Ron woke early and lay still for a moment before remembering the night before. Realizing that he had to collect Pansy from the hospital wing before the boys woke up, he swung himself out of bed. It had only been a night for them, but to the now nine-year-olds, it would seems that Pansy had been in the hospital wing for a whole year if Ron didn't collect his girlfriend now.

Ron checked on Harry and Draco before he left and saw them both lying quietly, sleeping. He left them, but didn't notice that while Draco was sleeping normally, Harry's body was unnaturally stiff, and he had a cruel look on his face. If Ron had seen what Harry was seeing, he would have been even more scared.

"Wormtail," the cold voice came from the tall man Harry now knew was called Voldemort. "You have failed me again."

"My Lord, I apologise," Wormtail squeaked. "I didn't -,"

"You didn't think that the other boy was a threat?" The voice sounded slightly amused now. "Come, Wormtail, you have met the boy's father many times. You did not think his son would live up to his superior detection skills?"

"I – I didn't," Wormtail said wildly. "I thought -,"

"Silence. You did not think. You failed. You will not be given another chance."

"My Lord," Wormtail gasped. "Please – I can do it – I will succeed next time…"

"Crucio."

This time the scream of agony were silent, but Harry, watching could still feel his stomach turn at the way the man on the ground was twitching and jerking, the look on his face conveying every ounce of pain he was feeling. Harry could almost feel it too and screamed along with him, the sound filling his own ears until he felt fit to burst, until he felt he would pass out, until…

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" It was Draco's voice. Harry sat up slowly, the screams dying in his voice. Draco looked terrified and Harry, seeing a mirror, could see why. His own face was whiter than a ghost's, and tear streaks covered his face. Squinting, Harry could almost make out a flat, serpent like nose, and his eyes had a red tinge to them…

Then it was gone and Harry face was his own again, though the tear streaks remained.

"What happened, Harry?" Draco breathed. Harry shook his head, unable to answer. He was still full of horror at what he had seen. He was thankful to hear the door open and looked up to see Ron and Pansy walk in together.

As soon as they saw the boys' faces, the six-teen year-olds hurried forwards.

"What happened?" Pansy demanded. "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"

These few seconds had allowed Harry to fully come back to himself and he was able to haltingly explain what had happened. Draco looked sick.

"He was screaming and screaming and I couldn't wake him up," Draco told them. He shivered. "It was really scary."

Ron looked at Pansy, unable to think of something to say.

"Well, it's over now," Pansy said gently. She gathered the two boys into her arms and gave them a comforting hug. "You'll be ok. Don't be scared."

They both nodded.

"Let's go to breakfast," Harry said, with the air of changing the subject.

"Alright," Pansy agreed. "You guys don't have to come to class with us today. You can stay here and rest or explore the castle. But you can't go outside ok?" They nodded again.

"Good." Pansy got up. "Let's go then."

--------------------------------

"Come on," Draco pleaded.

"I don't feel like it," Harry answered. "Besides, he's probably teaching."

"He's not, I checked his timetable." Draco surveyed Harry. "You're scared of him aren't you?"

"I am not scared of Professor Snape,' Harry said heatedly.

"Yes you are. You're too chicken to come with me and see him."

"I'm not!" Harry stood up. "Fine, I'll come with you. I'm not scared."

Draco watched him stalk out the door, smirking. His plan had worked.

---------------------------------

"Hey Uncle Sev," Draco called, bouncing into the dungeon office. Snape looked up from his marking.

"Hello there Draco. Hi Harry."

"Hi," Harry muttered quietly.

"Can we come and talk to you?" Draco asked eagerly. "I hardly ever get to see you anymore."

"Of course you can," Snape said, with a welcoming smile. "Sit down."

Draco took a seat at once but Harry remained standing. He wandered around the room, looking curiously at the things in there while Draco and Snape talked. He would have liked to sit down as well, but, as Draco had said, he was a bit afraid of the potions teacher with the forbidding black eyes and terrifying glare.

"For Goodness sake Potter," Snape said at last, though not unkindly. "Come and sit down with us." He smiled coaxingly at the boy. "I promise I don't bite."

This prompted a small smile from the boy and he at last moved towards the pair, taking a seat on the other side of Draco. He listened to the others talk, though not adding anything of his own in, but he was enjoying it. He was feeling much better now, and had almost forgotten the feeling the dream had given him. All too soon, it was lunchtime, and the three were going to the Great Hall to eat.

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Harry and Draco joined their caretakers in class that afternoon. Charms with Professor Flitwick was first and the boys delighted in running around the classroom surprising people and making them miss whatever they were aiming, resulting in many objects whizzing around the room and landing with a thud on people's heads or desks. When Professor Flitwick himself flew over everyone's head and hit the wall on the other side of the classroom, he decided that enough was enough and cast spells on the two to turn them into rather large chickens.

The bell rang as they were beginning to molt, and they trooped off to potions, still trying to control a lingering clucking in their voices.

"That was fun," Draco proclaimed, pulled a feather off his arm and wincing. "But potions will be better. Potions are cool!"

And indeed, Draco was very well behaved that lesson, watching attentively as Ron painstakingly made his potion. Harry wasn't so enthralled and instead took out a book and started to read. No one seemed to mind, and Harry got so caught up in his book that he didn't even notice the bell ringing until Snape startled him out of his little world by asking him amusedly if he planned to stay in the dungeon all afternoon. Harry turned red and scrambled to his feet.

"It's alright Harry," Snape told him. "I wasn't laughing at you." Harry flashed him a grateful smile and then hurried to Ron who was waiting for him.

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The rest of the evening passed quickly. Harry and Draco ran around their room playing Super Hero's while Ron and Pansy tried to ignore them and do their homework.

Draco had first said that Super Hero's was a stupid game, because wizards could do magic things too but they didn't save the world. However, Harry had brought him around and the idea of being a hero had quickly latched on so that Draco was now imagining himself as the sole person saving the world and had told Harry that he could only be a side-kick. Fortunately, Harry had accepted this idea and they were now playing noisily.

When finally they went to bed, their caretakers sighed in relief.

"I thought they'd never go," Pansy said, grinning. Ron laughed and joined her on her bed.

"Me either," he murmured, and the feel of his breath on her ear made Pansy shiver.

"Ron," she murmured. Ron shook his head, put a finger to his lips and kissed her.

"Worry about things later," he told her when he came up for air. "We've got better things to do."