A/N: Thank you to all the wonderful reviews. Extra big thanks to my beta Websurffer. This chap is the first part of what happened to Harry before his death. The second part should be out soon. Enjoy.

Key:

XXvision within flashback XX

Vision.

'Thoughts.'

Chapter 5 — seeing magic

Harry quickly hurried up to Hogwarts, limping badly as he held his side. His infamous luck held, for the students were in their classes.

He slowly made his way through the halls, his side screaming in protest to his movements. He clutched the coin tighter in one hand as the other held his side. He turned toward the dungeons, forgoing the hospital wing. Oh, how he despised that place! After an eternity, that would have been only minutes in reality, he reached the plain door that lead to Severus's rooms. He stood there breathing heavy staring at the door as if his glare alone would open it.

He gasped as his side gave another painful pulse. One hand found the door to steady him. The coin cutting into his palm brought him back to awareness a few minutes later.

He transferred the coin into his other hand. His side flared again. Without thinking he pressed his hand to the wound, not noticing the coin in his hand. Suddenly the pain disappeared from the wound. He gasped in surprise and looked down. The hand holding the coin grasped his side and as he watched the ugly wound running down his pale skin pulled together and sealed, leaving only a light line as proof of it existence in the first place.

He stared at the coin in shock to see it glowing slightly in the dim lighting of the hallway. His eyes traveled back to his side, then to the coin. The only blood that he could see was on his clothes. His skin and the coin were as clean as it was before the spell had hit him. What the hell is going on?

So he did the first thing any teenager did when faced with a problem they didn't understand. Shrugged his shoulders and put it to the back of his mind, hoping some one else would solve it.

He stuffed the coin into his robes and stared back at the door in front of him. How was he going to get in? An image of himself swinging an axe at the door found its way into his mind, before reality pushed it back out. Severus wouldn't be too happy if he destroyed his door.

Remembering how he'd used his magic on the death eaters and how spells had come to his mind he pressed his hand to the door. He concentrated on his magic and felt it come to his call. He felt something crawl over him then down his arm. His eyes opened wide. The door was golden, in fact the whole hallway was coloured.

'Magic,' the voice whispered helpfully.

Harry looked around his eyes comically wide. He was seeing magic. It danced along the walls, ceiling, and floor. He stood there for a long time admiring the colours. Every colour existed around him in lines, curls, rivers and pools. Even colours he had never seen graced his sight. He reached out a hand and touched the wall, the colours swum around his fingers like they were rocks in a stream.

He then noticed his own body giving off magic. Over every inch of skin shone an emerald sheen of magic, except for around his wrist were a golden light was wound around. His pocket was also glowing a golden-black colour from where the coin lay hidden.

He felt a tug and looked behind him to see an emerald-gold cord leading off down the hallway. Harry guessed the strand would lead him to where Shadow was perched on a tree near Hagrid's hut.

'Okay focus, Severus' door,' Harry told himself firmly, finally remembering why he was standing in the dungeons.

The door held the normal golden colour, which Harry noticed, most magic held. It was also covered in small vines of red, green and blue. The followed the coloured strands. They lead him to the other side of the hall, which he knew held the real door into Severus' rooms.

'Okay now where should I start, the real door or the fake one?' Harry thought. After a short debate with himself he settled on working with the real door. He reasoned that the fake door would have more protections then the real one for people weren't meant to know where the real door stood.

He placed his hand on the bare wall that held the vines of colour, which swirled and swum around his hand.

He focused his magic and gently pushed the magic aside, bending it but not breaking the small strands. The magic around his hand moved outward making a gap. He pushed again and the stone opened. Harry opened his eyes, grinning like a mad man.

The archway into Severus' rooms greeted him. He jumped into the room feeling like an eleven year old that had just succeeded in doing their first spell.

He had just broken into the rooms of a man he believed would have had up as much protective spells as Dumbledore or Voldemort.

He let his sight relax and the colours disappeared along with a tingling feeling in his skin, centered around his face and arms.

He collapsed on his lounge as his mind wondered off. How can he see magic? Has it got something to do with coming back from the dead? How does he know were Shadow is, just by thinking of him?

Harry felt confused, he didn't know anything of his situation he didn't know what to think. One part of him was screaming that he didn't belong here and that he should be seeing his parents and Sirius not sitting in Severus's rooms. The other felt content with everything around him.

He sighed tiredly, rubbing his hand over his face in an attempt to make his world right itself. But he was the boy-who-lives-again, who was he kidding nothing in either of his lives had ever made sense. This was just another thing to add to the list, and damn was that list long!

He laid back on the lounge, the leather molded around his form. As he puzzled over the situation his mind took him back to how this whole thing happened. Back to his death a year ago.

Xxx

XXHarry felt like he was flying as if he had grown wings. He pulled to the left and spiraled down cutting through thick clouds as he left the low cloud covering with a cry. The patchwork of colours spread out before him. He pulled up then dived the wind whipping passed him as the ground came closer. With another cry he snapped out his wings and pulled out of his dive a few feet from the ground.

Trees and farms passed by as he winged his way to the south. The air grew colder as he flew but something in his mind pulled him onwards as another part fought to turn back. Farms and green paddocks gave way to small towns with chimneys and smoke. Soon more towns appeared with bigger cities as the temperature dropped further. Outside of a smaller city he turned left. His wings carrying him to a large run down house, which might have looked haunted to the eyes of children. As Harry came closer he could see the over grown garden and the vines growing up the side of the building. He landed on an open window, suddenly his wings were gone and he stood on two feet inside the house.

The inside was very different from the outside. Large portraits were hung on freshly painted walls. In fact the inside of the house looked brand new except for the old fashioned furniture. The house would have been cozy and welcoming if it wasn't for the feeling of dread and evil seeping from the very walls. Harry shivered and let his feet lead him down the hall as the eyes of the picture seemed to watch him like a second rate horror film.

As Harry came to the end of the hall, the door opened. Harry was half thinking something would jump out at him. He pushed down his fear and stepped closer, nothing moved. He sighed and pushed to door wide enough to slip in. He looked around the room which looked like a dining room. The door behind him closed with a bang and he whipped around hand going for a wand that wasn't there.

When the door did nothing threatening he turned back to the room. The dining room table was bare of food or anything else but if it was full it could fit twenty people without hitting elbows. A few door led into the room but the one at the end of the hall was left ajar. He crept slowly towards it jumping at the slightest noise.

The door at the end of the hall slowly creaked open at his approach, as if welcoming him in a weird and twisted way. When Harry reached the door he pulled it open. Noise was the first thing that he registered.

Silencing spells, Harry thought as he looked around at the death eaters gathered in the room. They were all shouting and jeering at something in the middle of the room. Harry came closer slipping around the men and towards when he knew Voldemort would be standing with a four foot distance between himself and the death eaters. Just as predicted Voldemort stood there in all his snake-faced glory. Harry slipped next to him so he would be able to see what was happening without touching any of the death eaters.

Harry gasped at the sight. Severus Snape, potions Professor at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, lay curled up in a small and bleeding pile. As Harry watched one of the death eater kicked Severus, the man groaned trying to move away from the foot, but not getting anywhere.

"Stop" Voldemort hissed. The death eaters quieted quickly and all took a step back from Severus. "This man is a traitor to our cause. He will be an example of what happens to those that go against us"

Harry shivered then noticed a knot of people in death eater cloaks without masks, some he noticed were students, Harry noted that the oldest one would have been nineteen and the youngest seventeen.

He could see the glint in their eyes as they looked down at Snape. All were afraid, yet all were expecting. Harry shivered again they wanted Severus to die for defying the Cause.

"If you go against our objectives, you will meet the same end as Severus here; if you do well and promote our group, you will be rewarded" Voldemort said diplomatically. Making it sound like they were part of a team with the dark lord, instead of the servants he would turn them into.

The young men and women nodded their heads slowly. One stepped forward, Harry recognized him as a Ravenclaw seventh year.

"I will stand by your side, my lord" He said bravely. Voldemort laughed nodding his head to the younger man.

"So will I" another student announced.

"Don't let him rule your lives" Severus croaked. "He will only lead you to death"

Crucio" Voldemort said lazily. Severus screamed clawing at the wooden floor as the curse pulsed through his body. Voldemort turned back to the younger people, Severus screaming in the background"Will you join our cause" Voldemort questioned.

The group looked at Voldemort, then at the still screaming Severus, then Voldemort again. As if watching a tennis match and not the killing of another man. Then they nodded one by one.

"Good to hear" Voldemort said joyfully. He lifted his wand, breaking the spell on Severus. Snape lay gasping and panting on the floor his arm twisted at an odd angle.

Severus lay forgotten for the moment as Voldemort turned his full attention to the small group of ten about to be death eaters. The ten knelt on the ground holding out their arms obediently to be branded. Voldemort came up to the first.

"This will be slightly painful but the rewards will be worth it" Voldemort said softly. Taking the first one's arm and pointing his wand. XX

Harry woke with a start the young man's screams still ringing in his ears. He looked around the others in his dorm slept on. He jumped out of bed and pulling on pants and a shirt. He wrote a short note for Ron to tell him where Voldemort was and what he was going to do. He flung open his trunk pulling out his invisibility cloak. He checked that the sock Dumbledore had given him was still hidden within one of the pockets.

He then grabbed his beloved Firebolt from its corner and dashed up to the owlery a note for Dumbledore in his hand. He called Hedwig down when he arrived. The white owl landed on his arm, he stroked her soft white feathers, before attaching the note to the bird's leg.

"Take this to Dumbledore, girl" Harry said softly. Hedwig hooted once, nibbled his fingers and left with the note.

Harry looked after the bird sadly then swung the invisibility cloak around him, mounted the broom, and followed the bird's path out of the room. Lying along the broom's handle to pass through the window. Harry flew as fast as he could. Following the link he had with Voldemort. He was going to save Severus even if it cost him his life. If he'd known what was going to transpire within the next two hours, he might have rethought his decision.