To all those who have been waiting so patiently for the rescue of Severus.. believe me, it will happen soon!!

Thanks to Piggie, Ditto2001, Mikee- you're right, they do need to be together. Unfortunately, things don't always end up as planned.., cloudburst2000, candledot- oh, I'm sure that you're not as hard-core and bitch-ass as you claim to be, but Harry can soften anyone's heart J, Sage and Snape- yay!, Jay- don't worry, I wouldn't dream of ending it there!, Lirael, TickTock, Kemenran- the rescue is coming!, Lady Lightning- ah, I know, but really, it's only been a few days. We'll get there!, Fnxmoon- so glad that you're enjoying it!, lei van, Calani, Toria, Emma, Charma1210, and athenakitty.

You guys rock my world!

I don't own Harry Potter.

Happy reading!

~~~***~~~~

Another attack came, in the middle of the night.

And another.

And another one, yet.

And then the hospital was silent, its four inhabitants quiet in the wake of such enormous attacks.

Harry was unconscious. He had been for hours, in the aftermath of the third attack. Poppy sat wordlessly, completely helpless now. Dumbledore seemed to be completely lost in thought, and Minerva, her face streaked with tears, was pacing nervously.

Harry shifted and all three older wizards ran to his bedside.

"Poppy?" Albus whispered softly, too tired to talk and too worried to do much of anything else.

Harry's lips were moving, forming incomprehensible words. He started clenching his hands into fists.

"Poppy?" Dumbledore repeated urgently.

"Just the after-effects, Albus. Not the real thing."

The headmaster slumped, relieved. He couldn't take another attack, and he knew that Harry's already-damaged body certainly couldn't do that again, either. No, God, not again.

He couldn't imagine how Harry must be feeling. Not only had the last day's attacks left him completely weakened and scarred physically, by the had to be so emotionally drained that he wasn't even up to thinking, much less waking up. That's why he was still unconscious. Harry didn't want to be awake.

~~~***~~~

Nine AM hit, and Harry was still in slumber, though he had repeatedly shown signs of waking. He was shuffling around on his cot every once in a while, and the occasional low note of agony filled the room.

Poppy couldn't do anything for Harry anymore- she had run out of post-Cruciatus potions just after the second attack. Remus had had to leave after the second attack as well- he couldn't stand it. He had been going crazy, just standing there helplessly, watching Harry get tortured to within an inch of his life.

Though nobody had spoken of it, all of the elder wizards knew that Harry could be killed. After all, he was losing an obscene amount of blood, and the Cruciatus was racking his body over and over again.

And they knew that Severus was worse. Though they could no longer help Harry, they all were very well aware that Snape had never gotten help. His wounds were left untreated, and surely he was losing just as much or more blood than Harry.

Who knew if he was even alive?

~~~***~~~

Harry knew quite where he was, thank you very much. He was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. He had been there all night, and half of the day yesterday.

He wasn't asleep anymore, hadn't been asleep for a long time, but he couldn't open his eyes. He couldn't hand on to consciousness. And he had been trying for hours to wake up, making only small progresses toward the world of the living.

God, he hated being like this. He felt like he was stuck. And he was in so much pain, so much terrible pain. It was white-hot and searing, invading both his mind and body. He couldn't deal with this, not again, please, not again.

He felt so lifeless and drained, and what was worse- he couldn't reach Professor Snape. Lord knows he had tried, tried to get into his teacher's mind as a way to get out, get away, to talk to somebody who understood.. but Snape wasn't there. Nowhere to be found. Harry would kill himself if something had happened to him. Well, besides the obvious.

If Snape was dead..

NO!

No, he couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be.

Harry ripped away at his mind, desperately trying to get there, to find that connection. Yes, yes, there was Snape's mind, but it was nothing but a big black hole.

He was unconscious, wasn't he? He had to be unconscious, not dead.. no, no, not dead..

Harry yelled into the depths of Snape's mind, never getting a response, not any indication that Snape was still alive. He was sobbing now, pleading for him to wake up, to be alive, to come back..

And all he got was silence.

Please, Professor, please, come back, God, please help him! Come on, Professor, please, PLEASE WAKE UP! No, no, no, no, don't be dead, please don't be dead!

Harry felt a whisper of response, a single strand of white in the blackness of Snape's mind.

And he felt elation overcome him.

PROFESSOR?

Potter.

AH! HAHA!! YOU'RE ALIVE!! God, Professor, I thought you'd died, I was so scared, you weren't responding..

I could hear you.

You- you could?

I just couldn't respond. It took me a while to make sense of what you were saying. Talking too fast, Potter. Always gabbing.

I was just worried about you, Professor.

That went beyond worried. You were going crazy. But I suppose that's only to be expected, from a stupid Gryffindor like yourself.

I'm sorry, I just thought that you were dead..

Not yet, Potter. It takes a lot to kill me. And you too, apparently. You're not dead either. Too bad, really.

No, I'm not. But I can't wake up. I feel like I'm stuck in this weird dream state, or something like that. Madame Pomfrey ran out of post-Cruciatus potions after the second attack last night, so I feel rather terrible.

You think that I'm concerned about your own little problems? I've got my own, thank you very much. I've no need to listen to the pitiful burdens laying on a teenage boy, especially idiotic, selfish, impertinent, insolent brats like YOU!

Professor, I-

Good lord, and you wonder why the contents of that letter upset me so much! Face the facts, Potter. I. HATE. You. And that is NEVER going to change.

I.. I'm sorry.

~~***~~~

Harry left Snape's mind and immediately found consciousness. No amount of physical pain was going to bother him at the moment, not while he was still reeling from the blow that Snape had just thrown at him.

"Harry!" cried Remus, who had entered the room sometime in the few moments he had been searching for Snape. Apparently, Remus was the only one who had noticed Harry's sudden awakening.

Not like Harry cared. He didn't really comprehend what was happening to him as Dumbledore, McGonagall, Madame Pomfrey, and Remus surrounded him. Couldn't hear their gently-spoken words, trying to soothe him out of his daze. No, none of that was real.

None of it was real.

"Harry?"

The teenager looked at Albus blankly. His focus was entirely gone, like he had managed to yank his body out of unconsciousness, but had left his mind in the dust. Dumbledore had no doubts that Harry had no idea what was going on. He looked totally.. gone.

"He's not responding, Albus. Probably in some type of shock. We need to get him back to sleep. Here, hold him up, I'll get a sleeping potion," ordered Madame Pomfrey hastily. She let go of her hold on Harry and ran to her office for the potion.

"Minerva, what's wrong with him?" asked Remus worriedly.

"I don't know, Remus," she answered, "but he looks so absent. Like he's not here at all."

And he wasn't. But he would be. Harry had a mission to complete, after all. A mission that he still felt strongly about, regardless of who it was that he was rescuing. It was his purpose, of course. He still had to fight Voldemort. And so he would.

But first, he had to clear his mind, get himself rid of that abomination that was Professor Snape.

If only he really thought that. He was hurt, and the sting wasn't going away any time soon. He didn't really hate Snape. He just wished he did.

But yes, it was time to move on..

Potter?

(or maybe not..)

What?

Potter, I'm.. sorry.

Um.. I.. you're.. WHAT??

I'm irritable and miserable. You know that. And being like this doesn't help me at all. But that is no reason to say what I said. I didn't mean it.

Are you serious?

Very.

Oh.. um.. wow.

Articulate as always, Potter.

Sorry.

That's all right. Now, I don't apologize often. Don't get used to it.

I won't. Thank you, sir.

For what?

Apologizing. It helps. A lot.

You were upset.

Yes. But I think I'll be okay. I'm ready to get to work. I can throw my magic into healing myself if I concentrate hard enough.

What on earth are you talking about?

Oh.. erm.. never mind. But thanks, Professor Snape. And, yet again, do try to feel better. And.. do you think you could do me a favor?

Possibly.

That one time that I was in your head, and you threw me out?

Yes?

Do you think you could do that again? When they attack you? That way, I won't get hit and I can keep working.

I can try, Potter.

Thank you so much, Professor. Goodbye!

~~**~~~

It had only been a few minutes since the sleeping potion had been administered, so it would go unnoticed if Harry let himself lapse into a healing sleep. He had never tried it before, but knew that he was quite capable of doing so. He had healed his knee without even thinking about it- surely he could consciously throw his magic into healing his mangled body.

And so he slept, for hours on end.

And the next day, he was ready for battle.