Severus awoke to fog. Lots of it. Everywhere. He could vaguely remember Ginny and Draco's worried faces blinking in and out of existence over the past.how long was it since.

Since.

He couldn't seem to remember.

"What-" He couldn't seem to get it out. His tongue stuck to the top of his mouth. A blur of grays and silver put something to his lips, and he automatically opened his mouth, and a cool liquid slid down his throat. Draco's smiling face slowly came into focus, surrounded by the white. Oh. he must be in the Hospital Wing.

"Welcome to the land of the living, Sev!" Draco chirped cheerily.

"Bugger off." He pinched to bridge of his nose, trying to sort out his thoughts.

"My, my, however did we get by without your ever so charming disposition?"

Severus glared. "Wha- How long have I been here?"

"Two days. When you got back.you just called for Harry and dropped, you've been sleeping ever since."

Draco handed him a glass of water, which he drank greedily. "Back?"

Draco's eyebrows knitted together. "You don't remember?"

"No,I-"

A door opened with a bang. "Draco! Hurry you have to help us.Aiden is at it again..Hurry."

Draco set the glass of water on the bedside table and jumped up to follow Ginny to the other room.

Severus frowned. "Aiden. Harry. Voldemort." It all came rushing back to him. He bit his lip. Harry had seemed so defeated when he left, and Aiden so.sad. Now, Severus Snape was not a nice man, but he did pride himself in having a shred of humanity left in him, no matter what his students said. He had been uncharacteristically caring towards the young Potter; he couldn't help but feel a bit.protective. The Harry he had encountered had been so hopeful, so unlike his older self. He had latched on to Severus after his first kind word.

Ginny emerged from the doorway to sit by Snape's bed.

"Well?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Well what, you stupid girl?"

"What did you see? Did you find anything out?"

"You were connected to me, where you not?"

Ginny sighed. "Yes.but I could not see or hear what you saw and heard. I could just feel you. Right before I pulled you out, I felt you panicking, so I had to break the connection. Can you tell me what happen?"

Severus frowned. He wasn't quite sure himself. "I. I am not entirely sure that what Aiden is going through is entirely self induced. Partly, to be sure, but there is more. He said he tried to wake up.he showed me what happen when he tries to wake."

"He didn't try to throw you out? Not even at first?" Ginny looked surprised.

"No."

Ginny hummed. "Interesting."

"Are you planning on sharing what you find so interesting, or can I continue?" Snape barked irritably.

"Oh.it's nothing really. Just, I am very surprised he showed that level of trust in anyone. Continue please."

Severus explained in great detail everything that had happened. By the time he was done, Ginny was looking quite pleased. "Well!" she smiled. "This is good news!"

"Indeed? I am glad to hear that!"

Ginny and Severus looked up to see the Headmaster and Sirius.

"Good evening Headmaster." Ginny smiled. Severus nodded in his general direction.

Albus smiled warmly. "I thought you might be hungry, I know how time consuming work can be, can't have you forgetting to eat!" He gestured to the trays he and Sirius were carrying. Sirius headed off to give Draco and Poppy their meals, and Albus sat down with Severus and Ginny, conjuring a Tray for Severus and a squishy looking armchair for himself. Sitting down, he beamed at the duo. "So! What news do you have for me? Everything is going well, I trust!"

Ginny nodded, swallowing. "As well as one could hope in this situation. It seems that Har-Aiden is not doing all of this to himself. From what Professor Snape has told me, it seems that You Know Who is a good deal responsible for his not waking. Aiden is simply protecting himself from the pain."

Albus sat back, tapping the tips of his fingers together. "I presume this has to do with the connection he has with Voldemort through his scar?"

Ginny nodded. "That is the most likely answer."

Severus frowned. "It's all very nice that we know what is wrong with him, but how can we help him? Some of us need to get back to our other responsibilities."

"I am not sure. I have theories, but they are just that, theories. I don't know for certain."

Albus leaned forward. "We have faith in you Miss Weasley. Tell us, and I assure you we will do anything in our power to help."

Ginny cleared her throat. "All right. The first time Harry was hit by the killing curse, his mothers love saved him. Normally, that would not have worked. Voldemort's soul, if he even has one, is pure evil. He has no capability for love. It is the same concept as light driving away the dark. Voldemort's killing curse was pure hate, Lily countered it with pure love."

At this Albus smiled. "It is too bad you declined joining the Order, Miss Weasley. That idea is the basis of our offence against Riddle. Mr. Draco Malfoy first discovered the process of putting our love into a spell to drive Voldemort back, similar to a Patronus, actually. It has been most useful, it was that which make Riddle retreat the other day at the Ministry."

Severus broke in. "Yes, but how will that help him? We can not exactly use the spell used to get rid of the Dark Lord to bring back Mr. Applin now can we?"

Ginny shook her head. "Allow me to continue. When the decoy took Voldemort's killing curse, it should not have had this much affect on Aiden. It must have been extremely powerful, more so than anyone ever though him capable of."

"Are you saying Voldemort's powers have increased?" inquired the Headmaster.

"Not drastically. We all know that he is gathering power, but no matter how powerful he gets, he should not have been able to do what he has. The curse reached out to Aiden through his connection to the decoy, and the result is that Aiden's connection to him is multiplied ten-fold, giving Voldemort free access to his mind."

"Didn't he have that before?" asked Severus.

"To a certain extent." Ginny replied. "Since Voldemort thinks that Aiden is dead, he has not yet found out about the connection. It is only a matter of time however. As soon as Aiden awakens, Voldemort will most likely be able to feel him, and he could control him easily. What Aiden is going through now is just.. Backlash of Voldemort's feelings. Voldemort doesn't even know he is sending Aiden these visions, if he did, Aiden would most likely die. He never had as much control before."

"Why is this time so different?" inquired Albus.

"Like I said, the curse was at least a hundred times more powerful. We all know the effects of Unicorn Blood, I'm sure. Voldemort has a half-life. That is one of the factors. The other is the circumstance of his rebirth. He is not truly human, and thus, incapable of human emotion."

"I never thought he was." Muttered Severus.

Ginny smiled. "Neither did anyone else, I am sure. Never the less. All he feels is hate, and I'd say a good portion of that was directed at Harry Potter, so when the curse hit the decoy, the results you can see for yourself."

Albus settled back, a slight smile on his face.

"I fail to see how this is classified as 'good news'" growled Severus.

Ginny began to explain. "Aiden will wake up on his own. Voldemort is not keeping him in this coma, and neither is he. It's merely a defense mechanism. His subconscience won't even register the change; he'll just wake. All it takes is for Voldemort to let down the defenses around his own mind for just a second, and it will free Aiden."

"But didn't you say that when Aiden awakes, the Dark Lord will realize the connection?"

Ginny sighed. "Yes. That is the thing that worries me. I can put up a temporary barrier, and the connection will go back to being like it was before. Aiden will have to fight it himself however if he wants to cut it off completely."

"And just how is he going to do that?" Severus sighed. This was going nowhere fast.

"Occlumency is a start. Killing Voldemort would finish it."

"Kill Voldemort."

"Yes."

"And what makes you think Mr. Applin can do that?"

"You must have noticed how powerful Aiden is." Albus spoke up. "Even I can not perform wandless magic to the extent he can, and that is without training! The Order developed a spell that when we cast it, Voldemort is driven back. If Aiden were to cast it, the effects would be greatly magnified, perhaps even enough to kill Riddle once and for all."

Ginny nodded. "Exactly. I must go check on Aiden. Thank you for coming by, Headmaster."

Albus smiled and stood. "Indeed. Now, I have a meeting, so I must take my leave as well. Good evening to you both."

Severus watched as the Headmaster exited, and couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for Aiden, and that Albus was expecting an awful lot of the poor man. It had taken Severus months to even get weak results when he attempted the spell they expected Aiden to perform, and he somehow doubted that Aiden was any better off than he was.

Draco and Sirius sat quietly, each at the opposite sides of Aiden's bed. Draco studied Sirius' face. He was pale, with circles under his eyes, which were rather misty. Draco sighed softly. Sirius and he had never been on really good terms, but he felt sorry for the man. He really did care for Aiden, people were just foolish. He didn't blame Aiden for not accepting him back in his life quite yet, but he hoped that the pain Sirius caused him would die down, and they would at least be able to stand each other. He looked up when Ginny walked in, and smiled softly. She really was an amazing woman. Her work, he character, everything. She was everything a Gryffindor should be. Not that he would ever admit that was an admirable quality though. He was a Slytherin, after all. But he couldn't help but notice that the woman had.something. She glowed, and walked with so much confidence. While she was not a member of the Order, she fought tirelessly in her own way. He stood and offered her his chair, and she sat, thanking him. There was silence for a few minutes as they just looked at the unconscience man. Finally, Ginny spoke to Sirius.

"He will wake up soon you know."

Sirius brightened immediately. "Really?"

"Yes.you really need to get some sleep. As much as I am sure Madame Pomfrey would be glad to see you, I don't want you to become a patient. You too Draco, both of you look exhausted!"

Sirius stood tiredly. "Yeah.are you sure I can not be of any help?"

Ginny shook her head and shooed him out, and turned to Draco. "You too, go on."

He shook his head. "You need the sleep more than me. Why don't you go lay down in one of the other beds, and I promise to wake you if anything happens."

Ginny looked thoughtful. "All right. We'll take turns though, wake me in a few hours so you can sleep too, ok?"

"You got it."

She smiled at him, and he warmly returned it, something fluttering somewhere in his stomach.

Draco jerked, he had dozed off, his head lolling towards his chest. Groaning, he looked at the time. It had been six hours since he had sent Ginny off. He groggily got up, he really needed to sleep. He made his way out to the other beds. He gazed down at the bright red headed girl, she looked so peaceful. He really didn't want to wake her. He glanced at the bed a few beds down. Apparently Poppy hadn't let Severus leave yet. He pulled a blanket over Ginny, and went to wake Severus.

Severus saw Draco come in, and saw him watch the young woman sleep, such tenderness in his eyes. He smiled sadly, he had been afraid Draco would turn out like he had, bitter, and unable to trust anyone enough to love them. He turned and feigned sleep, so Draco would not realize he had been observed. He opened his eyes again when Draco poked him, whispering "Sev."

He rolled over, and appearing adequately grouchy for someone who had supposedly just been woken up in the middle of the night, growled "What the bloody hell do you want?"

"Could you keep an eye on Aiden for awhile? I am exhausted and Ginny is sleeping."

"And I wasn't?"

"Awww.come on Sev, I didn't want to wake her...she looked so peaceful."

Severus raised his eyebrows. It was dark, but he thought Draco blushed slightly.

"Very well." He rolled out of bed, and took Draco's vacated chair and Aiden's side. He looked so tranquil, although Severus knew otherwise. He sighed, and smoothed a strand of black hair out of the young mans face, jerking his hand back like lightning when he realized what he was doing. He was a malevolent bastard, and quite content to be that way. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.