Authors Note: Well. I have been informed, in an oh so kind way, (and I do sincerely thank the reviewer who left me that review, for being so nice about it) that I should apologize to all of you for the less than satisfactory work I have been doing, and take down this story immediately, since I do not care enough to do a good job. However. I will not be doing so, and I apologize if reading this causes you any undo stress. I also sincerely apologize for any misspellings or shortenings of words in previous chapters and I shall strive not to make such a horrible mistake again. I do hope any more chapters posted will live up to your standards. Thanks again, to all my reviewers! Hugs all around.

Thanks to my wonderful beta, Jaded Angel!

*****

Ginny Weasley was sitting in her office at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. She had just finished a meeting with Alfred E. Douglas, who had been at the Ministries meeting yesterday, and had been caught between at least three hexes, and was now quite out of his mind. If today got any worse, she would find herself in need of her own services. She was just pouring herself a cup of tea when Albus Dumbledore's head appeared in her fireplace with a pop.

"Miss. Weasley! Such a pleasure to see you!" the headmaster chirped cheerily.

"Yes, indeed Professor. To what do I owe this surprise?" More work for her, no doubt.

The headmaster's face became considerably more serious. "I am afraid we are in need of your services. If you could come to Hogwarts immediately, Poppy will explain everything to you. I have business to attend to, I'm sure you understand. But it is quite mandatory that you come over here."

Ginny sighed. "I will have Paulette take over the rest of my patients. Let me inform her and I will be right over."

"Thank you child. I hope it is not too much of an inconvenience for you."

"Not at all Headmaster."

"Good, good. You'll meet Poppy in the Hospital Wing then. Good luck." And he was gone.

Ginny sighed. What with all that had happened yesterday, there was no rest for anyone working at St. Mungo's, and she was sure, now that the Dark Lord had officially made himself known, that St. Mungo's would have no shortage of patients from here on out. She pulled out a paper, and started filling it out, feeling a bit of remorse for Paulette, who was busy enough as it was. A wave of her wand, and she sent it on its way. Packing up her bag, she stepped into the fireplace and the green flame whisked her away to Hogwarts.

Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy were sitting in their chairs on either side of Aiden's bed. The young man had been slipping in and out of a coma all night. Everytime he tried to wake, he was would shriek and arch his back, clawing his own skin. Potions would be poured down his throat, and he would fall back into oblivion. They both sighed as he started to stir again.

Ginny stepped out of the fireplace, into the oh-so-white room that was the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey was bustling about, tending to a first or second year Hufflepuff. She was about to make her presence known, when a blood curdling shriek came from one of the private rooms. Poppy immediately dropped what she was doing, and rushed to the room, Ginny following curiously.

A young man with dark hair and pale skin was shrieking and clawing himself, angry red scratches from his nails down his face. Two people she recognized as her old Potions Master and Draco Malfoy were trying fruitlessly to hold the poor man down. Poppy brought out a vial of pale blue liquid, which Ginny recognized as one of the strongest sleep inducing calming painkillers there was. Severus saw what she was about to do, and growled out "No more of that! That would make his eleventh dose in less than 17 hours! It could kill him!"

"Well he'll kill himself if he keeps this up" grunted Draco, who had just been clawed across his cheek. "GODS! Just give it to him already!"

Poppy finally managed to make the young man accept the potion, and he instantly quieted. Severus threw himself down in his chair. "Fine. If he is 'calmed' into death, don't say I didn't warn you."

Poppy huffed, and was about to reply when she saw Ginny hovering in the doorway.

"Oh! Ginny dear I didn't see you there!"

Ginny smiled at the woman. "That's all right, I can see you were quite busy. Er, Albus said you were in need of me?"

Poppy looked sadly at the form in the bed. "Yes.I believe I can trust you when I tell you that none of this is to go past this room? Not even your colleagues at St. Mungo's, and especially not this Ministry."

Ginny frowned. "Of course."

Draco stood and gestured to his vacated chair. "Have a seat, miss."

Ginny glanced suspiciously at Draco. Since she never saw him, she still wasn't used to him being nice, even though she knew he was working for Dumbledore.

Poppy sighed and began to explain. By the end of the story, Ginny was floored. "So.. So that is.. Harry. I can't believe it." She knew he was innocent, there was no doubt about that after yesterday, but after hating him and believing he had killed her brother for seven long years, it was hard to take it all in at once. Then, the problem began to dawn on her. He had spent seven years in Azkaban, surrounded by Dementors, and now, he had experienced death, and lived again, through a curse cast by the Darkest Creature imaginable. If he had a shred of sanity left in him, she would be quite surprised.

She drew her wand, and whispered a spell, allowing her to see a glimpse of Aiden's mind. She sighed and turned to the three impatient on-lookers. "You were right in calling me. I think the pain he suffers is self-inflicted, like he is forcing himself to relive the memories over and over. It is really up to him now, we can try to help him, but there is no certain answer. If he decides he wants to live, we're good. Right now, he won't let himself wake."

Poppy and Draco's faces fell, but Severus spoke up. "You say we can help him. How?"

"It's quite tricky. I will have to send someone into his subconscience to see what the problem is and try to convince him to pull through."

"You can't go in yourself?" Draco asked.

"No. I have to remain here as an anchor, connected to the person going in, or they could be lost, and if the anchor is not trained extensively, all three could become.simply putting it, brain-dead."

"Well, who can go into his mind?" inquired Poppy. "I imagine it can't be just anybody."

Ginny bit her lip. The only people she knew of that were experts in this particular branch of magic worked for the Ministry. An expert in Occlumency and Legilimens would do however. "I suppose we will have to wait for the headmaster to return."

"And why is that?" snapped Severus, who was tired of waiting, and, even though he wouldn't admit it, tired of seeing Aiden suffer.

"The headmaster is quite accomplished in Occlumency and Legilimens. We can't get another trustworthy person who has been trained as I have, and that is the next best thing."

Snape frowned, but kept quiet. While he would begrudgingly admit that he didn't hate the boy, deep down inside he admired him actually; he didn't want to go on a day trip into the mind of a disturbed refugee. Draco glared at him and spoke up. "Sev could do it, couldn't you, Sev?"

"No. I couldn't." Severus growled.

Draco crossed his arms. "Oh, I thought you were rather skilled in the art." He smirked. "Oh well. I can do it, I am not bad at it myself."

Severus knew perfectly well what Draco was doing, but spoke up anyway. "Very well, I shall do it. The two of you are brain dead enough as it is."

Draco smirked. "Yes, I'm sure you have our best interests in mind."

Ginny rubbed her hands together. "All right. Professor Snape, I'll need you to come over here and put your right hand on his forehead. Severus complied, feeling the scar, bloody from Aiden's fingernails, and the too- hot skin. Ginny grasped his other hand in her own.

"Ok" she said quietly, "I'm going to make our connection now, and right afterward send you in. All you have to do is let me guide you. Once you're in, if I pull your hand off of him, it will break the connection. I will only do that if something goes wrong, and I'll be able to sense it if it does, so don't worry. If everything goes according to plan, he will push you out on his own." She cleared her throat. "Are you ready?"

Severus glared and nodded. Ginny closed her eyes, and a silvery mist surrounded the trio. Severus felt like his was being sucked into a whirlwind.

When the world was upright again, he looked around. There wasn't a shimmer of light anywhere. His eyes slowly became used to the darkness. He seemed to be in a large black box. Unsure of what to do, he called out "Aiden?"

A small voice behind him answered. "Hello."

He whirled. A small boy, no more than seven or eight stood before him. "Hi" the boy whispered. "Who are you? My name is Harry."

Severus stared down at the tiny boy. He was thin and pale, dark circles under his eyes, wearing way to big clothes.

"My name is Severus Snape. You. you don't know me do you?"

Harry shook his head. "Are you here to yell at us too?"

Snape frowned. Us? Too? "No, Harry I'm not."

The boy smiled. "Good. I have been so lonely. You're the first one that let me get to here."

"What do you mean, Harry?"

The boy looked at his feet. "There are two other people here a lot too. One of them calls me Little Prongs, and the other holds out her arms to me. I-I think they are my parents. I've never really met them you know."

Severus felt a twinge somewhere in his chest. The boy seemed so fragile and innocent.

Young Harry continued. "I always try to run to them, but there is always a bright green light and they disappear."

Severus kneeled in front of the child. "Well, I'm not going anywhere yet. But, can you tell me something?"

The boy nodded and put one of his small hands on Severus' knee.

"What did you mean when you said 'us too'? Who else is here?"

Harry bit his lip. "Lots of people. They come to yell at us. Sometimes they make the other man scream."

"The other man?"

Harry nodded. "He keeps me here. I ask him to leave, and then he says 'No, it's better here.' And then the other people come, and yell at me and hurt him. Then there is a lot of green light, and he screams and then.they are all gone. And the man says 'See.its better here.'"

Severus put his hands on Harry's small shoulders. "Can you show me the other man?"

Harry trembled a bit. "Promise you'll stay with me? He is going to be mad. He is very mean." he whispered.

Severus stood and took the small chubby hand in his own long pale ones. "I promise to stay."

The boy tightened his grasp on his hand and smiled. "Ok then."

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, and there was a whisper of.something. He opened his eyes again and pulled Severus around till his was facing a dark form, so pale and thin, wearing rags, his face shallow, his eyes dead. It was Aiden.

"Severus." he spoke sadly. "I suppose you are here to make me come back."

Severus nodded. "Indeed. You are needed out there."

Aiden sighed. "I know I am.but it's almost peaceful here. That is something I do not get a lot."

Severus didn't really know what to say. "I-" he started. "Please wake up. You have to. You know we are lost with out you."

Aiden's eyes became even sadder. "Yes.I am the ultimate tool of the Order, aren't I?"

"No, no, you are not a tool. just..." He broke off. It did seem that way didn't it?

"Don't bother Snape. They cast me aside, now they need me back.I am just a human, they don't see that. They see the thing that will get rid of Riddle for them. They need to fight their own battles. I'm tired. It hurt...so so much. Have you ever felt.no, you haven't. I am the only one in the world who knows what death feels like. There is nothing good left in me now."

Severus gut twisted. Aiden sounded much like his own thoughts. He often felt used as well. used for his spying, cast aside as soon a someone else came along, dragged up again when there was something no one else wanted to or could do.

"Yes, I understand that." he spoke quietly.

"Do you?" Aiden looked at him.

"More than you know." he whispered sadly.

Aiden gave him a contemplating look. "Yes, I suppose you do."

Severus met his eyes.his own pain reflected back in them. They just looked at each other for a few seconds.till Aiden finally looked away.

"I.It will hurt so much to wake." He said to the ground. "They will all be there again.I won't be able too."

"Who?" asked Severus.

Aiden's eyes went cold. "I'll show you."