Chapter Twenty Four: The Connection:

Severus Snape did not know how long he had been here. Time it seemed meant nothing in a place like this as he shivered and tried to sit up. He was in a cold bare cell somewhere deep in the ministry and he was naked but for a rag about his hips that covered what was left of his dignity. A metal collar was around his neck that was attached to a chain in turn to a post in the middle of the room. All this was done to humiliate him and make him feel weak and powerless, and it worked as he was a very modest man. His pale lean body was covered in bruises and he was in need of a bath. It was clear he had been here a long time, (though he could not tell but he had in fact been here for five days). Umbridge was an evil woman in doing this to such a wizard as Severus. The first day had been the worst as she had come to force a confession from him.

"You will confess to me." Umbridge said.

"I have nothing to confess." Severus snarled.

"You do and you will." She replied and she had cast several spells that caused him to howl in pain. "You will change your tune with me boy."

Yet the worst thing that had been done to Severus was not the way he was kept a prisoner, virtually naked, chained like a dog and starved. It was the Dementor that was kept outside his cell nearly all day and all of the night. All he could remember and feel now was sorrow and pain. He played over and over in his head the worst memories of his life and wished only for death. He was a damned soul and he knew it. He did not even look up when the cell door was opened and two rough wizards came in. One kicked Severus until he got to his feet and the other dosed him in freezing cold water causing the poor man to gasp in shock at the cold water.

"Must have you presentable for her." One of the men sneered.

"Yea though that did not seem to help much." The other said laughing at him.

"I have nothing to say to her." Severus said hoarsely.

"Yea that is what they all say, in the end you will tell her exactly what she wants to know."

Severus remained standing though he felt very sick. He was weak and dizzy from the Dementors that came day and night and the lack of food. He wanted only to die, sleep only brought vivid horrible nightmares he could not shake and he was losing his grip on his sanity. He looked with dulled eyes at Umbridge as she came into the room looking very upset and angry, as she had been every time she came to see him. She came he supposed once a day but he could really not tell how long he had been here. He was kept clean shaven so he could not tell even by that how many days he was here. She walked up to him wand out and forced him to his knees.

"That is better." She said. "Now you and I are going to talk."

"I have told you the truth, I have nothing more to give you." Severus said.

"But you do, you will tell me what I want to know death eater." Umbridge said. "Or you will suffer far worse than you have."

"Go to hell." Severus spat at her.

That was not the right thing to say to her and after she cast silencing charms around the cell she began to torture him. His screams never made it outside the cell but there was one witness to this appalling treatment of the potions master. Yet neither saw or even heard the small creature that watched them now. Finally finished with him after hours of torture, getting no-where with him Umbridge left Severus on the freezing cold ground sobbing and in pain. He knew he was going to break, he was so close now and when she left he sat up and could not keep back the tears that came. Damn he was so weak he could not even keep from crying now! He was not a man, a wizard to cry and yet that is all he could do now.

He was lucky in once aspect of all this, the Dementor did not come back. Yet that was very little comfort to him, he could not remember one happy thought and all he saw was how evil and horrible a person he was. He sobbed on and the small creature nearly burst with the emotion that was too big for her. She scurried across the floor and stopped before Severus. Waving her antenna she brushed up against the bare leg of Severus. He looked down at the fat beetle on the ground fascinated though he could not say way. He watched her scuttle to the cell door as if she were looking out then she scuttled back.

"You are strange for a bug." He murmured and gasped as the beetle morphed into Rita Skeeter. "What how?" Severus stammered.

"It's called being an Animagmus professor." She snapped. "Now you want out of here or would you like to stay here and go mad?"

"I wish to leave, but how, you are not on the registry…"

"No time for this, I am here to get you out of here." Rita said.

"How did you get in here?"

"Get up, we are leaving now." She said reaching into her satchel pulling out a simple set of black robes with one hand and removing his collar with the other. "Don't think you want to walk around London naked."

"No I don't, thank you." Snape said quietly tugging on the robes.

Severus had to be dreaming, this was something Umbridge had cooked up to break his mind fully. Yet as he watched as Rita unlocked the door not with magic but with a skeleton key he knew that Umbridge could not think something up like that. At Severus's look Rita's explanation was that magic on the cell door would set off an alarm. She helped him out of the prison level of the ministry to an area they could use her highly illegal but untraceable portkey, when they finally came to solid ground Severus fell to his knees and got sick on the cracked sidewalk. A set of strong hands helped him up and he found a potion being poured down his throat. He tried to protest but was unable as the draught calmed his churning stomach.

"There boy, let's get you inside now." Came the gruff voice of Moody. "Glad you were able t' get him Rita."

"Took me long enough to find him, they had him pretty deep in." Rita replied.

"The old sector then, that is not used anymore." Moody replied.

"She saved me, I am not worth it." Severus said weakly.

"Nonsense boy, in here." Moody said dragging him forward. "Damn Dementors, damn Fudge and damn Umbridge!"

Severus staggered up the steps and into Grimmauld place, despite the healing draught he felt weak and sick and wanted only to crawl into a dark place and hide. He looked up and saw Harry Potter descending the stairs and he saw the look of shock on Harry's face. Snape stumbled and Harry hurried down the stairs and helped steady the man. Snape looked at Harry as if to tell him off and looked into the young man's eyes. At once a connection was made and he could not break away, he found himself deep in Harry's mind and he knew the boy was in his as well.

"Leave them." Rita said as Moody moved to pull the two apart.

"But their minds, Severus is not well…"

"No Moody it's alright, this is a good thing." Rita said. "Trust me, Harry is a noble boy and will do right by professor Snape."

It was the most painful and the most wonderful thing Severus had ever experienced. Harry was probing his mind but sharing his with him. Severus was watching him grow up with the Dursleys and first hand his experiences in school and elsewhere. Severus in turn found he could not turn the boy away and found he did not want to. He let Harry explore his mind, too weak to protest and Harry saw his childhood a far happier one than he had had. He saw Severus going to school, the war he waged with his own father and Sirius and the death of his father. He saw Voldemort take Severus under his wing and give him false promises to conquer death.

The hardest memory on both was when Harry saw Severus hear part of the prophecy fourteen long years ago. Harry was upset but he forced himself to watch on and he saw Severus go to Voldemort and tell him what he had learned. Then Severus overheard Voldemort speaking to Bellatrix, how he was going to kill Harry Potter. Severus had gone to Harry's parents, confessed to them and Harry was amazed that it was his own mother and father that told him to go to Dumbledore as he would take him in. Severus had tried to save his parents after Voldemort had said he would kill him, but why? That is a question Harry wanted to know, his father had not been the nicest to him in school and Severus and Lilly had been friends nothing more.

The memories ended and both wizards sat back eying each other. Well Harry was looking at Severus in a whole new light. This was a noble and far braver man than he. He had risked it all to save his parents and him, though it had not fully worked Harry was here and alive for this man. He had made a horrible mistake but he had been atoning for it ever since. Harry knew this hard noble man was good and that was all he needed to know. He reached over to hug him but Severus pulled away and Harry let him have his space.

"You saved my life." Harry said quietly. "More than once, you tried to save my parents."

"I am sorry, I g-got them killed." Severus replied tears in his eyes.

"No, you tried to save them, Voldemort is a bastard, he really is." Harry said. "You are a good man, even my parents believed that."

"No, I am not." Severus said. "I am evil and wicked and deserve to be killed."

"No, I don't think so, I don't" Harry said shocked. "Don't talk like that sir, you are a far braver man than I could ever hope to be."

Severus fell to his knees and found himself leaning against Harry. It was an awkward moment, Harry was forced to be the comforter to a man he never thought needed this kind of comfort. It hit Harry, and anger him, at what he realized now. Voldemort was not the only one it seemed who was using Severus Snape. Severus was trembling and Harry feared for him, he felt his skin and by the coldness knew he was in shock. He helped Moody get him down to the kitchen where Molly was with Arthur. She looked up shocked and hurried to help Severus onto the table. Harry moved to leave but Severus grabbed his arm and held him so tightly it hurt.

"No don't go please." Severus said and Harry was shocked.

"Sir, I…"

"Please, stay, you don't understand he is not what you think." Snape said about Dumbledore.

"He has used you." Harry said angrily having seen so much of Snape's life he knew he was being used as a pawn between two great wizards and it sickened him. "No more, you are mine, you will not go back if you do not really want to."

"He just wants to help." Severus whispered not even protesting as the robes were taken off him by Molly. She quickly covered him with a towel as the rag he wore was barely enough to cover his modesty. "Do not be harsh with him."

"You will stay here, you will not go back." Harry said. "To either man, you have done enough, suffered enough, I know you want to do right and you have. You are never going to have to go back to Voldemort I promise you that."

Harry was not sure how much Severus was getting of this. He looked as if he was slipping in and out of reality and Harry knew what he had to do. He walked out of the room and up the stairs and to the library. Once there he wrote two letters, almost exactly the same. Then he put them in envelopes and got Hedwig and hoped this worked. He did not want Severus hurt again, not after what he had seen in the potion masters mind. He watched his owl fly off to deliver two letters and knew that he had changed the game hopefully for the best. Severus was family now, and he was going to be kept safe and he would hex the headmaster if he so much as tried to get to Severus, part of his family ever again!

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Harry is a good kid and he would after learning about Dumbledore not be happy. The connection was a fluke, it just happened and will not happen again. Though it was very much needed and now Severus has family in Harry wither he likes it or not. Harry will see he is well cared for from now on. He would protect Severus and right now Severus has no choice but to take his help. After all these two need each other more than ever now as they are both so scarred and battered they have to lean on each other as they will not survive if they don't.

So again thank you for reading and please do review!