Disclaimer – isn't mine

AN – For those that are unsure, Rhys is pronounced Reece.

Chapter 4 – Rhys

The wand spun on his palm and Snape followed it unhesitatingly; out of his door and up through the now quiet halls of the school. The rest of the students had long since gone to bed although Snape kept his ear out all the same. The wand continued tugging him toward the Defence hallway before stopping near an alcove that was half hidden in shadows.

'Lumos.' He murmured and immediately stepped back. The tiny green snake was lying in the middle of the entrance to the alcove, hopefully not dead but certainly not conscious; a noticeable kink in its back. Severus cast a stunning charm on her and carefully lifted her in his hands before standing and heading towards the hospital wing.

'Severus, what on earth are you doing here at this time of the evening?' Poppy asked, standing from beside a homesick first year.

Snape shook his head and continued into her office, the medi-witch following in curiosity. He set the snake down on the desk and stood back.

'That's Potter's snake.' She said, stating the obvious.

Snape rolled his eyes. 'Yes, thank you. I'm quite familiar with the beast. Can you heal it?'

'What's wrong with it?'

'For Merlin's sake, woman, look at it, what do you think is wrong with it.' He snarled.

'Alright, no need to get snippy.' She scolded casting several diagnostic charms on the creature. 'It's dislocated its spine. Someone must have trod on it, or kicked it.'

'Can you just fix it? I need to get it back to Potter.'

'How is he?' Poppy asked tentatively as she used her wand to manipulate the snake's spine back the way it should be before rubbing a pain numbing salve into the vibrant green scales.

Snape sighed. 'He's fine, thank you very much. You may pass on my words to Minerva as I'm sure she thinks I have chained him up somewhere and am treating him horribly.'

'Now Severus, you must understand her concerns.' Poppy said quietly lifting the snake and placing her back in the potions master's hands. 'You are not known for your fairness towards Harry Potter of all people and now he's living in your dungeons, blind and at your mercy.'

Snape cradled the snake to him and smirked nastily at the witch. 'Really, I'd never though of it like that.' He sneered, knowing full well he had and knowing that Poppy knew he had too.

'What ever you say, Severus?' she chuckled. Snape scowled but tipped his head in thanks before stalking menacingly from the hospital wing.

He quickly made his way back to his room and swept through to the room Harry was occupying. He gently placed the snake back down on the bed and enervated it.

'Do not leave him again. I will supply any food you require.' He said, unsure if the snake could understand him but repeating the first sentence once again before summoning a small mouse from somewhere in the castle, stunning it and laying it on the bed.

The snake blinked before curling up on the pillow beside the Boy-Who-Lived ignoring the mouse for the moment. Snape checked on Harry noticing the restless tremors behind his eyelids and the deep frown marring the young man's features even in sleep.

'Potter.' He said softly. 'Potter.' He said slightly louder before gently shaking the boy's shoulder.

Harry shot awake, gasping for breath as his head darted wildly from side to side.

'Potter, calm down. Take several deep breaths.' Snape said soothingly. Tosca was hissing quietly, slithering up Harry's arm to dab gently at Harry's cheek with her little forked tongue.

'Sir?' Harry panted.

'It's alright, Potter. You're safe down here with me.' Snape almost snorted aloud after saying that, particularly after the conversation he had just had with Poppy.

'Sir, Riddle, he's got Kingsley and Tonks.' Harry blindly reached out and grasped his professor's arm. 'You have to tell Dumbledore.'

Snape took in the sweaty fearful figure in front of him. 'Stay right here.' He said curtly standing up and disappearing into the sitting room where he threw a handful of floo powder.

'Albus?' he called out and the Headmaster's head appeared in the fire.

'Severus? Is everything alright?'

'Potter just woke. He said that the Dark Lord has Shacklebolt and that pink haired menace. Can you check it out? I doubt Potter will sleep without knowing.'

Dumbledore nodded and the flames returned to normal. Snape tossed another lot in and called for a mug of hot chocolate and some biscuits. Hopefully the boy would eat and drink it as, after the pitiful display of consumption at dinner, he knew if he didn't do something about Harry's eating habits soon the whelp would fade away and that annoying house elf, Dibby or Dippy or what ever its name was, would come after him; not that he was afraid of a house elf of course, but for some reason his death glares had no effect on this particular elf and that certainly could not be allowed to continue.

'Here Potter.' Snape said soothingly, sitting on the edge of the bed and pushing the mug into Harry's hands. 'You really should eat more, you know.' He placed the plate of biscuits down on the night stand and grasped Harry's hand in his, moving it to where the plate was.

'More would have to mean that I was actually eating something in the first place.' Harry muttered and Snape let out a snort of amusement. He really had no idea the Boy-Who-Lived had such a dry sense of humour.

Harry's raised his head and tentatively reached out his hand. 'May I?' he asked hesitantly. Snape, still unsure of what exactly Harry was asking, gave a small noise of affirmation.

He almost fell off the bed when Harry reached out further and placed a gentle hand on his cheek before tracing down to run his fingertips over the potions master's mouth. The milky green eyes were closed and Harry's head was tilting slightly to one side. Snape found himself unable to look away from the scarred face. The pattern the acid had made was strangely fascinating. Harry continued feeling his way around Snape's face, up over the brow, tentative fingers trailing across the eyelids and down to follow the curve of Snape's lips before dropping his hand.

'I always wondered what you looked like when you're smiling.' He said softly.

Snape didn't know whether to yell at the boy or place his hand back on his face and let him feel his expressions further. The whole experience took not more than a few minutes but it was probably the most intimate thing Snape had been involved in in more than twenty years and it scared the crap out of him.

'I think you should get some sleep now, Potter.' He said curtly standing and moving towards the door.

'What of Kingsley and Tonks?'

'The headmaster will let us know as soon as he hears anything.' Snape promised.

'Do you think he's killed them already?'

'The headmaster will let us know.' Snape repeated.

Harry's face fell. 'Thank you, Sir.' He whispered 'And thanks for the...thank you.' He finished lamely.

Snape couldn't stand the broken look that overtook the boys' face once again. 'Stop bloody thanking me, Potter.' He snapped before storming from the room.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Snape did not bring up the "incident" as he had taken to thinking of it the next morning, or the morning after that, in fact he made no further mention of it and Harry was happy to leave it at that. He could tell the man had been uncomfortable, but not why. He didn't think he'd done anything too awful.

Each day he'd practiced with the snitch until he could hear it half a room away. Snape then spelled it silent and had him search for the magic. At first it had been very difficult until Snape had charmed every inanimate object in his rooms before making Harry tell him where they were. This had the added bonus of allowing Harry to navigate unaided throughout their rooms.

After much practice he could actually begin to pick out the small snitch darting throughout the room. It had been charmed only to come to him if he aimed the summoning charm directly at it. The first time he'd tried it his aim had been way off and he'd actually summoned a snuff box off Snape's shelves that had hit him rather soundly on the side of the head, a fact Snape found incredibly amusing. Actually the more Harry thought about it the more he came to realise that the potions master seemed to laugh a fair amount whenever Harry made a goose out of himself, which in his current state was quite often.

A week later Snape rose to find that Harry was already up and practicing with the snitch yet again. He summoned the snitch and snapped at the boy to sit down and eat breakfast.

'Sorry.' Harry muttered sheepishly, letting the little snake that was around his neck guide him to the table as Snape called for some breakfast. 'Is there any word?' he asked hesitantly.

This was a common occurrence. Almost every day of the past week Harry had asked whether there was any word on the two Aurors Harry had seen in his nightmare a week before.

Snape turned and looked at the boy's face; even with the milky green eyes Harry was able to project a look of hope that for some unfathomable reason Snape was reluctant to quash. So yet again he shook his head before murmuring no and sitting down.

'Oh.' Harry sighed, picking up his fork and tucking into the plate of eggs before him. Snape watched as the boy struggled to eat the whole plate and guessed the boy was trying to please him by eating, for whatever reason Snape couldn't begin to figure out. After he turned a particularly unattractive shade of green Snape plucked the fork out of his unresisting hand.

'Don't eat it if you don't want it, foolish boy.' he scolded.

Harry gave him a wan smile but didn't reply.

Snape put down his own cutlery and looked up. 'Do you still have that infernal cloak?' he growled.

Harry must have sensed that the anger wasn't real and smiled slyly. 'Of course.' He murmured.

Snape replied with a smirk of his own. 'Good, you are to wear it to class this morning.'

'What?' Harry paled. 'B...but. I...I...'

'Eloquent as always, Potter' Snape sneered.

'You want me to go to class? With everyone else?' Harry's voice quavered uncertainly.

'No Potter. I want you to go to class with me. No one will even know you're there. I want you to work out who is who by sensing their magic. It will be good practice for you.'

Hary shifted nervously in his chair. 'No one will know I'm there?'

'No one but me.'

Harry swallowed and nodded, standing up and walking to his bedroom to retrieve his cloak before following the man through his office and into the still empty classroom.

'I want you to move very carefully through the room and try and tell me who is sitting where. Do not get too close to the desks in case a student bumps you.'

'Yes, Sir.'

Snape placed a hand on his shoulder and steered him around to sit behind his desk. 'Cover yourself while I take care of the desks.'

Harry pulled the cloak over him and watched as large sections of the black around him began to glow, showing him exactly where the desks were as Snape cast a temporary clean all charm on each desk so that Harry could tell where they were.

Just as voices were heard coming down the corridor Snape moved to stand beside his chair. As the group moved into the room Harry groaned inwardly.

'I hate you, you know.' He grumbled quietly.

Snape smirked. 'Do not concern yourself, Potter, the feeling is quite mutual.' He murmured out the corner of his mouth. 'I just thought your knowledge of your classmates may make this task easier for you.'

If Snape could have seen through the invisibility cloak he would have seen Harry staring at him incredulously, eyes or not. 'Oh.' Came Harry's whispered reply.

'Sit down and shut up.' Snape barked and the sixth years quickly sat. 'I want not a word from any of you. Today's potion is on the board, you should have all the ingredients set out in front of you. Get started, you have two hours.

Harry rolled his sightless eyes. Of course they weren't allowed to speak. That would have made it far too easy for him. At a soft nudge from the Professor, Harry cast a silencing charm on himself and rose to walk slowly around the room.

At first they all looked the same. Harry didn't know who exactly had passed their OWLs and made it into Snape's NEWT potions class. He guessed Hermione and Malfoy at least so he began there. There were actually only ten students in the class. He crossed to where the Gryffindors used to sit and stood nearby their desks.

He concentrated and watched as the colored stands of magic grew brighter before him. He had been pleased as he had been able to see more and more magic each day. It certainly made, not only catching the snitch but navigating his way around Snape's rooms so much easier.

He continued to watch and he allowed himself to see the person's emotions reacting with the magic. Something was wrong; the person didn't feel like a Gryffindor. The magic was darker, more closed off. Harry moved silently closer. He could see silver and some black and feel both disgust and an underlying fear. He flashed back to when he stumbled off the train. This had been the person who had caught him. The same sense of sadness continued to emanate strongly causing the magic to pulse. He saw the figure move closer to the one next to it.

'I wonder if Potter really is okay. He can't give up now. He's the only thing stopping the Dark Lord from killing us all.' The figure whispered; the voice strangely concerned. Harry sucked in a breath and stepped back accidentally tripping over someone's bag and tumbling to the floor. Thankfully the silencing charm was still in place and his cloak didn't fail him. Unfortunately the bag knocked over and the belongings spilt across the floor.

'Mr Weasley is there a problem?' Snape drawled from his seat behind his desk.

Harry froze.

'Malfoy kicked over my bag.' Ron whined and Harry's eyes widened at the proximity of Malfoy and his friend; one table away from each other. Obviously Snape had a death wish this year, he mused.

'I didn't touch your bag, Weasel.' Malfoy sneered.

'So it just happened to tip over exactly in direction from you, Ferret.' Ron retorted.

'Silence!' Snape bellowed. 'Ten points from Gryffindor Weasley for disrupting my class and another ten for not keeping your belongings neatly in your bag.'

'Hey, that's not fair.'

'Care to make it another ten, Mr Weasley?' Snape asked silkily.

Ron took one look at the malevolence shining in the potion master's eyes and shook his head. 'No Sir.'

Snape continued staring at him for several moments before stalking back to his desk. 'Get back to work. All of you.' The last few words were added quite loudly and Harry knew that it was really directed at him and quickly got back to his sensing.

By the end of the class he was exhausted and he was never more relieved to hear the door shut than at that moment. He yanked the cloak back over his head waiting for Snape to begin yelling at him for the accident during the class.

'Try and write down where you think they were.' Snape instructed tossing him a self inking quill without looking and knowing that Harry would hear it coming and catch it. He was not disappointed and Harry felt for the edges of the parchment and began trying to place names on the paper where he thought them to be as Snape moved throughout the room and cleared up any mess left by the sixth years before finally returning to his desk and sitting down. Harry handed him the sheet.

'Well, you will be pleased to know, Potter, that your handwriting is atrocious whether you can see or not.' Snape's voice was filled with amusement.

'Sod off.' Harry said tiredly. It was at his words that Snape raised his head and looked properly at the young man. His limbs trembled noticeably, his hair hanging limp and sweaty around his face and Snape could almost see the headache pounding through the boy's head. Without saying anything he stood actually picking the young man up in his arms causing Harry to let out an indignant squeak and Tosca to hiss in surprise before walking swiftly through his office to his chambers and into the young man's room and depositing him on his bed. He summoned a pain killing potion and held it up to Harry's lips. It went to show just how often the boy was injured that he just swallowed it unhesitatingly.

'You should have said something, foolish child.' He scolded softly.

Harry, his grimace relaxing as the potion did its work just frowned. 'Will you please stop calling me a child?' he asked. 'I'm not a child. I've never been a child.'

'Yes Potter. Of course not, Potter.'

'Would you cut it out with the Potter as well?' Harry reached up and ran a hand tiredly through his hair

'Well, what should I call you then? That is your name.'

'No, it's not. It's my Surname. My given name is Harry and just about anything will do except for Potter, child or...boy.' The last name was added almost silently but Snape caught it anyway.

Snape looked at the tired young man before him. 'Did you know that your mother wanted to call you Rhys, after her father?'

Harry's sightless eyes widened. 'Really? Why didn't she?'

'Your father didn't like it. He wanted to name you after his father, Harold.'

'But my name isn't Harold, it's Harry, just Harry.'

'Yes, it was a compromise. Har from Harold and ry from Rhys. It just happened that the combination made sense. Merlin knows what you would have been saddled with otherwise.' The potions master said dryly.

Harry snorted. 'Rhys.' He said softly. Milky green eyes pierced Snape where he sat even though the older wizard knew full well Harry couldn't see him. 'Would it be easier? To separate me from my father if you called me Rhys.'

Snape turned his head and stared across the room. 'The name reminds me of your mother.' He murmured.

'Were you friends with my mum?' Harry asked hesitantly.

Snape sighed. 'Not really.'

Harry could sense this was a painful subject and decided to stay silent. Eventually Snape laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. 'Get some rest. I'll wake you when dinner is here.' He said softly before standing and walking swiftly from the room, leaving Harry wondering just what sort of relationship Snape had had with his mum.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCC