Disclaimer: All is JKR's. Only the weird bits are mine. :P

…

Harry felt like he was going to faint. The world spun wildly, Snape's black-robed figure looming over his vision. The white sky wheeled above, the tracks glinted blackly, and waves of darkness like sea rollers were crashing against his struggling mind. He staggered. A part of his mind that was still functioning screamed with danger – the electrified tracks! He reached out to grab the first thing that came to hand to keep him steady.

His hand closed on the rough hem of Snape's dark robes. He stumbled, dragging on the fabric. The blackness was coming and going in front of his eyes. He wouldn't, he couldn't let himself be dragged under this time! He would be at Snape's mercy.

It occurred to Harry that he already was.

Falling to his knees on the gravel, he let go of the robes disgustedly. He looked up. Snape towered above him, black and corvine, his eyes menacing shadows under a curtain of greasy dark hair. He stood as still as if he were carved out of marble.

Harry panted for breath, his blood running cold in his veins. A chilling breeze ruffled his hair, spattering him with rain. Snape's robes billowed as he stared wordlessly, expressionlessly at Harry.

"What do you want?" Harry gasped finally, his voice sounding loud and harsh against the silence on the bridge. Snape's black eyes were as still and dead as the water below them. They sat, glinting, in hollows in his sallow face. He escaped from Azkaban…

Draco's godfather had escaped from Azkaban. Harry would have been amused if he wasn't so afraid. At least they had something in common. Harry fought his way to his feet, where he stood shorter than Snape's looming height. He willed himself to keep his eyes locked onto his former potion master's, but he couldn't meet that emotionless gaze. There was something empty about them, something like the eyes of a shark. Was Snape hunting him?

When he spoke again, it was the whisper of a cloak brushing against a stone floor, faint and cold. "Mr Potter," he repeated, as immovable as a statue where he stood on the side of the train tracks. "I come only to warn you." His whisper was devoid of any of Snape's familiar venom. It was as dry as parchment.

Harry tried to speak, but it felt like his voice had evaporated inside his throat. His mouth made shapes, but no words came out. No flicker of a reaction passed Snape's face; none had. It seemed no more than a sagging, grey mask. Something strange twisted inside Harry's chest. Where was the real Severus Snape? This was no more than a mannequin made in his image, a phantom or a demon that had taken his shape. It spoke again, whispered blown lightly away on the breeze so that Harry could barely hear them.

"Stay away," it murmured, lips barely moving. "You must stay away."

"From who?" Harry croaked.

"From my godchild," a tiny spark glimmered in the depths of Snape's eyes as he mentioned Draco, the words spat hoarsely. "Stay away!"

Harry stepped back as his breath caught in his throat. Was Snape warning Harry away from Draco?

"Cursed, for the rest of my days."

Draco's voice ghosted back to him, as clearly as if he were whispering in his ear. Harry suddenly felt a desperate, burning desire to know the details of this curse. As if connected to Harry's nerves, the rails beside him began to hiss and crackle with the electricity of an approaching train.

"Why?" He asked, leaning toward's Snape's death-mask of a face. "Why now? Why do you seem so desperate to protect Draco now that you would break out of Azkaban for him?"

Snape's white lip curled in an ugly sneer. "You think," he whispered, words gaining strength slowly. "You think I care about Draco Malfoy?" The flame in Snape's eyes leapt higher. "Mind your own business, Harry Potter, or suffer the consequences."

The far-off thunder of the approaching train was audible now, low and metallic.

"What if I refuse?" Harry hissed, emboldened. "What if I refuse to do anything you tell me, you greasy bastard?"

Snape laughed, sending a shiver down Harry's spine. It was high and cold; Snape threw his head back and laughed, animation twisting his face. For a moment the cold light caught his eyes and Harry's new boldness fled him. Needles of ice penetrated his limbs. There was something without limits there, ruthless and frightening. Harry could feel the rumble of the train in the ground below his feet.

"I have the power to kill you now," Snape snarled, dangerous eyes glinting like hard stones. "I have more power than you can imagine, Harry Potter."

The train rounded the corner, sliding into view beyond telegraph poles and towerblocks. It approached steadily, light reflected from its windows and nose. The electricity on the tracks seemed to jump and spit.

"Do you want me to kill you, Potter?"

Harry looked back at Snape, his mouth opening. Time seemed as if it had turned to treacle. Everything was moving in slow motion. Snape's hand came up, palm out and fingers stiff.

Harry felt the shockwave go through him like the grinding of tectonic plates. It hit him in the chest and flung him backward. He sailed backwards through the clear air, as if he were ascending into the blank sky.

He fell, carving an arc through the open space over the tracks. When he hit the huge, hard ground, the live metal caught him and bit him with electrical teeth. It felt as if every bone in his body was being dislocated from the others. Black and white volts wracked his body as it jumped and leapt in the path of the oncoming train. Agony seared through him. He felt as if his skull were about to crack open.

He was tossed aside like a rag doll, and his mind was wiped clean black.

…

Author's Note:

Egads! Sorry I let it go that long without updating. But I promised myself I would not let it go longer than a week, no matter how busy I was. But know this, good readers:

I will not abandon this fic.

I know how annoying it can be when somebody abandons a story midway, and I can promise you I won't do that. However hectic my life may be, I won't give this up until it comes to some kind of a reasonable conclusion. 'Kay?

Trust me. No matter how long I leave between the chapters, I will update again.

Speaking of updating… With November coming hard upon us all (did I seriously just write 'coming hard upon us all'? I hope you slash fans picked up on that :), Life has invaded in a major way. I now work two days a week part time, attend nearly 19 hours of college education per week, and also have a theatre company and a boyfriend to cater to. I'm hoping to get into some sort of a system where I will churn out chapters on Sundays-Mondays and Thursdays-Fridays (my free-est days) to be posted on Tuesdays and Saturdays. KK?

Love ya,

Jen

Xox

Post Script: yay for Izzy, for being the 101st reviewer – and noticing!