Ergh…I hate writer's block. It sucks. Badly. Anyway…
Some of you have been emailing me about archiving my fic. I don't have a problem with you putting it on your site as long as you put a link on it somewhere to my profile page, and put my email address – bentoobaka@email.com – on it somewhere, and that you send an email to me with the address of your site. To the people who realised that Harry was hugging Severus for a moment there… -_-* I must be too fixated on trying to think of how to continue 'Hands Clean'. Eh heh…If you're wondering what I'm going on about it's another story I'm working on. Slash, and teacher/student to boot. *grins* Oh how the mighty have fallen…
Chapter Thirty-Three
Swirling mists covered the ground, blanketing the world in a dark fog. No light escaped it, and no light passed through. Underneath the fog lay a barren wasteland, a place void of any life and any warmth. A shrill laugh echoed through the air, and Harry turned to see Voldemort, who was viewing the scene in front of him with something akin to pride.
"Do you see?" Voldemort said, turning to kneel beside a crumpled figure on the ground, grabbing the person's chin and forcing them to look at the destruction around them. "Do you see my beautiful world? This is what I work towards…an Eden for all things dark. No life will survive but that which is strong enough, and no hope or joy will ever exist again. And no muggles. Ever. No worms crawling on the ground, no slugs left to persecute that which they don't understand…I shall kill them all, one by one. Or maybe mass genocide. Which do you think? They both sound like fun…" He scowled suddenly and threw the figure away, careless as a child who has grown bored with the doll they were playing with.
" I cannot achieve this, however, without getting rid of them. Dumbledore and Potter are the largest threats, of course. I think I shall save them for last…destroy the others, one by one, and let them know that there is nothing they can do, and there never was. It will be…fun. What do you think, boy? Do you want to join me on my rise to glory?"
The figure on the ground merely curled up into a small ball, not even bothering to answer.
"No reply? I suppose that means a 'no', then. How tiresome…it means I'll have to get rid of you, too."
"You know there's no way to do that…" The figure spoke at last, voice tired and defeated.
It was rather like watching a snake toy with a fledgling bird, Harry thought. Voldemort darted back to stand in front of the child on the floor, grabbing his hair and pulling his head back by it until Harry could see his face. It was the same child Harry had seen in one of his other visions.
"Oh, but there is. And I need only find three more ingredients and the last part of this to finish the spell!" He pulled half of a book out from a hidden pocket in his robe and thrust it towards the boy. "Soon we will no longer have to exist together." A cruel smile passed over Voldemort's face for a moment. "Soon, you won't exist at all!"
Harry sat up, gasping and moving the press one hand against his scar. The outer part of it was numb, but the deepest part was burning as if someone had dipped a paintbrush into acid and drawn a thin line of it down the middle of Harry's scar. When he pulled his hand back there was a thin line of blood in the shape of a lightning bolt on his palm. Instead of getting up to wash away the blood or tell Dumbledore of his dream, Harry reached over to the bedside table and picked up a thin book and quill. He then began to write down everything he could remember from his dream, making small notes under it once he had finished, before putting it back and lying down to curl under the sheets. If anyone was watching they would have believed that he wasn't disturbed by the dream at all.
* * *
A figure in the shadows scowled. How could he take it so lightly? He was acting as if nothing important had happened at all! There had to be a reason…The figure smiled and waited until it was sure Harry was asleep before creeping over to the bedside table and picking up the book and opening it to find that Harry had written down exactly what he had dreamed of. The figure smiled again and put the book back exactly where it had been, then turned to face the sleeping Harry.
"So paranoid, dear boy…one would almost believe you thought that the Dark Lord had some way of getting into Hogwarts. It's a good thing you don't know about me, then. What would you do if you knew I was watching you? Run to Dumbledore, I suppose. We can't risk that, though, can we? Not when he thinks you to be important. Sleep well, Potter…dream of our Lord."
A distinctly female laugh echoed through the room as the figure turned and walked away, fading into to shadows as if it had never been there. Harry frowned and mumbled something in his sleep before rolling over, clutching the blanket tighter about him as if it could protect him from the darkness around his sleeping form.
* * *
Severus was delivering a spare vial of the potion he had been asked to make to Dumbledore when Harry came charging in, book in hand.
"Someone's been in my room," Harry explained once he had caught his breath.
"How can you be sure?" Severus snapped. He wasn't in a good mood – he had spent the night planning his next two classes only to have them canceled on him this morning. Apparently the students weren't too eager to better their potion-making abilities when there were parties to be had and food to be eaten. Harry gave Severus an irritated look. "Give me some credit, please. I wouldn't have come here if I wasn't absolutely sure."
'Especially if I knew you would be here,' he finished silently.
Severus raised an eyebrow. "I will – as soon as I see reason to. As of yet I haven't, however, Mr. Potter."
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Someone's been snooping through the record of my dreams that I keep." He flourished the book. "The ink is usually black, but I've charmed it to change red when someone apart from me touches it." He opened it to a random page, and shoved it under Snape's nose.
"See? Red," He said triumphantly. "Someone was in my room."
