Author Note: Okay, author notes at the top of the chapter is really annoying, but I need to get this out. The last chapter totally sucked, and I apologize to everyone. I should have done my research a little better. I think we have all come to the conclusion that Fred, George, and Alicia would have graduated in Harry's 5th year. However, the year that Katie and Angelina are in is a little vague. In addition, the chapter was way to0 short and was lacking in many respects. I have decided to redo the chapter, but when and how I cannot say. It depends on how much time I have, but it may be when the story is completed. I have to get this darn thing before the end of August, when my life becomes utter chaos once again. Teaching and taking grad classes are really time consuming. 

Chapter 21- Worrying

Ever since his encounter with the slytherins that landed him in the infirmary, Draco had been constantly worrying. He had a hard time sleeping at night, and he had barely eaten anything since the attack happened. Draco's stomach felt like it was double over in knots, and his brain seemed unable to focus on anything in his classes. All Draco could think about was their conversation from that night. It echoed over and over again in his mind:

"You are in a position in which you can gather the information that we need in order to formulate when it would be the best time to attack," said Pansy.

Draco had not yet told Harry or Ron about the information that he gave to Professor Dumbledore that ensured his sanctuary. He had given his headmaster a list of names of all the death eaters that he knew of. Of course, Dumbledore knew about most of them already, and had his suspicion of the others.  Draco also told him that the death eaters had discussed planning an attack on Hogwarts in the beginning of their sixth year, but he did not know how or when. It appeared that the threat of an attack was true now more than ever.  All he knew was that the attack would take place during a large gathering, and that they intended to kill Harry.  A large gathering could mean anything though. Hell, there was a large gathering in the Great Hall three times a day during mealtime. Draco was scared to say the least.

Draco had yet to speak to Severus after he was attacked, so he decided to go in search of his godfather.  He found him in his private chambers brewing a potion.  His door was slightly ajar, but he knocked anyway.

"Professor Snape?" he said cautiously.

Snape looked up from his work and saw that his godson was peeking through his doorway.

"Well, don't just stand there like you are eavesdropping or something. Come in," he said in a detached voice.

"Hi.  I don't mean to disturb you, but Madame Pomfrey mentioned that you wished to speak with me about what happened that night," said Draco carefully. His godfather appeared to be in a foul mood.

"Yes, I did. I apologize for not coming to you sooner, but I had a meeting with the order as well as other things on my mind," said Severus.  "Come have a seat in my sitting room and we can talk about it."

Severus first placed a charm on a spoon that would magically stir the potion he was working on while he was away. Draco followed him to the adjoining room and they seated themselves on opposite sides of the couch.  He loved his godfather's personal quarters. It was decorated in rich colors and textures, and seemed almost lavish. It was side of him that not many people ever saw. Most students expected his rooms to be as drafty and uninviting as the dungeons that he taught his classes in. Draco said nothing for a long while because he wasn't sure where to begin or how much to even say. They sat together in silence for so long, that Draco had almost forgotten why he had come there in the first place.

"Well?" asked Severus slightly irritated.

"Well what?" asked Draco stupidly.

"Aren't you going to tell me who attacked you?"

"…" Draco still said nothing. He wanted to say something, but his mouth did not seem to want to cooperate with his brain. His stomach was doing flip flops as he thought about the possibility of an attack on Hogwarts. 

"Let me guess, they threatened you with bodily harm if you said anything, right?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"It is a typical threat technique. I can only guess who would have dared to threaten you in such a manner. I will definitely have to keep a closer eye on that group," said Severus.  Draco was shocked that his godfather would know who would have threatened him. The man certainly knew a lot more about what goes on in his house than he let on. 

"You already know who attacked me?"

"I have my suspicions, and Dumbledore does as well. But we cannot take action without your consent."

"Please, don't do anything about this Severus," Draco pleaded. He couldn't stop thinking about the threat they made about his "new" friends. He would not allow Harry to hurt anymore. "Besides, I have already sought my revenge on them."

"Oh really? You wouldn't by chance be Parkinson's secret admirer?"

Draco nodded, "Are you mad?"

"No, it was rather amusing to see Parkinson's face covered in boils. It suits her somehow. I will trust you to not to take the manner in your hands any longer and let me know if anything else happens. So, what can you tell me about attack?" he asked again.

"They gave me a message from my father.  He wants me to rejoin him by spying on Harry.  They said they are planning an attack. I remember them saying that they would try an attack this year, but I never really believed it until now.  I know from the death eater meetings I attended that they want to kill Harry, and I am really scared," Draco confessed.

"I am assuming that you turned down the offer, and hence the beating that ensued." Draco nodded at him.

"I only know what you do about the situation. I haven't heard much of anything lately, and I am beginning to wonder if Voldemort is questioning my loyalty to him. I seem to have been left out of the loop so to speak.  I told Dumbledore of the possibility of an attack this year, and he feels confident that if an attack were to take place, that Hogwarts would not fall. The order has been working tirelessly to ensure that additional wards have been placed around the castle as well as strengthening the old ones."

"Well that's good to know," said Draco.  Somehow he didn't feel reassured. He knew what the death eaters were capable of, and he shuddered at the thought of what may happen to Harry if an attack were to take place.  He wrapped his arms tightly around his body, and looked down at his lap. He was terrified at the thought of losing him.

"What is it child?" asked Severus gently.

"Its just...that… I don't want to lose him, Sev. When the time comes, I am afraid that they will kill him and that there will be nothing I can to about it."

"Draco, I understand that you are scared. But what will be, will be. We have taken all the necessary precautions to ensure everyone's safety, but we cannot predict what the outcome will be of such an attack."

"What kind of spy are you, anyway? You should know what the death eaters are planning," said Draco angrily.

"Do not take that tone with me! You know how delicate my position is within the Dark Lord's circle. It has taken me years to regain the trust of the other death eaters.  They are suspicious of me because of my position here at Hogwarts so I am not always privy to all their information."

"I don't care! I want you to find out what they plan to do with Harry," Draco demanded.  He knew that Voldemort wanted him dead, but he dreaded to think of the many ways that he may decide to torture him, out of pure sadistic pleasure.

"Calm down. What is it with you and Potter anyway? You all but hated each other last year. Why is he so important to you? Why do you even care what happens to him?"

"You don't understand… I love him, Severus. Okay? I can't lose him.  He has been through so much that I don't think he will be able to handle it if he is forced to battle Voldemort."

"I know everyone thinks that the Potter boy is the savior of the wizarding world, but that doesn't mean that he is going to do battle with the Dark Lord."

"Yes, it does. It said so in the prophecy," Draco retorted.

"What are you talking about? The prophecy was destroyed at the Department of Mysteries. No one knows what it said."

"Harry does.  Dumbledore told him later that night.  He said that Harry was the one to bring about Voldemort's down fall. Neither one can live while the other survives."

"Really? That is most interesting," said Severus lost in thought.

"Don't you see!  What if Harry is not strong enough to face him?  What if the Voldemort tries to possess him?  What if he uses the killing curse on him? There is nothing I can do to stop it! What will happen to us all if Harry dies?" Draco was near tears by now with worry.  His voice was sounding like something near hysterical.

Severus didn't respond to Draco's desperate questions. Instead he leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his finger tips pressed together in a triangle like shape. He stared into the fire thoughtfully, as his hands tapped gently against his lips.  Draco sat back, frustrated that he was being ignored, and wiped away a few tears.  After a long while, Severus got up and retrieved a rather large book and what appeared to be a small journal from the bookshelf beside the fireplace. He carried them both over to his desk. Draco watched him flip through the pages, curious as to why his godfather had interrupted their conversation to do some research. He made a few attempts to interrupt him, but was briskly told to be quiet. After almost half an hour or more of his godfather cross-refencing the information, he took his seat again beside Draco.

He resumed his thinking position once again, and finally spoke to his godson.

"Draco, do you truly love Harry Potter as you say you do?"

"Yes, with all my heart. Why? What were you looking up?"

"Would you consider yourselves to be soul mates?"

"Yes, but I don't really know for sure." Severus nodded at him, and looked back into the fire.

"What are you thinking about? You are acting so strange," said Draco.

"If it was prophesized that neither one can live while the other survives as you say it did, then it is imperative that we ensure that Harry succeeds in battle against Voldemort."

"Yes, but what if Voldemort uses the killing curse? Nothing can block it!" Draco looked over at his godfather, and saw that the man had an odd smirk on his face.

"What are you smiling about? This is important!"

Severus sighed and finally told his godson what is on his mind, "There may be a way to protect Harry from the avada kedavra.  No one knows for sure how Lily Potter was able to protect Harry all those years ago from the killing curse.  It is assumed that she used her love and an ancient magic to save him, but she forfeited her life in the process."

Draco nodded at him, not really sure he was understanding.

"Someone who truly loves Harry may be able to save him in similar way if the Dark Lord tries to kill him again. Of course we would never expect this person to sacrifice their life, but there are grave consequences," Severus explained.

"Are you trying to say that there may be a way that I can save Harry?" asked Draco.

"Yes. Lily had a brilliant mind, and she did extensive research into finding ways to resist the unforgivable curses. It was one of the reasons that the Potters had to go in hiding.  Voldemort did not want anyone learning of a way to stop his progression into power.  She was unable to complete her research because of her untimely death, but I have in my possession her journal where she kept her notes.  There is an ancient spell that I am thinking of that has never been thoroughly tested, but is supposed to save the caster's soul mate from certain death.  However, the spell would only work if the two people in question were touching one another and it was cast just as avada kedavra is said."

"Really? That's great. Teach me the spell! I want to help save Harry," Draco said excitedly. This was too good to be true. Why hadn't anyone thought of doing this before?

"Listen, it is not as easy as it sounds. The spell is wildly unpredictable, and it will only work if you are both truly soul mates.  And you yourself said that you are not entirely sure. We have no idea what may happen, and you may risk killing yourself as well."

"Well, let's say that we are soul mates, and I use the spell to save Harry. What would happen?" asked Draco.

"No one knows for sure.  There is only a limited amount of information about it in the ancient texts, and only one account of it actually working and that was some thousand years or so ago. It is believed that once the spell is uttered, your bodies will both go into a temporary coma like state, while your souls are thrown into some kind of limbo. Death is prevented by the souls drawing strength from one another, but your souls have to come to terms with has happened in their lives, and choose to live once again.  The problem is that if someone truly believes that they have died, or cannot accept what has happened in their lives, they will never recover and ultimately die."

"What do you mean by come to terms with what has happened in your life?"

"I mean that a soul has to accept what has happened in its life, no matter what awful things may have occurred. The soul has to want to live again, despite all of the hardships that they will face," said the professor.

"You mean that Harry would have to relive all of the abuse and death that has occurred in his life, and come to terms with it?" asked Draco.

"Possibly, no one knows for sure."

"It sounds like hell!" Draco yelled.

"In some ways, it is like hell isn't it?"

"That's awful! I am not sure that Harry would be able to recover from something like that. It may take days, weeks, maybe even months."

"Well, that's another problem," Severus began. "The soul can only exist in limbo for 24 hours. Beyond that, and it will remained detached and the body will die."

"One day!" Draco exclaimed.

"Yes," said Severus sadly. "So you see why I was apprehensive about telling you about this. There are too many consequences."

"I don't care."

"What?"

"I don't care. I will do whatever it takes to save Harry. What is the spell?"

"Draco, I don't think you truly don't understand what you are asking. This is powerful magic we are talking about here," said Severus. "I only dared to mention it to you because it looks as if this may be the only way to save him if an attack occurs.  It appears that he is important to our future, but I do not want you to get killed in the process. I care too much about you."

"Severus, I love him with all my heart, and he is the one chance we might have in defeating Voldemort. I made myself a solemn oath that I would prevent him from ever coming to harm again. I will do whatever it takes. Are you going to help me or not?" he asked again.

"Alright, but promise me that you will think about this carefully. And I suggest that you speak of this to no one, especially Harry."

"I am sworn to secrecy," said Draco putting his hand over his heart.

"Remember, you must be touching when you say the spell and it will only work if you say at the same time as the killing curse. It is the only way to counteract it. The spell is Solara Amicus."

"Solara Amicus. Okay, got it," said Draco. He got up to leave. He had made it half way across the room when he felt Severus put his hand on his shoulder. He turned to face his godfather, and noticed the grave look on the man's face.

'Wait, Draco.  Before you leave there is something I need to ask you about Harry," he said seriously.

"What is it, Sev?"

"Well, you know that I have resumed teaching him occlumency, right?" asked Severus.

"Yes," said Draco.

"I have to enter his mind so that he can learn to block Voldemort from possessing him, but to do so I have to see his memories."

"Yeah, he told me about that."

"Well, after the summer he has gone through, some of his defenses are down and he is having a little more difficulty blocking me from his memories."

"What did you see?" Draco asked. His heart was beating madly in his chest as he thought about all the possible things this man may have saw as he penetrated his boyfriend's fragile mind.

"I think you may know what I saw," said Severus quietly.

"You saw the rape?" Severus nodded.

"Among other things. How is he coping with everything?"

"I don't know. He doesn't talk about it much," said Draco.

"I am assuming he doesn't want anyone else to know."

"No, I think he rather keep it to himself for now. He is afraid that it will somehow get out into the media because he is so famous," said Draco.

"Yes, that would be most unfortunate. Well, do what you can to get him to talk about it. It's the only way that he ever will heal. I will hold off for now telling Dumbledore, but if he doesn't start improving at occlumency, I may have to tell the headmaster so that Harry can seek professional therapy.  His memories are preventing him from mastering occlumency properly.  He is more vulnerable than ever to attacks on his mind by the Dark Lord."

"You should say Voldemort, not the Dark Lord. Harry says that the fear of a name only increases the fear itself," Draco said matter-of-factly.

"He sounds like Dumbledore," said Severus. Draco smiled.

He left his godfathers quarters and retreated back to his dorm room.  He felt better than he did in a long time. He was still worried about would come to pass, but at least now he was armed with something that my save Harry, and in fact save the future of the wizarding world as we know it.

A/N: Okay, so I made up the spell. Amicus means friend in Latin, which is as close to mate as I could get.  The word for soul in Latin is Animus, but I thought Animus Amicus sounded lame, so I made up Solara for soul. (hee-hee) Hence, the spell to save a soul mate is Solara Amicus.

A/N 2:  Alright, a little disclaimer here…. This story is loosely, and I mean loosely, based on the movie What Dreams May Come with Robin Williams.  (I do not own the plot of the movie or anything else involved with it!) I love the idea of soul mates saving each other from the pits of hell, which is why I chose to originally give this story that title.  The scenes will be nothing like the movie, but I am borrowing the idea (hence the disclaimer).  What do you guys think? Does the spell sound believable? Am I making too much of a stretch here? Am I giving away too much of the plot? Let me know in a review.  Go on now… go click the little button in the bottom left hand corner….that's it…. wait….no you are going the wrong way…ahhh…

Many thanks to all my reviewers!

ReflectionsOfReality- I have found your review to be the most helpful of all those I have ever received. Thank you, Thank you *big hugs*. I love the idea of Ron becoming the team captain. He is a strategist and it would definitely strengthen his character. You're absolutely right, I hated the timing on this chapter, and I did skin over the better part of two hours. Quidditch can be really exciting, and I need to go back and take a little more care with it. As you can see from my author note at the top of the page I will definitely be redoing this chapter.

Draco Malfoy21 – thanks, H/D rocks!

Ashes – I try to reply to everyone. Don't forget to check out my story when you return.

ShaeLynn- thanks

Immortal Memories- knock, knock, are you alright in there? Getting a little punchy aren't ya?

 If you throw a plunger hard enough it will stick to a person's head. o.O

Dark Angel240- keep following the story it will definitely get better!

 TigerCat – I loved Draco's revenge to. And thank you so much for offering to be my  beta. Check out my email to you for details.

chrisseee667- thank you so much. You are so right about Alicia, Fred, and George being 7th years in the fifth book. I agree with you that we are never really told what year Katie and Angelina are in.

Anne Rosemary McSommers- thanks

Kayin-No-Kaze- thanks!

Pyrefly- I update everyday.