ICLYLM 37 "...you'll never walk alone."

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone... you know who you are. Special thanks to Raven for letting me borrow the Barnes'. There is ONE MORE chapter AFTER this one... a few loose ends to tie up, you know...

Jeffrey stared at the swirling storm before him. What had just happened? What was he to do now? He had no real idea. On the one hand he could leap in after Severus and maybe the two of them could find their way out. On the other hand, Severus' only chance to get out might depend on someone being outside the storm to pull him to safety.

Paralyzed by indecision, Jeffrey did nothing. For several terrible minutes he watched the swirling mass of pain, guilt, confusion, fear, shame, and a hundred other horrible emotions. Then the whole thing seemed to expand suddenly and contract just as suddenly. It pulled into itself for a moment and then something was flying at Jeffrey like a shot.

Whatever it was slammed into him and knocked him backward, through the door, and into the opposite wall of the corridor. Jeffrey struggled to see something beyond the stars dancing in his vision as he heard the thud of the door closing. He shook his head and tried to crawl out from under whatever had hit him. It wasn't easy, it was heavy and a tangle of... arms and legs? Jeffrey rubbed his eyes forcefully to clear his vision as he managed to pull clear of

Severus and Phoebe!

He scrabbled back immediately and put his hand on Phoebe's arm.

"Phoebe! Where have you been?"

The witch scowled and shook her head sharply, "What? Where?" Then her eyes focused on the other figure and widened, " SEVERUS!"

Snape had been shaking his head and scowling, but at Phoebe's shout he turned sharply and looked at her with the most searching, intense look Jeffrey had seen.

"You are real." It was a question as much as it was a statement. He put his hands on her shoulders and said it again. "You ARE real."

"Please tell me YOU are," she said, a desperate edge to her voice. 'Please, gods, tell me I'm not in some dream."

Severus put a hand on his chest over his heart as if checking to be certain he was, indeed, not a ghost. He then reached out the same, trembling, hand and feather-light fingers trailed down Phoebe's cheek . "I don't know where we are, but I am real." Severus said putting his hand back over his pounding heart

"I think," Jeffrey said, clearing his voice to draw their attention. Phoebe started and stared. "I think," Jeffrey began again, "That we're in your subconscious."

"Sorry, my subconscious?" Phoebe said her face incredulous. Jeffrey nodded.

"All of us," Phoebe asked, "In my subconscious... my subconscious mind?"

"Yes, it's complicated, but yes."

Phoebe sat, silent for a minute, her face betraying her mind's struggle to take it all in. Jeffrey thought it likely a measure of her trust in him that she did not ask him again. Finally, her features settled into a look of determination. "Okay, how do we get out of here and back to the real world?"

"I don't know. I was kind of hoping that pulling you back would do the trick" Jeffrey said sheepishly. Snape and Taylor gifted him with slight glares. "Hey, I didn't come tripping around in your subconscious on purpose, you know," he said a bit defensively. Phoebe's look softened and she looked apologetic. For his part, Severus was clearly concentrating, calculating.

"Perhaps," Snape said, thoughtfully, if we all return to the room through which I entered?"

"Worth a try," Jeffrey said philosophically as he gamely rose to his feet. He'd actually gotten used to following whichever idea occurred to someone while in this place. Snape and Phoebe looked at one another, then followed suit. They walked into the room and Phoebe's jaw dropped. "Holy Cow, THIS is in my subconscious? I need to figure out how to get back to this room." Severus, for his part, was obviously taking his first good look around. Jeffrey was about to close the door when he glanced back at the other door, the one with the iron sliding bolt.

"Phoebe, do you think you should close the bolt on that one again?" Jeffrey asked pointing across the corridor.

Phoebe's smile faded. "I don't know," she said uncertainly, hands suddenly twisting, her manner anxious. "Is the door closed?"

"Yes."

She sighed heavily, "Well, then, maybe we should just leave it."

And the room shifted and turned on it's side and bounced as if they were dolls in a box that was being shaken to get them out.

Severus, Jeffrey, and Phoebe all felt themselves slam back into consciousness even as both James and Dumbledore felt themselves thrown back and out of the bond. Dumbledore literally stumbled backward and found himself caught by Hagrid's large hands.

"Ye alrigh' Headmaster?" the giant asked, concerned.

"Yes, Hagrid, thank you," Dumbledore said, turning to see who else had joined them in the room. Lupin sat, rather wide-eyed on the bed one hand on the dog lying, panting, beside him. Dobby was clinging to a handful of Hagrid's trouser leg. Otherwise, it was just the four people on the bed. Four rather groggy people. Well, three groggy one grumpy.

James Barnes was scowling as Snape moved off his lap to sit on the end of the bed, pulling Phoebe over to join him, clinging to her like a child's bear. Jeffrey was holding his head and muttering. The scowl left James' face as he looked at his son. As his gaze traveled to Severus, Phoebe, and then Snuffles a look of complete indecision flitted across it for the briefest of moments. Then the older healer was laying hands first on his son, then Phoebe, then Severus. Then he was moving to the Dog and back to his son. He pulled Jeffrey onto his lap and pulsed him with healing energy to immediate good effect.

When he was through his face relaxed and he growled playfully at his son, "Gerroff, kid, I need a hand here." Jeffrey looked at his father and then grinned. "Jeffrey, I'll work with the animagus, you tend to those two." Jeffrey moved to comply. Just as he stood up, he found himself pulled back by his father into a rough embrace. "Jeff, my old father's heart can't take this. Stop putting your life in danger, will you?" James said in a soft voice. There was a teasing edge to James' words, but Jeffrey heard the emotion behind it and gripped his father harder for a moment before stepping away to tend his patients. Both patients were too disoriented to notice that Jeffrey's eyes were a bit brighter than usual.

In the end a third bed was added to the clandestine third-floor ward for Sirius, who recovered rather quickly under the Healers' care. In fact, on his second morning he insisted upon transforming back into Snuffles and going to Remus' rooms. He was heard muttering something about "not needing nausea on top of everything else" before he transformed. At this comment, Remus just smiled indulgently at Severus and Phoebe and led Snuffles out of the room.

Jeffrey, also smiling indulgently, excused himself saying something vague about lunch and the Great Hall.

Severus was shaking his head as the unicorn statue slid slowly back into place. "This is getting embarrassing," he growled from his bed, "what happens when we rejoin the rest of the school?"

Phoebe had been smiling at him, but at his words her smile faded and disappeared. Her face clouded as she looked at her hands. Severus had been so happy. Finally free from his duties as a spy, on the mend... she hadn't had the heart to tell him. Neither, it seemed, had anyone else.

She glanced up to see him fixing her with a penetrating stare. "What's wrong?" he asked, a bit more sharply than he had intended.

Phoebe took a deep breath and dove in, "Severus, haven't you wondered how Dumbledore took care of everything? Everything with Voldemort?"

Severus' expression darkened, but he said nothing. Let it come... let all of it come and he would deal with it.

"Severus," she said haltingly, " I can't go back down to the school. Dumbledore staged my death."

"But I never told Voldemort-"

"We know that now, but he didn't while we were still waiting. He had a memorial service, spread some ashes. Half the school was there. Besides, even if he hadn't... I can't exactly go back to my normal life, can I? I'd be a wanted woman. Voldemort would go to great lengths to get me and that would put everyone around me in danger. I can't do that."

"Well, no, of course not," Snape whispered He knew she was right. Even if she stayed at the school Death Eater parents of students would hear of it soon enough. Still...

"We could protect you here. I'll be here. You know Voldemort will be itching to get his hands on me, too."

"Oh, Severus, I am not as powerful a witch as you are a wizard. With the wards and guards here you can protect yourself and they know it. Trying to get at you would be too risky. I, on the other hand, wouldn't be nearly as difficult. You and Albus can't protect me at all times, and you'd need to. What Voldemort thinks I denied him... he's not likely to get over that easily.

"Besides," she continued, "All gods forbid it, but if you were ever taken by Death Eaters you still have a slim chance of convincing them you're still loyal. At this point all you did is fail to return to report to Voldemort. That's explained easily enough by your physical condition. But whatever slim hope you might have would be destroyed if I stayed here openly. They would know for certain you were a double agent."

Severus pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead, scowling. There had to be a hole in her argument but it wasn't coming to him.

Phoebe winced at the expression on Severus' face, wrapping her arms around herself and pulling he knees up to hide her head. "I'm so sorry," came her muffled voice.

Severus said nothing. He couldn't think of anything to say. After all this, after everything... still? They still couldn't... couldn't have what everyone else expected in their lives? Took for granted? Why had he dared want this?

"When?" he started, "When will you?"

Phoebe turned her head to look at Severus. "I don't know. Do you think Dumbledore would let me hide in these rooms forever?"

Severus' expression softened and he extended his arm toward Phoebe, offering his hand. She looked at it for a moment, then slipped out of bed and took his hand. He pulled her to him and nestled her against him under the covers with a sigh. After a moment he spoke,

"Somehow I suspect Albus would think staying in these rooms for the rest of your life might not be good for you. He's probably right."

"I could get Snuffles to teach me to become an animagus," she suggested weakly.

Severus snorted, "Not Snuffles. McGonagall perhaps, but not Snuffles."

"Why?"

"Trust me, it would be safer," Severus said wryly

"She doesn't seem like a real rule-breaker, though."

"No, but she's slowly accepting the fact that there are more unregistered animagi than registered," he countered with a ghost of a smile. Poor Minerva, Phoebe was right, she wasn't much of a rule breaker. He understood how hard this must be for her, yet at the same time it amused him.

Phoebe was clearly surprised, "There are?"

"Well, Rita Skeeter..."

"That vile reporter?!"

"Shes a bug. Fitting, don't you think? Then there's Snuffles, of course. There was Potter's father, he was a stag. And... well there are others..."

"Others" like Wormtail. The thought of him brought them back to the topic they had been avoiding. They both clung to each other just a bit more tightly and let the silence stretch out for a time, saying nothing.

"Do you think Albus would let me stay here some of the time?" she finally asked softly.

"I'll make his life hell if he doesn't," Severus growled.

"So I could, maybe, pop up to some spot in the middle of nowhere in Norway to look at runes for a couple of weeks and then come back here?"

"Sounds reasonable."

"And there's no saying how long it will take to convalesce..." Phoebe said, scheming.

"Indeed," Snape conceded, "Fortunately, they've engaged a substitute for my classes for the remainder of the term. I expect it will take me at least that long to get back on my feet, as it were."

Phoebe nestled more snugly to Severus, "It doesn't sound like a bad life for a dead woman. But what about you?"

"Phoebe it's more of a life than I've allowed myself yet. It's not perfect, but... I'll take it."

"Severus, I'm so sorry... for everything. This mess, everything."

"It's not your fault men are evil," Severus said echoing words said to her before. "It's not your fault that I'm stubborn, either."

Phoebe snorted, "You're not alone."

There was another silence... then:

"No," Severus said warmly, "I'm not alone, am I?" He drew her closer to him and rested his cheek on her hair as she listened to the whoosh of his breath and the steady beat of his heart.

ONE MORE TO GO...