"Why didn't you tell me!"
Snape did not flinch at her not so unexpected out-burst. His face screwed up in a disbelieving expression. "Did you honestly think I would tell you such a thing? Look who you are! You wear the Dark Mark. I would dare not risk it."
"You have the mark as well!" Rhyann shot back. "I didn't want it. I didn't ask to be branded like this!"
"We all choose our path one way or another." He stated in a drawling yet almost sage-like way. "You must understand that I could not risk it. The Dark Lord can see into your head. Even if you promised to keep such a secret, it would not matter."
She folded her arms across her petite chest and held up her head. "He can't see into my head. Do you honestly think I would still be standing here if he could!" She mimicked his previous tone.
"And how can you be sure of that?" Snape's brows furrowed.
"I have been helping Potter and his friends all year. I have other talents I've developed as well. I've managed to keep it all hidden from him with several barriers that I created in the dreaming realm. One mirrors back my fear of him and with a few nonconsequential things floating about for him to find, he doesn't care any further than that. He thinks me a simple and fragile thing." Her cheeks were colored with her anger.
He gave her what almost could be a look that said he was impressed. "Yes, obviously you wouldn't be here if he knew." He folded his arms as well. "These other talents... you've developed your astral projection further?"
Her mouth dropped open and she quickly shut it again. "Did Harry tell you that too!"
"Potter had told Dumbledore and Dumbledore told me." Snape replied stiffly.
Rhyann gave her head a little shake, not fully believing any of this was really happening. Finally, she heaved a great sigh. "Yes, I have developed it further. I honestly don't think I have any limits with it. I can only go places I've been, of course, like with apparating. My projected self is fully corporeal. No one can tell the difference."
Snape's fingers tap thoughtfully on his arm. "Where did you learn to do it? Can you teach others to do it?"
"No. I have no clue how to go about it." She gave him a little scowl. "It happened spontaneously the first time and I just went with it from there. It is only because it feels like dreaming to me."
His eyes drilled into her as if he could see through her own dark orbs into her mind. His head then bobbed as he nodded slightly. Not to her but to himself. "Is there anything else you're not telling me, Miss Rookwood? We both are in precarious positions here knowing one another's secrets. We must not leave out anything now that Potter had decided to take you fully into his trust." He said Harry's name with distaste.
Not addressing his question, it was her turn for her eyes to bore into him. "If you had known all school year about my helping Harry and you knew that I had been hiding things from the Dark Lord, you could have told me." It felt like the hundredth time she had repeated that. "You didn't tell Harry about how skilled I am at dreaming though. He doesn't know it all. Why didn't you tell him?"
"That is your secret to tell him, not mine." Snape said pointedly.
He had kept her trust in that. It confused her still all that was going on. Her mind was trying to make sense of it all and adjust her own plans. "Well... thank you for not telling him then."
"I do suggest that you tell him everything though. If he is to trust you, he cannot come across any surprises later on." He suggested less firmly than when he spoke before. "Your talents are invaluable. They would be of great help to him, especially since you are teaching him to dream."
Rhyann was about to ask how he knew that, but guessed that Harry had told Dumbledore that as well. She had thought many times before that the Deputy Headmaster had known more than he let on and she now discovered that she had been right. He seemed to know everything that was going on. Her lips pursed and then relaxed. "I just don't want him to... I don't want him to think that..."
"You don't want him to exploit you?" Snape raised a single eyebrow. "You have no need to worry of that with Potter. It is not his manner. Not like some others you have experience with. You are already helping him. Why not help with all your talents?"
She wanted to growl at him to stop somehow knowing what she was feeling. She was sure he couldn't get into her head either. No one could get through her barriers. "I know Harry wouldn't do that. It's just that..."
"Why do you keep making excuses, Miss Rookwood? If you want to be free of the Dark Lord as you say you do, why won't you use full range of your skills?"
"Harry is good at dreaming. He's not just good, he's exceptional. He learns really fast." Rhyann blurted out, embarrassed by her confession. "The dreaming realm is my world. I am the most powerful dreamer. I will have no one challenge me there. I don't want him to get as good as I am..."
There was no look of condensation or pity. There was a flicker of understanding though. "I do not think you need to fear that. You are a born dreamer while he is not. You have been doing it your entire life and he has been dabbling in it for just a short time. Plus, you are a woman. If he does manage to expand his abilities there, you will always be more powerful than him."
It was stated so simply. Rhyann had been acting territorially, she knew, and now it seemed ridiculous, childish. Snape was right. Even if Harry did learn to do all that she could do in the dreaming world, he would never be able to best her there because it was a woman's realm. Her power would always be greater. She blinked a few times, free of the irrationality that had blinded her before. "I will teach him all I can then. I'll tell him everything I can do..." Her tattoo itched and she motioned to it, peering up at the older wizard. "What about my Dark Mark? Should I say anything...? Does he know about yours?"
"Yes, he knows that I wear the mark." Snape sighed heavily. "I do think it best that you keep it hidden. No one needs to know about it. It will only cause contention."
"Alright." Rhyann agreed, glad to have someone of wisdom and reason to help. It allowed her to breathe just a little easier as if some of the burden had been removed. Her chest then tightened up again as she thought of her orders. "Do you know that I have been given a certain task to carry out?"
"Yes, I do." The DADA professor's face hardened at the mention of it.
"I don't want to do it. I don't want to kill the Weasleys." By the tone of her voice, she knew it made her sound if she really did care that they lived. Their lives weren't of a concern to her but only that they lived so she could carry through with her own plans. Yet if it made others think something else, she would not correct them. "How do I get away with not doing it?"
"Just don't do it."
The frown returned to her face. "Just don't do it? I will be punished. I could be killed! What would I say!"
"The Dark Lord will not kill you, Miss Rookwood. You are too useful to him." Snape assured her. "Yes, you would be punished for not carrying out the task and no excuse will suffice, but you can say that Dumbledore left protective barriers that you cannot break at the moment. Also, if he does insist on punishment, I will volunteer to do it. He will accept since I am here at Hogwarts with you and that way you needn't be removed from here. It is much easier to create the illusion that you have been punished than it is to make it appear as if someone were dead."
He had shocked her again with what he would do for her. After a moment to get over it, Rhyann dipped her head to him. "Thank you, sir. I didn't know what I was going to do before..."
There was a knock at the door. She jumped but he only glanced at his clock. "That would be Potter."
"I don't want to tell him about what the Dark Lord wanted me to do!" Rhyann whispered urgently to him.
"Of course not." Snape gave her a chastising look for thinking that he might be stupid and then opened the door. "Mr. Potter. Come in."
Harry stepped in around the Deputy Headmaster and gave the dreamer a shy smile that seemed a bit wary of the situation. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
Closing the door, Snape stalked around to stand behind his desk. "Yes, I did. Miss Rookwood and I have things sorted out now. All violations of trust," he gave them both a look, "were done for the good. We will not need to linger over them."
"Thank you." Harry replied quietly and seemed quite relieved.
"There is another issue as well. Miss Rookwood has been teaching you about dreaming and she has something to say about it." Snape tilted his head towards her.
She narrowed her eyes slightly at him. Rhyann would have preferred to tell Harry in her own time. She hadn't any time to prepare what she was going to say. She nipped at her lower lip anxiously and turned to face the other teenager. "What... what I have been teaching you about dreaming is only a small amount of what I know. I am a born dreamer, as you know, but my skills go far beyond what I've shown you. I spent most of my life learning them. I can go into people's dreams anywhere. No matter where they are or where I am. I can go into their sleeping minds and search through for information as well." Her words began to pick up speed as she saw his eyes widen with surprise. "I didn't tell you, Harry, because this is what my family bred me for. I am their treasure in that manner. They use my skills for their own purposes. That's why Lucius Malfoy took me to his manor. He wanted to use me as well and he did. There was nothing I could do about it. I worried... I feared that if you knew all I could do, you would use me in the same way."
There was none of the expected anger at keeping it from him. His features softened. "I wouldn't do that to you, Rhyann. I would never make you do anything you didn't want to do. You do know that, don't you?"
She smiled a bit ruefully. "I know that now... I didn't know before. I just sort of expected..."
"Me to use you like everyone else in your life has used you." Harry finished for her. He gave her a smile in return that was full of empathy. "Trust me, I won't. I only want you to teach me if you want to."
"It would be my pleasure to teach you." Rhyann put on a grin.
"Good." Snape voice caused them both to turn back to him. "Now that's settled, Potter and I can move on to other business. You are free to go now, Miss Rookwood."
Nodding, she started to the door and then paused. "Professor, how much should I tell Draco? He has been helping too..."
"Nothing!" Snape barked. "You tell him nothing of what you know."
"But, sir, he is in the secret club and he has been helping. He can be trusted now."
"He cannot be trusted." The professor's voice was sharp and brutal. "Mr. Malfoy is still his father's son. You should have never have let him know about those meetings. How much have you told him about everything else?"
"I haven't told him about much... He knows about the meetings..." About her reason why, she silently added. "I haven't told him about you or teaching Harry to dream or about the horcruxes..."
"Then don't tell him anything. He knows too much as it is."
"I think if Rhyann believes Malfoy can be trusted, then he should know too." Harry spoke up getting surprised looks from both of them. "I don't like him at all, but if she believes he can help..."
"Her beliefs about Malfoy are clouded for obvious reasons." Snape's large nose twitched with disgust.
Harry ignored him and looked only at the dreamer. "You can tell him that you're teaching me to dream and about the horcruxes. Maybe he might know something that will be of help."
"You may not tell him anything about me." Snape glared at him coldly.
"I won't tell him." Rhyann promised the older man and then turned to the younger one. "Thank you, Harry. It means a lot to me. I will talk to you later." She opened the door and gave a parting nod to Snape. "Professor."
Snape said nothing to her as she exited his office and closed the heavy wooden door behind her. She was sure that the tension between Potter and him would explode the moment she was gone. Rhyann felt a little lighter in her step as she headed back to Slytherin tower. Now she not only had Draco to help her but Snape as well. It felt strange to have more hope for her freedom and a few portraits looked at her strangely as she wore a goofy grin upon her lips.