Note: You may have noticed that I've changed my pen name; the original pen name was a ridiculous one I came up with when I didn't think anyone'd actually read my fanfiction. Dens serpentis is Latin for "serpent's tooth," which I took from the King Lear line "how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is/To have a thankless child!" My parents foolishly named me after one of the evil daughters in said play.

Review responses for both the interlude and chapter 8 are at the bottom of this page.

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Chapter Nine: Awakening

Harry opened his eyes laboriously, half-expecting and fearing to find himself back in the maelstrom, or, as usual, in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that he was in his room at Buffy's house. With the ease of practice he took stock of his body, testing for injuries. There was a heavy weight on his chest, similar to the weight of the phoenix in hishe didn't know what to call it. Was it a dream?A physical manifestation of his inner turmoil?A brief transportation to another realm?

He felt Silas, his pet snake and good friend, curled loosely around his left wrist. His right shoulder and his nose both ached slightly, and he remembered being wounded fighting a vampire and then getting punched by Buffy. His cheeks were warm and wet where tears had streaked them. His right hand was numb, and when he looked at it he found that it was being held in a death-grip by Professor Dumbledore, who had fallen asleep and was lightly snoring in a chair beside his bed.

Dumbledore? What was he doing here? Harry frowned, and vaguely remembered waking in this room once before with Dumbledore beside him.

For that matter, what had happened? He remembered fighting a vampire, and then turning and seeing Buffy about to destroy his Firebolt...dear Merlin, he had cast the Killing Curse. To save a stupid broom. Well, not such a stupid broom, one that meant more to him than almost anything, actually, but, still...

Was Dumbledore here to take him to Azkaban? It seemed unlikely that Dumbledore, who had always been so warm toward him, would willingly participate in his incarceration, but he couldn't be sure, not when his crime had been so great. Was he finally to be punished for his many crimes, for all the people who had died because of him? Was he to be sent to the place where his worst moments would be relived over and over again until he was immersed in the maelstrom for good and there was no hope of ever coming out again?

He felt his thoughts begin to tumble out of control, and his breathing quicken in fear at the thought of both what he had done and what the consequences would be. He could almost feel his mind slipping, heading back towards the terrifying madness that was his guilt and self-loathing made tangible, and gave a single mental cry for help before losing his grip on this reality and falling...

...only to have an answering mental presence latch firmly onto his own and yank him back to sanity with a single, beautiful, pure trill. His eyes widened in surprise, and he looked around frantically, searching for the source of the beautiful sound, since the only phoenix in sight was Fawkes, who appeared to still be sleeping and who he had never made mental contact with anyway, since that was Fawkes' bonded's (Dumbledore's) prerogative.

There was no sign of another phoenix, but Harry supposed he shouldn't be surprised, since phoenixes only bonded with those of pure heart, and he had proven clearly enough last night that he had no such thing.

He must have shifted slightly at the terrifying, sickening thought that he had performed that terrible curse, the curse that had killed his parents, the curse that had killed Cedric, the curse that had snatched Ron and Hermione's souls from this earth, for Dumbledore gave a little snort and opened his eyes.

When he saw Harry watching him cautiously, he gave a soft smile. "My dear boy," he murmured, and his soothing voice somehow washed away his fears and reinforced his spirit, "Welcome back."

Despite himself, Harry could not help but smile tentatively in return.

"Summers! Don't you ignore me, Summers!"

Buffy closed her eyes, either in disbelief at her misfortune or a silent prayer for patience, it was impossible to tell, as she turned to face her detestable principal. She had only had to make it to the doors before she could be free for the entire lunch period, but Snyder had caught her only seconds from freedom. She hadn't even done anything wrong recently! She forced a strained smile onto her face in response to his angry-looking rat-like visage.

"Principal Snyder," she greeted flatly.

He glared at her out of his beady eyes, the reflection of the fluorescent ceiling lights blinding from the bald part of his head. "Where is he?" he demanded.

She blinked. Who? "Who?" she asked.

"Don't give me any of that lip of yours, Summers," he said, sounding irritated (which wasn't at all different from how he usually sounded). "The exchange student! The British boy who's here to shape up all the rest of you miscreants!" He peered at her suspiciously. "You didn't kill him, did you?" She arched an eyebrow in amusement at the question before shaking her head. "You didn't eat him, shove a spike through his heart, drink his blood, or, worse, get him addicted to PCP?" Buffy blinked. Shook her head. Fought back a genuine grin.

"I see," he said stiffly, a suspicious gleam still in his eyes.

"Why did you wanna know?" Buffy asked.

He looked surprised that she had to ask. "You're a troublemaker!" he exclaimed. "You burned down your school's gym! You and your druggy gang ruined parent-teacher night two years ago! You skip school and generally act as a nuisance! Of course you're the first one I'd ask when that role model student, Harry Trotter, didn't show up to school today!"

She cocked her head to one side. "Is this your way of asking me where he is?" she asked perplexedly. She hated the man and wanted to spend as little time as possible in his presence, but if this was about Harry she figured she might as well figure out what his problem was.

He glared. "You said you didn't know where he was!"

"I said that I hadn't killed him or made him into a druggy," she corrected. "He is, however, staying at my house. He was...ill...and was unable to come to school today."

Snyder groaned and covered his eyes with one hand, apparently in thought-if he was capable of it-before he threw his hands into the air with a sigh of disgust. "I knew it! I knew he was too good to be true." He stuck one pointer finger in Buffy's direction, perilously close to her mouth, as he berated, "I know the slang you teenagers-" he spat the word as if it were a curse "-use when you skip school! Staying home ill means he's high on drugs! I knew it! I'll have his hide for this! Just because he has a wannabe-sexy British accent doesn't mean he can act all high and mighty around here! I'll show him who's boss!"

Buffy managed to escape in the middle of his tirade, noting to herself that she hadn't seen Snyder foaming at the mouth like this since he had been forced to rescind her expulsion earlier this year.

It was too bad that he was going to come down on Harry for this, though. Although she still didn't know what to think of the kid, and had decided that they needed to have a nice, long chat if he ever awoke from his catatonic state, she wouldn't wish a wrathful Snyder on even her worst enemy, except maybe Spike.

Harry was lucky to have a principal like Dumbledore. He seemed to actually like kids. He could run circles around Snyder.

She stopped in her tracks. A wicked grin formed on her face.

Oh, yes, that thought had great potential.

"What are you doing here, Professor?" Harry asked, hearing a strange hoarseness in his voice that had nothing to do with physical pain.

Dumbledore smiled slightly, the warmth reaching his eyes but the amusement not, and said, "I came because you needed me, of course, Harry." Harry simply stared at him implacably with his impossibly green eyes, demanding a complete explanation, and Dumbledore looked away, chuckling a little under his breath. He knew that his own eyes often had that effect on others, but being on the receiving end was a relatively new experience for him. "At about 8:00 p.m. your time last night I felt that you had performed a great amount of dark magic," he explained.

"You felt it?" Harry asked, confused.

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid that most of the Wizarding world felt it, Harry," he confessed. "It was a very powerful spell."

Harry nodded slightly. "Am I to be taken to Azkaban, then?" he asked resignedly.

Dumbledore blinked in shock. "Azkaban?" he repeated incredulously. "My dear boy, of course not! You must know that I would not let them do that to you!"

"I used an Unforgivable," Harry said stubbornly.

"Harry," Dumbledore said slowly, as if talking to a slow child, "You cast Avada Kedavra in self-defense, against a vampire. No Wizarding court would condemn you for that."

Harry seemed to latch on to his choice of words. "Would not condemn me for that?" he asked. "Because I'm the Boy-Who-Lived?" He laughed harshly. "Headmaster, you know as well as anyone that I would rather fairly go to Azkaban than be pardoned because of my fame."

"Harry," Dumbledore said sternly, peering down at him from over his glasses, "I think that in this case anyone would be released without conviction and perhaps even without a warning. You are doubly safe, however, in that you were granted honorary Auror status, as you well know, by the Ministry for your defeat of Voldemort. Aurors are granted the right to use the Unforgivables in situations where they deem it necessary, as long as they can prove that the one they used it against was endangering themselves or someone else." Harry looked about to protest, but Dumbledore raised his hand-the one not still holding Harry's-to silence him. "Harry, whether or not you were in direct danger from the vampire, the fact remains that it was a vampire you killed, and not one with a soul. By any definition, that vampire was a danger, and you took steps to eliminate its threat."

Harry nodded grudgingly and looked down at his chest, where Fawkes was still curled up, although he was no longer asleep. Dumbledore gently grabbed his chin and tilted Harry's face up so that he was looking into Dumbledore's eyes. "You carry so many burdens, dear boy," he whispered, "I would take them from you if I could. Please do not add to those burdens by taking undeserved guilt upon yourself."

Harry shrugged helplessly. "I don't know how to behave any other way."

Dumbledore smiled sadly. "I know, child." His eyes looked distant for a moment before he patted Harry's knee. "I almost forgot to ask-how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Harry said. At Dumbledore's piercing look, he insisted, "I'm fine! A little sore, but I'm fine!"

"There's something else we need to talk about, as well, Harry," Dumbledore said carefully. Harry looked worried. "In an attempt to restore your snake to visibility earlier, I accidentally removed a glamour spell you were wearing. How long have you gone without sleeping or eating, Harry?"

Harry pursed his lips, jerking his head slightly in irritation. "I eat every day," he said fiercely, "and I sleep as much as I can. I'm fine, Headmaster."

"I have been loath to abstain from talking to you about the many things troubling you in the past, Harry," Dumbledore said, "But I did so because I believed you needed time alone. I can no longer do so in good conscience. I cannot sacrifice your physical well-being for your emotional one." Harry was unhappy with the idea of Dumbledore interfering with his personal life, and it showed in his face. "I care about you, dear boy," Dumbledore informed him quietly.

"I-I know," Harry said quietly. "I think I just realized that while I slept." He frowned a little. "Headmaster, have you seen another phoenix around recently?"

"Another phoenix?" Dumbledore sounded surprised. "No, I haven't. Why do you ask?"

Harry shook his head as if to rid himself of certain thoughts. "I've just been...hearing one around lately. I'm probably just imagining things."

Dumbledore's eyes lit up. "Really? That is good news."

In the short time that followed before Harry reluctantly fell asleep once again, Dumbledore's eyes maintained a mischievous light and he refused to explain further; however,since Dumbledore's refusal talk seemed directly connected to the fact that he had abruptly and inexplicably ceased interrogating Harry, Harry let it rest.

After he was sure that Harry was slumbering deeply, Dumbledore carefully tucked the boy in before standing, transfiguring his robes into brightly-colored muggle clothing (i.e. a Hawaiian t-shirt, khaki shorts, and neon green socks over a pair of Birkenstocks), before allowing Fawkes to land on his shoulder and transport him to Sunnydale High School, where that delightful Buffy Summers told him there was a certain person he just had to meet.

"Can't thisload of bat-dung move any faster? You're already hours late! Why in Merlin's name do you even own this piece of junk?"

"Oh, that's just rich coming from you, you bloody nuisance, when you're the reason we're late!"

"Me? How dare you? You-you-muggle!"

"What a clever insult; I stand in awe of the wit of the great Severus Snape. It's no wonder you killed my microwave."

"Is that what you call it? I call it a menace! That object was dangerous and probably riddled with Dark Magic. I did the world a service by destroying it, you nitwit."

"Indeed. And the bathtub's crime was...?"

"It had two handles! Two! No self-respecting bathtub needs more than one handle! I almost contracted pneumonia from that horrendous device! As though you can speak, anyway, when you contaminated my entire stock of dragon livers with that sludge you call 'tea.'"

"Your dragon livers were in my tea pot, you bloody imbecile! Of course I put tea in there!"

"Bollocks! What else was I supposed to use to brew my Dreamless Sleep potion? Besides, what kind of an idiot doesn't check inside his tea pot before putting the tea inside? How could you have missed the smell?"

"That's what it usually smells like! It's not my fault American tea is so horrid! And there will be no more brewing of potions in my tea pot; it's unsanitary!"

"Hardly as unsanitary as that refigidator. Keeping your food in a place like that, it's a wonder you're still alive! Bloody muggles."

"Just because you don't understand how it works nor its purpose does not mean that it is a faulty object, Snape. It's a wonder you're still alive, since you seem incapable of deciphering the use of even the simplest of devices."

"Simple? You call that tell-a-vision simple? Do you know how many buttons there were on that remote? They weren't even in English! They bore arcane and obscure symbols which probably have some demonic history!"

"So, naturally you had to kick the television."

"Of course. Would you have preferred that I hex it? How far are we from the school?"

"Another ten minutes. At least the car still works."

Cough. Cough. Wooooosh.

"What did you just do?"

"I cast a celerita charm to speed it up. It should have halved our time."

"You tried to charm my car."

"You can fix it, can't you? You were just telling me how foolish I was for not being able to use simple devices; here's your chance to prove your skills."

"You just killed my car, you moron!"

"I was trying to help, git!"

"Berk!"

"Twit!"

"Prat!"

"Muggle!"

"Wizard!"

Three minutes later:

"What now?"

"I suppose we'll have to walk. I have to at least show up today, to appease Snyder."

"I don't walk. I stride."

"Whatever."

Two minutes later:

"You sounded like a teenage American girl just then."

"Shut up."

Thirty minutes later:

"Rupert! Severus! How delightful to see you! You look like you're in good spirits! I was just popping in for a chat with Principal Snyder. I'm surprised to see you coming in this late, though; you haven't been having any difficulties, have you? Would either of you like a lemon drop?"

Review Responses:

Lady FoxFire: Isn't it a sign of how much Dumbledore cares for Harry, that he slipped up and left a vampire body just lying around? LOL...oops?

Hpstoryguy: Buffy's getting there, never fear.

Agnus Dei: About the snake, I sort of introduced him in the first chapter, just mentioning him in passing, and then promptly forgot about him. I realized my mistake when I was writing chapter 8, and decided to get him back in there any way I could.

Also thanks to Night-Owl123 (I was really bummed about the bunny's death; everything seemed to be going really well, and then he just got sick, and poof! No more bunny), mllememoire, Tutorwife23 (sorry for the delay in update... -), also, glad you liked the last chapter, it's great to know you felt that way, since that's what I was going for), DuShuZhi (glad you're liking it!), bangdsecurtiyaw, old-crow, Vicky .H, Night Walker1, A-man, Werewolves are People Too (sorry if the last chapter was confusing; it was meant to be at least a bit perplexing, though, so glad that worked), Dragonic (wait and see), Windy River, Nymphe, opalish (wow! I was kinda shocked when I saw that you had reviewed my fic. It's, well, an honor, really. I love your Invictus-even if we're not supposed to say it's wonderful. Thanks for reviewing!), shakiya, Musings-of-Apathy (thanks for your comments on length, you're absolutely right), Lunatic Pandora1, leontine-456, gazette, HecateDeMort, andtravis for your reviews; they're much appreciated!

Please Review!