consume it if it were to be rejected. "I will not leave you," Harry promised. He saw relief, love, happiness flood the wolf's eyes, and he felt love in return for the small, vulnerable babe. He would protect it.

The left path, full of promised happiness and loneliness, started to disappear. The dark-haired boy said to the black crow, "As long as I have breath in my body, I will protect the wolf from your evil, even if you throw pain, sadness and betrayal at me."

He took a deep breath, straightened up and stepped onto the crows' path. The large crow squawked horrifically, calling the other crows' to attention. Harry bent over the wolf to shield it, and began to run as blackness descended upon him.

Severus finished pouring the calming draught down Harry's throat. He made sure that the boy swallowed.

He sat back in the chair next to the bed, and sighed. The small figure had started convulsing not five minutes after he had fallen asleep again. It had taken his and the headmaster's power to still him so that he would not aggravate his wounds, or cause any more damage.

Severus glanced over the bed in Dumbledore's direction. The old, bearded man was hunched over in his chair, hand over his eyes.

Severus turned away and sighed again. He almost felt sorry for Potter, but the boy had willingly run away from his protection. Surely he could have survived a bit of strong talk from his relatives. 'He has always been stupid and reckless, this is obviously his own fault. Probably his relatives had asked him to help out around the house, and he had acted the diva.'

Severus ignored the small voice in his mind that hissed otherwise.

A/N: And that's the end of chapter three! I enjoyed researching for the dream scene, it has a fair amount of symbolism in it, and I am considering explaining it if anyone is intrigued by its meaning.

It will not spoil the story, but I may not post it until a couple more chapters have been posted.

I eat reviews for breakfast, so please spare a minute to leave me one :)

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