The night was cold. Sitting hunkered down between the roots of a massive oak tree, the only plant I could safely name, I spent some time wishing for a jumper and then some more time bewailing magic. What was the use in it if it wasn't available in your time of need? I had Snape's wand, but the last thing I wanted to do was get known as the kid who had burned down the Forbidden Forest, so I just kept hold of it for what comfort it could give. Which was not much, its owner was going to have a blind fit when he woke up to find me gone.

Dinner time came and went, announced by the rumble of my stomach. I had a bread roll tucked away from lunch, and the last two of the ice mice that Percy had sent to choose from. If my teeth chattered, would that announce my presence to all the predators just waiting for a tasty child to pop up in their smelly den? Or would the sound be so strange that they would steer clear of the little spot I had burrowed out for myself? I hugged my knees tighter.

Something rustled behind me and touched the back of my neck...

My return to the castle was not as well thought out as my exit had been. I went running and screaming, crashing through the undergrowth like my tail was on fire, making a bee-line for the secret entrance I had come from. It took me less than a minute to reach the shrieking shack, even with tumbling over what felt like every second rock in the dark.

It was a relief to be back. For hours now I had tried to psych myself up to go deeper into the forest, farther than the first tree I had come to, but my heart just wasn't in it. I had never even gone camping before, and so very much didn't want to become one with the woodland creatures. But where else would I go? It would take them one spell to find me outside the forest and if by some way I managed to escape their world then the first Muggle to stumble over me would either skin me and have me for dinner or drop me at the nearest police station. What would I tell them? That I'm not really a child? I could see how that would go down already. It didn't even go over well with the three people who knew I had been an adult before.

The secret tunnels brought me out near the Infirmary again. It was too much to hope they hadn't missed me yet, and I slowed to a crawl to get my story straight. Went for a walk and did not pay attention to the time? Yes, that would have to do. I squared my shoulders, raised my chin and walked to the Infirmary doors, only to stop short at Severus's raised voice, thundering from within.

"Poppy, if you do not release me this minute I won't be liable for my actions!"

"Now, Severus," Minerva answered, while Poppy murmured something too soft to hear from where I stood rooted with nerves. "We are all looking for him, one more person won't make a difference," Minerva said.

"I'm not one more person, I'm his father!"

"That might be but you can't go anywhere with a broken leg, you won't do him any favours by harming yourself! And where will you look for him that we can not?"

"He'll be in the damned forest!"

"Hagrid is looking there."

He was? I hadn't seen the half-giant at all. It was true then, whether you're lost two meters in or two-hundred, the forest's magic would not give you up. The thought made me shudder and the feeling of something touching my neck again was so realistic that my feet forced me towards safety, into the large medical room, uncaring that I was not ready yet.

Severus was lying flat on his bed, his pillows in disarray, Poppy and Minerva grouped around him. Both women had their wands out and trained on Snape. They all turned as one at my noisy entrance.

"Albus! Where have you been?" Minerva asked, her voice immediately rising to the high, familiar scolding tone. "We've been searching everywhere for you!"

I ignored her to look to Snape. He seemed to be in a bodybind, only able to turn his head, and it was as always near impossible to try and figure out what the spy was thinking.

"Albus," he said. "Do you have my wand?"

I nodded. If I spoke now I would burst into tears. Frightened, sorry, or tired tears, which I didn't know, I felt a massive bawl coming.

"Then put it in my hand."

"Severus, that is not a good idea," Poppy said. "If you get up now, you might damage your nerves permanently."

"I will not get up, Poppy, but I will not be restricted for one more second," he told her before pinning me down with his signature dark look. "Now, Albus."

"Don't you dare—" Minerva started. She moved to block me, but I darted around her to the bed.

Poppy stopped me with a hand on my head. "Wait, Albus, I will do it. This way it will not hurt Severus," she said, and without further delay cast a charm over him, the magic rippling in yellow waves over his body until he sagged down under the covers. I put his wand in his hand anyway in case he felt the need to hex someone, while Poppy removed a large leaf from my collar. Well, that's embarrassing.

"Explain yourself, Albus!" Minerva ordered. "We thought you had been abducted by Lockhart!"

They did? Why would they even think that, the man had left ages before me. No, I wasn't going to talk to her, besides Severus hadn't thought so. Why else would he say I was in the forest? Severus, who also nine times out of ten would stand with me against the force of her ire. Safe haven was but a step away! Fighting the threatening tears, I tried getting up onto his bed while simultaneously sticking my fingers in my ears, but was stopped yet again by the Mediwitch.

Poppy diverted me from my path by catching me up into her arms and swinging me away from my goal. "Not now, Albus. You have half the forest on you and Severus is ill."

"It's fine, Poppy," Severus said.

"It is not. Bath first."

"Poppy," said Minerva. "He can take a bath when I am done with him!"

"Best inform everyone that he's been found, dear. He needs his dinner and bed more than a scolding right now, and I am sure Severus will want to take care of the latter."

And with that she carried me out of the room to the Infirmary's bathroom.

I let Poppy do as she wished. Which was to run a warm bath for me with a ton of bubbles. She went on to examine my skinned knees and every scrape and bruise that I had picked up in my hasty return, healing them one by one, all the while murmuring gentle directions for me to move here or lift there.

"Why aren't you angry?" I asked her when I felt sure that I wouldn't cry.

"It is not my place to get upset with you, I will leave that to Severus and Minerva."

This was enough for me to splash the water about. "Minerva has no right! Not after Lockhart!"

"Then you need to tell her that. Preferably not while you have your fingers stuck in your ears. Arm, please." I extended my arm and she proceeded to give it a good scrub with a soapy washcloth, telling me, "I'm just glad you're back and in one piece, try not to worry Severus more tonight, hm? He is not to get out of bed until after breakfast if we want his leg to heal properly. Honestly, I would like to have a go at Mr. Lockhart myself. Other arm."

Minerva was nowhere to be seen, and Severus appeared to be sleeping again when we returned. I was now scrubbed pink, and dressed in a clean set of the pajamas that she kept on hand for the students, and also exhausted. Poppy propped me up on the bed next to his with a dinner tray.

The meal turned out to be a thick soup and a grilled cheese sandwich cut into small bite sized squares. I had thought myself too upset to eat, but with no eyes on me except those of the Mediwitch I soon found my appetite returned and scarfed the lot down.

By the time I was done I could barely keep my eyes open and brushed my teeth with a heavy arm before letting her help me back into bed. Poppy tucked me in with a kiss on the forehead—of all things!—and turned off the lights.

I couldn't sleep.

The bed was harder than my own. The shape of the large room in the dark was unfamiliar, especially with my glasses off, so I put them back on and then had to contend with the hard metal frame being squashed into my face.

Opposite me Snape seemed to be having no such problems, his even breathing loud in the room. Instead of soothing me it had me suddenly worried. Did someone remove Chucky's evil twin or was he still waiting in our rooms for me…? Yeah, no, I can't stay here. With that thought in mind I slipped out of the bed and crossed the floor to him, and this time with my fingers out of my ears it was easier to climb up onto the bed. Where he held the cover open for me to scoot in. Oh. When I hesitated he pulled me in and tucked the cover over me.

I wiggled to get comfortable. This was not the first time we had shared a bed, we've been to a few hotels where he refused to order a room just for me and we made do with a double bed. His family members also seemed to think that a four-year-old needed to sleep with their parents still. I usually ended up sprawled over him, which he did not seem to mind, but this time I tried to consider his injury. "Am I hurting your leg?"

"You're not even touching it. Sleep, Albus."

I wiggled some more, starting to feel far from sleepy. "Maybe I should go back to my own bed?"

He tucked me closer to his chest and settled his arm around me. "Sleep."

But there was too much to talk about. In all the mess I never got to tell him that it wasn't me that took his knife, no matter how it looked, and I had a lot to confess before I died tomorrow. Where to start?

"I'm sorry I ate the mouse!"

"What?" Snape asked. I could feel his chin moving on my head. "What mouse?"

"The one you said will spoil my lunch, I didn't mean to! I thought you were going to die!"

"I don't remember it, Albus. Am sure if I did I would forgive you for eating sweets when you were stressed. Sleep. We can talk about it in the morning."

I ignored him. Sleep was for the pure of heart, the weak, those who had not spent a year lying… It was confession time. "And I'm sorry about your shoes, it was me that took it."

The same aunt that had brought me the plum coloured robe that I was going to burn if I survived tomorrow, had brought him the ugliest pair of highly fashionable shiny black lace-ups that had points a mile long and sharp enough to poke an eye out.

"I know. You woke at four in the morning to give it to the garbage men. You don't have to worry about it, I didn't like the shoes either."

"The garbage pickup was at seven, I gave it to the homeless guy who does the rounds before they come. He didn't want it either, I had to pay him to take it." Out of my pocket money too. That was a sad day for fashion and my sweet tooth.

"I'm not surprised," Snape said.

Was he laughing at me? Let me rectify that.

"I did not take your knife though, so I'm not sorry about that."

"I know."

I squirmed in his arms. "It wasn't me, it was that horrible doll!"

"I know, Albus."

"It was going to kill me!"

"Albus, I know."

"Then you should apologise to me." Righteous indignation was a great thing. Feeling completely awake, I struggled out of his hug to sit up and peer at him in the half dark. Poppy had left a light on near the door only, and it did enough to break the pitch black into a dim twilight, but I still had to squint. "Well?"

He raised himself up on one elbow. "You want me to apologise for asking if you took my knife?"

"Yes."

"Hm. How did the doll get ahold of it, do you know?"

"Are you saying I gave it to him?"

"I'm implying it yes," Severus said, still sounding amused. Why wasn't he angry? Did Poppy give him some happy potions? She certainly gave him a lot. "Do you have any idea whose soul fragment you are carrying?" he asked.

"No! How should I know?! What does that have to do with the knife?"

"Arthur and I had a great talk after you fainted. He figured the leftover soul fragment used your unstable magic to escape into the animated toy, it's easier to control than a person. It was most likely planning to kill yo-someone in the hope that it could replace their soul. It might have worked too if you were not such a brave little Gryffindor."

Not a Gryffindor, they were all so busy. "I'll be a Snake," I protested.

"You're too impulsive to be a Snake."

"Am not." Did he really mean to say that Dumbledore had tried to kill me? But that would mean the wizard was evil, and if he was then I had to be also. It was the Law of Inserts. We had to be alike. "Maybe he just wanted to cut himself out of the box, how did he get the knife anyway if he was in the box, do you mean he got out, fetched the knife went back into the box and hacked out of it again?" That sounded extremely stupid.

"He most likely Accio'd it, using your accidental magic."

"Without me knowing? You're wrong anyway, he wouldn't kill me!"

"So you do know whose soul it was."

"No!" I insisted. Rule two of lying, keep at it. But it was so preposterous, the Dumbledore in my dream had been creepy, not murderous, and I couldn't help but add, "Even if I knew who it was, he wouldn't have tried to kill me, he wasn't evil!" I was sure of it. Severus would have known that too if he knew just whose soul I carried.

"You only have a fragment of this person's soul. Fragments don't have morals, Albus. They have a goal, to possess a body and gather their missing parts."

"So if you wanted to you could exchange me for him?"

"If we wanted to do Dark magic, yes. If we wanted to bring something corrupt back to the world because he will never be the same as before. There's a reason necromancy is frowned upon and you should know this. In fact you should know a lot more than you do, don't you think it is time that you came clean?"

"I washed. Poppy helped me." I scurried off the bed before he could stop me and retreated back to my own. "I can't help it if I don't remember stuff!"

Behind me Severus sighed. "Sleep, Albus."

Albus, he said. This was all so confusing. If only I had an idea which Albus he preferred! Then I would know if it was safe to tell him who I was. Just because he didn't like doing Dark magic now didn't mean he wouldn't want to do it once he heard whose bloody fragment I was carrying.

This time when I lay down in bed I removed my glasses and thumped my pillow, turning my back to him. But sleep was impossible. My mind kept hammering away at the problem. He might say they will get rid of the fragment but he didn't know that I was the interloper, did he? Yes, sure he knew I was hiding something, he was not stupid, but without knowing about my world it was impossible for him to know what exactly happened.

What if I wrote him a letter to explain everything? He liked making me write letters, didn't he? That might make him happy. I could leave it on his desk to find after they exorcised me. But it would be unfair to let him find it after I died. He had done so much for me this year, surely I owed it to him to tell him the truth before leaving, even if he was going to hate me…

"Albus. Are you crying?"

"No." I sat up, scrambling for my glasses. "I'm not Albus! I'm an Insert from another world! Your Albus died of a heart attack but I didn't kill him, I swear! He said so!"